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.
"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?
