A/N: This chapter just kept going and going but we get to see things from both Bulma and Vegeta's point of view plus a little Goku/Chichi moment just to break things up. Hope you enjoy. :3 EDIT: Also I've gotten several requests to turn on non member reviews. I originally had it off because of spam in the past but I turned them back on now. So if you've never been able to leave a review before because of that, you should be able to now.

Despite the fact that they seemed to making great time, walking around the outside of the city's wall allowed the four to move with few objects or people to hinder their progress, Vegeta seemed to be irritated with how slow they were moving.

"I knew you were weak, Woman, but your pace truly is pathetic," Vegeta called out without breaking his stride. "Don't tell me you're out of breath already."

"I'm breathing fine, thank you very much," Bulma answered sharply, "but there wouldn't be a problem if you didn't insist on sprinting all the way to your ship. Seriously, what's the hurry? It's not like they're going to leave without you."

"We've already wasted enough time waiting for you to wake up from your little fainting spell. It's already dark and I know that my Father is going to complain about why I've been gone so long."

"Ah, my apologies," Bulma said as sweetly as she could, "Let's pick it up, Chichi. We wouldn't want the Prince to get in trouble with his Daddy for breaking his curfew."

Bulma knew that she crossed the line when Kakarot moved forward and caught Vegeta's shoulder before he could turn completely around and carry out the threat his glare promised, "Well, delays aside, here we are. Better not keep the King waiting any longer." Despite Vegeta's low, rumbling growl Kakarot kept his smile in place until, after one more annoyed glance at her, he continued towards their ship in the distance.

An elbow to the ribs brought her attention to Chichi. "Really, Bulma? Do you have a death wish?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what it is about him that brings out the worst in me. In any case, let's go."

"To be honest, aside from the fact that you're teasing could get you killed I don't think it's all that bad," Chichi grabbed Bulma's arm before picking up their pace.

Bulma laughed at the strange words coming out of her normally straight laced friend. "How is nearly getting myself killed not that bad?"

"Don't you see it, Bulma?" Bulma shook her head so Chichi dug through her bad and pulled out a compact mirror, holding it up so Bulma could see herself. "Your demeanor, your smile: you're not hiding your face or clutching to my arm for dear life."

Taking the mirror from Chichi's hands, Bulma brought it closer to see her reflection, nearly gasping aloud at the sight she was seeing: Herself. 'When was the last time my skin had been more peachy than white? When was the last time I held my shoulders back and my head high when outside? When was the last time I smiled as if I was going to laugh, truly laugh, without a care in the world?' Certainly it had been before the name Frieza had ever been uttered in her presence. 'When was the last time I looked in the mirror and saw the real me?' She didn't know and she didn't know how long it would last but she wanted to enjoy it as much as she could while it lasted.

Unfortunately, the amount of time she could enjoy her newly returned countenance was far too brief as a previously unheard voice reached her ears. "Holy Hell, hurry up, you guys have got to see this?" Thinking that someone was pointing out something interesting, Bulma looked up only to see that the object of interest was, in fact, her. To make matters worse, because it was night, there was no longer any need to where the sun protection cloaks so she could practically feel their eyes rake every inch of her body.

'Where did all these people come from?' One moment she was walking briskly with Chichi with the ship in the distance and now they were surrounded by several huge men. She had thought Kakarot was tall but now it was clear that he was more of an average height for a Saiyan, which would mean that Vegeta, despite the confident way he held himself, was actually very, very short by their standards. She would have laughed at the thought of Vegeta's reaction to being called short if it weren't for the fact that the men surrounding her didn't seem to understand the concept of personal space.

Suddenly Bulma was aware of the overwhelming panic filling her again, a state that she was sadly becoming more familiar with than she wanted. She looked down, examining her reflection once again only to see that her skin tone and demeanor had also returned to the timid appearance she has had as of late. She wanted to stand up and look these people in the eye, to tell them that she wasn't some oddity to be examined, but as their shadows came closer to her down turned eyes she felt as if the crushing pressure would cause her to faint again.

Feeling her shoulder being grabbed, she clenched her eyes shut to stop herself from screaming. She knew it was Vegeta, she knew that he wasn't going to hurt her, she knew that. But despite her mind screaming that her body frustratingly refused to accept it.

"Welcome back, Prince Vegeta. I see you took up Frieza's offer for a concubine after all."

"Of course he did. Saying no to Frieza is like asking for war."

"She's definitely got looks going for her. Perhaps you could get her to straighten up so we can get a better look at her."

What direction the comments were coming from, how many people were talking, if comments were honest or suggestive: Bulma couldn't answer any of those questions at the moment as all the voices seemed to be mixing together into a muddled mess.

"Who says that you're allowed to get a better look?" Vegeta's voice cut through the murmurs, silencing them instantly. "I accepted Frieza's gift, Kakarot and I found two slaves willing to be our concubines rather than be sold to an unknown bidder, that the black haired one is Kakarot's and this one," he squeezed her shoulder possessively, "is mine. All you have to know beyond that is that they are both off limits. Do I make myself clear?"

A chorus of 'Yes, Prince Vegeta' rung out but it didn't seem that being off limits was the same as 'stop staring' since no one seemed to move from their spots. That was until another booming voice broke through.

"Good to see you could finally join us."

Bulma didn't have to look up to guess that this voice belonged to someone of great authority as even Vegeta seemed to feel the need to step back and face the speaker. 'Must be his Daddy,' she joked to herself in a small attempt to pull herself back together.

After a few moments, perhaps he was also looking her over, he spoke again. "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."

There was some more talking amongst the onlookers but thankfully the shadows surrounding them started to disperse relieving some of the tension enough that she could concentrate on regulating her breathing. Wincing at the first loud gasp she took in, she tried again succeeding in using her nose instead of her mouth.

"B, it's okay now. Look up, there's not a crowd anymore," Chichi said comfortingly to her side. Despite knowing how embarrassed Bulma was being like this in front of the Saiyans didn't stop the nurturing side of her personality.

Which would have been fine, if not for the fact that Vegeta seemed to noticed exactly how embarrassed Bulma was and tease her about it. "Snap out of it, Woman. My Father is here and I don't want him thinking that I've taken interest in a sniveling mess of a woman."

Bulma clenched the fist not clutching Chichi tightly as she slowly looked up to see Vegeta's cruel smirk. Barely remembering that she was supposed to play the part of an obedient slave, she answered back a false apology. "Very sorry, Master Vegeta."

Breaking eye contact with his amused look, lest she decide to act out on the desire to slap him, she looked past him to see the other man that had spoken she was surprised to basically see an older version of Vegeta. He was definitely taller than Vegeta, not as tall as some of the hulks she had seen earlier but definitely closer to Kakarot's height, and sported a goatee. Bulma noted that his coloring was more brownish than the pure black of the prince. She also noted that he was once again examining her so she took one more breath before standing up straight.

"Well, that's better, at least," the King nodded in approval, "I was beginning to think that you were just naturally hunched over but it seems that you just had a bit of a fright. Given your delicate stature I take it that your species is overall smaller than our own."

"Yes, definitely," Bulma breathed out trying to pass off some sense of normalcy.

"There are a few men that are tall and strong," Chichi added, "but not nearly as much as your race. Or most of the other races we've seen today really."

"I see," the King responded before turning to his son. "Do you even know their names, Boy?"

Vegeta shrugged but before he could say anything Kakarot beat him by answering, "She wouldn't tell him her name at first so he just calls her Woman," his smile was knocked from his face when Vegeta hit him, "OW!"

"That bit of information wasn't necessary," at his Father's laughing he controlled himself. "Woman is fine since that's what she is. If you want to call her something else, go ahead, I don't care."

Looking back at the women, the King continued. "So what are your names? I recall you calling her 'B' but what is that short for?"

"Oh… um," Chichi stuttered.

Bulma wondered what the problem was but realized that it may have to do with not being able to use her real name in public. After all, if Frieza knew her last name there was a chance that he knew her first name. It was too risky to use anything too close to it but if Chichi chose something too odd there was the chance that she wouldn't remember to call her it. 'What to do? She already said that it starts with B so she'll have to choose an easy 'B' name to call me.'

Finally Chichi seemed to have made a decision. "It's… B. B is her name, of course."

"B is her name?"

Bulma nearly wanted to fall over at her friend's lack of creativity but decided to back her up. "Yes, my name… is Bea. It's spelt B-E-A but its pronounced 'B'."

"Hmm," The King looked at her closely before shrugging, "I see. And yours?"

"Mine is Chichi," she curtsied slightly.

King Vegeta didn't seem to be so sure of either of the names he was given but seeing as how Chichi's was real it was most likely due to the names being different from those elsewhere in the universe. 'Your names are the weird ones,' Bulma thought to herself. Saiyans seemed to be named after Vegetables and Frieza always made her of a rapper talking about appliances. For someone to be think that names like 'Bea' or 'Chichi' were odd made her wonder just how well they would have made it alone in this vast universe.

Finally, the King turned to look at Vegeta again, "Frieza called. He wanted to see your slaves before the connection is lost."

"He can see them when he comes to the banquet next month, the same time he sees my inventions."

"Are you still standing by that even while in private? Are you actually going to waste precious training time coming up with something in attempts to back up your claim?"

"Yes I am still standing by that and I will make something worth presenting him. And don't worry, I'll make up for lost training time by making something that will enhance that too." Vegeta stated, apparently already listing off the things he was going to have her start working on as soon as possible.

"What are you talking about?"

Bulma's eyes narrowed in thought as she listened to the conversation between Vegeta and the King. 'Didn't we just have this conversation? About what he can present without it being glaringly obvious that he didn't make it.'

Bulma noticeably jumped when he grabbed her wrist pulling her away from Chichi and towards the ship's ramp. "I don't need to explain all my plans to you, Old Man."

"Vegeta, stop being ridiculous," the King yelled after him.

Vegeta just moved on, smirking. "You'll be surprised what I can do if I set my mind to it."

Once on board, Vegeta kept pulling Bulma towards a hall before calling back to Kakarot. "Go to the survey deck and have the blueprint for my floor of the palace sent to me. I want the workers to have my lab installed in my room before we arrive next week."

"Yes, Vegeta," Kakarot answered before gently grabbing Chichi's hand.

It took a second longer than it should have for Bulma to realize that Chichi wasn't moving in the same direction she was. 'What's going on? We're being separated? Where is she going or better yet,' she looked at the long door lined hallway wondering how anyone could tell them apart from each other, 'where am I going?'

"Where is he taking her, Goku?" Chichi asked as they walked down a hallway opposite the one Vegeta took Bulma.

Kakarot gave her a worried smile. Luckily there wasn't anyone in sight to overhear her way of talking to him but that didn't mean that they shouldn't play it safe. "Chichi, please, don't call me that in public."

"Oh! Right, sorry, Master Go- Kakarot. But seriously, what's going on?"

"Look, I promise that it'll be more comfortable for both of you when we get home. You'll have your own room and you'll be able to see Bulma whenever you want but the ship is a different story. Even the royal rooms are quite sparse with only bed, a small sitting area for meetings, and an enclosed bathroom."

Chichi's face went pale. "Bulma has to share with that… that…," she tried to come up with a word to describe Vegeta but at Goku's serious look she remembered the situation and lowered her voice. "I mean, there's not much room there, surely Prince Vegeta would prefer to be alone. Bul- B and I wouldn't mind sharing."

Shaking his head, he made his way to a large door. "There really isn't any room unless you want to sleep in the prison, which you don't. Our prison isn't as bad as Frieza's but they're still not comfortable." Noticing Chichi's worried expression, he changed the subject. "In any case, I'll go ahead and sleep on the couch for now."

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Not at all, it's really comfy."

And much like many times that day, Kakarot's cheery smile seemed to blow all of Chichi's worries away. She was still concerned about Bulma, mainly because she was stubborn and doubted that either she or Vegeta would choose to sleep on the couch, but they'd figure something out.

Finally making it to, what she assumed was at least since there was no markings, the survey deck, Kakarot walked over to a soldier. "By orders of Prince Vegeta I need access to the palace blueprints."

"You'll need to use the computer through there for any long distance transmissions to the palace."

Nodding, he and Chichi moved to the computer room. Chichi gasped at the large system before her. "Wow, I never expected to see a super computer on this ship."

"Why not?"

"Well, the Saiyans seem to be more interested with combat than technology so seeing something this impressive is quite interesting."

"Well, as warriors, we have to be able to communicate with our home planet even at all times to hear about missions or to know if there is something happening that needs the King's attention so all of us are trained to know a basic amount of technological skills to keep us connected."

"Ah, of course, that makes perfect sense."

There was a moment of pause between them before Kakarot rubbed his head. "That being said, I have no idea how to use this."

Chichi barely covered her mouth before disrespectfully laughing at her 'Master's' computer skills. "Let me have a look at it." While she wasn't a genius like Bulma or Dr. Briefs she had been around them enough to pick up a few skills from them. She made quick work of finding the files only getting stuck on parts that were written in the Saiyan language which were translated by Kakarot.

'Still it seems odd that any of those gawking giants would be able to work this any better than Goku could. These keys look like they were made for smaller hands first off.' That thought made her remember something from an earlier conversation. "Hey, Master, are their no women employed on this ship?"

Kakarot cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Sure there are. We have about 20 on the crew and we have 10 warriors in the barracks."

"But why haven't we seen any yet?"

"There were at least 25 of them outside when we arrived."

"WHAT? But, I didn't see any women out there. Oh wow, you guys were right, they look exactly like the men here."

"You're so mean. Not everyone can be as pretty as you," Kakarot didn't even seem to notice Chichi's blush as he continued on with, "and be honest, you were more worried about 'B' than you were with looking at the crowd, weren't you?"

Chichi managed to tamp down her blush enough to think about it. "Yes, I guess you're right. I'm going to pay attention next time." She grabbed the blueprints that were printed out of the computer before leaning in close. "If we walk by any women, tell me, okay?"

She was answered with only a laugh.

Vegeta headed straight towards the royal wing of the ship intent on getting to his room as soon as possible. He had almost made it there when Bulma's voice distracted him from his thoughts. "Wait, where are they going?"

"Pay attention when people are talking and you'd know that," he knew that wasn't the answer she wanted because she vainly tried to pull her arm away from him.

"Where are we going?" She asked again.

"My room, of course, where else?" He answered simply before arriving at the door to his room. Punching in the code, he waited just long enough for the door to open before pulling Bulma inside and closing it behind them.

He had barely enough time to lock the door before he heard something hurtling towards him. Turning, he easily caught the lamp, examining it before meeting the eyes of the furious woman before him.

"How dare you!" Bulma yelled at him, stomping her foot childishly on the ground.

Vegeta had to chuckle, not only at the sight but also the situation entirely. "You throw a lamp at me and then have the gall to call me out on my daring?"

"Answer my question! Where is Chichi going?"

"Kakarot either took her back to his room or to help him with the computer needed to print the blueprints. Actually I'm positive that's what he did since there's no chance he'd be able to get anything off that computer on his own."

"His room? You mean she's sharing with her?"

"Of course, you don't think everyone, let alone slaves, would get their own room, did you? I already said that you'll get a private room once we're at the palace but space it tight on the ship so you'll both be sharing our rooms for the week." This annoying fit of hers was only going to get more annoying as the obvious problem with the sleeping arrangements was surely about to come up.

Sure enough she looked around the room; at the only bed she could see before moving to the only two doors, to the closet and to the bathroom, before turning to face him again. "Where am I going to sleep?"

"On the couch."

"The couch?"

"Look, Woman, this is my room and I refuse to sleep on the couch so unless you want to share the bed with me…," he purposely trailed off, hoping Bulma's imagination would fill in the blanks.

"No, the… the couch will be fine."

"Glad you could see it my way. Now, when Kakarot does get the blueprints, you will need to look at them and decide what needs to be done to make my study into your private lab. And be fast about it, I want to send the changes back so the lab will be ready by the time we arrive so you can get to work. You'll only have three weeks to modify the ki suppressor, enhance the scouters, make a cloaking device, pull together some of your capsule prototypes, and start thinking up ways to make my training more progressive."

"Ugh, you're doing it again! I'm only going to say this one more time, Vegeta," Bulma yelled causing him to narrow his eyes at basically being scolded. "Just because I can make something doesn't mean that you, who suddenly picked up the practice, can. You might be able to fool Frieza since, not living with you, he doesn't know what you actually do for hobby, but your Father does. There's no way he's going to accept that you suddenly have 50 things invented. He'll know something's up."

"I'm not a child, I don't need to take baby steps on everything."

"This isn't about pride, Vegeta. This is about trying to fix the trouble your pride got you into and I can't help you fix anything if you ruin it by trying to show off too much too fast."

"I'm going to ruin things? Any progression I make can just be attributed to the fact that I'm a genius but never put my time into inventing. If anyone's going to ruin things it's you!"

Bulma's jaw dropped. "Me?"

"Yes you. If you faint every time you see people no one is going to believe that I'm using you as a concubine. People have to believe that we're sexually active, intimate even, but if you jump every time I touch you people are going to know that you're terrified and I won't allow anyone to think that I'm raping you so you need to get over your pathetic behavior before you worry about my actions."

Bulma grabbed a pillow off the couch and threw it at him this time.

"You don't understand anything. You don't know what it's like to want to be strong but be physically frozen; terrified to the point you can barely breathe. You don't know how embarrassing it is to know that the same people who know you can stand up straight and be confident see you trembling and afraid. You think you can just poke and prod and tease and torment to get what you want but you don't understand anything at all."

Despite her fury, which was hilarious as she couldn't cause any actual damage, Vegeta couldn't help but turn her words around to something more suggestive. "I don't recall poking or prodding you but if you want me to I'd be happy to oblige." That comment caused another object to be thrown at him which he caught just as easily. It would have amused him had the next object she reached for not been a familiar picture frame sitting on a side table. Before she even touched it, he grabbed it and flipped it down so that the picture was hidden from view. "If you value your life, you won't throw anything else."

Bulma seemed startled but looked down at Vegeta's hand firmly holding the picture down. "I'm sorry, is that picture important?"

"None of your damn business. I don't care about your coddled life before this, Woman, but take your tantrums elsewhere."

He never seemed to get the proper reaction from this woman as she simply narrowed her eyes again and muttered, "You're a bastard."

It was counterproductive to make her terrified of him but he didn't want a repeat of this to happen so he had to make sure his point was being made. Moving closer he pressed his hands on the wall on either side of her body, not touching her but enough to make her start to panic.

She pressed back as far as she could, as if she could will herself to pass through the wall and away from the danger he presented. After a few more seconds she finally broke, "O-okay. I won't throw anything else, I promise. Just please back up."

Vegeta looked at her, dragging his eyes away from her tightly shut eyes to where she was biting her lip down to her shaking body before moving his eyes back up. For some reason, despite his need to have her obey him, it bothered him that she was so terrified that she couldn't even bear to be a foot away from him. 'Of course it bothers me. We'll never be able to pass this ruse off if she can't even stand near me without shaking. Time to start working on that.'

"No."

"No? What do you mean no?"

"No, I'm not going to back up. If you want to remedy this bad habit of yours, you need to start facing it head on."

"I-I can't. It's too much."

"Stop being a coward, it doesn't suit you!"

Seeing Bulma's wide, blue eyes pop open and look directly into his made his thought process skid to a halt. 'Why did I say that? I barely know this woman at all.' Which was entirely true since, not counting the time she had been unconscious, he had only known her for a little over two hours. For the majority of that time she had been jumping between what she wanted to be, a confident, strong-minded business woman, and what years of psychological seclusion had made her into, a socially terrified, timid shell. He didn't know what the real her was but he did know what he preferred: The one that was brilliant enough to produce him the equipment he needed to get back at Frieza. If her defiance came with that then so be, as long as she wasn't breaking his things.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard he take in a deep breath. Closing her teary eyes, she let the breath out and opened her eyes again. Vegeta had to admit, the change from teary fear to sparkling confidence was quite compelling.

Both of them looked down to Bulma's hands as she brought them up about 2 inches from his chest. Much like their first meeting, Bulma shakily placed her hands on Vegeta's chest plate. Intently watching as Bulma's hands carefully moved further down, Vegeta could tell that she was examining the armor itself as a distraction, perhaps wondering what it was made of or if she could improve it. All he could think of, as her fingers spanned open, was why he hadn't taken his armor off before starting this. 'What would those delicate fingers feel like moving across my body suit, or better yet, my bare chest?'

Despite her initial fears, Bulma it seemed had switched entirely into scientist mode as she hooked her fingers underneath the bottom of the chest plate to determine the thickness of the armor. Vegeta clenched his fists against the wall as the sensation of her knuckles lightly running along his abs sent a shiver straight to his spine. It took everything in him at that moment not to remove his hands from the wall and take part in his own 'study'.

A sharp knock at the door brought Vegeta out of his sensual train of thought and he used the distraction to step back. 'What is wrong with me? I know she's gorgeous but I shouldn't react like that from a mere touch.' Looking back up to her he could see that Bulma was confused, so deep in her thoughts as she that she hadn't even heard the knock.

"That would be Kakarot at the door," Vegeta supplied for her as he moved to open the door and take the blueprints, noting that Kakarot must have left Chichi in his room before coming over. Probably for the best as he was sure either she or Bulma would try to rearrange the sleeping arrangements. Kakarot nodded before returning the way he came and Vegeta turned back to Bulma who still looked a little dumbfounded.

"Oh, I didn't even hear it."

Smirking Vegeta moved over to face her again. "Yes, it seems that you enjoyed feeling me up so much that the rest of the world vanished, eh?"

"EH? No, no I was just examining your armor."

"Of course you were. I'm going to change and get in the shower. Here," he handed her the blueprints, "get to work on that. Have them done before you go to sleep." When she continued to stand there confused and embarrassed by the previous situation, he leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "Don't worry. We'll continue our 'examinations' later."

Pulling back, Vegeta couldn't help the feeling of smug satisfaction at seeing the small blush grace Bulma's face, unmistakable even through the fear his closeness had brought. Giving her one last parting smirk, he made his way to the bathroom leaving his genius alone to her work.

A/N: Long chapter is long. _ Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please feel free to review, I love getting feedback or just knowing if you're liking the story. Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed, I appreciate your time so much.