Chapter Five:

Bulma barely got an hour of sleep.

She didn't know why she even gave a damn. The prince did that kind of thing all the time, and it never bothered her before, besides sometimes making her a little uncomfortable, and rightfully so. But it wasn't like he couldn't handle himself, either. If the woman tried anything, even in the state he was in, Bulma was confident he would be easily able to defend himself against a woman like that—she forgot the woman's species' name, but they were no warriors. At least they didn't have to wear the gravity collars, though… But they were no match for the Saiyan prince, even on his worst day.

She felt like what bothered her the most was how tired he got after training. Did that always happen or maybe she just never noticed? She was never with him when he trained before yesterday. That was the first time she'd ever seen him do that. Yet, something just felt off to her. He would have kicked the woman out if he just wanted to sleep, but he acted like he didn't care. She just hoped that he hadn't been so out of it that he didn't notice what was going on. But he had responded to her questions before he left. And he could make his own choices, however stupid she thought they might be.

Bulma frowned as she noticed the bags under her eyes in the mirror in the hall on her way back to the prince's chambers. It was first light, and she wished she'd just told him she was going to sleep in this morning. He probably wouldn't have objected, either. This was probably her punishment for taking that nap yesterday before dinner.

She quietly unlocked the door, half thinking about breakfast, and half hoping that the woman was gone by now. But as she opened the door, she mentally sighed. The woman was sitting naked at the table, a paper and pen in front of her. She seemed focused, but looked up when Bulma shut the door quietly behind her. The woman put one finger to her lips before ignoring her and continuing writing whatever she was working on. Bulma slowly walked over to the prince's bedchambers—all she saw was the gentle rise and fall of the blankets—and quietly shut the sliding door.

"He'll probably be out for a while," the woman giggled. "I didn't let him get much sleep." She seemed proud of herself, but Bulma just frowned and walked past her.

If the prince wasn't awake, there wasn't much for her to do just yet, other than clean up the couple plates from last night. She couldn't start the bath or the shower. She couldn't begin preparing breakfast, either. And if he was going to be out for a while, he wouldn't even start messing anything up in the room, and it was pretty much all clean from yesterday. And while he was out like a light, she couldn't even tidy up his bed. She would have to find some side work elsewhere for most of the day, she assumed.

But instead of just leaving, she gave a slight bow to the woman to be polite.

"Would you like me to grab you some new clothes from the laundry, ma'am? It will only take a few minutes."

The woman didn't look up. She tapped the pen against her bottom lip and sighed. "Yes, get me new clothes, servant. And make it faster than a few minutes or I'll inform the prince of your negligence when he wakes—"

"I'm offering to do you a favor," Bulma snapped quietly. "I'm not your maid or your mother, and to be frank, I'm tired of the way you've been speaking to me. And if anything, you're just a whore. You're less than me in standard society here. Maybe you should be the one fetching my clothes."

The woman just smiled, as if morning banter was refreshing for her.

"If you're looking for a please and thank you, you're not going to get it. You see, you may think that a whore is lower than you, but in reality, I had the prince of this planet saying please to me all night long. An uneducated, unattractive, unattentive servant like you wouldn't even be able to get him to say "pepper"."

"So noisy," the prince growled, sliding open the door and stepping down the one step. He was, thankfully, wearing a tight pair of shorts. Bulma wondered if Saiyans even owned any baggy clothes. None of them wore anything other than skin-tight garments or armor.

"My Lord!" the woman exclaimed happily. "I'm glad you're awake. Did you sleep well?"

He raised a critical eyebrow.

"Vegeta, say pepper," Bulma said quickly, and the woman rolled her eyes.

"Keep me out of your childish games, woman," the prince grumbled.

"Why are you still here?" Bulma spat at the woman, slightly embarrassed that he didn't say it.

"I don't have to answer to you," she said, but then turned to the prince. "I was only making sure that our future king was enjoying his rest. And seeing as his unfaithful servant left him, I felt it was my duty to—"

"—Vegeta!" Bulma shouted. The prince suddenly grabbed his head in his hands and dropped to the floor without a sound. The whore-woman stopped talking and just gawked at him. Bulma quickly dropped down beside him and brought her face close to his. "What's wrong? Should I alert the medical facility? I can have someone here in less than a minute."

He muttered something and Bulma brought her ear closer to his mouth to hear him better.

"That's Prince Vegeta to you," he grumbled.

Bulma stared at him in shock for a second before he flinched in pain again and she groaned.

"I knew there was something wrong with you last night! Why didn't you just say something?" She gritted her teeth and whipped around to face the woman. "Watch him! I'm going to go get some help!"

"I don't take orders from peasant girls…" she replied, but he wary eyes were still on the prince. Bulma knew she would watch him from her expression.

"I'll be right back!"

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It wasn't difficult to minimize the time. Once she barged into the medical wing and yelled that the prince needed help, everyone started moving, and there had been a number of personnel that went on ahead of her with equipment and such.

Once she returned to the room, she noticed that they were treating him on his own bed. She also noticed that the whore-woman was missing. Did she really leave? At a time like this? How strange…

"You can leave," a man in a white coat said to her before hurrying over to the prince with the others. Bulma frowned, and wondered what she should do. She wanted to listen, and do as she was told, but only because she didn't want to get in trouble. A bi part of her wanted to stay and know if the prince was all right, for some reason she couldn't fathom. Maybe it was a fear of losing her job, and the only reason she was allowed to stay in the castle.

"No, have her stay," another voice said, and it was a woman's. Bulma turned and looked for who had said that. "Over here," the voice came again, and Bulma found herself looking at a pale-pink woman in a black coat. She had white hair and purple eyes. She carried a clipboard and motioned for Bulma to come closer to her and the prince.

"Do… you know what's wrong with him?" she slowly asked.

"We've narrowed it down to a few options, yes. But you should listen to what's going on. You're the prince's chambermaid, correct?" Bulma nodded. "You need to teach yourself how to react better to these types of situations. Keep in mind that if the prince is injured on your time, the king will have you publicly shamed and executed."

Bulma gulped and nodded once.

"How long has the prince been showing signs of fatigue?" she asked, putting her pen to the clipboard and staring daggers into Bulma's face. She stuttered for a moment, afraid to answer with the truth, but knew she had no choice.

"He was training in the gravity room late last night and he started acting a little off shortly after we came back here."

"We?" the woman asked skeptically. "Aren't your duty's finished shortly after dusk?"

"Yes. Well, I mean… He said he needed someone to work the machine for him."

"There are people he can call who are always on standby. Everyone knows that Prince Vegeta is prone to late night training… Did you make any mistakes with the machine? Turn the gravity too high, for instance?"

"No!" Bulma replied, baffled. "Of course not!"

"Don't get defensive, Earthling. I wasn't implying that you would do it on purpose… But your reaction certainly is something to note…"

"I didn't do anything!" Bulma shouted, and a few people glared at her for making a ruckus.

"Next question. Why did you return here with the prince after his training was complete? Shouldn't you have just gone back to your room then?"

"He wanted a bath… and he wanted food from the kitchen. Why are you questioning me like I've done something wrong? If you have something to ask, ask me directly!"

"I am. But I will also note your defensiveness." She jotted something else down on the clipboard and Bulma creased her eyebrows in worry. "Next question. What other events occurred leading up to now?"

"He just… took a bath and ate a little. And then a woman stopped by and she…" she trailed off. "I left after she got here."

"You left the prince with a prostitute when he was in bad condition?"

"I didn't just leave him! I asked if he was alright. And he said yes!"

"He said that to you?"

"Well, he nodded."

"How do you know he wasn't just moving his head?"

"Are you serious?! I didn't do anything!"

"Next question. Explain his condition throughout the night, beginning with his training."

"He was fine! He finished training and I noticed that he looked tired. But who wouldn't be exhausted after being in that room for hours? Then he got back and took a bath. He was falling asleep in the water so I figured he was just really tired. Then he sat down to eat and it wasn't like he was throwing up or anything. He ate what he could and went to bed with the woman."

"So he fucked her?"

"Excuse me?"

"The prince fucked the prostitute, most likely exerting a lot of physical energy. Correct?"

"Well… I… I left. I wasn't watching them the whole time."

"What did you see?"

"What does it matter what they did? Isn't it self-explanatory?"

"Next question. You went home, and then you returned. How long ago?"

"Literally a few minutes before I came to get you to help him."

"And what happened in those few minutes?"

"I just… I just unlocked the door and saw the woman and the prince woke up and walked out of his room, and we were talking for a minute. And then he just collapsed."

"The woman was still here when you arrived?"

"Yes."

"Did you notice when she left?"

"She was here when I left to get help."

"Noted… What was the prince talking about when he woke up?"

"I… I don't remember. I think we just woke him up by being a little too loud and he came out because he was awake."

"We as in you and the prostitute?"

"Yes."

"All right." The woman continued jotting down notes or something on the clipboard. After a minute or two of that, she lifted her head and stared blankly at Bulma. "As of now, you will be informed of the prince's physical ailments. You are to be trained twice a week to handle situations like these to better aid our Lord as his primary caregiver."

"Caregiver? I'm sorry, but I'm not a doctor."

"As the prince's private servant, you should be well-versed in how to care for a Saiyan when they are injured, sick, or anything of the sort. Do you understand? It's unimaginable that you haven't been trained for this before. Why does he even keep you around if all you can do is clean?"

A man in another white coat walked over and whispered something in the pink woman's ear. It lasted a while, but the woman jotted down some more notes, nodded a few times, and the man was gone. She turned back to Bulma.

"Our experts have concluded that the prince's condition is orthostatic hypertention, or syncope. It was caused by a sudden change in blood pressure and heart rate, which was most likely from the gravity training, and also possibly dehydration throughout the day. The vagus nerve was also overstimulated, which must have also been during the gravity training. As for why it lasted so long, I would simply say that the prince has a high tolerance and his body would not shut down until he couldn't deal with it anymore." The woman's expression changed then and she glared. "As for you, you need to learn to deal with these situations. At any point during this did you bring the prince a glass of water?"

"N…No." She lowered her head.

"He was dehydrated. Water may have made it so that he had been fine in the morning. His blood pressure and heart rate should have been monitored as well. Leaving him here with an eager prostitute was probably one of the worst things for him in this situation. Water and sleep would have saved everyone from all this trouble. You're his servant, and you didn't even realize these things? How disappointing."

"He told me he was okay… What else am I supposed to do? I can't force him to do anything."

"You told me he simply moved his head. He never replied to your question."

"I know what he meant!"

"That's enough. Learn from your mistakes. Although, there may not even be a next time when the king hears about about this."

"The… king? But why?"

"His Majesty is always informed when the prince is physically ill. And of course, his Highness will request a full documented recollection of the events leading up to his successor's ailment. Nothing will be left out, I assure you."

"That's enough."

Bulma almost smiled when she saw the prince was standing. She didn't know what came over her, but she put her hand to her chest and sighed.

"You're alright… I'm so glad."

There was a quick moment of silence before she realized she'd been ignored and the prince began to talk with one of the doctors in white. She wondered why she'd reacted that way. It was as if she honestly cared if he was healthy or not. I wasn't just the fear of losing her job and having to leave the castle, or even the fear of execution. It was something else…

"Apparently, you'll be receiving training on common Saiyan health once a week for a few months," the prince said after a moment, and from across the room, too, so everyone could hear him. Bulma flushed at the attention and nodded once before putting her head down.

"Understand that you could have easily avoided this situation, had you known how to respond," the pink woman said, grabbing Bulma roughly by the arm. "The last thing this planet needs is a stupid servant girl making mistakes that put the lives of our royal family at risk. I assure you that the king will hear about everything that has happened here—"

"You will not inform the king of this," the prince said, staring the woman down. She gulped, but tried to keep her composure.

"Your Highness, it is important that his Majesty be told—"

"If I have to repeat myself, I'll kill you right now. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my Lord—"

"You'll burn all documents you've created from this incident and no one in this room is allowed to speak of this for the rest of your lives. Give me your clipboard."

The pink woman quickly bowed and held out her notes. Prince Vegeta grabbed it in one second, and blasted it with a small beam of light from his hand in the next second. No one even flinched. Even Bulma stood frozen.

"Now leave."

The room emptied as if it was on fire, but Bulma stood in place, hoping that he didn't mean her as well. She stared at him, but he seemed to be ignoring her again. It was only after a couple minutes of him slowly walking back and forth that he looked over at her. She was still looking at the floor, but she could see him look over out of the corner of her eye. But he didn't say anything for a while, so she decided to try and break the ice.

"So… does that mean I don't have to go for training?" she asked jokingly, but when she looked up and saw him standing there, his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, she shied away a bit.

"You'll still be trained," he said bluntly.

"I'm sorry." It was the only thing she could think of to say. "If I'd known what was wrong I would have… I would have done things differently."

"Whatever."

"W… Whatever?"

"I don't care. I was tired. I had an amusing night. I healed. I'm stronger. It doesn't matter what happened now."

"But still…"

"Bringing the medical staff here was an unnecessary exaggeration," he said, almost angrily. "I'm not weak, woman."

"I wasn't saying that at all. You're very strong. Everyone on the planet knows that. Besides, you were training all day and then you went to train some more. The doctors pretty much said that you were just overworked, right?" She paused. He didn't seem to be lightening up at all. "Well… you're fine now. That's what matters."

His eyes narrowed and his frown turned disgusting as he stared at her. Bulma went back to looking at the floor to avoid eye contact.

"I'm still tired," he finally said. "That annoying woman wouldn't let me sleep."

"Why didn't you just kick her out?"

The prince smirked and Bulma looked back up at him, feeling it was safe to lock eyes now.

"Are you jealous, woman?"

"Of what?" she quickly replied and the prince chuckled.

"You could have stayed," he said, and it took her a moment to realize that he was teasing her. She frowned. "If you didn't want to just watch, I would have allowed you to participate."

She flushed, but regained her composure faster than usual. "With the state you were in, it wouldn't have been fun for me. I really don't think I'm into necrophilia."

The prince raised an eyebrow, clearly entertained.

"I also remember a certain servant woman referring to me without a title."

"Really? You're not going to give me a break for that? I thought you were dying for a second there, you know. I wasn't too concerned with stupid titles."

"Hmm."

"Hmm?" Bulma lifted an annoyed eyebrow.

"State my titles."

"What?"

"Tell me who I am."

"For real…? You're Prince Vegeta, heir to the throne. Happy?"

"Say it again, but add more titles."

Bulma sighed, but he seemed to be entertained, which was much better than him being angry, as usual. "Prince Vegeta, High Lord of the royal castle, first-born son of King Vegeta, and heir to the throne… There. Is your fetish satisfied now?"

"Not quite…," he said in a whisper, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to her. Bulma kept her head held high, but he was looking down at her with a dangerously playful look, and she couldn't tell if she was terrified, or if it was just the butterflies in her stomach. She tried to think of something to say before anything bad happened.

"If I may… Why don't you want the king to know about this?"

"Do you?"

Bulma shook her head slowly, her eyes drawn to the floor as the prince placed one hand on the wall behind her, standing close. More butterflies bubbled up inside her. She had to swallow the saliva in the back of her throat.

"Then why does it matter to you?"

"I was just curious, my Lord. Please forgive me for asking."

"Why are you being so formal all of a sudden? It's not like you."

He was teasing her again. She always spoke to him as the prince. Sure, there were a few times where she slipped up when her emotions got the best of her, but she tried her best to not get herself into too much trouble.

"My Lord, please forgive—"

"Enough. Stop doing that."

"Please forgive—I mean… I'm sorry."

"Do you like using my titles, woman?"

"They… suit you, as prince of the planet—"

"That's not what I asked."

Bulma was beginning to sweat. Why was he standing so close to her?

"Are you trying to make me uncomfortable, sir?" she asked, not sure if it was proper or not, but he ignored the question, either way.

"What was it you called me before?"

"Excuse me?"

"When the whore was still here, right after you two woke me. What did you call me?"

"I… I apologize for that."

"I'm not asking for an apology."

"I…" Bulma was beginning to shake, and it wasn't the butterflies anymore. He was starting to scare her. What if he was planning on punishing her again? What if he was going to send her away? He was making her uncomfortable and he knew it. And he didn't care.

"I didn't mind it," he said quickly, removing his hand and taking a step back. Bulma slowly looked up at him. "Of course, I would mind it if you did it in front of others. Even the whore. You should have known better."

"I'm sorr—"

"But when no one else can hear…" What was he trying to imply?

"I don't want to offend you, my Lord." She didn't know what else to say.

"You mean you're afraid."

Bulma paused. He was right about how she felt for once. "… Yes, sir."

"I'm still your prince, and you will do what I say."

"Of course."

"My first command is to stop standing as if someone is about to stab you in the back."

"E… Excuse me?"

"Don't be so tense, woman."

Bulma looked up at him and then back down. Was he trying to get her in trouble? Was this some kind of a trick to see if she would disobey him? But any response she gave him at this point could result in punishment, so she just continued looking at the floor.

"You've spend the past three years in this room. You shouldn't act this way anymore. Of course, you will act accordingly in the presence of company, but here…" he trailed off. "If it's only me, you will not refer to me with my titles. Do you understand?"

"Why?" Bulma suddenly asked. She knew it was impolite, but if he wanted her to not be as formal…

"Because you called me by my family's name and it's been a while since I've heard it in regards to myself… And I want to hear you say it again."

"I… I don't think that's appropriate."

"Why not?"

"Because… because people use your titles to show respect. And you have them because of your position of nobility on this planet. Without your titles… people may forget who they are speaking to."

"Do you think you'll forget who your speaking to if you don't say "lord"? Do you think you'll respect me less by using only my name?"

"Of course not, my L—" Bulma put her hand over he mouth. "I'm sorry."

"Try again, woman," he smirked, crossing his arms and staring at her. He looked playful again.

"Is this a test?" Bulma frowned. "If I give the wrong answer, are you going to do something to me? I don't want to be a part of a game just because you're bored."

"It's not a test." He uncrossed his arms and took a step forward again. Bulma couldn't stop the blood from rushing to her face as he got closer again. "Who am I?"

"You're Prince Vegeta, heir to the throne—"

"And if I wasn't a prince? Then what would you call me?"

She couldn't stop the gentle blush that fluttered across her cheeks. "V… Vegeta."

He smirked. "Now, was that so hard?"

Bulma just shook her head, keeping her eyes down.

"Remember, woman, not in the presence of others. Only here. Only me." There was a silence that seemed to last eternity, his words hanging in the air like heavy smoke, before he spoke again. "I have a meeting off-world in a few days. You'll be coming with me. I'm going in place of King Vegeta to negotiate the terms of a surrender. You will accompany me to follow at my heels and do your job as you would do it here. Understand?"

She nodded once, although a little surprised by the sudden news of an off-planet trip. The only planets she'd ever been to were her homeworld of Earth, and this awful place. She never thought she'd get to see another planet in her lifetime. But on the other hand, she wasn't very excited to have to be at the prince's beck and call when it was just the two of them and a bunch of strangers. And he'd gone on a number of off-world trips in the past, but she'd never gone with him before. Why was this one any different from the others?

"I asked you a question, servant woman. Respond. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Try again."

Bulma pursed her lips. Why was he bent on this ridiculous notion of not using titles? It was so silly. There was no reason for a servant to refer to royalty as if they were on equal ground. Maybe in a perfect world, or maybe on a different planet, but certainly not here. But he was so set on it, and he was waiting for her answer.

Bulma pursed her lips and took a quiet but deep inhale. When she let it out, she opened her eyes and locked her gaze with his.

"Yes… Vegeta."