Chapter 4: The Encounter

"What? You are telling me that my bride-to-be is missing! GONE?" Prince Yamcha shouted to his servants and guards whom were gathered before him.

"We don't know too much about the situation yet sir. All we heard is that she is missing. The cause and the place are still unknown – whether she'd be kidnapped or ran away-"

"No, she would never run away. What reason would she have?" The prince said instantly, shaking his head before collapsing his face into his hands. "I just want to know if she is safe or not and what has happened."

"We are doing the best we can sir." Another guard spoke up, slightly throwing his hands into the air as if to surrender.

"Bring her back to me and do not rest until it is done."

"What have I gotten myself into now?" Vegeta moaned as he leaned over his horse, which was walking quite slowly. "How am I supposed to know where that fucking princess has gone?" A scowl appeared on his face and he suddenly wondered why he had taken the job.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, an arrow shot out of nowhere and hit him in the left upper arm.

"FUCK!" He screamed, clamping his right hand over the wound. Vegeta winced as he held the throbbing soar. "Argh!" He was seriously pissed now and jerked his head to the direction from where the arrow came to find that 3 people were riding up to him. He would have bolted out of there but found that he knew the people.

With a growl, he took out his sleek sword and prepared for a fight. Quickly, Vegeta hopped off of his horse and ran over to meet the bastards that dared injure him.

When he got a closer look at them, he found that it wasn't some more of Frieza's men – it was Frieza himself followed by 2 of his top men.

Vegeta instantly slowed his run and cursed underneath his breath. "Ah shit." He looked down at the ground for a moment before sheathing back his sword and waited for them to come.

"Ah Vegeta, so nice to see you again." Frieza spoke with a smirk appearing on his lips, looking down at the glaring dark warrior before him. "About the arrow, we had to get your attention some way or another."

The other 2 soldiers began to snicker as Frieza hopped off his horse to face Vegeta. "Now, I heard that you wanted to see me in person. Well, here I am. What is it that you wanted?"

"I have your money." Vegeta said bluntly, now rubbing his injured arm.

"Really? Fantastic." Frieza said, clapping his hands together and he turned to the other soldiers, who joined in the laughing. "Well? Where is it?"

"Well, I don't have it with me. But I will get it to you soon-"

"Oh I've heard this before. Vegeta, how many times do I have to say this: I want my money and I want it fucking now!" He shouted, now irritated and growing more and more annoyed by this whole situation. "I'll find you again in one week's time. One." He held up his pointer finger. "And you better have it by then – no more delays otherwise, well, let's just say you don't want to hear the details." He gave a sly grin at the last part.

Vegeta slowly nodded, gazing once again at the ground.

"And just so you think I'm serious-" Before Vegeta had to time react, Frieza grabbed the arrow, still sticking out of Vegeta's arm, twisted it fiercely before yanking it out.

Vegeta let out a cry before falling to his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut painfully and held his arm protectively, now feeling the blood ooze through his fingers and down his arm.

"That was your warning." Frieza growled, looking down at Vegeta before climbing on top of his horse and riding off into dusk, his men close by his side.

"Well here's your adventure, Bulma. Now what?" She said angrily to herself, as she hugged her freezing cold body. Her natural red lips began to tremble as she looked around, finally realizing that it was turning dusk.

She was in the middle of a dark, dense forest and was of course, lost. With a heavy moan, she collapsed her cold body upon a dead and fallen tree laying on the frost covered ground. "Damn its cold." She said bitterly, staring off into the sunset as it descended into the mountains.

"I need to keep moving…" The princess sighed, quickly yanking her body up and starting once again on her journey. "I'll just keep going straight. I'm bound to end up somewhere…"

And so the heiress kept walking slowly, trudging her way through the curving pathways of the dark forests, cuddling her body the whole way. "I'm starting to think that this was a bad idea." She groaned, now seeing her breath as the moonlight shown down her. "I need to find shelter, otherwise I'm gonna freeze to death."

Looking around, her beautiful blue eyes found an opening to what looked like a small dug out that resembled a cave. "Perfect." A smile graced her lips as she jogged over to the entrance and rested her beat and tired body upon a smooth rock located within.

The beautiful blue-haired woman crossed her arms and gently rested her head against them. Her eye lids felt as they were tied to 100-pound weights and she graciously closed her eyes and began her deep slumber.

Four days have passed and there was still no sign of this so called 'princess'.

Vegeta wandered around aimlessly, his eyes scanning anything that moved. "Dammit! Where is she?" He let out a growl as he squeezed the sides of his horse with his heels, signaling for him to go faster.

He had been stuck in this forest for the past three days and was starting to get a headache. Personally, everything to him looked the same. Or was he going in circles? "DAMMIT!" Vegeta screamed, fiercely pulling on the reins. He was beyond annoyed and now becoming very irritated.

The sun shown down him, making him wince as he looked up to try and determine what time it was. "It's almost noon…" He sighed, his stomach growling. Hesitantly, he hopped off his horse, tying the reins to the nearest tree.

After that was done, he reached into a bag that was tied to the saddle and finding what he was looking for. Setting himself down beside the horse, Vegeta nibbled on a small loaf of bread. He slowly reached over to where his horse's nuzzle was and broke off a piece as his horse quickly snatched up the piece and guzzled it down.

He let out a small chuckle and returned to finish his lunch.

After he was done, the lone ranger got up and brushed himself off before once again, hopping back onto his horse and continue the search when he heard slight laughter.

"What the-" Confused, he rode off to find the owner of the noise.

After countless days without a shower, Bulma finally found a creek with a small water fall that was right above her. Overjoyed, she quickly ran over and began splashing in the water feeling more refreshed than she had in days.

The princess was having so much fun that she emitted a laugh or two, running the water through her dirty hair and splashing the water upon her pale face.

Deciding that it was better to hang up and dry out her clothes, she climbed out of the creek and began stripping down to nothing. What did it matter to her? No one was around. She giggled as she hung up her kimono and obi. "Now, where was I?" She laughed running back into the creek and dousing herself with the crystal clear water. Sure it was cold, but she was dirty. What was worse?

"Hello?"

She snapped out of her lovely 'trance' and began to frantically scan the remote area. "Hello?" She echoed, wondering if maybe it was her imagination. That was until it answered.

"Who are you?"

Now discovering that someone could see her, she quickly ran for cover. Only finding a small bush near by, she hid her body behind it while her head poked out, still searching for the owner of the voice.

"Where are you?" She cried out, nervously. Who was this? What if he captured her? Well one things for sure: she cannot let him know who she really is. For it could be one of her father's soldiers here to bring her back home. That's a total NO, she scoffed at the idea. Or it could be a hunter who might just be lonely and who knows, a rich heiress like herself could be the 'one' to be his partner. Her face wrinkled up in disgust at that idea.

"I'm at the top of the waterfall." The voice suddenly answered, interrupting her argument with herself. She almost forgot that there was a stranger who was 'spying on her'… almost.

"Turn around." She shouted back.

"What!" The voice, now sounded irritated and annoyed.

"Just do it! I'll be out in a sec." She retorted back, now getting annoyed herself. Did he have no respect?

She reached out to the branch that held her kimono and obi. Bulma quickly snatched the items and threw them on, even though they were still wet and cold as hell.

"Come down here!" She shouted, stepping out from the bush as she spotted the dark stranger.

Slowly, she saw as the man turned his back towards her and walked away. Confused, the princess ran to the side of the waterfall to discover the man walking slowly towards her.

"Who are you?" Bulma asked, tilting her head, trying to get a better look at him.

He lifted his head to meet her gaze as his blackened eyes settled upon her. "I asked you first." He growled.

She almost jumped, taken aback by his tone and disrespect. "How dare you! Don't you know who I am?" Realizing her stupidity, she slapped her hand over her mouth. 'Damn you Bulma!' Her head screamed at her. 'You almost gave us away!'

The stranger rolled his eyes, completely annoyed and answered bitterly. "No I don't. Would you care to enlighten me?" His gaze seemed like it was weighing her down.

"K-Kierra. My name is Kierra." The princess answered hesitantly.

'Kierra? I thought the princess's name was Bulma.' He thought deeply for a second. 'I wonder…'

"Well 'Kierra', my name is Vegeta, and I have one question to ask you." He smirked slightly. "Why are you in the middle of a dark forest and all by yourself?"

A/N: Yawn I know, I don't think this chapter is as good as it could have been, and for that I am sorry. But I promise you, it will get better. Also, I know that it was a 'weird' place to end off but its about 1:30 AM and I'm exhausted but I wanted to get this posted by tonight, so I did.

Also, I'm sorry it is 'officially' two days late. I didn't know that I had that much stuff to do for the fourth of July. Sorry folks! But hey, at least its updated sooner than my other work wink wink

Anyways, have a good one people!

Thanx again to all my reviewers! I love to hear from you all!

Much Love,

Yomegagurl01