*Author's Note: I decided that putting up an additional chapter would be good for those who really like the story, so I went ahead with this chapter. The guards at Bulma's room are characters I have created and the first one, Sukuwa, is named in this chapter. The other is named later for some reason (most likely because I didn't expect to name them at all). Anyway, comments, questions, praise--let me know! ^_^
Chapter 3
Vegita was not entirely too pleased that his father had sent for him just as he finished his afternoon training. He had really gotten into it today, feeling good about messing with the Princess of Capsule. The Prince had an idea why the soldiers around the castle were laughing about her arrival. She was odd-looking by Saiyajin standards, and he imagined the defiant look on her face was obvious to everyone. Vegita wasn't sure if he wanted to keep someone like her around, even if she could amuse him. All of his people were probably wondering the same thing he had: what would an heir from her look like. Most likely ridiculous and lacking the power and strength that all Vegitas possessed. However, it didn't seem like the Prince's father was concerned about that.
"What did you think of the Princess of Capsule?" King Vegita asked, fingers folded together in his lap. There was a smirk on his face surrounded by the dark beard he kept on his face.
Vegita scowled, as he always did at his father when he interfered in his life. "None of your business," he snapped.
"What do you mean none of my business?" the King asked, narrowing his eyes. "If you wish to get rid of this woman, then I want to know."
"I'm not sure yet," Vegita said with a shrug. "She is quite weak and insolent."
"It is not as if you need to deal with the woman for the rest of your life," King Vegita said. "Once she gets you an heir, you can be done with her. By then we will have full control of Capsule as it will be a part of our empire."
Vegita quirked an eyebrow. "Capsule has consented to that?" he asked, slightly interested.
"The King of Capsule is old and wishes to have his kingdom well protected in his death," the King explained. "I assured him that as part of the Saiyajin empire, it would never come to harm."
"Hmph, unless we sell it to someone who wants to buy the stupid kingdom," Vegita replied, pondering something.
"Yes," his father agreed with a nod. "However, the King of Capsule doesn't need to worry about that."
"If that's all you need to tell me, I'd like to go eat," Vegita said impatiently. He finished thinking about something quite quick.
"The woman's looks..." the King went on as if his son hadn't said anything.
"What about them?"
"What do you think about them?"
"She looks peculiar," Vegita said, scowling more at the type of questions he was asking now.
"I suppose you wonder how your heir will look, hmm?"
Vegita shrugged, although his response was affirmative.
"The blood of Vegita is strong," the elder Saiyajin said proudly. "You are becoming the strongest Vegita yet and regardless of who you mate with, your offspring will be stronger still. Despite what he looks like, if his strength is tapped, no one will oppose him."
"Hmph," Vegita said, turning his back on his father. "This talk is a waste of time. There is only a small chance I will keep this woman as my mate. So, if you don't mind, I would like to do something important like get some food in my stomach."
The King laughed, causing the Prince to ball up his fists. He hated when people didn't take him seriously, and he knew his father hardly ever did. Someday Vegita promised to make him do so.
"You must have some kind of interest in her," the King teased. "I know you are young, Ouji; you would have already stormed in here outraged that I had arranged such a woman to be your mate."
Vegita decided to ignore him and take his last comment as his final one. He shoved open the throne room doors and glared ahead of him. Soldiers standing guard at the doors saluted him, but stepped back cautiously when they saw his terrible glower. The Prince paid nothing any attention. His father always got under his skin, especially as of late. However, the Prince planned to get him some day.
"Kusotare me..." Vegita muttered to himself. Hopefully the Prince would be calmer by the time he had eaten something.
***
Bulma was thoroughly surprised at the amount of food she had been brought when she had asked for something to eat. Obviously Saiyajins never knew the concept of being on a diet or eating salads. She had eaten whatever she could that wasn't half-cooked, some sort of animal she couldn't distinguish, or some sort of other food she didn't recognize. This meant she didn't eat the majority of the food which had aroused some kind of contempt among the Saiyajins, especially the two guarding her door. They couldn't believe she could survive off such a small amount of food. Bulma was a little annoyed by their astonishment, but she quickly got over it. She was beginning to think that no matter what she did, she was going to end up losing in the end. The Princess had tried once to leave her room when she realized that the two guards had left momentarily, but she found that each end of the hall there were two guards stationed. It discouraged her some, but she hadn't given up yet. She was
a genius after all.
"Now how can I get out of here?" Bulma wondered, sitting Indian-style on her bed. It was large and quite comfortable, but the Princess didn't like being held anywhere against her will.
She looked up at the high ceiling with the light fixture hanging down from the middle of it. Then she looked at the wall ahead of her with her chests of unpacked items stacked up nearly to the ceiling. At first she wondered how they could have stacked them so high, but that soon lost her interest. To the left of her luggage was a dresser with a mirror. It was actually Bulma's; the Saiyajins didn't provide one in her room. On the other side of the chests was a large closet, large enough to hide about two full-grown Saiyajins. It would most likely fit everything Bulma had brought, but she didn't think she had a great need to put away any of her things. The short one could tell her any day now that he did not want her and therefore was calling for her immediate disposal.
"I shouldn't have to die..." Bulma said, falling back on the bed and looking up at the ceiling again. "I deserve to find love and be happy!" She sighed and almost wished that she had tried harder to make things work with Yamcha. He might have upset her several times, but he did care about her, and he would never try to kill her.
Bulma thought about sleeping, but she couldn't sleep with such things on her mind. There was a possibility she'd never see her friends again. She had known that when she left her castle, but it never sunk it until that moment. If she didn't cooperate with the Saiyajins, she might cause the destruction of her homeland. Still, Bulma wasn't the one to sit around and let someone else decide her fate.
"I have to get out of here, if only for a moment," she said to herself. She frowned and thought as hard as she could. Soon she kept going over what she had in her room to use.
*Bed... window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed... window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed.. .window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed... window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed.... window... dresser... luggage... closet... Closet? Window? Lamp? Ah, ha!*
Bulma sat up and snapped her fingers. Her idea was dependent on whether the Saiyajins were slightly stupid. They were clever enough to plan attacks on the most advanced kingdoms and survive. It was a long shot, but she decided it was better than nothing.
Bulma went over to the desk next to her bed and unplugged the lamp. She carried it with her to the window. Unfortunately, it wasn't a window that could open, which had annoyed her when she had first arrived. She held the lamp up and tried to determine how large of a hole she could make into the glass. Bulma smirked and set the lamp aside for a moment. She went over to the closet and opened its doors so it would be ready for her. Finally she went over to her door and locked it. She realized the guards had a key to her room, but it would take them at least a few seconds to unlock it.
"Well, let's give this a go," Bulma said, shrugging her shoulders. She walked back over to the window and picked up the lamp. "Hope it works!"
Bulma swung back her arm and threw the lamp at the window. It broke easily and created a large hole in it. She quickly broke a little of the glass around the hole so it would seem as if she could fit through it. Already she could hear the guards trying to unlock her door, so she ran over to the closet and hid. She made sure that she didn't close the doors the whole way so that she could see the Saiyajins as they came in, and so she wouldn't suffocate.
It wasn't long before her door opened with a great bang and she saw the two Saiyajin guards pass by her closet. "Ah! The woman must have went out the window!" one of the guards said.
The other guard must have looked down, Bulma figured. "It looks like she threw the lamp out of here," he said. "There's a ledge here she could have climbed out on."
"Are you sure that weak woman would do that?"
"She's not here, is she?"
There a long pause after that, making Bulma wonder if they were going to search the room. She heard footsteps coming toward the closet. Bulma panicked and ran over to a small compartment in the back of the closet. She heard the doors being flung open and another pause. The Princess held her breath and prayed that they wouldn't find her.
"She's not in here!" the first guard said finally. Obviously he didn't think that Bulma could fit into the little compartment. It was a tight fit and increasingly giving her less and less air to breathe.
"Come on, we've got to find her before Vegita-Ouji finds out she's gone!" the second one said, making loud steps as he ran out of the room. Hurried steps followed his.
Bulma let out a breath and crawled out of the compartment. She went up to the closet doors and peaked out of them slowly. She heard sounds of men running past her door and shouts of where they were going to search. The sound began to fade from the door to her room, so she carefully got out of the closet. The door was left open, so the Princess dashed to the other side of it just in case someone happened to pass by. She waited by the door, wondering if anyone would come back into the room. After a minute of no sign of anyone returning, Bulma cautiously peeked her head from the side of the door and looked down the hall. She didn't see anyone presently.
"Hmm..." Bulma said, standing in the doorway and looking both ways in the hall. She still didn't catch a sign of anyone. "No time like the present!"
Bulma ran down the hall to her right, checking behind her every few seconds. She came to an intersection of another hall and nearly ran into a guard. Quickly she ducked behind a desk in the hall and waited for him to pass. Bulma took a look both ways and took a left in the next hall. The Princess smiled to herself and wondered where she was actually going to go. She wasn't sure yet, but she was sure that she wasn't going to stop now.
***
"What??" Kuririn said, nearly falling out of his chair. His fellow knights at the table shared his surprise. "Your Majesty, how can you agree to such a thing??"
"I believe this will benefit Capsule more so than losing about a thousand of our men in battle," King Briefs said at the head of the long table. "The Saiyajins are very powerful people."
"We can't just let them push us around!" Yamcha said angrily. "You can't trust them for a second!"
For once Gokuu wasn't sleeping at one of the royal meetings. "We can trust them as long as Bulma...I mean, the Princess is with them," he said unnerved. "She would never let anything happen to Capsule."
"I think you're being awfully naive, Sir Son," a knight near the end of the table said. "The Saiyajins could keep the Princess alive just long enough to get their hands on our kingdom. Then when we are convinced that they have agreed to all terms of the alliance, they'll get rid of the Princess and slowly take over Capsule!"
"I agree," Kuririn said, folding his arms over his chest. "They can't be trusted."
"Sire, can't we send someone to Vegita to keep an eye on the Princess and see what's going on?" Gokuu asked.
"We haven't established anything like that yet," the King said, shaking his head. "The Saiyajins don't like other type of people in their home kingdom without good reason for being there."
"What other reason would be better than looking after Bul--I mean, the Princess?" Yamcha said. He clenched his fists. "I knew it was a bad idea to let her go there! They'll use her to get Capsule and get rid of her once they do!"
"Well, I am going to speak with King Vegita tomorrow to see how things are going," King Briefs said. "I will speak to him about having someone watch over Bulma. Now realize that if we send someone to Vegita, they may send someone here."
"For what?" another knight asked indignantly. "Once we let one Saiyajin stay here, more will start coming!"
"Let's not get hasty," the King said rising. His knights raised in accordance. "For now, we need to keep this alliance with the Saiyajins, even if it may seem like a farce." The King departed and his knights waited until he had left to talk among themselves.
"I hope that we can do something before Bulma gets into trouble," Kuririn said, looking to Gokuu and Yamcha. Yamcha nodded and for once Gokuu had a grave appearance.
"Daijoubu yo," Gokuu said, his brows coming together like they always did when he was talking seriously. "Nothing's going to happen to Bulma. I'll make sure of it."
***
"What??" Vegita shouted. No sooner had he finished his meal did he find out about the Princess. "What do you mean she's gone??"
"I-I-I don't know, Vegita-Ouji..." a soldier in the hall stammered. "Sukuwa was the one who ordered every one on this floor to search..."
"Grr!" Vegita said, waving his hand to get the soldier out of his face. He left without hesitation. "How the hell could a weak woman like that manage to slip by like that??"
The Prince went down the hall, wondering where he would find the woman, especially since he knew nothing about her. It would be the icing on the cake if his father found out about it. He would never be able to live it down. Several soldiers passed him, looking embarrassed and frantic. That made him even angrier; how could the woman causing him so much trouble all ready? When he found out where the woman was he was to wring her little neck.
Vegita was about to turn into another hall to his right when he suddenly he sensed something. *What the hell...?* he thought. *Has that woman been this way? I feel as though she has...but why?*
The Prince finally realized that there was a smell of something in the air. *Perfume? It must be that woman's... I guess I didn't notice it before. Hmm, it seems there is a way to find her after all.*
The smell of the fragrance lead Vegita to turn to the left instead and make much more deliberate steps. It seemed that the woman had done a great deal of traveling. He was thoroughly surprised that he was led to one of the staircases to the next floor. There were usually two guards standing by it, but obviously they had gone in search of the woman. Vegita frowned, wondering why they would leave their post and allow the woman to have access to the next floor. No sooner did he wonder did the two assigned guards return. They saluted to Vegita, but he scowled at them.
"Why have you two left this post?" the Prince demanded.
"We heard something," one of the guards said, standing rigidly at attention.
"Heard something?" Vegita raised a brow.
"It sounded like a woman," the other guard said in the same position as the other.
Vegita's scowl deepened. "Don't move from this post again unless instructed otherwise," he said, walking up the stairs.
"H-Hai, Vegita-Ouji!"
The Prince went up the stairs slowly, knowing that he was still in the two guards' view though they had their backs to each other. Once he was sure that no one was watching him, he began to quicken his pace. The scent of her perfume had dissipated, so Vegita began to check all the rooms on the left side. None of them were terribly huge rooms, so he didn't have much area to inspect. He looked in every conceivable place he could think the woman would hide. As he searched the last room to the left of the stairs' beginning , he began to get even more angry. He cursed the woman, and he cursed the guards that allowed her to slip by. Either he had underestimated her intelligence, or he had put too much faith into the soldiers around the castle. The latter was easier to accept than the other.
Vegita then began on the other side of rooms, doing the same kind of inspection like before. This time, however, the Prince was less careful. He threw around items in the room, almost ruining most of them. He was nearly done looking through all the rooms when he came to a particular room with the suspicious scent of the Princess returning. It calmed him a bit because he believed he had finally found her. As he checked the room, he couldn't find anything. He was beginning to think he missed the girl when he eyed the open window. Vegita knew Bulma had to be the one who opened it.
"...the hell's going on...?" Vegita said, looking around the open window. Attached the outside ledge was a rope of some kind made out of a sheet. "Now I'm really getting mad." He easily jumped out of the window and landed on the courtyard below. "Wait until I find her..."
***
Bulma was thoroughly surprised for two reasons. The first reason was the fact that she had managed to get by all the Saiyajins as far as she had. In actuality, although she considered herself quite clever, she never dreamed she would get this far without getting caught. Bulma had figured she'd get caught quickly and be thrown back into her room before Vegita would learn about it. At the rate she was going, she would probably have the little Prince throwing a temper tantrum. The second reason she was surprised was the fact that among the gloomy castle of Vegita, she found something absolutely gorgeous. While dashing through the courtyard she had stumbled onto a pair of large iron gates. First, she had thought they led to a dungeon or something, but upon a closer examination, she discovered they were the entrance to an exquisite garden. Luckily the doors went locked and Bulma was able to explore the grounds. It contained flowers and greenery she had never seen before, and it
all took her breath away. Even the garden in Capsule weren't so large and lovely. Some of the shrubs were even shaped like arches, others like domes; one of the shrubs was even shaped like a bench. The Princess thought it were just for display and it couldn't really support a person, but as she decided to give it a try, she found that it could support her and was extremely comfortable. She sat there amazed that such a place existed in Vegita. For a moment she wondered if it were some kind of illusion and feared someone were going to jump out of the bushes and attack her. However, as she sat there in tranquil bliss for several minutes, her fear disappeared. In fact, she forgot about all the other horrible things that troubled her currently about Vegita. She was content to sit back, smell the sweet aroma of the flowers around her, and enjoy the sights.
The Prince was finally drawing nearer to the location of the Princess, finding her trail easy to follow outside. He was surprised that the guards stationed around the courtyard didn't get her, but her smell traveled all throughout the courtyard. Vegita hated to admit, but he was starting to like the smell. He didn't know why, but it reminded him of something pleasant, but he couldn't think of what. That made him a little confused and irritated, neither of which he liked to be. Vegita ignored those feelings and concentrated on finding the woman that came into his life for about four hours and had already caused so much trouble. Currently, he wondered if he could afford to keep her around for any more time.
Vegita stopped when he reached the gates of the Royal Garden. He had never wanted to go into such a place. In fact, the Prince wasn't really sure why it was on the grounds of the castle in the first place. It was a waste of space and had no use to him. That made it a perfect place to find the Princess of Capsule. A stupid woman like her surely would enjoy a place like that. He walked into the garden, frowning at the lavish arrangement of flowers and all the detail that had been put into such a frivolous place. He was surprised with the various smells of the plants around him that he could still strongly smell the Princess. She was somewhere in the middle of the garden, most likely not moving very much. He decided to waste no time and make his stay in the place as little as possible. The Prince's swift movements through the garden got him to the middle of the garden in two minutes. Vegita scanned the area, that had arch-shaped shrubs arranged in fashion much like he had seen
in churches other kingdoms so often had. There were five of them in all and through the third one, he found the Princess sitting on shrub shaped liked a bench.
Vegita hesitated approaching her at first, temporarily stunned by the sight of her. The sunlight seemed to only touch the Princess's smiling face. Her blue eyes were glittering in the light and her indigo hair seemed to glow. Vegita had never thought anyone or anything as beautiful, but now he could truthfully say that he had witnessed beauty. Instead of bashing her head in like he had previously felt, he felt compelled to do things he hadn't ever before. For a brief second he felt afraid of these foreign and even took a step back. Soon he forced the feeling away and stealthy approached Bulma, ignoring the way she looked. He concentrated on what a fool she was making out of him, not her appearance.
Bulma inhaled the wonderful smell of the flowers she had picked up from the ground and nearly pressed them into her face. By now she had lost herself in her own little world, relieved of all of her problems. She didn't even consider herself a princess any more. Bulma was a normal girl, able to be selfish and indulgent without having to worry how it would affect her people. Bulma was free to make her own decisions, free to pursue her own dreams, free to find love...
A twig snapped, suddenly knocking Bulma out of fantasy. "What the" she managed to say before being startled by the sight of the Saiyajin no Ouji. She stood up defensively and wondered if she should try to run.
"What are you doing here?" Vegita said in a calmer voice than he looked. His face was twisted into ferocious sneer like some kind of wild animal.
"I...I needed some fresh air," Bulma said, wondering if it were such a wise thing to do now. "My window doesn't...open..."
Vegita closed his eyes and released a chuckle. "I can't believe I let a woman like you live," he said, clenching his fists. He took another step toward her. "Well, I'm not going to be the laughingstock of the Vegita lineage; I'm going to do what I should have done when I first met you."
"N-N-Now wait a minute!" Bulma cried as Vegita came closer and closer to her. She stepped back a step each time he made one forward. "It's not like I committed a crime!"
"I can kill anyone in Vegita with as little of a reason as they looked at me funny." He continued making steps toward her.
"Well, if you're going to kill me," Bulma said, looking behind her and seeing that she were about to back right into a wall of shrubs, "at least tell me why you have such a beautiful garden in such a dismal place."
Vegita paused for a moment. "I have no idea," he said, rolling his eyes over their surroundings. "Maybe some of the other Vegitas were softer than the present-day ones."
"So, you don't really care for this piece of land?" Bulma asked, relieved he had stopped moving.
"Not particularly," Vegita said shrugging.
"Well...if you don't kill me...could I have this garden?" Bulma knew her request was mostly likely going to be denied, but she decided it was worth a shot. If she was going to be killed, she had nothing to lose. If she lived, at least she could draw some enjoyment from owning such a beautiful place.
Vegita was truly amused now. "Even if I don't kill you," he laughed, "why would I give you anything? There's little you could give me."
"Well, I would be less likely to cause you trouble," Bulma said, buying her time. The longer she kept him talking, the longer she would have to live.
"I could achieve the same result by killing you."
"Giving me this worthless area would be a great deal less of work and time."
"Oh, noI can kill you quite quickly and easily...and love every minute of it."
Bulma swallowed, seeing the malicious look on the Prince's face. "Well, at least allow me to have a last request, or is that another unheard of thing among Saiyajins?" she said, feigning bravery. The Prince was once again amused by this.
"A last request?" he repeated. A grin spread across his face. "Let's hear it."
"Kill me while I'm sleeping," Bulma said, taking in a deep breath. "I know you can do it quickly, so if you do it while I'm sleeping, I won't feel much."
"Hmph, maybe I should make you suffer with a slow and painful death," Vegita said. "At any rate, how do I know you'll sleep tonight? If you stay awake all night then I'll never have a chance to kill you."
"Believe me," Bulma said, "after this day, I'll be surprised if I'll ever wake up again...or would want to."
Vegita laughed, thinking it were a crazy idea, but actually intrigued by her silly whims. "Fine, woman," he agreed. "If you don't sleep tonight, it will be your own misfortune. It will be my pleasure, though, to kill you whether you're awake or not."
Bulma nodded and wiped her forehead. "I'm sure that will make me sleep all the better tonight..." she murmured.
"What a strange woman..." Vegita said quietly to himself.
Chapter 3
Vegita was not entirely too pleased that his father had sent for him just as he finished his afternoon training. He had really gotten into it today, feeling good about messing with the Princess of Capsule. The Prince had an idea why the soldiers around the castle were laughing about her arrival. She was odd-looking by Saiyajin standards, and he imagined the defiant look on her face was obvious to everyone. Vegita wasn't sure if he wanted to keep someone like her around, even if she could amuse him. All of his people were probably wondering the same thing he had: what would an heir from her look like. Most likely ridiculous and lacking the power and strength that all Vegitas possessed. However, it didn't seem like the Prince's father was concerned about that.
"What did you think of the Princess of Capsule?" King Vegita asked, fingers folded together in his lap. There was a smirk on his face surrounded by the dark beard he kept on his face.
Vegita scowled, as he always did at his father when he interfered in his life. "None of your business," he snapped.
"What do you mean none of my business?" the King asked, narrowing his eyes. "If you wish to get rid of this woman, then I want to know."
"I'm not sure yet," Vegita said with a shrug. "She is quite weak and insolent."
"It is not as if you need to deal with the woman for the rest of your life," King Vegita said. "Once she gets you an heir, you can be done with her. By then we will have full control of Capsule as it will be a part of our empire."
Vegita quirked an eyebrow. "Capsule has consented to that?" he asked, slightly interested.
"The King of Capsule is old and wishes to have his kingdom well protected in his death," the King explained. "I assured him that as part of the Saiyajin empire, it would never come to harm."
"Hmph, unless we sell it to someone who wants to buy the stupid kingdom," Vegita replied, pondering something.
"Yes," his father agreed with a nod. "However, the King of Capsule doesn't need to worry about that."
"If that's all you need to tell me, I'd like to go eat," Vegita said impatiently. He finished thinking about something quite quick.
"The woman's looks..." the King went on as if his son hadn't said anything.
"What about them?"
"What do you think about them?"
"She looks peculiar," Vegita said, scowling more at the type of questions he was asking now.
"I suppose you wonder how your heir will look, hmm?"
Vegita shrugged, although his response was affirmative.
"The blood of Vegita is strong," the elder Saiyajin said proudly. "You are becoming the strongest Vegita yet and regardless of who you mate with, your offspring will be stronger still. Despite what he looks like, if his strength is tapped, no one will oppose him."
"Hmph," Vegita said, turning his back on his father. "This talk is a waste of time. There is only a small chance I will keep this woman as my mate. So, if you don't mind, I would like to do something important like get some food in my stomach."
The King laughed, causing the Prince to ball up his fists. He hated when people didn't take him seriously, and he knew his father hardly ever did. Someday Vegita promised to make him do so.
"You must have some kind of interest in her," the King teased. "I know you are young, Ouji; you would have already stormed in here outraged that I had arranged such a woman to be your mate."
Vegita decided to ignore him and take his last comment as his final one. He shoved open the throne room doors and glared ahead of him. Soldiers standing guard at the doors saluted him, but stepped back cautiously when they saw his terrible glower. The Prince paid nothing any attention. His father always got under his skin, especially as of late. However, the Prince planned to get him some day.
"Kusotare me..." Vegita muttered to himself. Hopefully the Prince would be calmer by the time he had eaten something.
***
Bulma was thoroughly surprised at the amount of food she had been brought when she had asked for something to eat. Obviously Saiyajins never knew the concept of being on a diet or eating salads. She had eaten whatever she could that wasn't half-cooked, some sort of animal she couldn't distinguish, or some sort of other food she didn't recognize. This meant she didn't eat the majority of the food which had aroused some kind of contempt among the Saiyajins, especially the two guarding her door. They couldn't believe she could survive off such a small amount of food. Bulma was a little annoyed by their astonishment, but she quickly got over it. She was beginning to think that no matter what she did, she was going to end up losing in the end. The Princess had tried once to leave her room when she realized that the two guards had left momentarily, but she found that each end of the hall there were two guards stationed. It discouraged her some, but she hadn't given up yet. She was
a genius after all.
"Now how can I get out of here?" Bulma wondered, sitting Indian-style on her bed. It was large and quite comfortable, but the Princess didn't like being held anywhere against her will.
She looked up at the high ceiling with the light fixture hanging down from the middle of it. Then she looked at the wall ahead of her with her chests of unpacked items stacked up nearly to the ceiling. At first she wondered how they could have stacked them so high, but that soon lost her interest. To the left of her luggage was a dresser with a mirror. It was actually Bulma's; the Saiyajins didn't provide one in her room. On the other side of the chests was a large closet, large enough to hide about two full-grown Saiyajins. It would most likely fit everything Bulma had brought, but she didn't think she had a great need to put away any of her things. The short one could tell her any day now that he did not want her and therefore was calling for her immediate disposal.
"I shouldn't have to die..." Bulma said, falling back on the bed and looking up at the ceiling again. "I deserve to find love and be happy!" She sighed and almost wished that she had tried harder to make things work with Yamcha. He might have upset her several times, but he did care about her, and he would never try to kill her.
Bulma thought about sleeping, but she couldn't sleep with such things on her mind. There was a possibility she'd never see her friends again. She had known that when she left her castle, but it never sunk it until that moment. If she didn't cooperate with the Saiyajins, she might cause the destruction of her homeland. Still, Bulma wasn't the one to sit around and let someone else decide her fate.
"I have to get out of here, if only for a moment," she said to herself. She frowned and thought as hard as she could. Soon she kept going over what she had in her room to use.
*Bed... window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed... window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed.. .window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed... window... dresser... luggage... closet... desk... lamp... Bed.... window... dresser... luggage... closet... Closet? Window? Lamp? Ah, ha!*
Bulma sat up and snapped her fingers. Her idea was dependent on whether the Saiyajins were slightly stupid. They were clever enough to plan attacks on the most advanced kingdoms and survive. It was a long shot, but she decided it was better than nothing.
Bulma went over to the desk next to her bed and unplugged the lamp. She carried it with her to the window. Unfortunately, it wasn't a window that could open, which had annoyed her when she had first arrived. She held the lamp up and tried to determine how large of a hole she could make into the glass. Bulma smirked and set the lamp aside for a moment. She went over to the closet and opened its doors so it would be ready for her. Finally she went over to her door and locked it. She realized the guards had a key to her room, but it would take them at least a few seconds to unlock it.
"Well, let's give this a go," Bulma said, shrugging her shoulders. She walked back over to the window and picked up the lamp. "Hope it works!"
Bulma swung back her arm and threw the lamp at the window. It broke easily and created a large hole in it. She quickly broke a little of the glass around the hole so it would seem as if she could fit through it. Already she could hear the guards trying to unlock her door, so she ran over to the closet and hid. She made sure that she didn't close the doors the whole way so that she could see the Saiyajins as they came in, and so she wouldn't suffocate.
It wasn't long before her door opened with a great bang and she saw the two Saiyajin guards pass by her closet. "Ah! The woman must have went out the window!" one of the guards said.
The other guard must have looked down, Bulma figured. "It looks like she threw the lamp out of here," he said. "There's a ledge here she could have climbed out on."
"Are you sure that weak woman would do that?"
"She's not here, is she?"
There a long pause after that, making Bulma wonder if they were going to search the room. She heard footsteps coming toward the closet. Bulma panicked and ran over to a small compartment in the back of the closet. She heard the doors being flung open and another pause. The Princess held her breath and prayed that they wouldn't find her.
"She's not in here!" the first guard said finally. Obviously he didn't think that Bulma could fit into the little compartment. It was a tight fit and increasingly giving her less and less air to breathe.
"Come on, we've got to find her before Vegita-Ouji finds out she's gone!" the second one said, making loud steps as he ran out of the room. Hurried steps followed his.
Bulma let out a breath and crawled out of the compartment. She went up to the closet doors and peaked out of them slowly. She heard sounds of men running past her door and shouts of where they were going to search. The sound began to fade from the door to her room, so she carefully got out of the closet. The door was left open, so the Princess dashed to the other side of it just in case someone happened to pass by. She waited by the door, wondering if anyone would come back into the room. After a minute of no sign of anyone returning, Bulma cautiously peeked her head from the side of the door and looked down the hall. She didn't see anyone presently.
"Hmm..." Bulma said, standing in the doorway and looking both ways in the hall. She still didn't catch a sign of anyone. "No time like the present!"
Bulma ran down the hall to her right, checking behind her every few seconds. She came to an intersection of another hall and nearly ran into a guard. Quickly she ducked behind a desk in the hall and waited for him to pass. Bulma took a look both ways and took a left in the next hall. The Princess smiled to herself and wondered where she was actually going to go. She wasn't sure yet, but she was sure that she wasn't going to stop now.
***
"What??" Kuririn said, nearly falling out of his chair. His fellow knights at the table shared his surprise. "Your Majesty, how can you agree to such a thing??"
"I believe this will benefit Capsule more so than losing about a thousand of our men in battle," King Briefs said at the head of the long table. "The Saiyajins are very powerful people."
"We can't just let them push us around!" Yamcha said angrily. "You can't trust them for a second!"
For once Gokuu wasn't sleeping at one of the royal meetings. "We can trust them as long as Bulma...I mean, the Princess is with them," he said unnerved. "She would never let anything happen to Capsule."
"I think you're being awfully naive, Sir Son," a knight near the end of the table said. "The Saiyajins could keep the Princess alive just long enough to get their hands on our kingdom. Then when we are convinced that they have agreed to all terms of the alliance, they'll get rid of the Princess and slowly take over Capsule!"
"I agree," Kuririn said, folding his arms over his chest. "They can't be trusted."
"Sire, can't we send someone to Vegita to keep an eye on the Princess and see what's going on?" Gokuu asked.
"We haven't established anything like that yet," the King said, shaking his head. "The Saiyajins don't like other type of people in their home kingdom without good reason for being there."
"What other reason would be better than looking after Bul--I mean, the Princess?" Yamcha said. He clenched his fists. "I knew it was a bad idea to let her go there! They'll use her to get Capsule and get rid of her once they do!"
"Well, I am going to speak with King Vegita tomorrow to see how things are going," King Briefs said. "I will speak to him about having someone watch over Bulma. Now realize that if we send someone to Vegita, they may send someone here."
"For what?" another knight asked indignantly. "Once we let one Saiyajin stay here, more will start coming!"
"Let's not get hasty," the King said rising. His knights raised in accordance. "For now, we need to keep this alliance with the Saiyajins, even if it may seem like a farce." The King departed and his knights waited until he had left to talk among themselves.
"I hope that we can do something before Bulma gets into trouble," Kuririn said, looking to Gokuu and Yamcha. Yamcha nodded and for once Gokuu had a grave appearance.
"Daijoubu yo," Gokuu said, his brows coming together like they always did when he was talking seriously. "Nothing's going to happen to Bulma. I'll make sure of it."
***
"What??" Vegita shouted. No sooner had he finished his meal did he find out about the Princess. "What do you mean she's gone??"
"I-I-I don't know, Vegita-Ouji..." a soldier in the hall stammered. "Sukuwa was the one who ordered every one on this floor to search..."
"Grr!" Vegita said, waving his hand to get the soldier out of his face. He left without hesitation. "How the hell could a weak woman like that manage to slip by like that??"
The Prince went down the hall, wondering where he would find the woman, especially since he knew nothing about her. It would be the icing on the cake if his father found out about it. He would never be able to live it down. Several soldiers passed him, looking embarrassed and frantic. That made him even angrier; how could the woman causing him so much trouble all ready? When he found out where the woman was he was to wring her little neck.
Vegita was about to turn into another hall to his right when he suddenly he sensed something. *What the hell...?* he thought. *Has that woman been this way? I feel as though she has...but why?*
The Prince finally realized that there was a smell of something in the air. *Perfume? It must be that woman's... I guess I didn't notice it before. Hmm, it seems there is a way to find her after all.*
The smell of the fragrance lead Vegita to turn to the left instead and make much more deliberate steps. It seemed that the woman had done a great deal of traveling. He was thoroughly surprised that he was led to one of the staircases to the next floor. There were usually two guards standing by it, but obviously they had gone in search of the woman. Vegita frowned, wondering why they would leave their post and allow the woman to have access to the next floor. No sooner did he wonder did the two assigned guards return. They saluted to Vegita, but he scowled at them.
"Why have you two left this post?" the Prince demanded.
"We heard something," one of the guards said, standing rigidly at attention.
"Heard something?" Vegita raised a brow.
"It sounded like a woman," the other guard said in the same position as the other.
Vegita's scowl deepened. "Don't move from this post again unless instructed otherwise," he said, walking up the stairs.
"H-Hai, Vegita-Ouji!"
The Prince went up the stairs slowly, knowing that he was still in the two guards' view though they had their backs to each other. Once he was sure that no one was watching him, he began to quicken his pace. The scent of her perfume had dissipated, so Vegita began to check all the rooms on the left side. None of them were terribly huge rooms, so he didn't have much area to inspect. He looked in every conceivable place he could think the woman would hide. As he searched the last room to the left of the stairs' beginning , he began to get even more angry. He cursed the woman, and he cursed the guards that allowed her to slip by. Either he had underestimated her intelligence, or he had put too much faith into the soldiers around the castle. The latter was easier to accept than the other.
Vegita then began on the other side of rooms, doing the same kind of inspection like before. This time, however, the Prince was less careful. He threw around items in the room, almost ruining most of them. He was nearly done looking through all the rooms when he came to a particular room with the suspicious scent of the Princess returning. It calmed him a bit because he believed he had finally found her. As he checked the room, he couldn't find anything. He was beginning to think he missed the girl when he eyed the open window. Vegita knew Bulma had to be the one who opened it.
"...the hell's going on...?" Vegita said, looking around the open window. Attached the outside ledge was a rope of some kind made out of a sheet. "Now I'm really getting mad." He easily jumped out of the window and landed on the courtyard below. "Wait until I find her..."
***
Bulma was thoroughly surprised for two reasons. The first reason was the fact that she had managed to get by all the Saiyajins as far as she had. In actuality, although she considered herself quite clever, she never dreamed she would get this far without getting caught. Bulma had figured she'd get caught quickly and be thrown back into her room before Vegita would learn about it. At the rate she was going, she would probably have the little Prince throwing a temper tantrum. The second reason she was surprised was the fact that among the gloomy castle of Vegita, she found something absolutely gorgeous. While dashing through the courtyard she had stumbled onto a pair of large iron gates. First, she had thought they led to a dungeon or something, but upon a closer examination, she discovered they were the entrance to an exquisite garden. Luckily the doors went locked and Bulma was able to explore the grounds. It contained flowers and greenery she had never seen before, and it
all took her breath away. Even the garden in Capsule weren't so large and lovely. Some of the shrubs were even shaped like arches, others like domes; one of the shrubs was even shaped like a bench. The Princess thought it were just for display and it couldn't really support a person, but as she decided to give it a try, she found that it could support her and was extremely comfortable. She sat there amazed that such a place existed in Vegita. For a moment she wondered if it were some kind of illusion and feared someone were going to jump out of the bushes and attack her. However, as she sat there in tranquil bliss for several minutes, her fear disappeared. In fact, she forgot about all the other horrible things that troubled her currently about Vegita. She was content to sit back, smell the sweet aroma of the flowers around her, and enjoy the sights.
The Prince was finally drawing nearer to the location of the Princess, finding her trail easy to follow outside. He was surprised that the guards stationed around the courtyard didn't get her, but her smell traveled all throughout the courtyard. Vegita hated to admit, but he was starting to like the smell. He didn't know why, but it reminded him of something pleasant, but he couldn't think of what. That made him a little confused and irritated, neither of which he liked to be. Vegita ignored those feelings and concentrated on finding the woman that came into his life for about four hours and had already caused so much trouble. Currently, he wondered if he could afford to keep her around for any more time.
Vegita stopped when he reached the gates of the Royal Garden. He had never wanted to go into such a place. In fact, the Prince wasn't really sure why it was on the grounds of the castle in the first place. It was a waste of space and had no use to him. That made it a perfect place to find the Princess of Capsule. A stupid woman like her surely would enjoy a place like that. He walked into the garden, frowning at the lavish arrangement of flowers and all the detail that had been put into such a frivolous place. He was surprised with the various smells of the plants around him that he could still strongly smell the Princess. She was somewhere in the middle of the garden, most likely not moving very much. He decided to waste no time and make his stay in the place as little as possible. The Prince's swift movements through the garden got him to the middle of the garden in two minutes. Vegita scanned the area, that had arch-shaped shrubs arranged in fashion much like he had seen
in churches other kingdoms so often had. There were five of them in all and through the third one, he found the Princess sitting on shrub shaped liked a bench.
Vegita hesitated approaching her at first, temporarily stunned by the sight of her. The sunlight seemed to only touch the Princess's smiling face. Her blue eyes were glittering in the light and her indigo hair seemed to glow. Vegita had never thought anyone or anything as beautiful, but now he could truthfully say that he had witnessed beauty. Instead of bashing her head in like he had previously felt, he felt compelled to do things he hadn't ever before. For a brief second he felt afraid of these foreign and even took a step back. Soon he forced the feeling away and stealthy approached Bulma, ignoring the way she looked. He concentrated on what a fool she was making out of him, not her appearance.
Bulma inhaled the wonderful smell of the flowers she had picked up from the ground and nearly pressed them into her face. By now she had lost herself in her own little world, relieved of all of her problems. She didn't even consider herself a princess any more. Bulma was a normal girl, able to be selfish and indulgent without having to worry how it would affect her people. Bulma was free to make her own decisions, free to pursue her own dreams, free to find love...
A twig snapped, suddenly knocking Bulma out of fantasy. "What the" she managed to say before being startled by the sight of the Saiyajin no Ouji. She stood up defensively and wondered if she should try to run.
"What are you doing here?" Vegita said in a calmer voice than he looked. His face was twisted into ferocious sneer like some kind of wild animal.
"I...I needed some fresh air," Bulma said, wondering if it were such a wise thing to do now. "My window doesn't...open..."
Vegita closed his eyes and released a chuckle. "I can't believe I let a woman like you live," he said, clenching his fists. He took another step toward her. "Well, I'm not going to be the laughingstock of the Vegita lineage; I'm going to do what I should have done when I first met you."
"N-N-Now wait a minute!" Bulma cried as Vegita came closer and closer to her. She stepped back a step each time he made one forward. "It's not like I committed a crime!"
"I can kill anyone in Vegita with as little of a reason as they looked at me funny." He continued making steps toward her.
"Well, if you're going to kill me," Bulma said, looking behind her and seeing that she were about to back right into a wall of shrubs, "at least tell me why you have such a beautiful garden in such a dismal place."
Vegita paused for a moment. "I have no idea," he said, rolling his eyes over their surroundings. "Maybe some of the other Vegitas were softer than the present-day ones."
"So, you don't really care for this piece of land?" Bulma asked, relieved he had stopped moving.
"Not particularly," Vegita said shrugging.
"Well...if you don't kill me...could I have this garden?" Bulma knew her request was mostly likely going to be denied, but she decided it was worth a shot. If she was going to be killed, she had nothing to lose. If she lived, at least she could draw some enjoyment from owning such a beautiful place.
Vegita was truly amused now. "Even if I don't kill you," he laughed, "why would I give you anything? There's little you could give me."
"Well, I would be less likely to cause you trouble," Bulma said, buying her time. The longer she kept him talking, the longer she would have to live.
"I could achieve the same result by killing you."
"Giving me this worthless area would be a great deal less of work and time."
"Oh, noI can kill you quite quickly and easily...and love every minute of it."
Bulma swallowed, seeing the malicious look on the Prince's face. "Well, at least allow me to have a last request, or is that another unheard of thing among Saiyajins?" she said, feigning bravery. The Prince was once again amused by this.
"A last request?" he repeated. A grin spread across his face. "Let's hear it."
"Kill me while I'm sleeping," Bulma said, taking in a deep breath. "I know you can do it quickly, so if you do it while I'm sleeping, I won't feel much."
"Hmph, maybe I should make you suffer with a slow and painful death," Vegita said. "At any rate, how do I know you'll sleep tonight? If you stay awake all night then I'll never have a chance to kill you."
"Believe me," Bulma said, "after this day, I'll be surprised if I'll ever wake up again...or would want to."
Vegita laughed, thinking it were a crazy idea, but actually intrigued by her silly whims. "Fine, woman," he agreed. "If you don't sleep tonight, it will be your own misfortune. It will be my pleasure, though, to kill you whether you're awake or not."
Bulma nodded and wiped her forehead. "I'm sure that will make me sleep all the better tonight..." she murmured.
"What a strange woman..." Vegita said quietly to himself.