Here she was, experiencing her last moments of life, and he couldn't even stand to be in the same room as her. Even at the last minute, he refused to believe his little angel was slipping away.

Bulla sat at the dinner table, silent and still. She had no appetite after her visit with her oncologist several hours prior. She couldn't have thought of a better way to spend her seventeenth birthday than vomiting at the hospital and being told to fast for the next two days. So much for birthday cake. Bulla was a different person than what she was the year before. Who was once a beautiful, blue eyed, blue locked girl was now a grey eyed and completely bald.

"I know you can't eat anything, but Dr. Kuma said the cancer should be gone by next month." The girl's mother reassured her.

"I don't care anymore. I just…" Bulla started before standing up from her chair. "Will you excuse me.."

"Are you okay sis?" Her brother, Trunks, asked as he passed through the kitchen. His sister suddenly went green in the face and within seconds, went dashing for the nearest of thirty bathrooms in the house.

She began to heave violently over the porcelain, but with no success of purging anything. She was in pain, so bad that she was screaming in between heaves. Her mother was quick to appear at her side, cooling her off with a cold cloth on the back of her nape. The demi-Saiyan was dripping with sweat and hot, but at least she was finished. She felt horrible. Horrible that her family had to aid her every hour of the day, and that her father felt so bad that he avoided her. She wanted so badly to make it all go away. The fact that she was sick. The fact that she was a reciever. A sacrifice among the Saiyan race. Bulla closed her eyes for a moment and rested upon her mother's bosom.

"So who did you say this woman was again?" Bulla asked her parents. They didn't say a word, though they were very hasty to find the person they were looking for. The landed on Kami's lookout moments later and didn't waste any time to depart the helicopter. A firm grip managed to capture Bulla's hand. It was her fathers.

Finally, they met with the very small fortune-teller, Baba, an old friend of Bulma and Vegeta's.

"Bulla…Baba is going to educate us on the history of your father's people." Bulma informed her as she gave her a small rub on the back. Vegeta grunted and turned his focus away while his daughter was briefed.

"What does that have to do with me" She shrugged, looking at them all with a confused look.

The small woman spoke. "Soon you will find out, my dear. You are quite connected with you late ancestors in more ways than any of you know." She lowered her eyes to her crystal. A faint image of planet Vegeta appeared within the ball.

"You see, a long time ago in pre-historic Vegeta, spiritual being were born. There beings are similar to what we refer to as the Greek Gods. There were three: Two brothers and a sister. The eldest brother, Dai, was the weilder of strength and courage. The second born, Kon, was the wielder of great intelligence and magic. The daughter, Ume, was the weakest and was the receiver of all pain, disease and disability." Baba paused for a moment as the family watched her, waiting to hear more.

Bulla rolled her eyes. "What does this have to do with me?"

"Well, my dear, each and every being born on planet Vegeta is a descendant of the three beings. For example, your father is a close descendent of Dai, while your brother is a closer descendent of Kon. Does that make sense?" She studied the ball even closer.

"So Ume. Why did she have to be the receiver?" Bulma asked, moving her face closer to the image on the crystal.

"Seeing as we Saiyans are not usually affected by disease or any other disability," Vegeta started before the old woman could even organize her thoughts, "Someone has to take the fall for it."

"I see you know the stories too." Baba spoke with a softer, more somber tone. "Well, Ume took that fall. Anytime a Saiyan was injured, she felt that pain. The diseases you know of on Earth were twelve times more deadly on Vegeta…. she has had many. All to protect the descendants of Dai and Kon from perishing and being unable to protect the planet. She died at the age of seventeen due to an illness similar to cancer. Same disease that almost wiped Goku away from Earth before being saved by an old friend."

"So we traveled all this way to learn about legends?" Bulla snapped. Her face read anger. She was getting impatient and wanted to leave, but her frustration was snuffed out by the sound of her mother's sudden sniffling. She glanced at her and could see the tears falling from her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Bulla, my dear. You are a direct descendant of Ume, the receiving soul. By blood, you are a receiver of the pain and hardship that other Saiyans cannot afford to deal with." Baba informed her, unable to look the family in the eye. "I'm sorry."

Bulma was now sobbing, Vegeta had walked away from the family, and Bulla's body was still. She was unable to move, or to even process what she had just heard. It was as if time had stopped.

"I shall be on my way. You should be going soon too. If you seek help right away, you may be able to save your daughter." Baba said as she rested a hand onto Bulma's, whos eyes were now swollen with sadness. She nodded and squeezed the elder's hands, "Thank you Baba…"

Remembering the ride home that night made Bulla cringe inside. That was the first night her father's face read something other than displeasure. It was also the first night she'd seen him comfort her mother. She also hated seeing her brother cry that night, something he rarely ever did.

Ever since that day, her perspective on life, the world she lived in, and the people she loved completely altered. She knew now that she was destined to die and she knew it was for the sake of her remaining people. Not such an easy concept to grasp at only seventeen.