Chapter Eleven

It had been a few days. Bulma was stressing about everything, even though it seemed like the prince didn't care enough to even glance at her since it happened. She'd barely seen him to begin with—not that she wanted to. If anything, she just wanted the awkwardness to be gone from her daily life. But every time she heard footsteps or each time someone took a breath, she would freeze up and think that he was finally coming to her with something to say… But he never did.

Vegeta was off training like his life depended on it. In fact, he barely even came back to his room. For the past three nights, Bulma slept in his bed, alone. And to be honest, she had no idea where he was sleeping, because she was near his bedroom for most of her days, now that she had nowhere else to go. And that made her stress even more, because if he wasn't sleeping in his bed… then he was probably with someone else…

Not like she cared. It was just a kiss, and certainly not a big deal in the life of the royal sex machine. He slept with at least one woman a day, and just because he kissed her… or she kissed him, or whatever… that didn't mean that anything was different between them. She knew what all her friends had to say about the whole ordeal, but she knew the prince better than anyone. And she knew that a kiss like that, no matter what it meant to her, meant nothing to him. And there was no going around that.

A few days ago, thinking about the fact that she'd had her first kiss with someone who genuinely didn't care made her sad. She almost cried a couple times, but that was over now. She knew how this was going to go. He was off sleeping around because he didn't want to see her. He probably regretted the whole thing, and she knew better than to try and hunt him down to talk about it. Maybe if it had been something more serious… But it was just a kiss… She had to keep reminding herself that for someone who had sex all the time, it wasn't a big deal. Whether it was a big deal or not for her didn't even matter. Even if it was her first kiss…

She always pictured everything romantic like that with Yamcha, but ever since she saw him in the throne room, everything was different. Her whole mindset changed. That wasn't a fantasy that would ever come true. Anything thoughts she had about Yamcha now were either frightening or sad. The things he might be forced to do to her scared her out of her mind, but she also thought about what must have been done to him these past three years… Especially because he looked so terrifying for someone apparently kept hidden away for years.

Meanwhile, she'd been bringing Vegeta his usual three meals a day, only to have to clean them up after he never came home to eat. She was really starting to wonder where he was going. He came back twice to shower and quickly leave again, and both times he completely ignored her. He even went so far as not looking at her when he walked by. He was pretending she didn't exist. He had to feel regret… Because the alternative was much worse. She didn't know how she would feel if it turned out he just didn't care, so much that he forgot all about it…

She knew that should be what she wished for. If anything, she should want him to forget all about it and move on like nothing happened between them. But since she didn't know for sure, she couldn't mentally prepare for that. It would bother her incessantly until she knew what he was thinking. But then it just turned into a loop because she couldn't just ask him what he thought, either. She was just playing a waiting game—seeing what she could find out without having to interact with him. But it was getting harder and harder the more he wasn't around. She couldn't even see his face, much less try and talk to him.

A knock came from the door and for once she didn't jump at the intruding sound. She quickly moved to stand in the doorway but composed herself for a few seconds before turning the handle and opening it fully. She looked up to find a man in general Saiyan garb standing at the threshold. He wore a bland expression, like he had better things to do, but only after he saw her standing there.

"Is the prince here?" he asked, and Bulma just shook her head. "Do you know where he is?" She shook her head again. "Hmm… Well, if you see him, tell him that the Warkinds are here to meet with the royal family. It is urgent."

"The prince hasn't been here all day, and I'm not sure when he'll return—"

"Tell my father I'll be there shortly," Vegeta barked, coming up quickly from the left hall. He wore a towel around his shoulders and hurried past Bulma, nearly knocking her over and, as expected, ignoring her completely. "Prepare me a shower!" he shouted to her from his bedchambers. The Saiyan man nodded low and hurried off, leaving Bulma alone with him again. She reluctantly closed the door.

As soon as she turned, he walked right past her, and she had to stop herself from yelping as she almost slammed right into him. He bent down and grabbed something out of a drawer before walking back again and slamming the doubles doors behind him.

Bulma stared at the doors for a moment. He must truly hate her… And she had no idea why. If she'd done something wrong, she would rather just be punished than ignored like this. She had so many questions. Her mind was moving in a hundred different directions and he was the only one who could put her thoughts to rest. She was just so confused… Did that kiss ruin everything? How?

She sighed and lowered her eyes to the ground, feeling sad for a moment. Then she gathered up her emotions into a tight, little ball and headed for the shower. She prepared it a little slower than usual, thinking that maybe he'd come out and yell at her for not being fast enough… But he only swung open the doors and breezed past her when she was finished. He seemed aggravated with her now, too. She had to lower her eyes to the floor again as she listened to him step under the running water. He'd even closed the door to the shower… He never did that.

A big part of her wanted to wait for him to emerge and force him to talk to her. It would be simple and easy—she would just ask him a direct question. And if he ignored her, she could just ask him why he wasn't answering. He wasn't the type to ignore her if she was irritating him like that.

But before she could work up the nerve, she heard the water turn off and she headed out for a walk, making sure to close the door silently behind her. He would probably be happy to see her gone when he stepped out anyway. She convinced herself that she was doing him a favor and strolled down the hall.

She hadn't been down this way since four days ago. Her room had been down here, and she wanted to see what they'd done to it. She knew that Vegeta had asked the guards to board it over, but she hadn't been down here to see it. And she wanted to waste time now, so she figured it was a good time-killer.

It only took a few minutes to reach it, but there was nothing there. She stared at the wall, freshly painted, where her doorway used to be. Why was it necessary to destroy her room like this? Couldn't she have just moved out and they left it alone? Now it was just an empty wall, and she was surprised to find herself quite depressed about it. This was her home. For the past three years, this is where she ate and slept and changed and she'd grown to love it. Now… now she was stuck living with the prince and sleeping in his bed. God, she wondered how much he regretted that decision right about now. He must hate her living there more than she did. She was practically hijacking his bed for the past few nights. It was a little silly that he didn't just kick her out, rather than sleep somewhere else, though.

"You'll do as you're told! Do you hear me?!" a screech came from further down the hall. Bulma narrowed her eyes in the dim light down the hall. Someone had to relight the candelabras down here. It was way too dark for her Earthling eyes. But either way, she quietly walked further down the hall, towards the guest rooms.

She listened to some inaudible whimpering before the screeching came back, louder than before.

"This is for the good of our people, and all you can think about is yourself! How dare you! You are going to be the queen of our home! Sacrifices must be made!" There was another moment of soft sounds and Bulma realized that someone else was talking, lowly. She tried to creep closer without her footsteps getting too loud. "When he asks it of you, you will go to him and do exactly as he says! Do you understand me?! This isn't about you!"

"… scared," She finally heard the second voice. It sounded like a child.

"Of course you are. This is new to you," the screeching voice said, becoming pacifying. Bulma frowned and got a little closer to the doorway. She held her hand over her mouth to mask the sounds of her breathing. The door was open and she stood right outside, her back against the wall. "You have the opportunity to do something great with your life right now. You will not waste this chance. Do you know how I know that?" There was a pause. "Because if you don't start acting as I've taught you, you won't be going home. Ever." There was another pause, and Bulma thought she heard sobbing. "I've made sure that you know exactly what to do to please him. You will not be of high standing, but you will make yourself one of his favorites. And once you do, our people will thrive and our planet will flourish. You will be our savior and our future queen. But first, you must stop acting like a spoiled brat! You can't expect to get whatever you want!"

"What if… hurts me?" the other voice quietly asked.

"Never show your tears, little one. Never cry in front of these people. If you want to cry, you wait and do it alone, in silence. This… This way you're acting now. I won't tolerate it any longer. Do you hear me? Dry your tears. If I ever see them again, I'll give you a real reason to cry."

Bulma heard footsteps suddenly nearly the door too fast and she jumped and sprinted back down the hall. She didn't bother to look back and she ran around a corner, casting a fleeting glance at the bare wall where her door used to be. She slowed, but still jogged on her way back to the prince's room. Vegeta probably wouldn't be finished just yet, so she continued jogging until she neared the kitchens. She pushed open the back door a crack and peered inside. Maron's head of blue hair was the first thing she saw, and she suddenly lost her urge to waste time here. If Chichi wasn't around, she didn't really feel like talking to Maron. She considered heading to the laundry room, but for some reason, she found herself not wanting to talk to anyone right now, strangely enough.

She dragged her feet, taking her time on her slow walk back to the prince's room—her room. She couldn't call it that and take herself seriously. She knew she'd be kicked out relatively soon anyway, so it was only a matter of time before she got a new place to stay. Her things were still in her bags in the corner of the prince's main living area, almost completely out of sight, as he'd demanded.

She stood outside the familiar door for a moment before opening it and stepping inside, but only to come face-to-face with the prince. She jumped and quickly apologized, moving to get out of the way. But she moved too quickly, thinking he would be rushing to get away like she was, and her movements seemed like she was trying to push past him. When he noticed, he characteristically stood his ground and let out a slight growl. Bulma paused in reply and took a quick step back, lowering her eyes.

"S-Sorry," she whispered, and then added, "My Lord."

He moved to walk past her, but stopped halfway, and Bulma remained very still, unsure which direction she should be going. She kept her eyes on the floor between her feet as she waited to see where he stepped. But he didn't move, either, and eventually she had to look up at him. She met his eyes and quickly looked away anyway. Why was he staring at her? She tried to find something else to look at and ended up noticing that he'd finally eaten the food she'd placed on the table.

Almost a minute had gone by and she didn't know what to do. He was still in her way and unmoving. She didn't dare to look up to see if he was still staring at her. But it was uncomfortable and she was confused.

"Sorry," she whispered again, shuffling her feet in one direction. Maybe if she could just slide past him—

He grabbed her arm and she yelped, raising her eyes to meet his again. But he didn't say anything, and despite the amount of time she'd been standing in one spot with him, her mind was mostly blank. She couldn't think of anything. But she remembered the kiss, and it made her blush and look away again. She hated how she couldn't hold his gaze, like a frightened kitten.

But then she started to think. And as she thought, she became more and more aggravated. Who did he think he was, anyway? He couldn't just stand in front of her and try and intimidate her like some kind of arrogant brute! She immediately frowned and glared at him.

"Where have you been, anyway?" she barked, and his lips parted for a moment, as if he hadn't been expecting anything from her. "Not that you'll ever hear me complain about having a giant bed to myself, but do you know how much food you've wasted over the past few days alone? You could practically feed an army! The least you could do is tell me when you'll be home for meals and when you won't, so the kitchen staff doesn't have to run around for nothing and I don't have to throw everything out after it sits on the table for hours at a time!"

He simply lifted an eyebrow at her, which pissed her off even more.

"And why are you standing in the doorway? Are you lost or something? You need me to find you a map or you want me to get your mommy to hold your hand before you leave you room?"

He squeezed her arm a little tighter and she winced.

"Wow, I say something you don't like and you hurt me? That must make you a real man…" She glowered at him. "If you just came back to shower and eat, you should be on your way now. I kind of like having your room to myself. It's almost like I'm the prince, isn't it? I wonder what that makes you, then—"

Bulma saw the room spin as he turned her and slammed her back against the door as he closed it and dragged her inside. Bulma gasped for air, but quickly narrowed her eyes at him. She was about to fight, but he dragged her arms above her head and held them in place. He shoved one leg between hers and pushed up. Hard. She screeched, but he wasn't hurting her. She was more shocked to suddenly feel his knee rub against her there. She flushed, but held onto her angry expression.

"First of all," he said, and his voice was strangely calm for how she'd just spoken to him, "What I do and where I go are none of your business. Second, I allow you to sleep in my bed, but the moment I want you on the floor, that's where you'll be. And third, you and the kitchen staff will continue to prepare my meals, whether or not I am present to eat them. Because that is your job—to serve me. You have no other purpose here, or anywhere."

"And is kissing me one of your jobs?" she retorted without thinking. He lifted an eyebrow again.

"Like I said, what I do is none of your business."

"Considering I was on the receiving end of that one, I'm pretty sure it is my business."

"So, what about it?"

"W…What?" Bulma frowned. Was he really asking her? "Well… why? Why would you even do that?"

Vegeta just shrugged, making her frown deepen. She wouldn't stand here, pinned against the wall by him, feeling his leg between her thighs, and let him get to her this way. If he truly didn't care, then she would accept that… But that was impossible, right? There was no way that it was meaningless to him… Not after how much she'd stressed over it…

"Please answer me," she said slowly. "Why did you do it?"

In the next second, his mouth was on hers again, and his hand was dangerously close to creeping up her shirt. She was going to squirm, but her wide eyes noticed that his weren't closed, either. He was staring right at her again. And he broke the quick kiss without ever shutting them, and she remained frozen in place. Then, he shrugged again.

"I did it because I felt like it," he said, and Bulma gulped. He truly didn't care…? "So… what about it?"

She bit her lips to stop herself from getting upset. She moved her gaze away from him, but he held her chin with his free hand and brought his face closer. She had no choice but to look at him again. And he was smirking… She felt like crying, but she wasn't going to let him win.

"You're terrible…" she whispered. All she wanted was for this to be resolved. She wanted some peace of mind, and all he was doing was confusing her more. Why do it again? Why say something so cruel? What was he trying to prove? She couldn't believe that it really meant nothing to him. She couldn't… "Well, it meant something to me," she said weakly, partially hoping he wouldn't hear her say it. "So, if you don't mind… Could you just go back to ignoring me? Because I can't figure out what you want me to do, and… I don't know. I don't even know what I'm thinking anymore. Maybe it'll be better when this month is over and I'll leave to go take care of some unborn child or something."

"Leave?" he suddenly growled. "You think that when that filth dumps his seed into you, I'm just going to let you leave? Your body may be invaluable to my father, but you'll still have work to do here. I won't allow you to just go where you please when you're still physically able to continue your work. If you want even an hour to yourself, you'll need to ask for my permission first."

"You would make a pregnant woman work?" Bulma asked flatly, speaking more hypothetically than anything. She still couldn't picture herself having a child, despite everything she knew. But the prince was giving her a strange smirk and she continued to frown at him. He was deplorable.

"Maybe the filth won't be able to," he said, pushing her harder against the wall. "Or maybe it'll take him ten times to finally give you what you want."

"What I want?" Bulma barked, nearly laughing. "You're kidding me, right? I really hope you're kidding."

"Maybe he won't know how," Vegeta smirked.

"Oh, please. Everyone knows how," she spat, and she watched his face turn from borderline-angry to playfully sly. She narrowed her eyes, feeling like she played right into a trap he'd set.

"Do you know how?" he asked, and she groaned. So, that's what he was getting at. She rolled her eyes at him. "No? Maybe I'll teach you, then." He suddenly pushed his knee up higher against her sensitive center and rolled it around. Bulma gasped and squirmed but he held her in place with just his one hand. Although, she felt as if he'd chained her whole body up. She couldn't fight a Saiyan's strength.

At first, she thought he'd stop after a couple motions, but he didn't, and she began to listen to her own breaths turn into pants. She convinced herself it was because she was squirming to get away, rather than the terrifying alternative.

"Vegeta," she softly said through quick breaths. "No…" When he pulled up on her wrists, her feet slowly lifted off the ground a bit, putting more of her weight in her center, right on his thigh now, still moving slowly back and forth on her. She could feel the pit of her stomach stretching and convulsing and she whimpered at things she'd never felt before. What the hell was he doing to her?

And then he leaned forward and shoved his mouth on top of hers. This time she watched his eyes close and she couldn't stop hers from closing, too. But only for a moment, as his thigh hit something that made her jump and violently turn her head away.

"Stop!" she panicked, shouted at the air above them, but he took the opportunity to bite at her neck as she tilted her head up at the strange feeling. She shouted out again, but this time without words. She couldn't even think of words right now. She tried kicking her legs, but every time she moved them, more of her weight added to the pressure on that one spot, and she really needed him to stop moving his leg down there. Something about it was doing things to her body and her brain. And it didn't feel right at all. It felt very, very wrong. "Stop!" she shouted again, forcing her head back down, forcing him to remove his mouth from whatever he'd been doing on her neck. She couldn't even register half of the things happening to her with what was going on down below. The feeling was overwhelming.

But it ended quickly. He released her and backed away a second before a knock came from the door. Bulma hoped that he'd let her go because she told him to, and not just because someone was at the door. She was starting to wonder if eventually he would just force himself on her and be done with it all. She hoped not, from the bottom of her heart. But now, she wasn't too sure about anything anymore. A month ago, if someone had told her that the prince would kiss her and push her up against a wall, she would have laughed it off as a joke. But now… she wasn't sure what his intentions were, and it scared the hell out of her. She couldn't even imagine what he wanted from her anymore… She used to think she was just kept around to clean up after him…

Vegeta opened the door after a second knock, probably after he realized that Bulma was too frozen in place to realize how long she was standing there, much less react to someone on the other side of the door.

"The negotiations have begun, my Liege," the man at the door said, bowing low, even with the floor. "The king has requested that you come immediately. I believe he is awaiting your arrival before they begin." He kept his eyes on the ground and waited for a response, but Bulma didn't hear anything from the prince. "The… The Warkinds are also present. The king and queen were not able to attend, but they sent the queen's youngest sister and the princess to complete the deals. There are several others… as a sign of good faith for their terms."

Vegeta scoffed. "They sent young females to negotiate? Why isn't the king able to attend?"

Bulma finally looked up when she listened to the inaudible reply of the man, just before the door shut and Vegeta was already gone.

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"And he up and left? Just like that?"

Bulma sat in a chair against the closest wall, watching Chichi work on some large piece of flattened dough. Maron was behind her, at another counter, measuring liquids. Goku was helping out, but he went out to gather some things for Chichi.

"It's not like I was expecting him to stay…" Bulma said, and then rolled her eyes. "Every time I come in here, you make me talk about Vegeta. Can we change the subject, please?"

"Well, it's not like I bring him up and you're not eager to talk about him," Chichi laughed.

"Yea, but it's because he does something stupid or crazy to me every day now, it seems. And I need to talk about these things, or else I feel like I might explode."

"Or it's because you like him," Maron sang.

"Like who?" Goku asked, walking into the room with several large boxes in his arms, stacked almost over his eyes. He looked over the tall carboard to Maron.

"Bulma likes the prince," she said quickly, and Bulma gawked.

"Vegeta?" he asked plainly, tilting his head and setting the boxes down on the floor. He picked one up and placed it in front of Chichi, who silently thanked him with a smile. Then, Goku turned to her. "Good for you," he said, giving her a quick smile and going back to rearranging the boxes on the counters, as if the statement wasn't a huge and utter lie. Bulma frowned at him.

"What does that even mean? "Good for you." No, it's not good for me. He's terrible!"

"He's not that bad," Goku replied simply.

"You know him?" Maron asked, her ears perking up. "Do you spend a lot of time with him? Maybe you could put in a good word for Bulma, here."

"No, thank you!"

"Huh? We used to train together when we were kids. He was always so competitive, and he took everything so seriously. I guess that hasn't changed much, though…" he trailed off, ripping a long piece of tape from one of the boxes. He looked at Chichi. "What are all these for anyway?"

"They're having some big meeting down in the banquet hall with the king and some other species. They requested that we prepare a large meal. This is what I had on such short notice."

"Oh, right. The Warkinds meeting was today. I completely forgot." Chichi lifted an eyebrow at the Saiyan and he continued, "Their people were stronger than we thought, and our king decided that we'd lose too many soldiers trying to conquer their planet. So instead, he offered for them to come here and make a few requests in exchange for peace and cooperation. But I'm not sure what else the king wants from this. He's never big on just letting other planets go like that. I'm curious to find out how the negotiations go."

"That's where Vegeta went."

"Well, yea. The royal family should be present as a sign of respect. Just because Saiyans like to act like we rule the universe, that doesn't mean we can disregard things like that all the time," Goku laughed.

"So, what are they doing, exactly?" Maron piped in, putting a pause on her work. Chichi threw her a glance and she slowly got back to preparing the food, but absentmindedly. "I mean, what do you think they could even do? I doubt King Vegeta would just bow his head and let them walk all over him. They must know that whatever demands they make better be simple and… well, not insulting."

"I don't really know the details," Goku frowned at her. "Sorry."

"We are going to deliver food to the banquet hall in a bit," she said, her expression turning sly. "We can find out what's going on when we present the food. I'm sure they'll all be sitting around the table, right? We can just work slow and listen in. Maybe we'll hear some good gossip!"

"Or," Chichi said, "The king will get annoyed and have you executed for working so slowly."

"It's not like I'd make it obvious that I'm moving slow, Chichi," she spat. "I'm not that dumb." Bulma had to roll her eyes at that comment.

"Please keep working on the dough for those cheese puffs," Chichi scowled. "You can work slow in the banquet hall, but not in here. We're on a time limit. If we're late, the king will have us both executed anyway."

"Where's the banquet hall?" Bulma suddenly asked, realizing that as they were talking about this whole thing, she had no idea where it was. She never even knew that they had a banquet hall in the castle. In fact, there were probably a lot of things in the castle that she didn't know about.

"It's a little while past the entrance to the medical wing," Chichi said, "But way before the dungeons' entrance."

"Dungeons?" Bulma frowned. Maybe she'd need to give herself a tour of this place. She knew there were dungeons under the first floor, but she never saw them or the entrance to them. And she certainly never went looking for them. The fact that she never knew there was a banquet hall was a little infuriating, though. But it was true that most of her job as the prince's chambermaid took place in the same small area of the castle. She'd been to the throne room and the laundry room, but that was as far out of the way as she'd gone. Other than that, the medical wing and the kitchens were a straight shot down the hall. She'd never thought to go any further. She was always afraid of getting lost.

"I only know about them because the prisoners down there have to be fed, but they never let me much past the top of the steps," Chichi added. "And it's not like I'd ever want to go down there anyway. Once, I had to go halfway down the stairway to hand the food platters to a guard, and I heard screaming. I got so scared that I ran all the way back to the kitchen."

"I wonder what's down there," Maron said with a smile, lifting her eyebrows.

"You don't want to go down there. Trust me," Goku said. Bulma could tell that Maron was about to ask why, but something in Goku's expression stopped her, and the four of them went silent for a few moments. She involuntarily pictured people crying for help on a wet, stone floor. She didn't know much about torture, but her mind did its best to imagine splatters of blood, before she shook her head to clear her mind. She would take Goku's word for it.

"Done," Maron said. "I'm just going to top them with blueberry filling and they'll be ready to go. Maybe another couple minutes."

"Goku, are you coming?" Chichi asked, and he nodded.

"I have plenty of time before they need me back at the training house."

"If you don't mind me asking," Bulma said, "Goku, what do you do around here besides train?"

"He's a tutor," Chichi said with a smile.

"Yea, I help train the little Saiyans. Saiyan parents send their children to the training house for most of their younger years. Once they graduate, they can choose their own paths. Most choose the military. But some don't want that. The king wants all Saiyans, even the cooks and servers, to have a basic knowledge of fighting and offensive tactics. That's why our species is so strong. Because no matter what happens, every single one of us, even the children, can fight better than most elite soldiers from any other planet. Our bodies are made for it. So, if anyone attacks us or declares war, there are no weak links. They can't take easy hostages or attempt mass murder, because everyone can hold their own. My job is to make sure of that, especially for the children. Everyone knows that if a war starts, the children will be targeted. So, I teach them self-defense, mostly."

"That's…" Bulma trailed off. "That's really cool actually. I wasn't expecting that."

Goku shrugged, but he hid a shy smile. Bulma hid her own, too. Chichi wasn't hiding anything.

"There!" Maron shouted, wiping her brow with her forearm. "Ready to go?"

Chichi wrapped up what she'd been making and added it to giant cart. "Bulma, are you coming?"

"Of course she is!" Maron said, grabbing her arm and dragging her along. "She wants to come spy on Vegeta with us!"

"What? No, I—"

Goku's laugh cut her off and she looked to Chichi for help, but her black-haired friend was laughing, too. How was it that they didn't understand just how bad the prince could be? Why was it, that they could laugh and joke about it the way they did? And Goku… didn't even bat an eye when Maron made her comment, before. She felt like she was missing something. She felt like they understood something that she just wasn't getting.

Getting a rush of courage and flare, she figured it couldn't be such a bad idea to go with them. She wouldn't even have to talk to Vegeta, if he was busy. Maybe she could even hide by the door, and he wouldn't even see her. Maybe then she would be able to understand what her friends kept talking about. Or maybe she could finally prove to them that they were wrong. The prince and her… Vegeta and her… That was just crazy, after all.