Disclaimer: Hello all! I do not own Dragonball Z or any of his characters or storylines. The only people I own are Pree and Atem, they are of my own creation. :]
I'd appreciate reviews, kay? Thanks!
Of Love and Saiya-jins
Chapter One: The Arrival.
She trailed a manicured finger delicately down the side of his face, her pale skin was a stark contrast with color of his tanned skin. He was gorgeous, he was the only male that had the power to make her drop to her knees and beg for him if he asked. It had been some time ago that she realized she was irrevocably in love with him, passionately devoted to him. He was the only one she had ever had feelings for, true feelings anyway. She had once had a crush on her sensei, Vegeta, but that was only out of admiration of his strength. But this man, he was so much different then his father, her sensei.
Pushing strands of dark hair behind her ear, she walked over to the tall cabinet by the door and pulled a quilt out of it. Draping the blanket over the object of her affection, she pressed her pink lips to his forehead before exiting his office and stepping into the hallway. Closing the door gently, she gave a soft sigh.
"Pan!"
Turning around in startled surprise, she gave an uneasy smile to her best friend. "Hey, Bra," she said and waved to the girl. "What are you doing down here?"
Bra rolled her eyes. "Mom sent me looking for Trunks, is he in his office?" she asked the petite, raven-haired girl.
Nodding her head, Pan smiled. "Yeah, but he's sleeping," she said, "I had come to see if he wanted to spar but he was out like a light."
Giving a frustrated sigh, Bra shook her head. "Typical, sleeping on the job," she said before placing her hands on her hips and quirking an eyebrow. "Pan, you know Trunks doesn't like to spar that much anymore," she said, tilting her head gently. "Why would you ask him to? He always declines."
Pan shrugged, she'd have to think of another lie. "Just wanted to give it another try," she said and pursed her lips. "Vegeta-sensei seems to be getting aggravated with me," she said with a gentle frown. "I want so badly to become super and I keep imposing myself on him, I guess."
Bra shook her head. "No way, Daddy loves training with you," she grinned. "He says you have admirable determination."
Pan's eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yeah," Bra said. "'Kakkarot's brat is improving, Saiya-jin blood definitely runs in her veins' he says."
Pan laughed at Bra's impersonation on her father, but she was pleased that he spoke so highly of her. Her sensei hardly complemented others and it boosted Pan's self-esteem to know that he held her in high regard. Lately, she hadn't been feeling all that self-confident and she had been hard on herself while training. The fact that she may never go Super Saiya-jin was driving her to the brink. Her one true goal was to become the first female Super Saiya-jin, it was the only thing that she truly aspired for in life. Of course, that didn't please her parents in the slightest, they wanted her to act like a normal girl. But she wasn't normal, they had to realize that sooner of later.
"C'mon Pan, let's get something to eat," Bra said, heading down the hallway with a distracted girl following after her.
Upon entry of the kitchen, they saw Bulma at the stove as she hummed a gentle tune. Vegeta sat at the table, a plate of sandwiches sitting in front of him. Pan and Bra took seats at the table, grabbing fruit from the bowl. Taking a bite out of her apple, Pan rested her cheek into the palm of her hand.
"Are you training with Vegeta today, Pan?" Bulma asked as she pulled some food from the refrigerator.
Gulping down a bite, Pan looked up at her sensei to see him nodding his head. "Yeah, I've been slacking lately," she replied to the blue-haired woman. She watched as Vegeta finished his last sandwich before dumping the plate into the sink and exiting the kitchen. "I'll see you, Bra," she said as she threw away her apple core and headed after her sensei. When she stepped into the Gravity Room, she could see that Vegeta had already begun to warm up. Immediately, she began her stretches.
"Eager today, aren't you brat?" Vegeta said, stretching his arms high over his head.
"Vegeta-sensei," she said softly, "can I ask you a question?"
He grunted in response.
"Well, we have the dragonballs," she began, "why didn't you ever wish for Vegeta-sei to be restored?"
He stalled in his stretches to turn and look at her, she could see that he hadn't ever really given it much thought. "We always needed the dragonballs for something else," he said gruffly, standing up to his full height. "When we were at peacetime, the thought just never crossed my mind."
She nodded. "Do you think you would wish for your home planet to be restored?" she asked, stretching her back. "I mean, you must miss your family and everyone you used to know."
"In the time I lived on Vegeta-sei, I didn't have friends," he said, throwing punches into the air. "Friends and family weren't important, Saiya-jins had different priorities then you've grown up to have," he said, roundhouse kicking the air. "Strength and power were our only goals."
"Well, strength and power is my goal," she said, throwing punches into the air as he had previously done.
"No, we were barbaric creatures, we killed because we could and there was no one to stop us," he added, his face hardening at the memories. "Vegeta-sei is better off destroyed, trust me."
She frowned gently but nodded anyway. "Enough talk, time for me to finally take you down!" she challenged and he turned to her with a smug smirk on his lips. "C'mon, old man!"
Just as she was getting ready to lunge at him, a loud crash could be heard. The two froze before running out of the Gravity Room and to the back of the house where everyone was gathering. In front of them were two large craters, round spacepods were impeded in them. Curiously, Pan took a few steps closer, ignoring Bra's cries against it. Leaning over to peer in the craters, she jumped when the doors suddenly opened and dust flew up into the air.
"What in the world?" she whispered gently, watching with wide eyes as the smoke cleared. A gasp escaped her lips at what she saw, jerking back and crying out when she lost her balance. Waving her arms, she tried right herself but her foot slipped on the edge of the crater and she was sliding down to the middle. She stopped abruptly when her knees came in contact with the hard surface of what she thought was the spacepod. Opening her tightly closed eyes, she saw that she had collided with someone's legs. Her eyes traveled up the length of the person's body until she stopped at their face, blanching at the hard glare they were giving her. "Vegeta-sensei?"
The male grabbed her by the throat and hoisted her into the air, tightening his grip and cutting off her air supply. "Who are you and how do you know my brother?" the male's gruff voice spoke, her hands clutching at his wrists.
"Atem!" her sensei yelled out and the male looked up and away from Pan. "Drop her."
She was crudely dropped to the ground, before the two strangers flew out of the crater. Her hands flew to her neck as she coughed and sputtered, she knew the skin had already begun to redden. Getting to her feet, she launched herself out of the crater and landed a little away from Vegeta and the strangers.
Atem regarded her with cold eyes before turning back to Vegeta, his eyes narrowed. "We have come to retrieve you, brother," he said in a deep, callous voice. "We have searched for years trying to find you."
The woman beside him spoke up. "We found that coward, Tarble, and he told us where to find you."
Bulma looked intensely frightened. "Vegeta, you know them?"
Atem was instantly infuriated. "You wench, don't address the Saiya-jin no Ouji so informally!" he howled before launching at her, only to be stopped by his brother. "Brother!"
Vegeta set him down with a hard look. "You will not harm my mate, boy."
The male was stunned. "Mate?"
"Surely you are kidding us, brother!" the woman hollered. "You cannot possibly have sunken so low as to mate with such a degrading piece of scum!"
"Excuse me!" Bulma shouted indignantly, obviously offended.
"Shut your mouth, onna," Vegeta ordered to Bulma, his eyes never leaving his siblings. "She is my mate and you will not disrespect her, Pree."
"Jeez, Vegeta, how many siblings to you have?" her grandfather asked, giving a laugh. "I thought there was only Tarble," he said, and Pan had to wonder just when he had gotten there. It seemed that he had brought her father and her uncle with him because they were standing off to the side with Trunks.
Atem turned to him, studying him. "Bardock? I thought you were dead."
"That is not Bardock, it is his son, Kakkarot," Vegeta said, his arms crossing over his chest as he observed his siblings. "Why have you come here to retrieve me?"
The two were silent, exchanging looks between each other. "We have heard of these objects called dragonballs," Atem said, stepping closer to his brother. "We needed your help to find them so that we may wish for our home planet to be restored and you take your rightful place as King."
"But you have gone too soft in these years here, brother," Pree spat, disgust evident on her face. "But that is besides the point, you must come with us and take your place as King," she added, her hands on her hips. She reminded Pan of Bra in some ways, like the look she was giving Vegeta was so similar to the one that Bra had given Trunks plenty of times. "We must take you and Kakkarot, since you are the only two pure Saiya-jins here, we will not disgrace Vegeta-sei with muddled blood."
Vegeta hadn't said a word, he seemed to be processing all their information. Bulma stepped towards him, looking at him curiously and hopefully. Pan could only guess that Bulma was hoping he'd tell them to get lost and leave them all alone. But Vegeta remained still, not moving or speaking. It wasn't until Bulma placed her hand on his arm that he seemed to jolt from his silence. "Vegeta-sei is better off destroyed, I will not help you," he asked, his eyes not betraying any emotion.
"What?!" both cried out in unison.
Pree closed the distance between her and Vegeta, her fists clenched tightly. "You cannot mean that, it is your home!" she shouted, her dark eyes narrowed. She really looked like Bra then, like a dark-haired version of Pan's best friend. "You are no longer the brother that I adored and admired, what has happened to you?"
"Yes brother, have you lost all your Saiya-jin pride?" Atem asked, his teeth clenched. "What have these creatures done to you?"
"Leave and find the dragonballs on your own, don't disturb me again," Vegeta replied, turning on his heel and walking towards the house.
Enraged, Atem lifted his hand and shot a blast of energy at his brother. Sensing the power, Vegeta whirled around and deflected it before blasting one back at the younger male. In a blink of an eye, the two brothers were at each other's throats. Pan was in awe at their strength, watching as they threw punch after punch. It was when her sensei went super that she admired the man even more. He was so strong, everything she wanted to be. But what impressed her most was Atem's determination, he wasn't going to give up against the much stronger male.
"Vegeta, Atem, stop this!" Pree was shouting, Bulma shouting along with her.
Goku had come up beside Pan and was marveling as well. "That's strength, makes me itch to spar with him," he said and Pan nodded her head as she watched Vegeta pound his fists into his brother. With a roundhouse kick, Vegeta sent Atem soaring into the crater and crashing into the spacepod.
"Grandpa, stop him," Pan whispered, fearing for Atem's life. "He'll kill him!"
Upon noticing the murderous glint in Vegeta's eyes, Goku hurriedly launched himself at the male and restrained him. He had to go Super Saiya-jin himself just to keep Vegeta was breaking free. "Calm down, Vegeta, he's your brother!" her grandfather was yelling as Vegeta struggled to free himself.
Pree jumped into the crater and pulled Atem from the wreckage of their spacepods, laying him on the ground gently. "Honestly Vegeta, this is uncalled for!" she shouted at her brother, giving him a hard glare.
"Daddy, please!" Bra shouted and Vegeta seemed to calm down slightly, enough for Goku to release him. He powered down and dropped down beside his siblings while giving them hateful glares.
"It was the brat's fault for thinking he could actually beat me," he said. "Next time, tell him not to be stupid enough to challenge his superior."
Pree watched as Vegeta stalked back inside the house, but Pan knew he was going to blow off the rest of his steam in the Gravity Room. "Atem," she called to her brother softly, her eyes filling with worry.
"We have a regeneration tank inside the house," Bulma said after approaching them tentatively. "I'll take you to it."
Goku had lifted Atem into his arms much to Pree's protest but she followed after them anyhow, her concern for her brother growing. They disappeared inside the house and everyone fell into an awkward silence. Bra bit her bottom lip as she came to stand beside Pan, her worried eyes looking over at her best friend. Pan knew how she was feeling, the anxiety of having her father's siblings in the house. Pan didn't trust the strangers either, especially if Vegeta wasn't pleased to see his own siblings. They were callous and rude, they seemed as if they'd strike at anytime. But Pan was confident that Vegeta wasn't going to let them hurt anyone in the house, especially not his family.
"Don't worry, Bra," Pan said soothingly. "Everything will be alright."
"Pan," Gohan called out, causing Pan to look at him. "I think it's time we go."
Bra looked alarmed. "Please, Gohan, can she stay?"
"Please, Dad," Pan added, looking at her father hopefully.
Goten put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'll stay too, watch out for her."
With pursed lips, Gohan nodded. "Be careful," he said before he took off, returning home to Videl.
Pan turned towards her best friend and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "C'mon, let's go to your room and gossip," she said, bringing a smile to the blue-haired girl's lips. "We can even go shopping if you want."
The smile on Bra's lips couldn't mean anything good and Pan was beginning to regret her last statement.
Well, that's chapter one. Let me know what you think, okay? Chapter two should be on the way soon.
-- Twisted.
