A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone but with my finals last semester, art projects, and the holiday season, I've had little to no time to write. And I'm not going to make any promises for this semester being any better since it will be my last and it will be busy. I'll write when I can and I've taken the time to plot out more of the story so it should be relatively easy to put into writing I hope.

There is one thing that I have come to the conclusion while thinking and that's the rating of this fic. I was originally thinking that putting it at a teen rating would be better so that people wouldn't jump to conclusions about the future content of the story. However after thinking about it for awhile I come to an obvious problem: Can I write a fic where Bulma and Vegeta try to fool others into thinking that they're in an intimate relationship? Not a romance between a couple but a lust-based relationship between a master and a concubine at that?

It's possible, I'm sure, to write it but would it be believable? I personally don't think so after this chapter I will be moving the rating up to M so that it will allow for more room to suggest intimacy even if only as an act. I will say that people still shouldn't jump to thinking that there's going to be lemons in this fic since the characters current behavior, especially Bulma's, doesn't allow for that drastic of a jump. But there will be seduction. There will be teasing. And there will be steamy moments. And I think that's enough of a reason to justify the rating change.

Thank you for reading about this change and I hope that you will all be supportive of this decision. And now, please enjoy the chapter.

Despite all the arguing and bet making between her and the Prince, Bulma and Chichi were quick about gathering the things they'd need for the trip to Vegetasei, the Sayian's home planet. Bulma decided to make one more sweep so that nothing important was left behind while Chichi went ahead of her to where the two Saiyans were waiting. Finally sure that she had gotten everything Bulma started towards the door listening to the conversation going on just outside.

"Is that all you're taking?" Chichi looked over Kakarot as she walked over to where he and Vegeta were waiting.

"This should be enough for now. No need to bother with anything more than clothes and personal things," Chichi told him. "The rest will be fine in the ship."

"In the ship… but," he turned to Vegeta, "they're going on our ship, aren't they?"

Vegeta who had been reclining against a tree impatiently waiting for the women to gather things turned his glare from the city to Kakarot, "Of course they are. They're concubines, remember? If they showed up in their own ship everyone would be suspicious."

"I wasn't talking about flying in our own ship. Just that we'll be leaving everything we won't be using immediately on it," Chichi answered in hopes to clearing up the confusion she'd caused.

"Ah so you're just going to leave it all here with the ship. You do realize that the people here will eventually find it though. I doubt there'd be much left when you returned for it."

Now it was Chichi's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about? We're taking the ship with us, of course."

"Huh? Taking… it with us?"

Vegeta apparently had finally heard enough of the back and forth discussion to know that it was going to be solved anytime soon unless he intervened. "Didn't I just say that it would be suspicious for concubines to have a ship? What are we supposed to say, that we found this junk heap and decided to take it back with us?"

Bulma could help but laugh at Vegeta's rude comment. "And you say that my panicking is what will cause this plan to fall through."

Vegeta looked to the ramp that Bulma was now descending. "What, exactly, is that supposed to mean, Woman?"

"Only that you would be a failure of a scientist, 'My Prince'," Bulma mocked with a small curtsy. Even though she wasn't over her fear of strangers she couldn't help but tease the moody Prince. Knowing that he needed her genius for this plan to succeed meant that he wouldn't hurt and that made her feel somewhat immortal. She never had this kind of feeling before but it made her feel good. And so she met his glare with a coy smile and continued her statement. "A real scientist would take a junk heap and come up with hundreds of ideas to make from it. The only limitation of science is one's imagination."

Chichi burst out laughing at Bulma's words. "Wow, Bulma, that was corny. You get that from your Father or an after school special?"

"Oh, hush. Who cares if it's corny if it's true?"

"Your corniness aside," Vegeta brought their attention back to him, "even if I did say that I was taking the ship to work on, there's no room for it in the cargo hold."

"That won't be a problem." Having said that Bulma moved over to the side of the ship and pressed a palm-sized panel. Shortly after, the ship disappeared in a puff of smoke. Reaching down, she picked up the three inch capsule the ship was now stored in before turning back to face the Sayians, smirking at their jaw-dropped, wide-eyed expressions. Not at Kakarot so much since he seemed to open with his emotions but for someone as cryptic and rude as Vegeta to be completely stunned about what he saw to the point that he couldn't even hide his feelings it was quite an ego boost. Then again the capsule technology was brilliant and no one has done it before. 'Well that certainly surprised him. Hopefully that's enough to show Vegeta what I'm capable of.'

Feigning nonchalance, Bulma started to put the capsule in her bag. "Well then, shall we go?"

"Di-di-," Kakarot stuttered out, "Did you just blow up your ship?"

"No silly, it's right here," Bulma waved the capsule before the Sayians' eyes. "Nice and Compact."

"Wha… how...," Vegeta stuttered for a bit but seemed to realize how silly he looked and straightened himself out, "How did you do this?"

"This," Bulma held the capsule up to Vegeta again, "is my Father's life work and the project that caused him to withdraw from society for fear that it would be stolen. It's called a capsule. Through a special process, it can make anything pocket sized whether it be a cargo container, a house," she motioned to the now empty space behind her, "or a ship."

Bulma's smile grew as she saw that Vegeta was still pretty much stunned into silence, though it was more along the lines now that he was considering the possibilities, not only of the capsules, but of what she could do for him.

Finally Vegeta looked back at her. "How many people know about these?"

"That are alive? Only the four of us standing here. Dad destroyed all of the prototypes that I didn't take with me and we weren't going to release them to the public for another few months."

"You're positive?"

"The plans for the capsules were never discussed outside of the lab and the only people that worked in the lab were my Father, Chichi, and myself. Everything else was run by computers or robots."

"If that's true," Vegeta looked between Bulma and the capsule quickly before continuing, "then we've already succeeded in making something that will deliver a blow to Frieza's pride so you'll be able to concentrate on making something that will aide in our training."

Bulma rolled her eyes, "Yes because in one month you will have already developed something as ingenious as a capsule."

"Are you questioning my intelligence, woman?"

Still feeling brave, Bulma cocked her head to the side and smiled. "You have no technological background but still bragged about your ability to make inventions simply because you didn't want to lose a fight. Excuse me if I don't automatically give you a blue ribbon for bright ideas."

Both Kakarot and Chichi chuckled at Bulma's retort but quickly smothered their amusement at Vegeta's glare.

"And what, pray tell, do you think I should present him? A toy rocket?"

"No, but you can start with what Frieza already knows about. Surely Frieza mentioned some inventions my Father had shown him when he was talking to you."

Kakarot's face lit up. "Oh yeah, he mentioned that your father made his own version of the scouter that surpassed the army issued ones. And then Vegeta said that they were so out of date that he could make better ones."

"Kakarot if you want to be helpful go and scout a route to the ship that has to least amount of people. I'd prefer to avoid another one of her fainting spells."

Bulma ignored Vegeta's quip about her panic attack and watched as Kakarot quickly disappeared down the path to the city. "The scouters, huh? I do remember Dad mentioning that he was praised for his version of one."

"Please, a child could make a better version of the scouters than that junk Frieza has."

Bulma thought about it for a bit. "Well, it's a start."

"You want me to present him with a scouter. I'd be a joke."

"I said it's a start, not that you should walk in acting like you'll change the universe with it. Does Frieza know about the cloaking device?" Vegeta nodded. "Well with some modifications I could make the necklace I had earlier out of a stronger material. Oh, but I'll have to change the design, won't I? You don't seem like much of a jewelry guy."

Vegeta walked over and grabbed her wrist and in an instant all of the new fun feeling she was having teasing Vegeta was gone, replaced with the all too familiar feeling of panic. Despite her previous knowledge that Vegeta wouldn't hurt her because he needed her, she felt the sudden need to pull away before he used his grip to pull her closer. However he just pulled her hand up so that the capsule was in both their lines of sight. "You show me this level of technology and act like I shouldn't use it? You'll give me these because I said so and that's final."

"I knew it." Chichi called out. "You may have thrown the word 'deal' around to fool Bulma into thinking that this is some kind of equal partnership but we're nothing but slaves to do your bidding in your eyes, aren't we? We don't need to put up with this farce. Goku already gave me the coordinates to Namek so we can leave any time to live there in peace."

"Trust me if I thought of either of you only as slaves you in particular would be dead by now because of your insolence. Assistant or not, I would force her to work without you. So since you're still alive you should take it that this is an equal partnership and accept that things could be so much worse. After Frieza is dead you two can go wherever the hell you want. You won't be seeing me torn at the thought of seeing either of you gone. However you must know that there is a difference between showing slightly better versions of things he has seen before and things that will stun them into silence. This invention would be more than enough to make those idiots seethe with jealousy," Vegeta growled when he noticed that Bulma was concentrating more on trying to pull away than what he was saying. "And would you stop freaking out every time I touch you? What happened to all that confidence about making everyone believe that you're in love with me?"

At that Bulma stopped struggling, though she was still visibly shaking. "I-I can give you one of the originals, or blueprints. With that…," she swallowed, "with that you should be able to present the concept to Frieza without it being too suspicious."

Vegeta held her wrist for a few more uncomfortable moments before letting it go. Even though she was looking at the ground she could still feel Vegeta's glare on her shaking form. She took a few steps back in order to regain her bearings, disappointed at herself that she looked so weak in front of him. She hated being weak and timid, it wasn't like her at all, but the more time she spent outside of her safe, enclosed world the more she realized that she may very well be mentally damaged beyond what her stubborn personality could accept.

'No,' Bulma thought as she crossed her arms over her chest both in comfort and defiance, 'I refuse to stay like that, like this. Vegeta's using me to get revenge so I'll just use him to become a stronger person. I will overcome this irrational fear that I've submersed myself in. And then maybe, one day, I'll be able to live a peaceful life and be able to go out into public without jumping every time someone bumps into me. Maybe I'll even find someone that I enjoy being with.' She nodded to herself, her pep talk readying her for the future.

"That will do, for now," Vegeta's voice interrupted her thoughts. "In any case it'll be dark soon so we should head to our ship. You can stay close to your 'friend' but don't hide yourself. I want everyone to see you so that there will be no doubt that you're mine."

"Um…," Bulma ran her hand through her hair before looking at him with nervous, downcast eyes, "should we hold hands?"

"Hold… what does that even mean?"

"Well, when Mom was still around she made me watch romance stories all the time and the people would often hold hands when they were walking somewhere."

Chichi coughed to cover up a laugh. "Bulma I'd normally say that you shouldn't compare romance in media to real life since real romance doesn't work the same way. But since this is also an act I suppose using some references wouldn't hurt too much. In any case, while people in a relationship would hold hands, this is nothing more than a slave/master ordeal so holding hands would seem more like you two were in love or an equal relationship."

Vegeta scoffed at Chichi's explanation. "Don't get the wrong idea with any of you 'romantic references', Woman. You should focus more on acts of lust if we're going to convince anyone."

"Don't say it like that!" Chichi argued again. "Just because Bulma flirted with you a little bit doesn't mean that she's ready for anything that could be mistaken for anything sexual."

Bulma blushed as Vegeta gave her a smirk before slowly approaching her again. "Do you think that's true, Woman? Who knows what else that mind of yours might come up with when you're cornered again? All those coy glances and pursed lips may lead to something more, wouldn't you think?"

Bulma couldn't stop her face from turning beet red. She didn't know why but seeing him move towards her with that smirk on his face made her heart skip a bit. It was a sense of panic she'd never felt before in her life. "I-I…," Bulma stammered to find a comeback but came up short. Luckily for her Kakarot broke the uncomfortable atmosphere between them.

"Vegeta, I've found a way."

Vegeta held Bulma's gaze for a few seconds longer before chuckling and moving away. "Good. Let's go."

Bulma stubbornly stayed in place until she felt Chichi grab her arm. "Are you sure about this, Bulma? We could always find a way out of this."

"No Chichi, I'm doing this. Not only to rid the universe of the evil that destroyed our planet but also to make me a stronger person. You said it yourself just this morning, Chichi. I can't stay hidden away from the real world forever."

"This is a little more than I meant though. You don't have to force yourself into doing something that you're not ready for. We can go somewhere else and work a bit at a time."

"If you want to go ahead to Namek I'll give you the ship but this is something I have to do."

Chichi sighed before squeezing Bulma's hand. "I'm not leaving you. You're the only family I have left."

Bulma gave Chichi a teary smile. "And you said I was corny," she said with a laugh that Chichi shared with her.

A cough cut through their laughs and they looked over at Kakarot who was smiling with his usual grin. "Sorry to interrupt but we better get going before Vegeta throws a fit."

Both women rolled their eyes at that. "Well we can't have that, can we, Chichi?"

"Oh absolutely not, Bulma. Lead the way, oh Master Goku."

"That's Master Kakarot," he said with a surprisingly stern face before reverting back to a grin, "At least in public."

"Right right, but I still think Goku suits you better."

"Well when we're not in public you're free to call me that. I like the name too to be honest."

Bulma walked behind watching the two chat with each other as if they weren't complete strangers. 'I wonder if this is what Chichi meant by love not being anything like the media portrays it to be.'