Disclaimer: Ummm… I don't Dragon Ball Z… And I also don't own the board game 'Trouble' either… sorry… I forgot to tell you all you all that last chapter… (Actually… I don't even know who does own 'Trouble'… let's just hope they're not reading this…~.~)

Trials and Tribulations

By Salsa Kitty

The DragonBall Saga

Chapter 10: To Find a DragonBall

Bulma and the Ox King were getting everything ready. Morning had come, and Bulma had briefed Vegeta on the situation. The Saiyan children, Goku and Chi Chi, were going to go along with them… though Vegeta didn't really see the point in why they had to come along; they were only kids, right? And it would hamper on any 'alone' time Vegeta would be able to get with Bulma.

Bulma had told him all about how Goku, otherwise known as Kakarott. She told him about how strong he was, and how his strength was even that to rival Vegeta's. Though, seeing how full of himself Vegeta was, he really wouldn't believe that some little kid was strong enough to take him on. She also told Vegeta that Kakarott and Chi Chi were both arranged Mates. Bardock had looked for the strongest female on Earth to Mate with his youngest son, after failing his first son, Raditz, he didn't want to make the same mistake again, and found a young prodigy, a girl named Chi Chi. Chi Chi was one of the strongest female fighters on Earth, not only was her strength unmatched by many of the male Saiyan elites, but her tactics at fighting were superb. Bardock had sent Kakarott to Earth to be schooled, and, having been disappointed with the choice of females on Vejiitasei, he had also sent Kakarott there to find a mate. Bulma also told Vegeta about the sequence of events that led Bulma and Kakarott on their first Dragon ball hunt together. Kakarott had a Dragon Ball in his procession, and she tracked it to him using her Dragon Radar. Ever since that time, they had been friends.

Vegeta had showered and dressed, and was getting ready for their departure. He could see Bulma and the Ox King talking outside form his window talking, and Kakarott and Chi Chi playfully sparring. Just like when Bulma and I were kids…Vegeta thought to himself. Bulma had her hair up in a tight braid down her back. She was wearing a white halter-top and brown shorts, with some hiking boots. He could see her back shoulder blades, and her long neck. Her aqua tail swayed in the light morning breeze. He wanted her… bad… Damn it! It was like he was going into a rut! Or was it? He looked at other females, but none of them had the effect on him like Bulma did… none of them at all. He put the tip of his index finger on the glass, and traced the out line of her body. "Bulma…" He remembered when they were together as children. He chuckled to himself. He had gotten his first boner back then by sneaking a peek at Bulma's naked body without her knowledge. He had gone into puberty early for a Saiyan, at 10, at the same time that he was sent away to hell, and his body was going through its painful change from boyhood to adulthood. He stopped reminiscing on his past, and picked up the duffle bag and made his way downstairs.

The bar portion of the Saloon was empty, but a mess. Broken glass was on the floor, and chairs and tables were turned over. The smell of Saiyan body odor and vomit went into Vegeta's unwanting nose. He remembered also what Bulma told him about the Ox King's bar. It was a place that mostly only Saiyans frequent. That was because most Saiyans and Humans found it hard to co-exist with each other.  Humans had their strength in technology, while the Saiyans strength was in brute force. So, many found that they would have rather be with there own kind, and it wasn't like any humans were going to fly out into the middle of the desert any time soon, so the Ox King felt that it would the perfect place to build his establishment. But he didn't know why he felt he had to give it that kind of name.

He walked outside, and met Bulma and company. "Hey 'Geta!" Bulma said cheerfully, "Okay everyone, Goku and Chi Chi, come over here, we need to check out the Radar." Everyone, including Vegeta, huddled in a circle. Bulma brought out an object that looked kind of like a stopwatch, and turned it on and adjusted its settings and a map of the continent that they were on popped up with 3 gold flashing dots. "Looky here! Three of the Dragon Balls are on this continent!" She adjusted it a little more, and the map zoomed in on the closest one. "We should get the one that's closest first. According to my radar, that's over here, about 300 kilometers west of here."

"Yeah!" Said Kakarott, "Me and Chi Chi'll take the flying Nimbus, you two can fly on your own." Kakarott ran out from the group, "OH FLYING NIMBUS!!!!" He called out into the sky, and a small white cloud came down and stopped in form of him. "Hey Chi Chi, let's go!" 

"Yeah!" Chi Chi ran to the Nimbus and jumped on, "Bye Daddy! I'll see you later!" Chi Chi called out to her father as they flew off.

Vegeta stood there, looking off at where Kakarott and Chi Chi once were, "Ummmmmmmm…. Normal people can't jump on clouds and fly away… or is there something you haven't told me about this planet yet?"

"No… There used to be a lot of flying Nimbuses back in the day, but now there are not that many left, and only the pure of heart can ride them," Bulma said, "And Goku and Chi Chi are the purest of heart you'll know."

"Bulma, I want you to have this, even if you can't use 'em, you can at least sell them, or something, anything to make your trip easier on you." The Ox King gave handed Bulma long rectangular box. She opened it and looked inside.

"Oh… I can't take these, they're too expensive!" Vegeta looked, and saw a bunch of capsules, Dino Caps.

"There's a Capsule house, and a car, and an air plane, and food, and other stuff too, just take it, I know you might not use some of them, but anything to make life easier on you and Chi Chi." The Ox King smiled.

"Thanks." She gave him a hug. "Okay, c'mon, 'Geta, let's go." They stepped away from the Ox King, and took off.

"HAVE A GOOD TRIP, YOU GUYS CAN COME BACK HERE ANY TIME!!!" The Ox King called after them.

"THANKS!" Bulma shouted and waved back to him.

~*~*~*~*~

Vegeta and Bulma flew side by side through the desert.  The heated air went through their hair, causing loose strands of Bulma's hair to come out of her tight braid and dance all over her face in the wind, and her braid flowed with the air stream… and she was beautiful. Or so Vegeta thought anyway.

"Vegeta… What are you looking at?" Bulma's sweet voice asked, "You're staring at me…"

Vegeta's breathing quickened… And, without any thought or hesitation, he flew close to her and cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply and passionately. He felt her respond. Her arms snaked there way around his neck, and her tongue danced with his, and he felt her moan deep in her throat…

"Vegeta…"

His hand went to her full breast and ran his thumb over her erect nipple…

"Vegeta…"

Bulma looked at him with a weird look on her face. "Vegeta? Are you okay? You were looking at me and it looked like you blanked out. Are you okay…?"

"I-I'm fine… Sorry, I-I just was starring off into space is all…" Goddammit! Vegeta thought to himself as he looked away from her, realizing that it was just his imagination, and that he had a hard on. What the fuck is wrong with me… it's like I'm about to cum in my pants just thinking about her… Of course, how can I not think about her when she right there, next to me…He groaned… why did life have to be this way? He knew Bulma liked him as a friend, not as a boy-friend. Not only that, but she was dating somebody else… although, not any more, but she might hook back up with him. Not if I can help it…That motherfucker! How dare he do that to her!?! And why would she do that to herself? Date a bastard that would publicly cheat on her? Vegeta looked at her again. She was checking out her Dragon Radar. Vegeta knew that they were probably close they had been flying for a while now.

"Over here, 'Geta, it must be in that small village…" Bulma pointed to a small parish in front of them in the rural wasteland. "Let's go down there and find out if we can get that Dragon Ball."

~*~*~*~*~

They landed to find Kakarott and Chi Chi with the Dragon Ball already in their hands. "Don't worry you guys, we already got it." Kakarott announced, "This nice man said that we could keep it if we really need it." An older human man, probably in his 60's came up to them.

"Yes…" He said, "Please, you can keep it, I found it one day outside the village, and I've had it everyday since."

"Are you sure?" Bulma asked, "Please, I must give you something in return…"

"No, no, no… That's quite all right," The man stepped back. Vegeta looked around the Village… Everyone was hiding. That was probably why he was giving the Dragon Ball to them so easily. The people were probably afraid of them. Why? Because they were Saiyans… Yes… Because we're Saiyans… Vegeta realized… Because we're not that far from the 'Cockalickin'' and some Saiyan assholes probably came over here and terrorized the villagers here…Yes… Vegeta could smell the smell of fear and death emanating from these people.

"But, it's not right for you just to give it to us and not get anything back…" Bulma said, "just a sec…" She took off her backpack and fumbled through it. "Here," she said, She went to him, grabbed his hand and placed some money in it, and she took the Dragon Ball. Then she whispered something to him. "Alright everyone, let's go." Everyone took off then, Kakarott and Chi Chi on the flying Nimbus, and Vegeta and Bulma flew by themselves.

After a while, Vegeta said something to her. "They were afraid of us."

"I know…" Bulma looked down, "So… you realized it too?"

"Yeah…"Vegeta looked at her, "It's because we're Saiyans isn't it?"

She nodded, "So many Saiyans harass humans, even though it's illegal to do so, 'cuz Saiyans are so much stronger physically then humans, so they bully them. It's really depressing, and there's nothing we can do about it…" Bulma looked kind of saddened about it.  

"What did you tell him?" Vegeta asked.

"Oh… nothing really, I told him that we wouldn't hurt him and the other villagers is all." Bulma answered. They flew quietly next to each other, heading for the next Dragon Ball, but they probably wouldn't make it there until nightfall. The next Dragon Ball was about 800 kilometers northwest from where they were now, and, although Vegeta could have probably made it there in just a matter of hours, he knew that Bulma couldn't do it.

"…You haven't improved much since we were kids…" Vegeta said out loud to her, "Why is that? Have you not been training, or what?"

"I haven't trained like I used to… but I don't think that that has anything to do with it…" her face grew kind of dark, "I… well… I had other things to do other then train, you know? I was always busy, so I didn't have much time to myself… and well, other things like that, but I don't think that I would have gotten any stronger or faster then I was when I was 8 anyway." She forced a smile on her face, "Why do you ask?"

Something wasn't right with her… something really wasn't right… like, she was holding something back form him, something that she didn't want him to know about, and she was doing her best to try and hide it. "I was just asking is all, you used to love to workout, and what? Now you don't?"

"No… I wish I could do the things I used to do as a kid… I wish… I wish sometimes that I still was a kid… and we could hang out and have adventures around the Vejiitasei Palace." Her face was really dim… thought, to the untrained eye, she would have looked just a cheery as she always was. "I… I sometimes wish that I never had to go to Earth…" Then she laughed, "Oh… just forget what I said, I'm just talking is all, talking about nothing."

Vegeta got the impression that there was something more, that she had felt that she had said too much. Well, he decided that now was probably not the best time to find out what it was that she was hiding form him. So instead, he thought of a better idea. "Hey Bulma…"

"Yeah?" She looked at Vegeta.

"You know, I can fly much faster then this, I could probably go faster then that damn cloud…"

"Yeah… so?" Vegeta flew next to her and picked her up in his arms. "Vegeta! What are you doing?"

"Just relax… I'll carry you as I fly, it'll be a hell of a lot faster."

"But, 'Ge—TTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Bulma screamed as Vegeta took off with out letting her finish. She scrambled to get more comfortable in his arms. She held onto his neck, as his hands held on to her securely, with one arm around her back, and the other around her legs. She found it hard to keep her eyes open because of the wind. Her Hair lashed about fiercely. But, with her nose this close to his chest she was able to smell his musky Saiyan sent. He smelled good.

Vegeta was holding her in his arms… and… he didn't want to let go. He wanted to kiss her; to touch her in ways he only fantasized about… he wanted her… Fuck!!! He was getting a hard on again. He could feel her breath on his chest, and it felt erotic. He wanted to hear her say his name in a fit of passion, but he knew that that wasn't going to happen. She held on tightly to his neck, and he liked it. He liked it a lot…

They kept flying all the way there, over mountains, forests, deserts, savannahs, grasslands, rivers, and lakes… following the coordinates on the Dragon Radar to the point of the next Dragon Ball, and with it, the fate of the universe…

~*~*~*~*~

They landed in the middle of a savannah. The hot humid air was thick with moisture. Kakarott and Chi Chi were busy looking for the Dragon Ball. "Bulma. Are you sure it's here?" Chi Chi gripped after looking for almost an hour.

"According to my radar, it should be in this proximity." Bulma announced.

"I found it!!!" Kakarott happily announced.

Everyone ran to where Kakarott was standing, he held up a shiny Dragon Ball in the air. "Hey, alright Goku!" He gave it over to Bulma, and she put it in the backpack with the others. "Okay, so we have 3 star ball, the 6 star ball, and the 1 star ball." Bulma told everyone. "Wow, this is going fast, who would've thought that we'd get 2 Dragon Balls in one day?"

Chi Chi yawned, "Bulma, I'm tired…"

"Yeah… me too…" Said Kakarott.

"Well, do you all want to rest here for tonight, the Ox King gave us a capsule house, so we can rest in there." Bulma went in to her bag, and took out the box that Chi Chi's dad had given her, opened it and took out a capsule. "Okay, watch out!" She threw the capsule and it landed with a plop, and it stayed there for a second before it exploded into a cloud of pink smoke before revealing a large dome house.

"Yeah!" Chi Chi and Kakarott said in unison.

"I'll cook dinner, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving!" Chi Chi said and ran into the house, with Kakarott following after her.

Bulma smiled. "Chi Chi's a really good cook, I'm looking forward to dinner." She looked at Vegeta, and it looked like she was about to say something, but then, she stepped away from him, and looked up at the sky. "Oh… Shit…"

"What is it?" Vegeta asked.

"Yamacha…" She said, shacking her head.

Author's notes: Ohhhh…. Another shit chapter… I know you all say that my Chapters are good and stuff, but I still think they're shit… Oh well, I guess every author is there own best critic, right? Hehe, a clif hanger huh, oh oh oh, I just love those, but it's all right, I'm gonna update two chapters at once! So that means that my reviewer responses will be next Chapter, so until then, read and review!!!!!