Chapter One - Leaving for Vegeta
Bulma gazed down at the Capsule Corp courtyard and watched Yamcha and Krillin sparring in the warm afternoon sun. She'd offered one of the larger guest rooms to Yamcha and Hotaru when they'd first arrived on Earth nearly a year previously. They'd been the least noisy of her guests though. Her other guest... he was loud, obnoxious, annoying, arrogant, and... kinda cute.
She turned from the scene outside started toward the hallway when the bellowing voice of her other main guest echoed from her bathroom. "What... what is the meaning of this!" he cried loudly.
She stopped and grinned, having a very good idea what he was yelling about. "Meaning of what, Vegeta?" she asked.
"There aren't any towels!"
Bulma reached a hand up and covered her mouth to try and muffle her laughing. "Oh, sorry Vegeta. I forgot to tell you. The maid came by early today to do the laundry. There's guest towels in the bathroom down the hall, you could use those."
"And what, go down the hall stark naked?" he cried indignantly.
"Well, I'd get them for you, but I'm running late for a meeting with my father." she said walking out of the room and starting down the stairs. She only went down to the first landing however, and then turned and looked back up again. Sure enough, her early morning efforts paid off, and Vegeta emerged from her room naked and wet. She only caught a glimpse of him as he moved down the hall for a towel grumbling about how he should have stayed at the embassy after all, but she still smiled.
Bulma held her laughter until she reached the bottom floor and then couldn't hold it anymore and leaned against the wall for support. As she closed her eyes from laughing the sight of Vegeta flashed in her mind again and her face went red instantly. /I'm behaving like a schoolgirl/ she thought. The thought made her calm down some, her laughing subsiding. But her face was still red and she still couldn't get the image of Vegeta out of her head.
She shook her head and continued down the hall and then into the elevator down to her father's lab. "Bulma, hold the door!" a voice called. The blue haired woman reached out and pressed the door-open button. A moment later Hotaru entered the elevator as well and they began the descent down to the lab. "Thanks Bulma."
"Sure. It's nice to see I'm not the only one running late today."
Hotaru shrugged. "I didn't have the energy to get out of bed this morning... and Yamcha's out training already." she shook her head. "I don't know how he does it..."
Bulma glanced over at her. "Oh really?"
"What? Bulma!" she cried turning red. "That's not what I meant!"
The blue haired woman laughed. "Sure, whatever you say dear."
She pretended to glare at the other woman for moment before she cracked up laughing. "Seriously though, that's not what I meant. It's just, crying at all hours of the night... Though, I think Yamcha just sleeps through it half the time."
Bulma laughed. "That certainly sounds like Yamcha. He could sleep through the world blowing up." she said smiling a little. "So, who's watching Sakura?"
"Chi-Chi offered." Hotaru sighed. "She's definitely a baby person." She was silent a moment as she gazed at Bulma. "And what about you? When are you finally going to make your move, or have I just been so busy I missed it?"
"What are talking about?"
"Vegeta of course! It's obvious you like him."
Before Bulma could offer any kind of answer the elevator stopped and the doors slipped open. With a silent 'thank Kami' Bulma moved out of the small room and into her father's large lab. She made her way, with Hotaru right behind her, across the room to where her father was working. "So, how's it coming along?" she asked.
"It's coming, it's coming..." he said gazing at a blueprint. "You haven't happened to have seen Hotaru yet, have you?"
"Right here." she said walking up to him.
"Ah, good. I could use your help figuring out a few of these parts."
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Bardock landed in the Capsule Corp courtyard just as Yamcha and Krillin finished up their spar. "How's it coming guys?" he asked.
"Slowly." Krillin said frowning. "I just don't think we'll be any help..."
"You never know. Just keep up the work. We'll need all the power we can manage." The two Humans nodded and Bardock entered the building. It only took a moment to spy who he was looking for, Vegeta sat at the kitchen table stuffing away Chi-Chi's cooking. "Ah, there you are Prince Vegeta."
Vegeta paused in the middle of shoveling food in his mouth and looked up. "What is it Bardock?"
"I was wondering if you'd changed your mind about joining us..."
Vegeta grunted and went back to his eating. He'd not taken too well to the idea that he'd been beaten to the punch, as it were, by not just one Sai-jin, but multiple. Bardock had always heard stories before about Vegeta's ego and pride but he'd been experiencing them first hand lately. He shrugged and looked over to Chi-chi. "Think you can manage another Sai-jin at the table?" he asked.
"Sure, no problem." Chi-Chi replied. "But if Sakura wakes up it'll cut your meal short."
"It's better than dealing with Gohan's over cooked fish again." the Sai-jin replied taking a seat.
"When are they going to be coming back in?" Chi-Chi asked as she brought over the most recent stack of pancakes and set them down in front of Bardock.
"We'll be taking a break sometime next week." Bardock replied digging into the food. A few minutes later he was still eating when he sensed a power flare up in the area and looked up to find Vegeta missing. The Prince had been working himself so hard the past eight months it was actually hindering his progress. Still, he was the strongest of their group. In base at least. Bardock sighed and finished up his food.
"That was great as always Chi-Chi, thanks." he said standing.
"What, leaving without saying hello?" Bulma asked entering the room.
Bardock grinned and shook his head. "Never. So, how's progress coming?"
"Slowly. But it should be ready in a couple more months."
"That's good news at least. Well, I really should go before the others start wondering what's taking so long. Later!" He gave the two women a departing wave and left the room before blasting off and back out to where the others were training. Bulma watched him go and then took the small plate of pancakes off of Chi-Chi and the two women sat down to their breakfast. However, it was interupted a moment later by an explosion that rocked the entire compound.
At first Bulma thought it had come from down in the lab but then she saw the smoke through one of the windows and realized it was from outside. She stood quickly knocking her chair over and ran outside as Chi-Chi moved over to the now crying Sakura. Bulma rushed out the doors into the courtyard and moved over to where Krillin and Yamcha were already digging through debris. "Oh no, Vegeta!" she cried seeing what little remained of the gravity chamber he'd been using.
She'd been about to run over and help when some of the debris parted and a hand reached out. A second later another followed and Vegeta lifted himself into a sitting position weakly, and then fell back over again. Bulma ran over and knelt down beside him checking his pulse first. She sighed in relief when she felt it, though not as strong as normal. "Help me get him inside." she called over her shoulder. The two Humans nodded and moved over to her side.
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He was surrounded in pure blackness. A sudden sound like rushing wind reached his ears and he spun around in the darkness and came face to face with Kakkarotto, Bardock, and Gohan. All three of them flashed gold and transformed. Vegeta let out a growl and sent a stream of purple energy sailing toward them but they vanished and the blast sped off into the darkness. He heard a yell behind him and turned once more, this time to find the scene from eight months before and the unknown man who transformed as well.
Vegeta was about to yell something when the darkness began to recede and reveal a desolate landscape. The scene before him vanished as the darkness conintued to pull back revealing dead bodies laying everywhere. Vegeta's eyes widened in fear as he gazed about and, for the first time, recognized where he was standing. Just to his right stood a blue doorway that lead to yet another pile of tan rubble. But he knew this rubble. "C... Capsule Corp?"
A laughing reached his ears and he looked ahead again and saw a shadow standing inside towering flames. For the first time in this dream he heard a voice, familiar and yet not. It was calm, arrogant, malicious, and mocking. "Come now! Is that all you've got! I thought you were supposed to be the greatest Sai-jin?"
Vegeta snapped his head up to look toward the smoke filled sky as he heard a growl and voice that was beyond familiar to him. His own voice. "You dare mock me! You will pay for what you have done!" All he could see was a streak of gold surging down into the flames, and then a thunderous crack shattered them and he saw the golden streak knocked away from the form in the flames, and once more he got a clear view of the owner of that form. The golden eyes seemed to bore right into him.
Vegeta jerked and sat up, the oxygen mask falling off of his face. He looked about him, his heart pounding in his chest. But as he realized where he was his pulse slowed and he relaxed some. That's when his eyes settled on Bulma who'd fallen asleep at her desk beside her bed. He reached a hand up to his head and rubbed it as he tried to figure out what was happening with him. /It still keeps coming. But what is it? What does it mean/
He sighed as he pulled himself up completely and leaned back against the headboard. /That was Capsule Corp beside me, or what was left of it. But... how could I have been seeing it before I'd even heard of Earth, let alone been here? And, that was my voice I'd heard. But my aura... was I a Super Sai-jin? And who is that man in the flames? I know that voice, but I've never heard it before... I know that face, but it's not familiar... and those eyes... not even Frieza's gaze terrified me like that.../
He was snapped out of his thoughts a moment later by Bulma's voice. "Oh, Vegeta, you're awake!" He didn't say anything, just looked at her for a moment, before turning his gaze toward the ceiling. "You really should ease up some Vegeta, or you'll end up killing yourself."
"I'm going back home." he said at last.
"What? Why?" Bulma asked suprised.
Vegeta remained silent for a long moment, the dream... or vision? Whatever it was, it was still going through his mind, though it was becoming hazy now. "I can train better there." he said at last. It wasn't the entire truth, but he wasn't even admitting that to himself, no way he'd admit it to her.
Bulma sighed and turned her eyes toward the ground for a moment, but then she perked up suddenly. "Well then, I'm coming with you." she said with a nod.
"What?"
"You heard me. If you're going then so am I."
Vegeta frowned slightly but said nothing.
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It had only been a few hours since Vegeta had decided to leave for Planet Vegeta. He'd refused being placed in a regen tank saying that his injuries weren't that severe but Bulma saw him wince almost every time he reached out his arms. Still, she knew better than to argue with him about it, he'd only dig his heels in further. Bulma shut her last suitcase and locked it before looking out her window at the setting sun.
She'd only had the time to tell Krillin, Hotaru, and her father that she was leaving. Krillin was rather shocked, Hotaru just grinned and winked at her, and her father... she wasn't even sure he'd actually heard her. With a sigh she moved back over to her two suitcases packed full of capsules, her entire wardrobe in fact, and moved out into and down the hall and out to the waiting taxi that would take her to the embassy.
She looked out her window at West City as the car moved and hoped that the next time she saw the city it was just as peaceful as it looked now.