Discalimer; Still Don't own DBZ, all I own is a Finding Nemo pencil case and lunchbox…I don't own Finding Nemo either.

A/N; Well, here we go, another chapter. Sadly, I am getting very near the end of my quick updates period, since I have to go back to school in only a matter of days, but I hope that the few more chapters I will get out before then are good enough to keep you going once I am back at school and only able to update every other week.

Well, hope you like this chapter, sorry it's kinda short, but the next one is longer I swear.

~D.B

And Then You'll Know

Chapter 35

Chi-chi scowled deeply as she threw a blue energy ball at one of the training droids, sending it plummeting to the ground of the G.R. she was currently engaged in a very intense sparing session, why, she wasn't exactly sure, but lately she had had the constant urge to train and get stronger. She also found it a good way to vent her access anger, which she had had a lot of recently.

It has been 5 days since she had had her little chat with her father. Queen Kahlia would be arriving late tonight, she didn't plan on getting up to greet her.

"Gravitational simulation terminated. Gravity returning to normal" spoke the robotic female voice of the G.R, scaring Chi-chi. She slowly descended to the ground, wiping sweat from her brow in the process. Her time must have run out. She had programmed the G.R to give her a 4-hour workout. How time flew.

***

Krillen rolled over in his bed and smiled into the pillows. It felt good to have his bed back, he hadn't realized how much he had missed it until he got it back. 17 and Tarie had done a brilliant job in keeping the room in perfect condition it was spotless. He had to say, he was very impressed.

Now though, there was only one more thing he needed to make this room perfect. Her name was 18. He looked over at the clock and sighed, it was 8.40. Breakfast would be served in 20 minutes. He jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a loose white tank top, if he walked quickly he would be able to get down to 18 and back just in time.

***

God she was beautiful, every time he saw her, she took his breath away. Right now she was sleeping, and the early morning sunlight shone through the window giving her a beautiful golden warm glow. He couldn't resist, slowly, so he didn't wake her, get down onto his knees and reached out.

Her skin felt like silk beneath his fingers. Nison smiled. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, after all 18 loved Krillen and Krillen loved her, but he couldn't resist. He was only further encouraged to caress her when a small smile tinged her beautiful sleeping face.

In the back of his mind, he knew what he was doing was wrong, but that thought was being silenced by thoughts of how much he loved her. He still remembered the very first time he saw her, dressed in that very revealing red dress that left nothing to the imagination. Even he had to admit, that in the beginning he had been attracted to her body alone – she was more than beautiful, the mere sight of her was intoxicating, and he wasn't the only one who thought that. But then he had come to know her, at first as 17's twin sister, then as herself, her amazing beautiful self. Sure, she wasn't like most others, she was cold, cynical and sarcastic and Nison couldn't at all work out why he was attracted to her, but as time went by, he realized it didn't matter why. He just was.

He also knew that she would never love him. He was a freak, a hybrid! Who would want to love that? And besides, from almost the very beginning he had been competing against Krillen, and what kind of a chance did a green slave have against her very own Prince Charming right out of the fairy tales? None! None what so ever!

Nison scowled. This was all his fault. If Krillen had never burst onto the scene, poking his head in where it was neither wanted nor needed, then this never would of happened! 18 wouldn't have fallen for him, he would of gotten her and everything would be just as it should be. But no, now everything was all messed up, and he would never be able to hold 18 close and tell her exactly how he felt.

Looking down at her, he felt the rage just slip right out of him, she was smiling again, a bigger smile this time. Nison pulled his fingers away from her cheek, and the smile instantly vanished. This intrigued him, he leaned in closer to her face, until he could smell her hair and hear her light breathing. If she woke now, she would surely kill him, but it was a chance he was willing to take to take.

All year long he had been yearning to be this close to her, right now, death seemed a small price to pay for a few seconds of happiness. He wanted to kiss her, oh god how he wanted to kiss her. Well, he reasoned with himself, he had already come this far. Why not go all the way? If she was going to kill him, he may as well die a happy man.

He took a deep shuddering breath and slowly moved his lips to meet hers. The feeling he felt when they touched was indescribable, like all the emotions one could ever experience wrapped up into one little bundle. Beneath him 18 moaned, but she continued to sleep. Nison closed his eyes, enjoying this more than anything he had ever experienced.

"What are you doing?" Nison jumped at the sound of the cool, overly calm voice behind him, and spun around. Only to be face to face with Krillen.

"I…uh…er" he stammered, scared out of his wits.

"I'm going to ask you one more time" Krillens voice took on a more deadly tone this time as he peered down at Nison, who was still on his knees "What were you doing?" he asked slowly.

Nison still hadn't found his voice. He really didn't need to answer, it was obvious what he had been doing.

"How could you?" Krillen asked quietly, careful not to wake 18 up "18 is your friend. How could you betray her like that?"

"I…I…I don't know what came over me" he finally admitted, "it's just that, she's so beautiful and…" Krillen cut him off

"Shut it Nison. I don't want hear your romantic thoughts on my girlfriend, and for that matter, I don't want anyone else to hear them either" he said.

Nison lowered his eyes, he was ashamed of what he had done, but it had just felt so right. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

18 stirred again and her eyes began to flutter open. "I think you should go" suggested Krillen as he sat down on 18's bed and took her hand, there was no room in his voice for argument though. Nison nodded his head and promptly got up and left.

Krillen watched him go, while he appeared calm about the whole thing on the outside, inside he was about ready to explode. How dare Nison do that? He had been standing there long enough to see what was going on. How long it had been going on before he got there was an un-pleasant mystery, and even worse the idea that this might not be the first time it had happened. It was infuriating! If Krillen didn't possess as much self control as he did, he would of kicked Nison's butt right then and there. He may have been a friendly, docile guy most of the time, but when someone did something hurtful or disrespectful to someone he cared about, his true Sayian instincts came out and he got vicious. It wasn't a pretty sight. In his rage, Krillen didn't realize he had squeezed 18's hand harder and harder until she awoke with a painful yelp.

"Ouch!" she sat up in bed and looked at Krillen, wondering why the hell he had just done that. "What was that for?" she asked as she carefully nursed one hand with the other.

Krillen jumped back in shock, that had been a total accident.

"18!" his eyes instantly filled with regret "I was just thinking and I guess I got a little mad. Oh god, I'm so sorry sweetheart, are you ok?" he asked as he took 18's sore hand and kissed it a few times.

18 looked at him oddly, a mixture of shock, confusion and sleepiness on her face. "I think I'll be alright. You just shocked me"

Nison heard her scream and instantly turned around and ran back in the other direction. He arrived just to see Krillen kissing her hand, then moving up to her neck, then her lips.

"Was that you before?" 18 asked as she kissed Krillens forehead. Krillen shot Nison a terrifying glare, just daring him to blab his secret. "Yeah babe," he lied, covering for the half Namekian boy "It was me, I didn't want to wake you."

***

"Woman, what the hell is that thing?" asked Vegeta as he walked up behind Bulma. She turned around to greet him and he had to chuckle. She was dressed in a pair of baggy denim overalls and wearing a black tank top underneath. Her blue hair was tied up in a ponytail to keep it off her very dirty face. She was covered from head to toe in grease, oil and other dirty substances. Vegeta had to admit, it was a turn on.

"This, Veg" she used her pet name for him "it my greatest invention ever!" she exclaimed. Vegeta's eyes widened, that was a pretty big statement when you though about some of her other inventions such as capsules and the Gravitation Rooms. "Ever?" he asked skeptically, "it looks like an upright coffin"

Bulma scowled and placed her hands on her hips "Just wait until you see what this baby can do! I'll go down in history for this!" she was clearly very excited about what ever it was she was making.

Vegeta walked around her and tapped the box, nothing happened; he did a circle around it and noticed a myriad of wires and cables protruding from the back of what ever it was. "Would you mind explaining to me exactly what this thing does?" he asked.

Bulma shook her head and picked up a spanner "Not until it's finished" she said, as she resumed her task.

"Whatever"

"Well anyway, did you come down here for any reason in particular?" she asked as she fiddled around with some of the wires.

"Lunch." Bulma raised an eyebrow and looked around the contraption and up at him, "lunch?" she asked, "in the science and technologies wing?"

"You are a fool woman. I came to get you for lunch"

Bulma laughed, winked at him and said; "Just give me a few minutes to clean up"

~

A few minutes ended up being almost half an hour. Vegeta was bored senseless, not to mention very hungry. But eventually Bulma was done and clean. She had changed out of her overalls and into a denim mini skirt and a pale pink tee shirt.

"So, she asked as they left her office and strolled down the hall. Where are we eating today? The cafeteria or the kitchen?"

"Woman, why would I want to eat B-Grade food from the employee cafeteria, when the cooks can cook us anything we want?" he asked

"Because we usually eat the same damn thing they have in the employee cafeteria, but take an extra 10 minutes getting to it, because you want to park you butt in a comfortable chair" Bulma explained with a smirk and a giggle.

"Damn straight" said Vegeta and picked up the pace. Bulma jogged to catch up with him and linked her arm through his.

They arrived at the Royal family's kitchen, where a team of cooks were standing by 24 hours a day. It was a very fancy kitchen, with state of the art appliances and a long glass table with big cushy chairs for the Royal family to sit at. Of course, this wasn't where they ate breakfast and dinner; those meals were serves in the formal dining hall. This was just where they came during the course of the day if they were feeling peckish.

"Prince Vegeta, what can we get you?" asked one of the women. He looked at Bulma who shrugged her shoulders, indicating she didn't care what she ate. "Anything is fine" he replied, and then sat down next to Bulma. She was flipping through the latest edition of Vegeta-sei weekly that had been left open on the table; one of the cooks had obviously been reading it. Bulma's story had been in last week's edition, and she had been on the cover with the other nine women, and she had to say, she looked damn hot, dressed in her short shorts and halter top. But this was a new edition of the magazine. The article it was currently open on was a recipe for some yummy looking dessert, which seemed fitting, as it had been a cook reading it.

She flipped the magazine shut, so she could see what the main features on the cover were…

And almost died when she saw!

There, on the front cover was a big picture of herself and Vegeta, and the words 'Prince Vegeta…Taken!'

"Vegeta!" she called desperately as she waved the magazine around in his face, "What the hell is this?!"

He snatched it off her, and carefully studied the cover; she watched his expression change from placid to downright scary in a matter of seconds. He looked furious.

"How the hell did this get out?!" he roared, scaring Bulma senseless.

"I don't know Vegeta"

He was quiet for the next few minutes as he read through the article, the writer hadn't been disclosed. Suddenly he stood up and stormed out the kitchen, Bulma chased after him.

"Vegeta where are you going?" she asked, having to run to keep up with him.

"To find out what the fuck is going on here!"

She followed him down the hall, just as mad as he was. How had it gotten out? They had been so careful. They had even gotten a picture of them together. And where and when had they got that information? Well, by now half of Vegeta-sei would know about their relationship. Great, just fantastic. Whatever private life they had once had, had just gone out the window, but who, who could have ratted them out. One person instantly came to mind.

Chi-chi, she had been acting wired for months now, they hardly even spoke anymore, once maybe twice a week if they were lucky. She had become cold, distant and even meaner than she usually was. She still wasn't talking to Vegeta, and hardly speaking with Bulma. A deep scowl settled on Bulma's face. If it was her, she had just stooped to low. Taken it one step to far.

They walked into Vegeta's bedroom and he picked up the phone and dialed in the number of the magazine, it was printed on the back cover.

"Hello, Vegeta-sei weekly, how may I help you?" came the monotonous voice of the receptionist

"Get me the editor," he demanded "Now!"

"I'm sorry Sir, Ms. Gigi doesn't not speak to anyone without an appointment.

"Now you listen here. This is Prince Vegeta you are speaking to, and I demand to speak to the editor right this second!"

The receptionist went quite then mumbled some sort of apology, then the line went dead again. The next time someone spoke, it was Gigi. She sounded calm, like she had no idea Vegeta was about to come down there and kill her. "Ah, Prince Vegeta, I was expecting a call from you. Did you enjoy our feature article?" she asked, seeming very pleased with herself.

Vegeta was at a loss for words for a few minutes, Bulma looked at him, a very curious expression on her pretty features. Vegeta pressed a button to switch the phone to speaker.

"Excuse me, Gigi," Bulma began, trying to be at least someone civilized, but Vegeta cut in before she got to continue.

"What in the hell were you thinking printing that article? You had no rights to do so, neither of us ever agreed to such a thing. Why I have every mind to get my fathers lawyers onto you!" he threatened. He was mad, he had been trying so hard to keep this a secret, and now here, out of nowhere, it just burst out onto a planet wide publication.

Gigi only began to laugh at the threat of the planets top lawyers attacking her magazine. Bulma and Vegeta looked at each other with identical confused expressions on their faces. Was this woman insane or something?

"Vegeta, Bulma, dears," Vegeta raised an eyebrow, did she just call them dears? "Your lawyers can't touch me. They story we ran was perfectly legal"

Vegeta gritted his teeth together "Explain!" he growled out.

Gigi laughed again, "Very well. Ms. Briefs signed a contract with us when she came in for her initial story, did she not?"

Bulma nodded dumbly, not understanding where she was going with this "yeah" she said quietly, "so what?"

"Well dears, that contract allowed us full access to any stories involving you for the next 12 months. I guess we couldn't have found a better story than this one, hey?"

"What?!" Bulma was mad and confused, "That's insane, you can't do that!"

"Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to mess with the palace of Vegeta-sei? Everything I did was perfectly legal dear. If you wanted to avoid this you should of one, kept it more private, or two read you contracts more carefully in the future. I'm sorry Ms. Briefs, we own you for the next 12 months" she said, and Bulma could tell that wherever she was, she was smiling the deranged lunatic she was.

Vegeta grunted and slammed the receiver down on the telephone with a little more force than necessary, effectively breaking the phone in two.

Bulma buried her head in her hands and sunk down onto the bed next to Vegeta. "I'm sorry, Vegeta. This is all my fault. I am so so sorry. I should of read the contract more carefully!" she started to thump herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand.

"Stop that" Vegeta said, grabbing hold of her wrist.

"You must hate me now. Damn it, why do I always have to screw everything up?" Bulma sniffed back tears, she didn't want to cry. She was 23 years old, 23 year olds didn't cry.

"I don't hate you women. I'm not very happy with you, but I don't hate you."

***

The King was the only one up to greet Kahlia. It was about 1.30 am when her ship landed at the docking station and she walked out. The King quickly rushed to her side to help with her suitcases.

"Welcome back" he said with a smile.

"Thank-you for having me"

"It's always a pleasure having you here"

They walked side by side down the long, dark empty halls of the palace. All the King could think about was the smell of Kahlia's hair. It was so pleasantly intoxicating; he had never smelled anything quite like it in all of his years. Before long, they arrived at the guest quarters of the palace and he showed Kahlia which room she was to be staying in.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, or would you just like to go to sleep?" asked the King, standing in the doorway of Kahlia's room.

"Actually," Kahlia started as she undid her hair from the tight bun it was in on top of her head and let it cascade down her back, "I was hoping you would be able to fill me in on this Chi-chi problem"

"Ah, but of course" replied the King, stepping further into the room and sitting himself down on the couch. She sat beside him and listened intently to the long and at times confusing tale of Chi-chi and her constant downward spiral of the last few months.

"So," Kahlia began once Vegeta had finished filling her in on his daughter, "How are your son's doing"

The Kings eyes lit up and he smiled warmly at the Queen from a distant planet "They are doing just fine. Vegeta has got himself a lovely girlfriend. Her father is the palaces top researcher, but she is fast outdoing him in the field of science. And Krillen, well Krillen is Krillen, he's always happy. That boy is eternally optimistic"

The Queen smiled. She hadn't realized it, but she had been taking with the King for almost an hour. He looked like his eyes were about to drop out of his head. "Go to bed" she said, the words smooth on her lips.

The King smiled gratefully, he had had a busy day, and right now he was desperately after some sleep. "Alright then" he said, "I'll see you at breakfast"

"That you will"

"Good night"

"No, Good morning"

***

Chi-chi threw a pillow across the room and screamed in angry frustration. She couldn't take this anymore. "18!" she yelled, a few seconds later 18 emerged from the bathroom "Yes ma'am?" she asked

"Go and wash something, I need to be alone for a while" she ordered

"But ma'am, I already did all of your laundry" replied 18, rolling her eyes.

Chi-chi stomped over to her wardrobe, pulled half of it's content out and threw it at 18. "There! Go wash that"

18 mumbled something under her breath and left the room.

As soon as Chi-chi was sure she was well out of hearing distance, she dived for her phone and dialed in an all to familiar number. It rang a few times before anyone picked it up.

"Son Manner. Who may I ask is calling?"

"This is Chi-chi. Is Kakkarot available to speak"

"Hold please". The line went dead. Chi-chi waited for what seemed like an eternity until finally Kakkarot's voice could be heard.

"Chi, is that you?" he asked

"Yeah," she replied, "it's me"

"Um…what can I do for you?" he asked. They hadn't spoken for almost 3 weeks; he had doubted they were even a couple any more.

"I just miss you. I wanted to say sorry Kakkarot. Can you forgive me?" she asked, almost begged.

"Of course I forgive you. I'll be around soon ok"

"Ok then" said Chi-chi, she hadn't been expecting him to be so willing to forgive, but she wasn't complaining

"C'ya soon, bye" he said and he hung up the phone.

~

20 minutes later, there was a knocking on Chi-chi's door. She finished adjusting her hair in the mirror then ran over to the door and flung it open. "Kakkarot!" she threw her arms around her neck and he in turn wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

"I'm missed you Chi," he admitted as he inhaled deeply, her hair smelt wonderful. They walked into the room and sat down on the bed.

"Kakkarot I…" she trailed off, not really knowing what she wanted to say.

He put an arm around her shoulders and held her close. "It's ok," he said.

They sat there in silence for the longest time. Neither of them really knew what to say.

"So," Kakkarot finally spoke up, "I don't see 18 anywhere"

Chi-chi blinked, wondering why he had brought her up "no, she's doing some laundry" she replied.

Chi-chi couldn't see it, but Kakkarot frowned. He moved away from Chi-chi and looked at her sternly, "so you didn't let her go?" he asked, his tone of voice more serious than Chi-chi had ever heard it.

Chi-chi shook her head, "No. Why would I?"

Kakkarot shook his head and looked at Chi-chi, "Chi, that why we were fighting in the first place, remember? I wasn't happy with the way you were treating 18"

Chi-chi blinked slowly, "I thought we were fighting because I was mad at you, for coming to see Krillen" she admitted.

"Well I guess it was a bit of miscommunication, but either way, you still haven't let 18 go" she Kakkarot as he stood up.

Chi-chi stood up to, raising her voice a little "And I don't plan to. Like I said, she is mine and I can do what I want with her"

"Ok then, but you'll have to do it with out me around" said Kakkarot calmly.

"What?!" Chi-chi asked, clearly shock "You're breaking up with me?"

Kakkarot shook his head, "I'm not breaking up with you, you just need some more time to think. I'll call you in a few days ok" he said, then without another word, he left.

Chi-chi was to shocked to follow after him.

***

A/N; Well, what did you all think. I'd love to hear in a review. Hopefully the next chapter will be up in a few days ok.

~D.B