A/N: I don't own DBZ or the characters, that honour belongs to Akira Toriyama. I use British English spelling.

Vegeta and his eight year old son Trunks go back in time to warn the past of the Androids' arrival. When the machine needs repairing the two of them are stuck. At least the past has good food! There's just one problem... Bulma begins to fall in love with Future Vegeta, instead of his younger self. Can Vegeta ensure his son's birth, defeat the Androids, and save the world?


Food in the past was a thousand times better than food in his time. No, a million times better, Trunks decided as he bit into a sandwich layered with chicken, a good helping of creamy mayonnaise, and three types of cheeses. "This is the best holiday ever," he said in between mouthfuls. "If we can restore the dragon balls in our time, I'm wishing for an endless supply of food like this."

Mrs Briefs - Nana, Grandmother? - smiled widely and ruffled his hair as she placed another plate of sandwiches on the table. "It's wonderful having more people to cook for, dear. Your papa has a healthy appetite and a solid appreciation for my cooking. I'm glad to see you've inherited it."

Vegeta scowled at the woman who disappeared back into the kitchen, humming to herself. His glare moved from her to Trunks. "I think we have more important things to wish for. And this isn't a holiday, brat." But despite his sharp look, his tone held no edge and when he bit into his own sandwich and sighed, his expression relaxed into something resembling bliss. "I suppose if we have a spare wish…"

Trunks couldn't help grinning. His usually serious father had seemed less uptight since killing Frieza. He wasn't sure if it was the death of his old enemy or the food and relative safety in this time, but since Vegeta hadn't snapped at Trunks once since they'd arrived, there was no way he was complaining about the sudden change in his father's personality.

"I know it's not really a holiday…" Trunks did his best to keep the whine out of his voice since he knew his father reacted badly to that, but he couldn't help the excitement that crept in. "But you did say that if we got the chance you'd take me to an amusement park."

"That sounds like a wonderful outing," Mrs Briefs said from the kitchen as she pulled a tray of steaming chocolate chip biscuits from the oven then placed it on the bench top. "I remember when my dearest took me to the theme park in Sunshine City as our first date. It was so romantic!" She let out a loud exhale and laid her kitchen-mittened hand on her chest. She gave Vegeta and sly smile. "You should take Bulma."

Vegeta coughed on the sandwich he was devouring, so Trunks passed him a glass of water, hiding his smirk.

Vegeta took the drink and gulped it back, then slammed the glass on the table. "That's a terrible idea! Don't try your meddling on me, woman." He narrowed his eyes in her direction. "If you're going to meddle, do it with this time's me, not… me… uh… not future me… oh forget it." He waved his hand in frustration at Mrs Briefs' blank look then glared across the table as Trunks finally burst out laughing.

"We should go with Gohan," Trunks suggested, still struggling to contain his giggles.

"I had to deal with Kakarot's brat for years in our time. Why the hell would I want to spend time with him in this one?" Vegeta asked.

"But papa, if he comes you don't need to go on the rides with me."

Vegeta growled then muttered a couple of the Saiyan curse words he'd taught Trunks recently under his breath. "Fine. Kakarot's spawn can come." He threw Mrs Briefs a frown. "But no one else."

"Where are you taking Gohan?" Kakarot walked into the dining room from the ranch sliders that opened out onto the garden, rubbing the back of his head and wincing.

"To the amusement park!" Trunks bounced in his seat, unable to contain his excitement any longer. He'd never been to one but had watched a few old Earth movies and they looked fun.

"Can I come?" Kakarot's face lit up like a child's. "The food there is the best. The candy floss, the candy apples…" He smacked his lips together as he pulled out the chair next to Vegeta and sat down on it.

Trunks watched curiously as his father edged away from Kakarot on his seat and fixed his dark stare on the other Saiyan. "No. You are not invited."

Vegeta had talked about Kakarot a bit to Trunks, and the boy hadn't ever worked out if Vegeta saw the other Saiyan as an enemy or a friend. The words Vegeta used to describe Kakarot were never very nice (then again, Vegeta was never particularly nice to anyone), but Trunks always caught something in his father's tone when he spoke about Kakarot that made Trunks wonder if he actually liked the man underneath it all.

Kakarot pouted at Vegeta. "Come on, you'll be bored if you have to drag the two kids around by yourself. It will be fun if we all go. Trunks doesn't mind, do you buddy?"

Trunks frowned in annoyance at the endearment. He hated being treated like a child. Papa might still have still acted like a father - or a commanding officer depending on the situation - but he never talked down to Trunks. "I am not your buddy," he growled, snatching the last sandwich out from under Kakarot's reaching hand.

Kakarot looked in disappointment at the empty plate, then laughed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Gosh, like father, like son, right Vegeta? You sure can tell he's your kid."

Vegeta smirked at Trunks, who felt a sudden surge of pride.

Kakarot grabbed one of the baked cookies instead and grinned at Trunks. "How are you liking the past?"

"S'fine," Trunks mumbled as he swallowed the rest of his sandwich. Kakarot seemed nice enough, but he couldn't imagine him surviving in the future. A good nature like that would either be beaten out of him or get him killed.

Perhaps guessing that he wasn't going to get much out of Trunks, Kakarot turned to Vegeta. "I'd be mad at you for knocking me out so easily, but that was impressive back there. Are you going to stick around for a while? I'd like to spar with you again. You caught me by surprise. I think you'll have a harder time next time."

Vegeta grunted and gave a shrug. "We'll see," he muttered, giving Kakarot a sideways glare.

"My head hurts like hell," Kakarot said cheerfully, grabbing three more cookies and eating them in one bite. "So does my arm. I must have fallen funny."

Both Trunks and Vegeta snickered at that, grinning at each other from behind their mouthfuls of food.

Kakarot let out another loud laugh. "You two look so alike! You have the same facial expressions and everything!"

Trunks rolled his eyes. "We are related." He sensed his father's ki move downstairs and felt a flash of confusion. Trunks glanced at his father, but Vegeta sat across the table from him, accepting a plate of stir fried noodles from Mrs Briefs.

"Your favourite," she said to Vegeta with a wink.

Trunks realised that the ki must be his young father on the move just as the younger man walked into the room. Young Vegeta frowned when he saw his older self eating noodles, and took a seat at the far end of the table, the furthest spot from everyone, then glared at Mrs Briefs expectantly.

"I made enough for you too," Mrs Briefs chirped, bringing over a heaped plate to young Vegeta. "This is lovely, having so many young men to cook for!" She bustled away again, and Trunks hoped it was to make more sandwiches.

Young Vegeta started eating the noodles with the same ferocity as his older self. Trunks watched him closely, concentrating on his ki. If he didn't know the man sitting across from him was Papa, he could have sworn this other Vegeta was. They both looked the same, and even ate in the same way - slightly hunched over as if afraid someone would snatch their plate out from under them. Their ki was identical... Or was it?

Trunks turned to his father and focussed on his ki. Individually their ki was too alike to make note of any differences, but sensing them side by side… Papa's ki had a heavier, darker tone while his younger self had a sharper ki. It was hard to spot, and probably only noticeable because Trunks had been around his father his whole life.

"Are you going to come to the amusement park too?" Kakarot asked young Vegeta. "We are taking Trunks and Gohan."

Trunks' father slammed his fist on the table making the food around him jump. "For the last time, Kakarot - you are not invited!"

"You should come as well," Kakarot continued talking to the young Vegeta as if Trunks' father hadn't spoken. "If anyone needs to loosen up and have a good time, it's you."

"I've just been through one form of torture," young Vegeta said with a low growl. "I will not subject myself to another."

Kakarot cocked his head, his brow crinkled in puzzlement. "What have you been doing?"

Young Vegeta grinned viciously. "Bulma wanted my blood to assist in finding a cure for the heart virus." He leaned forward, looking intently at Kakarot. "She hooked me up to this machine, inserting a needle into my vein." He brought his arm up on the table and lay it out, then tapped the inside of his elbow. "She placed it right here. The needle was attached to a long thin tube, then blood started flowing through the tube into a bag."

Kakarot's golden skin paled dramatically, and his hand remained frozen, holding a biscuit part-way to his mouth.

"At least she only used a basic syringe on you." Young Vegeta took a slow mouthful of noodles, swallowing before raising an eyebrow at Kakarot. "How is your arm?"

Kakarot's gaze flicked downwards as he glanced at the crook of his elbow. Then his eyes rolled back and he crashed to the floor in a dead faint.

Young Vegeta grinned triumphantly, while the elder just rolled his eyes.

Trunks started laughing, clutching his sides as the giggles ripped through him. "Papa, you knocked Kakarot out in three hits," he choked out in between bursts of laughter. "But young you did it without laying a hand on the man!" Trunks kept giggling, unable to stop even though his father laid a ferocious glare on him. "You must be losing your touch."

His father let out a loud growl, not unlike that of the wild dogs that roamed Earth's streets in their time. Trunks shrank back, still laughing, but to his surprise, another laugh joined him.

Young Vegeta's laugh broke across the room, a harsh sound that was different from his father's. It was dry, unused perhaps. But even as his own laughter died down, Trunks couldn't help grinning back at young Vegeta as the man smirked at him.

"You know," young Vegeta said, still chuckling. "For a half breed you aren't the worst brat in the world."

"Of course he isn't," Papa snapped, throwing his younger self a glare before softening into something resembling a smile as he set his gaze on Trunks. "He's my son."


Trunks and Kakarot flew at each other, two golden balls of light dancing across the afternoon sky, just below some sparse, streaky clouds. The two fighters appeared evenly matched in strength, although Vegeta suspected that Kakarot's years of experience in fighting would see his son defeated in this spar.

Young Vegeta stood beside him, shielding his eyes from the glaring sun with his hand as he followed the fight with the same intensity as Vegeta. "The boy will surpass you soon."

"Then I shall know how father felt," Vegeta replied, not disagreeing. When the boy achieved that, Vegeta would know he had done his job as a parent and a trainer.

His younger counterpart snorted and turned to Vegeta, dropping his hand and narrowing his eyes. "When I was young, I thought Father was proud of my strength. But he was merely happy that he had someone to bargain with. He traded me without a thought for what it would mean."

"He regretted it," Vegeta pointed out. "He attempted a rescue."

Young Vegeta's lip curled into a sneer as he turned his head back to the fight taking place above them. "You never would have let Frieza take your son in the first place."

Vegeta closed his eyes briefly. It was one of his worst nightmares, seeing his son in the hands of that sadistic monster. "I would have fought to the death before allowing that."

Trunks landed a powerful hit on Kakarot that sent the Saiyan hurtling to the ground. Young Vegeta bared his teeth into a grin. "You trained him well."

Vegeta nodded in agreement. It had been necessary for his survival, but his son had been easy to train. His natural skill was impressive, and unlike when Vegeta had trained Gohan, Trunks had no bad habits slowing him down.

Kakarot recovered quickly and flew back at Trunks, his furious blows making the small boy back up.

"Only one more year before this pathetic planet would have been rid of that idiot." Young Vegeta let out a huff of air. "Why did you warn him of his impending doom? It would have been an easy way to get rid of him without anyone blaming you."

Vegeta winced at his younger self's words. "You'd be surprised at how easy it is for grieving people to blame someone, whether it is their fault or not. But having Kakarot die like that was not the way I wanted to become the best. If I allowed him to die in this time it would be like using the dragon balls to become Super Saiyan."

"Still, having him die must have given you a moment's joy?"

Vegeta grit his teeth, remembering Kakarot's face as he'd clutched his hand to his chest, his eyes filled with a genuine fear that Vegeta had never seen on the man's face before, even in the heat of battle. "I thought it would, but no."


Vegeta sat underneath a tree, leaning his back against the bark, shaded from the afternoon sun and enjoying what little peace he could get in a garden filled with morons. All the human fighters he once tried to kill milled around chattering happily, throwing him the occasional wary glance, but leaving him alone for the most part. Only Kakarot had greeted him without any obvious resentment, in fact he'd been overly enthusiastic at Vegeta's presence. Vegeta had ignored the man's greeting and piled a few plates high with food before making his escape to the edge of the garden as soon as possible.

How Bulma had convinced him to come with her to Kakarot's house for this 'get together' as she'd called it, Vegeta hadn't quite worked out. How she convinced him to do half the things she did, like lugging heavy equipment across the compound, or using his ability to fly to reach something up high, he didn't know either, but lately when she asked him to do something he would grumble and complain, but would eventually do as she requested.

It was pathetic. Him, the Saiyan Prince, destined to rule the universe, had his strings tugged by a weak human.

"Yamcha will be there," she'd said this morning, her large blue eyes wide as she placed her soft hand on his forearm. "He's going to bring her. I just know it."

Vegeta glanced at the hand on his arm, unable to understand how she could bear to touch him. Didn't she know how many people he'd slaughtered? How many planets he'd destroyed? She should be recoiling in disgust, not placing her hand on his skin.

"I don't want to go alone."

Vegeta tensed under her fingers as her admission struck him to the core, not because he gave a damn about her feelings, but because this woman had never admitted weakness in front of him before and he found it disconcerting.

And so, without fully realising what he was doing, he agreed to attend this ridiculous event, even demeaning himself by sitting with her in her flying metal contraption.

Kakarot's house may have been small, but it had a large garden, and the Z fighters all congregated there. The woman stood next to Chi Chi, who was cooking on a strange box-shaped outdoor oven and speaking in furious hushed tones about Bulma's guest.

"Why did you bring him?" Chi Chi hissed. "That psychopathic monster will probably kill us all by the end of the day."

Bulma snuck him a furtive glance, likely to see if he could hear, but Vegeta kept to the shadows under the tree, refusing to let his body react to the harpy's words. It wasn't as if Kakarot's woman had formed an incorrect opinion of him. He would much rather be slaughtering everyone here instead of being forced to listen to their meaningless drivel as they all 'caught up', whatever that meant.

"He's not like that," Bulma said, a note of irritation lacing her tone. "Vegeta is my friend and I wanted him to come."

Friend? Vegeta nearly scoffed allowed at that. He'd never had a friend in his life! The two of them might have got into an odd routine at night, drinking coffee before bed most nights as she regaled him with tales of her past, but friends? The woman was delusional.

Chi Chi obviously thought the same thing. "Have you forgotten that he killed your boyfriend?" She asked, waving the tongs in her hand like a weapon.

Ex-boyfriend," Bulma pointed out. "And Vegeta didn't kill him. Those little green men did."

The ex-boyfriend in question chose that moment to turn up, his arm around a curvy brunette. Bulma appeared to physically shrink in on herself and she glanced almost desperately in Vegeta's direction.

He looked away. He'd said he would attend, not take part in Bulma's crazy scheme to make her seem less pitiable to her ex. It didn't look like he was going to get much choice in the matter though. He cursed inwardly as he heard her soft footsteps heading towards him, and leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes, determined to continue ignoring her.

"If you were going to leave me alone the moment we arrived, I wouldn't have brought you," Bulma said sitting down next to him so her arm brushed his.

Vegeta sighed and opened his eyes, peeking at her out of the corner of his eye without looking at her directly. With her shoulders slumped and eyes downcast she seemed deflated, and so unlike her usual self. Was this the weakling's doing? Vegeta narrowed his eyes at Yamcha. It was obvious he had brought his latest woman to make Bulma uncomfortable, and judging from her body language, it was working.

"Show no fear," Vegeta said quietly already breaking his decision to ignore her.

"What?" Bulma looked up at him, her blue eyes curious.

Vegeta met her gaze, keeping his face purposefully blank. "It is the first rule of battle. You are letting Scarface win by revealing your feelings."

Bulma's back slowly straightened. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes." Vegeta tilted his head back and stared at the leaves, watching Bulma out of the corner of his eye.

"I suppose I should act like he's not even here."

Vegeta grunted noncommittally. He didn't care what she did as long as it wasn't moping around after that moron.

"What are the other rules?" Bulma asked.

Vegeta frowned. "Of battle?"

"Yes. I want to win."

Vegeta gave a low chuckle. Of course she wanted to win. She fought to win every verbal battle with him, why would this battle with her ex be any different? "Strategy over strength. You should be able to manage that… being a genius and all," he said, throwing us much sarcasm behind the word 'genius' as he could muster.

Bulma grinned at him. "So, you finally admit my brilliance?"

"Never." Vegeta snorted and rolled his eyes. "You dated that weakling human for a decade. I refuse to believe anyone with brain cells could do that."

"You don't complain about my lack of brain cells when I make you new weaponised robots," Bulma pointed out.

"Hm." Vegeta flicked his gaze sideways to look her up and down. "You are occasionally useful I suppose."

"And you aren't useful at all," Bulma complained. "You can't even tolerate one party at my side to fend off Yamcha and his bimbo?" She plucked a sushi roll off one of his plates and popped it into her mouth. Vegeta's eyes widened at her audacity and he swung his head round to face her with a growl.

"What?" she asked once she'd finished chewing, batting her eye lashes at him. "You weren't eating it." She grabbed another, and Vegeta snatched her wrist before she could eat it.

"What are you doing?" Vegeta snarled.

"I'm hungry," Bulma said with a cheeky grin.

"Never take food from a Saiyan." Vegeta kept his grip on her wrist and leaned closer towards her. "It's considered to be a direct challenge. You don't want to challenge me, woman."

"Don't I?" Bulma asked, a smirk appearing on her face. "What will you do? I know you won't hurt me."

Show no fear. She had that one perfected, Vegeta realised. But what exactly was her strategy? There had to be one. The woman was like him. She never did anything without a greater purpose behind it.

He became vaguely aware of Yamcha watching them. He couldn't see the man, but his burning gaze was obvious. So that's what this was about. Vegeta smirked back at Bulma, realising that while he didn't need to help her, making Scarface jealous certainly wouldn't harm him. "You have a lot of misplaced faith in me, woman," he said, dropping his voice to a husky tone and leaning forward even closer. "I could eat you alive."

Bulma laughed and shook her head. "I'd like to see you try."

He leaned forward again, so the only thing separating them was her delicate hand and the piece of sushi.

"There's another rule," he said softly.

Bulma swallowed hard. "What is it?"

"No hesitation…" Vegeta dropped his voice to a whisper. "No mercy." He flashed her a grin before deftly taking the sushi out of her hand with his teeth, swallowing the piece whole.

Bulma's cheeks flushed and her chest hitched, and Vegeta wondered if she even cared that her ex was still watching.

"Hey Vegeta!" Kakarot appeared in front of them, a huge grin on his face as he glanced at Bulma and Vegeta's hands.

Vegeta dropped Bulma's wrist, his cheeks burning.

"I'm glad you came," Kakarot said, apparently oblivious to whatever was or wasn't happening between Vegeta and Bulma, who hadn't stopped staring at him.

"You'd be the only one," Vegeta ground out. "I'm fairly sure everyone else wants my head on a spike."

Kakarot laughed and gave an awkward shrug. "They'll come around eventually. Did you want to spar? The food's nearly run out and I haven't had a good fight in ages."

Vegeta nodded and stood up, eager to get away from the woman. He met her gaze but couldn't read her expression. It didn't matter - he was sure she'd use her loud mouth to tell him her thoughts later. She always did.

"Let's get out of here," Vegeta said. "Your woman won't be happy if we blow up her party."

Kakarot nodded eagerly and placed his hand on Vegeta's shoulder, making them both disappear with a popping sound.

They reappeared in an open field, which judging from the distance of the ki signatures of the Z party it would have taken them at least twenty minutes to fly here.

Vegeta stepped away from Kakarot, making the man drop his hand from his shoulder, and looked around. The field's grass grew to just above his ankles, and wildflowers littered the clearing, bouncing in the light breeze. One side of the open space was sheltered by trees blossoming with pink flowers.

"You are getting close, you know," Kakarot said. "I've felt your ki when you are training. I think you just need a trigger."

Vegeta frowned at the other Saiyan. A trigger? "How can you tell by my ki how close I am?"

"It tastes different."

"Tastes different," Vegeta repeated incredulously.

"Yeah." Kakarot nodded enthusiastically then fired his ki up around him in white waves. "I know you are new to sensing ki, but try get a feel for mine. You can tell that this is my ki, and not just because of the power level, right?"

Vegeta cocked his head, watching Kakarot carefully. "I think so. It feels different from mine, or anyone else's, but I'm not sure how I tell them apart. I just do."

"Keep concentrating on my ki." Kakarot powered up even more, and golden waves surrounded him, turning his black hair golden. "Can you taste the difference?"

Vegeta let out a low growl. "I don't taste anything." He focussed on Kakarot's ki, trying to pick up on any subtle differences. "I suppose it does feel a little different."

"It's like a green apple instead of a red apple," Kakarot said. "Similar, but different."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Trust you to make this about food." He thought he understood what Kakarot meant though. His Super Saiyan ki had a different edge to it. Something that made his skin tingle slightly.

Kakarot powered down and grinned at him. "When you are training, I feel your ki change sometimes. It's there, bubbling under the surface, waiting for you to release it."

"It's not doing much good under the surface," Vegeta grumbled. "I'm training myself to death and I don't feel any closer."

"You need a trigger."

"What exactly is a trigger?"

Kakarot shrugged, his wide smile never leaving his face. "Could be anything. Krillen dying was mine. Maybe if someone you care about is in danger it will happen."

"It will never happen then," Vegeta said. "I don't care about anyone."

Kakarot raised his eyebrows. "If you say so."

"Can we spar already?" Vegeta asked, not liking Kakarot's knowing look.

"Okay, but with Earth sparring rules," Kakarot said, bouncing up and down and shaking out his limbs. "Base form only. No ki. First to five hits wins."

"No sparring to the death then?" Vegeta asked with a smirk.

Kakarot laughed. "Not today. Maybe when you are Super Saiyan."

Vegeta scoffed at that. Kakarot sounded like he was joking, but if Vegeta became Super Saiyan and had the power to take Kakarot's life, the man wouldn't be laughing then.

"If either of us breaks the rules, that's an automatic loss."

Vegeta nodded, then pressed him lips together in a tight line, considering Kakarot carefully. "No holding back."

The other Saiyan gave Vegeta a two-fingered salute that he assumed was acceptance of his request.

The two Saiyans positioned themselves in the middle of the field and adopted their battle stances. Kakarot motioned Vegeta with his fingers. "We are on my territory, so you start."

Vegeta flung himself forward before Kakarot had even finished his sentence, feigning a hit to the right but getting in a quick uppercut to the left that scraped Kakarot's jaw, but didn't land a decisive hit, much to Vegeta's frustration. Kakarot fought back immediately, fighting with what seemed to be pure instinct rather than any kind of strategy.

Vegeta paid close attention to Kakarot's moves, and when he saw one he recognised, he ducked under the other Saiyan's arm and twisted around, delivering a kick to the back of Kakarot's knee, making him stumble.

"One," Vegeta said with a smirk.

Kakarot narrowed his eyes and grinned back. "The second point will be mine." He leapt forward, throwing a powerful punch that missed Vegeta, who used Kakarot's forward motion against him by pulling him forward even faster, straight into Vegeta's well placed knee.

"Two. Stop holding back!" Vegeta cried out, attacking Kakarot with a flurry of furious blows that had the taller Saiyan in full defence position and backing up.

"I'm not!" Kakarot said, gasping in between hits. He collapsed suddenly to his knees, clutching his chest, and Vegeta pulled back a vicious punch to the other fighter's jaw at the last millisecond as he felt Kakarot's ki plummet.

Kakarot had paled, and his face contorted into an expression of pure pain. When he slumped to the ground on his side, closing his eyes and wheezing, Vegeta dropped to his knees beside the man to try figure out what was going on.

"What's wrong? I didn't hit you that hard. Stop clowning around!" His voice rose at the last sentence as he realised something was seriously wrong with the Saiyan.

"Chest… hurts…" Kakarot managed to gasp out before his eyes rolled back and his body went limp.

Vegeta froze for a moment, staring at the prone man in front of him. He'd been talking and sparring perfectly normally a moment ago and now his ki indicated he was on the edge of death.

Cursing under his breath, Vegeta scooped up Kakarot in his arms and blasted off in the air, flying as fast as he could back to Kakarot's house. He tore through the air, reaching a speed that shouldn't have been possible while carrying another person, and in tweve minutes saw the cottage in the distance.

When he landed in the middle of the lawn, collapsing on the grass and sucking in deep breaths, everyone ran towards them, crowding around and making Vegeta's skin itch with claustrophobia.

"What's going on?" Chi Chi demanded. Vegeta lay Kakarot on the ground and she fell to her knees beside her husband. "Goku?" She patted his face, and when he remained unresponsive, looked up at Vegeta, fire in her eyes. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing," Vegeta replied, a heavy weariness seeping to his bones.

"Daddy?" Gohan pushed through everyone to be at his father's side, then shook Kakarot's shoulder. "Daddy, wake up!"

"His ki… I can barely sense it but there doesn't seem to be any wounds." Krillen set a furious glare on Vegeta. "Where did you hit him?"

"He's not injured!" Vegeta ground out, but no one listened as they all started speaking over him.

"Is he sick?"

"He was fine earlier."

"He's never been sick in his life! He must have hurt himself."

Vegeta clambered to his feet and shoved his way out of the group to stand off to the side, clenching his shaking hands.

"Maybe he ate something?" Bulma suggested tentatively, kneeling beside Chi Chi to take Kakarot's pulse.

"What, you don't think it's suspicious that he goes off with the guy who's vowed to kill him and returns half dead?" Yamcha threw Vegeta a nasty stare. "Maybe he poisoned him or something."

Bulma frowned at Yamcha, but when she looked through the group and her gaze caught Vegeta's, her eyes held the same question as everyone else. "What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know!" Vegeta spat out. "We'd barely started sparring and he… he said his chest hurt and then he collapsed."

Bulma stared at Vegeta, her face impassive while everyone else looked at Vegeta as if he were the very devil.

"We need to get him to a hospital," Bulma said finally, placing a hand on Chi Chi's shoulder. She fixed her stare back on Vegeta. "You need to go."

"But I didn't-"

"Go!" Bulma yelled as the three-eyed man started hoisting Kakarot into his arms, presumably to take him to the hospital. "Go," she said again, quieter this time, but for a split second her face crossed with the same expression as everyone else and Vegeta felt something crack, deep inside, as a feeling that he hadn't had since his father sold him to Frieza flooded through him.

Betrayal.


A/N: Wow, that was intense to write. Poor Future Veggie has been through some tough times.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I've had it bouncing around in my head for a while so I'm glad to have it finally written out. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Review commentary coming right up…

How many character will you give chapters in their point of view? I would like to see one in Goku's.

I don't really know until I get to the chapter. Occasionally I start writing it in one character's POV and then go back and rewrite it in another's because it would tell the story better. The scene where Bulma and Vegeta have coffee and he comes out with that hope/purpose line was originally written in Vegeta's perspective, but I changed it to Bulma's because I thought it would be more swoonworthy if the reader could feel her reactions. At this stage, the POVs will be the two Vegetas, Bulma and Trunks, but a Goku POV isn't out of the question. It just needs to be the right scene.

Vegeta is cool but PapaGeta just takes Vegeta to a whole new level. I think I'm in love.

Me too… Such a DILF! It's very hard to write young Vegeta in the past and the young version of future Vegeta and to keep all three identities separate but still show that they are essentially the same person so I'm glad people are seeing the differences enough to like one version of the character over the other.