Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! How time flies, huh? ;; Okay, okay. I just wanted to apologize profusely for the HUGE span of time between this chapter and my last update. I don't want to drown you guys with excuses that you probably don't care about anyway, so instead I'll just offer you my endless apologies. Since I've probably made you wait long enough for this sucker, I won't make you sit through any more of my blather. So without further ado, here's chapter 4 of "On Collar and Leash"!



Last time: What seemed to be no more than a vocabulary lesson ("Daddy? What's a 'bitch'?") escalated into an important uncovering of secrets. They know Vegeta isn't the simpleminded animal he portrays himself to be, but what exactly is he? And why is he hiding in the first place?

Disclaimer: Well, DUH. Of COURSE I own Dragonball Z. Isn't it obvious? I mean, Gawd, how dim can you get?

Rubber Duckies



Vegeta sat cross-legged on the bed, frowning as he looked out the sliding glass doors just beyond the silk Oriental rug on the hardwood floor. This was definitely not the situation he expected to be in after his slip-up. He sighed and stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back into the cushiony pillows at the head of the bed. He had forgotten what luxury was like, he thought to himself as he examined his lavish surroundings. The room smelled of flowery potpourri, and a comforting, airy feeling floated around it, as if the doors to the outside had recently been opened. He rolled over onto his stomach and clutched one of the pillows in his arms. How in the world did his day lead to this?

After the doctor had opened the gate to his cage, Vegeta wearily stepped out, his movements slow and calculated. Although the old man offered nothing but cheerful, honest smiles, the young boy was unaccustomed to the easy trust that normally came to a child his age, so he kept a good distance. At the man's request (it was no command, Vegeta noted), the little boy followed him out of the garden area and into the main house. He glanced uneasily at the small robots that puttered along behind him, guessing that they were probably a precaution the doctor took to make sure he didn't get any bright ideas. /How annoying.../, he thought to himself.

They eventually made it to a set of steel doors that, at the press of a button to the side of them by the doctor, opened with a light "ching!" Vegeta followed the man inside the claustrophobic room and whirled around when the doors shut behind him. Momentarily panicking, his wide eyes began darting from side to side until he felt his body lurch under a movement that was quite obviously not his own. Shooting a look at the doctor, Vegeta saw his calm expression and immediately tried to gain control of his shock. Once he took the time to gaze at his surroundings somewhat calmly, he realized he must have been in some sort of elevator. The little lights above the doors changed as they climbed the floors, and he gave a slight jump when he heard the chiming noise again. They had reached their destination. His tail wrapped tightly around his own leg in cautious anticipation.

When the doors slid open again, he was greeted with the sight of another hallway, but this one seemed far more... homey. The cream-colored walls gave the area the comfort that he had been lacking for the past few months, and he easily relaxed. He eyed the doctor, and made no change of expression when he smiled down at him warmly again. Stupid, ugly old man. He'd better make sure he didn't permanently scar any little children for life after giving them such a horrible expression. Turning his attention away from the doctor, he took in the home.

Apparently, someone around here had a fetish for beige. It was ridiculous! Everything was beige, or cream-colored, or sandy, or... eww.

Did he mention he hated beige?

The pair approached a set of doors and walked through. Vegeta glanced at the new surroundings. Mahogany bed, dresser and armoire, closet door, presumably a lavatory door, and a pair of sliding glass doors leading out to a small balcony. Lovely. Now all he needed was the little chocolate on the pillow and he'd be set.

"This will be your room throughout your stay with us, son." Dr. Briefs guessed that the growl meant he didn't like the small term of endearment he used. Well cheese and crackers, he'd have to live with it. Just because he was feeling generous didn't mean that he'd cater to the child's every whim. Swallow that, Shorty, he thought to himself. "There's a button next to the door. Press it if you need anything. Anything at all." The doctor made his way back to the door, turning his head to toss back a last comment. "Fell free to look around!" With that he left.

Here was where Vegeta was found, two hours later, laying on his stomach atop the cushiony bed, of course having already explored every square inch of the space given to him. He even examined that white, sparkly, tiled room thoroughly (he quit when he turned a particular nozzle and water squirted up his nose). The situation was just too strange. Who would have thought that blowing his cover would get him better treatment than sticking to the plan? He only hoped there would be no bad repercussions to his mistake.

It had been ages since he had gotten a decent amount of sleep, so he decided to take advantage of the opportunity presented. After all, who knew how long it was going to last? His eyes slowly drifted shut as he began to succumb to his weariness.

/Creeeaaak/

Vegeta's eyelids lifted a little, but soon fluttered shut again. /Imagination... being stupid.../

/CreeeEEEEeeeeeaaaaaaakBONK!Ow!Smack/

Vegeta suddenly shot up. Okay, he did NOT imagine that one. Rubbing the blurriness out of his eyes, he scanned the room as thoroughly as he could, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Instead, he opted for extending his senses, seeing if he could feel the presence of another. Yes, there it was. Someone else was in the room, but where? Suddenly he heard another noise, coming from directly below him. He leaned over the edge of the bed, looking under it towards the source of the noise. What he found almost made him fall off in shock.

"Hey," Bulma said to him, sheepishly. "Looks like you caught me!" She climbed out from under the bed, grunting a little at the effort she had to put forward. After she had freed herself, she dusted off her shorts and looked at Vegeta.

"So! What do you want to do?" The boy looked at her as if she was stupid. No, wait, he thought. She probably was. He shot her a completely condescending look to prove his opinion. Apparently, Bulma didn't notice.

"Whee-eew! You smell like a sweaty armpit! You'd better take a bath before you stink up Momma's pretty sheets!" With that she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the sparkly room from before. It's not that she was stronger than he was; it was just that he was tired and unwilling to fight back. No, wait, that made him sound like a pansy... He felt that his massive strength might cause him to accidentally cripple the girl in a show of his extraordinary power! Yeah, that was better...

Lost in his own egotistical thoughts, he didn't notice Bulma as she turned on the faucet to the tub then made her way to the cabinets under the sink. Rummaging through the various cleaners and extra loofahs, she apparently found exactly what she was looking for and darted back to the filling tub. Opening the bottle she had in her hands, she poured the contents into the basin, her grin widening dramatically as the water began to foam up. Vegeta finally returned some of his attention to what the girl was doing, only to deflate completely at the sight before him.

He was going to die...

...in a mountain of bubbles.

Apparently, Bulma didn't set a limit and poured the entire bottle into the tub, sending the foamy lather towering up to the ceiling. The grin, however, never left her face. If anything, it grew even wider. Haphazardly tossing the bottle to the side, she whirled around and grabbed Vegeta by the wrist, once again catching him completely off-guard, and flung him forward into the bubbly mass, clothes and all. She giggled at her own antics and stepped back, waiting for the little boy's reaction as he recovered from his submersion.

Breaking through the surface of the water in a sputtering, soaking heap, Vegeta dramatically sucked up the precious oxygen into his lungs, chocking a little when he breathed in some of the bubbles.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME, YOU FREAKING BRAT?!" He was furious. He was wet. And he smelled like strawberries. He would make sure this girl suffered from the ultimate punishment.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Bulma stated with a small snicker. "And don't say bad words, either!" she added as an afterthought. Rolling her shirt sleeves up, she pushed her hands through the bubbles and reached for his head, plunging it under the water again as she began scrubbing his scalp furiously.

"Mama said that I could bring you down for dessert after I got you ready. I don't really think that you should smell so dirty at the dinner table," she said as she scrubbed away. Vegeta could only reply with a few gargled noises, his hands flailing wildly in the air above him. Bulma had to make sure he was sparkly-clean before her mother was introduced to him again. Mama seemed to have this fetish for cleanliness, and Bulma knew that a bath at Mrs. Briefs' hands would induce MUCH more suffering than one at her own. Vegeta should count himself lucky!

At that moment, there was a knock at the bathroom door, followed by the entrance of a particular blonde that happened to be the topic of conversation. "Hi, Mama!" Bulma chirped.

"Hello there, dear! I thought Vegeta might want some new clothes, since his old ones seemed a little worn." She walked over to the toilet seat and placed a new outfit on top of it. "Actually, where are his old clothes, so I can throw them out?" She shifted her squinted eyes around the large bathroom.

"Actually, he's still wearing them," Bulma said as she pointed at the mound of suds in front of her.

"Oh, Honey, no! You can't give someone a bath while they're still wearing their clothes! There's like, a LAW against that!" Mama exclaimed. She seemed genuinely horrified. Bulma, however widened her eyes at what her mother was suggesting.

"Eww! Gross, Mama! Are you saying that I should have stuck him in there, NAKED?" She emphasized the last word, mortified that her mother could suggest such a thing.

"Well, of course, Dear! Don't tell me that you take a bath in your clothes."

"That's silly, Mama! Of course I don't!"

"Then what's so wrong about Vegeta taking a bath without any clothes?"

Bulma halted her response as her mother's logic slowly sank in. Why shouldn't he get to take a bath nakie like everyone else did? It still seemed wrong, though.

"But... Vegeta's a b-o-y," she said, spelling out the word. She was quite proud of her spelling skills. Her comment just sent Mrs. Briefs into a fit of giggles.

"Alright, Dear. I'll take it from here, then, so you don't have to see Vegeta nakie." Satisfied with her mother's offer, Bulma got off the bathroom floor and onto her feet.

"Just don't add any more bubbles, Mama," she told her mother. Whispering, she added, "I don't think he likes them very much." She pointed at the tub, and both turned their attention to the boy.

Or, at least, what should have been the boy.

"He's gone!" they both exclaimed in unison. Mrs. Briefs rushed to the tub and began searching through the foam, trying to find the boy in the midst of it all. Bulma, however, noticed the watery trail leading from the side of the tub and out the open door. She walked to the entrance of the bathroom and stuck her head out, seeing the trail of suds leading out of the bedroom.

Vegeta had escaped.

Well, there it is. Short, I know, but hopefully I'll get the next update out sooner. Theater finally ended, which means I should have more time to actually work on this. Your best bet, though, is to just get the Author Alert for each chapter. That would probably be the easiest way to see when this sucker is updated. I appreciate all of the reviewers that offered their support so far. Eighty-one reviews for 3 chapters!!! You guys are AWESOME!! I had no idea that this story would be so successful so early on. I just hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. I know I've probably lost a good amount of my reviewers after so long, but I hope you'll all take the few seconds it takes to leave some feedback for this chapter. I love you all!!!

Love and shout-outs to:

X-Girl4

Aqua-Fresh-Ali

Serendy4evr

Kilala

Saiyan Butterfly

Kyrs Saiyan

Shay

Strawberrychan

Clara

Bulma BriefsYue Lover

outtadaloop

Rosa

Agent Natsumi

DirtyChild

waterprincess

s

princess S.A.M

Stardust12

Mrs. Trunks' Mom

SQ

Bloodlust Night

Saiyan Butterfly

Chicklets

Sorceress Fujin

Eclipse75

Vertigo

snowbell101

crazed fanatic anime fan

Bikerbabe 21

Laina

IshiBan

shinystars007

Hieiz-Vegetaz-luver

nuitnothing

otepoti

Raid-Scion-of-Randomness

Nitte iz

little princess sabine

John Perry

naiyana

Briememory

quazicrazy

Cat

willow

Neoen

BlackMagicianGrl

Uozumi

Little Tenyo

KamalaKali

Cin of an Angel

ssjlavenderkid

Anonymous

Julia

Purple Witchy Angel

Shimmersea

Ahang Zhen

Sabine

Quoth Aurora

If I excluded, misspelled, or repeated anyone's name, feel free to stick a peanut up my nose.

"I hope you get stabbed by a Studebaker!" - Nathan Detroit, "Guys and Dolls"