She wanted to watch the stars! At first Bulma Brief found it a little weird to wake up with that sudden urge. Not that she was any stranger to it; when she'd been a little girl, long before she had ever heard of Dragon Balls, stars had been her main interest; resulting in her father even building an observatory for her. Silently she stood out of her bed, put a dressing-gown over her night-dress, slipped her feet into her soft slippers and tip-toed towards the observatory. As she walked through the silence of her huge home she finally got a change to think of the eventful day of last month; Frieza and his father attacking, the strange boy who defeated them, Goku's return, the boy's warning of the androids and finally the warriors agreement of training in order to be ready to face the danger; making sure it wouldn't end the way the boy had sat it did in his time.

When she reached the observatory she was surprised to find that the door was unlocked, of course the Nameks had been very excited by the stars, something they, on a planet with eternal day, had never seen before. But they had left as soon as they had gotten a new planet. On the other hand; locking doors wasn't something they were used to; their old planet had, after all, been very peaceful until Frieza and his cronies arrived. Never mind; she wouldn't let paranoia get the better of her. Carefully she opened the door and walked up the stairs to the room where the telescope was. Entering the room she was surprised to find it already occupied; it wasn't so much the fact that it was occupied that surprised her but the person sitting there; Vegeta, the Brief family's visitor, prince of the Saiyans and rival of Goku.

"Oh, sorry... I thought you were training."

"Even a Saiyan grows tired. And your father caught me watching the stars about a week ago. He told me of this place. Said I could use it. Is that okay with you?"

The last bit hadn't been a question she was supposed to answer no to, so much was clear.

"Yeah. Sure. I never use it anymore anyway..."

"Wait, this is your place?"

"Yeah... when I was little I was very fond of the stars... I even dreamt of going to another planet to watch them."

"You went to the wrong planet then. A planet with eternal day; no stars."

He turned his back to her again and looked into the telescope; Bulma was just about to leave, thinking that he wanted to be left alone, when he spoke again.

"I've watched the stars of many planets; wherever I went I would make sure I was left alone, at least for some time. Then I'd look to the sky; seeing if any of the stars of planet Vegeta was visible. Especially my favourite constellation..."

She wasn't surprised by his sudden silence, actually had she been more surprised by having him communicate with her by more than, at most, three-word sentences. A part of her had decided that it was best to leave him alone, while another part wanted to stay; wanted to get to know the person who'd been living in her home for over a year better.

"So... did you find it? Your favourite constellation."

"In fact I did! You wanna see?"

"Sure..."

He stood up from the chair, leaving the place for her; silently she went over, sat down and looked into the telescope:

"Aries?"

"What?"

"That's the name of the constellation. It's the first of the zodiacs. I'm born in the sign of the Aries..." she didn't know why she added that last part.

"On planet Vegeta we had a legend... Long time ago a young girl got lost after she'd been away from her home the entire day. She became very frightened and started to cry. The powers of the world felt her fear and each one of them made a star shine in the otherwise starless night; thus the constellation was made, and she found her way home."

It seemed like he wasn't going to stop surprising her.

"You're starring. You thought Saiyans were all heartless monsters didn't you?"

"Well! Other than Goku, who until Raditz arrived had no knowledge about his heritage; I have never had reason to believe anything else: Raditz had no qualms using a little boy, and not just any boy, his nephew, to blackmail his own brother. And Goku told me you murdered your friend in cold blood."

"Nappa wasn't my friend! He would praise everything I did. But the truth is he hated me, and he feared me; you can't build a friendship on fear!"

It seemed like he wasn't going to stop surprising her. Here was the guy she'd learned to view as someone who put his mind not fighting alone standing calmly, talking about that kind of stuff.

"What're we to you?"

"I don't know. First you were allies, born out of the situation, but I think if I ever would call anyone my friends it would be you people... "

A long silence followed. The seconds ticked by while they simply stood, staring at each other. After a while she finally regained control over her voice.

"You mean that?"

"Of course. When we, when Nappa and I, when we came here, when we attacked we were met by six people. Six people no one would ever think that anything in common. Yet they fight together like they'd never done anything else."

"Which couldn't be farther from the truth. Back then Piccolo was the 'ally born out of the situation'. To say the truth; none of my friends were people I'd ever imagine would be my friends the first time I met them."

It was the truth. In the years since she'd first set out, searching for the Dragon Balls and meeting Goku she'd learned a lot about friendship. The most important thing being that you should never judge people on what they looked like, or even their initial behaviour. Still she had a hard time understanding that the odd boy she'd met in the mountains, so long ago, was the same as the grown warrior whose son was already coming into his powers as the last, although half-blooded, member of an old, legendary, warrior race. A race whose prince was now standing in front of her. Acting so opposite as the way he'd done when he'd first landed on Earth, over a year ago.

"Not even Gohan?"

"Well... Gohan seems to be the odd one out. When Goku turned up with him, seconds before Raditz came, we all thought he was simply baby-sitting. Man, I was surprised when he told us Gohan was his son. Gohan was so little. And then. After they'd defeated you..."

"You just had to rub that in, didn't you?"

"Yeah... Well... anyway... after that I barely recognized Gohan. He'd grown so much. Matured more than a child that age should ever have to."

"When I was his age I'd just lost my entire race. And had been serving Frieza for over a year..."

"I'm sorry... I didn't know..."

He clenched his hands and for a moment she feared he'd get angry. But then he relaxed again and turned away.

"No... You didn't... Once I'd never reveal stuff like that. But I just want you to know this; you're lucky. Not just you. The entire human race. You've got a beautiful planet. And you're free. I've seen it. No matter what happens there'll always be someone to protect this planet."

"Well... We've got the best protectors."

She stood up from the chair by the telescope and started walking towards the stairs. She'd come to watch the stars, alone. The talk which had occurred between her and Vegeta was far more than she'd ever bargained for. For the year he'd lived in her house while they all waited for Goku's return she'd learned to look at him as a necessary ally but still bad, cold and ruthless. Then Goku had returned and the mysterious boy had revealed the threat of the androids, making all the Z-fighters wow to train so they could defeat them. Even Vegeta who said his battle with Goku could wait. Yet he'd made it no secret that he intended to kill Goku afterwards. But then again; so had Piccolo said he would do after the battle against the Saiyans…

"Where are you going?"

Slowly she turned around and looked at him; he'd turned back and stood looking at her with an odd look in his eyes.

"I'm just gonna leave you alone."

"Did I ask you to? Look, this is your place. If you want to be here then stay. Unless of course you're afraid of me."

He smirked and took a threatening step towards her, causing her to fall backwards and land with a thud on the floor which made her eyesight become blurry. When she regained her sight he stood looming over her. At first she was scarred but then she noticed his hand was reached down to her. Gingerly she took it and let him pull her to her feet, at first she thought he'd simply pull her up and then let her go but soon he surprised her for, Kami knew what time, that evening and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms possessively around her.

"What're you doing?"

"What does it feel like?"

He looked into her eyes and slowly, carefully she looked back. Seeing both the cold person she'd always believed him to be but also something else; a wounded person, someone who'd been hurt more terribly than anyone, let alone her, could ever imagine. And, deepest down under it all, she saw a warm, loving caring person.

"Why?"

"When I first saw you on Namek you did something to me. I don't know what it was and at that time I didn't care. I convinced myself I'd spared you because it was no point killing you… then I was killed, and brought back. And we all came here… to Earth"

He paused as if he didn't know how to continue.

"When you invited me to live here you told me not to touch you. I, true to my nature, acted like I thought you were being full of it. How could you know that was I wanted? I wanted to know what it was like to be close, really close to someone."

"Why did you spend so much time away training then?"

"Because you were with that fool Yamcha. Damn it. I couldn't bear seeing you with another guy. Especially not one who kept cheating on you."

So that was the reason. He'd been so much away because he was jealous. But Yamcha was the past. Not long after the boy's warning he'd finally used up the last part of her patience. Now he was living in an apartment somewhere with Puar. Although Bulma knew she'd always consider the two of them her friends. Nothing could ever change that.

"So that's what Saiyans do when they love, care for, someone they can't get. You train. Somehow I thought you'd challenge the other guy."

"We aren't animals! At that time it was clear that you loved Yamcha. If I'd fought him I could very easily have killed him. Would you want to be with you boyfriend's murderer?"

"No." she'd entirely forgotten why she'd come in the first place but now she remembered again. "We aren't exactly watching stars are we?"

"No. You see, that's the trouble with telescopes; you can only watch one at a time. And only a small part of the sky. Your father was really kind letting me use it. But I still prefer the natural way. Come on."

He took off and flew up through the roof of the observatory, leaving a gaping hole. Oh, well, that could always be repaired.

A few breath-depriving moments later they landed on top of a high rock formation in the middle of the desert.

"I thought you'd destroyed all these when you fought."

"Not all. But that's not why we came here."

He pulled her down to the ground. Carefully they laid down beside each other, his arm carefully placed under her head. For a long time they simply starred into the sky. No words spoken. Then she noticed it; the moon. Big, bright and full.

"Erm… Vegeta…" she asked nervously.

"Yeah…"

"You… haven't got your tail have you?"

"No. Your fat monk friend cut it off. Why?"

"Just because the moon is full tonight. And I don't want you to turn into a big monkey."

"Don't worry. I won't. But don't you know that even without his tail a Saiyan feels more, alive, during the full moon. And you know what? I feel more alive than ever right now."

He rolled over and pinned her down beneath her. Jokingly she put her hands up against his chest and tried to push him away but he simply took her hands and pressed them down to the ground. Their fingers entwined. Slowly he brought his face closer to hers until their lips were pressed together in a deep, passionate kiss.

He sat up, pulling her up with him and for a while they struggled to release the other of their clothing. Which weren't easy, considering that none of them wanted to move too far away from the other, but finally they succeeded.

If anyone happened to come through the area at that moment they'd see two persons at the top of a high rock. Their bodies entwined into each other like they were about to become one person. A glowing aura around them.

She'd never felt so much passion in her entire life. Never so much pleasure. Never so much desire. Her body was burning from his touch all over her. Then he was inside her and it felt like her body was going to explode. Still she wanted him. She needed him so deeply. Wrapping her legs around his bag she moved her body in short, rapid movements so he would be able to penetrate her even deeper. Her nails deep into his flesh. His hands grabbed her buttocks, pulling her even closer.

They reached the peak of their passion together and she screamed with joy and pleasure. Knowing that no one could hear them. And even if someone had heard she probably wouldn't have cared. Both exhausted they fell asleep, wrapped around each other. There was no risk they'd get cold. Even asleep their passion created a warm aura around them.

It was the warm touch of the sun there awoke them the next morning. Slowly, hesitantly they freed themselves from the other and stood up. They both knew they had to get back but none of them really wanted to.

Slowly she walked over to her clothes and looked at them. Nothing was left except for rags.

"Look what you've done." She said accusingly, holding up her ruined nightgown.

"Sorry about that. Guess I got a little carried away. And forgot human clothing isn't as tough as my armour. Here, take this on."

He threw his west towards her which, of course, made him have to go bare-chested. It would've been a shame for that perfectly formed chest to be hid away under the armour anyway. Smiling she pulled the west over her head and looked at him. Yeah, he was hot. Insanely hot. Inhumanly hot. No wonder, considering the fact that he wasn't human.

"Are you trying to eat me with your eyes or something, woman?"

The 'woman' wasn't said in the spiteful way he'd used to call her that but rather in a way full of love and passion.

"Hmm…"

He stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. His lips so close to hers.

"Please don't…" she whispered.

"What?"

"Kiss me again and we'll just end up doing it all over. And even though I enjoyed it very much I'm not ready to do it again. Not yet…"

"But later?"

His voice was thick with emotions. Once she'd thought him deprived of any emotions but the last night had shown her how wrong she'd been.

"Yes. Later. I'm yours."

And she was. He had captivated her heart. Her body, her mind, her very soul. And no matter what happened she knew she could never stop loving him. Never stop yearning for him. And she never wanted to.