Bulma graciously accepted a towel from one of the other girls, wiping the sweat that dripped and ran vigorously from her body. From behind she heard an audible clap. Turning, she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, what's that nasty look for? I was just applauding you on a job well done." Her buyer took a step towards her, running his hand along her bare shoulder in the process. "I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't'..." His eyes traveled own her body impudently. "show all of your best assets."

She gave a fake, sarcastic grin at him, only to sneer and push him away. "Sorry, I may be a showgirl, but I'm not a whore. You nor anyone else gets to so all of me."

His eyebrow quirked and he gave a cheeky grin. "Really? We'll see about that. You may not be one to hop into my bed willingly Bulma girl, but I assure you," He said with his voice dropping to a purr. "you will by one means or another."

And with that, he left. Bulma only shuddered at the grotesque thought, then went to find her dressing chambers. One of the girls escorted her to it, and when she arrived, she locked the door behind her. The room was decent, fairly clean, and had a large mirror for makeup touches. Sitting down in her chair, she idly looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was beautiful, even more so than ever, but the evident anguish she carried with her could be seen in her eyes. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, her grief was slowly tearing her apart. Her glassy eyes began to water, and slowly, tears began to fall from her face. Before she knew it, she had broken down in front of the mirror, choking with loud sobs.

"There's no need to cry babe. I'll be here to cheer ya up."

Shocked by the other voice in the room, Bulma sharply jerked her head to the side. "W-who's there?" She asked, her voice faltering from fear.

"Only me." A deep voice replied, stepping out of the dark shadows. A tall man was revealed, older and very large, with whiskers protruding all over his face. "How about we have some fun?" He said with a devious grin, stalking towards her, making Bulma tensely back up towards the corner of the room. Thrusting his hand forward, he slammed it to the empty space beside her head, making her jump. His breath reeked of sake, the foul smell of alcohol evident. His hand slithered its way to her thigh, making Bulma cringed each time it inched up her thigh, coming dangerously close to the conjuncture of her thighs. She tried to go for the groin, but he only prevailed by bending his knee to prevent her from doing so.

He smiled maliciously. "Naughty girl, you're going to have to pay for that." He replied hoarsely, ripping open her shirt. Bulma immediately screamed for help, hoping someone, anyone would come. He quickly covered his large hand over her mouth, muffling her cries. "If you know what's good for you, you'd better shut up bitch." His hand assumed it's position over her lower mound, the other on her breast, making Bulma whimper from the disgusting feel of his dirty hands violating her body.

"P-please...stop." She pleaded softly. He only ignored her, continuing his assault.

***************

"That showgirl was something else." Nappa commented to Vegeta, as they walked out the club through the back entrance.

Vegeta only kept silent, keeping any thoughts to himself. They walked past the dressing chambers, and Nappa's babbling came to a halt when Vegeta raised his hand.

"Sir, what's wrong?" Nappa questioned, seeing the serious statement on the young prince's face.

Vegeta only ignored him, walking up to one of the dressing rooms, leaning his ear upon the door. His keen sayain hearing picked up on the whimpers and cries of a female. By the sound of it, they were not sounds of pleasure...

In one swift kick, he bolted down the door, revealing a distraught and half naked Bulma, with the drunken man leering over her.

"What da hell do yoooouuu want?" The man spoke in drunken slurs.

Vegeta growled, picking him up by his collar and slamming him roughly against the hard wall. "How dare you..." Vegeta snarled, his fangs showing as his voice rose. "If there is one thing I cannot stand in this universe, it's men who are so worthless they have to rape and violate another's body." His hands were now grinding into his throat, making the man gag and choke from lack of air. Vegeta glared at him, his eyes flaring with an unspoken rage. His hands gripped even tighter, before he flung the man out the door, making him crash loudly into the wall.

Bloody, bruised, and with a smashed vocal cord, the man scurried out of the hallway, fleeing for his life.

Bulma witnessed the whole thing, her body still trembling in the aftermath of her assault. Vegeta turned to the woman, his dark coal eyes piercing into her endless pools of blue. They stared for a long while, neither of them saying a word. Finally, Vegeta was the first to speak.

"Onna...." He whispered, his brows knit with concern. "Daijoubu?"

"Hai...hai..." She finally managed to choke out. Her hands moved to cover her upper body with the remains of her ripped shirt. Stepping up, she quickly ran into his arms, to his utter shock. "A-arigato." She sobbed into his chest, gripping his body tightly as she cried. In the awkward situation, Vegeta was unsure of what to do, so his hands reluctantly patted her back to console her. Bulma continued to cry, until she realized what she was doing. Here was a man who had just saved her, and she didn't even know his name. She practically flung into his arms, without even knowing who he was. Her body loosened from his as she backed away. "G-gomen. I don't even know your name."

"Vegeta." He answered simply.

"Mine is---"

"Bulma. I already know your name onna." Vegeta finished her sentence for her.

"Oh, I see. Uh...well..." Her mouth tried to find the words to speak, but for some reason, she found difficulty. "Again, thank you for saving me."

Vegeta suddenly came to his senses, realizing how nice he was being. He also remembered he was not in the room alone, Nappa was watching the whole thing, and saw the sudden rush of sympathy engulf the young prince. Vegeta only nodded his head, turning to leave until the woman's voice stopped him.

"Wait!" Bulma yelled from the corner. She ran over to him, blushing profusely as she spoke. "Uh...maybe one day I'll be able to thank you properly." She face became even more flushed when she realized what she had just said. Her words didn't intend to sound that way. "What I mean is, this is such an informal way for us to meet. Maybe some other time we meet it would be on better terms. Uh...well, I'll let you be on your way. Maybe I'll see you another time, at the bar."

Vegeta gave her a quizzical statement, before giving a small grin. "Very well." He said in a complacent tone, before walking out, and closing the door behind him.

Bulma stood alone, her heart beating rapidly by the second. What the hell am I doing? She scolded herself. Here I am pinning over some guy, when I almost got raped! She began to think about the absurd way she was acting around him. I must have been like a giddy school girl, having some adolescent crush. On top of that, she forgot about herself appearance wise. He probably assumed was just some low-class whore, getting her kicks by sleeping with rich men. She shook her head in disapproval. "Oh well, maybe I'll see him again and get this all straightened out."

***************

On their way out, Nappa kept opening his mouth to speak, but kept stopping himself in fear of he might say the wrong thing. Right when he was about to ask a question, he was silenced by his prince.

"Shut up while you're ahead Nappa." Vegeta remarked, looking over at him. "What I choose to do is my business, no one else's."

"I understand Sir." Nappa replied quickly. "Excuse my rudeness. I dare not question your actions." Nappa looked around nervously before speaking again. "Uh...can we come back tomorrow?"

Vegeta sharply turned, raising his hand as though he would strike Nappa. Instead, he raised his finger to his lip. "Perhaps." He said, getting amusement from frightening his comrade.

****************

Bulma, thoroughly exhausted, flopped down lazily onto her bed. The mattress creaked from old springs, and it barely supported the weight of her body when she laid down. A guard had to escort her to her metal room, making sure there was no possible way for her to escape. A loud knock at the steel door, made Bulma rise from her bed to see. The door opened, and on the other side was a young girl with a large tray of food. "Good evening. I was told to bring you food after your performance." The girl said walking in, setting the tray on the small wooden table. "I saw your performance tonight. Wow, you were really something else."

Bulma's cheeks reddened from embarrassment at the comment. "Uh thanks..."

"Don't be embarrassed. I know I may be young, but you're the best out of all us girls. No one has ever seen dancing like that here."

"Really?" Bulma asked, surprised.

"Uh huh. Most of do the traditional geisha dances. You know, slow, smooth movements. It's mostly with our hands. None of us are nearly as fast paced as you." She said with a smile. She began to fill an empty glass with water. "We also heard about that little save from one of the men earlier."

"You did?" Bulma said shocked, wondering how her business got around so quickly.

"Yep." She said handing her the filled glass. "All of the girls were talking about how hot he was earlier." She gave a thoughtful look. "Funny, no one has seen him around here. He doesn't seem to be from around here." She shook her head, and gave a small smile. "Sorry, you're new and here I am rambling on about stupid things. Anyway, it was nice to meet the famous Bulma."

Bulma sheepishly grinned, scratching the back of her head from embarrassment. "Uh thanks..." She held out her hand. "Gomen, I didn't get your name."

"Llandra." She smiled, graciously taking her hand for a shake. Both of them had their formal greeting before the guard announced it was time for Llandra to leave. "Ja ne."

***************

Bulma took slow, calm breaths as she prepped herself before going onstage. It's okay. You've done this before, you can do this again. For some reason, her palms were sweating and she was nervous. She kept trying to find the reason for this sudden shyness, and that's when she remembered him. Am I nervous because he might be out there? That's when it hit her. Does he think that I'm just a whore? A girl who strips because of her own free will?

"Bulma!"

Bulma shook her head, getting out of her daze. "H-hai..."

"What are you doing just standing there! It's your turn to go up!" One of the other girls scolded, pushing Bulma onto the stage.

The bright spotlight immediately shined on her, it's bright ray blinding her. The music in the background began to play, this time a slow haunting tune, instead of the usual fast paced ones. It seemed to make sense, most of the time, depending on her outfit, the music would change. The last time she danced, harem music played to fit her Arabian style garb. This time, her outfit consisted of a long, flowing silk chemise, adorning with a fancy robe atop of it. It was a deep rich, blue green, with jewels accenting the lower hem. Her hair was pinned up also, clad with jewels and pins to accentuate her beauty.

Slowly, her body swayed to the soothing sounds, her hands moving in graceful manner. By the sounds of the crowd, this piece seemed to bore them, so she decided to spice things up a bit. She undid her restraining bun, letting her richly loose curls fall to frame her face. She swung, grasping her robe tie, letting her robe loosen as she did so. As soon as the music's beats began to grow faster, she threw her robe off, revealing the scantily clad garment underneath. This time, the crowd definitely reacted, the cheers bounced off the walls, making her ears ring. She only smirked slyly to herself, as she scanned the room for Vegeta. Almost disappointed, she frowned at him not being there. Part of her was actually looking forward to seeing him again, to thank him for he did. Sighing, she continued her dance.

*******************

Bulma walked backstage, downing a large glass of water on the table.

"That was a very nice performance."

Bulma slammed her glass down, ready to scream at who she thought was her buyer.

"Yeah, I have to give nice performances for you, you stupid ba--" Her sentence was cut short when she realized exactly who she was talking to.

"Stupid...You were saying?" Vegeta replied, an impish smirk set upon his lips.

Bulma's cheeks flushed from embarrassment. "G-gomen. I thought you were someone else." Her head titled, and she looked somewhat confused. "You were watching?"

"Hai."

"Really? I didn't see you anywhere in the crowd."

"Oh...So you were looking for me?"

The red in Bulma's cheeks were now a full out crimson color. "Ah...well..." Her face suddenly went to serious. "I have to talk to you about something."

"Me? Very well..."

Bulma walked to her dressing room, Vegeta following. Once they were inside, Bulma instructed him to sit down while she changed behind her vanity. (I don't know what those things are people change behind)

Vegeta sat with a smug smile while he saw the outline of Bulma' s body through the thin vanity. "You wanted to talk?"

"Oh yeah..." Bulma said from the other side of her dressing vanity, throwing a shirt over her head. "I wanted to know...what your first impression was of me."

"N-nani?"

* * * * *