It had taken six days of being alone on a Capsule ship with Vegeta before they had finally landed on R’haksin. The Planet itself was rather small and, as Vegeta had explained, cramped. Most of everything Bulma first laid eyes on was either red or black, and the earth itself beneath them was a strange rock-like soil. It crumbled like dry clay beneath the massive ship.

She supposed it was not as bad as she had thought it to be, although, they had yet to be greeted by the Storkrins. Now they stood on the platform that loomed over the strange alien soil and looked out over the vast impenetrable darkness. For a good few moments neither said a thing as they both stood as though alone, thinking their own private thoughts. Then suddenly Vegeta picked up a strange noise and pushed Bulma back with his arm. He glared.

"Get behind me." Vegeta said as he backed her up against the ships door. She obliged, wanting no chance to tangle with the hideous malformations that she imagined lurking in the shadows.

The Storkrins proved to be far from what she had imagined.

"They come." Vegeta’s voice was a low murmur.

They slunk low to the ground as they cautiously edged from the cover of the shadows and into the dim light of the ship. The first thing Bulma noticed was that under the thick, armored eyebrows, their small red eyes watched them with a stunning intelligence.

Each stood upright like a man, but walked very low to the ground, their spines sloping downward to give them a U shaped look. They walked with a slow and powerful gate, shuffling sideways, much like a Dinosaur. They had massive thighs and calves corded with rippling muscle and the legs ended in giant sized human feet, with thick soles and slightly clawed toes. Each wore a hooded cloak. All that could be seen from the depths of the hoods were the thin slits of red eyes and a rounded snout. Crooked arms hung from the sleeves of the cloaks and dangled close to the ground, ending in gnarled claws. Bulma made the connection; these were Lizard creatures. Thick tails lashed out behind them, spraying the strange soil and dust in every direction. It was an agitated movement.

The first stepped forward to Vegeta; its head cocked slightly to the side as it examined him. She noticed that none held weapons. This made her uneasy; as though they had absolutely no fear of them at all. Hadn’t Vegeta said that they were frightened of him?

"Prince?" the creature asked. Its voice was low and powerful, the noise guttural and rumbling. She assumed it to be a male by its voice and size. It surprised her that they spoke English.

"Treskor." Vegeta nodded in reply.

"Why do you come? Who isss the human?" the creature, Treskors, voice changed somehow. Bulma noticed a sudden menacing tone.

"She is Bulma Briefs. And she is under my care." Vegetas eyes swept the crowd. "None shall touch her."

Another Storkrin stepped forward, emboldened by his leaders fearlessness. "Why doesss the Prince ssstil live? Wasss Vegetasssei not dessstroyed?"

Vegeta shot him a dark look, and the Storkrin backed up a pace. "Yes. It was destroyed, though not by a meteorite as many of you neighboring planets were told. Freiza took it upon himself to destroy it, fortunately while I was away. Us Sayajins were becoming a threat." He smirked without humor.

A surprised murmur rose in the crowd. Storkrins began stepping forward to join their comrade, their beady eyes searching, calculating, and examining. Bulma felt utterly naked under their gaze.

"What isss the Prince doing with the Earthling?" the Storkrin asked. "I sssense sssomething in her…"

As if suddenly making the connection, Treskor growled and clenched his hands, shuffling closer to Vegeta, his eyes following Bulma’s. "Ssshe hasss the sssicknesss." He hissed loudly. "Take her away." The other Storkrins cried out in dismay, shrinking back from the terrible illness that had befallen their people, nearly diminishing them to a handful. Bulma was surprised to see such pure terror in their eyes; Fortricres must be far more terrible than she imagined. It made her stomach lurch with the thought that she was infected with it.

"I brought her here because of the sickness." Vegeta’s voice was just as loud and firm.

Treskor advanced quickly, lashing his tail about. "We want none of it. Leave usss!"

Vegeta’s eyes turned hard. "No. We will remain here, until a Psytrim Osis can be obtained. I live with this woman now, and I will cure her sickness."

Treskor hissed, brining his hood back with his claws. His face could have been described as human, but had evolved over time into definite Lizard features. His skin was hard and red, and his nostrils and eyebrows were armored and heavy. He exhaled loudly into the air, and for the first time Bulma realized that she could easily breath the air. It too seemed all together too lucky.

"Then you have come at the wrong ssseason, Prince. We have yet a month of your Earth time until the Psytrim growsss."

Bulma gasped. Vegeta turned to her. "Don’t." he frowned. "It’s only a minor setback. We’ll just have to stay here a bit longer than I thought."

Instantly a million thoughts raced through Bulmas mind. A month? Here? With these creatures? With their limited supplies? What would everyone back home be thinking? Perhaps they thought she had been kidnapped…raped…killed? Bulma felt a tiny sob in her throat. She was so stupid to think this would work! So stupid!!

Vegeta sensed her thoughts and stepped off the Capsule ship’s ramp. The Storkrins scattered quickly. "You will work with me, and you will listen to what I have to say." He stepped up to the massive Treskor and eyed him with harsh intent. "I will make an example of anyone who touches or harms this earthling female. I will disembowel you and scatter your innards across this galaxy, mark my words." Ebony eyes washed over the hissing crowd. "You will allow us to stay on R’haksin until the Pystrim grows. You will provide us with whatever we will need without argument. When the Pystrim is obtained, we shall leave. Not before. Is that understood?"

"You are being harsssh, Prince Vegeta." Treskor spread his clawed hands wide. "Would I refussse you?" the red lips curled into a half-grin devoid of humor, but full of cruel sarcasm.

Bulma did not miss the obvious challenge in the giant Lizard-man’s voice, and was suddenly expecting Vegeta to fire a good-sized hole through his chest. Apparently by the sounds of the other Storkrins they thought so, as well.

Vegeta smirked back. "You and I both know you would not. We all remember well what I did to those who did all those years ago."

Treskor drew back with a snarl. "There are not many placesss you can ssstay, Prince." His tiny eyes switched back to Bulma. "The dungeonsss, perhapsss?"

It released a bit of the tension. A number of the Storkrins laughed, but Vegeta remained rock hard in his demeanor. "We will be fine in our ship." He said coldly. "Anyone of you who dares enter this ship at any time will be killed." He turned his heavily muscled back to them and looked at Bulma.

"Come on," he said, "We both need to rest."

Bulma said nothing and followed suit. The ships door closed with a hiss of steam, shutting out the prying eyes of the Storkrins.

* * *

They consumed a meal of sandwiches. Bulma hardly touched hers, and noticed that Vegeta was doing the same. He had only eaten nine, as opposed to his usual seventeen or so. She wiped her mouth with her napkin and looked suspiciously at him.

"Why aren’t you eating?"

He swallowed and put both elbows on the table. "I was about to ask you the same question."

"I asked you first."

He shot her a glare. "If you must know, I’m saving the better half for you." He paused. "I don’t want you to die on me so that this whole trip was for nothing."

"Thanks." Bulma said flatly, although she knew exactly how huge a favor the Prince was doing her. It was so unlike him to put aside his usual selfishness for her personal well being.

He finished and pushed away from the table. "Go to sleep." He ordered. "You need to."

Bulma tried to hide the fear in her eyes. Sleep. She hadn’t considered it yet. The small lights that hung above their heads while they ate were so comforting. They drove away the terror of the Lizard beasts outside. Vegeta caught her look.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"I just…I guess I’m not looking forward to sleeping." She said quietly. "Those Storkrins are horrible…" she trailed off and looked at him. "Did you see the way they all looked at me?"

"That’s because ninety percent of their females are either dead or rotting away in diseased infested Dungeons." He smirked cruelly. "They’d love to get a hold of you."

Bulma started, horrified. "What?"

He stopped smirking. "You know I won’t let anything happen to you. None of them are stupid enough to come in here. They wouldn’t dare."

"Are you sure?"

"They know what I’m capable of."

His usual confidence wasn’t reassuring her this time. "But…I’m all the way downstairs. What if one of them gets in somehow, and I’m defenseless because of the Fortricres, and-

"Woman!" he cut her off sharply. "Shut up! With my Sayajins senses, nothing could get by me unnoticed. Now go to sleep, and stop worrying about stupid things." He paused and softened his voice considerably. "Have some faith in me."

Bulma got up and shot him her own scowl. "It’s not a stupid thing to worry about, Vegeta." She countered, and stalked out of the room. She turned before she exited through the doorway.

"I have faith." She said quietly. "But I have much more fear."

* * *

The ship was cold and the sheets did not do much to block it out. Bulma shivered beneath them and stared at the wall, her eyes transfixed, as if she were waiting for some giant Lizard man to crash through the concrete and devour her-

She squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn’t doing her any good. She lifted the covers and stared down at her body. Wearing only a blue tank top she inwardly cursed herself for not bringing more suitable clothing. But it had been such a split second decision to come anyway. It wasn’t as though she had had time to make a list.

Bulma clenched the sheets up to her chin. Upstairs she imagined Vegeta sprawled out over the bed snoring like some mountainous ogre. He could sleep fine. He had enough strength to lift a couple of busses. So why should he feel afraid of the Storkrins when he knew he could easily fend for himself? Would he rescue her, if one of them burst in and tried to rape her mercilessly?

She felt nauseous that she didn’t know the answer.

* * *

Bulma paused at the edge of Vegeta’s bed, which she noted with a hint of jealousy, was far larger than her own downstairs. Holding her glass of water in her right hand she was content to stand and examine him while she drank. Surprisingly, he was not sprawled out mountainously. Nor was he snoring like an ogre. In fact, he was tucked in neatly inside the sheets, breathing deeply and softly. She cocked her head to the side. He looks so peaceful…

She chuckled inwardly when she remembered him boasting of his sharp Sayajin senses. Why was it that he had not awakened now, while she stood here in front of him, slurping loudly at her drink?

Half expecting him to kick his leg out like a dog and whimper Bulma could not hold in her laugh. She pursed her lips in an attempt but was unsuccessful and doubled over guffawing at the mental image that had suddenly formed in her mind.

Vegeta bolted upright and had a hand wrapped around her neck before she could even blink. She gurgled and tried to keep her water from tipping as she stood unbalanced and looking quite ungraceful while the Prince held her in a death grip. He released her with a glare and leaned back, the sheets dangerously low on his abdomen. Bulma righted herself and took a moment to regain some dignity.

He spoke. "What the hell are you doing, woman?"

Bulma cleared her throat uncomfortably and shrugged. "Nothing! I came to get a drink and I decided to see if you were awake…" she trailed off, knowing full well she sounded like a complete dork.

"Why would I be?"

"I…don’t know!" she sputtered, trying to avert her eyes from the delicious view of his tanned midsection and the dark trail of hair that-

She saw his smirk and blushed deeply.

"What!?" she cried. "Could you at least cover that up! Kami!" she turned from him. "Don’t you Sayajins ever get embarrassed!?"

"No." he replied calmly. "Does that bother you?"

She bristled. "Yes!"

"Why?" Vegeta sat up further, the sheets lowering until they hardly covered a thing. He pulled up his knees and loosely dangled his hands between them.

"It just…" Bulma turned to shoot him her icicle scowl but stopped when she noticed the state he was suddenly in. Vegeta didn’t seem to take notice, nor did he care. His eyes moved from her disheveled hair to her slightly parted lips, down to the gorgeous curve of her hips that were hardly hidden by the tiny scrap of material she wore. When she moved just the right way, his eyes were quick to catch the flash of black lace that served as her underwear. He felt himself growing harder.

Bulma sputtered, tried to say something, gave up, and ran off with her glass of water and a terribly red face. Vegeta watched her go and experienced a sudden strange feeling of disappointment. What…did I expect her to jump in here with me? He lay back in the sheets and slid a hand beneath them, closing his eyes, his breathing turning ragged as he tried desperately to satisfy himself. With the vision of her scantily clad body standing inches from his own it wasn’t hard.

Strange…

When it was over, he still didn’t feel satisfied.