Yaumcha looked up as Goku, Chi-Chi, and Mr. and Mrs. Briefs walked into the hospital room. Self-consciously he hid his left wrist beneath the bedsheets and tried to force a smile.

"You’re ok!" Goku slapped him a bit harder than he would have liked on the shoulder. Yaumcha rubbed the spot gingerly while Chi-Chi and Mrs. Briefs pulled two chairs up beside the bed. Mrs. Briefs took Yaumcha’s free hand in her own and gave him a worried look.

"Yaumcha, honey. We’re so glad you’re ok." She said, rubbing her hand over his own. "How do you feel?"

Yaumcha snorted. "Like shit." He caught himself and blushed. "S-sorry…I just…" he trailed off and an uncomfortable silence filled the area. A Nurse poked her head in and approached the bed, shooing Goku’s bulk to the side as she fiddled around with Yaumcha’s I.V. He sucked a breath in as she moved the needle slowly, mumbled something, and stood to write something on her clipboard.

"Looks like you’re monitored heavily here." Chi-Chi said softly, watching the Nurse as she scribbled away with her pencil. "I’m just glad you’re all right. Everyone was so worried."

The Nurse smiled quickly at Yaumcha, strictly professionally, and leaned over to take his left wrist. Yaumcha tried to pull it away but she snatched it up anyway. Everyone stared at the three deep cuts as the Nurse dabbed a them with an alcoholic swab.

"I told you not to remove the dressing." She said sternly. "It will become infected."

Chi-Chi stared. She wondered how Bulma would feel if she knew this had happened. Would she still care? She caught the flushed look on Yaumcha’s face and tried to smile reassuringly at him.

"It’ll be ok." She said gently.

He nodded, looking terribly wounded. "Thanks for coming here, you guys." He mumbled. The Nurse left, and he instantly shoved his freshly bandaged hand under the bed sheets again, looking abashed.

Mrs. Briefs had averted her eyes from the cuts and thankfully her husband and Goku had done the same. "Of course we came, Yaumcha. Did you think we wouldn’t? Oh my, you certainty can be a fool sometimes." She caught herself and giggled nervously. "But never mind me. When are they letting you out?"

Letting you out. Yaumcha repeated the words in his mind. She makes it sound like a psyche ward.

He scratched at the back of his neck. "In three days." He said. "The Doctors said they still have some tests to do before they can release me."

Chi-Chi and the others nodded. Does he even remember what he did? She darted a quick glance at him. Does he know he tried to kill himself? Does he care?

Judging by the defeated expression on his face, Chi-Chi assumed he didn’t.

Vegeta stretched and sighed pleasurably, very aware of the female body he was pressed up against. Sometime in the middle of the night, they had switched positions in the bed, and Vegeta had ended up behind her. Now, as he shifted his weight on the mattress and looked down the length of her sleeping body, he couldn’t help the immediate reaction at feeling her firm behind pressing into his groin. Not knowing what would happen if she felt the straining organ digging into her and not wanting to chance the consequences, he regretfully moved away. Bulma instantly moaned, her eyelashes fluttering as she slowly awakened. The immediate absence of contact left a cold sensation on her back, and she propped herself up on one elbow, straining her neck to look over her shoulder. Vegeta looked back at her with a mixture of apprehension and affection.

"Good morning." He said, choosing his words carefully.

Bulma blushed hotly and pulled herself into a sitting position, the sheets falling away from her body. She wore a white T-shirt sporting the logo of some baseball team. Yawning, she slowly inched off the bed, as though unsure as to how she should react to waking up in the same bed with him. She had no idea Vegeta was feeling the same way.

"Good morning…" she replied, hardly audible. "What time is it?"

Vegeta rolled over, the sheets slipping down enough to reveal a good portion of the enormous bulge under the sheets. Bulma drew back and felt her face burning even further.

He rolled back over. "10:15." He said. "We slept in." he looked down at himself, yanked the sheets up, and also pulled himself into a sitting position. "I guess we just slept really well." he added, hoping to get some answers as to what had happened last night.

Bulma understood the meaning in his words. "If you want answers, I don’t have the ones you’re looking for." She said softly. "I told you why I slept with you. I couldn’t sleep, and I was cold." She stumbled over her words. "I was just lonely."

Vegeta nodded, a frown forming on his face as he looked away. "So you used me."

"I didn’t use you." She said evenly. "I did nothing sexual to you, Vegeta. There was nothing sexual about me crawling in your bed with you." She shot him a dark look. "I wasn’t looking for a lay."

"I didn’t say you were."

She rose from the bed, taking the sheets with her, leaving Vegeta in a complete state of nakedness. He made no move to cover himself up, as his erection was vanishing anyway as a result of his sudden anger.

"Is that it?" he said, rising from the bed. Bulma finished wrapping the sheets around herself and glared over her shoulder at him. "Are you that upset that I didn’t jump you in a sexual frenzy?"

He snorted and shook his head. "Why would I want a diseased thing like you, anyway?" he spat. "Get out of my room."

Bulma looked as though she had been slapped. Vegeta instantly regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth, but his swollen pride would not allow him to take them back. She crossed the length of the room in three short steps, reared her hand back, and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Giving him one final look, she stalked from the room, her hands clenched into shaking fists, her eyes brimming with new tears.

Vegeta slowly sat down on the edge of his bed and stared into his lap.

I blew it.

* * *

An hour later, Vegeta looked over his shoulder as he heard Bulma shrugging on her jacket at the ships door.

"Where are you going?" he growled.

"Don’t talk to me." She said icily.

The door slammed behind her with violent force.

* * *

Vegeta stalked out the door moments later, materializing out of the red mist that hung low over R’haksin, wraith like. Being not too terribly surprised Bulma managed not to scream. She didn’t, however, make any effort to hide the glare from his face.

"Why are you following me?" she set her jaw and walked quicker, but Vegeta kept pace effortlessly beside her.

"Where are you going?"

"I don’t have to tell you jack shit." She spat. She yelped when Vegeta’s hand thrust out and grabbed her wrist, yanking her hard against his molded body. "When I’ve come all this way to save your ass, yes, I’m afraid you do. I’m not letting you endanger your life further with any more of your stupid ideas."

Bulma tore her arm out of his grip. "I’m going to get Ghost. He’s probably scared and hungry."

"This is about that stupid thing?" Vegeta cried. "This is the last time, Bulma, I swear it."

"Whatever." She mumbled. "And he’s not stupid. If anybody’s stupid, its you."

"Why is that."

"You don’t say things like that to a lady." She said with a curled lip.

"Lady?" he snorted. "I wouldn’t go that far."

They walked on in silence, Vegeta wondering why he had allowed her to go back to The Dungeons, and Bulma wondering why she hadn’t slapped him again. If she doesn’t get that fuzzy little shit head back, I won’t quit hearing about it until the end of time. Was that the reason? To spare himself any further annoyance from the weak female?

He looked up when he realized they were getting close. The usual Storkrin guard that was on duty near the pathway was, surprisingly, not around. Vegeta saw the instant look of worry of Bulma’s face when she noticed this.

"Why do you think he’s gone?" she whispered as they cautiously approached the entrance. "A trap?"

"A trap? What would they set a trap for?" Nevertheless, Vegeta crouched down on all knees and slowly inspected the entrance carefully, grasping at vines and poking cautiously at suspicious looking holes and rocks. Satisfied, he stood, brushed himself off, and turned to Bulma.

She looked at him blankly. "Are you just going to stay here? Or are you coming with me?"

Vegeta took a quick glance around. If anybody was going to attack them, it didn’t matter if it was inside or outside, they wouldn’t get much of a hit in on Vegeta. He shrugged and ducked low into the stairs. "I’ll come."

Bulma waited a moment or two, then followed him.

* * *

Koru pulled herself up short into the darkness of her cell when she smelled the unfamiliar scent approaching her. This was not Bulma. Nor was it a Storkrin…or human. As quietly as she could, she dug her giant heels into the concrete and pushed herself back up against the slimy walls. Her heart thudded at the possibility of a savior.

Vegeta had no need of light; his eyes saw fine in the blackness. Sniffing, he ignored the stench to the left and instead focused on the intense scent of someone in obvious distress to his right. He drew himself up to the bars and peered in, seeing nothing but a hulking black form. He narrowed his eyes, trying his best to see. He slipped his hand out and grasped the bars, testing their strength. They were strong, strong enough to contain a female Storkrin, even if it was Koru, but nothing he couldn’t pry open if need be.

Then, suddenly, 268 pounds of enraged Storkrin female slammed itself into the bars with such force that Vegeta toppled backward. Instantly he was on his feet, his Ki flared around him in a glowing aura. In the golden light, a pair of red eyes coldly calculated a pair of ebony eyes, and they regarded each other for some time before the worried form of Bulma came up behind the Prince, calming him down with hushed words.

"Koru!" she ran up the cell, and the Storkrin backed down. "Sayajin." She said distastefully. "I thought it smelled Sayajin."

Bulma looked over her shoulder at Vegeta, who had drawn himself up to his full less than impressive height, scowling, massive arms crossed.

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let him come down before me." Bulma saw, for the first time, a dangerous anger in Koru’s eyes that instantly chilled her. "He…he wouldn’t have hurt you."

"I was protecting myself." Koru said, a bit annoyed. She paused. "Are you here for….Ghost?"

Bulma nodded, and Koru turned, an odd look suddenly on her face.

"Bulma, I…I’m sorry. When I was sleeping, he…I tried calling him but…"

Bulma felt a leap of panic rise in her throat. "He’s lost?" she almost cried, trying to keep her voice under control.

"He was gone when I woke up a while ago. Bulma, I’m sorry."

Bulma shook her head. "Its all right, Koru. We’ll find him."

"We will?" Vegeta sputtered. Bulma glared daggers at him.

Koru watched them for a moment and then turned her eyes back to Vegeta. "Who is he?" she asked quietly. "He looks familiar…"

Vegeta smirked and walked up to the cell, and Bulma couldn’t help but notice the way Koru did not flinch or step back when he placed his sneering face right up to her own. "I would have thought you would have remembered me." He said. "Prince Vegeta of Vegetasei. Destroyer of 200 of your kind."

Koru stared back, unimpressed. "It rings a bell. Was that before or after you begged us to fix your space pod?"

Bulma pushed Vegeta away with an arm and stepped in-between them. "Stop it, Vegeta." She said sourly.

Koru and Vegeta stared each other down for a moment or two longer before Vegeta finally broke the contact with a disgusted snort.

"Thank you for looking after Ghost for me, Koru." Bulma said as Vegeta stalked away and back up the stairs. "I hope he made you happy…I hope you guys had fun."

Sad red eyes lowered to the floor. "I didn’t do a very good job of looking after him for you. I hope you find him…"

"We will."

Koru watched Vegeta’s form retreating, seeming not to hear her friend’s words. "Why are you with him?"

Bulma sighed. "It’s a long story. But right now I’d rather not be with him."

"He’s very strong."

"How can you tell? Besides the build, I mean…"

Koru shrugged half-heartedly. "I sense it in him. I could feel his raw energy through the bars of my cell when he touched them. She suddenly looked oddly hopeful. "He’s so strong…he could get me out…in a second."

Bulma stared back at her. "I…"

Koru shook her head. "No, I’m sorry Bulma. I have no right to put such a weight on you. This has been as such for three years. I cannot ask you to change what cannot be helped."

"What if it could be helped?" Bulma whispered in the dank darkness.

Koru said nothing, and slumped back into her cell. It was signal enough that the conversation had come to an end. But Bulma still could not help but feel awful when she heard her imprisoned friend saying that she was sorry as she walked up the stairs.

Halfway up, she began to cry.

* * *