Vegeta's Cat

Copyright 2002 Saiyasith

Disclaimer: DBZ & all its characters are the creation of Akira Toriyama. This is a work written by a fan to honor Mr. Toriyama and no copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made, etc.

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PROLOGUE:

So tiny.

So perfect.

He's mine.

Really mine...

The Prince of all Saiyans stared wordlessly at the small bundle in his arms. Only the insistent beeping of the machines broke the heavy silence in the room. He looked across at his mate as she lay drugged and sleeping. So weak. He thought as he forced his eyes to his youngest son. The rage and anger began to build again. With Bulma asleep, he no longer had any reason to control it. Inwardly, he cursed the weakness that was emotion...the weakness that was called love. He hated himself for allowing it to have reign in his heart now.

Muscles throbbed with fierce power that pulsed with every ragged breath he took. Shakily, he staggered towards his unconscious mate, and with more tenderness than he'd ever shown he laid the tiniest Saiyan on his wife's breast.

The doctors and nurses averted his gaze, as if that would spare them from his erupting wrath. Vegeta glared at them in contempt, and the question he hissed was directed at himself, not them. "WHY?!??!!"

As if a dam had shattered, the Saiyan's control broke with the sound of his word. The explosion of his ki knocked over half the room. He didn't even notice the shards of the windowpane as they tore his bedclothes from his body. The storm swallowed his trail of light and all that was left was the dark night.

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A month later...

She was crying again. She tried to hide it; she tried to be strong. He knew she wanted to be strong for him. BAH! As if the Prince of the Saiyans was so weak as to need a human to be strong for HIM! An inarticulate growl escaped his throat, and he headed to the gravity room.

Pushing himself to the limit, he trained until he could barely stand. No one questioned his grueling routine; it had always been his custom. If anyone noticed that some of his wounds were more severe than in previous years, they dared not ask about it. Bulma always had the regeneration tank ready for him now. It was due to her tender hands that his retreat into pain did not end in the solace of death. He suspected that she knew his secret new "training technique", the one he used on his darkest days. Telling himself he was getting stronger and gaining endurance, he would spend his emptiest hours sitting motionless on the floor of the training dome and simply let the battle droids attack him. Some times he didn't even bother to power up. He hoped that the pain would fill the ache in his heart; secretly, sometimes he hoped to join his tiny son.

His son.

So tiny, so perfect.

So lifeless.

WHY????!!!!!!!!!

There was nothing physically wrong with the child. He had been born the perfect Saiyan warrior. Black hair spiked atop a perfect miniature rendition of Vegeta's proud face. A tiny tail curled softly around the baby's waist. The only thing missing was his heartbeat.

Vegeta had been the one to sense it…the sharp drop in his child's ki. The storm that settled in over the Capsule Corporation's compound had awakened him, and in the quiet he was thinking about his long-awaited second son. Then, without warning, the baby's ki flared then dropped rapidly. The Prince knew something was drastically wrong. He did not think, did not even wake his wife. He just grabbed her and flew straight to the hospital. But even his Saiyan speed was not enough. By the time they arrived, there was nothing the doctors could do. His child was gone. Without reason, without warning. It was almost more than the warrior could bear.

The hardest part was standing by his wife for the next eight hours as she gruelingly gave birth to their son. It was too soon… he shouldn't have even been born yet, much less died! And no one could tell him why. Why he had to bury his son. Why he couldn't understand it. Why it hurt so much. It was beyond his reasoning. He was a Saiyan warrior. The Prince of all Saiyans. He had destroyed planets; he had killed millions of beings. Why should the death of one who had not yet truly even lived matter to him? Bah! He hated his weakness. He hated himself.

But he had responsibility. He had a wife who needed his strength now more than ever. He had a son who needed training, a son who needed to be taught to be stronger than his father so that he would not suffer this kind of unreasoning pain. He would not abandon them like that idiot Kakarot had abandoned his family. HE would live. And so he would go on. He would get stronger. He would survive.

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Why do I subject myself to these stupid weakling customs? The warrior thought to himself. Vegeta grunted and shook his head, unable to acknowledge the answer that lay deep in his heart. "MOVE you idiot!" He shouted at the man blocking his path. His palpable anger cleared a path through the crowded aisles of the toy store. "Is there NOTHING in this pitiful excuse for an establishment worthy to give my son for his birthday?!" A harried sales clerk thought about offering to help him, but quickly decided against the idea. "BAH!" He hissed as he cast a final glare around the Super Toy Mart. He turned towards the door and shouted, "You are all USELESS!!!". As he stormed out the door the aura of his angry ki knocked over every display case he passed.

An hour later, Vegeta found himself in a quiet part of town. The merchant's section of the city had proven less than satisfactory in his quest, and so, the Prince of the Saiyans wandered through the oldest part of the city. Suddenly, Vegeta caught a whiff of blood. His battle sense quickly located the source of the scent. The Saiyan could tell from the ki signatures that humans were not involved, but he was so disgusted from his hours of futile searching that he decided to investigate.

At the end of an alley a pack of dogs had cornered what appeared to be a small ball of white fur. Several of the hounds were slashed in various places; he had found the origin of the smell. A sharp hiss was emanating from the fluff, and its tone made the Saiyan's hair tingle. Vegeta knew the sound of a challenge when he heard it, and for some insane reason, the tiny creature was actually challenging the dogs to attack it. Humph. He thought to himself. The stupid creature doesn't know when to back down from a fight. He looked up from the kitten and back to the dogs, comparing the two. Unbidden, a thought crossed his mind. It's so tiny…

Without even knowing why, the Saiyan broke through the pack and scooped the creature up. With a snarl, he let loose a backhand ball of ki and vaporized the hounds. The fluff immediately attacked Vegeta's hand and chest, but its claws were no match for battle-hardened skin. Glancing to the ground, the warrior spotted the remains of a hot dog, the prize that the cat was defending with its life. Baka! Was that small morsel worth your existance?? Idiot creature! He thought at the kitten. The cat ceased it assault and stared at the Saiyan as if to say, "Of course, fool. Anything that is MINE is worth defending."

With a shake of its head, the creature jumped to the ground and walked toward a doorway. It stood there a moment and began to mew. "What now!?" Vegeta spat in disgust. The cat simply stood there. The Prince unconsciously took several steps in the creature's direction before he realized what he was doing. He blinked a few times then looked up at the doorway in front of him. "CURIOUS CURIOS" the sign read. For a long minute, Vegeta stared at the diminutive animal standing in his path. Then he opened the door.