Damaged

Chapter Twelve: Relief

Bulma's group of trusty scientists entered the huge mansion that could probably rival with a whole wing of the Saiya-jin Palace.

…The former Saiya-jin Palace.

A pair of ghostly sapphire eyes scanned the surfaces around their possessor as the body they belonged to passed by the dark figurines, porcelain sets of dishes, cups and glasses; various grotesque pictures of supposedly previous masters of the home hanging on the unlit walls where just faint light from candles dappled. Huge fireplaces in most of the rooms the doors to which were opened wide agape, massive candle-holders which looked at least a few centuries old, dusty rugs and dirty shelves, yet comfy beds with satin sheets fit for royalty in every single room in the whole mansion.

The Queen herself, yet, seemed unfazed by the dark glory of the place. She had already succumbed to thought and her exhaustion did little to have her guard up. She knew what would come, she needn't be told. She knew her fate but didn't care. What was there left to care about other than fulfilling her duty as an Earth Queen and watch over her peoples' welfare? She had no other option, nothing better to do. What harm could it possibly bring to play low-rang whore when all was lost and that was the only thing that could save them?

She could faintly register her newfound master giving directions to the others and she felt ChiChi's worried stare bore into her back, but paid no heed to the younger girl. Both of them had plenty on their plates. She couldn't help but wonder where all of the servants of his were. What was the time here anyway? How long have they traveled? A

No matter how much it was, though, it seemed like an eternity to her… A very painful eternity. What she longed for was to lay her throbbing head down and have a peaceful dreamless sleep, to find a refuge from all raging thoughts that scorched her mind. She could take no more for one single day.

Bulma felt herself being led down the hall to a rather more spacious room where she could see huge drapes what were currently pulled together, a walk-in wardrobe, a King-sized bed that could probably house ten people if needed be, a comfortable-looking desk with a few books piled atop; in the corner of the room there was a second chair for special cases and a nightstand by the right side of the bed. Bulma looked around once again. The whole placed reeked with a masculine intrusive scent – a strange mix of sweat and body odour floated stilly in the air of the room. It was quite obvious nobody was allowed entrance in this room other than its occupant. She could've felt honoured… if she didn't know the reasons she was allowed.

The burly Saiya-jin moved to her front, but she did not look up at him. She appeared as if she saw right through him. He chuckled at her for no fathomable reason. His hand reached under her chin and pushed it up so her cyan orbs met his obsidian ones. For a strange moment, she stood perfectly still, just looking up at him; and then her eyes welled up. He stroked her chin tenderly, or at least what he could call tender, before he spoke to her,

"I have told that maid of yours that seems to despise me so to go and fetch you a hot tub. You're all dirty…" He nearly purred as he caressed her sides with his massive hands. She didn't move a muscle but her tears still remained stubbornly on the brink of her eyes. "You'll take a bath and then you shall rest for the night. Tomorrow is when we shall begin the process of our mating." He chuckled again as if he hadn't heard a more amusing thing his whole life. "You're a very quiet one. Hopefully you aren't mute?" She refused to open her mouth. He sneered and pushed away from her. "Very well then. Go and get yourself washed, woman. You reek."

Without a word, the young woman obediently left to go and get herself a much needed bath, ignoring all the comments of her, seemingly, husband-to-be.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Dragging her feet slowly against the marble tiled floor ignoring completely the numbness that crept up the length of her limbs because the warmth she was losing by the contact with her body, Bulma took off the comfortable dress and let it slide of the floor with a lifelessness that very much resembled her own. ChiChi still watched her worried, hoping it was just a temporary phase her childhood friend was going through. But it proved to come out quite wrong now…

The woman slid into the hot water with a light exhale. She rested her back against the edge of the large tub that managed to hold her form and even left her quite some room to move. She closed the cream-coloured lids of her eyes and let herself be drifted away into a warmer world, where things weren't the way they were in reality… A happier world, where she could exist without worrying for the upcoming future that threatened a knock on her door… But good things don't last as is well known and when you are not alone in a bathroom, a relaxing meditation is the last thing you can get.

"My lady? Are you alright?" ChiChi inquired slowly and quietly, as if talking any louder or harsher would bring Bulma into another fit. Her former Queen took a fleeting glance her way before her eyes slid closed once again, begging the gods for some peace. "Bulma… Stop pitying yourself this instant, young lady! Your mother and father taught you better than collapsing on your knees because of one man! Not to mention such a bastard as this barbaric world's King!"

Her words hung breathlessly in the air, stock-still and unanswered as the Queen took no heed in her advice. She decided to continue prodding on. The least she could get was an angry tirade. And, being so long in the queen's company, the girl was quite used to those.

"Bulma, you always told me how much of a bastard he is, how inconsiderate he is and that you hated him from the pit of your stomach and would hate him forever. Where did that Bulma go? What did you do to my Queen? Give her back! I want her back!" ChiChi finally shrieked, hoping against hope that her new master wouldn't be as watchful as he looked and wouldn't care what two females were doing in a bathroom together, fighting nonetheless. She was relieved when no one came to disturb them. Yet found her blood boiling even more when Bulma did nothing to acknowledge her existence.

After a long stretched moment of silence, a powerless voice fit for a mirage, not a woman of flesh and blood, retorted to her.

"Is that really what I said?" Her rhetorical question bounced off the walls of the tiled bathroom walls with difficulty. "Even so… Hating him for eternity suggested the period until the end of my life, not his…" She cleared. "Where did Bulma go? I have no idea… I can't help you… but I want her back too…"

The next instant she was grabbed by the bare shoulders with ChiChi staring enraged at her, the sharp nails of her finely filed hands digging into the pale skinny flesh of the regal unwittingly. She tried to shake her, probably hoping that would get her brain back to its rightful place but the same cold stare continued to dig into her eyes, piercing her very soul with its… soullessness and despair… Her once lively friend was now reduced to a walking rag doll. She had no willpower left in her body; she had no desire to live any longer. Letting go of her ChiChi glared at the other direction. For a few long minutes neither took any action. They just stood still in each other's presence, as if any move could shatter the current truce they were in.

"Aren't you going to wash yourself? Is that not why you are here?" ChiChi spat spitefully. Bulma did not even flinch at the tone of her voice. Even so she reached out and collected a sponge and started cleansing her skin.

When Bulma had that Saiya-jin, whose name she couldn't quite catch, he had taken an action that awfully resembled a manner Vegeta had used so occasionally during her stay in his room recently. She couldn't handle the reminder. She had felt her eyes instantly well up with unshed tears that she couldn't stop this day. She felt herself more broken than she had ever been before… She wanted to go home, to hug her mother and father, to be able to rest down on the bed she had been sleeping on for the past years of her life; she wanted to run around the castle like when she had first known how to walk, carelessly, without a worry in the world. She wanted to see the birds singing, she wanted to hear her mother's scolding, she wanted to hear her father's droning, she wanted to see Yamcha's scarred face, she wanted to pat Scratch, her father's trusty cat that, strangely, ever left its place on his shoulder.

Most of all she wanted to live back on Earth and rule it with her King… Ever since she had come to this atrocious planet, she had hoped, somehow that there could be a way her home could be brought back and that she would be able to make Vegeta come with her back to Earth… But she knew that would never happen it was impossible for so many reasons.

For one the plan had a very fatal fault – there were no Dragon Balls to wish Earth back with. There was no Namek to fetch Dragon Balls from. There was nothing! Just void space… Stardust that had once been a bluish and green planet was now scattered all over the Universe, reduced to what it had been at first… Even being the genius she was she couldn't think of any other way to recreate Earth again other than the Dragon Balls… But that plan was now useless, as we already said. And then, even if she did manage to reverse the events somehow, Vegeta would never comply to coming back to her home planet with her. All she wanted was to be with him, this entire time… But she had been too prideful. She had come to him; he had to come to her now. Under that excuse she had stubbornly refused to search for him in any way. If he wanted them to be separated, so be it. If he wanted them to be together, she'd welcome him with open arms.

Being as thick-headedly stubborn as she was, Bulma realized that the Saiya-jin was a very stubborn person himself, not to mention prideful. It would be a huge blow to his image if he came begging for her to come back to him, a 'lowly weak earthling woman', as he would've probably said himself.

But as the time passed, as much as Bulma wished herself to hate him, from the pit of her stomach, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't hate him… What she hated most about him was the fact he had such power over her that she couldn't even hate him for everything he had done to her… But it was all because he had not only brought her pain… He had shown her too what it is to care for another, as at a certain point of their unique relationship they had grown to mutually care for one another. He had also given her knowledge of an intimate caress… Back then, he had been so careful with her, so considerate, yet not oddly quite speechless. The only moments he would actually speak, she smiled faintly as she remembered other sounds that escaped his mouth that night, were the ones when he would make sure she was alright with the events taking place and such.

How was it possible that he was so caring and considerate in one moment and completely cold and distant in the next? Did he even know what he felt himself? Did he have a clue what he was doing to her with his ignorance and his little game with her feelings? Unlike him, she had feelings to be hurt!

She slapped herself mentally. How could she think that? She was desecrating the Saiya-jin King's memory. She would never again do that. But she couldn't help herself! It was all she ever saw of him – coldness, heartlessness, ruthlessness, cold-blooded murderer. She couldn't help thinking he had no feelings to be hurt, yet a different part of her, a smaller part called heart, had always known he was just hiding it all away from the world. Even in the best of moments, he would let her catch a mere glimpse at the inside of his rock hard shell that he had closed himself in and then would kick her away, as if she did not have any right to see the inside of it.

Understanding that man had always been a very hard task… But she had so selfishly closed in on herself not unalike him that she couldn't see any further than her own misery, or happiness whatsoever. Scrubbing the sponge against her skin roughly, she exhaled painfully. She would have plenty of time to try and comprehend all that had happened between the two of them… She would not leave things this way… She couldn't stop thinking of him… She wanted to be near him again… She wanted to bury him, at least, to return him to the soil that he belonged to…

"Bulma?" ChiChi's face brought the regal out of her trance for a split second. However, she did nothing to indicate so. "Bulma, are you alright?" She repeated her question from earlier, yet this time there was something more in her voice… Regret? Pity? The Queen had no idea what it was, and she couldn't bring herself to care for that moment. "Bulma, please, talk to me…"

"I have nothing to say." The same chilling voice that could make you shudder with its finality and non-caring. The raven haired girl stared stilly at her friend. She was trying to find a resemblance of what she had once been… She could nearly find none other than the looks. And even her eyes have lost the sparkle in them…

"Bulma, did you really love him so much?"

For a moment, the woman stood still with all her actions, just staring at the crystal clear water which reflected the light of the lamp. She them resumed her actions and until she was done she did not give ChiChi even a glance. Staring long at her childhood friend, the lavender haired woman took a glance at ChiChi's side before her gaze shifted back at the water. Did she really love him that much? Did she really care for the arrogant bastard so badly that she would fall in such a state of depression? Why was he so special? What was he so much? She smiled faintly as she knew the answers to the questions she thought only she could fathom.

"What do you think?"

"I think you should stop dodging my questions by ones of your own and start pulling yourself together." ChiChi got herself up and threw a towel next to her friend's tub where she could easily fetch it on her own. "Dwelling on the past won't help the situation and it most definitely won't bring him back."

"I don't care…"

Onyx eyes whipped angrily back at her before the gaze in them softened and became loose once again.

"But we still care, Bulma…"

The door clicked closed after the maid, leaving a tattered regal all on her own in the midst of the spacious sweet-scented bathroom…

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Time flew by and before anyone knew it, it was morning again. The light had a very hard time penetrating the thick mane of the woods and the mansion was granted little to no light at all, yet there were still some gaudy shadows outside. There were no birds singing, because on Vegeta-sei there were no birds to begin with. Bulma could recall how much she loved walking in the woods with her parents when they had some time off of all their duties, meetings and banquets. They were once peaceful times, if anything. The lavender haired woman could really find herself hating all those times when she didn't have real worries, yet made up some of her own, just to have what to do. She now saw that it had all been a useless action that now only caused her more pain at the thought of it.

Speaking of the former Queen, she had had a very pleasant, or as pleasant as it could actually get, considering the events of the previous day, night with no one else on the spacious bed. She missed Vegeta's warm body that heated the sheets, but she coped with the fact as she wasn't forced at once to fulfill her 'duty' as bait for her friends to have a roof over their heads. Personally, she cared none about catching a cold or being eaten by wild animals, whatever they could be. But she had to remind herself again, she didn't live only for herself. She had rarely, during her whole existence, ever lived just for herself.

The woman in question was now finding herself at the balcony connected to the room that she resided. Noon had passed, maids have come to call her down for lunch, ChiChi passed by to try and drag her out, but all of them, upon seeing the reluctance that the sapphire eyes adored them with, gave up and just went back to their duties. If she didn't wish to eat, that was not their problem. She would be the one to catch an illness, not them.

Yet around nightfall, when the Lord of the house returned, he did not take no for an answer…

Taking two stairs at a time, he stormed inside the room and found the fluttering curtains breezed by the light wind outside, that slipped between the large trees of the forest. There was a really fresh feeling in the air, chilling, easing… The young woman whose face and stature made her appear older than her twenty-three fragile years was lying with her back rested carefully against the back of a chair, her eyes closed in a blissful ignorance.

"Will you not come with me to dinner, my lady?" The Saiya-jin intended as calmly as he could. He had been on the market in the city the whole day and all he could hear about was the demolishing of the Palace. So what? Who gives a damn what happens to that bastard of a King anyway? It wasn't as if he had been much of a ruler to him either way. Disconnected from the outer world, the master of the mansion was only interested in the affairs that considered the price of his stuff and the prices of the things he bought. And that was not something that took the King's opinion in account.

"I ain't hungry, my lord."

The curt reply did little to smother the burning flames in the alien's eyes. He growled low in his throat and grabbed his wife-to-be by the collar of her newly delivered dress and lifted her up to his eye level and spat in her face,

"You – will – come – to – dinner – with – me. Am I clear?" His tone left no room for denial. Bulma didn't flinch but still followed him down the stairs in her daily attire, not really finding any need to be official in any way, since it was just a dinner table she was attending. Truth to be told, she really felt like her throat refused entrance to anything to her stomach, but not given opportunity to choose any longer, she'd have to force down some rice that ChiChi had told her she'd cook for supper earlier when she came a few hours ago.

Sitting down on the dinner table and folding a handkerchief in her lap, the lavender haired woman looked at her plate. The rice was still streaming and each and every grain of the rice was separate from the others, a thing quite a few cooks even in her former Palace managed to do. She always adored her best friend's cooking. Taking ChiChi as her cook had not been a random thought that jumped up in that labyrinth of a mind of hers.

"How do you like your rice, sire?" The unmistakable voice of Ariane inquired of her new master. The Saiya-jin in question seemed to possess no manners as he was eating open-mouthed, chewing loudly in an atrocious manner and shoving more and more of the white grain in his mouth. He looked up from is plate when he realized he was addressed and threw the maid a severe glare but otherwise did nothing else to intimidate her any further.

"It's fine." He barked and returned to his meal. Ariane, during the entire stay of the deceased Saiya-jin King on Earth, had figured that interrupting a Saiya-jin's meal wasn't really the smartest thing to do. But the stillness of the air around the mansion was making her claustrophobic. She felt unease and had the need to release some of tension. But instead of lessening the mood, it seemed to just tense up a bit more. She took a fleeting glance in her lady's direction noticing the huge contrast the well-mannered woman made to the burly male on the table. Her actions were reserved, easy and screamed royalty from afar. Did that guy even know what a jewel he had in his hands? "What do you say, my dear?" The two words were obviously quite foreign to his dictionary and sounded very strange coming from his huge rough mouth, but still his simple sentence managed to catch the attention, or at least so it appeared, of his counterpart across the table. She dipped her mouth with the handkerchief and took a look at her master.

"It's a great meal, my lord. I shall thank the cook afterwards."

"That won't be needed." The large hand of the Saiya-jin waved, and it felt as if a small fan was turned on. "Servants are not to be praised. Otherwise they might get too full of themselves. And no one would want that." Bulma did not question his politics about the treatment of 'the servants'. She had her friends and that was all she could find herself caring for. "I had one hell of a day on the market. Everywhere I turned all I can hear is the Palace's destruction, the King's homicide! Palace, King, Palace, King! Who gives a damn about the shorty anyway! In my opinion, he had always been all talk and no action! Legendary! He claims he's the Legendary! Right. The Prince had been fed with fairy-tales his whole adolescence most probably and it messed with his head."

"Could we talk about something else, my lord?" Bulma suddenly said, her head facing the plate. The Saiya-jin chewed loudly open-mouthed but shrugged and switched the topic anyway. Ariane noticed something he did not, though. The Queen's hands gripping at the cutlery were white from the pressure she added to them and her elbows were shaking most probably with rage. The auburn haired woman could well understand her regal. Insulting Lord Vegeta's memory in her Majesty's presence was something no one should do, and especially not so soon after his death. She was sure the strong-willed woman wanted nothing more than for the topic to be left at ease at last. But no one seemed to comply with her plea. "So, what is your name, earthling? You did not tell me your name yesterday, nor did you have the courtesy to see me off this morning. Have you not been taught respect?"

"I beg your pardon, my lord." Ariane noted with a light frown that all of the Queen's answers and statements were followed by a constant 'my lord'… Well then maybe, just maybe, she might still care a little bit for her self as she wouldn't want to be in the man's presence too long either. "I was dead tired and did not get up until the suns of Vegeta-sei were fully raised in the sky. It will not repeat again, my lord." She nodded her head in mute obedience. That obviously pleased the man to see and he nodded curtly back at her again.

"So what is your name, vixen? Have you not been given one by your weakling parents?"

"I do have a name, my lord." Bulma anything but spat the phrase. Calling her weak was one thing, but insulting her parents' memory? The nerve of that bag of muscles… He should've been thankful that Bulma had lost training during all those years of ruling Earth; otherwise she would've jumped him and taken him down with her if needed. "My name is Bulma, going by the family name Briefs, sire." Suddenly the burly Saiya-jin gawked at her, staring unmoving at her form with her pale skinny hands set peacefully in her lap. He blinked several times, as if wishing an obtrusive dream away.

"Bulma Briefs? The Queen of Earth?" He questioned, his eye brow still raised. "Do you take me for a fool? Earth has been destroyed long ago, it is impossible for its Queen to have survived. Perhaps you are some messenger, that just refuses to believe the death of your Queen and that is why wherever you go you speak nonsense just to confuse buffoons." He beamed proudly at her as if he just made an incredibly smart deduction. Bulma's expression didn't falter a bit.

"I do not speak nonsense, my lord. Ask any of my people. I am the Queen of Earth and by some cruel twist of fate my destiny has been ripped out of my reach and now I have no people to rule over and no home to return to. I have only you sire." Bulma could've laughed at the irony of the situation. Once upon a time, it seemed like so long ago, she had sheltered a battered Saiya-jin boy that claimed to be a Prince of a deceased race and he had no people, no planet, and no relatives. He had been stranded on her planet, thrown away by the tyrant that had destroyed his home. Now she was stranded on the planet which was resided by the destroyer of her home. It would be really laughable if it wasn't tragic…

"So, is it?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a sly grin spreading on his face much like yesterday when he had housed all of the survivors of the explosion of the place he seemed to despise so deeply. "That's just wonderful…" The way he said that made Ariane cringe. She never liked that face he was making whenever near her lady… It was just… Repulsing… It made her think awful things that could happen to her in the meanwhile…

"And, if I am not rude, can I ask of your name, my lord?"

"My name is Toma, Lady Bulma. But you mustn't call me by my name, it is improper of the lady of the mansion to call her husband by his name." Ariane made a strange expression, a mix of surprise, confusion and disgust. Husband? When did he get engaged to the Queen? Did that automatically made that imbecile King of Earth, even though there was no Earth to rule, actually… But the formalities were always something a maid had to take in consideration.

Getting up from the table, Toma made his way to the room.

"Aren't you coming to join me, my lady?" Bulma's jaw tightened barely visibly. She cleared her throat and got up from the chair. She nodded to Ariane and slowly made her way up the stairs, as if postponing her fate could actually change it somehow. The only thing it earner her was a hard shove up the stairs that had her lose all her balance, nearly sending her to the dusty floor. She looked back at the Saiya-jin and noticed the lustful gaze that had taken possession of his face ever since they left the dinner table. "I think I can use a very special massage tonight, Bulma…" He purred in her neck, licking the side of her neck. "Last night I have done all in my power to restrain from climbing the bed while you slept when I watched you sleep." A shadow of a sane thought crossed the woman's mind and clenched her heart in a tight icy grip. He had watched her sleep? "Now I shall have my prize." He chuckled against her neck as she didn't struggle the least bit. Passivity would be the best tactic she could think of. She had no idea how twisted that Saiya-jin was…

As the door shut behind them and the Master of the house locked it he made his way to her front, looking down at her as she was several inches shorter than him. She swallowed subtly, refusing her eyes to show any emotion. She felt disgusted, tainted and disgraced. But she didn't care. Her body was no longer her possession. Her mind was no more her possession. Her soul had fled the moment the ruins had collapsed atop of the built body of her former lover. In her heart, she would forever remain his and only his. No matter who enforced themselves on her body, she would forever remember his caress, his touch, his kiss…

In a second's worth, her dress was ripped to shreds, allowing the horny alien a clear view of her ample breasts loose of any undergarment. He licked his lips before he threw her roughly on the bed and quickly climbed atop of her, even one limb of his enormous trunk too heavy a burden for her fragile body to take. Vegeta had never, if not during a physical fight, let his entire weight on her in fear he would crush her. She just started to realize how merciful the King had actually been to her through all those times she had cursed his name in her mind over and over again, like a mantra that would actually turn him into a different person.

She submerged with difficulty a squeak when the bottom of her garments was ripped of ruthlessly. She swallowed dryly. It was going to be a long night…

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The blonde woman looked around herself as she took long fast strides among the huge crowd of smelly, barbaric Saiya-jins. She despised the creatures from the pit of her stomach. Her hate was probably created by the fact she couldn't stand her creator either, and they reminded her of him awfully. Yet she was not supposed to be under cover, so she would have to put up with their aloofness for a few short hours before she would pick some clothes and resume her search of the meddling young woman that the earth Queen represented and her gang of idiots that dragged themselves after her like the faithful dogs they were. The blonde snorted. Stupid earthlings, stupid Saiya-jins, stupid Universe, stupid Saiya-jin King. She hated all of them so badly!

"You seem lost, little miss. You look like a foreigner to me. Would you like some ethnic clothes that will make you feel a little bit more in place on Vegeta-sei?" A sly woman from a nearby counter asked the azure eyed woman and she considered leaving with a sneer before the thought registered with her mind. She needed clothes if she was going to be under cover, wouldn't she?

"Yes… Yes, it is quite so, I come from afar. I could use a tip in shopping." Her voice was smooth, chilling, yet strangely metallic and unnerving. Even though Saiya-jins were famed to be the most powerful race in the Universe, the saleswoman barely suppressed a shudder at the sound of the voice of the youth.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Bulma sighed as she looked out of the balcony's edge down at the mansion's yard. She let the reminiscence of the previous night wash over her as the cold air of the dawn passed by her, caressing her skin gently, yet causing goose flesh to appear all over her exposed limbs.

She was lying nude beneath the broad Saiya-jin's body, and he had nearly taken off all of his garments as well. He was now kissing and licking her neck, as his hand roved all over her slender form, exploring every bit of his little treasure. He stopped when he found the place he had been looking for and let his fingers massage her in a rough manner which he would've most probably called stimulating if you asked him. Yet not a single sound escaped the stiff lips of his counterpart. She remained lifeless, motionless. She didn't even give a hint she still breathed and if it weren't for the light heaving and falling of her chest he would've taken a guess she was dead.

The nerve of that woman! Even her breath was as normal as ever! She was completely ignoring him! How dare she? She was so irresponsive that even if he took her now, it wouldn't give him any pleasure. She appeared that even if she felt pain of any kind, she would not indicate it and would keep her lips sealed as ever.

And his guess was quite correct as Bulma had come across, if even only through books, over people who were stimulated by the screams of pain and despair of their victims. She didn't feel aroused at all, she felt repulsed and disgusted. She loathed that man and she didn't have to stop her body from reacting to him as it was cold as ice. She would give herself to one and only one Saiya-jin and he was no longer among the living.

Getting up with a growl, Toma glared down at the rebellious petite woman beneath him. Her cobalt eyes remained attached to him, as if seeing right through his intentions, though his thoughts and schemes, as if she could see his soul if he had one. He released another low growl and leaned over her on his hands for support as he asked in all seriousness, his coal black eyes shining with intimidation that did little to scare Bulma at all.

"Who do you think you are you little bitch?"

Bulma did not retort to that. And neither did she move. She remained stock-still on the bed, her naked glory making fun of the dumb Saiya-jin who thought carnal pleasures were all that mattered and one could not resist the needs of their body. What he couldn't comprehend was probably the fact Bulma's body's needs needed to be fulfilled by someone else, someone very different from him. He growled yet again and this time, fed up with the imaginary smugness that hid in her ghostly eyes, he slapped her very hard, throwing her near the edge of the bed. She did not even gasp upon the impact, did not even seize her cheek to mend the pain like any other normal female would've done. She just stood there, not looking at him. He couldn't understand her expression, he did not want to. He gathered some of his clothes and flew off the balcony in an undefined direction. He did not care where he went. He had to ease his temper before he did something he would later feel sorry for. He would have the strange haired woman, even if it was the last thing he did!

Bulma stared zoning out over the balcony again. Her husband-to-be had been very mad with her, but the strike he landed in did not even hurt as much as she thought it would. Actually, her old time training seemed to be quite useful as she didn't even see a bruise this morning when she checked herself in the mirror.

Entering the room when she could no longer take the cold and ignoring it as successfully, she frowned from the first time since her arrival here when absorbing the picture around her. This place needed a good once-over and for good… It was so dusty that she would probably soon begin to cough up dust balls like those creatures that she once loved to play with on her home planet… What were they called? … Kittens, yes, that's right… Cats…

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Battered and exhausted of all the things that have happened to him lately and the wounds of his that just refused to heal, the Saiya-jin King could no longer even drag himself on the ground. He had no power left in his drained body. He felt as if he would die of blood-loss any second now and he had had that feel for two days straight… He felt so alone and it all hurt so much. The pain was immense enough to cloud his mind, not to mention his vision. He could barely breathe, every little heaving of his rib-cage causing a jolt of agony run through his entire being. But it wasn't all that bad… He felt some relief that he couldn't quite fathom. It was as if… as if it wasn't his feeling, but someone else's… Could it be?

He thought he had broken the laughable binding to the woman when leaving her for Earth, or at least when they parted. But he could still feel her, as if she wanted him to know something… Something that she felt relieved about… What could it be, he wondered silently to himself.

He kicked himself mentally. He was dying and even so, in his last hours, all he could think of was her! Her! He couldn't believe himself! When had he become that weak? He had been just normal before she waltzed back in his life with a thud. And now she was messing with his head again. Why wouldn't she just leave him be? Didn't she understand he wanted to have nothing to do with her and her kind? He wanted to know nothing of her any longer!

Sighing, and afterwards feeling sorry he had done so for the numbing pain that coursed through his entire upper half, he looked up at the tall forest trees, between which light could barely come though. He smiled faintly when he remembered her sleeping form on his bed, the mess that her hair was without a hairbrush that seemed to do wonders to it. Death did not care whether you were strong or weak… It treated equally both stronger and weaker ones… He could succumb to one last weakness before his last breath.

Bleeding to death… What a pathetic death for a Saiya-jin no Ou… He deserved to die in the heat of the battle, not of its aftermath upon his body!

That was what the shadow above him also thought. He noticed it just before it was too late. A smirk graced his features before darkness engulfed him. Well, at least he'd die from the hands of the enemy, as every Saiya-jin King should…

And then… there was darkness…