Chapter 3: The Lonely Rider

"Ok Princess, rise and shine! You don't need THAT much beauty sleep." The servant girl and close friend said, more towards herself as she strode into the princess's room. "Come come! We have much to do today…" She trailed off as she reached the bed only to find that the princess had still not awakened or even for that matter, had not even moved an inch.

"Bulma?" Chi Chi questioned slowly making her way cautiously towards the bed and peeling back the bed sheet, only to find that in place of her blue-haired friend, she found a stack of pillows.

"What…" She trailed off again, getting more and more worried by the second as she scanned the room for any sign of a break-in and/or struggle. She found none but instead found a piece of white parchment, lying on top of the bed stand, held down by a marble paperweight.

Quickly, she snatched the paper, reading and re-reading the note, still not believing her eyes.

Dear Chi,

I know by now that you are in my room, trying to get me up but as you can see, I am long gone. I cannot take the pressure anymore of marrying a man whom I've had no chance to see if I really LOVED him. I know that mother and father will be severely angry with me and how I have been acting – it is not princess like – I can hear them now. That is why I am leaving this place and searching for something to call my own 'life' and not a fake one that I have been living.

I will miss you but I promise you, you will see me again…

So much love,

Bulma

Ps: Tell mother and father that I love them and to understand my decision.

Tears formed at the image of her beloved best friend now leaving her. But not for good right? She said she would be back. She folded the parchment note delicately, tucking the letter firmly into her deep violet obi, then setting out to tell the king and queen.

She of course, was not looking forward to this.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE RAN AWAY!" King Kinushu shouted, making both Chi Chi and his wife jump in surprise. After no reply from neither of them, he grunted and returned his cold gaze back to read the letter for the fifth time.

"I-I don't understand…" The king looked up again but this time was much calmer and caring. Tears began to form at the corner of his eyes when he stared at his wife, she too showing the grief on her face. "I thought she WANTED to get married to Yamcha." This time the king looked directly at Chi Chi, as if expecting she would know something he didn't and he wanted answers.

The servant girl shrugged her shoulders and simply replied the best answer she could give, "She wanted a life of her own and did not want the pressure of being a princess no longer."

The king let out an exhausted sigh as he nodded slowly then turned to take his wife out for some fresh air. The queen accepted and quickly wiped away the tears that were running freely down her pale-stricken face.

"Well, she couldn't have gone too far. You know how high maintenance she is, dear." The king said softly to his wife, in hopes of lightening the mood. His wife nodded her head in agreement, and waited for him to go and to get to the point of this conversation. "So, if I were to send out my top men, they would be able to find her within days and bring her back here – safe and sound." He finished the sentence with a prideful grin, already eager at the idea of having his beautiful daughter back within the palace walls.

The queen shook her head, warily. "You have no men at the moment. They are either guarding/patrolling the land or they are up in the North, with Prince Yamcha's family."

King Kinushu thought about this for a moment, taking a break from their walk in the gardens, and residing down upon a stone bench, patting the seat next to him for his wife. "You're right." He finally spoke, giving a slight sigh along with his words. "We have no one good enough that knows the land well enough."

As he continued thinking, the queen suddenly saw a dark and lonely man, moving across the horizon on a black horse. She continued to stare and noticed that the man appeared to be in no rush. Quickly, she got up and began walking into a quick stride that turned into a run. Gathering up her dress, she began to shout at the dark figure, hoping he would hear her and stop.

"Well what about-" The king turned to his wife to be met with an empty seat sitting next to him on the bench. Getting to his feet, he scanned the distance to find her galloping off to greet – what was this? Or should I say: Who was this?

More confused then ever, he too began at a run to meet up his wife.

"STOP! PLEASE STOP!"

Vegeta looked around, very dazed of what was happening, but saw that a woman was chasing him down.

Almost annoyed, he pulled the reins, signaling his horse to stop. He waited another few seconds before the woman ran up to him, out of breath and wearing what looked like a CROWN! After a few minutes, she still was showing no signs of halting from her panting and he was starting to get bored. "Madam, if you do not need anything, I shall be on my way-"

"No…" She gave one last pant and looked up into the stranger's eyes. "Please don't go."

"Sayuri! Sayuri!" Both turned to meet a shorter looking man, who too was wearing a crown. "What are you doing, Sayuri?" The man asked eagerly, staring at what appeared to be his wife. She did not answer but returned her gaze to the dark stranger, whom still sat perched upon his horse.

"And who are you?" The king asked, slightly appalled that the man did not get off of his horse to give a bow. He scanned the man's appearance, taking in everything. The foreign dark man was not wearing a kimono, but rather darkened robes – like a black color, tied together with what looked to be a red rope or belt.

"If you are done staring at me, I would like to be on my way…" Vegeta growled out, now annoyed of this whole situation.

The king looked up at the man to discover a scowl now appearing on his face. "Well I don't quite know why my wife stopped you but we shall be on our way then…" He tried to grab his wife's arm in attempt to drag her back to the castle only to find her wiggle her way out, still in awe at her 'last hope'.

"Look, I don't know who you are but if you could give me a few moments of your time to explain myself, I would really appreciate it." She said, looking up into his eyes, pleading for his time.

The lone rider looked into her pleading eyes, the ones that now held tears running freely down her face. He slowly nodded, sighing before looking back out in the distance then turning his gaze back to the woman before him.

"Thank you. Anyways, I was just hoping to ask you a favor-"

"Nope. Don't do favors! I have places to go and people to see-" He slyly lied, turning away from him and starting to fumble with the reins. "Some other time…" He said coldly and gave a soft click with his tongue to get his horse started.

"No please! Wait!" She grabbed the reins of the horse to keep it from running off from her.

"Woman! I am getting very irritated now so if-"

"Don't you dare answer to the queen that way!" Shouted the king, now joining his wife who held up a hand to silence him, signaling that she could handle this herself.

Vegeta quickly turned his attention back to the couple who stood before him. 'Queen?' He thought confused. With a heavy sigh, he turned back to the queen and nodded for her to continue what she wanted of him.

"My daughter – our daughter, has run away on us and I was looking for someone to find her and bring her back home safe and sound."

"And how does this concern me? I don't do charity work." He spoke, a hint of boredom in his voice as he waited for her response.

"Well, I-uh, hmmm…" She turned back to her husband who shrugged his shoulders. "Name your price."

"Now your talking…" Vegeta said, a smirk appearing on his gorgeous face.

A/N: Hey! Sorry, it's short! But I tried hard on this one! I had about 75 done about a week after chapter 2 came out then finals came and well… yadda yadda yadda! You've heard all my excuses before If this chapter sux, I am completely sorry, I have had sooo many distractions so if something doesn't seem right – again, I'm sorry!

Thank you to my awesome reviewers! You reviews make me get up in the morning! Hehehe! I enjoy reading every single one – so thanks again!

Keep reviewing and keep reading!

Hope you like the story so far!

I will try my hardest to get this in hopefully before July 4th

Later then,

Yomegagurl01