As an exception, I'm posting a new, additional chapter this week. I'm really making good progress in the story so far, so I can allow it and still make sure to have a new chapter posted every week. This time, I'm moving ahead a bit Bulma's and Vegeta's relationship

As usual, please give me some feedbacks and help me become a better writer!

Chapter 4

Being a saiyan

"That's it, I cannot concentrate, when you keep interrupting me in every minute!" Bulma cried out, just as Hawk was walking towards her with a blueprint.

Hawk stopped, watching her jumping up from her computer, grabbing another one and rushing out of the lab. Falk had to smile, thinking how his workload decreased since her arrival. Until that point, he was the most knowledgeable from all of them, but she was actually better in some areas. He had a lot of conversation with her and they exchanged their knowledge, resulting to gather an even greater understanding of science. While Bulma found his knowledge fascinating, he was equally surprised by hers. It looked like humans were not that primitive after all, despite their low level of technology.

As Bulma stormed out of the palace, she had no idea, where she was going. Her head was full of theories and plans, but she couldn't concentrate with the others around. They got the task to make the healing tank more effective by decreasing the healing time with 20%. As a team, they managed to come up with a solution, which would enable a 10% decrease, but they all knew that the King won't accept it, not to mention the Prince. They were never interested in excuses, they wanted results. Without paying attention, she ended up in the royal garden by a fountain. It was actually quite a masterpiece and she wondered how it ended up here. There was a dragon in the middle of it with huge wings, and instead of fire, water was flowing out from his mouth, but it still remained "fire-shaped" and due to the internal lighting, it appeared red. She found a huge willow-tree near the fountain and decided to sit under it. It was late morning, the sunshine was already intensive, but the temperature was cool enough in the shadows.

"I feel like we are missing something…" She said, as she looked at her laptop's screen and run the simulation again.

She managed to come up with a 15% decrease, but any more than that seemed impossible. Of course Vegeta wasn't interested in impossible, he would just keep killing them, until one came up with the desired solution. Speaking of the Devil, she saw him walking towards her, but right now he hasn't detected her yet. Even so, he had the scouter on, so it was just a matter of time, hence trying to hide was futile. She never had any real interaction with him in the last year, but he came to the lab a couple of times, checking on them or demanding something. She was also twice in the throne room, presenting results, but she was never alone with him since the day they met. For that, she was grateful, as his eyes were so cold, that she shivered every time he looked at her. He looked like somebody, who just came from a battlefield, with his clothes torn and covered in blood. Still, this time he looked unhurt, apart from some minor bruises. She already knew that those will heal within a day; saiyan body was something beyond her understanding.

Vegeta cursed as he walked through the garden. He just arrived back, but he was so outraged, that he had to cool down, before seeing his father. The planet which they had to clean out had stronger warriors as they expected and the mission took two weeks, instead of one and the biggest issue was that from his team, only he and Nappa made out alive, while the rest of them died. He knew his father would blame him again, but those idiots deserved to die! Anybody, who is not capable to remain alive in a battle, was just a waste of resource and the saiyans were better off without them. Even so, it was a fact that the number of the saiyan race decreased a lot during the years and by now only a small portion of Vegetasei was inhabited; mainly just the area around the Palace. While they won their fights, they suffered too many losses and an average saiyan never had more than 2-4 children. That wasn't an issue ages ago, when the planet was fully inhabited and saiyans lived in clans. Every clan had a leader, swearing alliance to the King, who led them all. By now the clans entirely disappeared and the Royal Family was the only one, who decided the course of actions. So his father and even his grandfather became obsessed that they lose as few warriors on the missions as possible. Still, it was easier said than done. While saiyans attacked in teams, team work itself was never their strength. It was rather like everybody was on his own, and they killed the inhabitants at different part of the planet. Once they finished them off, they met up again at the site, where their spaceship landed. They were not much of the strategists, after they decided on the target. Also, even when they might potentially save each other on the battlefield, they were just not ready, risking their own lives for others. It was to kill or be killed; they had no time fooling around, saving each other's ass. Vegeta was outraged that this was exactly what his father demanded from him. More so as he was the Prince, he should be the one, who set an example. Damn it! Just then his scouter piped and he realised that he wasn't alone. Somebody was under the willow tree. He cursed, as he recognised the scientist girl, whom he bought here.

"Just what the hell are you doing here?" He asked, looking at her with a killer's intent.

"I'm working." Bulma answered, trying to remain calm.

"As far as I know, scientists are supposed to work in the lab."

"I needed some fresh air and as I finished building my portable pc, there is really no reason for me, not to come here."

With that she showed him the laptop, where the healing tank's blueprint was displayed.

"You are aware, that you only have a day to come up with the solution, right?" He asked and by now he was only a step away from her.

She found it unnerving as he towered over her, so she put down the pc and stood up. That way they were almost equally high and his presence was just a little bit less intimidating.

"I'm painfully aware, yes. However let me remind you, that I never yet failed to finish my tasks on time."

"You don't need to remind me; that is the only reason why you are still alive." He answered with a cruel smirk and he stepped closer, forcing her to back off.

Bulma felt the willow tree pushed against her back and she knew she was cornered. He was in a worse mood as usually and that didn't help her cause. To make the matter worse, he seemed to enjoy the fact, that she was afraid of him. Yes, he was definitely the type, who enjoyed to see others suffer, especially when he was the cause of their suffering! How can somebody be so cruel?! Her mind raced, trying to find a means of escape and that's when she looked at his face, seeing a scar on his forehead, which was still slightly bleeding.

"That's it; I have it!" She cried out and grabbed him by his shoulders. "Blood!"

"What?" Vegeta asked shocked.

Just a moment ago she was frightened like a rabbit and now, her attitude completely changed; she seemed victorious.

"I need a blood sample from you, come on!" Bulma cried out and grabbing his hand, she began to pull him towards the palace.

The Prince was so startled that he actually let her drag him along for a few meters, before he forced her to stop.

"How dare are you ordering me around?" He snapped and tore out his hand from hers.

"Come on, don't be like that! With my method I might decrease the healing time with 30%, not just 20%!

She tried to grab him again, but couldn't as he stepped away.

"What are you talking about?"

"You see, the healing tank is just like a template… it was never customised for saiyans! It never used out your special genetic abilities! Healing me would take the same amount of time as healing you; given that we had the same injuries. But once it's adjusted to a saiyan body, it should be more effective on you, while it might be less effective on me. Since you don't intent to cure anybody else, that's shouldn't be much of a drawn back and anyhow, I can always re-modify it at an unlikely circumstance you change your mind. Anyhow, to do the necessary changes, I need a blood sample from you and I need to borrow one of the healers as well."

Vegeta cursed as he went with her to the healers and let one of them take blood from him. What she said made sense, but if the solution is really so simple, how can it be, that none of the other scientists came to the same conclusion? Just what made her so special? More so, now that she had a concrete set of actions to complete, she wasn't even bothered by his presence. Truthfully, she almost completely ignored him and was fully occupied with her work. As she talked with the healer who took blood and also involved Falk and Craig in her conversation, they treated her with respect. It was strange, as slaves never really respected anybody and they were not cooperating with each other at such a level. What startled him the most was, that this respect was something fundamentally different from the respect, he had among the saiyans. While both of them were admired due to their superior abilities, neither of the scientists felt threatened by her, while none of the saiyans could be ever entirely sure that he won't hurt them. They rather respected him because they feared him, while they respected her simply because of her abilities. He never thought that even respect can differ and now he had to see how wrong he was.

When Bulma presented her findings in the throne room with Falk and Yaoki (who was one of the healers), Vegeta wasn't surprised anymore that she managed to pull it off, while his father couldn't believe, when she promised a 40% decrease in the healing time. As she presented them that it might even be able to heal more seriously injured warriors, the King almost called her a liar, but managed to restrain himself. He will see soon enough whether she was telling the truth or not.

"You are a genius, Bulma!" Yaoki told her, when they left the throne room and headed back to the lab.

"I know" She laughed, satisfied with her work.

As she looked at Yaoki, it still startled her how much he looked like a human, with the only difference that his skin was purple. More so as she reminded her of one of the scientist working at Capsule Corp; his father's best friend. He had the exact same long white hair, slightly stocky body and even his black rimmed glasses were almost identic. She suddenly stopped and bowed towards him and Falk, saying:

"Thank you! I really appreciate your help!"

Vegeta also left the throne room shortly after them and as he saw this, he was baffled. What was she doing? It was she, who came up with the idea; why was she sharing the credits with them? More so, thanking something… he never done such a thing before and had no idea, what could possibly drive her to say that. She was a peculiar creature, nothing he has ever seen before. He grinded his teeth, angrily realising that he just stopped to look at her. He cursed and stormed past them, without giving them a second glance. He had no time to waste, he had to change and prepare for his next mission! To his utter dismay, this time (as a punishment) he was sent with a bunch of 3rd class warriors. That was so below him, but his father said, that at least he should be able to make sure all of them come back alive as it wasn't such a hard mission! As his personal goal he had to make sure, they all get back to Vegetasei in one piece…

A few hours later he landed on Maligu, with a clean-out mission. As he looked around, he saw Kakarott, who wasn't just a 3rd class, but also only 10 years old. He was the one, who needed 5 years for his first mission, because first he sustained a head injury and it took him weeks to recover, then he lost his tail and to top it, when it grew back, some crazy old geezer destroyed the Moon and he had to kill off the rest of the humans in his base form. Pathetic! He had two other warriors to look out for; Pease and Toma. Both were in their mid-twenties, born and remained a 3rd class. Well, at least they had some experience and remained alive so far… Figuring that the best way would be to stick together, he decided to split into two teams, instead of going on their own as they usually did. As Kakarott had the least experience, Vegeta decided to go with him, hoping that Pease and Toma will manage to survive together, without him. As expected, most of the creatures had a low power level, but even so it took him hours until they cleaned out three of their biggest cities. Then some soldiers appeared, who hoped to defeat them.

"How boring…" Vegeta remarked as he checked the 5 men-team's power level.

All of them together were barely stronger as a 3rd class warrior. Ok, they might have posed a threat for Kakarott alone, but the Prince could easily kill them within seconds. Just then as he looked at his "partner" he realised that his scouter was turned off. Was he really so stupid, that he couldn't use such a simple device? As he asked him, he answered:

"I only have it on for the communication. I can tell their power level based on their Ki, without any device."

"What?"

"The five of them are barely stronger as a 3rd class warrior" Kakarott added, erasing any doubt in Vegeta's mind that he was bluffing.

He wanted to ask something, but couldn't as the soldiers initiated their attacks. Unlike him and Kakarott, they were working as a team and even though Vegeta alone was stronger as they, it proved to be quite hard, fending them off. As he fought, he couldn't help to notice, that Kakarott's speed was way higher as that of a 3rd class. He was almost as quick as he himself. How can that be? In the next second his scouter peeped and all of them froze as Kakarott prepared an energy beam; called Kamehameha. As soon as it hit the target, it completely vaporised him. Vegeta couldn't believe his eyes; the power level showed on his scouter was impossible! It must have been damaged, there is no other explanation. There was no way he was so strong, it was a power level of a 2nd class. Still not as high as his own, but it would mean the gap between them wasn't as great any more as he assumed. The technique in itself was something, what he has never seen before. Where did he learn it? It was for sure not a saiyan know-how and it's not like they run around the universe picking up skills from aliens.

"I feel a huge power at the North!" Kakarott called, looking at him.

He looked at scooter, but there was nothing there; he must be imaging things. Then as he turned his head in that direction, he saw it; a high power level was displayed suddenly. Not that high to cause him problems, but too high for Pease and Toma to handle on their own. No, he just cannot lose his men again, especially as this time it was also his goal to get them back alive.

"I can handle them, go!" Kakarott called, looking at the Prince.

He nodded, thinking that Kakarott had still a better chance against the 4 of them as the others against that unknown power. He heard as the battle continued behind him, but without glancing back he flew towards North as quickly as he could.

When the battle was finally over, Vegeta dragged the injured Pease and Toma to their ships, while Kakarott checked the planet for any remaining life source.

"I'm sure we got most of them." He commented and opened his eyes.

"Where did you learn how to sense energy?" Vegeta asked, despite himself.

"On Earth! They had a few good fighters and they could do this as well. Also that Kamehameha; that was used to destroy the Moon, it's quite awesome, what?" Kakarott asked, with a goofy smile on his face.

Just who the hell was this guy? Vegeta knew Bardock and Radditz and none of them had such an immense power or skills, not to mention his speed. He had no idea about the gravity belt, which was by now a permanent property of Kakarott, thanks to Bulma.

Kakarott was occupied with his own thought, as he loaded Pease and Toma to their ships. They were alive, but sustained some serious injuries. Before he also stepped into his own pod, he looked around. They were in a dessert, which was full of life before they arrived. Now all he saw was a wasteland with bodies scattered around. For some reason, he remembered on Bulma's question "Do you seriously don't feel anything, when you kill somebody?" and by now he began to understand something. During the last year as he got to know her and Chichi, he also learned other things from them. He never enjoyed killing, while he enjoyed fighting. At first, he couldn't understand the difference between the two, but now… it became clear; he enjoyed to take on an opponent whose abilities were equal to his or even greater, but killing somebody, who was weaker was no fun. He sighed and got back to his ship, closing the door. He didn't quite felt regret, but had a strange feeling in his chest, what he never experienced before. What was that?

Vegeta couldn't miss the look on Kakarott's face and he got confused. Normally he should be in high spirits as they won and he got away with some superficial injuries, but he looked passive, like his mind was somewhere else. As for him, he only felt anger, realising that a low class warrior had a superior ability; sensing Ki… How did he do that? He was too proud to ask it, but he became determined to figure it out on his own. It must be something easy, if a low class could master it with ease, not to mention that the humans were also able to do it.

"Good work!" He heard his father's voice, after he stepped out of the healing tank a couple of hours later.

"They were not much of challenge" He brushed it off and looked at the tank next to him, just to see it empty.

He turned to Yaoki and asked:

"Where is Kakarott?"

"He already left a few minutes ago."

"Great!" He called and as soon as he finished dressing, he went to look for him.

"Just the one I needed!" Vegeta heard Bulma's voice as he walked past the lab.

"What is this?" Kakarott asked, holding an armour in his hands.

Vegeta stopped and remained in the entrance, looking at them curiously. He never expected to see those two together, as Kakarott was the one, who destroyed her race. Yet, she seemed to forgotten it as she was friendly with him.

"Geez, what does it look like?" Bulma asked.

"An armour?" Kakarott asked back, thinking it was some kind of tricky question.

"Good boy!" She smiled and patted his head playfully. "Yes, it's an armour."

"Well, I already have one…"

"But not like this! I was playing around with the blueprints and found a way to make it more durable."

"Seriously? Wow!"

"Do you want to test it?" She asked, also pointing at the other garments, which were lied out on a table.

"You bet!" Kakarott cried out and before Bulma could say anything, he stripped and stood butt-naked in front of her.

"You also upgraded the boots?" He asked, holding out one of them, while he was still naked.

"How many times have I told you, not to just strip out of your clothing in front of me?" Bulma cried out irritated.

"Why? Don't tell me, that you haven't seen a naked man before?"

"I haven't! Why would I have seen one?"

"Well, there are plenty in the showers!"

"I'm using the showers for women. Remember? I'm a girl!"

Vegeta could help but chuckle; the scene was just hilarious. Both Bulma and Kakarott looked at him startled, not noticing him until that point.

"Hey Vegeta!" Kakarott cried out and waved.

"Damn it, put something on at last!" Bulma shouted, grabbing an iron tube from the desk and hitting him full in the head.

"Ouch! You don't have to be so violent!" Kakarott answered, while finally began to get dressed.

"So you improved the armour" Vegeta said, stepping closer.

Bulma gulped, but decided not to let her intimidated by his presence. She remembered how shocked he looked, when she dragged him to the healer, totally forgotten her fear.

"I think I did, but I need Kakarott to test it to be sure."

"Just when were you planning to share this with me?" He asked, stepping closed, expecting her to back up.

"That's far enough!" Bulma called, and held out her hand, placing it on his chest. "You don't have to climb into my face, in order to talk."

Shocked, he remained standing and Bulma removed her hand with a satisfied smile, continuing the conversation:

"I wanted to inform you as soon as I knew for sure, that it's working. Of course if you are so interested, the next time you can be my guinea pig, instead of him."

Vegeta cursed; he as a guinea pig? He was the Prince, not some kind of lab rat to play around with!

"See? I knew you would agree!" Bulma smiled.

That's it, he lost it as he saw her satisfied smile:

"Next time, I will test it!" He shouted and stormed out.

Kakarott looked curiously after him, while Bulma shrugged and turned back, adjusting the armour.