I'm so sorry I took so long to rewrite this in some sensible form. Maybe you can read it through and note the ever so slight changes or just to reacquaint yourself with the story while I write up the next chapter? (Aymei ^__^; )

Love comes to those who believe it
and that's the way it is.
When you question me for a simple answer
I don't know what to say...

x x x x x

He looked round moving silently though t he hallway. His eyes had adjusted tot he semi darkness surrounding him a while ago. The endless space of time in which he had lain awake unable to sleep. The cause of which was easily traceable...back to the conversation with Chichi knowing what to do had come easy. Knowing how to do it was what had kept him up this late. Knowing that quick action was needed and every second that ticked by was like more sand in the hourglass I what kept him in the agitated state he was in. Everyone knew that the best plans came with calm reasoning, he knew it, now if he could only do it.

He supposed it was this failure that found him sneaking through the hallway of a house in which three Saiyans slept. No plan whatsoever in his head except the nagging 'I've got to do something' that annoying repeated itself getting more urgent every minute but not offering any kind of plan whatsoever. Surely he would have gone mad already but here he was with a most determined look on his face and feeling this was the right thing. The crazy plan that made no sense...was it possible then that he'd gone mad already then...?

He could be since he was deciding to ignore the voice underneath it all...the calm voice of reasoning screaming to be heard and just not so calm anymore.

"Krillin? What are you doing?"

It wasn't possible to jump any higher than he did at the verbal incarnation of his thoughts. A good question and for a moment it seemed good old 'calm reasoning' had found another outlet though it was one that caused him in the space of a few minutes to hit brain overload and return in survival. It was understandable...after having bottled up his fear till this point only to have the lid ripped of like that but to really fully understand you'd have to be his height. To have a Saiyan tower over you from nowhere and so unexpectedly his outline being made even more threatening by the fact that it was cloaked in shadow.

There was presently a yawn and a scratching sound as fingers moved in a head of unruly raven hair. "Ssssh!" Krillin hissed quickly his hand gesturing wildly for silence. "It's late" Goku pointed out suddenly fully awake and Krillin searched for a plausible lie. And faltered.

"You were planning to leave." Goku said his tone mirroring the look on his face and it was in no way a ridiculous notion because that was exactly what he had been doing. Trying to anyway. His silence spoke volumes.

"It won't work." Krillin was informed matter-of-factly.

Krillin was suddenly struck by something...another plan...or rather an extension of the former crazy plan but that didn't matter. This time is was less crazy than the its predecessor. "You could help!...with you it would work...you could be a diversion, I mean you wouldn't be out of place at all and you know the palace better than me...I can 't believe I didn't think of this before!"

"Krillin you're forgetting one thing..." Goku interrupted

Krillin gave a stubborn almost exasperated sound that was accompanied by a shake of his head "I am going to do this..." and the look in his eyes stated more matter of factly that he would even though they still pleaded for a try. " I will never ask another favour...ever."

But just before Goku could say anything another voice presented itself. "What the hell is going on here!"

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She stole a covert glance at the man who by some sort of premonition seemed to realise the exact moment she did. chichi now found herself in the awkward situation of retracting her gaze. She needed to say something now because those sole black eyes had begun to form a question. And without question it was definitely an 'Is there something...?" look.

"Why do you Elites get treated any different." That question had been something she had wondered so long ago. It was something she had forgotten too. It had had to do with the gap between the classes that had been so starkly plain not just on her arrival here but the way the classes spoke about each other and the amount of 'down' talking that tended to to on. Her first impression of these so called Elites had thus been that they were stuck up so and so's who'd had had the good fortune to be born on the right side of life. Being treated no better than cattle dung herself it was amazing how easily it was for these gaps to be noticeable where back on her little planet, now little because now it was clearly plain that the universe was inhabited, she'd never once felt such divisions.

"I'm not one." came the simple, matter-of-fact answer, his answer (but his grin mainly) interrupting the workings of her mind. The information was dispensed with such trusting openness that she was taken aback slightly. "Vegeta points it out quite often, it's just an overlooked thing."

"You're on first name basis with your king?" she asked and for a moment the fact that they were enclosed in nearby bushes, seated rather ridiculously on the ground like children in a secret den escaped her mind. Krillin however, ever nervous had his eyes fixed on the view he looked out on from his position. She rather had the idea that it must look like the bush had a pair of eyes.

"Prince." he corrected "He doesn't seem to like it though" he added his tone holding soft confusion. He was quite unable to understand why his friendship was so continually spurned by a man he considered not merely as his 'Prince' but also his 'Friend' on all counts.

"We met by mistake." he divulged suddenly intent on Chichi having espied a glint of curiosity in her eyes and merely dishing out the information she would have wondered about but never felt right asking. "Awhile ago but more recently during the incident with Frieza...My dad had this dream-"

"That was your dad?" She hadn't meant to say anything but she was unable to tie the man she knew to the man she had heard of best described as a loony. How she'd been roped into this conversation was amazing in itself.

He nodded and was about to say something when Krillin spoke up for the first time since they had left the house. "Keep talking and we'll be found for sure." he said. No one said anything at the distinctive tremble of fear in his voice. He'd been edgy ever since and literally jumped at every little thing. Chichi had actually been surprised when she had been allowed to come in exchange for her silence. To be honest she had expected them to put up more of a fight. Thing was though she had known they were planning something but not quite 'what' it was. She'd been half way through the journey to the palace grounds before she'd even been given an explanation.

Not like she would have still stayed behind anyway. If Goku was going off to do something stupid she was going to be there whether he wanted it or not. Yet her instant thought had still been that they were both crazy. Krillin for coming up with the idea and Goku for not having the sense to talk him out of it. A few moments to think later and she couldn't help but think that girl was lucky. She'd ended up wondering if she could sit back and feel secure in the knowledge that Goku would come to her rescue no matter how crazy a situation she found herself in. Then she remembered the incident with his brother and smiled to herself. Yup, now she thought about it she wasn't angry with him at all. She secretly wouldn't have wanted it any other way either.

"Chi?" the soft call brought her back to the real world with a silly smile "hmm?"

"We're ready."

"Oh! okay."

"Are you sure this is how you want to do this." Goku asked pointlessly since he already knew Krillin's answer but still gave away the choice. Krillin not trusting himself to talk nodded.

...and inside his head reason screamed with him to see sense. It might have well been screaming out from behind sound proof windows.

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She was small as far as women went. Her size petite, coupled with one of those looks that were not striking yet not forgotten all too quickly. The girl with a ready smile that though it had waned many still knew it had existed once and as such, forgiveness to it's loss was readily given.. Much of what still made up who she was now was what she had left in memories. They were alive still because she had come to find that she had needed them wore than ever.

Dreams that had consisted of something more than the predictable future of living, serving and inevitably dying and if you were lucky it would be quick. Yet it never quite eradicated the unavoidable trail. It shielded you from things you preferred to ignore but it changed nothing. . And she had reached her end regardless.

Looking down the sparsely illuminated corridors of the slaves section it seemed to be worlds apart from the palace on which grounds it shared save for the distance between. Almost as if it had been added only as an after thought. It struck her as funny then...the simple fact that most of the lights were off to conserve energy. The natural lighting, or what little came through the high windows seeming to be sufficient though it in many places barely graced the floor. Then again she didn't blame it, no matter how much light shone into this place she was quite sure it would not take away the drudgery or the fading hopes. She was even more sure that if it did it would never dispel the shadows. It would never touch the ground.

Though silent it seemed here, it never really was. Even in the dead of night the corridors were never quite even after the cries had died down and there was nothing...there was always 'something'. Shadows danced by night but they never left by day. They could not.

To leave this place you needed to be free...unburdened. These shadows weren't. They held secrets that kept them here, festering into something much much more. Hushed sounds, shuffling shadows, each one impatient, waiting for something. Tucked away in the darkest regions where no eye was meant to fall.

Yet she'd seen them, heard them and had understood them.

For that there was a price to pay and more so for daring to give it words as she had.

She barely looked up at the two figures walking past and though she was not spared a glance she knew they were aware of her huddled presence in the dark shadows of her cell. And somehow she knew them. Her recognition not coming form anything other than the familiar 'something' that hung round them, embracing them even, slinking along after them and yet with them like a disjointed shadow.

Something 'wrong' and yet familiar for hadn't she felt it. the one thing she'd wished she had been fortunate enough not to unravel fro its hidden place. It was something that not even the noises of the day filtering their way to her hearing could eradicate. Something that had left her in such a state that she could only now see the fading corridor through the slits of her eyes. Later al lot of things would be misjudged about her death but it didn't matter. The death of a slave was just that. A replacement could always be found. However for now the two silhouettes walked on with their hushed conversation.

"for your sake Phebes you had better be right this time. "

Phebes seethed silently. Of course he was right. He always was. His plans were always right and the last one was genius. If only he had been able to have foreseen the unplanned appearance of the blue haired girl that had ruined it with as much ease as wind through the trees. The approaching feet made Juuhachi look up through the strands of hair that had fallen forward due to her seated position carrying off an unimpressed and only slightly so air of curiosity. Her hair was beginning to assume new lengths now. Not quite like it had been before but almost halfway there. the longer strands in front beginning to form blond curtains.

He lowered the shield and walked into the cell his companion remaining out of the light. Preferring to keep his features hidden from view. His hand encircled her arm forcing her to her feet--or rather trying as she remained resolutely seated. Even when he put more force into it trying to remain calm in the culmination of his building anger, her defiance and the fact that this was all happening in front of her other 'visitor'. Who she presently looked so directly and perfectly that it caused the 'visitor' to doubt his senses. She couldn't have just seen him...really seen him...could she have?

"do not toy with me!" he snarled as he finally got her to rise. However only accomplished by her own will as she stared up into his eyes heights not matching in the least but wills equal resulting in an unspoken battle simmering in the small distance between them. His hold on her arm was temporary as she snatched it from his grasp roughly.

"You always did strike me as a dogs body..." she said gaze clear and unwavering setting him alight like the unpredictable fuse he was not just by her blatant lack of fear for him but for flinging the issue of him being subject to another in his face. Subjugation being something her despised immensely had having it being pointed out by the one thorn in his side was like a red flag in front of a raging bull and for a moment he almost forgot his companion's presence.

There was an almost inaudible sound form the silhouette that lay half in amusement and half in satisfaction. "She'll do." It said softly turning to begin it's return journey, "Looks like you're losing your touch Phebes." to this Phebes angrily turned on her "I promise you, you will die and I will do it myself!" he spat in a low vehement growl that passed through amazingly clenched teeth.

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Zahi paced restlessly. He'd been doing that since evening had fallen and he'd found himself on duty. On a day he was not meant to be. The other guard who had no doubt fully expected a time of silent watch was becoming highly irritated by Zahi's continuous pacing.

Something more. He should have done something more. He'd thought over it. What it was he could have done differently to have avoided this. yet it didn't seem as important as what he was to do now. A part of him wished Phebes hadn't chosen to take out this form of revenge.

Killing two birds with one stone he had said.

He knew what one 'bird' was. Him. Punishment for what Phebes considered his betrayal. Placing him purposely on duty on a day when he was meant to be off. Ruining his happiness at his promotion and leaving him out here helpless to protect someone he wanted to.

The other 'bird' however he wasn't sure quite what it was about but he knew it was something. Something important and something that no doubt involved Phebes a whole lot. However he couldn't think much about that. There were other things on his mind

How was he to have balanced his loyalties to his king and loyalties of another kind that only he recognised. He'd made a promise and that was all there was to it. To that effect he'd been seriously tempted to do something stupid. As if Phebes had realised his thought process he'd placed the last nail in the coffin by accompanying him. Always there in the background making sure he'd stayed in line.

He hadn't been able to look her in the eye. Afraid that he would now find a different kind of condemnation than was ever there before.

To become just another female for a harem.

"Hey!..." the other guard began having had enough. "What!!!!" came the viciously snapped reply. A worried look fell over the guard's face as he stepped back unconsciously from the anger he found burning in a pair of eyes that had become red with suppressed emotion.

"Nothing." he answered quickly.

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To say she'd been prepared to find herself standing here would have been a lie but to say she had been expecting this feeling of being lost...now that was true. An inability to fathom how she was to handle this. She'd realised that while she was still being dragged through a degrading 'clean up' literally kicking and screaming her disapproval for all the good that had done...(when she met up with the person who'd come up with the idea for those damn bracelets there would be some payback in order)...which had resulted in the end effect of her looking like this. To say she was in the foulest of moods and ready to pummel the first person that just looked at her wrong was an underestimation. Thinking rationally was not her forte. She wanted out and she wanted out now.

She hadn't cared much for walking into the middle of the room either her reflexes on edge just waiting lingering near the exit that had suddenly ceased to be such since it had been closed behind her. Her critical gaze hadn't cared in the least for the beauty of the room neither did she care very much for the richly draped bed that was almost like two and a half double beds pushed together or the same draped windows. The furniture didn't register either and all the toil and craftsmanship that had gone into them couldn't have mattered any less because she was already staring down the man on the bed. The very essence of the room, its very existence seemed to only serve to heighten her anger and the feeling of somehow being soiled on the mere entry of this place.

He'd seemed to be patiently waiting for her to do something, what that was exactly she didn't know and frankly didn't care as she stood there watching him like a hawk silently daring its prey to make the mistake of dancing on its doorstep. When she hadn't moved he'd tried accommodating her for awhile after all who wouldn't have...for just a little while, he'd thought as he took her in reacquainting himself with the girl he'd espied from the balcony and who strangely enough remained just the same. He'd expected somehow that he might have fabricated most of what she had seemed. An overactive imagination in heat. He would have recognized her anywhere and even without the silver chain he'd seen still presently wrapped round her wrist. He would just know it was her by the way she stood there trying to reduce him to ashes with a look alone.

He took in the short cut hair now trying to reacquaint itself with new lengths. The stubborn jut of her chin, the blazing storm blue gaze, the perfection of her was magnificent. The dress she wore was the only thing that prevented his gaze from the beautifully sculptured body he knew lay beneath. Saying that it didn't hide much and it wasn't just the translucent quality of the material either. It was the way it finished just halfway down her thighs giving a more than glorious view of flawless peachy cream legs. The neck line of the dress was so wide that the only thing that seemed to be holding it up was the sleeves of the dress if it could be called that and the rise of her breasts, the soft flesh rising and falling with every breath. His eyes followed every rise and fall almost mesmerized. Just take one tug, he thought his tongue sliding over suddenly dry lips. He was suddenly impatient with indulging her and rose instead approaching her any desire to be accommodating leaving in that instant.

Juuhachi however, unaware of exactly what was going through his mind, did not like it one bit when he took a step towards her. She didn't even like the look in his eyes either, bright with something she wasn't too enthusiastic about. The ease in which she slipped into a defensive position amused him where she was in deadly earnest her irate mood not helped by his amusement. To him the very idea that she thought she could be able to take him on was something ridiculous. Dressed the way she was was even more absurd.

She was slammed up against the wall staring into dark onyx eyes before she could get the sound of surprise past her lips and she realised many things all at once then, the sensation rivalling being immersed in a cold shower. The instant alertness that followed. She knew he wasn't just going to let her go. She knew with a certainty that there was going to be a clash. For people more than used to getting their own way neither was going to give up anytime soon. And of it all...he was stronger.

His mouth covered hers.

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Vegeta looked back coming to a stop a highly irritated look on his face as he waited, the bumbling hulk of his bodyguard appearing from the ship minutes later. He came towards him far too slowly for Vegeta's liking.

"Walk like those legs were meant to be used!" He snapped in his trademarked bad temper wishing for the tenth time that day that he had not conceded to give Raditz an extra day off. He must have been crazy to have said yes. He supposed he could have taken his brother instead but Kakkarot was just as bad as Nappa if not more of a pitiful excuse for anything Saiyan. Pity that, since he had a lot of potential for someone of the third class. Now if only he actually possessed a brain worth using. If he'd been here the situation would have been significantly worse than the half crashing and half landing drama that he'd just walked away from.

"I had to switch off the main engine-"

"and that was a hard thing to do how?" Vegeta asked rhetorically his irritation so evident that if Nappa had been paying much attention to anything other than the terrible weighing guilt and unhappiness of his current failure he wouldn't have answered.

"I couldn't find the right controls." He admitted beneath a scathing and faintly incredulous glance sent his way. He went on to elaborate. "It's a new model…I'm not used to this one." He finished silently blaming this new misfortune on the culmination of human and third class Saiyan technology that had had a helping hand in building the contraption of death. The fact that there was an entirely different system to the ship had only become evident to him during flight. The sequence and controls for take off had not been changed. It was that of flight and landing.

Vegeta didn't say anything he mentally shook his head realising suddenly that it made sense. Where all the time he had thought that Nappa was being suicidal in trying to destroy the ship with both of them on it, it had rather just been a result of his usual low intelligence. No, what he had actually been trying to do was destroy the ship with both of them on it from plain ignorance of the controls. There was really a lot of difference he thought sarcastically.

"Familiarise yourself with it before the next time." He said to the more than eager nod from Nappa who hadn't even realised yet that Vegeta hadn't said exactly when this next time would be and just how long that gave him. For all he would know the next time could be this very same day though it seemed unlikely he would later think since Vegeta would have no particular need to leave the planet since the night was already here. The fact that they had spent so long had been due to his inability to land. Something he had amazingly accomplished to a degree upon being threatened by Vegeta.

Right now he was just too thankful that he hadn't ended up killing them both or either being killed himself when they got to the ground just for his incompetence which funnily enough had been the same reason why he had not said anything about his disadvantage when they'd left. Truth be told he had heard that there had been changes but he had hoped they would be slight because bringing such trivialities to Vegeta's attention would have availed him no good. He'd been in one of his moods muttering something about blue haired women and no wonder it was that there weren't much more of them. The fact that just one person would have had to cross him to feel the full brunt of his anger and die in the most painful way possible had been all but plainly obvious. So he had chosen instead to go by gut instinct and plainly advertise himself for some pretty near disastrous results. It had also seemed that the other group that had come with them had pretty much placed their lives in his hands as well. Though they hadn't said anything the look that had been in their eyes had pretty much been the same in his but for different reasons.

He said nothing as he followed behind glad that the only consequence of the trip being that they had to walk the rest of the distance to the palace. It wasn't that bad. He'd had the good fortune to actually manage to land on palace grounds even though it was still a distance from were he was supposed to. His attempt to speak was cut abruptly short with a simple enough statement.

"When I want you to talk Nappa, I'll make you…"

Curt and effective.

It was his usual way and more than expected…

What was usual however didn't entail sudden the sudden sharp intake of breath that signified some kind of surprised shock. The way his hand rose to his chest almost as if trying to ward of some kind of evil wasn't right either. None of it fitted into the norm. It was thus with an almost lethargic sense of initial disbelief that he realised none of the above had been done willingly. More so confirmed when Vegeta seemed to turn to him slightly as he hurried up to his left. His gaze seemed to look past him searching as they coasted past him with a sharpness brought about by sudden awareness and angry surprise. The irrational momentary sense of panic he felt then was born of the fact that it seemed wrong somehow…he wasn't supposed to be under threat in a place like this. His own planet. People knew better than to try.

However it was only saw a hidden shadow, a quick blur that he caught before he felt himself strangely shrink in size every thing around him seeming to become louder. It was with a strange detachment that he saw Nappa giving quick orders seeming highly different to the Nappa he knew. Disorientated he felt he was suddenly no longer sharing the some plain of existence with everyone else and everything was merely a parallel to itself. It was oddly like watching a movie were he was the only spectator and had absolutely no control over the events even though it was happening to him.

He could feel though, that was still real enough, he could feel the angry clenching of his teeth as his thoughts boiled. That shadow still hidden somewhere in a heated part of his mind and just what he would do to that miserable soul was what gave him something tangible to cling onto. To be able to ignore the pain that felt like a fire born through his middle. He tried to say something then…he was going to say something, to tell the bumbling hulk calling to him to stop wasting his time asking stupidly if he was all right when it was plainly obvious he wasn't. He didn't have to look down at the white glove now becoming an appealing crimson to know that. He could feel it. It was like someone had just taken a hot poker, gouged it right through the centre of him and wrenched it out the other end with no special skill whatsoever.

He was well acquainted with what it was because time and time again he had revelled in it…the air had been full of the smell of it, as he had scanned empty desolate planets that just seconds before had been bustling with life. He wasn't unfamiliar with it himself it's just that this time it surprised him. Because he should have expected it?….seen it coming even, how could he not. Being constantly aware of his environment should never be something to slip from the mind even for one second. More confusing was that he hadn't seen anything. Hadn't registered anything.

He closed his eyes and with a terrible certainty he couldn't just feel himself gradually loosing his hold on consciousness but he was intensely aware of it happening too. He faintly heard Nappa calling him and sounding something on the side of terrified. A smile touched his lips.

He should rightly be worried because he would be the one coming under scrutiny and in his job there wouldn't be much of an excuse. Skinned alive was the phrase that seemed to dance a cruel taunting jig through Nappa's mind at this point. Vegeta waved him away highly irritated he could walk by himself he wasn't quite down just yet. "Go away!" he said having lost none of his constant irritation with the one other Saiyan-jin that loyally hung around him good or bad.

But where he might have thought he'd actually said such, in reality he hadn't. He hadn't been conscious since he'd closed his eyes. He'd never smiled and he'd never said a word. He'd lost consciousness with a frown darkening his paling features. Everything else had only happened in his mind.

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Bulma looked down at the weapon in her hand an almost disbelieving look on her face as she returned it to its hiding place hands trembling slightly. Well that was a shock…it had been much too powerful. It needed a bit more work though so far it seemed to have accomplished it's task. Yet how was she going to quite explain it when they found out...cause it would be pretty hard to overlook. However she didn't think too long about that because she was more worried about preventing anyone from finding out what it was she had just done.

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Goku turned sharply at the sound of the blast just in time to see it blow up in the distance. He'd only begun to head towards the building when he'd caught the streak of light across the sky. He felt Chichi latch onto him suddenly having jumped at the unexpected sound.

"What was that?!" she cried her voice holding both fear and resentment at having had her heart almost ripped from her chest in primitive fear. She didn't even realise the close contact she currently had going. The fact that her face was just inches from his chest, that his arm had encircled her slightly or that his smell currently filled her nose totally was all pushed back to some unconscious recording station in her mind. All for remembering much later and wishing she'd been more aware. Goku didn't seem to notice it either as a frown crossed his face as he seemed to be mentally calculating something.

"It looks like it came from somewhere near the king's quarters." he informed her absently. "This isn't good. Something must have happened, the place is going to be crawling with guards now. We have to tell Krillin not to--"

Goku looked around a different kind of frown now settling on his face but it was chichi that voiced his question. Yet it still sent a feeling of dread down his spine.

"Where is he?"

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Juuhachi...

That was the thought that had shot through his mind the moment he had seen that explosion. He'd seen it earlier than Goku by a few seconds. He knew where it had come from but unlike Goku he wasn't aware of what section of the grounds it was called. All he knew was that it was her.

He didn't know how it was he knew all he was sure of was that it was definitely her. He'd found his feet moving even before his head was thinking and that's how he ran into a situation much worse than anything he'd intended to get into.

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She pulled away pushing him backwards in both a reflexive and volcanically angry move. Most of his fall backwards was caused by his sheer surprise. Whether it was surprise a the fact that she had been able to or that she had had the gall to wasn't quite obvious. He stared at the woman glaring back at him. Blue eyes burning with anger and disgust but also a stubborn light. combined it seemed to silently scream 'how dare he' as she dragged the air back into her lungs. Yet what caught his attention, quite unwisely ignoring the lighted flames in her eyes, was the preciously heaving, semi naked bosom. Before he realised what it was she had in mind she had brought her knee up in a sharp move that coupled with her super human strength would have crippled a human male forever,. His agony was just long enough for her to pull away.

His hand shot out as he felt her slipping away curling round her arm like a vice turning her sharp momentum back on her succeeding in diverting her towards the bed. He had her pinned before she could move and his grin then was one of smug arrogance as he informed her of the fact that she didn't really have to fight him.

Her hands shot up and closed round his neck immediately they were free with a speed that would put even him to shame but he wasn't surprised at it. In truth it hadn't been as unexpected as it had seemed. she had stopped surprising him about the time she had tried to render him unable to father anymore brats. a dozen attempts later and he was suitably impressed. This also passed though when just minutes after finally overpowering her he'd fully expected her to give in. It was there in her eyes, the way they had closed. The way she had stilled somewhat. The expression that had filtered across her face. However what she had done instead was to have bitten down hard, a 'too narrow for comfort' miss from halving his tongue but finding his lip instead and drawing blood. His reaction to that was to pull back in stunned pain.

"Get off me!" was all of the third thing she'd spat off since she'd been in his room. It was given with just as much angry venom if not more than before. Something she could have died for many times over. On one level he'd encountered a challenge and he loved challenges but coupled with a desire that threatened to send him round the bend he wasn't so willing to 'like' this challenge right now. He caught her hands pushing them back down onto the bed in a somewhat similar replica of arm wrestling which in the end he won pinning her hands to the bed. The look in her eyes could've been used to test brave men as it wouldn't bear beholding and yet he held them and with a smile too.

"It won't do you any good to keep struggling you know." He said his hand running through her blonde hair trembling from a barely suppressed need for her. She grinned at that as if she had somehow found some stupidity in his statement and for a second time he thought she'd finally seen sense. That was till her gaze narrowed dangerously the only split second warning before she suddenly lunged forward the next thing registering were the stars in front of his eyes. He swore the word slipping off his tongue with ease She rolled out of the bed, or was rather in the process of doing just that as he clutched at his forehead growling angrily.

His hand flew out quickly latching a hold of her his grasp missing first time round only to clamp round her ankle on the second almost blind one.

There was a yelp of surprise followed by a dull thud as caught of balance she met the ground chin first the impact jarring through her. She didn't have much time to concentrate on it though before she was being dragged back by a very -at this point- annoyed king of the planet Vegeta. To make matters worse not only did she feel like a slab of meat being dragged left and right the dress was threatening to fall apart on her. There was more than anger behind her action of pulling back her free leg that he'd made the mistake of not catching also. She rammed the presently deadly weapon in his face in as lethal a move as could be executed half hanging off a bed upside down. It worked because he let go and she fell in a heap that started with her shoulders however as far as recoveries went she had to admire herself for this one as she scrambled to her feet. He came after her but her defensive position made him think twice.

"Stay away from me." she warned her voice amazingly steady considering the fact that he wasn't even listening to her and the look in his eyes now wasn't just lust anymore but dangerous anger and absolute frustration. "I will kill you." he promised. "I will have you and then I will kill you!"

"Join the club."

"That is it!" came his muttered verbal indication of his snapped thread of patience and she stepped back quickly at the murderous look in his eyes. She felt the energy crackling in her palm the glowing ball forming itself before it was even thought. It's appearance stemming from both reflex and a last remaining option. The look of surprise on his face was priceless compared to the look of almost easy confidence intermingled with blinding hatred that the whitish-blue glow illuminated on her face as she let it go. It was surprise that led to his slow reaction time as it hurtled towards him. A time in which he came so close to having a hole blasted through him but he deflected at the last minute sending it flying towards and through the open window where it took a piece of the wall with it making it look strangely like some monster had taken a bite out of it. Rather like it had happened upon some tasty morsel. He stared at her surprise still etched into his features as she indicated her willingness to try again if he was to think about heading her way. Strangely enough he seemed to have frozen and she doubted that was because of her. Not after the ease in which he'd deflected that blast. It was something else she wasn't sure of but that kept him far enough away from her to which she was satisfied.

She'd caught something he'd muttered though she hadn't been paying much attention to that to know what it was he'd said but what ever it was it was enough to bring him to a standstill. She'd been more interested in anticipating his next move but she couldn't fathom it when he hurried past like suddenly she didn't exist anymore an unreadable look on his face. She didn't question it though as she was suddenly left on her own. Confused yes, she'd felt this was all part of some trick to make her lower her guard, but satisfied. Later, on some thought she realised that she had heard what he'd said.

'Vegeta?'

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He pulled back further into the shadows expression one of intense concentration watching as an unfortunate victim ran past. Short legs carried him at speeds unsurpassed and with such a desperation to it that in any other circumstances it would make for great comedy but now would have you look on breath held waiting for the inevitable as he was hunted down. Yet somehow a smile split across the face in the shadows. It seemed like things had worked out even better than expected.

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It was the strange quality of the scene before him that made him frown. It was different from what he had been expecting, from where he had strangely fallen asleep that much he was sure of. As for everything else well that was fuzzy at best, just like his current view. One thing was for sure he had not been looking into so much blue before. Fuzzy, sky like blue--

He suddenly realised what and who it was. 'It' was a stubborn, blue haired, blue eyed pain in the rear. He knew her name but did not use it even as it came to him.

"Woman will you get out of my face!" he muttered in miserly mannered tones and sure enough he found the colour almost sail out of his view to be filled with white and other colours as his environment became recognisable. Two fingers waved into his view catching his attention before stilling. "How many fingers?" she asked.

He frowned. What in the world...? "for your sake I won't answer that question."

"Hmph!" She scoffed half to herself. "What you don't seem to realise is that you have been left to me, you're the one in bed and you're the one who just got half his chest busted in..." she deviated suddenly talking to herself in softly curious tones "why you happen to still be alive is a mystery in itself...how could you have healed up so quickly...unless this species has amazing healing powers. It's either that or some fantastic technology I would like to get my hands on."

Her quiet voice didn't still escape his hearing but the word came to him easily. Regeneration tanks.

She regained her course soon enough though as sharply as if reminded of something. She turned to him with a look and tone that strangely lay between accusation and questioning bewilderment. "...it was your fault..."

"What?!" he questioned amazingly melding a tone of utter incredulity into one of bored disbelief. He was more than used to her deviations and her speaking in periods of times when she forgot her place, the latter of which he found to be a most worthy past time since she managed to give as good as she got, but right now he wasn't so playfully inclined. His initial thought being she had the audacity to say his current state was his fault however it turned out to be something quite different.

"My being here." she informed him "it's you...you asked for me...'kept calling my name' would be more accurate actually." she finished fixing him with a look that stated silently she wanted an explanation. He fumed frowning darkly at her words. Thing was he couldn't remember if he had or hadn't. "I was delirious..." he said stressing the last word accusatorily and he must have been...either that or stark raving mad to have done any such thing least of all to have called her in particular. "Don't try and place words that never existed in my mouth."

That's as close as he came to suggesting she must have been so desperate for attention from him that she would fabricate such a story out of the blue just to get it. Anger set alight in those blue eyes their colour darkening with the power of it and embarrassment coloured her cheeks. She'd been commanded to keep his forehead cool but now she avoided it right now because she was very sure it would have been slapped on. That would only get her into a whole heap of trouble. However there was one thing she remembered...

A huge metal clang sounded through the place so suddenly it made Vegeta jump as his head reacted unfavourably.

"Oh clumsy me. I am so sorry." she said with a barely hidden grin that refuted the very words she had just uttered. This was no help to his pounding headache, which she had been informed he would awaken with. That had been geared towards her making as little noise as possible but that little nugget of information had sure come in handy now. Neither was it any good for his foul temper which found him practically biting his words into the air "Go away!!...get out. Just disappear before I blast you into the next dimension myself!" His attempt to rise was foiled by the assault of sudden pain.

"Much as I would love to obey you...I can't. I am not to leave you're side. Call it a death order. I leave, I die." she informed him as she settled beside him placing the cloth over his forehead. His hand curled round hers suddenly like a vice making her jump slightly. "If you are not careful I might do the killing myself. Hear me?"

"Of course" she grated with superhuman meekness as she pulled away or tried to since she only managed it when she stilled and he let her go himself. "what you should be worried about is me beating you to it you miserly jerk. This time I won't miss." she muttered to her own hearing.

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Author notes; Okay I'm done. That's it reviewed and rewritten. I had help though ^__^. That's cause I found my former plot line (which made more sense and resulted in me calling myself a baka for not having made backup copies) so we're back on track now. However I've only found the plots for this chapter and the next. All the rest were ruined and totally lost. Anyways I hope this is a bit more understandable. I've checked all the words and tried to make them flow... and added the new scenes. If it still doesn't make sense please do tell me.