Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Earth ❯ The Prince and the Princess ( Chapter 4 )

Part 1
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Chapter 4
Proposition
The walk back to the capital city was a miserable one for Bulma. The horned, purple skinned and quite insane Captain Ginyu himself carried her across his shoulder, and he seemed rather delighted to do so indeed. Bulma could tell. Unfortunately for him, the princess would have rather kissed a frog than him. She told him as much.

Once her head had cleared somewhat from being in a forced upside down position, she proceeded to sulk all the way back to the castle. Or her castle rather. She SWORE she'd get it back. She just needed Goku to help her that was all. And… well, Yamcha… if the guy were inclined to get a spine anytime soon…

Her parents and Yamcha had had to suffer the humiliation of being hauled on a rope the entire way back, led by the savage named Jeice. She watched them miserably out of her upside down sack of potatoes point of view on life.

The only beneficial thing she learnt from her experience of being carried upside down by the Captain "touchie-feelie" Ginyu himself was that he told her all about what happened to her people. Granted, he said, a whole lot of them had died, but a lot of them were still alive. He said that the prince had ordered them all sent to the capital and surrounding areas to be sorted. Some of them would be returned to the towns and villages they had come from to do normal people's stuff like grow crops for food for the savages-- (they all had *massive* appetites apparently). But some of them, the strongest men and the most beautiful woman were needed to work and serve the savages and the prince. She understood of course, didn't she? Well she most definitely did understand, but that didn't mean that she had to like it any. In fact *that* information had caused a screaming, kicking and fighting fit that had Jeice offering to knock her out for Captain Ginyu.

Bulma didn't care. She was going to have a *talk* with prince whoever-the-hell-he-thought-he-was when she got back...

Her talk with the prince didn't happen as soon as she would have liked. Instead her and her family were placed in their own guest quarters for a while with rather two human looking guards at the door to make sure they didn't go anywhere. Bulma alternated between picking at the bread and cheese she and her family had been given to eat and glaring at the guards. They had better not have been from *this* kingdom, she though sourly. Or else she'd have them tried for high treason in an instant...

All and all she was not having the best of days. The moment they had arrived the savage named Jeice had informed a guard that it was his honour to present the royal family which *he* had found, (and then he had proceeded to spend a good five minutes arguing with Captain Ginyu over who had *really* been the one to find them.) After that she had been hauled forcibly to the guest quarters and none too kindly deposited inside. While she helped her complaining boyfriend and pale faced parents out of their bonds, the equally pale faced guard had run off to tell the prince of their arrival. Thankfully the Ginyu force had taken their leave of them then... which was the only positive thing that had happened all day. She had grown quite sick of Captain Ginyu looking at her like he wanted to crawl inside her skin. (A/N - haha. Think about it.)

She looked around the guest room once again. Her mother and father still looked ashen and withdrawn, and she watched as her father whispered reassurances to her mother as they carefully ate the little bit of food they had been given. She felt a pang of concern for them. After all she was only a princess... they were the ruling heads of a fallen kingdom. The outcome, no matter how she looked at it, was not good. She didn't know how, but somehow she *had* to prevent them from dying....

'Oh, that's right!' She remembered suddenly. 'I've completely forgotten about Goku!' Her childhood friend would come and save them. After all he had nearly single-handedly defeated an entire army of dissidents back when he was only a child, which brought peace back to the land after years of civil war. She turned and grinned at Yamcha. Yamcha looked about as positive as her parents right about then.

"We're going to die." He muttered miserably when she smiled at him.

Bulma resisted the urge to hit him. "Yamcha..." She sighed very deliberately. "You're forgetting Goku. He'll come save us."

Yamcha didn't look too convinced. However he didn't have any time to argue... because it was about then that a pair of savages came waltzing into the room, pointing and talking rapidly to each other in a different language.

They stopped in front of the princess and frowned down at her. Slowly Bulma stood, looking from one of them to the other. "Yes?" She asked carefully.

"Excuse me *princess*," One of them said gruffly. "But our prince would like to see you now." He reached out and grasped her arm, then turned and began to haul her towards the door. "Hey!" She said, surprised at the savages' abruptness. Then she got upset and tried to worm her arm free. "Did I SAY I wanted to see a prince now? Lemme go!" Desperately she glanced back over her shoulder at the occupants of the room she was being pulled out of... at Yamcha and her worried looking parents. She gasped and fought harder, trying to get free...

For the first time during their whole ordeal Yamcha stood and tried to help her. "Stop..." He said. Then-- "Stop!" He shouted, bravely lunging forwards at the savage that held her.

Everything happened at once. The second savage reached out and grabbed Yamcha by the throat before he could even reach her. One second he dangled there in the savages' grasp, yelling and fighting to get free and the next there was the sound of a sickening crack and Yamcha went limp. Bulma screamed, loud and blood curling, and she was vaguely aware of the fact that her mother was screaming as well. And then she saw nothing more as she was yanked from the room completely.

"Don't hurt them!" she yelled behind herself desperately as she was pulled down the hall away from the room. "Don't you dare hurt them!!" She was vaguely aware of the fact that there was silence coming from the guest quarters as opposed to screams or anything else and she was frantic to get free and see if they were okay. "Don't..!" Tears filled her eyes. Yamcha... Yamcha...!

Letting out an unearthly howl she attacked the savage that held her by her arm, kicking and clawing, all the while yelling out every single curse and spell she knew. However the halls of the castle were barren of anything she could immediately curse and use against the savage and the savage that held her seemed oblivious to her threats. It was only when she somehow managed to flip herself around his stocky arm and kick him right in the forehead did he say anything.

"Your parents are FINE... for now." He growled at her roughly. Reaching down with his free hand he cuffed the princess on the back of her head, which left Bulma slightly dazed and seeing spots. "Now be a good little princess and SHUT YER TRAP!"
~~~

She was indeed a very beautiful specimen of the human race, Prince Vegeta noted as she was hauled into his room by one of Frieza's lieutenants. Between her kicking and screaming he could see that she had long blue hair that was up in some sort of hairpin like contraption, though with her struggling it had partly fallen out to frame her face in straggling waves. Her jaw was set and determined and her blue eyes were flashing and he could tell, despite the fact that she was only a human she held absolutely no fear of them.

Which was very good indeed because, frankly, he got enough whining and snivelling from most of Frieza's men around here. The man who had brought the princess picked her up, apparently to proffer her somehow in his arms, but his plans were fouled slightly when the screaming young woman went for his face. "Ow!" He said when she scratched down one of his cheeks and dropped her with one swift motion. He kicked her.

Mistake. Eyes narrowed Vegeta slid off his seat and stepped forwards. With a flick of his wrist he let out an energy burst that destroyed the guard before he could even offer up a protest or excuse. That left only the princess then, sitting in the center of the room looking slightly stunned as she inspected the now dead guard that lay behind her.

Vegeta could tell that she may be injured as he approached her. She clenched at the side that had been kicked. He didn't know how badly nor would until she decided to move or speak. Instead she remained half-couched on the ground breathing heavily as she watched him approach out of wide eyes. Wide intelligent eyes... Vegeta could *see* her mind working... eyeing him apprehensively and trying to decide how much of a threat to her person he was.

If only she knew...

Apparently she had decided he wasn't much of a threat at all because she started yelling again the moment he came within a couple feet of her.

"I don't know who you think you are or what you think you're doing," She said angrily, removing her arm from her side and flailing it about. "But I'll have you know that as soon as Goku hears about this he'll kill you, and all of your stupid..." It was then that Vegeta decided that she was perfectly fine. However that name she said-- he raised one of his eyebrows. "Goku?" He repeated.

The princess nodded. "He's the most powerful man in the land you know!" She shouted. "He will destroy you all in no time..."

Vegeta had begun to smile in the middle of her first sentence. As she continued her tirade his smile grew, and then he tilted back his head and laughed. When he was finally done laughing and looked back down at the princess he saw that she had a look on her face that was halfway between complete and utter terror and blatant scepticism about his metal state of mind. He stopped laughing abruptly and gave her a cold look. "'Goku,'" he repeated, "I'll have you know, was not the strongest human in the land." He said. "In fact, my dear princess," he continued when she gave him a rather alarmed look. "He wasn't even human... though I still would have liked to defeat him..." A far away look developed on his face, which he quickly banished.

"Anyway," he said, striding forwards. He grasped the princess' wrist, bodily bringing her to her feet. "He's dead now, so there isn't much that he'll be able to do to save you..." He looked her up and down and grinned.

At his words, the look on her face had changed from one of defiance to one that was much more fearful. "Y-you're lying!" the princess said, her voice trembling.

The prince cocked his dark head to the side. "Am I?" He sneered. He turned heel and made for the door, hauling the princess after himself as he went.

"... Wait!" Bulma gasped as they re-entered the halls. "Where are you taking me?" She had a sudden fearful thought that he may throw her into the dungeons and ordered her tortured...

Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, she thought desperately. Her blood ran chill at the prince's next words...

"First the baths," The prince replied. "To get you cleaned up. Then..." He turned around suddenly, pulling her up against him, hard. It was then that Bulma realized that he was very slightly shorter than she was. That didn't matter very much because the hands that grasped her upper arms felt strong enough to snap her in half like a toothpick...

The prince continued to smile and the look in his eyes made Bulma's skin crawl-- quite literally. 'Much worse than Captain Ginyu,' she thought, slightly dazed. 'How *do* you get yourself into these situations Bulma?'

"After that," the prince purred up at her, his face barely inches from hers. "It's really up to you my dear princess. It could be quite a *nice* evening..." He turned away abruptly, smile gone and began to pull her after himself even more roughly than he had before. "Or it could be quite horrible. It's really up to you."
~~~

He had planned this, Bulma realized sourly as she was escorted to the baths and led inside one of the private chambers. She scowled as a large beefy bald guard shut the door and proceeded to stand on the other side of it with his back turned.

The prince had planned this from start to finish. She glowered darkly around the bathing room, taking in the change of her robes folded neatly on one of the shelves and an array of soft towels hanging on the towel rack. To top that all off, the water had already been drawn for her, steaming and hot and enticing.

Errr.... for a moment she actually considered not bathing, just to piss His Royal Highness, the great Prince Vegeta (as he had so introduced himself) off. However after a moment she reconsidered after she realized how incredibly much she WANTED a good scrubbing. After all, she *had* spent the night sitting about in dirt, and with Captain Ginyu getting his dirty hands all over her on the trip back... she shuddered.

At least the prince wasn't that ugly, she thought as she striped and slid into the steaming water with a sigh. Well... he wasn't exactly easy on the eyes either... she wrinkled her nose in disgust. Perpetual frown between the eyes… and his hair! His hair was just as ludicrous as any savages' was... upswept into an array of black spikes originating from a very high forehead. She didn't know where he got his looks, but she hoped to heck that it wasn't his mother...

She absently began scrubbing at her back with one of the bushes. But then again, she reflected to herself, When he had pulled her against him... she smiled slightly. He was ALLLL hard. She had no doubt in her mind that he was probably QUITE impressive to see naked... maybe even more impressive than Yamcha who had that damned whiny problem of his to go with his incredibly good build...

Yamcha. Groaning, she dropped the brush, then buried her head in her hands. 'What are you *doing* Bulma?' She thought to herself morosely, stifling another groan. "What am I DOING?!" She whispered out loud. She studied the far wall blankly, her eyes wide and despairing. She was a prisoner here in her own house, Yamcha was *dead*, Goku was probably dead-- as well as her parents, and she was giggling over a short little man who seemed intent on using her like a common *whore*. She felt bile rise in her throat, and she choked it back bitterly.

She needed to get out of here. Or do something. She went over her alternatives in her mind and, frustratingly enough, she came up completely blank. The bathing room's walls were made of stone-- but, unlike some of the other rooms in the castle, this one didn't have any alternative exits or anything of the like. There wasn't even a skylight that, pending she could fly in the first place, that she could escape out of.

She was so totally and completely doomed... looking and feeling depressed, she slid down into to the water until it came to right underneath her nose. For a moment she considered suicide... letting herself drown maybe. Then she rationalized that she liked herself far too much to try to do anything like that and pushed herself back out of the water.

Pulling out of the bathwater all the way she sat on the rim of the tub for a moment and thought. And thought and thought. After several minutes she still came up blank and growled aloud.

She was the smartest person she knew. She should at least be able to solve this little problem in someway... and killing herself was NOT an option. Yet for once in her life she couldn't and it FRUSTRATED her. "ARRGGHHH!!!" She exclaimed, leaping back into the water and hitting it with her fists. That didn't do much beyond causing the floor and a bit of the walls to get soaked but at least it made her feel better. After a while she grew tired of splashing about and climbed reluctantly back out of the water. Shivering she went for the towel rack, grateful that at least some of the towels appeared to be merely damp as opposed to soaked right through.

It was about then that the guard who was standing at the door decided to open it and stick his head in. Bulma yelped and very quickly wrapped one of the towels around herself.

"Um," Said the guard once Bulma was somewhat decent. "His Royal Highness would like to know if you're done yet, and if not, if you could please hurry up." He grinned stupidly.

Bulma flushed with rage. "No!" She screamed. She picked up the towel rack and bodily threw it at the guard, taking a little satisfaction from the fact that it hit him on the shoulder and made him wince. "You can tell that stupid so called prince that it's MY Castle and MY Bathroom and I'll get out when I damn well FEEL LIKE IT!!!" With that she stalked over to the door and shut it right in the guard's face.

The large bumbling bodyguard turned back around... rubbing his sore nose and grinning as he did so.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself Nappa," Vegeta drawled from where he stood against the far wall.

Nappa started. "Prince Vegeta!" He exclaimed. The prince eyed him and he frowned quickly. "No of course not." Nappa said, shaking his head. The slight flush to his cheeks gave him away however.

"Whatever," Vegeta replied. "Bring her to me when she's done with HER bathroom will you?" He said. He walked away with a casual wave of his hand over his shoulder.

Prince Vegeta noticed that the princess had lost most of her spark as he led her up the stairs to the bedchambers. Instead of fighting or protesting she had apparently worn herself quite out with her little scene in the bathroom. Either that or she didn't feel like trying to take off again while walking in-between the prince and his not to incredibly bright but very strong bodyguard.

They reached the bedchambers in a short bit of time. He noticed that she recognized where she was when she raised her head and frowned. However by then it was too late for her to do anything or even comment... he pushed open the door to her room and half dragged, half walked her inside. Turning back around he gave Nappa a very precise "Don't you dare disturb us or you'll die" order before he shut the door behind himself and locked it.

He turned back about to find that Princess Bulma was glaring at him, her hands on her hips. "This is MY room!" she exclaimed. She looked around herself quickly. Prince Vegeta, in his thirty-six hours of rule thus far, hadn't done much to change her room… she spotted some of her books and contraptions piled against one of the walls, but otherwise her stuff wasn't disturbed very much. Yet.

"In that case... thanks for letting me in," Vegeta said, giving her a look that would have had a common servant running in fear.

His taunting look was lost on Bulma. "I CAN'T believe..." she began angrily. "That you not only the gall to take over my HOUSE and my KINGDOM," Her voice rose rapidly. "But my BEDROOM as WELL?!"

Vegeta's smirk was gone in an instant. "I think, my dear princess," He began, pushing away from the door and starting to slowly stalk towards her. "That it is time that you learnt WHO is in charge around here." He opened his palm and a small but bright circular ball of light flared up in it.

Bulma's eyes widened. Very quickly she dodged out of the way as the energy ball was tossed towards her, leaving a scorch mark on the stone of her wall only a few inches from where she had been standing.

Vegeta followed her, the corner of his mouth slanting up into a twisted smirk as he developed another ball of energy in his hand. Bulma screamed and ducked away again, running for the opposite corner of her room. A couple more bursts of energy hit about her, nipping at her heels as she went.

'He's not aiming to hurt me,' She realized as she pressed against the corner once she had reached it. 'Only to corner me. *Damn*...' She had fallen right into *that* little trap. Still smirking the prince continued to stalk towards her-- though the energy ball in his hand was gone.

She to do something... fast. Opening her mouth she shouted one word--"Rise!" and pointed.

Little did Prince Vegeta know, she was in her element here. Most of her practice was done in her room, and she knew her possessions very well. She watched as Vegeta was startled visibly as her vanity table quite literally flew away from the wall and towards him. Bulma uttered "rise" a couple more times and more things came alive... paintings and tapestries ripped themselves from her walls, hooks and racks shot into the air, and all of them aiming for Vegeta. The prince swore, letting out a cry of surprise when the table hit him across the face and a rack simultaneously hit him across the knees. He instantly blasted at both of them with his energy attacks, only to find himself having to deal with at least half of the items in the room coming at him at once.

Bulma hunkered down against the floor, her mouth never ceasing to utter the simple incantations. Her books, all of them, flew out away from the wall they were piled against, pages fluttering as they went. Vegeta howled something intelligible at them and his energy attacks became much more rapid as he tried to hit everything down at once. Bulma flinched, pressing her palms against the sides of her head as one of Vegeta's energy beams hit within inches of her head. She *knew* this was extremely dangerous... not only were the incantations to move things supposed to be used while OUTSIDE, but with the prince's mad energy attacks there was no telling if one of them may accidentally hit her. But she had to do it... it was her *only* hope to bring the barbaric prince down. She finally uttered the final rise command along with a couple more words in the language of the ancients, a select few of the large stones in her walls creaked and groaned and finally cracked away from her walls. With a swift sweep of her hand she sent them barreling down towards the prince. None of them hit him, but the array of energy beams he had to send out to prevent them from hitting their target... one of them was heading right for her. Bulma screamed in utter terror and leapt away... a moment too late. The beam skimmed across one of her legs. She gave a cry of pain and crumpled to the floor.

Instantly everything in the room that hadn't already been blasted by the prince fell back to the floor with a crash. Her concentration was gone. She winced, clenching her teeth and holding her injured leg to herself, the pain in her leg her only focus.

Breathing heavily Vegeta glanced around apprehensively, making sure that everything was now back to as it was supposed to be. Only after he was sure he was no longer being attacked did he turn his attention back to where she was curled at the base of the far wall. He smirked, swiping a hand across the back of his mouth. Slowly he strolled over to her.

Bulma stared up at him with horror as he approached, cringing visibly. If he wasn't intent on hurting her before, he more than likely was a little upset now-- enough to do something really *awful*...

He surprised her. "Thanks," was all the prince said. "For the work out. That was a nice trick, I may have to have you do that again sometime." He crouched down beside her. "I didn't know you were a witch by the way." He reached out towards her leg. "Let me see that," He added.

Bulma muttered something under her breath.

"What?" Prince Vegeta replied, trying to worm her hands away from her leg at the same time.

"I said I'm not a witch, I just read a lot!" Bulma snapped, jerking her hands away finally. "Are you DEAF?"

Vegeta frowned. "No," He replied sternly. "But if you keep shouting I will be." He sighed, abruptly getting back to his feet. He went to the door and said something out of it to his bodyguard. A couple of minutes later something was handed to him and he reshut the door. He then returned with a cloth and a basin of water and re-crouched down beside the injured princess. Carefully he peeled back the heavy layers of her blood soaked skirt with his gloved hand, and pressed the cloth into her bare leg. She let out a hiss at the pressure.

"Oh don't be a weakling," The prince snorted. "It barely touched you." With that he proceeded to wash away most of the blood, then removed his robe from his back. Tearing a hunk off of it he quickly and efficiently wrapped it around her wound.

The princess frowned as the prince bound her leg. Finally "Why are you doing this?" She asked warily when he was just about done.

Vegeta glanced up from her leg and inspected her out of dark eyes. "Because my dear princess," He said returning his attention to her leg to tie a last knot in the bandages. "You have something I want."

Bulma let out a sharp bitter laugh. "What could I possibly have that you haven't already taken from me?" She asked.

The smile was back on Vegeta's face, but at least it wasn't a horrible smirk this time. Silently he picked her up and trekked her over to her bed, pausing only a second to brush some of the wreckage off of it and yank back the quilts. He then deposited her onto the mattress. "You see my dear," he said, sitting down beside her. He paused a second, as if to collect his thoughts. Then he reached out with a gloved hand and slowly ran it up her good leg, until he met her knee and brought it back down again. As he did, he spoke. "You value the lives of your people very much do you not?"

She nodded slowly, trying not to cringe at the savage's touch. "Well..." Vegeta removed his hand from her leg and peeled one of his gloves off slowly, then the other. "I need a viable servant base. And I'm sure you'll agree that it wouldn't be very good if your people were prone to revolt a lot... it may lead to quite a few unnecessary deaths I'm sure."

Bulma nodded once again sharply, her eyes narrowed. She was not following where this all was going...

Vegeta looked up at her seriously. "I need you princess." He said finally. "With you by my side your people will be more inclined to settle down and accept me as their new ruler." His black eyes met hers and he smirked. "And you, my princess, will get the added benefit of most of your freedom, not to mention your life *and* the lives of most of your subjects as well." Bulma stared up at him. She wanted to spit into that smirking face and tell him that there was no way in EARTH she would ever join with a savage who had just mercilessly killed thousands and left a great deal of her land in ruins...

… But she couldn't. The savage's ruthlessness was the exact reason why she had no choice but to agree with him. He was right of course. Her death would prove nothing and *do* nothing to protect her home and country.

And... and if she went with the savage's proposal she could bide her time and perhaps find another way out of this mess....

She found herself nodding slowly, trying her utmost to show a stubborn look in the face of defeat. It didn't matter-- the savage prince knew that he had won. A triumphant look flashed across his face and he smiled. "I'm so glad you agree," Prince Vegeta said silkily. He reached up and Bulma gasped as nimble fingers tore into her bodice. She struggled a bit suddenly. That didn't gain her anything beyond the fact that Vegeta grabbed one of her flailing arms by the wrist and pinned it down with one smooth motion.

Bulma drew in a deep breath and stilled. "Promise me one thing," she said desperately as Vegeta finished pulling the top layers of her cloths away from her chest. He stopped and continued to smile darkly, and she was sure he expected her to plea for gentleness. But she already knew that he'd be gentle from the way he had carefully bound her leg. Instead she surprised him. "Promise me you'll spar my parents."

The prince did look surprised for about half a second, but he recovered very quickly. "Now princess," he 'tisked', leaning over her. "That wouldn't be very smart of me, now would it?" Bulma tried her best to force her voice from sounding too desperate and failed miserably. "Not really... if you restrict them to the grounds or something, but *please*..." she stifled a groan as the prince traced a line from her collarbone down her bare midriff with his thumb. She shut her eyes and shook her head. "You can't kill them. My mother... she is the nicest person you'll ever know... she'd do anything for you, and my father... my father can make things!" She reopened her eyes and nodded, trying to look as convincing as possible. "He can make a servant come alive from a simple broom and can make flying machines and even..."

"Hush." The prince said suddenly. He lifted his hand and pressed one of his fingers against the princess' lips, gazing into her wide blue eyes with an almost kindly look on his face. "I will consider your request, but for now... hush." With that he removed his finger and leaned down to kiss her.

Flinching very slightly, Bulma moved her face away, only to have Vegeta take her jaw in hand and calmly moved it back again. This time when he tried to kiss her Bulma let him.

~~~