Chapter 16

The mind is a terrible thing to waste. As a girl, her father had taught her this lesson, basically raised her with these motives and made her study rigorously as soon as he learned of her quick to learn mind. Since she was young she caught on to problems and was able to break down the most trivial of puzzles most people would take hours learning. By the time she was seven she knew every math formula and equation. By eleven she had graduated school, learning from the best tutors in the world. By the time she was sixteen she finished college and decided to do something with her life. Bulma spent most of her years at home with her family, friends were one luxury she didn't have as a child because she did not attend school, and no child on the block was anyhere near the intellect of a girl her age, so she never got along with her age group.

This was what brought on the girl's lonely, yet natural love for adventure. She soon wanted to find out what lay beyond the expanse backyard of Capsule Corp. She always wanted to learn more, which is why she always held such a fascination with science. When she became of the ripe and tender age where boys start to cloud over her mind, Bulma dreamed of finding the man of her dreams, the prince she had read about in all those books. However none ever showed up galloping on a noble white steed. Any boy that ever took notice of her she found out was only ever after her father's money. This was what pushed her finally to seek out the legendary Dragonballs. If she couldn't find her prince charming out there, then she was just going to have to wish for one of her own. That was when she met Yamcha, and her hope didn't run out. He did not know of her wealth and had no interest in anything other than just being with her. She thought they would be perfect together. He was wild and aggressive and looked like a savage barbarian rising out of the sands of the desert. He looked like a challenge.

She would have told anyone in her youth it was love at first side, which she knew better now. What she thought of as a fierce bandit with a heart as icy as his eyes turned out to be nothing more than harmless man as fragile as a lamb hidden under a wolf's pelt. He was fidgety and nervous, and blushed like a school girl whenever she looked his way. That was how their relationship progressed slowly through the years and Bulma didn't know when she realized how monotonous it really was. She grew tired of him quickly, being able to guess his every action, response, and feeling to whatever she did or said. Not to mention how blindly he followed after her in an argument to beg for forgiveness. He was no challenge, he was a softy.

Bulma cared for him, loved him even, but there was no romance in it, at least not to her. He didn't spark something in her, take her breath away and he certainly didn't challenge her. Every time she had ever pushed for something more than just a feel up, he would get antsy and nervous and turn away. It was frustrating for her, especially when she finally got him into bed with her. No matter how long she had been dating him, he still was that nervous little jittery boy she met in the desert. When they went out in public he caught the attention of other woman just like how he had first charmed her. They would stare at him and flirt with him right in front of her, and Yamcha would laugh nervously, like he always did, and stutter some reply half-heartedly. Bulma would get furious at him, even though she knew he was never interested in other women; he was still shaky around her. But the constant acceptance of women flirting with him was driving her mad. He told her that he wasn't interested and he just didn't know how to respond to that kind of attention, he said he was never used to it in his life growing up. She would heave a sigh and forgive him, knowing that he was true. He acted the same way when she first met him.

However after time she grew sick of him refusing to put his foot down and tell the women to leave and they engaged in another argument. In her rage she had falsely accused him of cheating on her, which not only shocked him, but hurt as well, surprised that she would even think such a thing. She didn't hear any of it and called their relationship to an end.

Then he died.

Bulma felt horrible for what she had done, and even more when she realized she didn't have time to make it up to him. He had died in battle when the Saiyans came, and she was torn with guilt. She missed him now, missed his soft voice, his warm arms, his loving smile and cheerful laugh that made all her problems go away. She knew a relationship with him now would not last. She missed the friend she had in him, and wanted nothing more than to make amends. That was why she had planned this whole trip, to have one last chance to fix things, to set things right between them. However, things were not going exactly how she planned.

A belch resonated and the vocals of four laughs echoed in the still air. Bulma curled her lip and turned away in disgust, the Ginyu Force were nothing more than well trained circus pigs. Kidnap seemed to be the word that had been following her around ever since the trip began, and she damned Kuririn for cursing her. Though she would admit, she preferred the company of Vegeta then these five goons.

"--And then he said, that's not a Thenian slug, that's a Carnath traitor!"

They all bellowed in laughter at the joke and Bulma rolled her eyes and looked away. Her eye began to twitch when she felt the big meaty arm of Recoome constrict around her a little. They had all decided that they deserved a break after finding her, and landed on some stranded piece of land for a drink. And drink they did. The booze was passed around to all members, each one taking more than generous swigs of alcohol and laughing and sharing jokes. Sadly, Recoome hadn't drunk enough to release her.

"Aww, what's the matter girly? You don't want no Argian whiskey?" Recoome looked down at her with a little frown, shoving a flask under her nose. Bulma's nose curled and she quickly pushed the flask away, clearly disgusted by how it smelt. Recoome frowned and took a large swig, some of it missing his gigantic mouth and trailing down his chin. She hadn't touched their drink or the "food" they had provided her. They might not have been human, but Bulma still felt sickened at the thought of eating a Namekian.

"She doesn't deserve it," Ginyu slurred out, his face showing his distaste for the blue haired human as well as the dazed look of intoxication. "She's nothing but a little slut anyway, I know what she really thirsts for," he smirked suggestively and made a lewd gesture with his hand. Bulma's blood began to boil, and her face grew red with fury.

"Got to hell," she snarled, eyes ablaze in rage.

Ginyu laughed with the rest of them, minus Recoome who was watching it all peculiarly. "Well...she finally speaks, eh? What's the matter anyway? I was only speaking the truth. Why don't you get on your hands and knees so you can have..."

"Like I would ever do something as revolting as that! Just looking at you churns my stomach!"

Ginyu's corky attitude vanished immediately and he frowned. "Then what is it, eh? You only have a taste for that Saiyan's cock?"

That got to her. In less than a second she had managed to stand up and if not for Recoome, would have barreled into Ginyu at full speed. Ginyu found it all very amusing, as he began to laugh at her fierce attempts to get out of Recoome's grip. In his drunken stupor he nearly fell off the log.

"I don't she looked that very much, Captain," Jeice laughed. "The chit is a wild thing, I like that. Do you think Lord Freeza would mind if I tried her out a little?"

"Feh," Ginyu waved off dismissively, and Jeice grinned widely.

"Don't you touch me!" Bulma screamed. She managed to escape the arms of a baffled Recoome by biting down as hard as she could on his massive arm and barreled off as fast as she could away from the group. Behind her she could hear laughter. Bulma's heart raced as she ran around trees and houses. She pretended that the bodies she was jumping over were not Namekians the Ginyus had killed upon landing. Her mind was going numb at the thought of getting caught, the look in Jeice's eyes made her stomach roll and the bile to rise in her throat, she did not want to get caught and subject herself to anything he would do to her.

In that second she felt something tackle her and she went sprawling onto the dirt, gasping in pain when she collided with the ground. She was flipped over and met the lust filled hazy eyes of Jeice sitting on top of her looking at her like she was a piece of meat.

"And where do you think you were going sweet cheeks?" He grinned as his hands snaked down her shirt, ripping it off in one clean sweep. Bulma's scream bounced off the tree tops.

"Get your hands off me!" She hollered fighting in vain to get the man off her. He wouldn't budge and his hands were roughly grabbing hold of any exposed flesh available.

"What's the matter, don't you like this? You let Vegeta have it you little whore, why not me?" His breath was atrocious, it smelt heavily of booze and suffocated her. It was obvious he was under the effects of serious intoxication.

"Stop it!" She screamed, kicking her legs out. She felt like crying, scared out of her wits about what was to come. His hand came down and went under her skirt, and Bulma screamed out into the skies as he pulled away her panties, laughing as he did so.

"You fucking bastard! Get off me!" Her face was red with panic, fear, and anger and tears bled down her face like rain.

"Don't worry doll, it won't hurt for lo—"

Bulma looked up when the weight on top of her vanished. Breathing in harsh gasps, Bulma looked up in blurred vision to see who had rescued her and gasped at the face she saw, his eyes glaring murderously at Jeice.

"Are you okay girly?" Recoome asked, his voice held a note of softness it always had when he spoke to her. Bulma couldn't bring herself to speak, she could only sit there in mortification at what almost happened. She tried covering herself the best she could, but failed miserably. The tears continued to stream down her face, and Recoome slowly picked her up. Too much in shock and to mortified to do anything but, Bulma buried her face in his arms, silently crying and praying to god that she was alright.

Jeice pulled himself out of the wall he crashed into, holding his head in pain.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for Recoome?!" Jeice snarled at his partner, immediately growing sober.

"Master Freeza said she is not to be touched, you tried to harm her." Recoome replied.

Jeice's face grew red with fury. "Give'r back! I wasn't going to hurt her! I was only going to use her!" He ran back over and tried to yank Bulma out of his arms. Bulma made a shrieking noise and buried herself further in the giant's arms.

"No," Recoome glared at Jeice easily turning around, the height difference making it easy for him to avoid Jeice.

Jeice only grew angrier. "But that's what she's for! She's a whore, that's what they do!"

"She is not!" Recoome bellowed thrusting an angry glare at his comrade who backed away in pure shock. "She's a lovely, beautiful lady and you are scaring her!"

"What---what has she done to you Recoome?" Jeice stuttered taking another step back. "She-she must be a witch, she must have put some sort of spell over you! That's what she must have done to Vegeta! Recoome you have to snap out of it!"

"She is not a witch," The giant frowned and began walking towards Jeice, who was backing up as if he was contagious. "Now, say you are sorry to the girly for hurting her."

Jeice looked at Recoome like he grew another head before he gulped and saw the murderous looked in his eye. He looked at the package shivering in his arms and opened his mouth, quickly throwing out an apology and turning away.

Recoome's expression immediately changed and he smiled brightly down at Bulma. "See, all better now. Jeice didn't mean it."

Bulma stared into his big gaping face with disbelief. She refrained from saying anything however, not trusting her voice to speak unless another scream be unleashed. It had only been a few hours and already she had to face such horrors, what else was to come of her? She shivered, the arms around her providing little warmth to her terrifying thoughts. She could feel the man holding her moving but didn't look up. Bulma didn't care. They moved quite a distance before she was put down on the ground. Bulma immediately balled herself up in a protective ball to hide her insecurity.

"Are you okay now, pretty lady?" His deep obnoxious voice caused her to look up. Bulma sniffled and nodded her head, not understanding the giant's kindness.

"Jeice can be a little mean, but he don't mean nothing. Plus, I won't let nothing hurt ya."

"But why?" Bulma couldn't help but ask. She wiped away her tears and stared down the Ginyu Force member. "Why do you care so much? I don't mean anything to any of you!"

The offish man shrugged his huge shoulders and sat down with a loud resonating thump. When he didn't say anything more, Bulma sighed and gave up on her anger. The man obviously didn't have the brains to explain to her the details of why she was captured. A loud growl filled the silent air between them, and Bulma blushed when she realized it was coming from her stomach.

Before she knew it, a piece of fruit was thrust under her nose, the smell causing her mouth to water. Looking up Bulma saw Recoome's grinning face. Tentatively she took the offer, being careful not to unfold her arms completely and reveal her exposed bosom. The fruit smelled wonderful, and she savagely tore into it, like she hadn't eaten in days. It tasted good. The juices filled her mouth and dribbled down her chin. She had never before tasted something as succulent as this before, and soundly wondered what it was called.

When she was done, she went back to staring at the big man who was watching her carefully. She shivered under his stare, feeling uncomfortable at his gawking. He didn't even blink, and that sickeningly sweet smile was still on his large lips.

"You said you won't let anything hurt me," Bulma began feeling more daring to speak. Her eyes narrowed on the brute, not trusting, but oddly satisfied. "Yet you are taking me to this Freeza. Who's to say he won't hurt me?"

Recoome laughed slightly, his smile never leaving. "Bah, Master Freeza isn't all that bad, he won't hurt you."

"Isn't all that---" Bulma repeated in disbelief. He was even dumber then she first thought. She shook her head, "What does he even want with me then?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, something about having the edge over Vegeta or something like that..."

Bulma stared amazed. Did Freeza really think that he could control Vegeta by using her? It was enough to want her to burst into laughter. Vegeta wanted her dead, he would probably urge Freeza to kill her. There was no way that he could possibly get Vegeta to bend to his will by using her as a bargaining tool.

"There has been a misunderstanding," Bulma chuckled. "Vegeta cares very little for me, in fact he wants me dead. Freeza won't be able to have any benefits with having me there."

"I don't know," Recoome looked at her peculiarly, "I saw the way he looked at you when we fought."

"You saw wrong," Bulma quickly blurted. A part of her grew excited by Recoome's admittance, why? Why did she suddenly feel giddy? She couldn't have possibly wanted Vegeta to feel something for her, did she?

Quickly Bulma brushed the ideas from her head, focusing on the problems before her. "He cares only for himself. I am nothing to him." Even as she said that, she knew she was trying to convince herself more than the giant in front of her. She could still feel his lips on her, and how driven he was to smother her with them. 'It is best not to imagine such fake ideas. There is no way there can be anything between the two of us.'

"I don't understand why," Recoome's booming voice made her focus on his face. He grinned widely, "You're such a pretty girly."

Bulma laughed nervously, not entirely sure how she should respond to his constant endearments.

"Vegeta doesn't deserve a girl like you," He suddenly said, his voice taking a darker tone that made her insides shiver slightly. He looked at her with obvious anger. "I would never treat you bad if you were mine. Vegeta is nothing but an evil man with no hope and no planet."

"Why, why do you say that?" Bulma was curious how much the Ginyu member knew about Vegeta. During her time with Vegeta she learned very little about him or his past, only that it was bloody. The thought of learning more about him made her excited, and she didn't understand why.

"Tell me what you know of him."

Again Recoome shrugged, "His planet was destroyed when he was nothing but a little kid. Master Freeza told him it was a meteor, but the truth was he destroyed it himself."

Bulma nodded her head at the admittance, having heard it before from Ginyu. She had seen the pained looked that flashed before Vegeta's eyes, right before he blocked it up with a wall of anger.

"He was a prince you know, of the entire planet, and an arrogant little brat too," Recoome continued, "Master Freeza made Vegeta work for him purging planets and promised that if he did he would release his father. He wound up killing the old king anyway. It was around then I think he changed. When I first met him he was nothing but a snobby uptight punk, like all little princes, but after that he was something else...something darker." Recoome looked at her face with the most serious expression she had ever seen on him.

"He grew angry, unnaturally so, even to his own monkey friends. He never did any activities outside fighting and destroying planets, only obsessed with growing stronger. He was paranoid and always on guard, like he was waiting for something to attack him. He was constantly punished too. It got worse as he got older, and we all witnessed him fall deeper and deeper into dementia. It's all this sick obsession of his. He's done things in his life that makes even me cringe."

Bulma looked at Recoome in silent awe. The thoughts that invaded her mind plagued her with ideas and answers she didn't know if she even wanted to know. Vegeta was a killer, she knew that, but to have someone like Recoome talk about how evil he was frightened her. She understood that it was all his opinion, and that he obviously was missing key elements about him that would cause such a drastic change in one's personality. His home was destroyed, that alone would have broken her. His father was held hostage, the king, something that amazed Bulma still. He was a prince and was subjected to such cruelty. Whatever Freeza did to him altered him. It sounded like he was borderline crazy. Hearing him speak of his lust for blood sent shivers down her back. It wasn't hard to imagine him standing there on a pile of dead bodies, blood covering his entire form and that horrifying laugh splitting the air.

Did he deserve having gone through what he had? Bulma didn't think so. In the small moments she caught it, she could see a different person in his place. One that didn't need carnage and destruction to fill his desire. Whatever Freeza had done to him scarred him, not only physically, but twisted his psyche so much he was on the verge snapping.

"But there is still good in him," Bulma whispered out, trying to convince herself. She had seen it in only small glimpses, his eyes telling the tales his lips would never dare let pass. "Tell me there is."

Recoome looked at her and saw her somber expression. He sat back and thought. "The little man had honor. He always took responsibility for anything that happened to his men. If one of those stupid monkeys screwed up, Vegeta would take the blame for them. I saw it, the torture he would go through just for them, and sometimes he would barely make it alive. I wish my partners would do the same for me," Recoome sighed.

Bulma smiled up at Recoome. "Thank you," she whispered softly.

A/N: I want to apologize for the delay. Life is just full of surprises and turns and I unfortunately got stuck in a bad situation. I recently lost my car thanks to a drunk driver and have been going through a lot of hard times right now. I apologize for not updating, but you can obviously see it is not one of the top priorities of my life right now. However I want to assure you dear readers that I will finish this story, and that I will not leave it unfinished like so many others. Thank you all for being so patient and for your constant support.