DBZ:UR Part Three - Confrontation

"For as long as I can remember, even when I was a little girl, I had this vision in my mind. One time, my father had read me the story of Cinderella. How a Prince was looking for the girl of his dreams. A fairy godmother came and gave Cinderella her wish. She then got to dance the night away with her love, the handsome Prince. But, at midnight, it was all taken away from her, and she ran off, thinking she'd be alone forever.

"But, a few days later, her Prince came for her. The glass slipper he had with him fit her, and she magically regained all that made her more than just a step sister. In the end, she had found her Prince, and lived Happily Ever After...

"And then there's me. In fairy tales, the Prince always comes to take the maiden away and ride off into the sunset, totally in love. That'll never happen to me at this rate. Yamcha has been acting totally weird, being a total jerk. Why doesn't he even try to see what's going on with me? I don't think he'll ever understand. He's coming over tonight to talk to me. I can only hope that I can make him see. If he can't, I guess I'll have to stay lost and alone for the rest of my life. I might never find my Prince at this rate..."

Bulma closed her journal and sighed. It seemed like she was writing this same story over and over again. Yamcha could be such a moron. Acting all sneaky and never being able to give her a straight answer about anything he had been doing while he was gone. She had long ago settled on the probable cause: He was out with other girls. But she never had the proof she needed. Tonight, she would confront him about it and settle it once and for all. She couldn't take much more heartbreak...

An explosion rocked the house. 'Vegeta again. I'll bet he trashed his trainer for the millionth time.' There was no end to the cycle. Vegeta would overload the gravitational trainer, she would fix it. He would be good for a week or so, then he would blow it up again. It went on and on like that. And it made her mad...

She stormed down to the lab and got her tool belt strapped on. She then made her way to the trainer room, and was given a bad surprise when she opened the door. Amid the debris and smoke of the ruined trainer she found Vegeta, buried underneath a pile of rubble. All she could see was his right hand laying limp on what was left of the control panel.

"Oh my god! Vegeta!" She ran to his aid, digging through what was left of the former ceiling of the trainer. Deep inside her, her heart raced. She was moving with a determination she had never before shown. "Vegeta, say something, give me a sign. Oh god, Vegeta..."

As she uncovered him, she found him to be unconcious and unresponsive. She cradled him on her lap immediately, and began to try anything she could to bring the Saiyan warrior back to reality. "Vegeta, speak to me! Oh, this isn't good, SOMEONE HELP ME!"

(::~~::)

Vegeta awoke to find himself in new surroundings. His vision was blurry, and he couldn't make out anything. All he saw above him was what he thought to be a white ceiling. 'Where... where am I? How did I get here? Oooohhh, my whole body hurts like crazy! What the hell happened to me?' His thoughts were racing. He tried to piece together the details of the recent past. 'I remember working out in the GT. The gravity was set at 375, and things were going alright, arrrgh! It's still a blur...'

He closed his eyes and opened them again, half hoping that the world would clear itself up a bit. There was some improvement, but not much. He turned his head to one side, hoping to get some clue as to his surroundings. He barely made out the outline of someone sitting on a chair. From what he could tell in his weak state, that person was face down on what looked like a desk of some kind. Their face was turned away from him, all he could really see was a bluish blur. He could only think of one person he knew with that color hair...

"Bul... m... ma..." His voice was barely a whisper, his strength wasn't even enough to give it much of a tone at all. With that, he passed back out, too weak to even stay awake.

Bulma stirred a bit, she had heard something. She opened her eyes and looked around, her mind still groggy from the nap she had apparently been taking. "Hmm, I must have dozed off. Oh! Vegeta!" She turned to her patient, who lay on his bed, still out cold. "Hmm, no change. Oh Vegeta, why do you have to push yourself so hard? You've really got me worried."

She looked at him for a little while. It all seemed so strange, seeing him here like this. The proud Saiyan now unconcious and bedridden. He looked like a child to her. A hurt little boy too proud to think about getting help. But this time, he was too hurt to have the choice. He looked so helpless. 'I wish I knew what made him so driven. Is it because of the androids? Or is it because of his lonliness? Please, Vegeta, get better. You've got to.' As she thought, a single tear formed and ran down her cheek. She got up from the desk and made her way out of his room. As she closed the door, she paused to look at him one more time. 'You've got to get better, Vegeta. Don't leave me alone again...'

(::~~::)

Vegeta awoke again, his head still ringing a bit from the blast that had knocked him out. "Arrrrgh. My head is exploding! I guess I lost a rough battle with that machine of theirs. Oooo." He sat up slowly and looked around. He was in his room, in his own bed. "They must have brought me up here after the explosion. I don't see why, they know I'd be fine, even after a jolt like that one." He swung his legs around to the side of the bed and tried to get up, but he couldn't make it very far.

He brought his hand down onto the desk next to his bed to right himself as he fell back, and he felt something on the top, under his hand. After he shook some cobwebs out of his mind, he picked the object up from the desk and looked at it. It was an earring. "How did this worthless bobble get in here? Oh, wait, it must belong to... Bulma..."

Amid the pain and anguish his body was going through, it came again. It overtook the pain he was feeling. That same feeling he had experienced that night on the roof when he talked to her. It was happening again, and again, it made him scared. He could only stare at the earring, wide eyed from the emotions swirling through him. 'Why does simply picking up a meaningless nick nack make me feel this way? How can something as stupid as this little rock do this to me? Bulma... What is this power that you seem to have over me?' Suddenly, he heard shouting coming from the next room.

"What? What's going on over there?" Vegeta slowly got up and limped his way towards the wall that seperated his room from Bulma's. He stumbled and fell to one knee, his body wincing from the pain. But he sucked it all up and got back to his feet, and continued on untill he reached his destination. He pressed his ear up to the wall and listened...

"Yamcha, what the hell is your problem?" It was Bulma. That pathetic human Yamcha must be in there with her...

"Look, Bulma, you know I can't help myself. I mean, I get it from Master Roshi, really..."

"I don't care where you get it from. You shouldn't get it at all. You were supposed to have quit this nonsense a long time ago. And now I find out that you were with another girl. Hell, Yajirobi even told me that Vegeta gave you a good earful."

"That little snake in the grass! When I get my hands on him, I'll..."

"You'll what, Yamcha? Beat him up because he caught you with one of your little bimbos? That's pretty pathetic, Yamcha. Blaming Yajirobi when you know full well that you're the guilty party. You're such a jack ass, you know."

Vegeta squeezed tighter on the earing in his hand and lifted it up. He looked at the tiny piece of jewelry and smiled. 'She really is almost Saiyan. She's got some serious fire burning inside of her.' He pressed his ear back to the wall and listened some more.

"Come on, Yamcha, get over it. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but even Vegeta has more sense in him than you do. You must be doing something wrong if HE even says you're in the wrong. You're such an idiot..."

"Vegeta? There's no way he could ever be a better man than me! That bastard doesn't even have a sympathetic bone in his whole chimpanzee body! I'm 10 times the man he is..."

"More like 10 times the simian. Face it, Yamcha. You're a womanizing loser. Now get out of my face and don't ever come near me again, not while you still think you can convince me that there's a good reason why I should ever go out with you again. There is no good reason."

"Yes there is, Bulma. Give me one more chance, I can change, I swear it! You don't know how sorry I really am..."

Vegeta was growing sick and tired of hearing Yamcha's lies. Such a coward, trying to talk his way out of a hole instead of taking his punishment like a man. He wasn't anywhere near the warrior he was.

"Yamcha, there is nothing you can say to me that would make me give you another chance. Now I believe I told you to leave..."

Yamcha reached out in desperation and grabbed Bulma by the arm. "Bulma, you've got to listen to me..."

"Yamcha, let go. You're hurting me..."

"I swear, Bulma, this is the last time. I'm done with all the other women!"

"Yamcha, LET GO OF ME!!!"

Vegeta couldn't take anymore. A shot of adrenaline coarsed through his veins, and he powered up his ki as much as he could in his injured state. "NO MORE!" He screamed and blasted his way through the wall. He now stood in Bulma's room, staring Yamcha down with his icy glare. He didn't speak a word, he just stared at the man before him. Bulma stood in shock. She looked at the hole in her wall, then back to who had come through it.

Almost as suddenly as he broke in, Vegeta took off straight for Yamcha. He grabbed him and plowed him through the wall by the door leading out to Bulma's balcony, and flew up into the sky over the compound. There, he hung Yamcha in midair, staring into his eyes with hatred. But this hatred was different, and had different origins...

Bulma ran out onto her balcony and looked up at the two men floating above her home. What had made Vegeta pull a stunt like this? All she could do was look as Vegeta seemed to be saying something to her former beau. After a few moments, she was even more surprised to see Vegeta let Yamcha go. Normally, when Vegeta was angered by something or someone, he wouldn't stop until he had demolished them. But he actually let Yamcha go. As Yamcha flew away, Bulma turned her stare to Vegeta, who was now flying back to her room.

Vegeta landed next to her, and immediately collapsed to his knees. Bulma hurriedly came to his aid again. "What are you doing out of bed, Vegeta? You know you're too weak yet to do much of anything, let alone this. What the hell possessed you to do that, anyway?"

"He... he was... hurting... you..."

"What?" She couldn't believe it. The mighty Saiyan, who she always looked at as a brutal murderer, was now showing compassion for someone else. And, to make things more interesting, he was showing compassion for her. "Vegeta, you've got to get back into bed. You're going to kill yourself if you don't rest."

"I'm alright, woman. And I don't need your..." He fell onto his side, clutching his body in severe pain.

"Whatever, Vegeta. I'm taking you to bed, right now." She picked him up and helped him through the new entrance to his room and into his bed. After she got him situated, she sat down at the desk and turned to him. "What the heck did you say to Yamcha out there? And weirder still, why did you let him go?"

Still weak from his outburst, Vegeta resolved to speak softly. "I told him that I didn't want to see him around you for a very long time. You don't deserve to be treated like that by apathetic person like him. And I let him go because killing him would have only made you hurt worse that you do now."

"My God. What's gotten into you, Vegeta? Since when did you care about me so much? You must have been eavesdropping while he and I were fighting. What the heck am I going to do about those holes you put in the walls? What were you thinking, Vegeta?"

There was no answer.

"Vegeta?" She looked over to see the Saiyan Prince, asleep. She smiled. He looked so vulnerable lying there. She looked down to his hand, which still held her earring. "There it is. I wonder how he got it?" And then she remembered her nap. It must have fallen out while she was sleeping at the desk, and he found it when he woke up. But he had held onto it the whole time? Her heart skipped a beat, and she sighed. "Get some rest, Vegeta." She ran her hand down his cheek, and he stirred a bit. 'Maybe I shouldn't give up on finding my Prince.' she thought to herself, and layed her head down on the desk. She looked at him for a time, and drifted off to sleep.

Vegeta awoke and looked around. He wasn't in as much pain as he had been the night before. The vague memories of the incident with Yamcha began to flow back into his memory. He remembered taking him through the wall and chewing his ear off about the way he was hurting Bulma, and how he told him to never come near her again. Humans could be so pathetic sometimes.

He rolled his head towards the desk, where he saw Bulma sitting in the chair, her head laid down in her arms, fast asleep. 'What is she doing here? Did she sit there with me all night? Why?' He couldn't figure out what she was thinking. As he stared at her, the new feelings gushed up inside of him. He was getting all too familiar with them, but at the same time he was getting used to them. As long as noone but her saw them, he could retain his pride.

Slowly, he sat up and put his hand to his head. He still had one serious headache. Must have come from going through the wall in his weakened condition. He made his way to his feet, but doubled over from the pain. As he hit the floor, the noise woke Bulma up. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the bed, only to find Vegeta not in it. She looked behind her and saw him laying on the floor, cringing in pain.

"Vegeta? What are you doing?"

Vegeta looked up at her with something of an annoyed look on his face. "I... I'm starving. I need... something to eat..."

"Oh, well you're never going to get to the kitchen like that, silly. Here, let me help you."

"No! I don't need your help. I can make it there on my own, even if it kills me to do so."

"Come on, Vegeta. Drop the attitude and let me help you."

There was no way he could resist. He couldn't move very well under his own power, and she was being as adamant as ever. He only hoped that noone else would see him being assisted by a human, let alone a human female. If Kakkarot knew that this was happening to him, it would be a serious blow to his pride...

(::~~::)

Part three is in the books, and things are just getting started. This represents the first half of the original Chapter Two. As with the last chapter split, the title for the next part will be the title of the original chapter. Let's see how many of you (if any at all) remember that title...

DBZ:UR Part Two - First Steps...

The rest of that week was pretty much the same as any other week. Bulma had repaired the GT, and Vegeta went right back to his training. They hadn't spoken to each other at all. But in the back of his mind, Vegeta was thinking about the other day when he caught Yamcha with that other woman. He had felt like telling her on several occasions, but something kept him from doing it. To take his mind off of the whole matter, he devoted himself to his training. But as he worked his body to it's limits, the thought of how that would affect the woman ate away at his concentration.

He kept his silence until that Saturday night. Bulma had been out all day doing her weekly shopping, and Vegeta spent the day as usual, training. It wasn't until after dark that he came out of the GT and made his way into the house. His first stop was the refridgerator. Training always made him extra hungry, and turned Bulma's shopping trips into grocery convoys like no other. Deep down, he felt himself appreciate what she was doing for the first time. But he quickly squashed those feelings and sat down to a large meal, even for his appetite.

After he finished eating, he headed to his room. For some reason, the humans had placed him in the room directly next door to Bulma's. As he walked by, he heard her screaming. She was the only one in the room, so he figured she must be on the device they called the "telephone". Curious as to why she was so angry, he stood by her door and listened as she shouted obscenities to whoever was on the other end. He managed a smile. 'The woman deffinately has some spark in her. She's a real firecracker' he laughed as he thought. But then, suddenly, he heard her scream "YOU ASSHOLE!" and slam the phone down on the hook. What he heard next again made those unknown feelings swell up inside him: she began to cry.

As he lay in his bed, Vegeta could hear Bulma in the next room, crying to no end. Normally, he would have ignored it, playing it off as human weakness, the same kind Kakkarot was prone to at times. But tonight, his thoughts were not of how weak and pathetic humans were. They were on the woman. Something must have really hurt her to make her this upset. He listened quietly for some time, until there was no sound coming from her room. 'Must have cried herself to sleep' he thought. As he drifted off to sleep, a single tear made it's way down his cheek.

(::~~::)

The next day, Vegeta trained with a renewed sense of urgency. The thoughts of the previous night were with him, and he struggled to comprehend why. This only made him fight harder. As he laid waste to one drone after another, he wrestled with the feelings he had been experiencing over the last week. 'I am the Prince of Saiyans, the strongest fighter in the universe! What's wrong with me? Why am I allowing myself to get weak-hearted like Kakkarot does? I'm stronger than he is! His feelings are his weakness!'

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!?" He let out a blast like no other, and blew the GT's drones to bits. He stood there, breathing heavily. The computer in the trainer chattered that it was ending the gravity simulation, which was set at 350 times the earth's normal gravity. All he could do was stare at the monitor. His every thought should be on training, not the petty squabbles of the humans. Yet, that's exactly where they were. And this scared him.

Vegeta walked out of the room which housed the GT, and made his way down the hall. He paused as he heard Bulma working in her lab, and stepped back to the door. From behind it, he could hear her muttering something about Yamcha. Had she found out about the other day? Did she know? He had to find out. Slowly, he opened the lab door...

"Stupid Yamcha. Why does he have to do that sort of thing when he knows things are as bad as they are? I should have known a long time ago I couldn't trust him. Why did I go back out with him? 'Oh Bulma, I'm sorry, it'll never happen again, I promise', yeah, right. How could I be so stupid?" She was hunched over a series of gadgets, working furiously. She didn't notice that Vegeta was behind her. "That jerk. Going out with all these bimbos all the time, never thinking about what he's doing to me. He should be training to fight these androids, not sewing his wild oats." In her frustration, a knife she was working with slipped from her hand, and cut her palm rather badly. "Oooooh, DAMNIT!" she yelled, and clasped her hand. She bagan to cry.

Vegeta stood there. He didn't know what to do or say. Seeing her sitting there, crying over what that stupid human man had done to her, he felt the rush of those feelings coming over him again. But he supressed them again, and spoke.

"What's the matter with you, woman? Why are you crying?" He said in his usual tone.

"What does it matter to you?" She yelled at him without turning around. Vegeta said nothing. "Well, if you must know, Mr. High and Mighty, I've cut my hand, not to mention Yamcha has been nothing short of a moron lately." She was still sobbing slightly, trying to hide her feelings as well.

"Let me see the cut woman. It can't be all that bad." He stepped towards her, but she swung at him with her uninjured hand.

"Back off, Captain Ego. I don't need your help. Besides, it's not like you care anyway..."

"I said let me see the cut, you crazy woman!" He took her hand and examined the wound. And it hit him. He couldn't supress it any longer. Touching her hand made him overflow with that feeling that had been haunting him all week. "It's not very bad at all. Just get some bandages on it and it will be fine."

Bulma, still crying a bit, turned to look at the Saiyan now holding her hand. "Wha... What did you say?"

"Did I stutter? I said get some bandages on it and it will be alright. Are you deaf, woman?"

Bulma could only stare at him. Had he really said that? Had he actually shown some concern over her injury? Vegeta? She couldn't believe it. She just stared at him, speachless.

Vegeta's eyes moved and met hers. There they were. Those eyes. The ones he was reminded of that day on the mountain. He found himself helpless. He couldn't tear himself away from her gaze. For some reason, he was frozen. And, in that instant, his cold, Saiyan heart seemed to melt. He felt warm, a feeling he had never felt before in his life. Was this woman getting to him? Yes, he thought, but couldn't do anything to stop what he felt. He was powerless...

"Vegeta..." Bulma was almost smiling now, though tears were still running down her cheeks. Vegeta reached up with his other hand and wiped them away. 'Is this the same Vegeta?' Bulma thought. 'But why is he acting like this?' As she looked into his black eyes, she noticed that they didn't look as distant as they had before. Her heart began to race like it never had before. A feeling of comfort and trust overcame her. But, around Vegeta?

The Saiyan Prince was equally as speachless. He was totally disarmed now, unable to tear his gaze from hers. It was though they were locked in a moment in time. He felt his heart begin to beat furiously, and he had no clue why. This woman was getting to him, and for some reason, he didn't care. All he could do was stare at those big blue eyes of hers...

"Vegeta, I should go get some bandages on this cut..." Bulma spoke in a near whisper, but still she didn't move. The blood from her cut ran down onto Vegeta's white glove, but neither of them seemed to pay it any mind. Finally, Bulma was able to regain her senses. "Really, I've got to go take care of this." She pulled her hand away from his, still staring into his eyes. There was something different about him now, almost human. She made her way out of the lab, and as she left, a smile crossed her lips as she looked back at Vegeta, who was still staring off into space...

(::~~::)

That night, Vegeta sat on top of the main housing building of the Capsule Corp. compound, staring up at the stars. For the first time in a long time, he was at ease. Kakkarot wasn't around, and he felt that he could let his pride go for a bit. His thoughts were on Bulma. She was the only person, Saiyan or otherwise, to ever see him as he was earlier in the lab. And yet, for some reason, he was OK with it. He didn't understand why he felt this way, but he reasoned that it can't be all that bad.

What harm could she cause? And in all his years, he had felt so alone. But now he had some sort of bond with her, and that void was slowly being filled. He stared at the night sky, wondering at which ones had planets which he destroyed. All those systems, countless civilizations, obliterated at his hand. Yet this one, this one remained. And on it, he had found someone who made him feel different, like he never had felt before.

Was he becoming soft like Kakkarot? Was this place starting to affect him as it did his rival? No, he thought. He was, after all, the Prince of the Saiyans. But what did that matter? Being that there were only two left, he and Kakkarot, he had no people over which to rule as he rightfully should. There was no point in it.

All he ever had was taken away by Freiza, and now he was gone, dead at the hands of that mysterious young Super Saiyan. Even his father, King Cold, fell at the hands of that strange youth. How could that boy be a Saiyan? And so powerful a Saiyan, at that? He felt himself start to drift off to sleep, when he heard a sound behind him.

"Vegeta?" It was Bulma. She had climed up onto the roof after him.

"What do you want, woman?"

"What are you doing up here this late?"

"It's none of your business, now leave me alone."

"Listen to you. Always with that pompus attitude. The big loner, Mr. I'm The Prince of Saiyans. What is your major malfunction?"

Vegeta heard the demeanor in her voice, and for some reason, he let his guard down a bit. "If you must know, I'm thinking about what all has happened. My home planet, Freiza, and that kid that did him in. It all doesn't make any sense."

"It must be hard for you, knowing that you're one of the last of your kind."

"You have no idea how it feels, woman. You wouldn't know, because Kakkarot got lucky and kept me from doing the same to your kind and this pitiful rock."

"Hey, look, you don't have to get testy with me. I didn't come up here to take that kind of abuse from you."

"Then why did you come up here? Why are you so concerned with me?"

"Vegeta, earlier, when I cut my hand, I noticed something. Something different. It was almost like you actually cared about me..."

"Well, don't get too used to it. You caught me at a moment when I wasn't feeling like myself."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't get used to it. No matter what, you'll always be the same Vegeta we all know and hate."

"Glad to see that you feel the same way I do. Now then, if you don't mind, I'd like to be..."

Vegeta was cut off by Bulma, who laid down next to him, stairing up at the sky along with him.

"So, how many of them have you been to? I was only to two of them, that weird planet we thought was Namek and Namek itself. You must have been to hundreds..."

Vegeta couldn't say a word. He was in shock that she totally ignored him telling her to go away. He looked over at her for a moment, then looked back up to the sky above. "I never kept track of how many planets I went to. It didn't matter when I was working for that scum bag Freiza. And most of them, I destroyed. So it's not like I took the time to care, either."

"Oh, come on, Vegeta, drop the attitude and talk to me! You don't know how lonely it gets having everyone thinking you're just a mechanical genious tomboy. Or a meaningless ex like that idiot Yamcha."

Vegeta felt his heart growing warm again. So she did feel like he did. He wasn't alone in his lonliness. Though he had lost nearly all of his kind, here was another being in the universe that felt the way he did. Alone.

"I don't know why he has to keep doing that. Hell, I don't even know why I keep giving him another chance. He can be such an ass. It's guys like him that make me think there isn't a man in the universe that understands what love is."

Love. Was that what was taking over his mind, his body? Was it that emotion the humans called love? He had seen it when Kakkarot and his wife were together. They fought alot, but in the end, they remained true to each other. And their son, that brat Gohan. When they were wished back from Namek, he fiercely defended his father though things seemed impossible. Was that love? Was that what he was feeling now?

Bulma, in a bold move, moved her head and rested it on Vegeta's shoulder. "You must feel alone, Vegeta. You and Goku are the only Saiyans left. That's gotta make you feel so lonely. Well, you're not the only one. Sure, there are a bunch of other humans around, yeah. But in the end, I feel like I'm an outcast. They all think I'm Mrs. Fixit. They don't seem to know how I feel..."

How she feels. These words struck a chord in Vegeta's soul. She understood him. In a way, she understood what made him who he was. The anger, the feelings of vengance he had against Freiza. She felt them too, on her own level. He felt the urge to yell at her and tell her to stop her mindless drivel, how her emotions made her weak. But then he'd be exposing himself in the process.

"Bulma..."

He had said it again. He had said her name. She tilted her head in his shoulder to look at him as he spoke. "Yes, Vegeta?"

"I... I... I understand how you feel..."

It was all he had to say. It wasn't much, but it got the point accross. She raised her head and looked at him as he stared at the vast expanse of starlit heavens above them. He seemed to be like a child to her, a scared, lonesome boy. He had opened up to her. The cold, murdurous Saiyan seemed more human than ever before to her. She smiled. This was a side of Vegeta noone had ever seen before. So, there was a light shining in his dark heart.

A chill breeze blew accross the two, and Bulma began to shiver. She threw her arm around the Saiyan Prince and pulled herself closer to him. Vegeta was in a small state of shock. He felt her shivering up against his body. But, he didn't yell. How could he? This woman was the only one who seemed to understand him, even if it was only some small part of his being. One that noone ever knew about, not even Nappa. But she had figured it out without effort. He put his arm around her and pulled her close.

The breeze kept going, and she continued to shiver. Without a second thought, Vegeta pulled her closer and powered up his ki, generating a small warm glow around them. She stopped shivering and snuggled close to him, and was soon fast asleep. He looked down at her. She was so peaceful. And at that moment, he realized that he too, for the first time in his life, was feeling rather peaceful himself. He smiled and drifted off to sleep himself...

(::~~::)

For those who remember, "First Steps" was the original title of Chapter one of DBZ:UR. So now, with the first chapter re-released and the second step down the path taken, I feel a little better about moving forward with this project. Hopefully, it will lead to an ending (finally!) for both myself and all of you, those who read this thing to begin with...

DBZ:UR Part One - The Slightest Sound...

The Prince of Saiyans sat alone at the top of the hill overlooking the Capsule Corp. compound. He stared at the stars above him, his thoughts on the events which brought him here.

It had been almost a year since the ordeal on Namek. He had died at the hands of Freiza, and brought back to life by the same Eternal Dragon he sought to grant him immortality. He thought of his arrival on earth with his bodyguard and partner, Nappa. How he battled Kakkarot and lost. So much had happened to him in that time...

And now he was here, on a planet full of weak humans. How had he, the Proud Prince Of The Saiyans, ended up on such a worthless hunk of rock?

He thought back to the words of his father. He knew he would someday become a Super Saiyan, come hell or high water. But Kakkarot had already beaten him to it.

What was left?

The androids were coming. That was certain. That lavender-haired kid had told them some months ago, the day Kakkarot came back from wherever he was. His thoughts turned to the kid again. He had gone Super Saiyan right before his eyes, yet he knew that he and Kakkarot were the only Saiyans left in the universe. Kakkarot's brat was half Saiyan, but other than that, they were all that remained of his once mighty race

Lost in his thoughts, Vegeta fell asleep on the hill. That night, he dreamed that he had finally acheived his goal...

(::~~::)

Bulma spent the morning in the kitchen, making herself some eggs and bacon. The night before, she was down in her laboratory, fixing the training drones Vegeta had demolished. Again. How many more times would she have to fix things for that brute?

Dr. Breif walked into the kitchen. "Morning, Bulma! Late night again?"

"Yes, Dad. I swear, if Vegeta keeps trashing those drones, I'll never have time to work on anything else."

"He he. Don't sweat it, Bulma. It's for a good cause in the end, if the androids even show up, that is." Dr. Brief rummaged through the fridge and pulled out some ham to make himself a sandwhich. "Speaking of Vegeta, where is he? He went out last night and didn't come back."

"I have no clue, dad. And frankly, I really don't care..."

Before she could finish her sentance, Vegeta came in through the door.

"What are you two staring at?" he bellowed after a moment, when he noticed the two humans staring at him. "Humph."

"Hello to you, too, grumpy..." Bulma said half under her breath.

"What?!? What did you just call me?"

"Oh get over yourself, Vegeta. The least you could do is learn how to say hello like a normal person. At least Goku has that kind of decency in him."

"Fine. Hello. Now out of my way, I'm starving." With that, Vegeta made his way to the refridgerator.

"Well," said Dr. Brief after an awkward silence, "I've got to get to the lab and get to
work on a few things. Talk to ya later." He looked at Vegeta, still hunched over in front of the fridge, and made his way out the door.

Bulma watched her father walk out the door, and sighed. 'How could he leave me here with this cocky lug?' she thought. She looked over at Vegeta, who had found what he wanted and seated himself at the table. She stood in silence, looking over the warrior who a few years before had been a threat to her very existance. Back then, she feared him like any other rival Goku and the others faced. But now, she saw him differently. It wasn't so much fear as it was annoyance. His cocky, self serving attitude and cold, mocking tone of voice. He was a big, whiney kid to her now.

Vegeta snapped his head up and looked at her with his usual cold stare. "Is something wrong, woman?"

Bulma caught herself. She had been staring at him the whole time, and didn't realize it as she lost herself in her thoughts. "What does it matter to you, you moron? You're sitting there, eating us out of house and home, and with what thanks? None, that's what. You know, Vegeta, if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have a place to stay and train, chasing after your silly, arrogant dream of becoming like Goku..."

Vegeta stood up abruptly and turned to Bulma in anger. "Listen to me, woman. I am the Prince of Saiyans. I'm stronger than Kakkarot, and I'll prove it to all of you soon. So just leave me be!"

"Whatever, your royal pain-in-the-ass. You're obviously a prince. Only royalty would have an attitude problem like yours. And as far as Goku is concerned, if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't even be here right now to chase your ambitions. So LAY OFF ME, YOU STUPID JERK!!!" Bulma turned and stormed out of the room.

"Humph. Stupid woman." He returned to his meal, but his thoughts began to lean towards her. She didn't fear him any longer. She actually stood up to HIM! Why? He couldn't understand it. All these humans SHOULD fear him! But this one, she didn't anymore. And he let out a little grin. He liked her attitude. There was something about her that was... almost... Saiyan...

(::~~::)

Bulma and her father had moved the Gravitational Trainer into the room accross the hall from her lab some months ago. Vegeta kept blowing it up, and it would cause a scene with the locals. This didn't make Bulma very happy, since he kept blowing it up there, too. And today was no different.

The explosion knocked Bulma out of her chair, and scattered her tools all over the floor of the lab. She picked herself up and dusted herself off. 'Jerk' she thought. As she bent over to pick up her tools, Vegeta stormed into the room.

"Get over there and fix that blasted thing, woman. How can I possibly make myself stronger if your machines can't handle what I'm doing?" He was being as cold and matter-of-factual as usual.

"What do I look like, Vegeta? Your personal pit crew? I'll fix it when I'm done with these other drones you so graciously obliterated yesterday."

"How dare you speak to me in that tone of voice, woman? Have you forgotten so soon who I am and what I could do to you if I..."

"IF YOU WHAT? Think about it, Mr. Princey Pants. If you didn't have me around to keep fixing that thing every time you send it to the scrap heap, you'ld never get stronger than Goku, though I doubt you ever could be. So you can just sit and wait for me to finish! Now get out of here before I really get mad!"

Vegeta was stunned. The look on his face was of total shock.

"Are you deaf? I said GET OUT OF HERE!"

Vegeta stood for a few more seconds, staring at the human female before him. Her face was beet red with anger. For a moment, he almost was afraid. Almost. He managed to compose himself and turned to leave.

"Vegeta..."

He stopped in his tracks, halfway out the door.

"Vegeta, I'm sorry. I've been frustrated lately. I know you're training so you can help the others beat those androids that are supposed to be coming. It's just that I've been working really hard to try to keep everything together, and I'm afraid that it just won't be enough. With you overloading the GT every other week, and all the other work I have to do, I've been stressed out. I'm sorry I got cross with you."

Vegeta stood, his back still to her. As he listened to the words she spoke, something inside him began to relax him. But how? Nothing made him relax. He was always high strung, it was part of what made him the warrior he was. But hearing the tone in her voice, hearing how despaired she must be.

"I'm... ss... ss.. sorry, Bulma..." With that, Vegeta left the lab and closed the door behind him.

Bulma herself was in shock. Vegeta, just said he was, sorry? She couldn't understand it. He'd never appologized for anything before. Not to mention he had never called her by her first name before. He had always referred to her as "woman" or "earth girl". But he had actually called her Bulma. She dropped the tools she had just picked up and continued to stare at the door...

(::~~::)

Vegeta walked out the front door of Capsule Corp. and immediately took off. He had no particular destination, but he knew he had to get out for a while. As he flew, his thoughts raced over what had just happened. "What's wrong with me?" He didn't have the answer. Something in that woman's voice had made him feel... different, than he had always felt. It was almost as if she had shattered the warrior's soul that flowed within him. And all she had to do was speak. "Why did I say I was sorry? I'm never sorry for anything! I don't have to be!"

He flew northward and landed on a solitary mountaintop in the wilderness. There he sat beneath a large oak tree and pondered the situation. What was it that made him say what he had said to her? He stared up at the sky for a time, thinking all the while. He watched the clouds overhead, moving gently in time with the planet's rotation. 'How silly' he thought. 'There's no way a simple human female can disarm me, the Prince of Saiyans. I'm the strongest fighter in the universe! And yet, she had some sort of effect on me.' He couldn't comprehend it.

The clouds started to take on shapes as he sat. One reminded him of the pod that brought him here in the first place. Another reminded him of his old companion, Nappa. Still another seemed to take the shape of Kakkarot, with that wild hairdo of his. And then, he came to a realization. He had spent all his life destroying things, laying waste to planets, all in the name of Freiza. He had never taken time to really experience them, though. Not like he was this day. The silence around him made him relax a bit. He wondered if his home planet of Vegeta would have ever been like this. As he remembered it, Vegeta had a black sky, nearly an eternal nightfall. But this planet, it's sky was blue, just like her eyes...

Her eyes. He was thinking of Bulma again. 'Ooooo, why does she invade my every thought now? It's like a virus that doesn't go away! Am I getting weak like Kakkarot? But still, there's something about her...' No matter how he tried to play it off, he kept thinking back to her. That woman. And as he did, the feeling he felt when she said those things to him came back to him in a rush. Annoyed at this new feeling, he took off again and began to fly back towards the town.

As he flew over the quiet town Capsule Corp. called home, Vegeta looked down at the humans walking around, talking, going about their insignificant little lives. They didn't seem to notice him. Noone ever did unless he was attracting attention in battle. There were all these little humans, yet only himself and Kakkarot remained of the once mighty Saiyan race. Deep down, this upset him. Here he was, the prince of a race that had only two full blood members left. Yet these humans were plentiful. This was an emotion that he, in all his pride and Saiyan glory, could not escape: Lonliness.

As he flew over the area that the humans called "Downtown", something caught his eye. It was that other human, the one they called Yamcha. And he wasn't alone. Vegeta flew down closer to see what he was up to.

(::~~::)

Yamcha and a blonde girl sat at a local coffee shop, laughing and holding hands. "So, anyway, this alien guy shows up, right, and starts demanding to know where the Dragonballs are so he can wish to be immortal. But we weren't having any of that, and we all started whooping up on this dude. When we were done with him, he went running back to space crying. He learned not to mess with me and my crew!"

"Oh, Yamcha, you're so brave!" The girl said.

"Yeah, but it's all part of the job, really." He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. They sat there, staring at each other. He didn't even notice the Saiyan Prince landing nearby, watching them with interest...

'Well well well' Vegeta thought to himself. 'Isn't that the one who's supposed to be that woman's mate? What's he doing out with another woman?' It's known throughout the universe that Saiyans have very acute hearing, and Vegeta heard every word Yamcha spoke to the girl. He was talking about his fight with Kakkarot and making it sound as if he were the hero and the Saiyan was nothing more than a coward. This made him very angry...

"So, anyway," Yamcha stood up from the table and motioned for his lady friend to do the same, "Where do you wanna go now, baby?"

By this time, Vegeta stood behind Yamcha, hiding his power level so the human wouldn't sense his presence. "Why don't you start by sitting that woman back down and telling her what REALLLLLLY happened that day, you worthless little insect."

Yamcha felt a chill run up and down his spine as he realized who's voice it was. "V.. v... ve... Vegeta! What are you doing here?" He turned to see his former foe standing against the wall of the coffee shop, his arms crossed in his usual, defiant pose, sporting an evil grin he had become all too familiar with.

"Why don't you begin at the part where you and your 'crew' sent me crying back to outer space. Or should I tell her about how I nearly destroyed you if Kakkarot hadn't been there to save your sorry hide?"

"Awww, come on, Vegeta. Ha ha! I was just kidding. Really..."

Vegeta wouldn't let him finish. "And besides, don't you already have a woman, that one called Bulma? What are you doing here with this one, eh, Yamcha?"

Yamcha froze in fear. Of all the people to catch him moonlighting with other girls, it had to be Vegeta. "Uhhh, you'll have to excuse me, I got, uhhh, some training to catch up on, yeah! Heh heh." He took off running like a bat out of hell down the street. His lady friend remained, staring with wonder at Vegeta.

"What are you looking at? Shows over, little girl. Why don't you go home and do your nails or something." And with that, he took off and headed back to the Capsule Compound to see how things were going with his GT. The girl, still as awestruck as she was when Yamcha had told him that phoney story, simply fainted.

As Vegeta flew away from the scene, his smile turned to a serious scowl. After hearing what Bulma had said to him earlier, he thought how this would add to her hardships. And then he caught himself. Why did he care? What made him so overly involved with how this woman felt? What was happening to him?

(::~~::)

And so, it begins again. With Blogger's comment system, feedback should be no big deal this time around, so feel free to drop me some love and/or criticism. Remember: I began this story almost a decade ago, so the times have changed. The final serials (what should be chapter 9) might be a bit different style-wise...

Welcome To Where You've Been Before

To clarify up front: Yes, I'm Eric Jacobson. Yes, I am the original author of DBZ:UR. I was the owner of the Tripod site where it first lived, I was the person who posted it to FanFiction.net. I have all of the original files to prove it, too, including the first draft of the long-awaited final chapter.

I've decided to bring DBZ:UR back mostly because I've rediscovered the original files during a hard drive backup (my tech situation has greatly improved since I first started UR), and since I've been more inclined to blog, I thought it would make a nice serial story. So, I'm redoing the chapter structure a bit, save for Chapter 7, which was serial oriented anyway. I'll release a new part once a week until I get a response from the community I once was a part of. From there, we'll see what happens.

I will promise you this, though: DBZ:UR will have an ending, and it will come after the release of the last parts of Chapter 8. It's time we had some closure, isn't it?

Now, I'm off to change the format of this bloggie-poo-didly here...