Disclaimer: I don't own anything, so just read...

Shasti: Shasti here, so the number of votes tell me that most ppl don't want Frieza interfering in this fic, so I'll do just that, thanks for the reviews!

Chapter Five- Unexpected encounter

"You could've asked the hairdresser to come to the palace to do the slave's hair and you could've asked our tailor to make him some clothes."

Bra was in her mother's room. The queen had heard how she had left the castle this morning and she was now discussing it with her. They were sitting on the king-size bed.

"But mom, I just wanted to get out once in awhile. I feel like I'm locked up here, you know I hate that."

"Then ask the Royal Guards for an escort. You can go out with them around you. Anytime you want, anywhere you want."

"Mom, that doesn't make any difference. They want to control my every move. That's no freedom."

"I know, dear, but, god look at you. So many things could've happened to you. You were very lucky to get off with just a few scratches. Bra, you could've been killed! Do you even realise that?"

Bra sighed. Her mother was just so overprotective. "But nothing happened, mom. Trunks was there. And besides, for all I know someone might plan an attack on us right here right now and the roof could fall down killing us!"

"You know what I mean, Bra."

"Yes mother." Bra gave in. "I just can't stand sitting in the castle all day while other girls my age can go outside and have fun."

"That's just part of being the princess, dear." At that moment they heard a knock on the door. "Come in." The door to the queen's private rooms opened and a guard stepped in. He bowed.

"Majesty, The king wishes to speak to his daughter."

Bra glanced at her mother. She didn't really want to go, dreading what would come. But her mother smiled at her, trying to encourage her. She sighed and got up. "Very well." She said. "Take me to him."

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He held his breath. The moment between the sudden halt of the man and the first impact seemed like ages. But when it finally came, it came hard. It was the whip first. The metal little ball on the end of the whip seemed to cut right trough his skin connecting with his spine. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes at the sudden pain the blow gave him. He got ready for the second blow but somehow it didn't come. Not yet.

"So," a dark, low voice came, "this is your first time here. I shall make you wish it were your last! Mark my words, slave! Whatever you did, you shall regret it by the end of the day. Mark my WORDS!" At the last word the whip came again, hitting the exact same spot it did before. The hit was unexpected and he let out a shriek. He felt how the first drops of blood started running down his back.

The whip came again, and again, and again... and again. Every time it connected at the same spot it did before. He gritted his teeth at every impact, closing his eyes to block out the pain. It was all in vain. The pain was there and with every blow it increased but he didn't yell. He didn't shout. He simply refused to.

His back was now being hit with the rope part of the whip. He could feel the burning lashes on his back and he knew he would keep scars from it. The hits no longer came all at the same place. He felt how his back was bleeding. His fists were clentched and his head hung low. He needed all his strength and willpower to keep him from screaming so he had no strength left in his legs to keep him standing and if it wasn't for the cuffs to hold him up, he would have fallen down.

He wished he'd fallen down. He wished the whip would just disappear into the thin air. He wished he was back home now, back in his own little warm bed where he'd be safe, away from the whiplashes, away from this planet, away from this life. He wished he could take a cold shower to easy the burning pain in his back. He wished the Punisher would just stop.

But he didn't stop. He kept going and the whip kept coming. The belt came too now. The metal balls seemed to pierce right trough his skin, easily as a pin trough a pin-cushion. It seemed to never end.

Punished while all he did was save her. That girl was so impossible! What else could he have done? Let those guys beat them up so that she would learn her lesson the hard way? Is that what he was supposed to do? He just tried to warn her and she acted like he'd tried to kill her himself! If he wanted her dead he could've just let those guys do what they were planning to do.

Suddenly, FINALLY, a knock came. The door opened and the two guards from before stepped in. "You done already? We got a new one for you."

The punisher halted and looked at the men. "What is it?"

"You'll love this one." The other guard spoke. "It's a traitor. We want information."

He could hear the punisher make a sound of excitement. Suddenly, the whip hit his back again. This he didn't expect and he made a low sound at the sudden hit. But as soon as he realized whet he was doing he gritted his teeth to shut himself up.

"Yup, I'm done here." The punisher said. He smirked at him. "See YOU later, boy." And with that he took off.

The two guards entered the room and walked up to him. They started to untie his wrists.

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The guard knocked on the door.

"Enter."

He opened the door and walked inside, followed by Bra. The room was pretty big. It had red carpet and the walls were covered with royal blue. The room had no windows. Some wooden furniture was placed in it.

The guard walked up to his king and bowed for him. "Your majesty, your daughter is here."

King Vegeta glanced at the guard. "I can see that, I'm not blind!"

The guard trembled. "Y-yes, your majesty, I-I'm sorry."

King Vegeta grunted. "Good. Now leave our presence."

With a final bow the guard hurried away. The king glanced at his daughter before walking up to the big wooden desk. He turned around and glared at his daughter.

Bra almost gulped at his angry glare. Of course, she'd seen him glare before, but not like this. Not to her that is.

"You have been outside the castle walls without protection, young lady."

"But father, I..."

"No buts here, you shall let me finish!" He roared. Bra lowered her eyes. The king took a deep breath and continued calmly. "I can get killed any second and if that would happen I need YOU to be there to take over my job and rule this planet as the queen. But in the meanwhile you're just forgetting your duties by running off and going wherever you want thinking that as a princess you can do anything. Well let me tell you this, young lady. You might be the Princess Royal, and you might rule this planet one day, but you are still my daughter and I am your father. I will NOT tolerate you to disobey me and I do not want your stupidity and ignorance to get you killed."

Bra looked up at her father. She was surprised to see that he had no longer just anger in his eyes. No, there was also something else. He was concerned about her. That made her feel even more guilty than she already did.

"I'm sorry, father." She said hesitating. "But... Trunks was there and I'm fine!"

"That slave of yours is no bodyguard. Bra, slaves are no civilised beings like us, they're lowlife no goods! He could have killed you for all you know."

"But he didn't, father, he protected me!"

"Than why is he in the dungeons?"

Bra blinked. Her father was right. That made no sense. Then she thought of something. "If YOU would just allow me to learn how to fight I wouldn't need his protection or ANYONE else's!"

The kind sighed. "That is exactly the reason why I won't allow you. You would think too highly of yourself and besides, you shouldn't have been in that battle at all. Women don't fight. That goes double for the Princess Royal."

"But father! I've seen your men train women before, why can't they train me too?"

"Discussion closed." King Vegeta threw his daughter a warning look. She sighed in defeat, putting her head down. She could never win this discussion with her father. She'd tried to trick one of the guards in teaching her before, but she never succeeded. Princess or not, the King would always be above her. If she wanted to learn how to fight she'd have to wait until she was queen herself. Unless...

"Bra, one more thing." Bra looked up again. "There's an important meeting on planet Cryson next week and I have to go there. I will be leaving in three days."

"Again?" She looked at her father in disbelieve. "But dad, you've just got back from a meeting eight days ago!"

"I know, Bra. But you know just as well as I do that it's a chaos out there. With Frieza gone and the news spread everywhere, everybody is trying to rule the universe and everybody else is trying to prevent anyone from taking control. We have to know exactly what's going on and make sure we choose the right allies. Therefore I shall not be home much the next few months."

Bra sighed and walked up to her father. "Just be careful, okay dad? I'm not actually planning on ruling this planet anytime soon."

The king brought two fingers up to his daughter's left cheek and touched it the way he always did to comfort her. "Don't worry, little princess. I'm not planning on stepping down yet either."

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Trunks was taken out of the dark room. He had not enough energy to walk by himself, so the guards had to carry him. Well, it was more dragging him. And they weren't very gentle either.

Trunks had no idea what would happen now. Would this be all or would there come more. Somehow he didn't feel like this was the end. And indeed it wasn't they took him even further down than they already were. They arrived at a long, dirty corridor. On each side of the corridor were small cells with metal bars. And in each cell sat two or more beings. As they saw the guards enter they got up and started yelling at them. They looked pretty angry. One tried to throw something at a guard, but when it reached the bars it bounce back like there was a force field or something, hitting the prisoner in his stomach. The guards paid little attention. They just smirked.

They entered another dark corridor, again with cells on both sides. Only those cells were almost all filled with females. Trunks was taken to a small cell, the only cell where he saw only one being inside. The guard opened the cell door with a special key, removing the force field for a moment and he pushed Trunks inside. Trunks fell to the ground as he heard how the door was shut and locked behind him.

"You might want to consider yourself lucky that we have no cell left for you alone." One guard smirked. "Or maybe 'lucky' isn't the right word." They laughed.

"Don't be too hard with him!" The other guard said.

"Stupid pig." One of the guards called him. The other one laughed. Trunks tilted his head up slightly and looked at the other being in his cell. It was a girl. She looked human, just like him, a little younger maybe. She had long blond hair that was all ruffled up and she looked pale in the dark cell. Her clothes were thin and torn and her body had a few scratches on it. She wore a ki-band just like him.

The girl glared at the guards' comment but she didn't say anything. As the guards walked away she came up to Trunks. A hard voice came from the cell on their right. "Ey, girl. We know ye'r good, but take it easy with him, will ya. Remember he's hurt!"

Laughter was heard from some other cells. "Oh, shut up, Clara." The blond girl shot back. Her voice sounded sweet, but Trunks knew better than to trust just anyone who seemed nice at the first sight. He had learned that the hard way. Her soft hands touched his bare shoulder. Trunks flinched at the contact. The girl drew her hand away for a moment, but hesitatingly placed it back right after. "I'm not going to hurt you." She whispered.

However, the current condition he was in gave him no other choice than to let the girl helped him sit up. She dragged him gently to the wall on the other end of the cell and placed his back against the wall. He blinked as the wounds on his back connected with the rough wall.

He glanced at the girl long enough to see her face filled with concern and shock while she looked over his body. He looked down at himself and saw what she meant. His pant were all torn and bloody and even though he wasn't hit on his chest he still had blood there. That probably came dripping from his arms where he had been hit too.. He felt how his hair was all ruffeled up. Locks of hair, wet from his sweating hung everywhere in his face, covering his eyes for a great part.

He shivered a moment at the cold air in this cell.

"Oh." The girl had seen his shiver. And grabbed a blanket. She offered it to him. "Here, this'll keep you warm." H took it and looked up at her. But he didn't speak. He tried to get the blanket between his back and the wall but it didn't seem to be willing to co-operate. The girl kneeled down next to him to give him a hand. He let her.

If he didn't suspect her to be human he wouldn't have let her help. He hated it when others did things for him to help him. It made him feel weak and vulnerable. Especially now that he had to lead this kind of life. Being forced to do jobs for other beings, jobs that they can perfectly well do by themselves but they are just too lazy to try it. He now even more appreciated the servants they used to have back on earth. They helped out of their own free will. Trunks hated them when he was little but being the son of the one that was in charge of one of the largest company in the world gave him little choice. He and Goten always tried to give the maids a hard time. They thought it was funny back then. But now he regretted every prank.

He covered his chest with the blanket. It wasn't a very thick one but at least it was something. He saw the girl lift her hand and he followed it suspiciously with his eyes. She slowly brought her hand to his face and she brushed the strands of hair gently out of his eyes. Then she blinked and quickly moved away from him. She eyed him thoroughly.

Trunks looked at her and saw that her earlier concern was now replaced by total confusion. She opened her mouth to say something but immediately closed it again. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth once more.

"... Trunks?"

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Shasti: Ohhh, mysterious girl, who is she? You'll have to wait for da next chapter! So any more suggestions? I have no idea how to make the 12th chapter work, help me plez!

Shasti: Well, just plez review!