Vegeta paced back and forth, looking towards the direction that Kakarot should be bringing Bulma and growing more impatient every time he realized they weren't here yet. It didn't matter that there was never a set time to begin work or all that the equipment had yet to be brought to the riverside. He was here and they were not so that was more than enough reason to be agitated. He stopped to look for them again but growled when he didn't see any sign of them.

"They are late. How long does it take that buffoon to fly?" Vegeta yelled. Behind him he noticed that the third class Saiyans and scientists moving the equipment into place jumped and moved farther from him and realized that he was making a scene.

'Thinking rationally about this, the problem may not be entirely Kakarot's fault. It may have taken awhile for her to fix the communication devices. It's better for her to take a bit longer to perfect them and get it done in one trip,' he nodded and continued his pacing. 'Yes that makes sense. Kakarot only mentioned that it would take two hours to fly there and back, not how long it'd take for her to work and fly her…'

That thought made him feel more agitated. The woman couldn't fly so the only option, other than taking one of the painfully slow transport vehicles, would be to carry her. In his arms. Clutched to his chest.

Vegeta growled again, uncaring of the nervous looks he was receiving. 'No it's entirely Kakarot's fault. It's his fault for offering to take her so it's his fault that they are late.'

When he heard laughter, his eyes snapped over to see Kakarot landing with Bulma; his arms cradling her, her arms around his neck. Bulma was laughing as if he was the funniest person she had ever met.

"Oh, Kakarot, you worry too much."

"You really think so?"

"Of course! You've got a sweet personality and wonderful sense of humor, not to mention that pretty attractive. You could woo any woman you set your eyes own."

Vegeta's uneasy feeling from yesterday was back again as he listened to the conversation the two. He couldn't stop himself from glaring at Kakarot. 'Is he pursuing her? I never thought that he'd be interested in a woman that wasn't serving food. But then,' he quickly eyed Bulma as she paused to straighten out the short outfit under her lab coat and fix her hair into a messy ponytail, 'I suppose I can't blame him. She is, after all, ranked as a third class so she's free game for him.' Despite his attempts to rationalize things the thought still irked him.

Tired of waiting, he turned to Bulma, "You're late. I hope you got your visit over with so we can actually get some work done."

Bulma's humor was instantly replaced with boredom. "I don't recall setting a time, your majesty," she deadpanned, "because I didn't know how long it'd take for me to get back."

Vegeta scoffed. "Whatever. There are more important things to do than listen to your analysis of Kakarot's mating capabilities."

Kakarot's face paled slightly. "You… you heard that?"

Vegeta noted Kakarot's stiffened body and growled. "It's hard to miss is when that Woman is talking so much. You should keep in mind that your secrets aren't safe with her."

Bulma just stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just jealous that we're having such a good time without you. Perhaps if you are good, I do an analysis on your 'mating capabilities', though that might take several hours out of your busy schedule," she said with a wink.

Vegeta felt his face flush and looked away hoping that no one saw it. "Vulgar, Woman," he barely managed to force through his tight throat. 'What the hell is wrong with me? No, it's not me, it's her. I've never even heard any pleasure slave boldly make such a suggestive comment to me. Of course it may just be that they weren't allowed to being of such a lower class than I am. But then again, so is she.' He frowned at thought before moving to glare at her again.

Bulma just smiled and ignored the forced insult. "Now then, Vegeta, let's get to work since you're so eager."

"I don't recall giving you permission to call me without my title, Woman."

"And I clearly recalled telling you that my name is Bulma, not woman, so until you decide to grow up and call me by my name, I don't feel that you deserve the respect of being referred to by your title." Before Vegeta could snap at her for her disrespect she turned and made her way to the river.

As Kakarot passed, Vegeta grabbed his arm in a firm grip before speaking to him is a hushed voice so that Bulma couldn't hear him. "Don't expect to go unpunished for your actions today, Kakarot."

"What actions?" Kakarot asked, clearly confused about Vegeta's increasing hostility.

"I don't need to explain myself. After I finish overseeing this, we're going to spar for three hours straight."

"Three hours? But I didn't…"

"Don't try to get out of it. Just be glad that I have to meet with my Father this evening or it would have been longer." He let go of Kakarot, ignoring the mumbled protest, before moving over to where Bulma was working.

"…pH levels need to be tested," Bulma finished speaking to the scientists before they scurried off to do their tasks and then started concentrating on reading a paper attached to a clipboard.

Vegeta walked over and looked into the water, his eyebrow creasing as he saw it the first time. "It's so murky."

"That's just from the mud being stirred up. The water itself is pretty clear." She said without looking up while pointing to a glass container.

"That looks disgusting. How can you call that clear?"

Vegeta restrained himself from jumping at the glare he received from her. "Tell me, your majesty, where does the water you get at the palace come from?"

'Is she trying to make me look like an idiot? I'll show her,' he thought determinedly. "All of the elite class gets its water from the Pae river, the largest river on our planet."

"Correct. But even compared to the elites, the palace is only presented with water that has gone through an expensive and time consuming filtration process so even the water the elite class drinks will probably look, and taste, less pure than you're used to."

Vegeta thought about that for a moment before looking back at the water in the container. He couldn't deny that he'd never actually seen water straight from the source before. Sure he'd seen strange looking water in rivers off planet but he'd always just assumed that all of the water on Vegetasei was the same.

"Not to mention that everything that goes into Pae River flows down to Lake Egpla which this river connects to. It's basically the same water except that it also contains all of the waste from the upper classes is possibly mixing with it. It's no wonder people were getting sick drinking it with all the chemical and biological wastes contaminating it."

"Woman, the elites have indoor plumbing. We don't bathe or relieve ourselves in the river. I know you have a job to do but blaming the elites for everything won't help."

She sighed and looked at him. "Vegeta, when you wash your hands or flush the toilet, where does the waste and water go?"

"Down the pipes," he answered wincing when he realized how foolish that sounded. "Into the sewer system," he added.

"And where does it go from there? Where does the sewer system end?" She paused again but narrowed her eyes as she realized that he didn't know the answer. "All of the waste from the higher levels empty out… into Lake Egpla."

Vegeta's eyes widened. "What?"

"That's right," she pointed to her clipboard. "This report my people did is all about their survey of the lake. And what they found, concealed behind the large waterfall that connects the Pae River, is the sewer system's exit. So to answer your previous statement about how I can't blame the elites for the problems here, you're absolutely right; they're not to blame. Whoever designed this system is. Which brings me to my next point: Who designed it?"

"…The cold empire. They brought us the idea of indoor plumbing years ago and personally installed it for us," Vegeta answered, his entire body stiff with rage, his eyes locked with Bulma's.

All of the Saiyans working on the project mumbled to each other about what they just heard. After all, they just found out that the reason their families had been suffering for years was because the Cold Empire, their former allies, had intentionally set-up the sewer system to dump into their closest water source. If there were any complaints remaining that the treaty between the two planets was better than suffering they were gone now.

Vegeta slammed his hand down on the table, knocking over the container and silencing everyone. He held her eyes for a minute longer before turning on his heel. "Kakarot, we're leaving now."

Kakarot blinked. "What?"

"Now!" He started stalking away watching as everyone jumped out of his way.

"Hey, where are you going?" Bulma yelled. "We haven't even started working yet?"

"This is your job, not mine."

"Excuse me?" Bulma stomped over to him. "Your Father put you in charge of overseeing this so saying it's not your job doesn't mean anything."

"Woman, the only thing I can concentrate on right now is the fact that the Cold Empire made us unknowingly poison our own people. If that's not a sign that they plan on attacking us then I don't know what is. So stop dawdling. Get this problem fixed and then get to work finding the materials you'll need to build better training equipment."

"I'm not your slave."

"Back to that defense again, are we? You have no idea how little help that is for you. But it doesn't matter. Either you work on cleaning the water or you don't and you go back to your planet knowing that you're responsible for letting thousands suffer."

He definitely knew that he got her with that as her face paled and her eyes widened. What should have been a glorious moment of shutting the defiant woman up for some reason was more bitter than sweet. For some reason her expression of fear and concern sent a sharp stab of pain through his chest. He was unsure of the cause so instead he forced himself on. After all, he had decided yesterday that he'd make this Woman suffer for being unattainable.

"Nothing else to say, Woman," he forced a smirk on his face as he saw her bite her trembling lip and shake her head. "Then get to work."

And then he blasted off, looking back only long enough to make sure that Kakarot was following him. Growling, he remembered why he was mad at Kakarot and it only added to his fury. He had left two hours earlier than he intended so he hoped that Kakarot was ready for 5 straight hours of sparring.

6 hours later, after showering he made his way to his Father's study. He was about to open the door when he heard her laughter again.

'Seems like I'm the only one that isn't on her good side,' he thought bitterly before pushing the door open. Both of the occupants in the room looked up at him and he noted that Bulma's good mood instantly vanished.

"Well, your Majesty, I see your son is here so I'll leave you to your business."

"Be patient, Bulma. Remember what I told you."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at her when she gave him a quick look before making a clicking sound with her tongue.

"If you say so, your Majesty. Now if you'll excuse me, there was something I wanted to check on before I retire for the night." She bowed before exiting the room.

There was a moment of pause before Vegeta looked at his Father who seemed more focused on his paperwork. Moving away from the door he sat down in the chair in front of the desk, noting that it was still warm. 'The woman must have been here for awhile.' "What did you tell her about me?"

King Vegeta barely bothered to look up, "I don't recall saying anything about you, Boy."

"Don't treat me like an idiot. Her reaction was more than enough to fill in the blanks."

"Think whatever you want. Now did you need something?"

Vegeta's jaw dropped. "What? You told me to come here. Is your memory failing you that much, Old Man?" he question while pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table.

"Ah, I had intended on you reporting your observations of today's work but seeing as how you only stayed ten minutes before storming off I figured that you wouldn't have much to a report."

"I heard enough," Vegeta yelled, restraining his outburst at his Father's look of warning. "I've always hated the Cold Empire for lowering our pay every time we signed those useless treaties but to find out that they purposely designed this 'advanced' sewer system the way they did… You can't tell me that they didn't know that was a main water source. Do you blame me for being so angry that I wanted to kill something?"

"No I don't and I commend you for leaving before the thing you killed was the one who brought up the bad news. However, you must also keep in mind that you are constantly being judged by Bulma and that your actions today do nothing but make her see you as nothing more than a trouble making child."

"It's not my fault that I didn't know how the sewer system was designed or that I didn't know that the water that we get here is already filtered more than anywhere else on the planet."

"That does not excuse you for accusing Bulma of killing people by not obeying your commands!" His Father bellowed out, the fist slamming on the desk startling Vegeta. "She came here to help our people, Vegeta, and how do you repay her? By reminding her that every second another person is declared sick because she didn't come here years ago to remedy our own problem? Why? How does that benefit anyone?"

Vegeta stayed silent. He already knew that he was in the wrong but he wasn't going to turn back now. She didn't do anything to deserve him torturing her? Well he didn't do anything to deserve her torturing him. What's fair is fair.

"I didn't expect you to be this childish, Boy. I knew, from seeing the women that you tend to favor, that you'd be attracted to her but I had hoped that you would be able get over the fact that you couldn't have her and see her as a business partner. Apparently I was wrong." King Vegeta shook his head before settling back down and working again.

Leaning back in his chair, Vegeta looked back on his actions today. Yes he had wanted to torture her but it wasn't nearly as fun as it was yesterday when she'd just been angry. He'd have to keep himself in check concerning those issues.

Taking a sip of water, his thoughts were brought to halt. "Why does this taste different?" He asked bringing it up to taste it again.

King Vegeta looked up for a second before smiling. "It's river water." He laughed aloud as Vegeta choked.

"That blasted Woman! Is she trying to poison us?"

"Not at all, Boy. That water is the result of today's work. It's perfectly safe."

Stunned by this news, Vegeta looked back at glass noting the difference from what he had seen earlier. He hated to admit it but she had accomplished quite a bit in such a short amount of time.

"Now then, I don't mind you arguing with her, if there's an actual point to it, but I don't want to hear anything like what you did today. You can go now."

"Gladly." Vegeta got up and left for his room, intending to put an end to this day.

However, upon passing by one of the windows overlooking the city he saw something he shouldn't have: The woman in the elite quarters.

"What is she doing? She knows that she's not supposed to go out of the palace with escorts." He watched a bit longer noting that she must be yelling at someone since her gestures were similar to when she was yelling at him. 'Yes, seeing her angry is much more amusing than seeing her in pain.'

The smirk left his face when he saw one of the men push her, and though it was clear that it was gentle by Saiyan standards and that Bulma's balance was what caused her to fall, it still irked him. Opening up the window he jumped down, causing the laughing men to look up at him.

"Ah, Prince Vegeta, what can we do for you?"

Vegeta looked down to confirm that Bulma was fine before glaring elites. "You can start by explaining why you're pushing our new scientist around."

"Oh, is that who she is? Never thought that the scientist the King ordered here would be such a looker."

As Bulma stood up and dusted herself off. "I noticed that someone delivered some of my equipment to the palace gates and just left it there, so I asked if these men would help move it inside and you know what they told me? 'Go down to the lower quarter and get the third classes to move it. They're the ones in need of work, after all.' I can't believe that anyone claiming to be of a warrior race could be such sloths."

"She's a bit big for her britches, ain't she, Prince Vegeta. Then again," the man speaking openly leered at her exposed legs, "she's not wearing any britches, is she?"

The men all laughed again and Vegeta watched Bulma's discomfort before shooting a ki blast into the ground instantly silencing them. "Get off your lazy asses and move the equipment."

"But, it's not our problem!" One of them dared to protest. "It's more stuff to clean the third classes water, isn't it? They should come here and do it."

"I don't care what it's for, just move it." Noticing that none of them were moving, he growled out. "If it's so much trouble for you to understand then I'll just strip your titles for disobedience and then it will be your problem."

"Sire you can't do that!"

"You want to test that theory," he cocked a brow looking around to see if anyone did. Seeing no one move, he continued. "I didn't think so. I'll only say this once so I suggest you spread the word. This is not just a problem for the third classes. The decline of our planet affects all of us and it requires us to analyze and work through our problems together lest we die out completely. Now get a move on." And without another word, they did, wondering what exactly was going on with their planet that even their Prince was taking this lower status woman's side.

Vegeta watched them moving the heavy boxes into the palace until they were out of site before turning to look at Bulma. "You need to work on your balance, Woman. I'd hate that you'd have to miss a week of work recovering from a broken ankle you got from tripping over something."

"My balance is just fine."

"Obviously. Now care to explain why you're outside of the palace?"

"I went to the lab to check the new equipment when I saw that it hadn't been delivered yet and went to find out where it was. When I saw it outside the palace I called Kakarot but he said that he couldn't move because he'd been sparring with you." Vegeta chuckled at that, glad that he earned a glared from her for it. "Five hours, Vegeta? Are you trying to kill him?"

"Hardly, he's the only warrior worth fighting nowadays. He deserved to be punished for planning on distracting you from your work."

"Distracting me? How?"

"Don't act like he wasn't trying to pursue you, Woman. Sorry to tell you but Kakarot won't be taking you out anytime soon."

"Pursue? You mean like courting?" Vegeta was shocked when instead of being angry Bulma started laughing again. "You… you thought that Kakarot was trying to court me?" She was now laughing so hard that she was doubled over at the waist.

"Wha…what are you laughing at?" Vegeta asked, looking around with the hopes that no one was seeing him being laughed at.

"Oh, my," she wiped away a tear, "you don't have to worry, Vegeta. Kakarot's not doing anything to disrupt my work schedule. He's not interested in me at all."

"Don't lie, of course he's interested in you," he growled out. 'He'd be crazy not to be interested in her.'

"Vegeta, think back to yesterday, in the lab: Who was it that started the conversation about me going to Capsule Corporation?"

"It was Kakarot."

"Yes and how did he start it?"

Vegeta thought back to the inane conversation yesterday, suddenly remembering. "He asked where your black haired friend was."

"Yup."

"But today, you were talking about how he could have any woman he wanted."

"Yeah I had suspected that he had a crush on Chichi but it was confirmed when I saw how interested he was meeting her. On the way back I confronted him about it and he was nervous about getting turned down by her so I gave him a little bit of encouragement. He'd make a great boyfriend for Chichi, after all. So like I was saying, don't worry about Kakarot bothering my work, he's not even trying to."

Vegeta shut his eyes tight as he realized how much he'd blown things out of proportion. 'No wonder the Woman keeps treating me like I know nothing.'

He jumped when he felt Bulma tap him on the forehead. "You're pretty naïve about things for someone your age, though I guess that comes from palace life. But," she smiled looking behind him at the returning elites quickly before tapping him again, "you've got potential." Then she withdrew her hand and walked past him and the elites exiting the palace gate. "Thank you for your help, gentlemen."

Vegeta watched as she walked on before narrowing his eyes. 'Naive?' He wanted to yell out that he wasn't naive in the slightest but that was the root of his problem, wasn't it? He couldn't help the fact that he never bothered to eat or drink what was available outside the palace or that he'd never dealt having a rival for a woman's attention. Naive was definitely the word to describe what he was.

'No more. I refuse to let her think so little of me. I won't be like those spoiled do nothing brats that feed off their planet's goods unaware of the people's suffering. I'm going to learn everything thing there is about this planet.' He smirked at his new found resolve. 'Just you wait, Woman, I'll wipe that smug look off your face and then you'll learn to respect me.'