A/N:    Again I can just say sorry for letting you wait that long… There have been some reasons (private ones) that kept me from writing, but in about one week I'll finally have 14 days free of school and work and I hope that I'll be able to update faster then!

Chapter 25: The Calm before…

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She woke up with a start when the ship jolted roughly from one side to the other, obviously having been hit by a larger wave. She sat up, eyeing warily the room she was in, clutching the blankets tightly against her chest and holding her breath. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the dim light of the room.

Where was she?

The room was not lit that well, just a few stray strands of light came through a small porthole in one of the walls. It also seemed to be moving, rocking gently from one side to another. Was she on a ship? From what she could see the room resembled pretty much a cabin. It was smaller, completely made of wood, with just two beds, two trunks and a desk. Suddenly her heart stood still and her whole body tensed, as she remembered something.

Where was he?

She jumped out of the bed and, though her legs wobbled a bit in the first few seconds, she managed to stand. When she noticed that her feet were bare, she looked down at herself, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a long violet nightgown. She raised an eyebrow at this, but quickly shook the thoughts of why she could be wearing something like this off, with the knowledge that there were now more important things she had to find out first. She started to rummage through the trunks and the desk, looking for something that might tell her where she was without leaving this room and probably running into him.

She had just opened one of the drawers in the desk, when she could hear someone humming on the other side of the wall. She guardedly took a letter opener out of it, holding the blade of it firmly in her right hand, ready to attack, and watched the door, unmoving. Her heart beat hard against her chest and her mouth was set in a firm line, as the handle of the door was pushed down. As soon as the door was opened, the letter opener flew and remained stuck in it, just inches away from the face of a black haired woman, who wasn't able to suppress a small scream.

She watched how the woman's now deathly pale face slowly turned around and her dark eyes rested on her. The woman's mouth twitched and eventually turned into a small smile – she obviously seemed to have gotten over the shock of almost having been on the sharp end of a letter opener. "Oh, you're awake… I'm sorry if I scared you." She watched her closely, her eyes following each and every move of the strange woman, not really knowing what to make out of her behavior. "I'm ChiChi," the woman told her softly.

"Juuhachigou," she answered reluctantly. "Where am I?"

"You are on the Kintoun," the woman, ChiChi, said, while rummaging through a trunk, where she pulled out a long dark blue dress, giving it to her. "Here, this should fit you."

"The Kintoun," Juuhachigou said, more to herself than to the other woman. "I've heard that name before… Isn't this the ship of the sailor Son Goku?"

"You're completely right. This is Goku's ship."

"What-what am I doing here? Where is – Cell?" she asked uneasily, nervously fidgeting with the hands, in which she was holding the dress ChiChi had just given her.

"Don't worry about Cell," ChiChi told her soothingly, though her voice betrayed something – something that she couldn't quite place. Was it disbelief, surprise, or maybe even denial? "You should get dressed and then the guys will tell you what's happened, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, still a bit unwillingly, but yet curious about what those guys, whoever they were, would tell her.

"Fine. Then you should get dressed and I'll come back to you in a few seconds, after I've told the guys that you're awake." Smiling, the other woman left the cabin, leaving her alone again.

~*~

She awoke to the scratching sound of a pen on a paper. Groggily opening her eyes, she squinted at the glaring light which fell through the window in the back of the cabin. She felt disoriented, not being used to waking up like this, and her eyes wandered around the room until they rested on a certain pirate. He was sitting with his back to her and didn't seem to have noticed that she was awake.

But why was she here?

Her hand came up to her head and she winced, when she touched her face. She gently touched it again, carefully feeling the bruise that had formed on the right side of her face. An image of a large hand hitting her flashed in front of her eyes. Nappa… He-he had tried to rape her. Tears, which she quickly blinked away, were forming in her eyes at this painful memory. She slowly sat up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and looked down at herself, noticing that she was still wearing the torn dress. Her head rose again and her eyes settled on the form of the Saiyajin at the desk. Vegeta… he had saved her. He had chased Nappa away. He had brought her into his cabin. He had been so gentle. He had given her something for the pain, something to help her sleep.

But why?

Her fingers found their way to her lips and a blush crept onto her face, when she remembered another thing. She had kissed him. What had driven her to do that? But the strangest thing was that he had not pulled back. What did that mean? Had he just been caught off guard by her action or did he actually feel something for her? She inwardly shook her head. No, that was impossible. He might not be as evil as everyone thought him to be, but he certainly didn't feel anything for her. But still, she couldn't deny that she felt some kind of attraction towards him. She didn't just depend on him or feel attracted to his physical appearance. This was something else, something different. As she watched him like this, she felt all warm and safe. Just watching him, just the knowledge that he was there helped her almost to forget what had happened the other night.

"How long do you plan to stare at me like that?" Vegeta's gruff voice pulled her out of her thoughts. The blush on her face returned at full force and she turned her gaze away. She heard a chair move and then steps coming towards her. She had to look up again, when a shadow appeared over her and Vegeta put his hand under her chin, forcing her to face him. He turned her head further to take a look at the right side of her face, seeing the large violet-green bruise that covered about half of it. "The bruise isn't as bad as it looks. It will fade within the next few days." At least he hoped so. The seething anger he had so successfully oppressed the previous night returned upon seeing this and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from cursing. The bruise really looked bad, though if Nappa had had used all of his strength the woman would have been dead the second his hand had connected with her face. If that had happened, he was sure that not just the woman, but also two other Saiyajins on this ship would be dead. He swore to himself that as soon as he got all spheres and took care of Frieza, he would kill both Nappa and Radditz.

"What are you thinking about?" Bulma dared to ask, when she saw the thoughtful look on his face and the anger sparkling in his onyx eyes.

"Nothing," he declared, his voice void of any emotion. He turned around and went to the door, opening it.

"Where are you going?" Bulma asked with a bit of panic rising in her voice. The last time she had been alone, she had almost been raped.

"To your old cabin to get some clothes for you. Or do you want to wear those torn ones until our journey is over?"

Bulma instinctively pulled the blanket up to her chin as to cover everything that might be exposed to the Saiyajin. "Um… okay…"

"Don't worry about Nappa. He learned his lesson last night. Neither he nor anyone else on this ship will dare to touch you," he said, before he left the cabin.

Vegeta took a deep breath once he had closed the door behind him. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn't his feelings for this woman be indifferent? Why did just looking at her cause a roller coaster of emotions he wasn't familiar with? He closed his eyes and wished at the same time that he had not done this, because at exactly that moment he saw her again, lying on the floor so broken with Nappa hovering over her. His chest tightened at this image and he had to clench his fist to keep himself from doing something that he might regret later. He still needed both Nappa and Radditz and killing them now could mean his own death once he had to face Frieza.

"Are you okay, captain?"

His eyes jerked open and he glowered at the member of his crew in front of him. Said member quickly realized that this probably hadn't been the best thing to say to his captain at that moment, after all everyone had heard about what had happened the night before. Knowing better than to disturb him furthermore he quickly retreated to the common room, where most of the other crew members were having lunch right now. Still scowling Vegeta watched him leave into the direction of the common room, a room he had never once entered and also not planned to do so since – as the name already said – it was a room for commoners, a room that was just for the drinking pack he called his crew. This was the privacy he allowed them to have. He guessed that behind those walls his own name fell often enough, but he didn't care what they were saying about him, as long as they did their work and obeyed his orders.

Snorting he turned to the cabin that had been the woman's for the last few weeks and regarded his handiwork. The door, or rather what had once been the door, lay in splintered pieces on the floor and he could make out a small crack in the wooden wall, where he had tossed Nappa against it. He would have smirked, if it hadn't been for the circumstances under which this destruction had taken place.

He dared not to look at the spot on the floor, where he had found the woman, when he walked over to the trunk, in which he suspected he would find the dresses he had bought for the woman on Namek.

~*~

Above mentioned crew member went into the common room and saw that all those who were not needed on deck at that moment were already gathered. 'Just in time,' he thought, as he sat down on a free spot on a bench, his eyes wandering to the front, where Radditz and Nappa were standing. The larger one of the two had a black eye and some bruises around his throat, wearing a deep scowl on his face, while the look on the face of the other one was one of self-satisfaction and superiority.

Radditz motioned for someone in the back to close the door, before he turned to speak. "Listen! I think you all know why I've called in this meeting." He noticed, satisfied, that now all eyes were on him, waiting for him to go on. "It's about Vegeta. I believe you've all noticed the change in his behavior ever since we started this hunt for the Treasure of Power and especially since this woman has been on board." Murmurs of agreement were exchanged over the table and Radditz growled. "Shut up! With the way our captain is acting right now, he'll be in the resentment of Frieza and if we don't do anything, we'll be, too. Does anyone of you know exactly why we are searching for the spheres?" All crew members shook their heads. "No? Well, Vegeta plans to rebel against the Lord and thinks that the spheres will help him with this. Do you know what this means?"

"The Lord will kill us," one of the pirates mumbled.

"That, or worse," Radditz told them. "That's the reason why I think we should stop Vegeta. He is blinded by his hatred for Frieza and the illusion of being able to defeat him; what we all know is impossible. Therefore I think we should overthrow him."

Everyone was silent as soon as Radditz said this. Looks of mixed emotions were on the pirates' faces. They all had served Vegeta for years and no matter how bad their treatment on the ship had been, they had all gotten a fair share of money and after all those years they held some kind of loyalty towards their captain.

Both Saiyajins noticed the hesitation. Slowly growing agitated by this, Nappa clenched his fist and hit the table, letting the dishes on it rattle. "Do you really need to think about it?" he roared. "What Vegeta is doing is also called treason! He doesn't care what will happen to you! He's betraying you – us!"

"Nappa is right," Radditz decided to take over. "If you still want to follow Vegeta with this knowledge you're fools. I, on the other hand, plan to stay on Frieza's good side. So you should decide now. Do you want to die by Frieza's hands or do you want to follow me and live?"

Radditz watched smirking how the pirates were throwing questioning looks at each other. He was quite positive that he had them where he wanted them to be. Suddenly a large pirate stood up and announced, "We'll follow you, Radditz. We want you to be our new captain." Roars and shouts of agreement followed this statement and Nappa and Radditz looked at each other, both knowing that the fall of their captain was now just a matter of time.

"What about the woman?" someone suddenly asked.

"The bitch will be mine!" the bald Saiyajin told him.

Radditz threw him a somehow disapproving look, though he did understand, before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the other pirates. "The woman will play a major role in my plan. I've already notified Lord Frieza of it and yesterday I got his answer. He's giving us his full support in this matter and promised us a high commission if we bring him the spheres, the woman and Vegeta's body." Again murmurs, this time full of excitement, went through the small crowd of pirates, until Radditz started to speak again. "Shut up and I'll tell you the details of my plan."

~*~

Vegeta noticed the loud commotion coming from the common room but couldn't make out any words. He shook his head. That didn't concern him anyway and he would never lower himself to show any interested in a conversation or matter that would be discussed amongst this low class scum. He was still a prince and they were clearly beneath him. If it were he who was giving them their payment and not Frieza, he wouldn't even give them half of what they got. But he still needed them. First after the Beast was dead, he would get rid of them all and look for a crew that would show much more competence than this one.

With this thought in mind he returned to his cabin, where the woman was already waiting for him. He saw her jump lightly when he opened the door and immediately felt again the anger dwelling up in him. Usually he would be amused by this action of hers, but he somehow couldn't feel that way now and this made him even angrier. "Get dressed," he told her curtly and threw the few dresses onto the bed.

Bulma grabbed one of the dresses, her heart slowly starting again to slow down after it had been beating so hard against her chest when the door had been opened out of fear that Nappa or someone else might enter the cabin and try to… No, she didn't want to think about this anymore. She was safe here. Vegeta wouldn't let anyone try to hurt her again. She looked up and saw him staring at her. Instinctively she pulled the covers higher and turned her head away, blushing lightly. "Um, could you please…?"

"What?" he asked her, folding his arms over his chest.

'Does he have to be so handsome when he's acting like this?' she asked herself and her blush deepened. "Could you – I mean – could you turn around, please? So I can get dressed?"

"Why?"

She sighed, exasperated, her temper slowly returning to her. She looked up and her sparkling eyes met his. "Listen, Vegeta! Have you ever heard of something called manners? If you had you would know that a man turns around or leaves the room when the woman has to get…"

She was cut short, when she suddenly felt his lips pressed against hers. Her eyes went wide with surprise and at first she didn't do anything. First when he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her head closer with the other hand, she closed her eyes and let herself go in the kiss. She allowed one of her hands to let go of the covers and ran it through his hair – she was surprised of how soft it was – to deepen the kiss even more.

Both were panting hard, when they finally let go of each other. "…dressed," Bulma ended her formerly started rant breathlessly. She would have blushed, if her already flushed face allowed it, when she met Vegeta's eyes. Never had she experienced a kiss like this before. Not even when she had shared that one kiss with Yamcha. Never had one been that intense, that… indescribable. "Vegeta…" she sighed, when she buried her head in the soft fabric of his shirt.

Hearing his name said in this whisper pulled him back into reality and he suddenly realized what he had done. Surprised by his own actions, he pulled away from her and walked over to his desk, now standing with his back to her.

"Vegeta?"

He ignored her, trying to shut out the confusion and slight hurt her voice was betraying. 'Damn it!' he cursed inwardly. 'What is wrong with me? What was I thinking?' A deep frown appeared on his face. He had no idea what had come over him. He had just been amused by seeing the spark in her eyes again after what had happened the night before and had somehow … enjoyed seeing her like this. The fire that he had already noticed the first day he had brought her on this ship had been back and at that moment he just could not have resisted – he just had had to feel her lips again on his. His men were right. He had become soft because of that woman. He felt things he had never felt before. Not just the protectiveness, but also this growing attraction towards her. An attraction that did not just seem to be physical.

He closed his eyes, trying to cool down again, trying to banish the feeling of her soft lips pressed against his, of her body pressed against his, of her hand running through his hair, of feeling her soft hair in his hand…

"Vegeta? What's wrong?" she almost pleaded.

"You should get dressed now and then I'll get you something to eat," he told her in an indifferent and cool voice.

"Oh… O-okay…" His heart almost stood still, when he heard her voice – a voice that betrayed hurt and anger and he couldn't help but feel bad about making her feel that way. But there was still his pride and he had a reputation to keep. He couldn't allow himself to fall for a woman. This would be a weakness and having a weakness would mean his death in a fight against Frieza.