Disclaimer: Though I love and worship DBZ, I do not own it, nor any of its characters. So please don't sue me. I'm broke, anyway.

Cruel Games

Chapter3

Vegeta strode down the hallway, face locked into a fierce scowl. He had to get away from her, at all costs. He had felt his control slipping, and it had taken all of his willpower to walk away. He must have been so preoccupied with his training that he had neglected his other physical needs, and now that he was confronted with the opportunity to fulfill those needs, he was nearly powerless to stop himself. He headed the to GR, forgetting it was broken.

Vegeta was unsettled by what had just occurred, but even more unsettled by what he had felt when the woman Bulma was so close...the scent of her hair.....
Vegeta roughly shook his head. (He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.)

He did not have feelings for this woman! Preposterous! A sayain prince, harboring feelings for a weak human?! Ha!

Vegeta entered the GR, then realized why he had left it in the first place. He stood there in the dim light, fists clenched. He would beat this. This was nothing. He could not afford to become attached.

Vegeta left the GR, and went outside, where the sun was a few minutes from setting. He would be sleeping outside tonight, where stray scents of purple hued hair could not reach him.

Later on that night, Bulma was preparing for bed. After a cold shower, then a warm one, (then another cold one) she was feeling more herself. She left her rooms to grab a snack from the kitchen, pausing on her way at the GR. She laid her hand on the door, wondering. She rarely actually saw Vegeta training, and was always awed by the raw power he could create and mold in his bare hands. She wondered if he thought of anything in particular while he trained. Maybe he thought about his years of slavery under Frieza, and how his race no longer exists. Bulma realized for the first time how much Vegeta's pride much have hurt for all he had endured. He was so bent out of shape over Goku being stronger than him, and that didn't even seem like something to get angry over. But all the time he spent forced to obey Frieza... Bulma could only imagine the humiliation he had felt. He still feels it... A prince of an entire race, forced to carry out orders for most of his life... Then to be free of his slavery, but denied the revenge for his people and himself he so craved, to have it be taken away by Goku, a common soldier class sayain.

Bulma had never really thought of it that way. She never tried to see past his stubborn exterior, never tried to reason why he acted the way he did. Now she could understand a little of how he felt.

She continued on her way to the kitchen, where she expected Vegeta to be, but found he was not. Sort of relived, she wasn't sure how she would have approached him after the encounter at her lab earlier that day. At least she didn't have to think of his eyes raking her as she went about the kitchen.

Opening the fridge, she saw Vegeta hadn't been there yet that night, as there was actually food it.

Hhhmmm... Where was he, anyway? He always ate pretty early, and went to bed before 9:00. It was now around 10:30. She made a turkey and cheddar sandwich and stepped outside to enjoy the stars. Leaning her shoulder on a sturdy tree, she looked up into the heavens, and tried to figure where the sayain planet would have been.

Up in the tree above her, Vegeta watched her silently. He looked down upon her, and wondered what she was thinking. He had never had the opportunity to observe her like this, quite and still, not saying anything and comfortable with the sight of the stars. Though just a weak human, he had to admit she was an attractive one. But such thinking brought back memories of earlier that day, making him uncomfortable. Seeing the sandwich, he was reminded that he had skipped dinner, just wanting to be out of Capsule Corp.

A wisp of turkey sandwich scent wafted up to where he was sitting, and his stomach promptly growled, betraying his position.

Bulma's head jerked up, scanning the branches above her. Spying the prince lounging on a branch a few feet up, peering down at her, she relaxed.

"Don't scare me like that!" She said, settling back onto the tree. She took a bite of sandwich, chewing in silence. Then said, "Nice night for stargazing,"

"Hhhmph"

Bulma frowned at the sayain's response, then smiled when his stomach growled again, this time louder. Without saying a word, Bulma tore off half of her sandwich and lifted it above her head. Vegeta eyed the morsel for a moment, (Food was food) and took it from her hand. She could hear him eat it, apparently in one bite.

"Vegeta,..." He looked down at her, eyeing the rest of the sandwich.

"Do you ever think about your home planet, what it was like?" She ventured a quick glance up at him, only to see he had turned his eyes skyward.

"It's destroyed. Frieza saw to that. He was scared that the sayains would grow too powerful and overthrow his empire someday. He was right to be scared."

Bulma was quite, waiting for him to continue.

"It was similar to earth; I never spent much time there. From an early age, my duties took most of my time. The thing I remember most is my father, King Vegeta. He was always making me train harder, to become more powerful, so someday I could defeat Frieza. He was killed when my planet was destroyed."

"Oh." Bulma didn't know what to say. Every time she heard about the way Vegeta had grown up and lived his life, it sounded so depressing. Almost hopeless.

"At least you don't have to worry about Frieza anymore..." She said, trying to cheer him up. "That kid with the purple hair took care of him." She paused. "... I thought that you and Goku were the last full-blooded sayains. Were there other survivors?"

"No, I would have heard about it long before now if there were. Besides, he can't be a sayain. Like I said before, all sayains have black hair."

Bulma didn't mention the fact that the boy had transformed into a super sayain. She didn't want his mood to sour more than it already was.

"Anyway, are you coming in to have dinner? I know that piece of sandwich can't go very far in a sayain stomach."

She glanced up at him again, this time seeing him sneaking a look at the rest of her sandwich. Bulma had an exasperated look on her face as she threw the rest of the sandwich at Vegeta, Who deftly caught and ate it in one motion.

"Well, fine, but now I have to make another sandwich for myself and it would be easy for me to make you few dozen or so..." "All right, I'll be in the kitchen, your royal majesty."

"Hhhmph."

Bulma walked away, Vegeta watching her go.