Azure eyes lay fixed upon a bulky band clinging to her finger. Her face frowning irritably as she fumbled with its bulkiness. The shear weight of it was not meant for her delicate finger, but none the less, it held her importance in life. Marking her as one of the science division slaves. Slave. It was sad that a life had to be wasted in such a way.

Frequently she would transfer the band to a neighboring finger as to not tire the last any longer. Carefully though, if she were to loose it, it would mean certain death.

It was strange to think why a race such as the saiyajins gave their lowest class citizens, slaves, a heavy ring to mark them as such. Saiyajins may have been blood thirsty bastards that highly valued power and pride, but they also valued beauty. It would be much more comely for them to give their slaves a marker that signified more beauty than a weighty ring.

She remembered when she saw an old man be halted for not having his ring. He had pleaded for his life and offered many things in return. The soldier that stopped him had laughed and blew the poor man away. Whenever a female lost her ring ... they lived a bit long, but none of them wanted to be alive for those last moments. Usually male saiyajins looked out for missing rings so they could find an excuse for a lay. Just something to ease their tension on. Ever since being given the ring, she had been sure to never lose it. If she did ... she didn't even want to think about it.

She watched from her perch on top of a tall supply box. Vegitasei's second sun rising up in the horizon. The bright glow added to the burnt orange color of the planet resulting in crimson bursts of color to paint the early morning sky. Vegitasei woke like a battle hardened warrior, as though she was bleeding from mortal wounds caused by heaven's arrows. Did Vegitasei even have a heaven?

She could see a path of dust rising in the distance. Kingdom transports were already making the journey through the desert, to the temple. The entire population was coming to the Saiya Temple today. A million saiyajins, more or less, would have to pass hygienic protocol before being allowed into the temple perimeter. Ou Vegita had been very specific to them on how important it was to keep the temple clean, and free of impurities. Therefore, Bardock had issued a team of medical slaves to accompany them and perform an examination on each person before being allowed into the perimeter. She had been examined as well, just like every member of Bardock's team.

They had roused the slave quarters two hours before dawn. Bardock came to her earlier that morning and told her that she needed to be ready to go in half and hour. He always did things like that for her.

* * * flashback * * *

"Bardock, why are we leaving so early?" The sleep ridden slave asked her superior. Her stunning cerulean eyes still clouded over from the dream world.

"The temple has to be ready before sunset." He replied in a rough voice. She could tell he was in a serious mood.

"Grrrr, get up woman! I don't need a lazy tech slave bumbling around, messing this important operation up!" Bardock was obviously a little riled up. The fair woman rose and pulled on a pair of baggy work pants followed by a uniform shirt that she left untucked. Following obediently, she knew that her temper needed to be in check today.

* * * end flashback * * *

Still atop her high perch, the slave saw the other members of Bardock's science and tech team walk by unaware of her. After living with saiyajins for so long, she knew how to act around them. She listened carefully to their conversation, only able to pick up a bit of it.

"How come we are having to do common slave work? The king should know by now that Bardock's teams are the best and we should only be reserved for special operations." A gruff saiyajin asked his companion.

"This is a special operation! The kingship ceremony is the most important ceremony of the century! You know that baka..." The other member replied. He knew what was going on better than anyone. He was the oldest member of Bardock's team and his best friend, Toma.

The slave woman continued to stare at the approaching transports. She wondered what exactly the kingship ceremony included. Oh well, it wasn't her problem. She was still curious though. Her gaze stole away to her ring once again.

Bardock walked through the mass of his teams. So far he had completed the check on each med team member and tech team member. He still had one more team to go. Flipping the next page on his clip-board he saw it was the science division slaves. In order of rank, he read the first name.

"Bulma Briefs?" Bardock questioned, checking off the attendance of each slave. Hearing no response, he looked around. He could have sworn she had come with them. The saiyajin scientist had made sure that their best science slave came along. She showed extreme talent in electronics and other technical fields. Without her, the saiyajin race would not be as far along as they were.

"Bulma Briefs!" He called out louder, trying to spot the blue haired woman. She was sitting on a fairly tall cargo box next to the temple staring at something. How did she get up there anyway? He growled, sometimes she could be so spaced out.

"BULMA BRIEFS!" He yelled. Bardock saw the blue head snap up and stare at him. Her eyes were still slightly clouded over, but she acknowledged him.

"Yes." The slave replied quietly. He snorted at her in disappointment. If she wasn't worth as much as she was, he would have put her down a long time ago. The king had found her on a purge mission and given her to him for the science division. Ou Vegita had told him that she was of significant importance to them, and not to destroy her. Since that day the king had not allowed any harm to come to her. Oh well, he had other things to be thinking about. Bardock marked off her name and continued checking the present slaves.

Bulma jumped down gracefully and walked to the science team quickly. She dare not say a word, for the saiyajin guards would make commotion and that was the last thing she wanted right now. Getting on Bardock's bad side wasn't a good thing to do, especially today. She went back a long way with her superior. He had been the first saiyajin to be semi-nice to her. Bulma was very grateful he was her overlord, the other slaves weren't as lucky. He had taken her under his supervision as a technical slave and eventually made her a member of the science division as well as his personal science team. Today was a very important day in the Saiyajin Kingdom. Only a few hours were left until Ouji Vegita came to redeem himself. That meant that Bardock was already in a tight mood because they only had a little bit of time to check over the status of the temple.

The blue haired beauty sighed, her ring was making her hand ache from not being high enough past her knuckle. She really wanted to fix it but Bardock's team of guards were coming around to keep the slaves in order. If they saw her toying with her ring, they might get suspicious. They were probably already looking to see if any of the slaves didn't have their rings.

The science division was responsible for repairing the temple walls and administering safety precautions. They couldn't go inside. It just wasn't possible. The other teams had their own responsibilities and such. She was jostled out of her thoughts by a guard's wandering hand pinching her ass. She turned her head to face a massive saiyajin looking down at her. Her gorgeous blue eyes turned fierce and warned him to leave. His black eyes slid down to her right hand. Seeing for himself that she wore her slave ring, he waved her off and walked away. Damn saiyajins! They really set her blood on fire. It couldn't be healthy to have such a high testosterone level. Bulma managed to keep her cool for the time being. Bardock was coming towards her.

"Come on. We have to get the supplies unloaded and I put you in charge of security and wall repair." The saiyajin stated his orders as they walked towards the cargo boxes.

"Do you have any specifications on wall repair?" Bulma wondered. Bardock answered quickly.

"The only one needing repair is the east wall. Get it repaired within the hour and I'll have more orders ready for you then." She nodded and walked side by side with him until the reached the science team and ... the guards? The boxes must have been really heavy if they required guards to lift them. She took in each guards face, she knew most of them, including the brute that had pinched her. He was smirking at her even now. Bulma rolled her eyes and listened to Bardock explain that she was in charge. After he left she stepped up.

"Okay. I need three guards to take boxes to each of the marked places on the east wall ... " Bulma was grateful for the plentiful assistance, but that also meant she would have to be around saiyajin males for a few hours. Today was definitely going to be a long day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The high ceiling held no interest for him even though he appeared to be staring at it. His dark face was in a state of calm. Even though Vegita's thoughts weren't. The ouji laid stretched out like a large cat sunning itself on a ridiculously oversized bed. He was wearing his traditional training armor although his gold tipped boots lay in a pile on the floor near the door.

Vegita's train of thought was interrupted by a soft knocking.

"Enter." His voice was virtually void of care. A shaky servant stepped into the room.

"Sire, the king informs you that you have an hour to get prepared for the ceremony." The skinny slave's mouth trembled with fright. Vegita hesitated before replying.

"Leave." His voice no more emotional than before. The slave bent at the waist and backed out of the room so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet.

"Hn." Vegita rose into a sitting position and slid off the bed. He walked towards the door to gather his boots and slipped them on with ease.

Soon he would have to face the toughest feat of his life. As did every prince of the saiyajin race before him. He smirked. Of course, he would out do them all. It was well known that he was the most powerful of all the saiyajins, excluding his father. Thinking that, his smirk fell. His stupid old man would learn soon enough that he was old enough to be a fitted king. Oh yes, in due time. The old bastard had the royal tutors explain the whole thing to him over the years. When the reining prince turned of age, he was required to prove his royalty by entering the Saiya Temple. Vegita's eighteenth birthday had been only a few days ago and he had requested that he be allowed to go to the temple. His father accused him of being to rushed but ordered the preparations none the less.

The Saiya Temple was an ancient structure used for the kingship ceremony, where the reigning prince proved his ability to become king. Only saiyajins of royal blood, ripe at the age of eighteen were able to enter. The temple had refused other princes because of asking for premature entrance. The design tested the maturity and nobility by a sample of blood. Once the blood was tested and the door opened, it remained so and anyone could enter until the door was closed manually. If his bastard of a father had done it, so could he and he would surpass him in the process. He smirked walking out the door and towards the transport station.

* * * * *

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