Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don’t own DBZ…none of us fanfic writers do…unless Akira Toriyama is actually one of us…

A/N – Cooler is in his final body here – the other one (Frieza’s last form) just looks too creepy for my liking!

Ice-jins = these are aliens of the same species as Frieza.

Kiri = this is the name given to the wife of the ice-jin emperor.

D’tok = the ice-jin word for king or emperor etc.

~*~

Bulma stretched gingerly as she tried to pull on her clothes again, she wasn’t staying this hospital a minute longer, she didn’t care wether or not Cooler had come to give the okay yet, she hated hospitals. Truthfully she always had and always would and there was no way that she would willingly stay here even an hour longer. Piccolo was still seated on the hospital chair, but his eyes never strayed from the window he stared out of. He was still a man of honour Piccolo was, and watching Bulma dress wasn’t something he wanted to do.

“Ouch.” Bulma gingerly rubbed her arm, the saiyans had put her in a rejuvenation tank after she had passed out, but her muscles still ached from being flung against the wall.

“Do some stretches, it’ll loosen you up a bit.” Piccolo suggested as he yawned. “You’d better hurry and dress though, Coolers almost here.”

“Have you ever met him?” Bulma did up the waistband on her pants and pulled a tank top on, her shoulders so sore that she struggles to lift her arms above her head.

“No, but I’ve heard rumours. He’s supposed to be more powerful then Frieza was, he discovered a transformation beyond Frieza’s most powerful body.” Piccolo sounded impressed but not respectful.

“Impressive.” Bulma sat on the hospital bed and strapped her black leather boots on. “It’s strange how Frieza ruled the galaxy when his brother was stronger.”

“Not really, Frieza was a born leader, Cooler is supposed to be a little more laid back, he hates responsibility.”

“Puh! Don’t we all?” Bulma stood up, “’Kay, I’m ready to head off.”

Piccolo looked away from the window at her and stood up. “You’ll have to be careful in case any more of the ice-jins come after you, after all you were Frieza’s Kiri, and more then that you were the first Kiri ever to be of a species that was not ice-jin. There’s going to be some very angry ice-jin woman out there who were probably too afraid of Frieza to attack you before, but now that he’s gone they’ll be out in force.”

“Great, that’s just what I need.” Bulma whirled around to walk out the door and instead found herself staring at who she could only assume was Cooler.

“Good God, you’re ugly.” Bulma’s eye widened as she realised that Cooler had spoken to her.

“I…what…I am not!” She resisted the urge to slap the creature that stood in front of her.

Cooler grinned nastily. “Sure you are, I find it hard to believe that you’re the woman that Frieza embarrassed his family for.”

“Well I am!” Bulma crossed her arms and took an aggressive stance. “And I don’t care if you’re stronger then Frieza was, you still have no right to talk to me in such a manner!”

“What are you going to do little one? You are not the Kiri anymore, and Frieza is not the D’tok, I am and thusly I now have the right to talk to any body I want in any manner I want.” Cooler laughed suddenly. “I can see why my little brother liked you though, you have fire and spirit.”

“Damn straight.” Bulma nodded.

“Your obviously more then seem, you killed an ice-jin didn’t you? Even with your pathetic power?”

“Power isn’t everything.” Bulma rolled her eyes and Cooler circled around her, looking her over as though she was a prize horse.

“I know, you used a knife - correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t you use a knife when you attempted to kill my brother as well?”

“Yep, a kitchen knife. But the bastard survived.” Bulma looked to the floor as she remembered that ‘the bastard’ was dead now because of something that she’d done.

“Shall we leave?” Cooler broke the awkward silence. “I need to discuss something of great importance with you and a hospital is not the ideal place for what I need to say.”

“Of course, we’ll go.” Bulma turned to pick her bag but Piccolo already had it, he gave her an encouraging look and Bulma turned around to follow Cooler as he led the way, a small force of armed guards had been waiting outside the room and they circled around the trio to escort them out.

“There are a few protestors outside, mostly ice-jins who are protesting you being kept alive.” Cooler talked over his shoulder, “I wouldn’t worry; they’re all low powers.”

“How encouraging.” Bulma muttered dryly.

They left the building a mist their escort of guards. Cooler ignored the rioters as they screamed insults at Bulma who in turn poked her tongue out childishly at them as she climbed into Coolers private shuttle. Piccolo just gave the ice-jin protestors nasty glares.

Piccolo gave the ice-jin protestors nasty glares as the shuttle drove off. “That wasn’t as bad as I had imaged.” He said to Bulma quietly.

Cooler glanced up at Piccolo. “You’d be Piccolo? The Namekian my brother spoke of?”

“I suppose so, there aren’t any others.”

“And your purpose is what?”

“I’m the head of security in the Palace, I’m also Bulma’s personal body guard.” Piccolo glanced out the window again, either unconcerned or pretending to be unconcerned about Coolers curiosity.

Cooler glanced at Piccolo then Bulma then back to Piccolo again. “Do you and Bulma have something going on? A little affair perhaps?”

“WHAT?!” Bulma and Piccolo both exploded at once.

“For one thing I’m asexual…” Piccolo stated, blushing nonetheless.

“And for another I’d never have cheated on Frieza.” Bulma blushed even harder. “Piccolo is my friend, my only friend that I still have with me from Earth.”

“Ah…I didn’t really think anything had been going on, but your Namekian friend just seemed so protective of you….”

“Well he is my guard.” Bulma lapsed back into a silence.

Cooler stared out the window, apparently engrossed in though, but the tip of his tail was wriggling back and forth, something that Bulma knew from living with Frieza meant he was agitated.

“Do you want to discuss it here?” Bulma prompted, “That thing that was too personal to discuss at the hospital, do you want to discuss it here while it’s just us three?”

Cooler looked at Piccolo. “I was hoping that I could talk to you alone but I suppose it makes no difference if the Namek is here or not.” He took a deep breath and let it out, “I want to make you my Kiri, my queen.”

“What? No way!” Bulma jumped back from Cooler. “In the very small time that I’ve known you you’ve succeeded in insulting me several times and you’ve proved beyond doubt that you don’t like me! Or at least I thought you did…”

“I don’t like you!” Cooler snapped, his tail beginning to lash harder.

“Then why do you want me as your Kiri?”

“For many reasons, one of which is that I do not want to go through the trouble of finding another mate. My last mate died in an accident and I have no wish to replace her yet. I do not wish to marry you because I feel any…emotion towards you; I simply wish to forgo all the boring ceremonies of choosing another Kiri. If I married you then it would be simply for convenience, I would take several lovers and would never bother you and I would allow you to do the same. You would have all the power that Frieza allowed you, especially since you have showed how adept you are at sentencing criminals, but as far as out personal relationships would go there would be none, we wouldn’t even live together.” Cooler looked at Bulma, trying to judge her reaction.

“Okay, so you want to marry me for convenience, I’d still get power and a good lifestyle and I wouldn’t have to go near you.” Bulma looked off into the distance. “I have only one question, do I get a choice in this or are you forcing me to marry you?”

“Forcing you?” Cooler managed to look shocked. “I’m not forcing you my dear, and the choice will be yours and yours alone. You can remain here as my wife or you can leave…I am guessing that you wish to return to your saiyan Prince?”

“I must admit it did cross my mind to return to Vegeta…but I can’t forget that he simply threw me aside last time, he chose the other saiyans over me. That’s not something you can easily forget.”

“No, indeed it isn’t. I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a few days to think it over, decide what you want to do with your life.”

Bulma looked up and smiled faintly, “Thanks.”

~*~