"Who…what…"

The Storkrin moved and Bulma saw the source of the metallic noise. A leg iron was fastened around the Storkrins ankle and driven deep into the ground behind her with what looked like a railroad spike. Bulma’s hand had left her mouth and nose, and she could again smell the rot that permeated the air around them. She had stopped trembling.

"I’m not going to…hurt you…" Bulma said softly, feeling somewhat odd about her choice of words. The Storkrin was at least seven feet tall and had a lean, athletic figure. Bulma knew instantly that this creature could snap her bones like dry pieces of kindling if it had the chance. But the iron chains holding it looked strong enough to keep her bulk back. Bulma’s eyes trailed over the Storkrin and took in its appearance. This Storkrin was not male. She could tell by its size and facial features. The snout was slightly smaller than the males and the eyes were prominently feminine.

"Do…can you speak?" Bulma asked softly. "I…" she trailed off when the Storkrin rose from the concrete floor and stood to her full height of 7 feet 6 inches. Bulma lifted her face slowly to capture the gaze of the small red eyes that shone down from the blackness above.

"Of course I can speak." The voice was hard and firm. Bulma suddenly felt shamefully stupid for approaching the Storkrin in such an infantile manner.

"Where….are we?" Bulma finally tore her gaze from the Storkrin and looked around the room. It had to be The Dungeons. It looked enough like a prison. She suddenly noticed for the first time the other cells that lined the walls, some filled with Storkrins, and others filled with indistinguishable black figures.

"What…?" Bulma murmured and she moved from the Storkrins cell across the hall to the others. She shone her light into the cell with the black figure and cried out softly when her flashlight fell upon the half-decayed form of what had once been a Storkrin. Flies and other insects buzzed lazily around the corpse, as small skittering things ate nosily where she could not see.

The first Storkrins voice was firm. "Leave her."

Bulma turned from the cell and crouched down on the balls of her feet, fighting back the waves of nausea that rose in her throat. It didn’t work. She crawled into the damp corner and threw up on the cold cement. Her body shook with the terrible image. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and rose, averting her eyes from the corpse.

"Shaneil." The Storkrin said quietly. Bulma realized for the first time that this Storkrin did not hiss with the strange guttural growling that the males did. "Her name was Shaneil. She had been dying for years. We all have."

Shocked, Bulma slumped down on the damp floor in front of the Storkrins cell. "Who are you?" she whispered.

"What is this place? Is it The Dungeons…?"

"I am Koru." The Storkrin said. "This is The Dungeons." She gave Bulma a level gaze with her small red eyes. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Bulma Briefs."

"Bulma." Koru repeated the name slowly. "What business do you have here? Are you an Earthling?"

"Earthling." Bulma nodded.

Koru drew her muscled legs close to her body and Bulma caught the quick glimpse of wings behind her. "Earth. I have heard much of it. Why are you here? How did you find this place?" she paused. "They will kill you if they find you here."

Bulma could not seem to erase the image of the Storkrin corpse from her mind. She stared numbly at her feet and nodded. "I know…" she stammered. "I just…couldn’t believe they’d…keep you down here…like this."

Koru turned from Bulma and looked down the hall. The small ray of light from the flashlight caught the glint of precious stones imbedded on Koru’s face that surrounded her eyes and cheeks. They glittered as she moved.

"How long have you been infected?" Koru asked quietly.

Bulma looked up, startled. "How…?"

"I can smell it on you." She replied. "How long?"

Bulma sighed shakily. "A couple of weeks now. Maybe four?" she realized she couldn’t remember. She looked up at Koru. "Are…you infected? Is that why you are down here?"

She nodded once. "I have been here for two years." She said.

"Two years?" Bulma cried. "But…how long can you survive with Fortricres?"

"It is different for everyone." Koru said, her voice suddenly choked with emotion. She lifted her eyes to Bulmas. "Do you know?…it has been two years since I have spoken to anyone?"

Bulma looked away from the creature’s pain, her own eyes filling with unwanted tears.

"I’m…I’m sorry if I…"

Koru suddenly extended a slim, clawed hand through the bars pleadingly. "Don’t go." She said quickly. "Please…stay for a while?"

Bulma shook her head. "I don’t want…them to find me…" she ran a hand nervously through her hair. "I’m sorry…I wish I could but…"

"Tell me," Koru grabbed the bars of the cells with her hands. "Does the Psytrim still grow?" she whispered. "Do I dare hope?"

Bulma felt sick. "It does."

Koru’s delicate muzzle split into a half-smile. "Do you speak the truth?"

"Yes."

"Would you…could you bring…" Koru struggled with the words but Bulma caught the meaning. She tried to smile for the woman. "Of course I will...if I can." She added.

Koru nodded. "Does Treskor still live?"

Bulma nodded. "Unfortunately." She caught herself and began to backtrack, but saw the look of murderous hate in Koru’s eyes. "Did…is he the one who put you down here?"

Koru said nothing, but Bulma could tell.

"Why is it that you haven’t spoken to anyone?" Bulma asked her. "Do the others here not speak to you?"

Koru shook her head. "Fortricres has not dealt them a fair blow. They are mute."

Bulma nodded.

"I have to go." She bit her lip. She wanted to turn and run. Run as fast as she could from this place and never come back. The smell hung thick in the air and the buzzing of the insects on the corpse was like thunder in her ears.

"Will you return?"

"I’ll try."

Koru let her hands drop from the bars and dropped back into the shadows of her cell, her chain clinking into silence as she retreated into the corner. Bulma heard her sit, and she clutched at the wrists of her body suit, her mind racing with a million thoughts.

"Come back…" It was a distant plea at her back as Bulma ran from the room.

* * *

Bulma screamed but was cut short when a gloved hand covered her mouth and yanked her behind a concealed bush. Panicking and flailing at her attacker proved useless as she struggled against its body. She was turned roughly and saw Vegeta. Her panic quickly subsided and she felt shameful heat streaking across her cheeks.

He let go of her mouth and scowled at her as best he could.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he hissed.

"How did you know where to find me?" she asked him.

Vegeta was positively seething with anger. "You’re so stupid!" he growled, pacing back and forth. "Don’t you think I’m going to have enough trouble with you being here? Don’t make it worse by snooping around where you don’t belong!"

"I’m sorry." She mumbled, digging her heel into the dirt. She wondered absently where the Storkrin was.

"You had better be!" he snapped. "Don’t even go down there again, Bulma."

She lifted her head. "Wait! I told Koru that I’d-

"You made friends down there?" he cried, exasperated. "Kami, woman! And you pick the best one to make friends with…"

"Vegeta, have you been down there? Do you even know what’s down there?" Bulma stopped when she realized what he had said. "You know who Koru is?"

"Everybody knows who Koru is. She used to be the most respected and powerful female Storkrin on R’haksin. She was Treskor’s female."

Ignoring the way he had labeled her as a piece of property, Bulma was now interested. "So he just chucked her down there with the others because she was infected?’

"Is infected." Vegeta corrected. "I told you. They want nothing to do with Fortricres. And the Pystrim doesn’t grow like it used to anymore, now only one or two grow a year."

"So why don’t they cure her if she’s so respected and important?"

Vegeta seemed to be struggling with an inner turmoil. "Woman, could we talk about this later? We need to get the hell out of here."

"Answer me!"

Vegeta shot her a look that made her blood run cold. She lowered her eyes and felt as though she had somehow overstepped some important boundary, though she was not sure why. "I’m…sorry." She said quietly. "I didn’t meant to worry you…"

"Yes, you did." He said, surprisingly softly. "Otherwise you wouldn’t have run away like that."

Bulma looked up in time to see a ghost of a smirk on his face before she was pulled through the bush behind him, back toward the ship.

* * *

Vegeta splashed cold water over his face and shivered as droplets of it splashed over his bare chest. The cold shower had not done anything to rid him of his thoughts, or the problem he was experiencing beneath the green towel about his waist.

Of course, Bulma had returned to the ship and showered, padding around in her towel oblivious to the fact that it hardly covered her ass. She had dressed in a pair of loose fitting jeans that hung low about her hips and showed off a generous amount of her flawless pale skin. The T-shirt she wore stretched tightly across her bosom and did nothing to hide the straining peaks as she shivered in the cool air of the kitchen. Vegeta had finished his meal as quickly as he could and had retreated to the shower.

Now, he was angry with himself.

Why was he having such thoughts about this weak female? He had never had such thoughts as these before. She had given him plenty of visual opportunity at the Capsule Corp. building, and he had taken them all with pleasure. But nothing more than a simple dirty thought had entered his mind. Now, he found himself fighting his urges, sweating with the strain of wanting to take her but not being able to.

He stood and stared back at himself in the reflection. Had that night been an invitation on his part? Had he truly been waiting for her to crawl in next to him, naked, into his arms?

He realized he had.

He turned the tap off and secured the towel, shaking his head to rid his fiery mane of any last droplets. He left the bathroom and walked down the hall to his bedroom, looking forward to crawling into bed and staying away from her delicious body.

"Vegeta?"

He groaned.

"What?" he kept walking, past his bedroom and into the kitchen, where Bulma was standing on a stool trying to reach (of course) the top shelf of the cupboards.

She turned her face red with the effort, her hair messed about her head as strands of it slipped from the loose ponytail and trailed down her shoulders.

"Could you…" she grunted as she stretched again, her shirt riding up to reveal a generous portion of her midsection. Vegeta stared at the floor when she turned back to him.

"Nice towel."

He didn’t know how to take that one. "Er…what do you need help with?"

"Can you get me that bag of goldfish crackers? I don’t know who in the hell stuck it way up there."

Vegeta obliged and levitated easily to the shelf. He grabbed the box and landed softly and gracefully. Bulma took it

and gave him a tiny smile.

"Thanks."

He mumbled something unintelligible and she shrugged, seating herself into one of the chairs at the kitchen. He noticed the look on her face as she opened the box and began munching. She looked troubled.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her. They both looked at the other chair. He sat down awkwardly.

"Koru." Bulma said quietly. "You should tell me about her…"

"Some other time." He extended a hand and she plopped a handful of the crackers into it. He munched along with her. "I don’t want you going back there." He said around an orange mouthful. "Understand?"

She lowered her eyes. "Yeah."

No you don’t.

He swallowed and moved to get up. "I’m going to sleep." He said.

"Don’t go to bed." She said. "It’s not even nine yet."

"I’m tired."

"Let’s play a game or something." Bulma said. "We haven’t really done anything fun yet. Come on." She said. He absolutely loved the smile that was tugging at her lips and sat back down.

"All right." He grumbled. "Like what?"

"I brought some paper and pens." She said. "We could play hangman or something." She paused. "Unless you can think of something better."

He shrugged, completely forgetting his towel and tiredness. "Like what?"

Bulma leaned back in her chair and suddenly a huge grin spread on her face. "Hide and seek!"

A blank expression spread across Vegeta’s face. "What the hell," he asked slowly in a wary voice, "is hide and seek?"

"Well," Bulma said, a giddy feeling rising in her gut. "One of us hides somewhere, and the other person counts to ten. When they’re done counting they say; ‘Ready or not, here I come!’ and then they have to find the other

person."

"It sounds insane." He said.

"Oh, come on. When’s the last time you let yourself have any fun, Vegeta?"

He narrowed his eyes, his chin resting on his hands. "Never."

"Exactly." She stood up. "You count. I’ll hide!"

"I don’t want to play this children’s game!" he protested weakly, though something deep inside him was screaming at him to take the opportunity. "I have much more pride than that."

Bulma leaned across the table and slapped him on the shoulder. "That’s your problem!" she said with a laugh. "She took off down the hall. "Count to ten!" she called over her shoulder.

I can’t believe I’m doing this. Vegeta growled as he sat at the table. Does she honestly think this will be fun?

He quickly counted to ten and stalked out of the kitchen. He stood in the hall and sniffed the air. He turned to the right at a closet, which stored cleaning chemicals.

"You’re in the closet." He said with a sigh. "I won. Can I go to sleep now?"

Bulma pulled the closet door open and glared at him. "This really isn’t fair! You have such sharp senses." She stood up. "We should play something else."

Vegeta groaned. "No! I’m going to bed." He turned but Bulma latched onto his arm. "I don’t want to go to sleep down there yet." She complained. "Please?"

He yanked his arm free with a scowl and crossed his arms over his chest. "Like what?"

"Cards?" Bulma suddenly giggled quietly.

"What?" Vegeta followed her eyes to his towel, which was slowly starting to slip down his hips. He flushed angrily.

"I’m sorry, Vegeta." She shook her head with a little sigh and smile. "You’re not exactly dressed for playing games, are you? I guess I’m just bored…I know sleeping isn’t going to be easy tonight. I suppose I was just trying to put it off."

He shrugged and hitched the towel up around his waist. "Just try to get some sleep, all right? And don’t you dare go back to The Dungeons tomorrow."

"You can’t tell me what to do." She retorted softly.

"When I’m here to save your life, I damn well can."

She stared at him a moment longer and then looked away uncomfortably. "I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then." She rubbed the back of her head and moved off toward the stairs. She paused at the foot of them. "Vegeta?" he heard her call. Her voice was terribly quiet.

"Hn?"

"Do you hate me?"

A silence hung thick in the air while Vegeta tried to figure out what to say. "Only for making me have feelings like this." He mumbled, sure that she hadn’t heard him. He turned and went his own way toward the bedroom.

At the top of the stairs Bulma sucked in a breath.

She had heard him perfectly well.