Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: I don't own DBZ or any of the characters from it, I do own this fics story line though and any characters that I create.


Bulma wasn't sure what had woken her up, but she woke with a start. She lay there, tangled in silk sheets and for a moment she thought she'd dreamed Frieza being dead and that she'd woken up in his bed again. Trembling set in as she imagined being punished for falling asleep in her master's bed…fear, thick and syrupy swept through her body making it impossible to move. She could imagine all sorts of punishments…

But Frieza is dead…I saw his body…touched it…had his blood on my hands…

Bulma blinked as rational thought slid past the fear and slowly, far too slowly, the horrible immobilising terror faded and she was left with a body shivering from adrenalin. She took a deep breath as she realised that this wasn't Frieza's room at all, it was Vegeta's.

Holy mother of God…I did it…I slept with him!

A small smile crept over her mouth as she remembered just how many times last night she'd 'done it' with him. Vegeta had been insatiable and, if she was honest, once she'd had a taste of the pleasure he could give her, she had been just as ravenous in bed as he had. They had made love for the entire previous day – not even stopping to eat the lunch that Vegeta had wanted to feed her earlier. They had briefly eaten something for dinner, a rather uncomfortable affair in which Vegeta had attempted to ask her questions about what training she had had, if she had ever purged planets and what her pain threshold was. She hadn't been terribly forthcoming with answers, and when she'd eaten enough and had waited for Vegeta to finish eating, she'd been the one to drag him back into bed.

Only to stop him asking those questions! The voice in Bulma's head heatedly reminded her.

Bulma smiled, then they had continued to fuck all night long. She stretched and fought free of the silk she was wrapped in, there was no sign of Vegeta, however she could hear the shower running and with a shrug she guessed that was his location. She sat up and looked around, a fine tremor raking her frame as she realised that she as alone she didn't really want to see Vegeta again. Sure the sex had been great – better then great, it had been unbelievable – but she didn't want to have to face him again.

He isn't Frieza, you know.

The voice, arrogant in it's superiority, reminded Bulma of that fact and the blue haired creature shook her head to dispel it. She knew enough about men like Vegeta to know that it was the chase they enjoyed. Now that she'd slept with him he'd leave her alone and she would be free to resume her life. No more avoiding places she knew he'd be, no more hiding every time she saw Vegeta just in case he tried to order to come to his chambers. It would just be her and her friends, just as it had always been.

Bulma crept out of bed and looked around for her clothes. She found her armour and her suit but her underwear was missing. Bulma frowned for a second as she remembered Vegeta ripping them off; they were expensive garments, she'd have to warn him not to go tearing her clothes off if the ever did this again.

No you won't…because this won't happen again, remember?

Bulma nodded to herself. This was going to be the first and last time she would spend a night with Vegeta. In a way she was glad she'd finally given in to him – at least he'd proven to her that not all men would hurt her in bed. She winced as one of her legs muscles decided to cramp up and complain when she tried to dress herself, not that Bulma could blame her leg muscles, they'd been in quite a few weird positions last night.

Bulma heard the shower shut off and quickly threw her shirt on and then, rather then wait for Vegeta to come out, she bolted to the door and slipped outside, disappearing into the shadows as she headed towards the science wing and relative safety. Hopefully she'd never see Vegeta again – hopefully.


"So what happened?" Eighteens eyes were wide as saucers and she blocked Bulma's way as she tried to make her way past her into the bedroom. "Was he as good as all the rumours say?"

Bulma frowned at her project sister, wanting to slap her silly for being so bold and asking questions that she didn't want to answer. Had she no respect? She'd just spent an uncomfortable few hours in the science wing working on a dozen different inventions, jumping out of her skin and expecting to see Vegeta whenever anyone walked into the room. Bulma sighed. Maybe her night with Vegeta had affected her more then she'd realised.

"He was better then the rumours say." Bulma shrugged and avoided Eighteen's probing gaze as he shoved past her into their rooms. She threw herself onto her bunk and stretched out. "He was amazing, better then I thought anyone could be." Bulma omitted to tell Eighteen that even though she'd run away part of her had been hoping he'd show up. But Vegeta hadn't come looking for her, so after hiding down in the science lab where she had been born she had hurried back to her room, secure in her knowledge that her one night with Vegeta would be her only night with Vegeta.

Unfortunately.

Oh shut up, sooner or later he would have hurt you.

Maybe…

"Really?" Eighteen looked wistful, a small smile slid over her face. "Kremlin's good in bed too."

"Kremlin? I though his name was Krillen?" Bulma swallowed, ignoring the voice in her head.

"Kremlin, Krillen…what's the difference?" Eighteen sighed and that soppy smile slid back onto her face. "I like Krem…err…Krillen a lot. He's so sweet."

"Vegeta's more the forceful 'do-what-I-say-when-I-say' type." Inadvertently Bulma's lips twitched as she fought not to smile. "He was gentle though and very sexy…and he has silk sheets on his bed, and he looks really yummy underneath his training suit…"

"I thought you hated this guy?" Eighteen interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

"I do…but he is sexy."

Eighteen and Bulma both nodded in girly agreement when there was a knock at their door, interrupting their talk and any extra information Eighteen might have extracted from Bulma.

"Who is it?" Eighteen jumped up and padded over to the door, peering at the COM-screen, which showed the face of a delivery bot on the other side. The droid blankly stared ahead at the door and again rang the chime. "Yes?" Eighteen pressed the interface button and asked the bot.

"I have a package for a Miss Bulma." It's metallic voice rang around the room and both of the projects cringed – their sensitive ears ringing.

Eighteen recovered first. She smirked and opened the door, snatching a box from the delivery droid and signing for it before Bulma could even stand up off her bed. She carelessly tossed the signing board back at the droid and slammed the door in it's face, placing the box down on the floor and circling around it.

"How exciting…I bet it's from Vegeta. I mean, who else have we met lately who'd send you anything?" Eighteen giggled and then laughed as Bulma blushed and walked over, peering curiously at the unmarked box. Although her little sister would never admit it, Eighteen knew she liked the prince far more then she thought…and she'd seen the look in the Prince's eyes when he'd first seen Bulma, so she had no doubts about how he felt about her. The two of them had been sparking off each other for days, thank god Bulma had slept with him or life would probably be nothing except Bulma speaking monologues about how much she hated and loathed Vegeta.

"I doubt it…its probably form the science lab." The pretty blue haired woman pulled a flap open and looked into the box. For a second Bulma simply stared as though she couldn't make sense of what she was seeing…then she gasped and then opened the box all the way, a sound of disbelief escaping her.

"Bulma? What is it?" Eighteen was practically dancing on this spot as Bulma apparently poked around at whatever was in the box and then pulled out a note, which she read with a smile that was close to resembling a smirk. She lowered the note, chuckled and then read it again, her blue eyes lighting up from some emotion.

"I though he was joking…" Bulma whispered. She chuckled and then began to laugh as she pulled a lacy black bra and matching panties out of the box and showed them to Eighteen. "According to his note there are a hundred in here…but I thought he was joking."

"Vegeta bought you underwear?" Eighteen's eye boggled. "He bought you a hundred pairs of Earth underwear? Why?" She leant forward and pulled a racy red and black G-string out of the box and promptly dropped it back in, her face highly amused. Vegeta was obviously not planning on leaving Bulma alone.

"Last night…" Bulma began to tell her story in between gasps of laughter, "He ripped my underwear off and I told him he had to buy me new ones…" Bulma laughed again. "He said he'd buy me a hundred more pairs…but I though he was joking…"

Eighteen picked up another matching set of red lacy underwear and turned to look at Bulma. "I'm almost jealous. What does the note say?"

Bulma bit her lip to stifle the laughter and then began to read:

"Bulma,

100 pairs of earthling undergarments just as I promised you.

Last night was good, come again tonight.

Don't be late.

-Prince Vegeta"

"That's all it says? It's kind of stilted." Eighteen took the note and read it. "It is kind of sexy though…the fact that he actually sent you underwear…I'd say you have our esteemed leader wrapped around your little finger." Eighteen lowered the note and considered Bulma. The girl knew she was pretty but she had no clue that her withdrawn and innocent behaviour made her all the more attractive to men. That was why Frieza had often reserved the most horrid and filthy acts of sexual depravity for Bulma – he'd wanted to destroy the light that surrounded her. He'd wanted to break her.

"I doubt that." Bulma plucked the note from Eighteen's fingers and put it in her pocket. "I have his attention for now but it wont last, he'll leave me alone soon enough." The tucked her hair behind her ears and casually kicked the box out of her way as she strutted coolly back into the bedroom. Eighteen followed her, unable to understand how Bulma was so unaffected by Vegeta's gift. It was as though Bulma could simply shut her emotions off at will…or at least the emotions that made her feel good.

"Well, with a defeatist attitude like that of course he'll lose interest. You have to stop moping about – honestly you think bad of every single situation you get into…"

"Of course I do." Bulma interrupted. "That's the way I was trained to be. You were designed to see the best of every situation so you could figure out how to best take advantage of the people around you. I, however, was designed to see the worst possible outcome and be prepared for it." Bulma shrugged. "That why were such a good team, we can see things form every angle – you know how to use people, I know how to work out plans to stop things from getting worse." There was pause and then Bulma sighed. "I don't want to see Vegeta again. He makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Don't try to change the subject!" The blonde snapped, irritated at her sister. "I'm not talking about us; I'm talking about your attitude. Just because those hacks in the science lab taught you to view the world through dark glasses doesn't mean you have to for the rest of your life." Eighteen crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at Bulma. "You need to grow up and stop living as if Frieza is still alive."

"I know." Bulma muttered as she sunk onto the floor by her bed and crossed her legs. "But my whole life I've been nothing but a toy or a science project to the people around me. I mean, when I wasn't sitting in a lab while they ran tests on me I was being sent out to wipe out whole planets of people just because that lizard freak wanted me to." Bulma looked at Eighteen with dry eyes that were completely emotionless. "The worst thing was that I was never strong enough to say no…and even if I had been strong enough to say no I always feared that I would be punished."

"Oh, Bulma…"

"No!" Bulma waved Eighteen quiet. "You could make Frieza do things for you because you were beautiful and could take everything he gave to you, but me, I was the pretty little fragile thing that, and although smarter then the average Project, I was still incredibly small and weak…I was a joke Eighteen, I had no status except as some sort of sick joke." Bulma raised her knees to her chest and hugged herself tightly.

Eighteen looked surprised for a moment, then she turned and walked away,. "Well everything sounds bad when you say it like that."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh please." Eighteen whirled around and glared at Bulma. "Do you think I like being what I am? You think you're a sick joke? At least people respect you. I was just seen as Frieza's favourite whore, and things haven't gotten any better since he's died. I was the dumb blonde, too stupid to be trusted on her own in a mission, too strong not to send anyway. Do you think I liked knowing that every time you came on a mission with me you did it because I was too stupid to figure out mission problems?" Eighteen looked frustrated, but still, like Bulma, she didn't cry. Eighteen sank to the floor near Bulma and they looked at each other pathetically.

"I guess where as bad as each other." Bulma finally said, looking sheepishly down at the floor, "I'm sorry…for you know…thinking that way about you."

"Yeah me too…" Eighteen fiddled with her hair. "Sometimes I wish we hadn't turned out working so well."

"Why's that? If we hadn't been able to work we would have been killed."

"Yeah, but people expect us to like being treated like whores just because where a kind of advanced infiltration device…" Eighteen held up a hand to forestall Bulma, "And I know what you're going to say, but its true anyway, were just infiltration devices that are supposed to seduce the enemy."

Bulma glanced down at the floor and looked up again. "I don't know what you're childhood was like Eighteen but mine was awful. I would spend days at a time undergoing physiological tests…then they'd do other things to me…things that hurt." She took a deep breath. "Looking back I think they used emotional conditioning on me – if I showed any emotion they'd punish me. The scientists explained it to me once – they were trying to eradicate our emotional responses. It was a major DNA flaw – one which Frieza wanted them to fix through whichever means was available to them."

"Emotional conditioning?" Eighteen laughed suddenly. "You know its not true, right? The scientists didn't know what they're talking about."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they may have tried to stop you from feeling anything, but the thing is you do feel! You get upset! You get frightened! You even get angry! You can learn to love people Bulma, in the same way you learn to hate certain people or to laugh at certain people, you can learn to love people eventually."

"You don't understand." Bulma shook her head. "It's not that easy."

"Yes! Yes it is!" Eighteen forced Bulma to look at her. " Know it's true because I was born with a conscience Bulma, and if they could teach me to swallow that down and enjoy killing, then there has to be a way for you to learn how to love. There can't be a hell if there isn't a heaven." Eighteen stood up and headed back to her bed. "You just need to let go of yourself and stop being afraid. Frieza's dead – he'll punish either of us again."


A/N - Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! Feedback is welcome!