I just want to say thanks to all those inspired me, in more ways than one, '18, Camaro, Chibi, Cherry, Shelly, and PP, you all know who you are.

And a big thanks to my Beta: m.z*d.e.e

*** Chapter one: An excerpt from the laws of Vegeta-sei

Life rarely turns out like we expect, but we have to faith, and just trust that things will turn out all right, because it may be the only thing we have left to hold on to...

"Law 189503, section 7, article B, roman numeral XIV:

To share quarters with the current Vegetasian ruler, one must be of the following: The Betrothed, Mate, or Pet..."

King Vegeta paused for a moment, not removing his eyes from the parchment in the book, but instead, his eyes lingered on the words. It was as if he was making a decision, a very important one at that.

Taking a deep breath, that sounded very much like an exasperated sigh, King Vegeta seemed to be debating whether or not to read aloud a certain word, as much as he seemed to be deliberating the idea of running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Finally settling on not actually doing either, for neither appeared to be appropriate in the current situation, his focus returned to the book in hand. His eyes seemed to skim over a word or two, eventually after much deliberation, he decided to continue.

"The ruler can't have more than one of the previously mentioned, and a man/woman of the opposite gender of the ruler, who is not one of the afore mentioned, cannot be in the highness's presence without an escort, or guardian, only staying as long as necessary. There is no exception to the rule.

Excerpt from - The Laws of Vegeta-sei"

In the back of her mind somewhere, Bulma was sure King Vegeta was still speaking, for she could see his lips moving up and down, but somehow she couldn't hear him, silent words reaching her ears; she realized that she was in trouble. Her breath caught in her throat, sitting like a lump that she couldn't seem to swallow.

Bulma stood there, her eyes fixated on King Vegeta, unable to tear them away from him, for she seemed to be loosing focus on everything around her, not even Prince Vegeta's yelling brought her out of her state.

It had only been two weeks since when Bulma's life had been changed forever, when she had attempted to run away, her emotions running away with her. But at the last moment Vegeta had shown up and, spoken to her, in a way, that Bulma had felt inclined to proclaim her love for the young man, and even after two weeks Bulma still hadn't figured out whether or not it was in a romantic sense, or a purely platonic way.

Either way, Bulma in the end had discarded all plans with Yamcha, leaving him to fly away, and her to run in a way that would have even made Vegeta proud. Even though she had scrambled and fell several times, her knees still black, blue and yellow from fading bruises, Bulma had made it back to the room seconds before Vegeta, and had an eternity of waiting.

It had seemed like that was the perfect beginning for a budding romance between the two, who had taken over a decade to get to the point they were now at, but the truth was, it was far from a beginning, for there was a new conflict that had arisen.

But this time, it was not Bulma's strange feelings, standing between her and Vegeta's own experimentation with their feelings, for now it was the laws of planet Vegeta.

Someone with nothing better to do, and the feeling that the king, who was anything but, would be proud with the discovery, had pointed out a long since seen law.

The king was trying to remain impartial sounding, but with his temper, it was like tying up a wounded animal with string. Soon King Vegeta would lash out, but in matters like this, he had to do it the right way, stand back and wait till the moment was right, then find a way around the rule.

Unfortunately Prince Vegeta couldn't understand this, so he was currently screaming and yelling obstinacies in protest at his father, and anyone in the vicinity who looked like they heard this rule, let alone agreed with it.

Many who heard Vegeta's rants looked scandalized, eyes wide, and their mouth hanging open slightly. But that didn't stop Vegeta, who grabbed the nearest saiyajin by the collar and screamed something in his face before tossing him aside, as if he was nothing.

Had this not been a very serious issue, the king would have been amused by his son's violent temper, but instead he kept a stoic face, and sat on the throne, looking down at all the people below. It was then his gaze, somehow came back to Bulma, who had long since slumped to the ground looking, as if someone had violently hit her to the ground, dazed and confused.

It almost broke the old man's heart to do, what he knew he had to, for the sake of his kingdom.

"Guards!" King Vegeta bellowed, saying the one word, like a pre-programmed set of instructions, the two men immediately flocking to Bulma's side, each taking one of her arms firmly, which looked rougher than it really was. Their fingers were not pressed into her lithe arms, but instead, just held around them loosely. It was more for show, than anything else.

Though, violent or not, it got no reaction from Bulma who was still slumped on the ground, staring up at the king with a blank, far off look.

The only one who seemed to react to this sudden, unexpected seize of the girl, was Vegeta.

"BULMA!" he cried, attempting to run forward, only to have Nappa raise an arm, attempting to hold Vegeta back, with nothing more than one thick arm. Vegeta snapped his head up, looking up at the man with a panicked expression, he was clearly distressed as it was, but having Nappa prevent him from going to Bulma, seemed to only add to his stress.

The look in the guard's eyes alone could have stopped Vegeta in his tracks, and even though he could over power Nappa if he so chose, Nappa's arm held out to the side, made him think twice.

Nappa merely shook his head as a sign that Vegeta couldn't go to her, being the one man who had some insight to King Vegeta's thoughts, Nappa knew it was not wise for Vegeta to interfere now.

Immediately, Vegeta quickly turned back to Bulma, whose eyes, although glazed, looked like they were going to spill tears any moment now. And that's what did it to Vegeta, his face scrunched up as if he was going to cry, and with the amount of anguish in his expression, he might have very well been.

"It's okay Bulma...it's all just a mistake...I'll figure something out, I promise-"

It was almost pathetic how Vegeta dejectedly called out words of reassurance to Bulma, as they dragged away, out the doors of the throne room, and to who knows where. As soon as the main doors closed shut behind the guards who were escorting Bulma, a deadly silence overcame the hall, and everyone looked to Vegeta who had become eerily quiet as soon as Bulma was out the door.

The prince, in a way only royalty can after a scandalous event, stood and straightened himself out, as if the scene never occurred. No one attempted to speak, and risk setting Vegeta off again, but for a moment, all looked fine, until Vegeta turned to his father, his eyes narrowed threateningly, his voice even, yet deadly.

"I. hate. you"

And then, he left.

Striding away, leaving everyone in the room to stand speechless for a good while afterwards, not quite sure how to respond to the most epic drama to ever see the light of day on Vegeta-sei. Any other controversial affairs like this, always occurred in private, so although everyone found out about them, they never actually witnessed them.

So it was quite a shock to watch Vegeta's outburst, and guards had to literally usher them out of the room, leaving the king to stare into space, where he had seen Bulma only minutes ago, every fiber of her being silently crying for help.

Now, he only had to figure out how to give it to her...

***

(AN: A quick interlude to the drama...)

Meanwhile, at Brolly's quarters...

Brolly, currently sprawled out on his stomach on the floor, peered under his bed, seeing nothing but two boxes, several pairs of mismatched boots, a cobweb, and something that looked remotely like a severed human hand - nothing out of the usual - he stood up.

Brolly looked around, apparently not finding what he was looking for, he did what any grown man would do.

He called for his mommy.

"MOM.have you seen my pet?" His voice hitting a high, whine-like, note whilst calling 'mom', apparently not entirely gotten over the awkward voice breaking years. His mother, with her sharp saiyajin hearing, winced from the high-pitched sound. Having several walls between her and her teenage son did nothing to help protect her from his voice.

Absently twirling one of her small golden hoop earrings around in her ear, Brolly's mother made her way to Brolly's bedroom, praying that his voice remained even until the end of the conversation. Brolly's mother stood in the doorway of her son's bedroom, which looked remarkably similar to Vegeta's room, only smaller, not so lavish, and somewhat messier.

Looking rather bored, as do most upper classmen no matter what the situation may be, Brolly's mother unenthusiastically looked around the room, trying to confirm that her son's pet was really not in the room.

"No.where did you see him last?" She asked seemingly unconcerned about the welfare of the pet, but instead studiously examined her nails. Not showing any signs of interest what so ever, not even raising her eyes from meticulously studying her nails, in an offhanded tone, asked.

".it was a 'he', wasn't it?"

Brolly considered this.

Yamcha had been a male...hadn't he?

Oh, of course he had, him and Bulma had been 'involved'.

"Yeah, it was a 'he', but I'm not sure where I last saw him." Brolly answered thoughtfully, staring into the distance, wondering just when had he last seen Yamcha.

"Brolly! You didn't flush him down the toilet like the last pet, did you?!" his mother scorned lightly, as she still continued to look over her nails,.

"Err.no." he assured his mother, but not looking at all so, his mother failing to notice the not-so-subtle, nervous, glance he took in the direction of the bathroom.

Several seconds of silent passed.

"So." Brolly started hopefully, "can I get a dog?"

His mother shrugged. "Sure, can't see why not."

***

Meanwhile.back to the drama.

Taking her by the upper arm, one of the guards had the displeasure of rough handling the young woman, who seemed to not notice as he shoved her into the mud. She fell into the mud with a splat, immediately falling onto her knees, her hands the only thing stabilizing her, preventing her from falling face first into the mud. Not that her face wasn't already covered in a water brown wash of mud from the impact of her fall.

Her face down cast as she stared at the mud that her wrists has sunken into, her hair limply hanging in her eyes, the blue ends soaked through with muddy water, and even though she had been through so much, her hair was only slightly disheveled.

The guard who had pushed her into the mud, ran a calloused tanned hand through his short black hair, and with a deep sigh that could be consider an unspoken sign of guilt, he muttered a "sorry", and immediately walked back towards the palace.

The other guard who, until now, had made no acknowledging gestures of her, or his own presence, walked over to Bulma.

She did not look up, but it was easy to tell he was in front of her, the mud splattering against his shiny white boots when he walked, and the sound of the mud squelching beneath his weight would have alerted Bulma, had she been paying attention.

Slowly, he hesitantly crouched in front of her, wordlessly; he attentively placed the object he had been carrying in his spare hand, in the mud beside Bulma. Bulma did not look at her shackles the Saiyajin guard had left for her, nor did she watch as the young man left, leaving her all alone.

Alone.

Suddenly...the rain began to fall.

With a shaky gasp, Bulma then realized one thing: she had to take responsibility for her actions.

She had to acknowledge, the fact, that because of her little 'stunt' she was no longer Vegeta's pet, she had no obligation to stay with him, see him, and she had no right to be held in his arms.

So, now, after no struggle against two strong castle guards, she had been dragged outside the castle, and thrown into the muddy, puddled street, where the rain pelted down in a seemingly melancholy state to match Bulma's own.

But now, the shock, and indignity of it all had worn off, and now all she felt was numb. Although, not from the rain that was burning her skin with it's icy touch, but from the pain of the rash reality of it all.

That she couldn't go back to Vegeta.

Not now, not ever.

Sinking further into the muddy puddles on the street, the rain making it impossible to distinguish her tears from rain, and her eyes glazed from shock, Bulma mindlessly picked up the shackles. As soon as she picked them up, mud ran off them, dripping back into the mud below, from which it came.

Bulma looked down at the silver chains in her hands through rain-blurred lashes. Every second she looked at the item in question, it only helped her to sink further into depression, and before she even realized it, she sobbed, clutching the chains close to her chest.

Not caring that the mud from the shackles only helped to stain her clothes beyond recognition, till the point the once pale, slightly opaque outfit, became soaked through, clinging to her body like a second skin.

The only thing animated about her void like appearance, was her violently shaking body as it raked with sobs.

Her crying would go unnoticed, and that only helped to increase the sobs, as Bulma's eyes remained staring straight ahead, unfocused. presumably they were running over memories of the past. When things had been so simple and carefree, back before she had given it all up for a mere few moments of freedom.

And that is how, I'm afraid, they found her.

It was bad enough to have the knowledge that their friend was in trouble, but to see her like this was too much. For what seemed like an eternity, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes, the boys could do nothing but stand there, and blink mindlessly at their friend.

They weren't ready for this, they had only be informed of some of the recount, and so had not yet been ready for such a scene. Although, if you had asked them, neither would admit that they'd ever be ready to handle such a situation.

Looking toward his brother for some sort of support, or at least to see his reaction, Kakkarot saw nothing but a young man looking as devastated as if he had been the one affected. Radditz's empathy for Bulma was almost as heartbreaking as Bulma herself.

Taking a deep breath, Kakkarot summoned up all the emotional strength he had, walking towards Bulma hesitantly. He was afraid of what state her mind was in, from the sight of her sobbing, mud-coated frame, Kakkarot could not even begin to imagine how she must feel.

And so taking that into consideration, Kakkarot crouched down in front of Bulma, and unexpectedly he gently placed his large hands on her shoulders, pulling her into an awkward embrace. Kakkarot smiled sadly, and with a few reassuring murmurs that was only heard by the two of them, Bulma fell to sleep against his chest.

Her forehead resting against his chest, while her warm tears fell unnoticeably, and the rain pelted down regardless.

No one said anything.

To Be Continued...

***

[ SPACE FOR RENT ]

This is the space, I'd usually thank/ answer the reviewers questions, and maybe even other B/V fic recommendations, look for all that, here, in this space, next update.

Tenshi Kanashii.