I did mean to mention that Vegeta may seem a little OOC from the anime/manga. However, this is an AU where he was never sent to Frieza. However, there are circumstances later on that cause him to be more the character you know ;)

Also follow me on twitter sailorbutterfli! I'll post sneak peeks from the next chapter and be updating ya'll when I'm writing!


Chapter 2

Usagi hurried out the door clutching her cousin's hand in her own. The Saiyan ship was landing soon and it had been a year since she had seen him. Minako yawned but allowed herself to be dragged along.

"I don't see why you made me get up as well."

"You know mother would be mad if I came alone and you were sleeping over anyway."

"Should have known something was up when the other girls turned down a slumber party. They knew you were going to pull this nonsense."

The moon princess only smiled. Minako had spent the last 3 months on kingdom duties and so she had not been around to listen as Usagi talked more and more about the return of the Saiyans. So when she had suddenly not said a word about their ship coming in for the past three days the other girls knew something was up.

Usagi could not help it though. Prince Vegeta had fascinated her. He talked about his life back on Vegeta-sai about how they began training when they were only 4 years old, about the battles he had already fought. He talked to her like an adult, not like a child. The fact that he even took the time to try to teach her also meant so much to her. Even when he got frustrated he just kept at it and he didn't sugarcoat it either. He was rough and uncouth sometimes but he was real. Not many people dared to talk to her like he did.

"Princess Serenity Usagi, what are you doing out of bed this early?" Her mother's shocked tone made her smile just a little. It wasn't often she could surprise the Queen.

"You told me that I needed to take my duties more seriously mother."

Minako rolled her eyes earning a sharp poke from her princess. The Queen missed little but she had no time to address this strange occurrence because King Vegeta was stepped off his ship followed by his son and their guard.

She stepped forward followed eagerly by a grinning Usagi and bleary eyed Princess of Venus.

King Vegeta took the delicate hand of the Queen and brushed his mouth against it bringing a light blush to her cheeks. She could never get over how he let his lips linger on her hand nor how long he would hold it. In return the King merely smirked.

"Your majesty, it is good to be in your presence once more."

Serenity smiled before ushering Usagi and Minako forward. "You as well King Vegeta. I do hope you remember my daughter Princess Usagi and this is her cousin Princess Minako. They will be happy to show you to the guest rooms we've prepared." If her daughter wanted to be helpful who was she to deny her the opportunity.

So Usagi walked down the hallway chattering to Minako and the King all the while her eyes flickering back to the Prince who was remaining silent with a stoic expression on his face. He had told her in their last communication a few months back that it was best to keep their relationship under wraps. Unfortunately subtlety was not her strong suit.

As soon as she left the King rounded on Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa who had been behind him.

"So who was the little moon princess eyeing back there?"

Raditz immediately stepped forward, "pretty sure it was me, majesty. After all I am the best looking." He smirked at the other two. The King looked unconvinced, he had better things to think about than whether or not the moon princess had a crush. After all, she was already engaged and no childish longing was going to ruin the Earth kingdom's plan to align themselves with one of the most powerful families in the galaxy.

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The month went by much as last year's did. For the first two weeks the Saiyans were the only foreign dignitaries at the Moon Kingdom. The moon princess took full advantage of the slower pace of the castle and spent long evenings with Prince Vegeta in order to work on her training. It was easier to get away since she could disappear with Makato and Rei. No one else would follow them nor question her spending time with her friends. If someone did come looking the Saiyans had a much farther range of detection and would warn them in plenty of time. It was a rare occurrence though as only the royal family was allowed in the Queen's Garden.

After the third night Makato brought cards and they settled in comfortable in the knowledge of where their respected royals were.

What they missed during their long training sessions were the almost daily meetings between the King of Vegeta, his generals, and the moon Queen and hers.

"I cannot pinpoint an exact location." The Queen's voice was frustrated as the Saiyan King leaned over a map on the table, his eyes focused on the wide area she had indicated. It encompassed several planets all uninhabitable.

"All that power and you can't locate what could be the biggest threat to our system?" His voice was rough, condescending as he pulled away to glare at her. Her fierce gaze did not waver and she refused to look away.

"You all are supposed to be the best a finding and destroying your enemies. If you are such skilled hunters searching this paltry amount of planets should be easy."

The Saiyan sneered and leaned in closer, ignoring the very low rumbling of one of his Generals which stopped as soon as it began. "If we head out there and this threat is as bad as you think it is then we are giving them too much of an advance. They could mount a massive defense and I won't send my men off to be killed needlessly. Not when there should be another way."

He pulled away and looked back at the map his tactician's mind whirring. Of course his warriors were not afraid of a challenge but what kind of leader would he be if he sent them blindly into battle.

"We can work on this another evening. It is late and I must prepare for the arrival of the Earth Kingdom's family." Queen Serenity began gathering papers pausing only when the King snorted at her statement.

"I still can't believe with all the eligible families you chose theirs."

"My powers may be substantial King Vegeta, but even I cannot create something out of nothing. Earth has many resources. Not to mention their family is intermarried into almost every other royal family in our system. The marriage will only serve to strengthen our bonds."

She paused and a small smile played across her lips, "certainly you were not offering your own son?"

"Saiyans typically only mate other Saiyans." He cut his eyes to his general, Bardock, before looking back at the Queen. "Too many other races have not looked past our surface as you have. Not to mention power and strength is what drives out attraction. How many can match our might?"

The Moon Queen couldn't answer that so she only shook her head and she finished gathering up her things. Her guards slipped quietly out as she did so. The Saiyan King watched with a smile behind his eyes while he face remained stoic.

"Bardock, it seems the Queen's guard retired early. Please escort her to her rooms." The general merely nodded while offering the silver-haired monarch his arm. She took it without a word but squeezed his bicep lightly once they were out of sight.

"I think he knows."

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The third week of the Saiyan's visit brought the Earth kingdom's royal family and guard as well. Prince Vegeta and his father attended their welcoming lunch which would be followed by a ball that evening in their honor.

The Prince couldn't help but sneer as the Moon Kingdom introduced them to Endymion and his family, all who looked almost horrified that the lunarians were continuing their treaty with the Saiyans. The Queen remained ever neutral and simply moved on while the Earth family nodded lightly and went with her.

"I'll never know what her majesty was thinking.." Raditz whispered to the prince who nodded along with his friend.

"No kidding," a voice behind them drew their attention and they turned to find a tall young woman, their age, with short sandy blonde hair standing there. She was dressed impeccably in a white tuxedo with a beautiful girl with aquamarine hair on her arm. Neither looked pleased to see the Queen making her rounds with the Princess' future in-laws.

Nappa raised his eyebrows, "I'm surprised to hear some of Princess' Serenity's own guard speak against him." He had seen them on their first visit a year ago when Queen Serenity had made formal introductions between all the Princess' guardians and the Saiyans.

"We're not exactly with the 'in crowd' and our voices and actions not as monitored." The blue haired girl spoke softly, her voice sweet with a touch of steel. The blonde smiled at her lover before her eyes sought out the pig-tailed princess. She watched as Usagi giggled as Prince Endymion bowed over her hand and lead her to her seat to begin lunch.

"I'm Haruka and this is my girlfriend Michiru. We are part of the Outer Senshi. Uranus and Neptune. And no one is good enough for our Usa. Still he's worse than most. He dragged on a year-long romance with our friend Setsuna before cheating on her with an Earth woman, Lady Beryl. Apparently he's stringing this woman along now until he marries the Princess." Haruka's voice betrayed her anger. Setsuna was older than them, but barely, and she surprised them by taking up with the younger Earth Prince. Even more surprising was the depth of her despair when he left her for another woman. They hadn't realized she had been so serious.

Since the engagement between Usagi and Endymion had been announced Pluto's Princess had made herself scarce around the Moon Kingdom. Usagi had begun to ask about her and they weren't sure how much longer they could keep the truth away.

"Well who knew the little Prince would be such a player." Raditz sneered and shook his head. In Saiyan culture if you cheated on a partner who thought you were exclusive that was breaking your word. And that was something that just was not done.

The Queen called for everyone to be seated and the group separated as Prince Vegeta and his father went to sit near the front with the rest of the royalty. He would have much rather stayed with the others but as soon as he opened his mouth the King shot him a dark look and he promptly returned it but followed him.

As they approached the table set for royalty the could hear the Earth Prince regaling Princess Serenity with a tale from his last hunting trip. The younger Vegeta scowled as he watched her nod along with his words, seemingly enraptured with him. He pulled his chair out hard enough to scrape the floor which momentarily interrupted the story. Usagi jumped a little at the loud noise but smiled when she saw who it was.

"I wondered if you were coming! Have you met Endymion? He's a warrior too, like you!" She smiled at the two as if assuming that would be enough for them to get along. Vegeta couldn't help the bark of laughter that burst out at her statement and she narrowed her eyes just slightly. Endymion too looked offended.

"Sorry Princess, I'm sure your Prince is fine warrior." Prince Vegeta smirked as he did his best to practice the diplomatic techniques that his tutors were always trying to beat into him. He really could care less if he had offended the poor little Prince's feelings but he'd really hear it if he pissed off the Queen and started a fight in the middle of lunch.

While Usagi happily turned back to her meal Prince Endymion eyed the Saiyans with some level of suspicion and hostility.

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That evening Vegeta watched to see if she would slip out from the ball to meet him. Hours dragged on and she stayed put flitting between her friends and the Prince. He was just about to give up and join his companions in their drunkenness but he saw her searching gaze find him and she slipped away.

When he found her in the garden she was still in her baby blue ball gown and was sitting on a bench waiting.

"Going to be hard for you to concentrate in that thing."

She shook her head, "I could not sneak back to my room to change but I didn't want to make you wait for nothing. Can we just talk? I'm too tired to go back to the ball." She yawned widely, covering her mouth politely.

For a moment he considered denying her her request and returning to the party but just as when he had agreed to train her, he said yes instead.

"Alright Princess, talk."

She giggled, "it's not an interrogation. You talk. Tell me about your planet. What's it like?"

He sighed and sat down next to the bench on the ground.

"Nothing like your home. It's dusty and hot. It's loud. Where your people wear a mask of politeness ours our open. People fight in the streets, vendors yell at each other, men make passionate pleas to the women they want. Subtlety is no one's game."

Usagi stared at him. "Wow Vegeta, that was almost poetic."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "apparently your stupid planet is rubbing off on me. Too bad."

She was used to his scorn and sarcasm and chose to ignore it in hopes of gleaning further information. He talked longer about the long days of training and the camaraderie between him and his fellow warriors. He talked about how even as royalty he had to work up through the ranks of soldiers to achieve a position in their army. About how all warriors were commanded to spend a total of a year working in the med labs before their 18th birthday. The Princess thought that was nice. He did not tell her it was only so they could better learn the weaknesses of the enemies they captured or killed. She didn't need to know about that.

"Why do people say such bad things about it then, your home? It doesn't sound that bad."

"By people you mean your Earth prince?"

She blushed and looked at her hands twisting them around. "Well, yes. He said some rather unkind things, I really don't know why."

"There are a lot of reasons." He wasn't really sure how much to tell her, she was still young. Only thirteen but she was royalty and so he knew despite her age and occasional tantrums she was more versed in the world then the average child.

"Let's start with jealousy. We're stronger, more feared, well connected, and better looking." He smirked at the last part and she rolled her eyes.

"Then there is fear." The Princess frowned as Vegeta took on a more serious tone, looking straight in her eyes.

"My people kill to get what they want Serenity." Her eyes widened slightly, he'd never used her first name before.

"They say we're animals, killing without reason and while it's not true all the time I won't tell you it's never happened. We're a warrior people and we enjoy battle in a way you will probably never understand." His tone had some finality to it and she knew the interview was over. A million questions still tumbled through her mind though but with self-control she didn't know she had she pushed them down. For now.

"I've never thought that you know.." her eyes were wide and sincere and he believed her without a second thought. It wasn't like she could lie to him anyway. Her face was too honest.

"Yea, I know. Question time is over though. It's late and you need to get out of here before someone comes looking for you." He stood up as she did and waited for her senshi to emerge and walk her back. He headed back to his room without a word to Raditz and Nappa who emerged with solemn faces. It wasn't often they heard their Prince speak at length and the nature of the conversation had surprised them into silence.

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They continued to meet on and off until the Saiyans left. Then the two royals continued their tradition of communication while he was gone, messages sent back and forth almost every week. As the time for them to return grew near the Saiyan Prince revealed a secret that had been kept from the moon princess.

"A battle? Why?" She wailed through the transmitter.

"Not a real battle, damn girl you get worked up over everything. It's mock battles to test skills and help with training. My father has been trying to convince your mother for years."

"Why didn't anyone tell me!"

Vegeta sighed as she continued to lament about always being kept in the dark. He knew her mother had kept it from her because once she got over the shock she'd want to be right in the middle of everything as usual. While she had become stronger, maybe even stronger than her mother realized he still couldn't imagine the little blonde princess trying to fight anyone.

"Just keep your mouth shut or it'll be my head for telling you." There was nothing but silence on the other end. "Usagi.." he growled out her name dangerously.

"Yes, yes I heard you. Keep it to myself. Not that EVERYONE else doesn't already know."

He sighed, "I'll see you in a few weeks. I've got to go."

They disconnected and he knew for sure telling her was a mistake. Still he couldn't help the smirk as he thought about what hell she'd raise when she was 'told' and wondered how her mother was going to keep her out things.