Author's Note: Yes, I'm still alive! I'm soooo sorry that I haven't posted anything~! I've got so many things going on in my life right now, many of which I can't change (such as all of the computers in the house crashing and exam week for High School!) My dad just half fixed one computer, and I've been quite lazy. The thing that really got me motivated (and touched) was you reviewers telling me how long you had been waiting-I have one dedicated fan that'd been waiting since March! So, without further ado, I give you the fountain story, first! Luv ya back~!

-Winter P.S.: I have to do everything from the library, sans my typing, so please be patient from now on! ~*~

Chapter 6- Fountain of Youth

Bulma quietly closed the door to her dorm, looking around to make sure the guards were around. Yes, were. She normally took nightly treks out to the palace library, and soon, everyone had gotten used to her doing so. It became routine to see Bulma walking around, even in her pajamas, with a few books she needed to return, or ones fresh off of the shelves. However, she wanted to be reassured that they were indeed out; she didn't want any of the King's "visitors" to see her and assume that she was doing otherwise.

Sonya. Why had the girl gone and accepted the king's offer? Didn't she want to stay with Bulma and the others? Hadn't Bulma been treating her like a friend? The blue haired girl leaned against her doorframe and bit her bottom lip, realizing that lately, she hadn't. She had always been studying, around the clock, nonstop. The only time that the really ever saw one another was when they were on the soccer field, and on opposing teams. During the years that had passed since Vegeta first joined them, it seemed that the Saiyan Prince had become more of a friend to her than Sonya. Sighing heavily, she started out towards the fountain.

~*~

"Vegeta, you don't know what you're talking about!" With a start, the royal hot head looked up from his idle reverie. He'd been gazing out upon the city, its bold, garish lights flaring up into his room, where they played brilliantly against the walls. The voice he'd heard was clearly Celera's, but why was she there? Shouldn't she be in her own quarters? Obviously not.

Quietly, Vegeta waltzed over to the barely ajar door that conjoined his father's room to his own. He could see Celera standing there, glaring at his father. in some sort of lingerie? Taken aback by what he saw, he tried to angle himself to see King Vegeta. He, on the other side, was mad hot at her.

Pathetic counselor, he thought to himself as the girl stood, almost challenging the other Saiyan; if I were father, I'd have annihilated her by now. Still, the sight was intriguing. Celera was now pacing the room, winking into Vegeta's door-narrowed visioning every once in a while as she continued.

"You can't have sent Sonya into the harem! Do you know what they do in there to girls like her?!" she fumed, throwing her hands upward towards heaven. King Vegeta shrugged.

"Sonya was doing us no good anywhere else." he justified himself. "She is, however, a very talented and pretty young woman-"

"Who's very easily scarred, emotionally!" Celera's hair eyes darkened as she glowered at him. "And she's my student. You are supposed to run all decisions involving my pupils past me, not do whatever you dang well please!" The king's smirk broadened as he walked over to her, touching her cheek.

"Celera, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you one of the harem some. say, sixteen, seventeen years ago?" The young woman flushed at the same time as Vegeta. Whether or not she was reacting to the king's comment or how he was handling her wasn't quite clear, but the Prince was reacting to the latter. Celera's voice died down some as her gaze softened upon him.

"That was a very long time ago. and had it not been for me entering the harem, I wouldn't have met you. or had our son." Celera stepped away slowly from him, going towards the window. "But Vegeta."

Vegeta slowly closed the door, his head spinning in utter confusion. Celera? His mother? That couldn't be true. She had always scolded him for calling her mother in the years past, and always talked about how his mother was away on peace treaty missions. Especially when they came by the fountain.

The fountain. Shoot! he thought to himself. That's where I was supposed to be heading tonight! Shaking off what he'd just heard and seen, he grabbed his cape and affixed it to his shoulder clips as he picked up something from his desk. Baka onna. why do we have to meet like this?

~*~

*Where is he?!* Bulma sat impatiently at the statue, glancing around nervously. The statue wasn't anywhere near the library, and for all she knew, those goons could have been running around, grabbing up any "useful" female they saw. Her nervousness changed to pure fright, however, when someone covered her eyes. She felt herself gasp sharply, but then heard the familiar chuckling of the Saiyan Prince.

"What're you doing out here by yourself, Onna?" he chuckled as she stood, red in the face with anger.

"Meeting you, supposedly! What took so long?" At Vegeta's motion of insistence, she lowered her voice. He glanced back from the way he'd come, and shrugged.

"Business, I guess you could say." he muttered, trying not to recall what had just happened. Instead, he tossed something at her. Being clumsy, Bulma almost failed to catch it, just about falling into the fountain. Laughing to himself, Vegeta caught her by a belt loop in her pants. "Clumsy girl. what would you do without me?"

Bulma, however, was gazing in awe at her catch. It was a necklace, with a single stone dangling from it, formed in the shape of a heart. It had, she could see, a latch that was used for opening it. The light of stars rained down upon it from the skylight above as she opened it, finding that it was empty. A hair-trigger chill shot up her spine as Vegeta's warm breath oscillated on the left side of her neck as he began to speak.

"It's yours. Do with it what you please. I couldn't find any pictures of you in the database, but." He shrugged, casually. "It was the best I could find." He took it from her hands, which were cradling it, and fastened it around her neck. "There. Well, don't just stand there, baka; let me see!"

The blue haired girl turned around, glancing up at Vegeta before her eyes shot back down to the ground. "How long?" Vegeta, perplexed by her blurted out question, cocked an eyebrow.

"'How long' what?"

"How long have you been trying to give this to me?" Somehow, she could sense that Vegeta had waited some time before giving this gift to her. A soft crimson streak ran across his face, and he looked the other way, arrogance kicking in once again.

"Does it really matter how long?" he growled. Bulma was about to open her mouth to reply when he turned back around, slipping his arms around her small waist. Bulma felt her face flush as she looked up at the Saiyan Prince, surprise flickering through her facial features.

"V-Vegeta?" Vegeta smirked at her, and she felt him draw closer to her. His hand came up to caress her cheek gently, and she could almost swear that he was smiling at her, admiring her. Their foreheads were touching now, and his coal black eyes looked down into her soul as he began to speak again, in his finally deepened, alluring voice.

"Quiet, Onna. Don't let your big mouth ruin the moment." Bulma slowly allowed her eyes to flutter shut as his lips came to rest upon hers. They were soft, warm, and inviting, unlike his eyes often were. Vegeta, too, was feeling somewhat different. The discovery that he'd found out that night flooded away, almost as if the fountain had washed them away.

The tender moment, however, was short lived. Bright light flooded into the room, causing Bulma's closed-lid vision to become red. Abruptly, both teens' eyes flew open, and the embrace was quickly ended. Vegeta's eyes darted to the light switch, to find a certain green toned boy standing there, a harem girl attached to his arm. Bulma's eyes narrowed in recognition of one, but her confusion showed at seeing the other. The boy's smirk widened as he chuckled.

"Well, well. What do we have here, old bloke? The Prince and the Pauper."

~*~

AN: Yes, I luv you too!