Author's Note: Warning for some hints at Freiza's... erm... sexuality. As well as Zarbon's. I've just always assumed they were not of the straight variety, especially not Freiza's! Nothing too explicit or too over-bearing, I promise. But there's a reason this story is rated R.

Chapter 2

She was where he expected her.

Unfortunately he didn't have time for long. Not at the moment. Each time he returned, he reveled in this. It gave him a bit of odd comfort, knowing that what they were doing was his and her little secret. Samphire didn't know, and Freeza definitely didn't know. Being under Freeza's service, one didn't exactly have much to themselves, so anything, even this – especially this- was to be treasured.

Vegeta stepped halfway in the doorway, turning the moment his foot went down on the ground again. He didn't bother looking at her, he merely crossed his arms and leaned against the frame. "I'm back," he snapped roughly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her rise from the cushions on the ground and bow in the traditional manner of her home planet. He didn't understand why she kept such foolish, long-dead traditions. At least she honored him like the prince he was, he thought to himself with a smug warmth. "Welcome back, Prince Vegeta-sama," she said delicately.

"I have business with Freeza," he announced, turning his head a little more away from her, looking down the hallway to make sure no one was within hearing distance. He'd already muted the scouter attached to his ear so no one would hear the conversation. "Then Samphire claims she needs to talk to me, says Freeza's little lap dog Zarbon."

He wasn't sure if she nodded or bowed her head. "There's some problems," she said simply. They didn't have enough time to talk long. He listened to her movements, heard the shuffle of whatever was on the table. "I have something for you when you get back, Prince. You don't have to hurry, but it'll be here waiting for you."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, surprised. Something for him? That was odd. "I'll be back," he said curtly before pushing off the doorway and turning sharply, gliding away from the door.

The door slid shut a few seconds later, followed by the click of a lock.

If Vegeta was lucky, his meeting with Freeza wouldn't last long at all. Usually they didn't. He'd have to re-group with Raditz and Nappa first, naturally, and they would approach "Lord" Freeza once they were all together and give their report.

The walk to where the others were was rather short and thankfully they hadn't decided to check in with any healers yet. Vegeta spotted them in what was considered the equivalent of their sector's locker room and knocked sharply on the open door, instantly aggravated with what he saw before his eyes. "Get with it!" he snapped when he saw them sitting on the benches, fighting over some scrap of meat. "You have plenty of time to visit the serving halls later, now get the hell up and let's go see Freeza."

"What difference does it make if we're not going to get any rewards anyway?" Nappa demanded, slamming down what looked like a drumstick on the bench. Raditz lunged for it, but Nappa's tail was there first, wrapping around the handle of bone and jerking it in the air. "You heard, Vegeta," Nappa taunted at his partner. "Time to go see our precious Lord Freeza!"

"Whatever," Raditz muttered, still eying the meat. "You gonna take that with you or something?"

"Mayyybe," Nappa grinned from ear to ear.

Raditz snarled in anger, lunging once again at the piece of meat. Nappa whipped his tail out of the way, causing Raditz to run head first into a set of lockers. "You bastard!" Raditz shouted.

"You really want to talk to a Saiya-jin elite that way?!" Nappa demanded, getting furious. "By rights I get this meat before you do!"

"And by that standard, Nappa," Vegeta smirked, silencing the two with a deadly calm. "You should be giving that piece of meat to me. But we don't have time to waste. Nappa. Raditz. Tear it in half and let's get going! We don't have time for your stupid rivalry over such a rotten piece of meat anyhow."

Rolling his eyes when Raditz accused Nappa of making his half smaller, Vegeta barked at them one more time, threatening to tear off their tails before they finally complied and walked with him, still arguing, down the hallway towards Freeza's chambers.

Generally, Freeza's chambers were always accompanied by six to eight guards. Today, Vegeta was surprised to notice, there were only two. Strange, the Saiya-jin Prince thought to himself. When Vegeta's approach drew closer, however, the sounds he heard from coming inside the chamber told him the reason why there were only four. His face wrinkled in disgust.

"Zarbon serving our Lord again?" Vegeta demanded of the guard on the right.

"It would appear so, sir," he replied.

Vegeta snorted. Why the hell would he demand to see him if Zarbon was doing his usual 'private' duties? Especially sending Zarbon ahead of time to tell him? It didn't matter. Vegeta pounded on the door twice. "Lord Freeza! It is I, Vegeta," he called out. "We have returned."

The sounds stopped. Then the door opened.

Freeza's chair was faced towards the space deck. Outside the landscape of the planet could be seen for miles. But that wasn't half as interesting as the knees of Zarbon that were very much so apparent from the doorway, and the fact that one couldn't see Zarbon's face.

So. It looked like Zarbon achieved the status of being Freeza's very favorite after all. No one really knew if that was what exactly Zarbon had in mind when he wanted to become Freeza's favorite, but he'd gotten his wish nonetheless.

"Ah, Vegeta," Freeza mused, still not facing the Saiya-jin warriors. "And Nappa and Raditz too. How quaint." There was a small pause before Freeza said softer yet still sharply, "Zarbon, wipe off your face. We have guests."

Vegeta wasn't sure if he was amused or repulsed as Zarbon sat back on his knees and quickly wiped off his face with the back of his hands. Probably both.

"We have returned from the planet Jiu as you requested," Vegeta announced, sinking to his knees in the usual groveling position. "Everything is as you wanted and the planet is ready for you to clear out."

"Excellent." Freeza's chair turned at an even pace until he was facing them. "How utterly perfect. Three planets down, two more to go. You've done well."

"Master Freeza, sir," Nappa suddenly spoke from behind Vegeta. Vegeta gritted his teeth. That idiot! Don't ask, you fool, the Saiya-jin prince thought to himself sharply. You know the answer. You damn well know the answer; don't even ask!

"Yes, yes, you want a reward," Freeza waved his hand dismissively. "You get an extra half hour in the dining halls today and tomorrow. Does that suffice your monkey appetite?"

"W-What?!" Nappa looked like he had been slapped. The anger became apparent on his face in less than a second. "Lord Fre-"

"We are grateful for your generosity," Vegeta quickly said, overriding Nappa's outburst.

"V-Vegeta!" Nappa gasped.

Raditz probably wanted to say something as well. But Raditz knew better, Vegeta almost laughed to himself. Unlike Nappa, Raditz knew when to speak and when to shut the hell up. Now was a good time to keep his mouth shut and Raditz damn well knew it.

"Now, I need to speak to you privately, Vegeta, if you don't mind," Freeza mused. "That means everyone out of this room. Except you, Zarbon; we'll need to pick up from where we left off in a moment."

"Yes, Lord Freeza," Zarbon said softly. Nappa and Raditz grumbled their echoing reply.

Once the room was cleared, Freeza stood from his chair, his arms crossed behind him. "I have a problem with your little rebellion, Vegeta," he snapped.

Vegeta tensed. Did Freeza know? About that? He must've overheard! Damn him! A thousand times, damn that hideous bastard!

He was ready to flee when Freeza shouted, "I have told you three times to clear out the planet Hibi. If you do not clear it out on this next mission, I will consider you insufficient for service and I will have no use for you, do you hear me?!" Freeza roared. "I don't know what your little problem is, but you'd better get over it!"

There was a little relief that Freeza didn't know still about Vegeta's real rebellion. However, the fact that Freeza was catching onto his resistance to destroying Hibi was a sure cause for concern. As Freeza had said, there were three planets destroyed, and two more to go. Both a planet called Leung and then Hibi were next on Freeza's list for his pleasure grounds, and Vegeta wasn't sure he could put it off much longer.

"However-"

"I don't give a shit what you have to say, Vegeta!" Freeza roared. "I like that little planet. I don't care if they're pacifists and it bores you; you will clear that planet out for me. I won't have any of their pathetic little 'sages' running around like a mosquito you can't find in the middle of the night buzzing in your ear. That planet is on my list. Its tropical climate is perfect. You have twenty days to clear it out or you'd better have a damn good reason why I shouldn't permanently remove your tail… among other things."

Vegeta swallowed hard. "Yes, Lord Freeza."

"You are dismissed," Freeza sat back down in his chair and turned it around. "To where you were, Zarbon, and get on with it!"

By the time Zarbon was back in position, Vegeta was well out of the door and in the hallway. He was glad Freeza had warned him alone; he hadn't told the others he'd actually refused to destroy a planet. They would be shocked and he knew it. But he had his reasons. What these reasons were, to be honest he couldn't say. He just… couldn't do it. Could it be because… No. He wasn't that soft. He just owed her!

Before he could try and figure out why he felt like he owed her anything, a loud squeal of, "VEGETA!" was heard behind him. He breathed a very deep sigh. Here it comes, the usual annoyance!

Arms were wrapped around him and squeezing a hug out of him. "Gosh, Vegeta!" Samphire grinned. "You're back! Oh my god, this is cool! I'm so grateful; it's getting boring here with Aelia. Okay, okay, it's not really boring with her, but it's so much more fun when you're around!"

Vegeta grumbled under his breath. She had to be the poorest excuse of a Saiya-jin woman that ever existed.

"Hey, you didn't punch me off you this time!" Samphire let go and stepped around to face him, her black bangs in her eyes. Most Saiya-jin had black hair and, naturally, Samphire was no exception. "I'm impressed! So, are you warming up to me finally?"

"Hardly," Vegeta snorted, rolling his eyes. "I just don't feel like punching you today, so take that as a really late birthday present, or something equally stupid. Are you done talking to me? Is that all you're making a fuss about? Aelia said you had problems, so spit them out! I don't have all day!"

"Fine," Samphire sighed. "I want to know why you won't marry me."

Vegeta laughed. It was cold and cruel, and he knew it, but he certainly didn't care when she whined, "Oh come on! Don't laugh! Vegeta!"

"Look," he snorted before looking around and snapping in a hushed whisper. "By the laws of our people, I am fully aware that we should certainly have been married by now. But I am not in any position to do anything about it. Our planet is gone and has been gone for quite some time. You're not bound to me, I'm not bound to you. And if we even got married, Freeza would feel threatened. You know the last thing he wants is more Saiya-jin to threaten him!"

"Vegeta," Samphire finally said, looking a bit defeated. "Is it true? Did Freeza really destroy our planet?"

Samphire was not the first to ask this question; it had been Nappa who brought it up a mere few months prior. So, Nappa had been talking to Samphire too. Unfortunately between Nappa and Samphire, the two would blubber it around and if it were true…

"Freeza has granted us a home," he snapped. "It's not much, but appreciate it."

"Vegeta!" Samphire gasped. "You? Saying we should appreciate something of Freeza's?!"

"You want to die?!" he suddenly roared, anger filling him. "He let us serve him. As far as I'm concerned, it gives us a chance in hell! You know perfectly well we don't stand a fucking chance against Freeza, Oozaru forms or no. So just train and don't think about such useless things! Now get the hell out of my way."

Pushing past Samphire, Vegeta felt his head pounding. She didn't understand. Nappa didn't understand. Raditz didn't understand. This was their life. They were stuck with it… until Vegeta was ready. Until he was strong enough. No one knew when that would be.

But right now, he was more concerned about Freeza's threat.

Storming down the hallway, Vegeta approached the door he had been wanting to go to since he arrived on this pathetic excuse for a planet. It was still shut.

"Aelia," he snapped. "It's Vegeta. Let me in."

A single soft click. It was unlocked.

He went in.