~Prologue~
There is a Saiyan prophecy that predicts the coming of the first female Super-Saiyan. It goes on to say that she will be found upon the impending destruction of the Homeland, and that the one who finds her will be her guide throughout the fulfilment of the prophecy. Although that particular bit of information wasn't much to go on, it attracted the attention of some rather important people; the search for the chosen one was taken on by a select few...but none-the-less a significant select few, each with his or her own personal plans concerning the chosen one's future. The prophecy contains much more information about the particular Saiyan female other than the time of her discovery, but, unfortunately, that one obstacle seemed to take an eternity to surmount...
***
"After all these years..." Freeza whispered incredulously to himself as he headed towards the small house at the other end of the street he was on. After scanning planet Vegita for close to a decade, Freeza had found what it was that he was looking for: the chosen one. Every female Saiyan on the planet, young and old, had unknowingly been 'tested'; each of their power levels and structures had been analysed and compared to the 'set design' of the chosen one. Finally, after much effort, Freeza had found a match.
The female was five years old and her name was Ka.
After dispatching his personal guards, Freeza translocated himself inside the small house, in the same room as the young girl. He arrived inside what looked like a small kitchen; with a few quick observations, he realized it was not a kitchen, but a makeshift laboratory scaled down to a size suitable to a child. Bent over a machine, to his right, was the chosen one; she apparently did not notice his presence in the room.
"Ka." He said lightly and rested a hand on the child's shoudler. The girl jumped and gasped, then whirled around to face the one who had disturbed her, "Who..." She stuttered, looking Freeza up and down. Freeza smiled coldly, "I have been looking for you for a very long time, my dear." He spoke with much contentment, "You are the one in the prophecy: the chosen one...you will be the first female Super-Saiyan! Your power will be great..." He mused.
An odd feeling crept into Ka's insides at the sound of Freeza's words, "What? Who are you?!" She cried, then quickly looked behind her towards the doorway to make sure her parents hadn't heard her cry out, "Who are you?" She then repeated more quietly after returning her gaze to Freeza. Although she was in a rather a strange situation, she didn't really want her mother or father to show up and take the stranger away. Her mother had always told her that her curiosity would get her into trouble...
"I am Freeza, your guide." Freeza answered proudly. Ka's deep green eyes went wide, "Freeza?" She asked, trying the name out to make sure she had heard right, "Freeza?!" She choked a second time, "You're evil!" She gasped, recalling what her parents had told her about Freeza's plans for planet Vegita. This was the man that would most likely kill everyone she knew! Without thinking twice, she reached behind her and picked up a small knife from off of the table she had been leaning over before Freeza had disturbed her. Crudely, she pointed it at her opponent and sneered, "Get away from me please." She requested bluntly.
Freeza didn't budge. The prophecy said that the female would come willingly...
"Go away." Ka repeated, locking her eyes with Freeza's.
Still, the other man did not move; he remained in awe at the five year old girl's guts.
With a sharp intake of breath, Ka cocked the knife back threateningly. Seconds later, the feeling she had felt earlier, when Freeza had mentioned the prophecy, returned -- only stronger. She sighed, almost out of resignation, and lowered the small knife she held ready, then placed it back on the table behind her. She walked up to Freeza and took his hand, then looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes, "I'm ready to go now." She declared promptly and smirked.
Freeza couldn't help but blink down at the girl. If the rest of his time with Ka was going to be as odd as it had been on their first encounter, then things would be very interesting in the years to come...
***
The day planet Vegita was detroyed, Ka was outside playing in Freeza's court. Looking after her was Radditz, only a young adult Saiyan at the time.
Ka busied away, with extreme concentration, at solving a small geometrical puzzle. The puzzle was a gift from Freeza; he had noticed Ka's love for complication almost immediately after 'adopting' her -- but then again, the prophecy had written about that too... The toy consisted of a series of shapes that could fit together to form symbols and other designs; the girl found the solution to most of the patterns, but there was one particular shape that she simply couldn't get no matter how hard she tried: that shape was a five-pointed star.
With a gentle frown, Ka sighed in frustration. She looked up from her game and met Radditz's even gaze, "Aren't you cold? You should have worn more clothes..." Radditz said after a bit. He had been watching Ka for a while, wondering, among other things, why she wasn't shivering; Freeza's planet was much colder than planet Vegita, but the young girl hadn't reacted in the least bit to the drastic change in temperature. Now, outside in a simple dress -- and no shoes -- little Ka hadn't the slightest goosebump.
"No, why?" Ka asked her guardian and blinked her long lashes once; why would she wear more clothes? She was fine...except for the fact that she couldn't get that pesky star shape to work for her... "Are you cold?" She asked Radditz then and cocked her head to the side, studying him intently.
Radditz nodded, "Yeah, you could say that." He answered, his mind elsewhere. He found it interesting that the girl was oblivious to the impending fate of planet Vegita; inside the palace, Freeza was preparing the final blow to the Saiyan homeland. Ka was too young to feel pride as Radditz did, so she did not view planet Vegita's destruction the same way he did...which was as a type of punishment to those 'lower' than him.
He returned his attention to Ka; the young Saiyan girl was blinking one eye and beckoning him near with her finger. He made his way over to where she sat and plopped down beside her. Ka smiled wide and threw her tiny arms around his neck, burying her face in his hair, "Don't be cold." She said simply, as though those words alone could fix any problem in the world. Raddizt couldn't help but smile; Ka was freezing to the touch, but her simple presence was warmer than any fire in the universe. Radditz held her to him a moment, his mind busy compiling his previous thoughts.
"Would you like some help with that puzzle?" Radditz asked Ka after a bit, "I've been watching you work on the star shape for many weeks..." He added gently and then stopped short when the girl pulled away from him and shook her head. "No thank you, I'd rather figure out on my own." She said determinedly and bent over the many small shapes for the hundredth time.
Radditz watched Ka slave over her game for many more minutes before the blast of light came. Both Ka and Radditz's eyes looked to the sky above as a sphere of reddish-silvery light errupted out of nowhere, pulsed, and then faded.
Freeza had done it.
Ka, confused, whirled to face her guardian. Radditz caught her gaze, and, although he made an effort to keep his emotions to himself, Ka noticed that he held back a contented smile. "Planet Vegita is gone now, isn't it?" The young girl asked, her expression difficult to analyse. Radditz nodded and pulled Ka close for the second time that afternoon, "Yes," He said, "I'm sorry." He added without feeling and held the girl tighter, in an effort to soothe the pain that she -- perhaps -- felt.
Moments later, Radditz heard Ka's voice in his ear, "Don't be sorry...there will be other planets." She whispered calmly.
Raddizt grinned to himself at the sound of the girl's surprisingly cold reaction.