Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters

6 Years Later…

"You can't catch me!" Bulma called out to Vegeta. The two twelve year olds were playing tag through the halls of the ship. They wouldn't get in trouble because Bulma held a lot of weight with Frieza's men. Everyone loved the sweet innocence she brought amid the hell they were living. Even Nappa and Raditz got over their paranoia. The two older Saiyans knew that she had helped their prince come to terms with the destruction of Planet Vegeta and they were very grateful for that.

"Is that what they teach you in your etiquette classes, girl?" Vegeta teased when Bulma slid under a pole to escape him.

Bulma just smirked and gave him the finger. "They don't teach me that either."

Vegeta laughed at her behavior. What he would normally take as an insult he instead found hilarious, because he knew she meant no offense when she made those gestures. She only acted like a proper lady around her father and in front of the courts. Any other time, she would act like a tom-boy if only to relate to the others on the ship. No one would ever tell Frieza, though, since it was the best entertainment they had besides purging, fighting, or torturing others.

Vegeta finally caught up to her and, when he grabbed her arm, he lost his balance. Both of them fell, Bulma on top of Vegeta.

"Damn it, Vegeta," she grunted. "You're so fast. It's not fair." Bulma said this with a pout on her face, that is, before she noticed their awkward position. "Um?" Bulma tried to get up, but Vegeta wouldn't let her. "Hey, what's your deal?"

Vegeta smirked at her, but didn't answer. He instead pulled her down to him to kiss her, something he had been wanting to do for a while. Bulma was shocked, but eventually closed her eyes and kissed back. They were practically teenagers after all.

"What is the meaning of this, monkey?"

Bulma and Vegeta gasped and broke away from each other. They looked up to see Dodoria standing over them with his arms crossed. He did not look happy.

"It was nothing, Mr. Dodoria," Bulma replied, back into her lady-like mode.

"We'll see," Dodoria threatened before walking away.

Bulma looked over to Vegeta. "I'm sorry," she said, knowing that Dodoria was probably going to tell her father. For some reason, the Ice-jin was not too fond of her Saiyan friend.

Vegeta caressed her cheek and smirked. "I'm not," he told her, making her blush and giggle.

The two retreated to their rooms in attempts to avoid Frieza finding out, but then again, Frieza always found out and they knew that.

"What were you doing with my daughter?" asked an enraged Frieza later in Vegeta's room.

Vegeta glared at him and replied calmly, "We didn't do anything." He knew Frieza wouldn't believe him, especially because it wasn't exactly "nothing," but it was not as big of a deal as Frieza would make it. Vegeta cared about his half Ice-jin friend.

"Liar!" Frieza shouted smacking Vegeta into the wall. Nappa and Raditz overheard the crash. It woke them up and they quickly went to find Bulma. They knew Frieza wouldn't kill Vegeta if she were there in the room. He never wanted his little princess to witness death.

Now that she was older, Bulma knew more about the treatment of her father's men and didn't doubt their accusations. She ran with them, almost faster than them, to Vegeta's room hoping it wasn't too late.

When she got to the room, Vegeta was lying weakly in a pool of his own blood. "Say goodbye, you wretched Saiyan!" Frieza shrieked venomously. He powered up and was ready to strike Vegeta with a ki attack.

"Father, no!" Bulma cried running directly in front of Vegeta.

Frieza was shocked to see her standing there stopping him from attacking. He put his arm down, his ki dissipating, and scolded his daughter. "He should have never touched you. I will let him live, but you are not to 'hang out' together anymore unless I assign you to work in the med bay to treat my soldiers like I have been planning." Bulma nodded and muttered a soft "thank you." Frieza turned to the other Saiyans and said, "You are to leave him where he is. Do not even think about treating him or you'll pay. Come along now, Bulma."

"Yes, father," she said sadly but respectfully. She followed him out the door and let him lead her to her room.

Later, Bulma snuck into the med bay and took a few supplies, but not enough for her father to notice and find out what she was doing. She then snuck into Vegeta's room and found him asleep in the same position he had been left in earlier. She went to get a cloth to wash off the dried blood.

She started taking out the disinfectant and creams, and began to cleanse his wounds. Vegeta woke up to her gentle touch and smirked at her. He slightly touched her with his tail making her gasp at the contact. She looked down to see him awake and tears began to form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said clenching her eyes shut. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

Vegeta, with all of his Saiyan strength, pulled her down to the floor and knelt over her. He kissed her again, to her surprise, and then smirked at her wide-eyed expression. "It was worth it."

A/N: This chapter was edited on 12/7/2012