Rising from her seat, Bulma asked her guard to wait a moment as she straightened herself out. She had chosen a crimson gown for this evening. It was in fact one of her favorites. Radditz had given it to her for her twentieth turning of age. It was made of the finest silks found on the southeastern stretch of Vegeta-sei. A few months prior they had been traveling and had found the floor length, curve fitted gown, but she had been too hesitant to buy it. All of her financial wealth came directly from Vegeta, and though he always insisted on her freedom to spend it, she never felt right doing so unless it was for necessities. So to her regret, she had passed on purchasing the dress. But the disappointment was only for a short time as her husband to be made the purchase without her knowledge and presented it to her those short months later.

She had always regretted that he left before having the chance to see her in it. It was a pleasure to rectify that error this evening. After she finished hooking a modest pair of white diamond earrings and matching necklace, she walked over to the door and swung it open happily. "So what do you th—" before her thought could be finished, Bulma realized that her guest was not in fact her guard, but the devious king that has prompted this very marriage. Glaring angrily, she hissed, "I have nothing to say to you." Grabbing her door, she attempted to slam it in his face, but was briskly stopped as he forced it to remain open enough to step inside the room.

"Well, good evening to you too, Princess," an ominous warning followed the sarcastic tone. "I will not be leaving until we come to an understanding about how this evening will proceed." Juunanagou’s voice was low and menacing as he slammed and locked the door behind him.

Bulma tried to push past him to avoid whatever lies or threats he wished to vow, but she had no chance as the king grabbed a clump of her loosely curled, long flowing hair, and knotted it between his fingers securely, forcing her head back to look at him. "Let me go, you bastard." She fought fruitlessly against his hold.

Juunanagou only chuckled at her demand before taking the liberty of running his free hand from the curve of her hip up to her shoulder. When his victim continuously tried to pull away from him, his gentle touch swiftly became rough as he grabbed her fighting arms and pinned them behind her back, ensuring his prey’s helplessness as he spoke his intentions. "You are mine, little one; I have tried every peaceful means to prove that very point to you. I was kind, gentlemanly, seductive, friendly, empathetic, hell I even went so far as to raise my sister from the dead, at a great possible expense to me," he pulled her body closer as he nearly shouted the words, "just to claim you as my own! But, no, you insist upon this farce of a fling with your warden, well I will not stand for it anymore!" He stopped to control his breath as he looked upon the female with growing hate in her eyes. If she were angered now, after this, she would surely be livid. "You say you love him, ne?" he forced her face closer to his while demanding, "Answer me!"

"Yes!" Bulma confessed proudly, as she defiantly looked upon the man. "And anything I ever thought I felt for you is daily becoming more and more clearly a mistake. You are truly everything Vegeta accused you of being." She felt no fear in admitting the confession; she would not allow herself to be manipulated by him any longer.

Suppressing a chuckle, Juunanagou slowly raised and lowered his head in affirmation as he reminded, "my dear, you have no idea what I am capable of, but you will know," he swung her around like a rag doll before throwing her to the floor at the foot of her bed. Pulling a small dagger from the confines of his sleeve, he knelt down next to her, grabbing her face to reorient her as he pressed the weapon against her throat. "Now you listen carefully to me, princess, because you are going to do everything I say, exactly how I say it, or else."

"Or else what?" Bulma cut him off shrewdly, "you will kill me? We both know you won’t do that."

A smirk rose across the conniving man’s lips as he agreed, "of course you are right, my darling, I could not kill you, that would completely defeat the purpose of my plan, now wouldn’t it?" he eyed her body lustfully to emphasize his point. "No, my fair princess, it is not your life that you need be so concerned about, but the life of your precious warden instead."

Bulma could not help but widen her eyes in dread as she heard the warning, "you—you can’t hurt Vegeta! You would not!" She stuttered apprehensively, the king could not possibly make such an obtuse suggestion.

"Wouldn’t I?" Juunanagou’s smirk grew wider as he began to inform her of his master plan. "I understand tonight you will be announcing your selection for husband. Now, I of course can not force you to announce my name, but I will warn, that should you promise yourself to anyone but me this evening, an archer under my order has been given a single task: to kill your fatherly lover."

"No!" Bulma tried to shake her head, but the dagger was too close to her throat. "You can not do this!"

"Me? I am not doing anything, princess," Juunanagou was complacent in his tone. "The choice is completely yours. Either you bind yourself to me, or I kill your warden; your life or his? I will take one of them before the end of this evening, whose it is will be entirely in your hands," pulling the dagger away from her throat, Juunanagou rose to his feet, watching somewhat disappointedly as his bride to be remained sunken dejectedly on the floor. Repressing his feelings of empathy, he began carefully explaining his orders to her. Describing her actions this evening, from her every word she would whisper to her guardian to her every lie that he had so meticulously plotted. When he finished, he ordered the numbed female to look upon him as he warned, "And do not even think about telling anyone about our little arrangement, if I even suspect that Vegeta has any clue as to what is going on, I will order my archer to kill him regardless." Putting his dagger back in his brace, the king knelt down once more to finish with the last of his insistences. "And one more thing, Bulma," he removed a loose strand of hair from her head as he said so, "I want to make certain there is no going back after this. And of course we both know of only one sure fire way to make that happen," he allowed a stray finger to slide down the front of her chest to circle her breasts. "Tonight," the one word seemed to sum up all that was meant to be.

As the dark king rose to his feet, he did not bother to turn back as he heard the soft sobs begin to be released from his future bride. She would soon overcome her grief and realize that they were meant for one another. This affection she felt for Vegeta was merely a misguided infatuation, he was certain of it. And so would she be, after this evening.

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Radditz departed from his room rather miserably. For as exciting as the concepts of being raised to the rank of elite and becoming formally engaged with the princess should be, the event was clouded by the despair of his brother’s mate. After his failed return, he had learned of the female’s ghostly condition. His brother was a mess over the matter, vowing not to leave his lover’s side until she came back to the world of the rational. He only hoped that would be sometime soon.

Heading towards his fiancé’s chambers, Radditz’s eyes scanned the floor, absently trying to process the several perplexing occurrences that needed to be addressed. From Bulma’s mysterious attacker, to his midnight rendezvous with the secretive blond haired minx, and now the peculiar mental state of Chi-Chi, the Saiya-jin could not help but feel an uncanny intuition that all of these recent events were in some way intertwined.

"Watch where you are going," a particularly familiar female voice snapped at him as his musing led him to nearly run over an unsuspecting female.

"I am sorry, I was not—" as Radditz raised his head to apologize, he stopped mid-sentence as he saw whom he was having a rather déjà vu encounter with. "You," he used the nondescript title, since he was still oblivious to the enchanting female’s name.

"Do you accost every onna you walk by, or just me?" the sarcastic tone was followed by a witty smile.

Seeming as though she held no ill will towards him at present, Radditz relaxed slightly, "No, it seems to only be you," he answered calmly. "How are you?" he felt stupid asking the question, but he wanted to know regardless.

"Fine," she said with some hesitation. "I was just off to dinner."

Radditz nodded in understanding before taking a moment to regard her choice attire. She was impeccably dressed in a flowing navy blue gown. He wondered if she knew navy blue was a color only to be worn by Saiya-jin royalty. "Well, you look fetching. I am sure your lost lover will be jealous indeed."

"And what makes you think I dress for his benefit?" Juuhachigou snapped coyly. This man seemed to be more perceptive than he appeared.

"Just a hunch," he briefly glanced outside to see the nearly setting sun. "Well, as much of a pleasure as it was seeing you again, I am afraid I have an engagement to get to." Bowing respectfully, he turned to leave, when a question stopped him dead in his tracks.

"It would not be princess Bulma’s by any chance, would it?"

Turning around slowly, Radditz raised a curious brow. "Yes, you heard she is to announce her suitor this evening? I thought it was going to be kept to a meager audience of planetary leaders, Saiya-jin elites, and their few close allies."

Juuhachigou bit her bottom lip nervously as she asked, "then you are an elite?" If this Saiya-jin was a high ranking guard then the chances of Vegeta finding out about their night was much more plausible than she had originally thought.

"Yes," he decided to skip the technicalities, and not mention that he would still be a second-class guard for another few hours. It was close enough. "But, that does not explain how you knew of this evening’s plans, unless your husband is one of the alliance leaders." Radditz choked on his words, if that were the case, he had most assuredly chosen the wrong female to bed.

Shaking her head, Juuhachigou barely spoke, "I should be getting to dinner. If I see you there," she paused, locking eyes with him almost pleadingly, "we have never met before." A silent nod of agreement was made by the Saiya-jin before the pair took off in the opposite directions, both oblivious to magnitude of the truths they refrained from admitting.

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"Always a pleasure, Vegeta," Juunanagou mocked after receiving a threatening order to vacate the premises. Apparently the king did not want him present for what would surely be his own engagement.

"You truly are a glutton for punishment," Vegeta scowled as he narrowed his eyes, "the onna has already outright rejected you. Why come to witness her final refusal as she agrees to join with another?"

The Adajinzoun king smirked as he bowed mockingly, "of course you are right, Vegeta. As difficult as this night will be for me, I must be present to support my sister, who by the way, just arrived," he gestured towards the entrance, "why not escort her to sit by your side?"

Vegeta merely glared at the man before taking his enemy’s advice to seek out his wife. She was an integral part to ending this charade; he had to see what he could do to convince her to end this madness. "Juuhachigou," the neutral annunciation of her name was followed by a curt nod.

"Hello, Vegeta," the queen glanced past him to receive a foreboding glare from her brother. She knew he would be watching to make certain she was careful with her banter. "A blessed occasion is it not. Our ward will be promising herself to a man she loves, how I wonder what that must be like."

The suggestive note sent chills down Vegeta’s spine. Clearly she was still bitter about Kakarrot, but only so much could be done about that. "If you knew anything about our ward, you would know that she does not desire to be married. She, like you, is being forced into a situation she holds no desire for. You should have much empathy for her."

The queen chuckled as she listened to his assessment. How naïve of him to believe the false comparison would break her will. "Do not compare my tragedy to that of Princess Bulma; she is having the privilege of selecting a man she loves. If anything, I am jealous of her freedoms." Pushing past her husband, she felt no further need to listen to his manipulations.

Growling in frustration, Vegeta clenched his fists in a meager attempt to control his rage. Was his wife truly so ignorant as to believe Bulma was joining with the man she loved? ‘What lies has your brother been feeding you, Juuha?’ the profound question was not to be pondered further, as Vegeta saw Bulma finally enter the dining hall on the arm of Radditz. Though their togetherness irritated him to no end, he handled the matter with supreme composure as he walked over to the pair. "Could the two of you have been any later?" The question was meant in good humor, though it was not in the least accepted that way.

"Well, we would not have to be here at all if your wife did not demand I marry," the brutally sardonic comment made Vegeta’s eyebrows rise. Was he emitting some pheromone that was infuriating all females who were exposed to him? Before he could question her tone, she spoke again, "I need a drink," she informed Radditz specifically before heading off in a similar manner Juuhachigou had moments ago.

"What the hell was that?" Vegeta glowered at the guard, assuming he had something to do with the female’s sour disposition.

"I am not certain," Radditz shrugged uncertainly. "Since I arrived at her room she has been in this very defensive, almost spiteful spirit. It does not quite make sense."

"She must be nervous," Vegeta concluded after some thought. The onna never liked public situations, specifically ones where she was the focus of attention. Her anger, he assumed, was a defense mechanism. "Let us allow her a few minutes to calm herself while I announce your rise in rank."

More than excited to have the title bequeathed to him, the guard followed Vegeta towards the formation of elites he would soon be joining.

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The induction proceeded rather eventless. Radditz, to the curiosity of the court, received his new title, while Bulma watched from a distance. As filled with trepidation as she was about what she had to soon do, she allowed herself a moment of joy for her guard. He long deserved to be made a higher rank; she only wished she would be staying longer to see it.

"Are you ready, my darling," the smarmy voice made Bulma’s skin crawl as Juunanagou skimmed his hand over the naked flesh of her back.

"I am more than ready to do whatever it takes to ensure Vegeta’s safety, that is all I see this evening as," she turned around to face her blackmailer. She would not give him the satisfaction of believing he had won.

"Whatever makes you perform best," Juunanagou chuckled as he kept his voice low, very much aware of those around him. "Make certain you stick to my every order, if you so much as stray slightly, it will mean your precious Vegeta’s death. Remember that, love," he finished his thought with a foreboding nod towards the barely visible silhouette of the archer primed to kill her warden at any moment. Almost immediately after eyeing the assassin, she heard the sound of her king’s voice echoing throughout the room, announcing that prior to the feast a pronouncement was to be made. She knew it was time.

Repressing the desire to backhand the sinister smirk off of her soon to be husband’s face, Bulma walked through the gradually parting crowd to stand beside her warden. "And now she will make her selection," those final words echoed through Bulma’s mind as her eyes drifted back and forth from the archer to Juunanagou to the archer to Radditz and then back to the archer. After several long breaths, she opened her mouth to whisper those entrapping words, but the sudden collapse of her body prevented selection.

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Shinrigakusha - Psychologist