Vegeta and Bulma eyed each other warily as if they were two animals in a cage, one prey, one predator. Both, despite the fact one had a power level higher than the Empire State Building, felt like the prey.

How does Kakarot handle this sort of thing? wondered Vegeta, not letting his frustration spread onto his face. He has to live with that she-beast of a mate. Surely this has happened to him before… Then again…He sneered at the woman. …she will never be my mate.

Bulma on the other hand was trying to keep calm. For Goku. He has gone through a lot of hard work for this little party. I am not going to ruin it for him, she told herself, watching He Who's Flame-Topped Head Is Big As The Universe cautiously, and if he tries something, Kami help me, I'll…

At this point, Vegeta tried something.

It was a series of incredibly subtle movements. She was glaring at him with a ticked-off expression glued to her face when he flickered for the briefest of moments. Most humans would have dismissed it as a trick of the light, but most humans hadn't been around super warriors since they were sixteen. Even then it was hard to spot. Vegeta no doubt thought she was a complete idiot and wouldn't notice, or else he would have been moving faster.

Ever so slowly the saiyan edged closer to where the fish was, he expression as if it were the last thing on his mind.

Tapping her foot against the ground, she glared at him. "Vegeta-ble, call me crazy, but I think you should wait for Goku before you GO AND STEAL ALL THE FOOD, if you please. He has been actually nice enough to invite you to this party." Strange party though. It was odd that none of the others could make it. Was Goku up to something? She shook the idea off as soon as if occurred. Goku being sneaky was like Oolong being brave. "I am surprised he even allowed you to stay on this planet, and alive at that."

"Perhaps Kakarot some company that doesn't screech in his ear whenever she doesn't get her way."

"I do not!" Bulma screeched.

"I never said you did. You’re the one who said so. I guess even you know it." He smirked.

"I DO NOT SCREECH!" Bulma screeched.

"My mistake." said Vegeta. "If you screeched in his ear he would go deaf."

The woman screeched some more.

Though he didn't show it, Vegeta badly wanted to plug his all too good ears. What was with earthling females? Why in Kami's name did they make such high-pitched noises? The last time he had heard such monstrous noise was when his mother had got ticked off at his father when he had forgotten their royal anniversary.

He knew some species used such sounds to scare away predators, but she had bribed him to come, so she couldn't be trying to get rid of him. Right? Of course there were other possiblities since ther species used this sort of thing as a mating call, but he woman becoming his mate was about as likely as a pink, food loving, fat man attacking the Earth.

Like that was going to happen.

Inside the house, Goku looked through the kitchen searching for the plates. He could have been done about five times already, but he wanted to give Vegeta and Bulma some time alone. Hopefully that was the right thing to do.

He had absolutely no experience when it came to dating let alone setting up them. Sure there had been that one time with Chi Chi when they were little. He remembered it with great happiness, but they had spent the day sparring and he doubted Bulma would want it. Besides Vegeta would pound her into the ground with one tap.

Opening a cupboard, he found the plates and took out three, balanced them in one hand and transported back to the woods, only to find the future couple hollering at each other at the top of their lungs.

Before he could think about it his instincts kicked in making his hands come up and cover his ears. Unfortunately the plates started falling as soon as their only support mysteriously disappeared. Goku realising what happened, looked down in horror and ignoring the pain of the noise, dived and caught the plates before they hit the ground.

Sighing he put them on the ground, then grabbed some grass and stuffed it in his ears.

He walked over to where the quarrelling pair. Vegeta and Bulma wore matching scowls. While the prince was still attempting to retain his princely posture, the scientist rotated from thumbing her nose at him and shaking her first. Both had pretty much lost all dignity.

"Uhmm… guys?" said Goku.

Neither noticed him.

"Guys?"

They yelled louder

"GUYS!" shouted Goku.

The shouting started to make the landscape quiver..

Birds ceased their songs and flew off, some breaking the sound barrier in their retreat. Squirrels and other small creatures shivered in their burrows. Bears decided that an early hibernation sounded like a good idea. Many trees lost their leaves two months too early.

Frustrated, Goku forming a decent size ki blast, he threw it between them and was satisfied to see their gazes turn to him and blink a couple times.

"Goku, what do you think you're doing?" said Bulma.

"WHAT!?" shouted Goku.

"Why did you do that?"

"HUH!?"

"Why did you do that!?"

"PARDON!?"

Then Goku recalled the grass stuck in his ears and immediately removed it.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!!!?" shouted Bulma at the top of her lungs.

"You two wouldn't stop fighting," Goku said, "and you don't have to screech."

Bulma's face twitched. "I DON'T SCREECH!" she screeched.

"Just a sec, I need one more thing," Goku said, after he and Vegeta had exchanged looks. He couldn't help but feel relieved that he still needed to get cutlery. He wasn't sure how long his ears could take Bulma's screeching.

Vegeta was about to grumble something rather rude, but Goku had already disappeared.

There was a long pause and Bulma started to feel guilt about her treatment of Goku and of course annoyed at the source of the problem which of course had to be Vegeta. "You know, you could be nicer to Goku after he was so patient with us."

"Woman…"

"IT'S BULMA!"

Bulma felt her temper bubble under the surface. Instead of letting it overthrow her she began an intense study of some tree bark and to her relief Vegeta became the idol of silence and made no more jeering comments. Glancing over, she saw him glaring sulkily at the Son residence, but other than that the saiyan seemed to have relented.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she became suspicious. He was up to something. She knew him that he could never just co-operate. No, she was being paranoid. There was nothing to suspect. If Vegeta was behaving himself that was good of him. Why should she be like this? Even Prince Snot-head was capable of not getting into trouble...

Two minutes later, she was watching him like a hawk.

"Don't try anything, Prince Lettuce," she warned.

"I am not going to," he stated.

"Uh huh, just know that I am watching you."

"I am not going to, woman. So get off my back."

How gullible does he think I am? thought Bulma. Of course he is going to try something.

Vegeta, on the other hand, was not going to do anything of the sort; at least that was what he had originally planned. He had decided if he kept his thoughts himself for the rest of the party (no matter how much the woman deserved his well-placed words) it might have prevented her from being quite a big pest. By human standards, he was trying to behave.

Unfortunately he was finding it wasn't an easy thing to keep up with. He turned his back to the woman, only to feel her eyes piercing him. When he glanced back at her, she was indeed glowering at him intensely.

Grumbling inwardly, he tucked his plate under his arm and started walking deeper into the woods. The woman was getting worse and worse. How did that human Yamcha handle her? He was her 'boy friend', a potential mate. Vegeta couldn't understand why her 'boy friend' hadn't blasted her to smithereens by now.

He heard footsteps behind and looking back found the woman coming towards him, an accusing expression on her face.

For a matter of fact, he didn't understand why any of the humans hadn't blasted her to smithereens. Even that pudgy coward Yajarobe could easily rip her limb from limb.

It could be because of her technical skills, he thought, but then again, they could use her sire instead.

What was the use? Since he had come to this planet been confused in every saiyanly possible way and most of the humanly ways too. Out of all this confusion the thing that had got him the most was the woman. One minute she was screaming at him. Another she said her was 'cute'. The next she was screaming at him again. Then she was sleeping beside his hospital bed, waiting for him to recover.

Were all earthling females like this?

"What are you up to, Prince Cucumber?" Bulma said raising an eyebrow. She had had her doubts about thinking Vegeta was up to no good, but now she was sure. First he runs off into the woods for some reason and then when she follows he gets angry that she had discovered his plans.

"Nothing woman, I am just trying to get away from you."

"Yeah right."

Now he was making feeble excuses.

She advanced on him, her own plate held threatenly in the air. "Whatever you're planning, vegetable-breath, I'll find out."

"Idiot nen'trwa woman," said Vegeta.

Bulma snorted. "What sort of an insult is that?"

Vegeta's eyes glinted darkly. "It's a word in Manri, the language of the Dji'ro. I believe in your tongue it roughly means~" 

Her expression twitched and from the bottom of her neck red spread upwards.

"Oh, there you are, guys!" said Goku, marching over just in time to see Bulma's plate go soaring at Vegeta's head.

Goku's face turned white as he watched Chi Chi's good china fly towards an untimely demise, but before it hit him right on the nose, Vegeta's hand leaped out, catching it between two fingers.

Goku began to relax only to see Vegeta blast the plate into the next dimension.

No doubt the plate would enjoy a nice afterlife being eat off by an saint. Either that or be reincarnated in a safer place (like a nice missile testing site). Neither of these helped Goku one bit.

"Guys," he said rubbing his temples, "did you have to do that?"

"Sorry Goku," Bulma apologised, frowning at Vegeta, "I'll pay for a new one."

"They are family heirlooms."

"I've got a lot of connections."

"They've been in Chi Chi's family for eight generations."

She winced, imagining the Amazon princess' rage when she saw the plate shattered on the ground. Then she turned and scowled at the saiyan prince. It wasn't her fault, "He provoked me!" she yelled at Goku, sticking her flailing finger at poor, innocent (at least in this case) Vegeta.

"I did no such thing, woman. I wasn't the one who started pestering me."

Bulma flushed with anger. He DARED to accuse her of that. Bulma steamed inwardly and decided to show Vegeta that Manri wasn't the only language you could swear in.