You heard the sound of muffled footsteps as you opened an eye inside the healing tank. Bubbles bounced off your skin and you took a deep breath in from the breathing mask, the air filling your lungs and you smiled as you realized the pain in your back and neck was gone. You saw the blurry form of Vegeta pressing buttons outside the chamber as the refreshing liquid began to drain around you. When the door slid open with a hiss, you stood up and stretched, removing the stickers and breathing mask from your skin.
"How do you feel?" The prince grunted, crossing his arm as he leaned against the door frame.
"Better." You smiled, stretching out your arms and bending down to touch your toes. Your tail flicked around behind you as it dried the liquid from itself.
"Here," the prince said, tossing you a towel. "Get ready, we're five minutes from landing." You could hear his boots click down the hall as he went to the main part of the ship where the others probably were. You dried your hair to the best of your ability before moving on to getting redressed. You slid on your armor and headed out to where you were met with three smiling faces and the prince's typical scowl.
Goku scooped you up in his arms and spun you around as you laughed, your tail flicking behind you happily.
"There's our Frieza defeater!" Raditz grinned, placing a hand on your shoulder as Goku set you back down.
"You shouldn't be spinning her like that, Kakarot," The prince grunted. "She may not be fully healed and you could throw out her back again."
"Hey, throwing out her back sounds pretty fun to me," Raditz winked, earning a loud SMACK as the prince slapped the back of his head. "Hey, it was a joke!"
"She deserves to be treated with respect!" The prince growled. "She did what none of us have had the balls to do in years." Hearing him speak of you with such pride in his voice made your face flush.
"Besides, like she'd ever want to mate with you of all people Raditz," Nappa laughed heartily, his voice echoing around the control room nicely. It warmed your heart and you laughed along with him as Raditz's face turned a shade of pink in embarrassment.
"Nappa probably has a better shot than you do Raditz! And he's as old as Planet Vegeta!" Goku grinned, causing you to erupt into another fit of giggles.
"Would you three quit with the jokes? We're here." The prince said, pressing buttons on the ship's controls as you all landed. "We'll be in and out quickly-"
"Does she like it like that though? OW!" Raditz yelled; this time you were the one to smack the back of his head as Vegeta gave a smirk.
"-so let's get this over with. Don't shoot the trees or burn the crops, just take out the villages and we'll be done with it."
The door to the ship opened and you were met with red laser dots being pointed all over your bodies. "FREEZE! DON'T MOVE!" Someone shouted from between the houses. You saw the form of an orange man with blonde hair and purple eyes step towards you. The species otherwise looked similar to yours, dressed in some sort of strange, cloak-like armor, with humanistic facial features minus the odd color. Their silver and purple guns were cocked towards you.
"Humble people of planet 03-61," The prince began, holding his arms out wide to the natives below. "You should feel honored knowing your demise will be handed to you by the prince of all saiyans," Vegeta grinned, his tail whipping around him excitedly as he took a step forward.
"I SAID FREEZE DAMN IT!" The laser moved from you to the prince's forehead.
"What silly weaponry," Vegeta chuckled. "It gives away right where you hope to shoot me." You heard the sound of a weapon fire, and Vegeta swatted the laser away into the bushes, his eyes darkening as his pupils dilated slightly. It had been awhile since you had seen Vegeta ready to hunt, and you were bothered that you found it slightly attractive. "Let me show you a real weapon," he grinned, using his index fingers to point at two of the huts in the distance. He mimicked the sound of a gun cocking, pointing his thumbs up towards the sky. Suddenly, a red ki beam shot out of both fingers, exploding the huts as the prince watched the flames lick at the air and spread to the next home.
"Let the games begin," He grinned.
While being a saiyan, you didn't enjoy fighting defenseless villagers. Instead, you focused on the 'challenge' of fighting the armed guards. Challenge was used lightly, as they weren't exactly strong. You could see how typical warriors would struggle with the heavily armored guards, but you were the royal guard; this wasn't even close to being difficult. At certain points you could hear Vegeta's sinister laughter followed by screams coming from the village. Raditz certainly wasn't a quiet fighter either, yelling and hollering every few minutes as he and Nappa competed to see who could get the most kills. You had cleared out the entire planet in under two hours.
You all were covered in blood and sweat as you loaded back onto the ship; not your own blood, of course, but still covered in it nonetheless. Everyone was smiling and laughing except for Goku, who was holding his head in his hands and sitting in one of the chairs on the ship. Knowing what you knew now, you understood why he had always hated missions like this. Like you, he stuck to fighting those that attacked him, only for different reasons.
You walked over to him and gave his hand a soft squeeze as you squatted down to his eye level. "You okay bud?"
He looked at you with sad eyes, making your heart ache. "Yeah... yeah I'm fine."
"You did good, Goku." He squeezed your hand back and gave a saddened smile before Vegeta wormed you two apart.
"I'm starving, let's eat while Nappa flies." He said, grabbing your wrist and yanking you towards the kitchen. For once, Goku was not hungry, and instead said he would keep Nappa company. Raditz already was snoring from his chair.
"Damn, he is loud!" You heard Nappa laugh as Vegeta pulled you farther into the ship.
"Nice work today woman," Vegeta grunted, stepping into the kitchen and finally letting go of your wrist. "Your kills didn't go unnoticed, though it's apparent I need to train you more."
You bowed slightly, knowing he for once was giving a genuine compliment. "Thank you my prince." You glanced up at him as his face flushed and you snickered.
"Don't start that again," he frowned. "Now let's eat."
The fridge was stocked with meats and fruits befitting the prince's needs and wants. It was some of the higher quality foods he used to sneak away from the dinner table and give to you in his room in secret. Yet here you sat, sharing it with him in a dingy ship parlor. You two talked and ate the food as equals for a good portion of the flight before you stopped and a look of uneasiness crossed his face.
"Why aren't you eating? Are you sick?" He set the poultry leg down, wiped off his hands, then grabbed your chin and began to examine your face. "Did you get hit in the head too hard?" His closeness made your breath hitch. He ran his thumb across your bottom lip as he stared at it for a moment before pulling away and clearing his throat.
"Just ate my fill I guess," you responded, looking away from him. Your words, while rushed, were true. Being a saiyan meant you were almost always hungry, but starting to think about what Freiza would have told everyone while you all were away was making you uneasy.
He got up and made his way to the fridge, grabbing something from it before walking back over to you. "Look, I packed those strawberries you liked so much," he said, sliding the container towards you. "Eat some of these."
Your eyes went wide and you gasped softly as you stared at the little container, "how did you get these?" You snatched up the tupperware, ripping the lid off the container and setting it on the table haphazardly. A bunch of the little red fruits sat inside, and you began tearing the leaves on the tops off before popping them into your mouth. You smiled at the sweet taste, your tail whipping around behind you happily. "These got wiped out when we destroyed that farm on 001-24 years ago." Except, these were so much better than you remembered; they were incredibly refreshing after everything you just dealt with.
"I stole some seeds," he shrugged, sitting down beside you. "Told my father to have our farmers grow me a personal batch. It took awhile to get the temperatures right; they kept coming out sour," he made a face, and you giggled as his nose scrunched up. "These, however, are the perfected batch."
"I thought you didn't like them?" You asked, popping another into your mouth and tapping your foot excitedly.
He smirked at your reactions and looked away before you noticed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "I don't."
You stopped savoring the small red berry for a moment and looked up at him. "You did all this for me?"
He scoffed. "Of course not! I- I did it for Raditz! He liked the few we brought back for them!"
"Raditz also ate that moldy orange we found at the buffet table," You said, crossing your arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Kakarot does as well." His ears were turning pink and he refused to look at you.
"You hate Goku," You could feel the smile spreading across your face as he grumbled under his breath. "Not your best lie, my prince," you winked.
"I suppose not," he chuckled, getting up and placing his empty plate in the sink. You continued to eat the berries and packaged up the rest to be taken to your room.
"You don't have to save them," he said over his shoulder, glancing at you as you stood up. "Trust me, I have plenty."
"Well it's not really like I'm gonna see you too much after this," you laughed awkwardly.
A pained look crossed Vegeta's face for a moment and a moment only before it was replaced with his typical scowl. "Of course."
You moved across the room to stand next to him, quickly washing your hands and drying them off with the towel. "Not like you'll need me, I'm sure your mate will bring her own servants with her when she moves in," you smiled sadly. "You can give them the strawberries."
"You idiot they're for you!" He grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers in agitation.
"Well, give them to Nappa to give to me. Maybe we can be pen pals or something!"
"You are the stupidest person I have ever met." He groaned.
"Well luckily for you the only times you'll see me are when you find me stationed around the palace at random," you rolled your eyes and smiled, bumping your hip against his as you started walking back towards the kitchen's exit.
"TEN MINUTES TIL LANDING!" Nappa called from the control room. Before you could leave the kitchen, however, you heard Vegeta begin to follow you out.
"This is really the last thing we'll do together?" He asked suddenly.
"Yeah, unless we go off-world again in another three years." You rolled your eyes in annoyance. You wished you could do stuff like this more often; it really wasn't fair that now you'd just be watching people from the palace walls again. You had gotten used to being able to walk around the palace freely doing the tasks he assigned.
He gripped your wrist suddenly and you turned to face him. "Vegeta what the hell-" His lips crashed into yours as a soft gasp escaped you. He placed his right hand on the small of your back, pulling you closer to him as the other ran through your hair. You stood there in shock, barely able to process what was happening at the moment. He growled quietly and bit your bottom lip, and you decided to stop trying to process what was happening and give in to the thing you had wanted for so long.
The taste of strawberries still lingered on your lips, and it made the prince chuckle. How funny it was to him that the fruit he did not like the taste of could suddenly make him feel so warm and full of life; those damn little red berries would remind him of you for the rest of his life. He didn't know what had come over him in those moments with you just before the ship was supposed to land. He didn't know if it was the fear of never being able to hold you like this in his hands or the thought of him being forever stuck with a woman he didn't love, but that did not matter to him. All that mattered was him being here, with you now, in this moment.
You thought he still smelled nice, even after the fighting and being covered in sweat and blood. Maybe it was even appealing to your primal saiyan instincts. You wrapped your arms around his neck and felt your tail pat his hand on your lower back. He grunted, and in a moment his tail was intertwined with yours as he pressed you against the wall, lifting your legs off the floor to straddle his waist as he kissed his way down your chin and neck.
"V-Vegeta-" You breathed, and you could feel his smile against your skin as he hushed you.
"Quiet woman, we aren't alone," he whispered with a smirk.
"Y-yes my prince," even now you couldn't help but try and mess with him. You felt his tail tighten against yours as his body went rigid and his lips crashed into yours with renewed vigor. He grunted as you ran your hands through his hair and he pressed you closer to the wall. His kisses once again made their way down your neck, nibbling on the soft flesh by your collar bone.
"Gods I've been waiting for this," he murmured between gentle bites.
You wiggled under his grip, the small bites feeling pleasant. Suddenly he paused, hovering over your neck as he positioned himself. Your eyes widened as you realized what he was about to do and shoved him away from you before he could mark you with his fangs. You saw them recede as you fell to the floor.
"Woman what the hell!" He whisper-shouted at you as he helped you stand up.
"No, Vegeta, you what the hell!" You yelled, still semi hushed as you moved your armor to cover up the small marks he had left behind. You began to smooth out your now messy hair after. "You were going to mark me!"
"What of it?" He growled, crossing his arms. "You didn't seem that against the ones leading up to it."
"You know as well as I do what marking someone means!" You hissed, rubbing at your neck.
"And?" He furrowed his brows, glaring at you.
"You are literally in the process of trying to find a mate right now! And after this I'm never going to see you again! I'll be stuck with no one else to turn to because of your... your stupid ego!"
"Ego!" His words were rushed as he knew you would be landing any minute. "I genuinely care about you woman! So much so that I don't want to go through with this whole damn process and- and-"
"-and what Vegeta? You couldn't even stand up to your dad when he asked if you cared about me! If you cared about me for a while now, why did you never act on it? Why didn't you show me?"
"It's not like you gave me any signs!" He hissed under his breath.
"Oh I gave you signs, you were just too dense to catch them!"
"Like what?" He growled, crossing his arms.
"The compliments! All the time!" It was hard for you to keep the level of your voice under control. "I asked to train with you just to hang out with you on my very few days off! I let you kick my ass for it!" You would not cry during this. You breathed in sharply to get the sinking feeling out of your stomach.
"I-"
"I will not let whatever sudden revelation you're having on our last day together make you make a choice you'll regret for the rest of your life."
He went to say something else but you felt the ground beneath your feet rumble as the ship landed back in the palace docking station. You turned on heel without another word and left the prince to yell curse words at no one but himself in the kitchen. He glanced over at the strawberries stilling sitting on the table and felt a flush rise to his cheeks; he'd send Nappa over with them later.