Q: What did you mean by "Fighting means nothing to a Saiyan?"

A: I meant that Saiyans fight so much that Kakarot fighting so hard for Cerina didn't mean that he loved her more than anything, because Saiyans love to fight so he could have fought in the tournament just to fight or for honor. Fighting is the easy thing. Cerina needed him to drop his pride and just tell her how he felt about her.

Q: Why can't Kakarot turn into a Super Saiyan? Is it a mental block?

A: Everyone who is strong enough in the story and hasn't transformed with the exception of Cerina, hasn't transformed because of some kind of a mental block.

Q: Is Kakarot a Super Saiyan or a False Super Saiyan?

A: False.

Q: What about Gohan? Is he born?

A: Gohan is born and you will see him in the next chapter.

Q: Are you going to make real the theory that half Saiyans are more powerful than full-blooded?

A: I don't think human blood makes you automatically stronger. I mean if Cassava and Yamcha had a baby, it would so not be a big deal. We'll see. Raditz has half-breed twins, but they're not stronger than Kara. I think it's circumstantial, like whose kid it is and their environment and who trained them. Gohan, Trunks, and Goten had incredible potential, but their father's were Goku and Vegeta.

Chapter 38

I do not own DBZ

Kakarot discovered something very quickly within his first few days of being mated with Cerina: he was a sex addict. They barely moved from their bed. They never left Cerina's room. Food had to be delivered to them and they lost track of the days. Someone came in to change the sheets, but Kakarot pulled Cerina into a couch and made out with her until they had the chance to ruin the bed again after the maid had left. Every time Cerina got into the shower, Kakarot came in with her. Every time she tried to put on clothes, he ripped them off. They tired each other out, but they would at least lay naked until they caught their breath.

They knew it had to be somewhere around the eighth day when they had servants bring them ice cream. They curled together in the bed and they ate their ice cream and shared with each other as well. Kakarot dripped some chocolate on Cerina and used it as an excuse to taste her shoulder. "I thought you were going to try and restrain yourself," she said. "We have to leave here sometime."

"Why?" he moaned. "I want to be here forever."

Cerina smiled. Her life had never quite been so perfect, but she knew that outside of her room, there was drama waiting and she couldn't avoid it forever. "I would love that too, but I kind of left Bulma rotting in prison after I let my psychotic brother kill her boyfriend."

"Soko knows what to do. Besides, I'm sure Fenn is better by now and leading the team."

"Maybe, or maybe he's worse and he's mute from screaming my name so many times." As hurtful as Bulma's condition was, it was worse to think about Fenn and how insane she had made him.

"Don't worry about those things." Kakarot kissed her arm. He really didn't want her to leave.

"What about training?" she asked. "I know you wanna get back to training."

He smirked. "We can train in here."

She laughed. "We aren't going to be able to keep our hands off of each other, Kakarot. No. I have to get to work and you have to become a Super Saiyan."

"You're right." Kakarot did have to get back to his training. He couldn't let Cerina become a distraction for him. "But one more time, Cerina. Just once more!"

She was about to give in to his adorable smile, but her bedroom doors burst open and Basila came inside. "Sorry for the intrusion, but your mother told me to do it."

Cerina pulled up her sheet to cover herself. "It was just a small vacation."

"It's been ten days!"

"Ten days?" Kakarot asked. "No wonder why I'm starving. We haven't ordered enough food to accommodate this much sex for ten days!"

Cerina chuckled. She thought her mate was adorable and humorous. "I swear we're getting up and dressed and we'll do it without having sex again."

"Good, because if you don't interrogate Bulma, I'm afraid Queen Cellena is going to let her go." Basila had no problem letting Cerina know how much she disagreed with that decision with her facial expressions.

"Why?" Cerina barked. "She shouldn't interfere with my work!"

"Bulma hasn't opened up to anyone about her involvement with Yamcha. She just keeps denying everything. Now she wants to speak to your mother." Basila admired her queen greatly, but she could be naïve or overprotective when it came to Bulma and Vegeta. "You know how she has a soft spot for her."

'I don't want Bulma to suffer any more than what she has, but I have to get to the truth. Vegeta killed Yamcha and we may never find Puar. The Wolf Tribe helped The Red Ribbon Army and I still need to find Dr. Gero and dismantle them once and for all.' "I'll do something."

"Plus we have to finish planning Kakarot's induction ceremony," Basila said. "Then there's your home—"

"Our home?" Kakarot asked with a smile. "We haven't even talked about a home." A home would be nice, but so was the palace!

"Queen Cellena figured you wouldn't want to stay in the palace…Or maybe it was that she thought King Vegeta wouldn't want you to screw his daughter under his roof every day, so she started construction on a lovely home for the both of you."

Kakarot was very pleased. Queen Cellena had excellent taste. "Okay. Let's start our day then."

Cerina locked herself in her bathroom so she could actually take a shower. When she got out, she had to dodge Kakarot to keep him from pulling her towel off and then she shoved him in the bathroom himself. When Kakarot got out, his Task Force uniform was waiting for him and Cerina was already dressed in hers. "You're back on the team," she told Kakarot.

He pouted and began to moan like a child. "Does that mean I have to take orders from Soko?"

She shrugged. "I guess until you're an official prince. She's my number two and your brother is right behind her."

Kakarot rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "That's just great."

Cerina and Kakarot rushed over to the Task Force headquarters and they were greeted happily by their team, especially Fenn. As soon as Cerina saw him, she rushed into his arms. "I can't believe you're here! Are you okay?"

Fenn inhaled her scent slowly to be sure, but there didn't seem to be any effects. She smelled nice, but no more than usual. "I'm fine. It's good to see you." He didn't even want to kill Kakarot…Maybe punch him in the face for nearly killing him, but not for shacking up with his best friend for ten days.

"Bulma said she's done talking," Arti said.

"Well, what did she say?" Cerina asked. "She didn't admit to anything?"

"Well," Bell said, "she claimed that Yamcha sought her out—"

"That's consistent with what she told us. That doesn't mean that she was always unaware of what Yamcha did or that she didn't have him steal the pheromones."

"But it does make sense if Yamcha used her," said a little voice in the room.

Kakarot saw little feet kicking from a rolling chair that was facing the other way. He got up and spun it to see his little sister. "Kara, what are you doing here?"

She smiled and held her head up proudly. "I'm Bulma's moral compass."

Kakarot snickered. "Her what?"

"It's weird," Fenn said, "Bulma wouldn't say anything until Kara spoke with her."

'That is weird. They don't have any sort of connection.' "Can you read her mind?" Kakarot asked.

"Nope. I don't know why, but I can't."

"That's troubling…" Kakarot didn't get it. 'Hiding thoughts is one thing but Kara can't read it at all?'

Cerina took a deep breath. She had been dreading speaking to Bulma, but she was the leader and out of all of them, she knew Bulma the best. "I'm gonna go speak to her." She turned to Kakarot for strength and he offered a supportive smile that gave her enough courage to step inside of Bulma's prison cell so they could speak.

Bulma had on a pair of standard energy shackles that she shouldn't have been able to break out of. She was sitting in the corner of the room huddled up. She looked restless and emotionally drained. She definitely wasn't all there, but she managed a tiny smile for her adoptive sister. "Hi, Cerina. How was your honeymoon?"

Cerina suddenly felt incredibly guilty again. "Excellent. Thank you for asking."

Bulma nodded. It was to be expected that Cerina had an amazing time. She had liked Kakarot all of her life. She tried so hard to get him to like her. Of course Cerina got everything that Bulma always wanted. "Your friends are concerned because I won't tell them my alibi for the time I disappeared at the tournament."

"That is disconcerting, Bulma. Why won't you tell them?"

Bulma looked up at the camera and paused. "Turn off the cameras. No one else can hear this but you."

Cerina looked to the camera and nodded. She knew the others were watching, probably anxiously, but the green light did turn off seconds after she gave the command. "Go ahead, Bulma." She took a seat on Bulma's bed and gently touched her knee. "You can trust me."

Bulma knew that there was a chance that the light could have just turned off but the camera could have still been on, but she figured Cerina didn't have it in her to be that devious. She trusted that the girl was completely honest. "I wanted to watch the tournament with Yamcha, because I didn't want to sit there and see Vegeta and Cassava together while I had no one. Then there were all those guys fighting over you…" She shied her eyes away from Cerina. "I guess I was jealous."

Cerina jerked her head back in surprise. "You were jealous?"

"I wanted to find Yamcha," she said. "I had a tracker in his phone in case Vegeta ever decided to kill him. I wanted to keep him safe…" Her voice began to break up. She blinked several times to fight off her tears, but one slipped out anyway.

Cerina's heart broke for the poor girl. She remembered when Bulma told her that she loved Vegeta. She believed her and thought it was so romantic. 'How could my brother break her heart like this?' "Where was he?"

"He was in the palace." She wiped her face dry. "I asked him why and he said he was looking for me. It didn't make sense, but I went along with it so we could have a quickie in my room." She laughed a little embarrassed from admitting that to her.

"And then what happened? You disappeared later as well."

"Vegeta saw Yamcha leave my room and he was angry. Later, he and I ditched Cassava to go talk and he came onto me. He told me that he would kill Yamcha if we stayed together. He still wanted me for himself."

Cerina noticed how uncomfortable Bulma seemed to be. Cerina wasn't very comfortable talking about it either. "And then what happened? You were gone for a while, Bulma."

"We did end up watching the tournament together, but…"

Cerina gasped silently to herself. "You have sex with him." It was bad enough that Bulma did love Vegeta and she cared so much for Yamcha, but it dawned on Cerina just how heartbroken she must have been that Vegeta would be so cruel after they had just physically expressed what they meant to one another. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't know." Bulma had to take a moment to compose herself, because she literally couldn't breathe through her tears. "I didn't want to hurt Yamcha, but I wanted to calm Vegeta down so he wouldn't kill him. Then I guess I still love Vegeta. I find it hard to resist him."

She laughed pathetically. "You know I lost my virginity to him when I was a little kid. It was the day my father died."

Cerina went back mentally to how long ago it was and her eyes bucked. "Why so young?" Cerina couldn't stomach it at fifteen, despite having an idea how great it was going to be. There are just some things you're not ready to do until you're older.

Bulma shrugged. "Because I wanted him to love me, and I thought sex was the only way."

Cerina literally felt like she was going to puke. She didn't know that Bulma was so insecure. She made Cerina feel insecure for so much of her life, but maybe that was done unintentionally or intentionally because of her own personal demons. But Vegeta certainly didn't make it any better by sleeping with other girls. He truly could be despicable. "Why were you so desperate for my brother to love you?"

"Because I wanted to be one of you. But look what all of you have brought me! Rotting in this prison cell is nothing compared to what I went through in the five years I was banished. I come back home and my boyfriend only used me to steal some jewels from the palace. He was the only one I was ever completely honest with and he used me…"

"Why have you been opening up to Kara?"

"She said that she had a friend—Goku—that knew me from another life. She said that he said that I loved my life and that I was good there. Where he's from, it's gotta be better than here."

Cerina was trembling. Once she noticed, she forced herself to stop, but she knew that if she stayed there any longer and listened to her she was going to break her composure and cry in front of her and she couldn't do that. "I suspect that my mother is busy, but she'll be here. I'll make sure of it." Cerina got up and walked out without saying another word.

Kakarot, Raditz, Bell, Fenn, and Kara were both waiting right by the door when Cerina came out dying of suspense. "Well?" Kakarot asked.

Cerina shook her head. "I'm too close to this."

"Your mother can't talk to Bulma!" Bell said. "She'll just let her go."

Cerina knew that Bell was right, but what could she do? Cerina couldn't honestly tell if Bulma was lying and even if she discovered flaws in her story and decided that she was guilty, she couldn't kill her. Even if she wanted to, her mother and brother wouldn't let her.

"Bulma can change," Kara begged. "Give her a chance!"

Everyone looked at Kara's hopeful and bright eyes and they just didn't give into the optimism so easily.

"Come on, Kara. Let's go home." Raditz patted Kara on the shoulder. "Kakarot, you must come for dinner when you get the chance. Mother has been pestering me nonstop."

Kakarot smiled awkwardly and nodded. He could only imagine what sort of things she had to say. It's not like he had any details of a vacation to explain.

"But Father did want to speak to you about something. He said it was urgent."

'Urget? This should be interesting. The only thing urgent to Father is dinner time.' "I'll teleport to him immediately."

"I'll come with you," Cerina said. "I'd love to see your family."

"It's private…" Raditz said.

Cerina looked to Kakarot to see what he would say about it. Kakarot was getting the impression that she was actually testing him. Was there really anything private? If he could know something, shouldn't she know it as well? "I'll be right back, Cerina. I promise." And then he left. Cerina felt a bit slighted, but she didn't take it too personally. She was sure he would he would explain later.

"Father!" Kakarot said as he caught his parents training together outside. It was such a relief considering what they could have been doing.

Colleen stopped fighting as soon as she saw her boy. She almost hugged him, but she restrained herself. "How have you been? Have you been eating well? Is she pregnant yet?"

"Woah!" Two seconds back with his mother and his head was already spinning. "I've been great and no, Cerina is not pregnant to our knowledge and hopefully won't be for a while."

Bardock was glad to see his boy again. There had been quite the development and he was dying to talk to him, but he knew better than to interrupt a Saiyan couple during their first encounter. "Remember when I tried to see the future with Broly?"

"If you mean when you lost your memories and almost killed all of us, of course I do, Father. Nothing good came out of it except for your new power."

"Not exactly," Colleen said with a smile. "Your father has been having dreams about his visions."

"Really?" Kakarot was suddenly intrigued. "What do you know?"

"It's all fragments and pieces and not all of it is clear, but I did see one part of the battle, Kakarot." Bardock perhaps should have had some remorse considering that his family was joined with King Vegeta's, but he really did hate that dick. "Broly is going to kill King Vegeta."

Kakarot wasn't even going to try and pretend to not be happy about that. "And are there any other casualties?"

Bardock was hesitant. He had a bad feeling, but he couldn't make out anything clear. He was just certain that King Vegeta was going to die. "I'm not sure, but we have to make plans with what we know."

"Plans for what?"

"You saw what Prince Vegeta did to that human," Colleen said.

"The thief?" Kakarot shrugged. "Yeah, that sucks for Bulma—who may be guilty of conspiring with him—but that doesn't mean that he didn't deserve to die. He stole the Task Force suits for the Red Ribbon Army and had them replaced. Cerina nearly died and half the planet went up in flames!" Clearly at Kakarot's and Cerina's party was the wrong place to execute Yamcha, but he really didn't care that he died.

"And now you'll never get to question Yamcha about that event!" Colleen pointed out. "Prince Vegeta is brash and cruel."

"I saw a vision of him destroying countless worlds and enjoying every second of it, Kakarot." Bardock knew what it was like to love killing so much. He used to be like that, but Prince Vegeta was different. Bardock had nothing when he raged out against the world. Vegeta had everything and yet it still wasn't enough. "He has an incredible bloodlust. Something has to be done about him."

"So what?" Kakarot asked. "Do you want me to kill him or are you saying that Broly needs to destroy him too?" Kakarot certainly didn't care if Prince Vegeta died as well, but he didn't know about doing it himself and upsetting Cerina and her family.

"Goku has been communicating with Kara," Bardock said. "In his world, Yamcha was a friend. He wanted Kara's help to communicate with Yamcha to get him to change."

Kakarot rolled his eyes and it was on purpose and over dramatic with a groan attached to it. "I think I know where this is going." He had heard stories about his naïve doppelganger and how he would show mercy to his enemies and how it backfired just about every time, especially when it came to Vegeta, but he happened to also be the exception as well. "He wants to save Vegeta?"

"And Bulma…" Bardock felt uncomfortable as well, but he had changed the entire world and rearranged Goku's entire life. He owed him something.

"It's impossible." Kakarot folded his arms and shook his head. "Not gonna happen, at least not in the case of Vegeta, and Bulma is no better. Did you hear what she did to the Red Ribbon Army when she went undercover?" Kakarot was privy to that information when he studied some of the Task Force files when he first joined and he was shocked about what he learned. "She's devious."

"Raditz changed for the better here in our world." That didn't mean a whole lot to his family, but Bardock saw how his eldest was and there was a big change.

"Father, I'm not nearly as naïve as Goku so—"

"I promised him that I would try." Goku went to Kara because he thought she was the only one who would try. Well, Bardock wanted to prove his boy wrong! "If we can reach Bulma, we may be able to reach Vegeta."

"And what if your plan fails and they're just gonna always be evil jerks?"

Colleen placed her hands on her son's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Then we're expecting you to do what you have to in order to keep Vegeta from ascending to the throne after his father dies."

Kakarot saw beaming pride from his mother's eyes and when he looked to his father, he had the same look as well. "You want me to be king?"

"It's better for everyone." Colleen figured she could mostly trust her friend, Cellena, but she was sick of wondering if King Vegeta was going to do something stupid that would endanger her family. She wanted security. "Do you think you're up to the task?"

'King? Yeah, I like giving orders, but that's a lot of responsibility and I'd rather just concentrate on becoming a Super Saiyan. But if anyone can manage to do it all, it's me.' "I suppose I am." He smirked. "King Kakarot!"

It would certainly be the proper revenge that he wanted on King Vegeta, but he did have his woman to consider. She would make a great queen, but Kakarot was concerned about how he would get there. "I don't know how comfortable Cerina would be with taking her brother's birthright."

"Make her comfortable," Bardock insisted.

'Easier said than done…' "I've gotta get back and see her. I'll see you both later." He quickly teleported back to Cerina, who was speaking with her team. As soon as she saw him, she stopped talking and waited for Kakarot to give an explanation as to what happened. Kakarot just laughed to himself. "We'll talk about it later in private."

Cerina was trusting of her mate, though she felt he was trying to keep something hidden. "Alright.

Raditz had not yet left, but Kara knew that they were about to, so she pulled Fenn's pants leg to get his attention. "Bye, Fenn!" Kara said.

He smiled at his little admirer. "Bye, Kara."

"And by the way…" She smiled and became excited. "I don't care if you can't bond with anyone. I'll love you forever!"

Raditz's eyes bucked and he quickly covered Kara's mouth. "Sorry! Don't mind her. She's just a child." He quickly teleported them away before she could embarrass him any further.

Fenn was a little shaken by another confession by Kara, but he was literally shaken when Cerina began to panic and tug on his arm. "What did she mean by that? You can't bond with anyone? Ever?"

Bell sighed heavily. She knew that Cerina was not going to be happy. "Let's go out to lunch. I'll explain everything."

Cerina was uneasy, but nodded. "Fine." She looked to her mate. "What do you say?"

"You go ahead," he said before eyeing Fenn suspiciously. "I wanna have lunch with Fenn."

Fenn curiously cocked his brow. "Okay…"

Fenn invited Kakarot over to his home. He had downsized from his mansion since he didn't quite have the heart to get more servants to stay with him. He just had a maid that came in every so often, but he kept the house pretty tidy himself. Besides, he was usually at Task Force headquarters while he was on earth. It was still a spacious home for one person and he did keep his refrigerator fully stocked. Kakarot was surprised to learn that Fenn could cook. It wasn't anything gourmet. It was just some barbeque, but he did have a delicious chipotle sauce. They ate outside on Fenn's deck and when they had eaten enough, they finally decided to get down to business. "So what's this about, Kakarot?"

Kakarot leaned back into his chair and smirked. "I just wanna make sure you're not gonna try to kill me and take my woman."

Fenn laughed to himself. He could certainly understand Kakarot's concern. "No. Bell cured me."

Kakarot cocked his brow, remembering how Fenn beat going into heat the first time. "And how did she manage to do that?" he asked with a naughty smirk.

"Fenn's case was the worst I had ever seen and my serum wasn't working," Bell said to Princess Cerina as they ate in a private room in the palace. They were brought lots of delicious sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, and teas. It was a lot of food, but still light for a Saiyan lunch. "I tried, Cerina. I really did. Then I tried the natural way and after I exhausted the possibility—"

"Wait!" Cerina's mind was blown. "What do you mean 'the natural way' Bell?"

"You slept with Bell?" Kakarot blurted out while sort of laughing.

Fenn nodded and seemed completely unashamed. "I sure did."

Kakarot's mouth had dropped. He just couldn't fathom that the nerdy scientist on the Task Force was no longer a virgin and was deflowered by the most desirable man on the planet. "How many times?"

Fenn finished popping what was left of his hotdog in his mouth before casually answering. "How many times can you fit sex in three days?"

Kakarot slapped his leg in excitement. "That's hysterical!" He just couldn't imagine it. "And did she tattoo your name on her chest or something ridiculous?"

"What do you mean?"

Kakarot shook his head in disbelief. "She's in love with you! You can't just sleep with a girl that's in love with you and think it's then end." Kakarot had his experience with obsessive women and Chi-Chi wasn't the only one. But Chi-Chi was the only one he had slept with and though it was great, he knew that he ended up really hurting her because he finally conceded and dumped her.

Fenn was hesitant, but finally shrugged his shoulders. "I don't wanna sound like a dick, Kakarot, but everyone is in love with me. It comes with the territory of being a good looking prodigy with a brain."

"You do sound like a dick."

"But you know that I'm right!"

Kakarot didn't really think what Fenn was saying was that bad. After all, it was simply the truth. "I do also share some of the burden, yes." 'Not to your extent with the ladies though…' "This is gonna get messy."

"No. It's not."

"You took total advantage of this girl's feelings."

"She took advantage of me!" Fenn yelled.

"You took advantage of his condition?" Cerina yelled. She would have been more appalled if she wasn't so shocked.

"Total advantage!" Bell was excited and happy, so she had to calm herself down so she wouldn't sound like a complete and total heathen. "I'm ashamed of myself. I really am." A smile started to slowly crack. "I mean, I should be. I really should be." Then she couldn't hold in her happiness. "But I'm not. It was totally awesome!"

"Bell!" Cerina reached across the table and lightly slapped her friend in the arm. "I can't believe you."

"How did it happen?" Kakarot asked intrigued.

Fenn leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin as he thought. "Well, it was two days after the tournament and I was still pretty obsessed with Cerina, but not foaming at the mouth crazy since her scent was away from me. I was still…" He struggled with the wording, feeling embarrassed. After all, Kakarot seemed irritated that Fenn was having sexual fantasies about his mate. "I was riled up to an extent though—constantly. Bell was fascinated and started asking questions."

Fenn was sitting in a private room in a lab while Bell checked over some charts while she sat next to him. "So…While you're like this, are you not interested in other girls?"

"Of course I'm still into women in general. It's just…" He began to fiercely blush.

Bell smiled. "Don't be embarrassed. I'm your doctor."

It was hard not to be embarrassed. He really didn't want to explain what he was feeling, but he did trust her. She was his friend and his doctor. But he still couldn't come right out and say it. "You know when you're hungry and you're craving something?"

"Oh boy, do I." Bell instinctively bit her lip and leaned in closer to him. If he only knew how much she had desired him so.

"Well, you can eat and satisfy yourself, but you never quite hit the spot. Just because I want some cake really bad doesn't mean that I don't love pie…" Fenn looked at Bell and realized how she had been looking at him. He was no fool and he was aware that she had a crush on him, but given his circumstances, he actually started to share similar feelings or rather urges.

Bell giggled to herself. "I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but no one else would ever answer them. I am a scientist. I'm not a boy so I don't know what this is like. I guess I'm lucky in that way."

"How so?"

"Well, Saiyan males are genetically bred to be attracted to particular scents and once they make that connection, they know where they belong. It's more than attraction. It's about compatibility. What women will mix will with you and create better heirs and so forth. But we women are just breeding machines. We see a sexy fine creature and our lady parts just start going and…" She had to catch herself and stop talking so lustfully at Fenn. She cleared her throat. "Honestly we could have sex with anyone and be happy—if there's no emotional drama involved."

Fenn chuckled. "Men are that way too, Bell."

She looked confused and then she had an epiphany. It felt like lightning had struck her brain. "Really?"

"Really."

Bell hadn't really ever thought about trying to seduce a man before. She always figured that a man was supposed to smell her scent and come to her. If no one ever came, she thought she would be undesirable, but perhaps that wasn't the case. Maybe she had been waiting too much. She was a woman. She might not have been cake, but she was a flavorful pie. "So…" She gulped down all over her fears and decided to do something daring. She was wearing a lab coat, but removed it. She knew that wasn't nearly enough. She was wearing a button up sweater that was maybe very unattractive, but she saw Fenn's pupils dilated when she unfastened the top button and she kept going until a nice bit of cleavage was visible. "Does something like this attract you?"

Fenn tried to look away, but his eyes were drawn to them. "…Yes."

And with that, Bell received the confidence that she had been missing for her entire life. The boy she wanted was in the palm of her hands and he actually thought she was sexy. She couldn't stop and continued unbuttoning her top until she was able to slide it off of her arms and down into the chair. "And does this attract you?"

"…Yes…"

Bell smirked to herself and stood up. She felt like an entirely different woman the way he was staring at her body. Fenn couldn't say no, he couldn't look away, he was completely bewitched and the power she had over him was addictive. She applied some pressure to her scrunchy in her hair and it flung off and her hair exploded into a beautiful mane. She felt like a lioness and even began to crawl into his bed like she had watched the animals do in a documentary. "And what would happen if I did this?"

She had never kissed anyone before, but she boldly dove into his lips. Fenn's responses suddenly returned to him, but it wasn't to push her off, but rather pull her in. She might have been clueless before, but when he got right down to it, Saiyans were just animals and all sex required were good instincts.

"And then it was all over," Fenn said with a smile, remembering the encounter quite fondly. He was a gentleman most of the time, but he was still a Saiyan male.

"Wow!" Kakarot was floored and even very impressed. "I have to give her some credit. I didn't know she had it in her!"

"So you had sex until I was out of his system?" Cerina asked.

"No." Bell folded her arms, pouted, and slouched down in her chair. "I didn't find out that Fenn was still hot for anything with boobs until later."

"And how did you find out?" Cerina asked worriedly.

"Soko too?" Kakarot blurted in shock.

Fenn threw up his hands in the air. "I couldn't help it."

Kakarot was still laughing but he cut his eyes at Fenn. "How could you not help it?"

"She attacked me."

"You could have fought her off—"

"Naked!"

"Oh..." Kakarot began snickering again. "I can see how that would be difficult."

"I mean I remained dominate, but I couldn't stop myself." Fenn was a little embarrassed talking about what happened, but at the same time, it was nice to open up to a guy about what he was going through. He certainly couldn't talk to Cerina about things like that. She looked like she was going to die when Soko confronted him in the restaurant and they spoke about their sexual encounter.

"How many times did you sleep with her?"

Fenn smirked a bit naughtily. "How many times can you have sex in twenty hours?"

Cerina gasped horrified. "That's terrible!"

"Yeah…" Bell thought she was exactly what Fenn needed and she had completely satisfied him. It was a big blow to her pride when she went looking for him—kind of in a needy way—and discovered that he was having sex with Soko. She literally caught them in the bed together. She wanted to hate Fenn for what he had done, but she knew that he was a slave to his hormones. She only hated one person! "So when I discovered them, it didn't go down so pretty."

"What happened?"

"We got into a fight."

"And Soko beat the snot out of her." Fenn flinched from the gruesome memories.

"Why didn't you stop it?" Kakarot snapped.

Fenn turned bright red before he admitted, "Because I really thought it was hot!"

"Are you okay?" Cerina was crossed with Bell for taking advantage of him, but she didn't think she deserved to have her heart broken and her butt whipped.

"Yeah, and I've been training really hard ever since!" She knew she'd probably never be able to catch up to Soko, but she was going to at least do a better job defending herself if she ever got into another brawl with Soko. "But anyway, Fenn was clearly messed up and I had to fix him in order to protect him from that skank! I tried a couple of more tests and deduced that he was still in heat."

"Cerina's scent was still making me aroused." Fenn was so frustrated when it was all happening to him. It was probably the most frustrating and embarrassing time of his life. He had to keep smelling her clothes and they would watch to see if he was aroused. Then Bell would usually get jealous, but hide it pretty well with her sadness and then she'd try sticking him with another needle and try the process again thirty minutes later. He hated it. The only positive was the sex, but it created a lot of problems.

"The ladies were determined to just make it end the natural way, but I didn't want them to kill each other and I was injected with Cerina's pheromones. I wasn't sure if we could ever make my desire for Cerina go away."

Kakarot felt uncomfortable hearing about Fenn's ordeal. He couldn't imagine what he was actually going through. "So what did Bell do?"

"Well, I knew that if you bonded to Kakarot, your pheromones that you output to attract males wouldn't be as strong," Bell said. "But Fenn wasn't sure that would be enough."

"Why?"

She shrugged. Fenn was really secretive about his reasons. "I guess because you have super pheromones. Kakarot's dad was still insanely attracted to your mom, right? That's what Raditz told me."

"Why?" Kakarot was very suspicious of Fenn. 'Why would he assume that Cerina bonding to me wouldn't be enough to make him go out of heat? Does he have any evidence that suggests that a bonded Saiyan woman can attract males and make them go into heat?'

"Because…She has very powerful pheromones! I assumed it wouldn't be enough."

Kakarot narrowed his eyes in. 'He's hiding something.' "Okay. So how did Bell fix it?"

"Well," Bell told Cerina, "Kakarot's father stopped being in love with your mother when he bonded with his mate."

"But Fenn isn't mated to anyone." Cerina's eyes slowly began to enlarge until she squealed in excitement that she couldn't contain her body. "Wow! Did you two mate?"

Bell smiled at the thought of it, but it was a sad smile. "No."

"I didn't mate either of them, though they both actually offered." Both Bell and Soko were arguing with each other. Bell knew that Fenn bonding would stop him from being in heat, so she suggested it and then Soko volunteered and more arguing happened and they almost fought again. "It was weird."

"You're honestly not interested in either of them?" Kakarot found it a little hard to believe. "Soko's got that quiet, hot, anger to her. She's cool and tough." Kakarot would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to her. She was tall, sleek, and slinder like a human super model, but she was a powerhouse, though he could see that she was perhaps a little too tough sometimes.

"Then Bell is the opposite. She's…Nerdy! Completely nerdy, but I guess it's charming." Kakarot wasn't sure if he would or could be into Bell, but hearing how she seduced Fenn certainly helped her case. She might not have been as pretty as Cerina or as sexy as Soko, but she was cute and had a decent rack. Her body was nicely shaped too, but she didn't usually wear anything that did any favors for her. She had potential though. "You like them both as friends. You've screwed them both. Why not pick one of them?"

Fenn knew that picking Bell or Soko would have been the easier choice. He and Soko had history and he was one of the few men that could probably handle her. He did like making her submit. He could turn her into a different woman and she wasn't always so bad. Bell was sweet, brilliant, and quirky. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that Cerina was going to eventually try to put the two of them together anyway. They were nice choices and he could have had hundreds of other girls as well and that was no exaggeration.

However, there was never another option to Fenn. "I was in love with someone else and I didn't want to give up on what I felt, despite my circumstances." Even with Cerina's scent trapped in his nose and the thought of her clutching tightly onto his mind and heart, he still remembered how much he cared about the woman he loved. He didn't want to let go of her. She was too magnificent. She meant too much.

"Romantic, huh?" Bell was sad about it, but she admired him so much. If she couldn't have Fenn, she at least wanted to find a boy who would have at least half as much heart as Fenn, she figured that would be enough.

Cerina smiled because she did admire Fenn, but she was heartbroken for her friend. "Oh, I'm sorry, Bell."

"But Fenn was still technically obsessed with you and he was sure that he would always be obsessed with you. So…" She paused, anticipating Cerina's freak out. "He asked if it was possible to release the chemical inside of him that would make him bond with someone, even though he wasn't going to connect with anyone."

Cerina gasped. "So he can never bond with anyone?"

She buried her eyes in her tea so she didn't have to see Cerina scolding her. "No."

Cerina was so mad! Bonding with Kakarot made her incredibly happy. Fenn deserved that happiness for himself and he had held off for so long! "Bell, how could you agree to such a thing? How could he?"

"I couldn't live the rest of my life loving Cerina in that way," he told Kakarot. "It was a lie." Cerina was his dearest friend and he would die to protect her, but they were no more than that. He couldn't allow her to mean more than that.

"But now you can never bond with the girl you wanted."

Fenn didn't mind. He knew that he really hadn't lost anything. "I couldn't anyway, Kakarot."

"He says he's unable to bond with her," Bell said. She didn't like not knowing, but she was beginning to see that she'd just have to let it go.

Cerina was also puzzled. She always assumed it was a Saiyan girl that she wouldn't approve of and maybe that was why Fenn didn't want to admit her identity. But perhaps she needed to start thinking outside of the box. "So do you think he's in love with a human?"

"But a human can't set him off into heat…I mean, that's as far as we know. I can't exactly say for sure. We have enough differences, but Saiyan and human genetics are quite similar. Raditz bonded to his human mate, after all."

'Fenn has goals to rise in importance. He very well couldn't do that if my mother discovered that he cared about a human. Is my mother's rule preventing him from finding love?' "And he wouldn't tell you?" 'He should have at least told Bell. She's his doctor. Anything could have helped her cure him.'

"No, and I've decided to respect him and just be friends." It was difficult, but Bell was going to do her best to put her huge crush behind her. She lived in her fantasy and it was a wonderful three days, but she had to get back to reality.

"So after he was unable to bond, even though my pheromones were slightly still reaching out to him, he couldn't reach back?"

"Yes, in the least scientific way possible."

Kakarot was sick of not knowing. It's not that he cared that much about Fenn's romantic life, but it bugged him that Fenn was hiding something. There had to be a good reason. 'Well, she can't be a human, because she made him go into heat. That's the queen's theory and until proven otherwise, I'm inclined to believe it. He hadn't approached this woman or made a pass, but everyone loves Fenn. She must be unobtainable. Maybe she's already mated. But what kind of woman makes a man go into heat while she's already bonded? She'd have to have super pheromones like Cerina…' "Oh wow…"

"What?" Fenn asked with a little bit of nervousness in his voice.

"You're sick." Kakarot waved his finger in Fenn's face. He tried to pretend to be disgusted, but ended up laughing. "You are so sick, but I can't blame you!"

"What?" he asked with his face already bright red.

Kakarot smiled, proud that he finally figured it out. "It's Cerina's mother!"

"What…?" Fenn tried to brush Kakarot off as if he were insane, but it wasn't too convincing.

"It explains why you always treated Cerina like the plague and why you thought liking her was immoral." Kakarot slapped his forehead when he thought back to the night of Cerina's ball. He saw Fenn talking to Cellena. He noticed a different energy between the two of them, but he was only joking when he thought Fenn was flirting. He felt like an idiot. "You've got the hots for the queen!"

"That's ridiculous, Kakarot."

He cocked his brow. "Is it?"

Fenn knew he wasn't doing a good job dissuading Kakarot. He was trying his best to keep his emotions at bay, but he knew by the heat in his face that he was just blushing more and more. "Please don't tell Cerina!"

"You pervert!" Kakarot thought it was hysterical. He was only teasing Fenn, but it was funny how guilty he looked. "I bet you had the most twisted fantasies!"

Fenn reached across the table and grabbed Kakarot by the shirt. "Stop laughing at me and promise that you will take this secret to the grave!"

"Sure," Kakarot smiled, "just as long as you promise not to tell Cerina that I had sex with Chi-Chi." Then he grunted angrily at Fenn. "Oops! You already blabbed!"

Fenn slightly glared at Kakarot. He didn't expect to hear an actual confession from Kakarot. Sleeping with a human was a serious crime, but it was even worse that he betrayed Cerina's trust. "She deserved to know, and besides, we were enemies at the time." He smiled. "Now we're friends."

Kakarot hadn't really thought of Fenn as his friend. They had been friendly, but rivals. They would still be rivals, but Kakarot reached a turning point. He beat Fenn, so he wasn't irritated about that stupid fight when they were kids. He mated Cerina, so he wasn't jealous. It turns out that he never actually had a real reason to be jealous in the first place. Kakarot was right about Fenn having a secret agenda, but it wasn't anything bad. "Cerina told me how you planned on making things better for the humans. She said you could be trusted and clearly you'd do anything to protect her, even sacrifice your own heart. I trust you, Fenn, and from this day forward, I will think of you as my friend."

Fenn was very relieved to hear that. "And you'll keep my secret?"

"Sure, but it can't remain a secret forever." Kakarot began to come up with a brilliant plan. He knew to survive in the royal family, he would have to scheme at least a little bit, and he always did set the best traps. "You have your glorious plans. You must want to seduce Cellena eventually so you can have influence over her."

Fenn propped up. He certainly didn't want Kakarot to think so little of him. "It's not like that exactly. I do genuinely love her."

It was odd when Fenn thought back to the first time that he saw beautiful Princess Cerina. He didn't really start to become her friend until they met up in that bookstore. He thought the probable way at first. "I thought I was probably going to mate Cerina when I was small, but then I started noticing Cellena. I wanted to like Cerina, I really did, but I was so enchanted by her mother."

He was over the palace one day and Cerina invited Fenn for a spar against the queen. He saw how powerful and graceful she was and she was just as beautiful as her daughter, but a woman. Cellena easily bested the both of them, but he still remembered what Cellena said to him when they finished their match.

"That was quite excellent, young Fenn. No wonder why you are so revered by your peers."

Fenn was delighted and honored to be complimented by Cellena and he bowed before her. "Thank you, my queen."

"Keep up your training, and perhaps you may be the head of the Saiyan Army one day." She smiled. She only meant to tease him about the possibility, but then she noticed the gleam in the boy's eyes.

"Do you truly think so, my queen?"

Cellena was intrigued by how egger and determined he was. "Why not? You're intelligent, strong, and incredibly brave. Prove to me and my king that you are worthy and you will rise among the ranks."

"And how do I prove that I am worthy?"

"That's simple. You must be strong. Make others respect your power. But you have to be more than powerful. You have to know more. Great strength makes you a fighter, skill makes you a warrior, and knowledge will make you a leader. You show these men—despite how much older they are than you—that you are their superior."

"And anything else?" he asked.

She chuckled. "I see that I have sparked a hunger within you, Fenn." She bent down and placed her hands on his small shoulders. "Good. I like for my subjects to be driven." Cellena felt like she could trust him and looked to her wonderful daughter. "Take care of Cerina for me. She's precious to me."

He looked at his new friend and they both smiled at each other. He swore that he would protect Cerina no matter what. He would be her protector and he would do it for Cellena. "I will do that, my queen."

Then every day he saw Cellena, her scent became more pleasing. He protected and watched over Cerina, but he never thought about being romantic with her ever again. "Then I went into heat when I was fifteen and I broke Cerina's heart and made myself look bad when I started sleeping with other girls."

"But that explains why you're such a suck up." 'It's good to know that it wasn't because he has some deep patriotism for the king.' "You want to stand out and be Cellena's favorite."

"I am playing politics, but I'd do anything for my queen as well. Now that I'm cured from Cerina, I'm in love with my queen again." That was the burden that Fenn much rather preferred to have.

'This dope really is in love with Cellena. He gave up his ability to bond. Clearly he's confident that he can one day nab her. Maybe he knows something I don't. But perhaps I should enlighten him. I'm certain I can trust him.' "I think you should start to make a play. King Vegeta can't live forever."

Fenn cocked his brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kakarot snuck out a smile, though he probably shouldn't have. 'I don't want to come off as some kind of greedy conspirator. Fenn has proven himself to be quite loyal to the crown and I don't want him to ever get the impression that I got with Cerina for the power.' "My father has been having dreams about the fight with Broly."

"I thought he couldn't see the future with Broly."

"It messed up his brain when he tried, but slowly, it started coming back to him." 'This is the first test of our friendship Fenn. How will you react to this information?' "King Vegeta isn't going to make it."

Fenn's eyes bucked. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. He was…relieved? He thought he was, but he wouldn't allow himself to be. "And you're sure?"

"Unless it was wishful thinking from my father, but I'd bet good money on it." Kakarot didn't need to be a mind reader to know that Fenn was thinking about the possibilities. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Yes, Fenn did think of the possibilities and did think selfishly at first, but then he could only think about his friend. "Cerina would be sad."

Kakarot was surprised, but then a little ticked off that Fenn had yet again showed him up. 'She'll be okay though.' Kakarot had mentioned something to Cerina about her father and he could feel how angry she was with him and it didn't make him like the king any more. Then Cerina probably felt his frustrations with her father as well. "She's really pissed at her dad right now. She'll be sad, but she'll get over it."

Fenn knew his friend and he knew that she would eventually forgive her father. It wasn't in Cerina's nature to keep a grudge. Perhaps it was another effect of the Spiritual Water. But there would be one person who would miss Vegeta. "Queen Cellena…"

"She'll be devastated until the brave and charming Fenn shows her that life goes on." He smiled and raised his brows up and down suggestively.

'There has to be a point to this conversation. Kakarot is up to something.' "What are you planning, Kakarot?"

'Here we go. This is the moment of truth.' "We don't like how King Vegeta runs things and his son won't be any better."

"Vegeta is the heir—"

"Prince Vegeta is out of control!" Kakarot said laughingly. "His parents see that. Besides, Prince Vegeta has no mate and no heir and his only serious prospect is a human girl who currently hates him."

'Kakarot does have a point. Prince Vegeta doesn't have a line of descendants, but Cerina is mated and I'm assuming that Cerina will have a child fairly soon. I don't know how strong Prince Vegeta is, but Kakarot can't be too far behind him if he hasn't already surpassed him. Cerina is powerful and she has great favor. It's not impossible…' "You think Queen Cellena would pass over his birthright?"

"It's possible." 'But Queen Cellena does care about her spoiled son. She wouldn't easily pass over him, but she loves to be in charge. There might be another way to keep this empire from falling apart in case she refuses to pick me as the king.' "But if there needs to be a delay, she could remain the queen alone or…She might take another king."

"Seriously?" Fenn waited for the punch line. Kakarot was smiling a lot, but he also seemed like he wasn't joking. "You think she would—"

"What have you been working for, Fenn? Do you want mild influence or do you wanna change the universe?"

'She really can be mine. But being her king…It's ambitious. It's incredibly ambitious…' But Fenn was a very ambitious person. "How am I gonna make a move? I can't pounce on her as soon as she becomes a widow, Kakarot!"

"Wait for an opportunity and make your feelings known. Drop a hint. I didn't say have an affair…" Kakarot grinned naughtily and raised his eyebrows up and down again. "Unless that's what you want."

"I don't know, Kakarot! I want to do the honorable thing…" It was difficult seeing the queen and desiring her. He couldn't talk to anyone about it, because it could mean his death or at least his fall from power. He couldn't stand the way she was treated by King Vegeta sometimes. He knew he could treat her better than any other man ever did. She deserved better than what she had. "But I've been in love with her for so long. I've pushed all of my desires aside to help Cerina, but now she has you and I'm still alone. I nearly died. It's time to do something for myself."

Kakarot doubted if Fenn would be able to do the immoral thing, but it would work better for Kakarot and his family if Fenn slipped up and played a little dirty. 'Perhaps I can push him.' "It's good to be a little selfish sometimes. Everyone loves a good scandal here and there."

'Can I really do something like that? What if it backfires? What would Queen Cellena think of me? What would Cerina think of me?' It wasn't something to take lightly, but he was sick of waiting. If he wanted the unobtainable, he might have to do something unfathomable. "I'll think about it."

Queen Cellena was told by Arti that Bulma wanted to see her and she had Basila hold all of her appointments so she could get straight to it. She had been trying to stay out of Ceirna's investigation, since it was so personal to her, but it was extremely difficult.

When she came into Bulma's prison cell, her eyes lit up and she rushed into Cellena's chest. She would have hugged her, but her arms were cuffed. "Cellena!"

Cellena hugged her adopted daughter. It was odd not seeing her dressed wonderfully. She probably hated wearing the prison jumper, but at least she smelled decent and looked well fed. "How have you been?"

Bulma shrugged her shoulders, but then gave a small smile. "This has been a picnic compared to my exile."

Cellena felt a pang of guilt in her chest. Bulma deserved to be exiled, but she wouldn't have wished those horror stories on her for the world. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Bulma led Cellena to her uncomfortable prison cot and they both sat down on her bed while Bulma struggled to explain. "I already told Cerina, but…" She bit her lip and struggled through her tears. She had no idea how Cellena would react. "I was with Vegeta. That's why I couldn't talk about my alibi."

Cellena's eyes bucked. 'She started having sex with Vegeta again? What a fool!' Anger was beginning to stir inside of her, but she didn't know if Bulma was telling the truth or telling a difficult lie to make it more accepting as a hard truth. "Vegeta isn't exactly a reputable source."

"I know and he's probably going to throw me under the bus." Bulma pressed her hands on her forehead. She looked genuinely distraught. "He's angry and everyone is going to say that we could have plotted to poison Fenn while we were together. This is useless! I'm going to die."

"Not if I can see that you deserve another chance." Cellena shouldn't have babied Bulma, but she wrapped her arm around her and pulled her close. "Bulma, you seemed to care about this boy, Yamcha. What possesses you to go back to my son?"

"I don't know…I…We have a deeper connection than what I told anyone. Only Yamcha knew." Her voice began to break up. Yamcha was the only friend she had in the entire world. He knew things about her that she could probably never tell Vegeta. "I trusted him with everything."

"Told him what?" Cellena rubbed Bulma's back while she sobbed in her chest. She could hardly believe that she would tell that dirty thief something that she couldn't reveal to her. "Bulma, what is it?"

Bulma was about to take the biggest risk she had ever taken in her life, but if she didn't take the leap of faith, she knew that she would be in that prison cell for a very long time. "When you banished me, I was pregnant."

"What?" Cellena moved away so she could look into Bulma's eyes. "You were pregnant?" She loved children. She would have loved to have another child around, but it wasn't supposed to be that way. It wasn't supposed to be a half-breed! But even if it was, Cellena's heart already began to soften up to the idea of having a grandchild. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Bulma's lip quivered. "Because I was afraid of what you would do to me."

Cellena felt an aching in her chest. That was five years ago. She couldn't see her grandson because the girl who she thought of as her daughter was terrified. It was heartbreaking to her and she desperately needed to make it right. "Where's my grandson?"

"I was hurt when King Cold's men came and kidnapped us. I had complications and Trunks was born premature."

"Trunks…?" Cellena was beginning to lose her voice from her emotion. She knew the name. She knew of the boy and what he was supposed to be. She didn't want to know. She had fought against the curiosity that would rise for him, but now she didn't know what to do about it.

"I know you hate the name, but I didn't think it would be right to name him after his father." Bulma laughed weakly to herself. "I didn't ever think he'd be accepted…"

Cellena drew her hands from Bulma and placed them firmly on her lap. She hoped that would stop them from trembling and stop Bulma from seeing them. "Is he still alive?"

"No." Bulma took a deep breath as she struggled to speak through her onslaught of tears. "They wouldn't let me take care of him. They said he was just a dirty Saiyan. He needed medical treatment, but they were too afraid to let me near anything technical and he…" Her face turned red from the lack of oxygen and then she just exploded as she sobbed miserably. "I failed him. I failed my son!"

Cellena held Bulma once again and she let her cry, but it was also to keep her from seeing how emotionally distraught she was. Cellena had to try her very best not to cry. She didn't want to—not in front of Bulma—but her heart was breaking! "I wish you would have told me, Bulma. I would have never sent you away."

"I'm sorry." Bulma began to blame herself for not being brave enough. "I was just so scared!"

For a while, Cellena let Bulma cry and didn't speak a word. She had forgotten to ask about Yamcha and she couldn't grill Bulma about what happened to Fenn and the conspiracy, because it just didn't matter. All that mattered was that her grandson was dead because his mother was greedy and his grandmother was just too proud. "Why did this have to escalate so far, Bulma?"

Bulma wiped her eyes and took a moment to catch her breath. She continued to cry that hard, it felt like she would die. "I admired you so much. I wanted to be like you. Then I wanted to be queen. I didn't mean to get so selfish or fall in so deep."

'I did this. I raised her to be this way. I took her from her mother and father and now she's one of us, but worse.' Cellena knew that if she stayed in there any longer with the girl, that she would cry in front of her and that could never happen. "Excuse me." She quickly rushed out of the prison cell and leaned up against the soundproof door. She didn't want Bulma to know that someone was listening in. "Was she telling the truth?"

"I don't know," Bardock said disturbed. "I can't read her mind."

"Why?" Cellena asked alarmed.

He shrugged. "A smart girl like that probably found a way to block me."

"Even in her mental condition?"

"Maybe she did something permanent. It wouldn't be the first time I was blocked…" 'I couldn't read Broly's future. Prince Vegeta's future was hidden to me for a while. There's something going on and I wouldn't doubt Bulma's capabilities.' "I would hope that she doesn't have anything to do with Broly."

"No, not Bulma." Cellena wouldn't even give such a terrible accusation a second thought. "Besides, she was in terrible condition when Vegeta found her. She was a slave living on a bug planet."

"Maybe…" Bardock wanted to believe in Bulma as well, but he knew that Cellena was just too emotional to look at all the evidence from a clear perspective. "Are you alright?"

"No." Cellena couldn't stop thinking about her baby, Brussel, who she had lost during the war with the Tuffles. He never had the chance to be born at all because she was injured. She had been living with that scar for a very long time and it greatly defined her. She didn't want Bulma to have to be so emotionally scarred either. "I'm the reason why my grandson is dead! Bulma was afraid to come to me and she was completely alone in trying to raise him."

"It's not exactly your fault…" Bardock couldn't believe that Trunks was dead either. Maybe it wouldn't have been the same Trunks, but Bulma's life changed the day the Saiyans landed. Then he told her father to prepare her to seduce Vegeta and instead of her changing him for the better, she became a little monster. "Look at what Bulma has become. It's my fault. I set her on this path. She wasn't exactly innocent in the other world, but she was someone my son could trust. Here she's…"

"I know. We've ruined her, Bardock. I find myself questioning my capabilities to raise my children. Vegeta is…I don't even know. Bulma was conniving. Cerina is someone that would fight for anyone—it wouldn't even matter if you were blood or a Saiyan. I'm proud of my daughter, but I can't say if I've done her any favors or if it was a magical water that created her."

He wasn't accustomed to Cellena having a meltdown and he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes. "Cellena, you are a good mother. Don't beat yourself up over this."

Cellena loved her children and she thought sending Bulma away would benefit her. It seemed like it did to an extent, but the price was too high if it was worth her son's life. Losing a child was the worst pain a mother could suffer. "She should have had her son here."

"What about your law, Cellena?"

"I don't know…" She did want to keep the Saiyan race pure, but was it worth all of the hostility? She had to really decide if it was worth the hassle or if she was just being stubborn. "I need to take care of her, Bardock. I want to help her get better. I'm not ready to give up on her."

Bardock had a feeling that he was going to get in trouble just going off of emotion like Goku always did, but he wanted to make Cellena feel better. "Okay. I understand."

Cerina had a great afternoon with Bell, but she was curious about the afternoon her mate was having. But she wasn't going to pester him. She was going to trust that if he had anything important to say that he would tell her when they had time. When she got back to her room, he was already there with a suitcase of clothes. "I trust that you had a nice time with your parents and then Fenn."

"I did. Fenn and I trained for a little while." He was very sweaty and dressed in a pair of spandex shorts. "I was about to take a shower." He smirked naughtily. "Would you like to join me?"

She smiled, but moaned to herself. "I would, but my mother and father has requested an audience with me and my brother and I can't keep her waiting."

"What a pity…" Kakarot flexed his muscles as a way to entice her, but all she did was giggle at how silly he was. "I'll see you soon then."

"Pick out something nice to wear," she warned. "My mother is probably going to insist that we all eat together."

Then it was Kakarot's turn to moan. "Fine." He dragged his feet to the bathroom to give Cerina time to change her mind, but she really did have to leave. She had to meet her parents in her father's private parlor. He didn't usually relax too much in his room, pretty much only when he was irritated and needed a drink, but there were some very comfortable leather chairs inside. Cerina slightly bowed to her parents and hesitantly sat across from her parents next to her brother on a couch.

"It's so good to see the two of you," her mother said.

Cerina had still not cleared the air with her father and she was certain if she was going to. "My King."

He was a little irritated that she purposely didn't call him father. "Cerina."

"Kakarot is my mate now, is this something he should hear?" The way she asked that genuine question was also a jab.

He narrowed in his eyes at Cerina. He knew that she was rubbing it in his face and maybe it shouldn't have bothered him, but it really did. "No. This is something the two of you have to work out."

Prince Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"Vegeta," his mother got closer and narrowed her eyes in on her son. "I will know if you lie to me, so I suggest you be completely honest. Did you have anything to do with poisoning Fenn with Cerina's pheromones?"

He laughed. What else was he supposed to do? "Of course I did."

Cerina became so angry that she wanted to strike him, but she knew her parents would stop and scold her. She tried to control her outrage by digging her nails into her skin. "And did Bulma have anything to do with it?"

"She knew that Bell had Cerina's pheromones. She's been spying on her, because Bulma misses her old job and I believe she wants it back. She mentioned it to me one day and though I thought it was utterly disgusting that my mother and sister have super pheromones, I found a way to use it to my advantage."

Cellena cocked her brow. "I have super pheromones?"

"Where do you think I got it from, Mother?" Cerina asked.

"What does that mean?" King Vegeta asked worriedly and also partially disgusted.

"Bell said that it's possible that I could still attract males even though I'm bonded." Cerina started blushing, especially when she noticed that her mother was also blushing as well. "Do you know if you've ever attracted males…?"

"I'm unaware." She noticed the look her mate had and decided to quickly change the subject. "How did you find out about Yamcha?" she asked her son.

Vegeta couldn't wipe the smug grin off of his face. He might have been caught, but that didn't mean he wasn't in power. "I've been obsessing over Bulma since she got back. I made it my business to know everything about him. I was looking for a reason to kill him. That didn't mean I couldn't use him before it was all over."

The King and Queen both glared at their rebellious and stubborn son. "Bulma tried to explain her absence by saying that she was with you intimately. Is that true?" Cellena wanted to know, but it was a bit of a warning if it was true.

Vegeta had to be very careful with his wording, because his mother was very good at catching him in a lie. "It didn't last nearly as long as I would have liked, but we were together."

"You know she can be killed for this!" Cellena seethed.

Vegeta sighed very bored with her anger. "I'm aware of your law, Mother, but she is mine. She always has been."

"Are you a fool?" King Vegeta was in complete disbelief. "Son, she used you as a tool to gain power. She only wants to be your queen."

"It's not the only thing she wants." Vegeta very well knew that he couldn't trust Bulma, but he couldn't deny what they had between them and he knew that she couldn't either. It didn't matter who came along and tried to come between them. It didn't matter that she was a human and he was a Saiyan prince. They were one in the same.

"And why shouldn't she want to be queen? Look who raised her!" Vegeta pointed to his mother. "Mother instills a thirst for power inside of everyone."

Cellena felt a shock throughout her body. She knew there was a truth to her son's words.

"Don't blame Bulma's treachery on your mother!" King Vegeta snapped at his son.

"Forget about Bulma!" Cerina interjected. "We all knew they were sleeping together. But why would you do this to me? And Fenn?" Fenn did have agendas, but they were for the greater good. He didn't deserve to be pulled into their family drama. "Do you know how he has suffered because of you?"

Vegeta shrugged his shoulders. "He's nothing but a peasant anyway." And then since he made his sister's face fume up, he started to laugh.

"Why have you been so obsessed with your sister's tournament?" his mother asked.

Perhaps Vegeta should have taken his plan with him to the grave and never confessed to anything, but he was feeling cocky and rebellious and their parents coming at him only made him not care. He wasn't like Bulma in that way. She could scheme forever. There was only so much Vegeta could do until he was ready to just start fighting. "I wanted Kale to mate with her because I control Kale and I wanted to control her."

"Why?"

"Because she's more than my sister. She's a rival and threat to my birthright!"

"Whatever gave you that impression, Brother?" Cerina was actually hurt that he thought of her in such a way. They weren't always estranged. They were never close, but she loved him and she thought that he cared about her as well. "I am a servant of the empire. I honor and respect your authority. I would serve you just as I have served our parents."

"And look at who she has mated," Vegeta directed himself to his father. "Kakarot and his family have opposed you time and time again. They can't be trusted. I propose that you don't make Kakarot a prince."

"And I propose that you stop making suggestions," his mother warned sternly. She had tried very hard to get her mate to cooperate with Bardock and their families joining started solving the problem. She turned to her king. "Vegeta, you cannot listen to our son's paranoid delusions and let him win for doing something so treacherous to his sister."

King Vegeta looked to his son. He was his eldest and he was a man. Cerina shouldn't have been considered a threat, but he could understand. "I agree that Vegeta needs to be punished, but he does raise a point with Kakarot. If he's never going to be king, he shouldn't have to be prince."

Cerina's mouth dropped, but she only let herself be stunned for a moment. She had to fight for her and her man! "But if Vegeta dies, then I am next in line, unless you want to invite Tarble back. If I can become queen, then Kakarot is my king. It is what it is, unless you strip me of my birthright."

"Well, I wouldn't do that," King Vegeta said.

"Then you honor Kakarot!" she demanded it. She had never meant anything so much in her life.

"My son," the king said very seriously, "you need to stop interfering with your sister's life. She has done nothing against you to deserve this sort of mistrust."

"However," his mate interjected, "conspiring against your sister, aiding and using a criminal that we've all been looking for a long time, and destroying Fenn's life does warrant mistrust. This offense is more than just against your sister. It's against us as well. Your father will not tolerate this!" She made sure to look to her mate again as a warning.

"No, I will not." He didn't want there to be so much animosity in his house, but Cellena was right. Cerina was harmless and Vegeta had just made his sister into his enemy for no reason. "Son, you were born with certain privileges and rights that your mother and I had to fight for. Perhaps your life has been too easy."

"Too easy?" he shrieked and nearly jumped out of his chair. "Have you forgotten that you gave me up to Frieza because you were too weak to face him?"

Anger struck the king. "You were retrieved, Vegeta. You weren't gone from our care for long."

"No thanks to you!"

Cerina almost jumped out of her seat. "And may I remind you that Bardock saved your life, Brother? He risked his life to save yours and you tried to kill his son."

"Then I suppose I am no different than my father," he seethed.

"We are different, Son." His son had pushed him too far. He was asking to be punished. "I have earned the right to be king. You shall as well."

Prince Vegeta's eyes bucked. "What do you mean?" He knew better than to assume what was coming, but he started clenching his fists anyway.

King Vegeta paused for a moment. "I will not name you as my heir unless you deserve it."

"And you think a softhearted fool like Cerina deserves it?" Prince Vegeta barked.

King Vegeta saw how upset his daughter was, but his son was right. She was softhearted and he hated that about his daughter, but she was levelheaded and smart and responsible. She was a lot like her mother in that regard. He didn't feel comfortable leaving the empire in her hands either. "She still has work to do, Vegeta, but this will not be automatic. Earn your right."

Prince Vegeta was angry enough to start foaming at the mouth. He knew that his sister had showed herself to be more responsible, but she wasn't strong enough to lead. She didn't have what it took! "We can fight for it."

Cerina's eyes bucked. She was surprised that her brother didn't think she was going to be a challenge and though her powers were blocked and she had a disconnect from her primal Saiyan instincts, she was still a Saiyan! "If my powers weren't blocked, I would destroy you! It would be no contest."

"Stop it!" Cellena commanded. "You both will behave yourselves and act respectfully toward one another."

"Besides," King Vegeta sneered in disgust, "I'm certainly not going to name you as my heir if you mate with a human, Vegeta."

Vegeta knew about his mother's rules, but he hadn't heard his father weigh much on the human/Saiyan debate. Still, he couldn't give up Bulma so easily. "My heir may still be powerful—"

"And not full-blooded."

"Bulma doesn't do you any favors, Son, and you haven't done any favors for her either." Cellena did blame herself for Bulma and she knew she played a huge part in her becoming so ambitious, but the worst thing she probably did was exposing Bulma to her son, especially at such a young and vulnerable age. "She told me that she killed something for you."

Cerina remembered the night of the Celebration when Bulma tried to convince her to kill something for Kakarot. It was in that moment that she realized that there was something wrong with the girl she had treated as her sister. "She said you weren't even attracted to her until she killed for you. It would be best if you both stayed away from each other."

Vegeta wanted to punch his sister in the face. She could have her idiotic romance with her low class mate, but she shouldn't pretend that she knew anything about what he and Bulma had. He was angry at all of them, but he decided to be calm for once. If he had to earn his right to be king, that's exactly what he would do. "Am I excused?"

King Vegeta was highly annoyed. "The both of you can leave my sight."

Cerina and Vegeta got up and started walking away, but before they left, Cellena spoke up. "Cerina, Kakarot will be christened tomorrow afternoon."

Cerina resisted the urge to smile, but she did anyway. "Thank you, Mother." Then she restrained herself and greeted her father in a cold manner. "Goodbye, Father." She nodded her head and started walking away.

As soon as Cerina and her brother closed the door and walked down the hall, she decided to be bold and slammed Vegeta up against the wall. "I can beat you!"

Vegeta was surprised and didn't even fight back. He was even amused enough and started laughing. "You really think so?"

"Yes." Cerina felt silly and let go of her brother. She thought she could beat him, but she honestly didn't know if she could fight him like that. "But even if I couldn't, Kakarot can defeat you."

Vegeta laughed again. He saw how impressive Kakarot was, but he would never be of royal blood and no matter how hard he tried, he would always be a low level. "Tell the peasant to keep training. He may have to prove your ridiculous theory one day."

He purposely brushed up against Cerina as he walked away. He was going to start training more seriously. He was going to be the strongest and if he had to fight Cerina's precious Kakarot to the death, that's exactly what he was going to do. And he'd kill Kakarot with a smile on his face.

Bulma kept touching her ugly locket over and over again as she laid in her uncomfortable prison cell. She wasn't sure if she had made the right decision and it was driving her crazy just thinking about it. 'Telling Cellena that I was pregnant and that my baby died got me a lot of sympathy. If things go how I expect, she'll get me released soon enough. But now she can never know that Trunks is alive...'

Only time would tell if she had made the right call. But whatever she had to do, she knew that she had to pull it all off alone. She couldn't trust Vegeta and she couldn't depend on him. At the time, she might have loved him but she certainly didn't like him.

All she had was the hope that her bastard, half-breed son would one day be king.

Cerina came back to her room just wanting to be with her mate. Things were probably about to get really ugly really fast, but she was going to enjoy what happiness she had. That happiness was with Kakarot. When she came in and saw him, he proved her point. He looked so dashing in his suit that she instantly smiled.

He didn't know why she was staring at him like she had never seen him before, but he was enjoying the vibes he was getting. "Are we having dinner tonight with your parents?"

"No!" She laughed exasperated. "We had some family stuff to work out. I don't think they want to be bothered."

Kakarot was quite happy about that. 'I just have to figure out a way to avoid all of the family dinners. I can't wait until our home is finished.'

"On the bright side, we have your ceremony tomorrow afternoon though."

He smirked. "Good." 'So this is really happening. I'm on the road that I need to be on.' "What's going on?" Kakarot could sense that she was troubled about something.

She threw her hands up in the air. "Vegeta confessed to knowing about Yamcha, using Kale, and hurting Fenn. He claims Bulma wasn't a part of it. To punish Vegeta, Father says he will consider me to be his successor."

Kakarot was honestly shell-shocked. "And by you, you mean—"

"You have a fifty-fifty chance of becoming king." Cerina was in awe of the fact that her father thought there was even the slightest possibility, but she also felt like it was a lot of pressure. She could even see the weight on his shoulders and it concerned her. "Do you think you can handle this?"

"Yeah," he said quickly. Even if he was shaken, he had to pull himself together. "Cerina, there's something I have to tell you."

She began to sense that there was something hanging over Kakarot besides the pressure she put on him. There was a secret. "What is it, Kakarot?"

Kakarot considered whether or not he should tell Cerina. She might freak out and try to save her father. She had the right to do that as his daughter, but she would have ruined his parent's plan. 'I have to tell her though. I can't keep this from her.' "Your father is going to die in the fight with Broly. My father saw it in a dream. He remembered bits and pieces of his vision when he tried to see into the future."

Cerina didn't know what to think at first. She was so angry at her father for not letting her help Fenn and trying to rule her life. He tried to kill her when she was only a baby. But could she really just let him die? "Is there a way to stop it?"

That wasn't the response Kakarot wanted, but he respected it and he respected her. "I don't know, but I don't think so."

She breathed in deeply and tried to block all of her emotions out. She didn't want to know how she felt about him, because she was afraid of how much she cared. "So in other words, either you or my brother will be ascending to the throne very quickly. Kakarot, we have to make sure that it's you."

Kakarot was surprised that she wasn't an emotional wreck. "Are you sure?" Even besides the fact that he told her that her father was going to die, there was still the fact that they planned to steal her brother's birthright.

It was a lot to handle, but she had to be strong. It wasn't about power for Cerina. If her brother took over the empire, trillions of innocents would be dead from all around the universe. She could change things. She and Kakarot could. "I'm sure."

To Be Continued…