Chapter 11

The sound of crude laughter and brushing winds met the Captain as he soared through the Namekian skies. His men, chortling at some trite joke one of them made followed close behind. After briefing with Master Freeza the Captain could not help but feel a wave of uncertainty. He had expected to be treated with praise at having brought his Liege a Dragonball and disabling Vegeta, however what he and his loyal men received was nothing short of humiliation and disappointment. Clenching his teeth Captain Ginyu forced back his discontent and focused his attention on the ground. His black eyes briskly scanned the environment below for signs of the familiar landscape they had left the wounded Saiyan and the girl.

He skid to a stop upon seeing the recognizable debris Recoome had made when he plowed Vegeta over like a steam truck. His men stopped short behind him, nearly colliding into him from the sudden halt. Ignoring their complaints, Ginyu lowered to the ground, his eyes already searching the area even though his brain already told him the creature was gone. He could feel his heart beat quicken as he continued to look, even though he knew it was fruitless. The girl was gone, and she had taken Vegeta with her.

"That stupid girl," His hissed out clenching his fists. "She's not here. She must have taken Vegeta and ran away."

His men took a quick look around soon coming to agree with their Captain that the girl was not present.

"What you do thing we should do now, Captain?" Jiece asked. Even without looking at him Ginyu could tell by his voice he was nervous. "Master Freeza will be awfully upset if we…"

"We'll find the dame." Ginyu interrupted stonily.

The Captain cursed under his breath as his scouter did not help. The female's power reading was very pitiable and undetectable from there range, and since Vegeta could apparently mask his energy signal they had no way of tracking him down either.

"Come on," Ginyu led, flying into the air. "We won't find her around here, let's move out men."

"Yes sir!" Came the well trained response from his men. Soon they all rose and followed Captain Ginyu as he flew across the sky.

Bulma stared blinking at the sky, her eyes still crusted with sleep. Tiredly she rose a hand and wiped away the sweat that gathered there and stared at her hand in wonderment. Groaning Bulma shifted slightly at the realization. There were three suns on Planet Namek that rotated in the sky in even intervals. There was no night, so as one sun gently lowered in the sky another in the opposite side of the sky began to rise. The double heat created by the suns made it unbelievably hot and Bulma took comfort in shedding herself of her black leggings, tossing them miserably away.

Bulma had fallen asleep at some point, and she was somewhat grateful since that meant she slept through some of the heat stroke. As she lifted her head, Bulma suddenly felt a wave of panic and quickly sat up, looking for Vegeta. She didn't have to look far. He was standing there, shirtless doing some sort of stretching.

Bulma watched as he began to bend and turn under the hot suns. Sweat glistened off his body and reflected in the heat. Each turn and bow of his skin pulled at his muscles and Bulma found herself staring in a stupor. What was he doing? She then noticed his back. It was mostly healed, still slightly red, but almost completely unnoticeable. He must have been stretching to relieve the tension from the injury.

He did one last stretch before he finally noticed her staring. He came to a stop and glared at her.

"So, you're finally awake."

His voice startled her out of her gazing and she felt annoyed with herself for not even noticing him stop.

"How…how long have you been up?" Bulma asked somewhat bewildered.

Vegeta shrugged. "A few hours." He went back to his exercising.

"You have been stretching for three hours straight?" Bulma found herself gawking at him in disbelief.

"Not entirely," He snuffed. "I had cooled off in the stream."

"Cooled off in the…" Bulma found herself turning slightly red as the words brought images into her mind.

She shook her head quickly and stood up, brushing off her skirt in the back as she did so, cringing when she felt it stick to her legs from sweat. She almost gasped out when she felt something shift under her shirt. Her hands quickly raced down to steady the Dragonball as it tried to escape under her shirt. The rip had gotten bigger, this was not good.

Sighing in her fortune, Bulma looked over at Vegeta, who didn't even notice what had almost just occurred. "Well, I'm glad that you're back in good health at least." Immediately after she said that Bulma put one hand over her mouth. What did she just say? She couldn't have honestly meant she cared for his wellbeing. She never had before. Why would she say such a stupid thing?

Vegeta looked just as surprised as she did. He stopped and stared curiously at her before he smirked and chuckled.

"You really are a damn fool bitch."

Getting over the shock of her previous words, Bulma's eyes lit up in rage. "How dare you!" She crossed the distance in a few short strides.

"After everything I have done for you, you insult me? I healed your injuries; you should be on your knees in gratitude! You have no right to say such things to me, you inconsiderate bastard!"

The movement was ostentatious. Vegeta had his thick fingers around her throat and up against the cliff walls before she could blink. He lowered his eyes and glowered at her. Those fierce black eyes of his pierced through her body and made her shiver.

"Let me make one thing clear to you," He growled out, his nostrils flared in anger. "You hold no claim on me to demand anything. I control your life in my hands, and I could snap this little neck of yours without a second thought. Be careful what you say to me witch, I will not warn you again."

"No." Bulma grit. "I am tired of you treating me like I'm some sort of property of yours. I am not afraid of you anymore Vegeta. I don't care what kind of power you posses, I'm sick of being your doormat. You need me to find the Dragonballs. You cannot kill me. If you do, you lose. I'm too valuable to you, Vegeta, whether you like it or not, I'm the one controlling whether you get your wish or not. So if anyone should be careful, it's you."

Vegeta pulled back in shock. He stared at her in awe, his eyes wide. Instead of shirking back and fear like she had done before, Bulma glared defiantly into his eyes, and she took a small bit of pleasure in seeing his surprise in it. He expected her to submit to him like she had before. He was thrown completely off by this sudden growth of courage.

She could hear him begin to growl again, he clenched his fists tightly before turning to the rocks and smashing his fist into them, crumbling them into a grave of debris. Bulma flinched at the display, but did not falter her stubborn glare.

"You…you…witch…" He was seething. He turned to stare at her again, at any other time the look in his eyes would have terrified her, but she no longer felt threatened by him. He needed her. Once she realized that she was safe from him until she gets the Dragonballs, there was no need to be afraid. Right now she was immune to his murderous hands, and that gave her an unbelievable amount of power.

"You should fear me..." Vegeta's voice was deeper in anger. His furious eyes bore into her as he slowly approached again. His hands went back around her neck, squeezing in the slightest.

Bulma still held her ground and stared defiantly in his eyes, her blue eyes as unbending as glass. She could see the power struggle through his eyes. He wanted to prove he still had power over her. The gut-wrenching stare of his and lock on her throat was supposed to make her flinch and back down, letting him come out once again as the dominant. She could tell he did not like being controlled, he did not like being the one without the control. He wanted her to bend and break, to yield.

All too swiftly she found his nose nearly touching hers in the dangerous game. Bulma hardened her stare and breathed in as much as she could with his hand still holding her neck. It wasn't painful surprisingly. She realized it wasn't meant to choke, but to intimidate, to frighten her. Her eyes continued to stare, matching his determined glare as best she could. Neither of them flinched. They maintained this battle of possession for what seemed like hours to her. Bulma thinned her lips and tilted her head back in a stubborn act of arrogance.

Vegeta regarded the look coolly. His eyes widened only a fraction and his frown deepened. She curiously saw his nose twitch and flare again, taking in a deep breath…or was it taking in her scent? She could feel his breath against her, deep and shallow. Then he reared back and snarled. Thinking she was going to be stricken, Bulma closed her eyes and braced herself for the awaiting blow.

Instead she felt his lips smother hers again in another ferocious mind devouring kiss. Bulma's eyes immediately opened. Her body tensed completely as she felt his mouth move with the same viciousness they did the first time he stole a kiss from her. This time it felt different. His forcefulness made her insides tingle and ignite, like a set of explosions were going off one by one. Her hands left the hold on her stomach and moved to weave into the fire of his hair, her own mouth answering to the call of his own primal actions. She felt him bite her lips roughly and his tongue snake in her mouth, growling fiercely. It made Bulma feel like she was going to collapse in the sensation. He was so wild, so animalistic, so…god…she felt like she was drunk.

His hand hadn't even let go of her throat. Instead, he held her in place as he controlled the brutal kiss. Bulma didn't know why she felt such a fire from receiving his rough actions, but at the moment she didn't care. Her hands fisted tightly in the wild of his mane, tugging and scratching his scalp with her fingernails, which she was rewarded with another one of those growls. That growl…to think it once sent chills of fright down her back and now….now it…god, it aroused her.

Frightened, Bulma seemed to jerk herself back into reality. Reality smacked her like a block of ice and she suddenly realized who she was so passionately kissing. Bulma stiffened and pushed roughly on his chest to get away. He let go of her and his eyes stared at her again. The look of disbelief and shock on his face mirrored her own. But before she could voice anything, his hand latched painfully on hers. Bulma gasped at the pain but could to nothing as he dragged her against his chest again, growling in anger.

Bulma closed her eyes and looked away, his jerk causing her body to shake. That was when she felt something sink and collapse. Bulma's face drained of color. Her head moved in slow motion as she stared down at her feet. The orange ball glared back guiltily at her. The pin prickles of terror paralyzed her mind and body of movement, as she slowly looked back up.

And was met with the murderous eyes of Vegeta.