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He woke up and looked down at his new bride. He inhaled her scent and hugged her, pulling her closer to him. Bulma smiled. She loved to wake up from Vegeta's hugs, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing him.

It had already been a week. Bulma stretched and got up, smiling. Vegeta watched as she put her pajama on and combed her hair a little bit with her hands.

"I need to work today, so I'll be getting breakfast. Will you come with me?"

Vegeta nodded and got up, putting on his boxers and white shirt. Bulma grabbed his hand as they walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Briefs smiled widely as she saw them walking in. They had already announced their marriage, so they were going to celebrate a party in a few weeks and sign the proper papers to make it legal, although Vegeta didn't see much sense in it all. At least they weren't going to get married in a tuxedo and white dress inside a chapel like Kakkarot had had to.

They sat at the table and the blonde woman served them breakfast. It was Saturday, so it was still very early for the kids to wake up. They began to eat and Bulma and Mrs. Briefs began to talk. Dr. Briefs walked in some time later and began to eat as well, reading his daily newspaper and commenting on the news time by time. Vegeta attacked his plate and barely gave a small smile as his siblings and his son came into the kitchen.

"Are you still sleepy, son?" Bulma asked, taking her plates to the sink.

Lauren shrugged. "He's always sleepy."

Bulma chuckled and walked out to take a bath and prepare for work.

Vegeta leaned back on the chair and pushed his plate aside.

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"I would've slept well if the damn dwarf wouldn't talk in his sleep."

"I don't talk in my sleep!"

Jeremy smirked. "Yes, you do."

"Shut up! Even if I did, you wouldn't hear it because we're in different rooms!" Trunks screeched, getting angry. The people in the table laughed.

"Let it go, Trunks. Jeremy is just sore for all the times we bothered him when he was a baby." Tyler said. "Not that he isn't still a baby." He teased. Jeremy rolled his eyes and Trunks laughed.

"So, when's the big party gonna be?" Jill asked.

Mrs. Briefs smile widely. "We have not set a date yet, but it's going to be very soon!"

Bulma came down not too long after, with office clothes and her hair combed up in a stylish bun. She grabbed her suitcase and kissed Vegeta's temple, earning a growl.

"Good bye, everyone! I'm leaving now."

"Bye, sweetie!" Mrs. Briefs chanted.

Vegeta watched as she walked away and he stood up to take a bath and start his training. The kids already knew that they would have to be there on time if they wanted to train. Sometimes they preferred to be lazy, and didn't go with him. Vegeta sincerely didn't mind when it was about his siblings, but he was a little bit stricter with Trunks. Perhaps it was to recover the lost time, perhaps it was because he was smaller. It didn't matter, Trunks was always eager to train with Vegeta and hear his stories of the past. The little kid followed his father into the dome they used for training and found him already stretching, with his shirt off.

Bulma had installed a gravity simulator inside the dome, and that's how they trained when they were alone.

"Dad? Can I ask you a question?" Trunks said, getting into his stance.

"Make it quick, brat."

"Who is that Frieza guy that everyone talks about? And why were you working for him if everyone hates him so much?"

"Frieza was a bastard. Don't tell your mother I said that word to you." He looked into his son's eyes. "I worked for him because it was demanded of me to do so."

"Demanded? Why would anyone demand anything from you?"

Vegeta sighed. "Trunks, you are too young to know. Maybe when you grow up…"

"They've all been telling me that! I want to know!"

Vegeta sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It's not a pleasant tale, boy. You don't want to know, trust me."

"But why not? I wanna know more about you!"

"I said no!"

"But, dad!"

"Don't push me, brat."

Trunks rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, looking an awful lot like his father. Vegeta frowned and pondered for a bit. The past was the past. Why bother getting it out? But then again, why burying it deep down? The boy deserved to know, even if it was just a little bit. He shifted his weight from one leg to another and looked away. He hadn't told his siblings when they were his age, but that was then. They could've tried to do something that would end up very bad. Trunks was safe. There was no harm telling him just a small part, right?

"Well?" Trunks said.

"Fine. I'll tell you." Trunks smiled and sat on the floor. Vegeta followed his lead and looked at him. "When I was very young, the Saiyan Empire began to be stalked by a monster called Frieza. He destroyed our planet, so my family and I had to move to Earth. Frieza followed us up here and forced my father to work for him." Trunks stared at his father with interest, and the prince continued. "When I was ten, my father died. Frieza said it was an illness, but in reality he had killed him. After that, he married my mother."

"Wait, why did she marry him? Wasn't he an enemy?"

"He was, and a very powerful one at that. Truth be told, my parents feared him, so my mother married him when he forced her."

"Oh."

"One year later, when I was eleven, my mother abandoned us."

"She abandoned you? Why?"

Vegeta shrugged. "She went to live with another man, leaving us with Frieza." He began to feel uncomfortable. "When she left, things became terrible." He debated whether or not to tell the young boy of the things that had happened. "My siblings were all very young, and since my mother refused to come back home, I had to look after them. Jeremy was only four months old, and the twins were a little over a year, so I had to prepare their bottles, bath them, get them dressed, and with the others I had to do everything you do with a little child. When Jeremy and the twins were still not old enough to go to school, I had to take them to Kakkarot's house so that Celipa could take care of them, because I couldn't leave them alone in the house. Jill was around five or six, so it didn't make much of a difference. Throughout it all, I still had to go to school, and Frieza never cared about anything."

"But there was food on your plates and clothes on your back. He was not a great father, but that's no reason to hate him as much as you all do."

Vegeta sighed. "He was cruel to us."

"Why cruel?"

"Why do you want to know? Life wasn't good to us, that's all you need to know."

"But why? What did he do to you?"

"There's no reason to tell you, really."

"I want to know."

"Trust me, you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"No, you don't."

"Come on! Please! I want to hate him as well, but I can't if I don't have a reason! Besides, I think I am old enough to know what he did to you to make you hate him so much. You already started opening up, why not going all the way?" he continued babbling and babbling just like his mother did. It always got on Vegeta's nerves and he got up, giving his back to Trunks as his face twitched with anger. "…and Tyler is always saying that – "

"He used to beat me! Okay? That's the reason."

Trunks stared at his father's back with his mouth open. "Beat you?"

"Yes." He said.

"Why?"

"He was a bastard."

"He beat you just because?"

"Hn."

"But… I don't get it."

"I told you. You are too young. There are bad people in the universe. When my mother left he took all his anger towards me and began to beat me into a pulp almost every night and sometimes in the day. He threatened me with the kids, and I had to endure everything just to protect them." He said. "That's why we hate him."

"And then he forced you to go to his army?"

"Yes."

Trunsk stayed silent for a while. Then he spoke again. "Why were they living here?"

"Bulma took us in one day, and when I left, they stayed here."

"Oh." He looked down at his little hands and tried to change the subject. "Hey, dad. I am in the school's play. I didn't want to, but they put me as the bandit and it will help me pass the subject. I was wondering if you wanted to go."

"To your school play?"

"Jill told me that when you were little, you went to some of her school plays if you didn't have to go to school. She said that you enjoyed them."

Vegeta smiled a little as he remembered.

He was bandaging his lower leg, alone in the bathroom. He could hear the kids talking downstairs and he knew the lizard was gone. He hissed as he applied alcohol on the nasty wounds and bit his lip. He finished bandaging his legs and arms and sighed as he grabbed the healing cream and applied it on his face. It was the least he could do. He got up and washed his hands.

"Vegeta?"

"Wait a second, Jill." He said.

"Where are you? I need to talk to you."

He rolled his eyes and began to clean the bathroom. He ignored her as she continued calling for him, and finally got up, opened the door and went to her.

"What?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "You are in vacations, aren't you?"

"Yeah." He said, raising an eyebrow. What was she getting at?

"The 'end of the year school play' will be tomorrow morning, and I'm the protagonist! My teacher said that she wanted you to be there."

"Your teacher wants me to be there? Why?"

She smiled wider. "I always make all my reports and essays about you, so she said she wanted to meet you and she wanted you to go. Will you?"

He couldn't promise her anything. He hoped not, but Frieza cold beat him so badly that he wouldn't be able to go, or he could force him to stay. He shuddered a little and shook his head slightly. He looked into Jill's eyes and his mood lit up a little. It was for them. Everything was for them. He rubbed his forehead as he walked past her and began to walk downstairs. She followed him, waiting for his answer.

"I need to ask Frieza first, but I'll do what I can. I'd love to go."

Jill squealed happily and grabbed his hand as he walked into the kitchen. He smiled. "Do you want to eat? I think there's some pasta in the fridge."

"Yeah!"

"Okay. Go call the others."

.

Vegeta was cleaning the plates. The kids were already asleep. As he grabbed the last plate from the sink and rubbed his eyes, he heard the door opening and closing with a slam. He gasped and began to tremble. Maybe… Maybe if he didn't do anything wrong the lizard wouldn't beat him. Maybe… just maybe, if Frieza saw that he had washed the plates and cleaned the table he would leave him alone? His instinct of self-preservation was jabbing at his mind almost painfully and he slowly turned around when he felt Frieza's piercing eyes on him. He focused his eyes on the floor and played with his thumbs before him.

"Hi, Vegeta."

"Hello, father."

"How are you today, my little monkey?"

"I-I am f-f-fine." He felt like he was going to die from the smiled and gave a step towards him. Vegeta pressed his back against the counter and his fear and anger began to debate inside of him again. He hated that cocky smirk. His eyes narrowed with pure hatred but he didn't move an inch. Something was screaming in his mind to attack, but a smaller, more rational voice was pleading to just stay there, to just take it. Frieza could sense his Saiyan instincts and he chuckled.

"I see you bandaged your arms."

Vegeta gave a small glance at his bandaged arms and nodded slightly. Frieza walked up to him and grabbed his slender wrist. He reveled in Vegeta's trembling as he began to unwrap the cloth from around his arm. His nasty smile grew bigger as he saw the gashes, cuts, burns and bruises decorating his young skin. He threw it to the ground and grabbed the other one. Vegeta felt adrenaline trying to rise. How dare he even touch him? Vegeta looked away and tried not to clench his fists, so as not to display his rage so obviously.

"I don't know why you do it. You'll end up getting hurt again anyway." He threw the second bandage to the ground and grabbed Vegeta's face, forcing him to look into his red eyes. "It's good you're in vacations then. You don't have to go to school." He sent a punch directly into Vegeta's nose, and blood spurted from it, but Frieza didn't release his face. "You will stay tomorrow all day here."

"No." he said, his eyes narrowing.

"No?"

"No. I'll go… I'll go to Jill's school tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Because" he felt ridiculous talking to Frieza as if they were sitting on a bench, sipping tea. "She's in a play."

"A school play?" Frieza said, not hiding his amusement.

"Yes." Vegeta mumbled.

Frieza laughed as he shrugged. "Well, I guess it's kind of obvious. The girl had no parents and the only thing she got was a flimsy little monkey brother that can't even block a punch." To prove his point, the hideous monster punched him in the gut, but the small Saiyan couldn't double over since the lizard was still holding his face. He groaned and closed his eyes shut. Frieza sighed dramatically. "Then I guess I can't have your pretty little face bruised, right? It wouldn't look good. I hate it when I can't punch you too much, but oh well."

He threw him to the ground and stomped on his back, earning a loud cry. He kneeled down and began to slam his fists into the Sayan's back. He tried his hardest not to cry out. Coughs, gasps, whimpers and soft yells escaped him, though, and soon he began to taste blood leaking through his clenched teeth. It seemed to last for an eternity, and he was almost sure that his ribs or spine had cracked. Frieza stood up and crossed his arms.

"Get up."

Vegeta slowly tried to comply, but as he got on hands and knees, the lizard kicked him in the ribs. He landed on his side and groaned as he jabbed one of his old injures with his own elbow. He knew the lizard would continue kicking him if he didn't get up, so once again he tried to get on his feet. He was successful, but as he tried to get balance, Frieza grabbed his tail and gave it a hard yank. Vegeta yelled out and looked back, staring at the lizard with horror. The disgusting monster smiled as he grabbed the top and slowly began to wrap it around itself, trying to tie a knot. Vegeta gasped and tried to pull back, but it only earned him a great deal of pain. He covered his mouth with his hands and screamed as Frieza tied the knot as tightly as he could, cracks echoing around the room. He pushed Vegeta and the prince landed on hands and knees, his eyes squeezed shut.

He forced his body to remain strong as he got up once again and stopped the tears from even forming in his eyes. He looked at Frieza with an expressionless face as he waited for the next blow. The long tail wrapped around his ankles and pulled, making Vegeta lose balance. He landed on his back and hit his head against the tile floor. He hissed as he drove a hand to the back of his head and rubbed soothingly for a second, before realizing that the tail was still around his ankles and he was lifted from the ground and slammed against the wall and marble counter. He slumped to the floor as he was released. He once again tried to get up, but a searing pain shot through him.

As he lay on his stomach, the lizard began to whip him with his tail. The force was enough to tear his skin open, and after several minutes of whimpers and lashes, he began to scream. Vegeta didn't realize when he began to shriek as his back was mercilessly shredded. He could feel the warm blood cascading down his back as an awful pain ran through his body. Soon enough the lizard moved down to his legs and began to beat them as well. He used his arms to try and drag his body away from the terrible torture, but the lizard walked up to him and sank his feet into his hair, closing his toes around the black mane and pulling up.

"Where do you think you're going? Our fun isn't over yet."

He threw him against the wall and before he could slide down, he began to punch him over and over, not touching his face.

.

He woke up trembling and slowly made his way to the bathroom. It was the kid's last day in school and he was supposed to go and see Jill's play. He picked Jeremy up. Four months later, when vacations were over, the baby would enter to his first year in school. He helped him to get dressed and grabbed his hand as they walked outside and waited for the taxi.

They arrived to the kid's school and he grabbed Jeremy's hand as he led him through the halls. He was walking slowly and limping, his whole body trembling and aching terribly. He began to look for Jill's class, but a woman crossed their path. She was in her early thirties. She smiled down at the young boys.

"Hello. Are you looking for your parents?"

"No. I'm looking for – "

"You must be here for the little one's play, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Follow me. I trust you are here to see your brother? What's his name?"

"We awe hewe to see Jill!" Jeremy said.

"Jill? Oh! You must be her brother, Vegeta! I imagined you'd be a little older." She began to walk down the hall and Vegeta had to struggle to follow her steps. "I am Jill's teacher! She's always talking about you. According to her, you are the most important thing in her life. She always writes about you, draws you, and talks about you. It's very sweet, although…" she gave him a slight glance, without stopping her walk. "Would you mind if I talked to you after the play is over?"

Vegeta shrugged and gave a slight nod. Satisfied with his answer, she opened the door to the theatre room and Vegeta walked inside. He sat on a chair in the first row and Jeremy sat on his lap. He subconsciously scraped his nails softly on the child's skull as the baby began to talk. Vegeta didn't put attention to him. The little kid babbled as he played with his tail and Vegeta's fingers. Vegeta spotted the other kids sitting further away, with their respective classmates and teacher. Lauren saw him and waved at him excitedly. He smiled at her. He suddenly groaned as Jeremy subconsciously hit one of his deep wounds and he gasped as he put a hand on it. It hurt too much. Luckily he had bandages around his torso, legs and arms. Jeremy felt his brother jerking and heard his groan and his little face turned into an expression of deep worry.

"Sowy!" he said. Vegeta chocked back other expressions of pain and shook his head.

"It's nothing, dwarf. It's okay."

Some minutes later the play started.

Once it was over, Vegeta looked down and saw the little boy had fallen asleep. He sighed. He would have to carry him. How, he had no idea. He slowly got up and did his best not to groan as pain ran through his muscles. He tried to ignore it as he made his way out, but the woman blocked his path again. Vegeta glared at her as she smiled widely at him. She asked him to follow her, he nodded. They walked through the halls again until they reached a classroom and he sat down across from her desk. The teacher smiled briefly at the sleeping baby.

"Uhm… Jill said your parents left." She said. Vegeta frowned. "Do you know where they are?"

"Dead."

"Oh. Then who are you living with?"

"My stepfather."

"Jill always says that you are the one who cleans the house, prepares the food, wakes them up, helps them to get dressed and baths the babies." She said. "That's why I imagined you'd be a little older. I can't imagine a boy of your age taking so much responsibilities." She waited for Vegeta's answer, but the young Saiyan said nothing. He kept staring at her. She glanced briefly at the child and saw how he began to open his eyes. "Well, it's something weird. I mean you are here, but you are alone. From what I can gather, you are almost always alone. Do you really know how to take care of the kids?"

"I've been taking care of them for a long time, and I see them just fine." He said.

"Well, why are you always alone?"

He shrugged. "My father is always working."

"And don't you have a nanny?"

"We're sayians. We don't need a nanny."

"'Geta takes care of us." Jeremy said, now wide awake.

"Doesn't your stepfather do anything with you? Or for you?"

"I told you. He's always working." He began to get up. "I don't know why you want to play psychologist with me, but I don't have time for this. What our life is like is none of your concern." He began to walk away, but she called out for him.

"Wait. I knew your father wouldn't come, so I just wanted to tell you that Jill is a great kid, and the others are very good as well. They are great students." She seemed to hesitate before smiling and looking up at him. "Once, I asked the kids what moved them to study and do homework so that they could pass. Most of them said that if they didn't, they'd get grounded. Their parents would take their TV's or toys away. Wanna know what Jill answered?"

"What?"

"She said that she did it for you. She said that she didn't want you to be worried if she failed, so she had to make an effort and try to have every assignment good enough to take some weight off of your shoulders." She said. "She is an amazing little girl."

Vegeta nodded briefly and walked away.

Vegeta looked down at his son and smiled.

"Yeah." He said. "I'll go."

"Alright!" Trunks said, lifting his tiny fist in the air.

"The last time he was seen was heading for Planet Earth. There was an explosion right outside the planet's atmosphere." Commander Sauza informed, reading the file that had just arrived to Cooler's main computer. Cooler was giving his back to him, his tail waving lazily behind him.

"No survivors from my dear brother's army?"

"Not from the ship. There are some soldiers on the base planets, though."

"Inform all his bases and planets that they all correspond to me now. Tell my father that he's dead, as well. How long is it from here to Planet Earth?"

"Two standard months, sir."

"Good. We're heading for Earth. I can't believe my brother got himself killed by a pitiful sayian monkey. What a joke." He crossed his arms as Sauza typed in the new coordinates and sent new files to all of Frieza's bases and King Cold's main computers. "That monkey prince better be prepared." He licked his lips as he remembered the screams and pleas of the young boy. "I can't wait to see him again."

Okay. There you go.

I'm sorry I didn't update for a while, but school is killing me! This chapter is a little longer than the others. I know Vegeta is a little OOC with Trunks, but I think he also deserves to know.

Is the story getting a little repetitive? If so, just tell me. As you can see, action is coming back, this time with Cooler. I left the little cliffy :3

So, will Cooler come looking for Vegeta? What will happen then? Is Vegeta strong enough to defeat him?

Find out in the next chapter of A Lifetime Turmoil!

Review!