A/N: Well this chapter is pretty light so I'm going to go ahead and upload it. Not much here with our main characters but I think it adds a bit. Also as promised I will be moving this story up to an M rating since it would be too difficult to write a lust based relationship (act though it may/suppose to be) with anything lower. Enjoy.

"I want you to explain to me what happened and I suggest you be thorough and clear… since it may be the last time you'll ever be given a chance to explain why something didn't go exactly as I commanded," Frieza ground out coldly as he glared at the image of the terrified insect on the monitor. Normally he would have reveled at making yet another being quake in fear with mere words but at the moment he was too infuriated with the written report he'd just received.

"Ah, um, yes, y-you see…," the insect cleared its throat before continuing, "I met with Prince Vegeta as he arrived and told him that he was allowed to take any of the slaves, whether they were registered or not. B-But, as you, your honor, instructed, all of the slaves shown to him were already registered with the biological database and implanted with tracking chips."

"Is that so? Then please tell me," Frieza swallowed the last bit of wine in his glass before throwing it to the ground," why is it that the slave Vegeta took can't be located and isn't registered!"

"I-I don't know, Sire. I mean, there were several slaves that hadn't yet been sent through screening but we made sure that they were hidden away in the back part of the stockyard in areas guarded by at least 30 men so there's no way he could have gotten by without anyone noticing."

"Obviously not hidden or guarded enough," Zarbon sneered, "since Vegeta was reported to have gotten, not one but two, slaves from your premises that weren't documented."

"Yes," Frieza agreed, "and since I doubt he'd be able to tell the difference between a marked and unmarked slave, the only other option is that you must have tipped him off."

"NO, I would never betray you, Lord Frieza. I gave him your message about taking any slave he wanted and then left him alone, a-and by a-alone I mean under surveillance, of course."

"You taped his actions?"

"Ah, no. No but I had someone watching him at all times. However…," the bug swallowed but starting again, "however, at some point he just… disappeared."

"Disappeared? What do you mean?"

"That is what my men reported. He browsed for about an hour and then he was suddenly gone. At first I got onto them for not paying attention but it seemed as if he had left."

Frieza closed his eyes considering this when Zarbon spoke again, "May I, Lord Frieza?" Receiving only a 'go on' gesture, Zarbon asked, "Was anyone with Vegeta during all this?"

"Pardon?"

"From what you're telling us it seems as if Vegeta came to the stockyards alone."

"Oh yes, he was definitely alone."

"Then clearly, why you were so concerned with watching Vegeta, his right hand man snuck in the back and found two unregistered slaves. Doesn't that seem probable, my Lord?"

"Yes, yes it does." Frieza responded. "This would still mean that you," he opened his eyes to glare at the screen "are responsible for my ruined plan."

"My Lord, I beg you, wait. What if… what if the slaves Vegeta was reported as having weren't actually from here? Could it not be that he merely grabbed someone off the street and simply told your men that he had fulfilled your demand before throwing them back? That would allow him to lead you to believe that he had gotten a slave from us but later find suitable replacements before you had a chance to see them for yourself."

Again, Frieza closed his eyes. "Zarbon, read that report for me again?"

"Yes, Lord Frieza."

'Prince Vegeta told us to inform you that he has accepted his gift. This was the same slave that we had pursued under the thought that she had somehow escaped from the stockyard. However Prince Vegeta explained that she was simply trying to find him after she had gotten separated in the crowd from his second in command. While we were not completely sure about the validity of his explanation the fact remains that the slave did not seem to try to get away from him. If judgment of the true circumstances still needs to be made that is up to you of course, Lord Frieza.'

"Clearly their report backs up my theory that Kakarot had obtained the slaves while Vegeta stayed behind to distract the guards."

"Sire, please," the insect begged in a last ditch effort to save himself, "that report mentions that Vegeta said that his second had been with him but we don't know if that is true or merely a lie as your men never saw him. And that woman could have been anyone, a tourist that was terrified of your men and ran away. Surely a slave wouldn't accept capture from her new master but a stranger could have sought him out as a source of rescue unknowing of who he was. He could have used that to his advantage and tossed her to the side as soon as he was in the clear."

"I suppose that is possible too. No matter. I will call King Vegeta and see whether or not his son arrived with his gift. If he did then there's little debate about how he got them since it only matters that he's got them. If he didn't then I'll call him on it and he'll see what happens when someone denies my generosity. In the meantime, I suggest that you get back to work."

"Yes, Lord Frieza," the insect bowed before the screen went black.

Wasting no time, Frieza pulled up another screen revealing a waiting soldier. "Kill him. Then you're in charge."

"Sir, yes sir!" he answered without question before the screen turned off.

"Zarbon, get me another glass of wine."

"I've already prepared one for you, my Lord."

"Ah, it's good that at least you are capable of fulfilling orders."

"But of course. I'm well aware that your orders aren't something to be pushed aside but prepared for in advance."

"And why is that Zarbon?"

"Simply because they are your orders, Lord Frieza, and shouldn't be treated any other way."

"Very good, Zarbon. Now off with you. You've got to finish sorting through the new crop of work slaves and I've got to call my dear friend King Vegeta for a chat."

"At once, sire."

Once the door closed, Frieza searched for the Saiyan ship's signal surprised to see that it was still on Yapisha. "Well well, what could be keeping you?"

"Any sign of him?" King Vegeta asked from his throne in the survey deck for what felt like the 15th time that day.

"No, my King. Neither Prince Vegeta nor Kakarot have been seen yet."

"Blast, what could he possibly be doing?"

One of the crewmen laughed and called out over his shoulder. "Maybe he decided to take his new concubine somewhere to have some fun?"

"Are you seriously suggesting that he would willingly go through with that? Vegeta barely takes the time to seduce free women."

"Well, it's not like he has a choice in this matter, not with Lord Frieza being the one to give it to him."

"Frieza is not here so don't want you kissing his ass by calling him with that title. He is just our business partner, not our lord," he said with disgust.

Suddenly a door opened and in rushed another Saiyan soldier. "My King, Lord Frieza…,"

"What did I just say about calling him that?" King Vegeta interrupted with a bellow.

There was a pause before the soldier continued, "… is on the line."

"Fuck. Out. All of you," he ordered. "Make yourself useful and look for my son. He had better be here by the time I'm done with this." After the few soldiers left their stations, he rubbed a hand over his tired face before pulling up the comscreen. "Did you need something, Frieza?"

"Hmm, I wonder if I should be offended or if your rudeness should be attributed to the fact that you're still on Yapisha for some reason. Engine trouble?"

"I wish. At least then I'd know what was going on. No, Vegeta has just suddenly decided to disappear and I have no idea where he could be."

"Is that so? Pity, I wanted to get a glimpse of the slave he picked before we got too far apart for our signals to reach."

"…The what?"

"Come now, Vegeta, you haven't forgotten about the gift I presented your son."

"No, I just… didn't expect him to actually pick one up, despite your insistence."

"Why wouldn't he? There was quite a wide array of available slaves to pick from so he should have been able to find something that suited his… peculiar tastes."

"I'm well aware of his pickiness."

"Picky? From what I heard he doesn't favor his own race at all. That must be quite troublesome for you since it'll be hard to get an heir out of him, at least one of pure blood and not a whore's child."

"If that happens I'll deal with it then."

"Yes, of course, that would be best. Do keep in mind that if it gets to troublesome waiting for him to produce an heir to pass on that I'm more than willing to assign you a high rank in my empire."

"I'll go ahead and turn down your offer for now, as gracious as it is. I have faith that Vegeta eventually settle down and find someone that can suit his tastes in the long run."

"Well let's hope that your faith isn't misplaced. In any case, I only called to see Vegeta with his gift before the comscreen loses its signal but since he's off doing who-knows-what I guess that won't be soon. Please do send me a message once he arrives telling me if he got them there in one piece though."

"Yes, of course. I'll make sure to do that as soon as I get a chance."

"See you at the Vegetasei banquet next month," Frieza said with a wicked smile before signing off.

Closing the connection, King Vegeta sighed before sinking further back into his chair. "Like I needed a reminder that getting an heir out of Vegeta was going to be next to impossible."

He wished he had noticed it sooner, his son's dislike for female Saiyans. When he was younger he just attributed it to being focused on training and the inevitable war that would occur once Frieza finally decided to stop playing nice and attempt to take over. But as time went on he realized that his son didn't seem to have any desire to seek sexual comfort, even at an age where his hormones should have made him want to. Finally, shortly before Vegeta had turned 20, he had called him and asked him directly.

"There isn't a problem," Vegeta had instantly answered. "I don't want to have this conversation with you."

"Don't tell me that. At your age you should be past single hormone driven couplings and on towards seriously considering who you want to have as a permanent partner."

"I'm not ready for a mate."

"I'm not talking about a mate, though that is something you should also be considering. I'm talking about a personal concubine, a woman who exists solely for you not only as a release for sexual desire but also as a comfort to ease yourself from loneliness."

"I'm perfectly fine with being alone. I have better things to do than dealing with something as shameful as finding a whore."

"Concubines are not the same as whores and there is nothing shameful about having one."

"Forcing yourself upon an unwilling woman is completely shameful."

"Vegeta…," King Vegeta tried to reason with his son but was cut off.

"I don't care what you think. I don't want, or need, a concubine."

Sighing, King Vegeta decided that it was a lost cause to force that issue any further at the moment and decided to move on. "Very well, then I'll get back to my original point. Why are you not seeking out sexual comfort at all?" King Vegeta knew he was onto something as he saw his son flinch and look away. "You have to understand, boy, people do talk about these kinds of things. While you can get out of turning down palace whores as not wanting to use something shared or not wanting to forced, it doesn't explain why you turn down offers from very willing women. And don't tell me that no one is asking, I've seen women talk about you all the time. Why, at the eltie games last year I heard at least four women discussing about their attempts to seduce you only to get so crudely shot down. What is your reasoning behind that?"

"I simply didn't want them. There doesn't need to be any reason other than that."

"What was wrong with them? They are strong, well-bred, attractive…,"

"Attractive?" Vegeta cut him off, "You think those beasts are attractive?" King Vegeta's confusion showed clearly on his face as he watched his son, who had before been seated jump up and pace from side to side, as if he'd been holding back this tirade for quite awhile just waiting for a time to burst. "Have you seen them? Bulging muscles, rough, callused skin, stiff, coarse hair. There's nothing appealing about them at all."

"Those are perfect attributes for any warrior, Vegeta. Unlike other races, we don't want our women to be frail and useless but equals to our men."

"EXACTLY!" He yelled out before returning to his pacing, his tail violently swishing behind him. "They are exactly the same as the men here. Same build, same voices, same personalities. Might as well slap a wig on Nappa since the amount of arousal would be the same."

Finished with his tirade Vegeta stopped pacing and instead focused on his breathing in attempts to regain his composure. King Vegeta watched him silently for a few moments as he thought about what he had just seen. "This… is precisely what I'm talking about Vegeta. You may not be ready to find a mate yet but if you don't find a way to release your pent up frustrations you're just going to make things worse."

"I…I don't want a concubine," Vegeta panted out finally regaining a normal breathing pattern. " I don't need to prove my worth by forcing a woman to have sex with me."

"Then don't, there are plenty of willing women."

"I DON'T," Vegeta started before King Vegeta cut him off.

"Not Saiyan women. There are plenty of foreign women who will accept a night of lust that don't have to be paid or forced. If you don't want to use palace slaves on the planets we visit, you can take it upon yourself to learn how to charm women into getting what you want. Perhaps in time after you've sampled the various kinds of women in this universe you'll begin to see how the women of our race have a unique attractiveness of their own."

"Forgive me if I don't see that ever happening."

He had laughed it off then thinking that his son was just young but now, nearly 8 years later, it didn't look like his opinion had changed much. Yes he had taken to seducing alien women and had become quite skilled at doing so but none had kept his attention for more than a single night. Things were indeed troubling, not only as the king looking out for his planet but also as a father looking out for his son.

A shout in the hallway followed by several excited voices talking all at once interrupted his heavy thoughts. Getting up he moved to the door, startling the soldiers outside it. "What's with all the commotion?"

"Ah, Prince Vegeta has returned, my King," one of them answered.

"Well as much as I'm glad that we can finally leave I don't see why that fact needs to be celebrated with this much discussion."

"It's not his arrival we're reacting too."

"Yeah, apparently Prince Vegeta did pick up a slave and I hear she unlike anything seen before."

"I saw her myself. The one Kakarot picked looks just like a scrawny Saiyan but Prince Vegeta's choice… maybe I should consider sampling outside our race."

The three laughed as they hurried down the hall towards the docking bay leaving their confused king behind to wonder what was going on. Moving at a more relaxed pace, King Vegeta made his way down to the hall only to see a crowd of curious soldiers surrounding the entrance ramp trying their best to get a glimpse of this mysterious beauty Vegeta had brought on board. As soon as his men noticed his presence they moved aside so that he could make his way where he could finally his son standing. "Good to see you could finally join us."

Vegeta turned around from the woman he was looking at and King Vegeta felt his eyes widen as he finally saw what all this fuss was about. Clinging desperately to what he could summarize as a softer, more refined looking Saiyan woman was a woman with skin as pale and smooth as cream and hair and eyes a vibrant hue of blue. Though given that his son was holding her shoulder perhaps she was not normally this pale but was instead just terrified of the large crowd tearing her apart with their stares.

Deciding that everyone had had enough time to see her, he turned to the ship's captain. "Well? Vegeta is here, why aren't we preparing to leave yet?"

"AH! Of course, my King. Everyone to your posts. We take off within the hour."

Everyone reluctantly scrambled to their posts trying to catch one last glimpse of the woman before boarding the ship. Hearing a loud gasp, King Vegeta looked back at the pale woman.

"B, it's okay now. Look up, there's not a crowd anymore," the raven haired woman spoke trying to assure the other into calming down.

"Snap out of it, Woman," his son called out more coldly. "My Father is here and I don't want him thinking that I've taken interest in a sniveling mess of a woman." Those that didn't know him well would think Vegeta was being cruel to the obviously terrified woman but King Vegeta knew his son well enough to raise an eyebrow at the underlying teasing tone that went with it.

However, what happened next shocked him the most. More than the fact that his son had actually taken up Frieza's offer of a concubine. More than the fact that his choice was truly very unique sight to see. No, more shocking than either of those things was the fact that this sniveling mess of a woman shakily raised her head and looked Vegeta directly in the eyes and then with anger, not fear, responded, "Very sorry, Master Vegeta."

At his son's returning smirk, King Vegeta had to ask himself, 'Could Vegeta have finally found someone that can hold his interest beyond a moment of lust?'