AN: Right, as promised -more frequent updates. I Hope I can keep it up. So in this chapter I'm going to get back to the original plot of this story with some history lessons. Hope y'all enjoy the detour.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Dragonball franchise. I also do not own the Little Mermaid -I'm just borrowing their stuff for my own story. Don't sue me kay?

Chapter 7 (Sins of the Mother)

'Thank You' was the first message she successfully transmitted to him through their new bond. He nodded curtly, not replying. Strange, she thought. She had expected to receive an influx of unfiltered thoughts ever since he consented to link them telepathically. Like the young ones of her species who needed to be taught proper control by their parents, Bulma was prepared to train him on filtering his thoughts. Silence is what she received instead. Maybe she underestimated his level of basic telepathy, she speculated, and he was hardwired to receive only. Or maybe the humans have since learnt control of their 6th sense -the mind -and maybe he just had excellent control.

'What is your name?' she asked, attempting to draw a response.

'Vegeta' he sent back, and spoke his name audibly at the same time. His mental voice matched his physical one perfectly and Bulma smiled, pleased at their progress.

"Ve-ge-ta?" Bulma mimicked, trying out the syllables on her own tongue. He nodded again, seemingly pleased as well. He then immediately turned around and started his warm up stretches. Bilma was mildly offended that he would go back to ignoring her when they could finally talk to each other and attempted to draw him back into a conversation:

'My name is Bulma' she told him. All she received back from him was an audible, nonchalant 'Hmm' as he continued in his training routine. To say Bulma was disappointed was an understatement. She had hoped that he would pay a bit more attention to her now that he can ask her anything he wanted. She was almost certain he had never seen one of her kind before -just as she's never seen a human before. Wasn't he in any sense curious as to what she is and where she came from? She thought, more than a little miffed. Land people were weird, she concluded before returning to her usual perch, pouting.

Bulma continued observing, already familiar with every move in his battle pattern, which is exactly why she stood up herself when he suddenly paused mid-leg sweep as if something had alerted him. He abruptly swung around and started marching her way. He paused just short of standing on top of her and then proceeded to lower himself in front of her. His eyes never left hers on his way down and he bent until his head was at her belly. His behavior was fascinating as it was exciting. Adrenaline flushed through her veins and she froze, nervously anticipating what he'd do next. His hand reached out and slipped between her slightly parted thighs, through to the other side where the fallen treetrunk lay. The nerve endings on her skin felt every vibration of the proximity of his arm and a not entire unpleasant throbbing started south of her navel -accompanied by what Bulma had previously identified as 'symptoms of mating urges'. This new one though, she noted, was much more intense than the others. Vegeta, was still crouched in front of her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. The moment ended too soon, or not soon enough depending on how you look at it - he withdrew his hand and brought along with it a small brown bag. Bulma released a breath she didn't realise she was holding as he stood up.

Why did it seem as if her lungs couldn't get enough air all of a sudden? She wondered idly, her eyes fixed on his face. It was currently sporting a roguish grin.

'Here, Woman.' he said -his mental voice coming as a shock to her overheating system. She felt as if she'd been tazed by a baby mereel: all frazzled and sensitive. 'These are called strawberries, they are fruit ' he continued 'you can eat them.'

Her hand absently took the bag from him, her mind still hung up on what the kelp he just did to her. Bulma was starting to doubt the wisdom of getting to close to these land creatures -who knows what they're capable of…

Seeing that the woman wasn't going to respond to his gesture, Vegeta took the bag back from her, opened it and laid it back in her open palm, the ruby fruits peeking out from the folds of fabric. The familiar perfume of them seemed to snap Bulma out of whatever thought process she seemed to be lingering in. Vegeta's was quite pleased at the results of his shameless teasing. It seemed that he wasn't alone in his sufferings -the way her scent suddenly changed at his close proximity confirmed that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her, at least, her body did. It was a very satisfying revelation and he stored the information for future reference. She was currently staring at the berries with restrained enthusiasm, all thoughts of bodily urges seemingly forgotten. Then she looked at him once more, sceptical.

'You're not trying to poison me, are you?' she asked, only partly serious, Vegeta sensed. He decided to break the ice by plucking a berry from the bag and popping it in his mouth. As if this was all the consent she needed, the Woman followed suit with fervor. Ecstasy transformed her features at the taste of the new commodity and suddenly it was Vegeta that was back in hot water again. This woman was too much, he thought, pained. His mind was running a mile a minute as he imagined that look on her face in a very different situation -or rather, situations. She stuffed another berry in her mouth and groaned with pleasure as it passed those pouty lips. Vegeta had had about all he could take for the day and leapt into the sky before he lost all self containment; his last vision of the the blue-haired woman being her on her ass with the brown fabric bag laying off to the side -the remainder of the berries strewn all around and her eyes wide as saucers as she watched him depart into the clouds.

He flies! By Neptune he just… flies. 'Strawberries' long forgotten, Bulma paced the clearing, her mind as thoroughly boggled as an Eelian's eyes. She didn't understand it -not one bit. He defies all the information she had ever been given on the human species. Why in Hades did they need legs if they can fly? Can all of them do this, or is her island-dwelling companion the exception to the rule? She needed more intel. She had too many questions and Vegeta had yet to return.

The Worm, she seethed. How dare he just up and leave like that. She was finally convinced that the man was capable of merman decency - 'human decency' -she mentally corrected and then he just had to leave her in the lurch like that -her precious strawberries lying in the dust. She paused to glance regretfully at the abandoned fruits for a moment, then looked into the sky and sighed. The moon was high -it was late. He probably wasn't returning that evening. Dejected, Bulma decided to head back, taking the trail she usually travelled. It was far past the time she usually returned to the ocean as well, opting to sleep there rather than risking the unknown in a dark and dangerous forest. While walking, she smelled something in the air -a strange scent that she had not come across before. Her immediate conclusion was that it was Vegeta. Deviating from her course, she followed her nose. Her eyes noted the location where the scent originated from quite quickly: an orange glow in the sky and puffs of cloudy-like substances rising up from the forest in it. As she drew closer she saw a white shiny surface through the foliage of the trees, which later became a dome-like structure that looked completely out of place in its natural setting. In front of this structure sat the man himself. Vegeta's features were alight in the source of the orange glow: Fire. Another phenomenon that was only possible on land. It's what happens when oxygen burned, she recalled. The closest thing they had to it were the lava pits and magma ores at the earth's crust on the ocean bed.

He watched her intently as she walked around the fire and planted herself next to him.

'Good Evening, Vegeta.' She greeted. He grinned subtly in reply, then reached out his hand. Bulma tensed, unsure if this was another of his seductive games, but determined not to succumb to like a bumbling idiot again it if it were. To her relief, or maybe disappointment, Bulma admitted -he simply removed a dry twig from her hair. His amusement at her appearance suddenly made sense: she looked like a freakin tree with twigs sticking out all over her head and the bastard knew it was all his fault with the stunt he pulled on her that afternoon… which reminded her.

'You can fly.' she stated. His glance her way was brief, his attention mainly focused on the structure in front of him. A tusked and stout legged animal lay impaled on a rod over the fire. The rod was balanced between some sort of metal frame set up at the sides of the pit the fire stoked in. Vegeta stood up and went to rotate a lever on one side of the structure that turned the animal around. The smell of blood filled the air, and that of roasting flesh. It wasn't completely unappealing, Bulma admitted.

'So, besides stating the obvious,' he said once he sat back down, 'what brings you this side, Woman? You're usually long gone this time of the evening.'

'My name is Bulma' she reminded.

'I know that… Woman.'

Bulma frowned, she did not know if he was purposefully antagonising her or if it was a cultural thing that he didn't use her name. Nevertheless she reined in her irritation, because being taunted into reacting violently was counterproductive to her agenda. She wanted answers and so her reluctantly civil reply was: 'I have questions.' When he didn't reply, she considered it consent and fired away.

'How is it possible that you can fly?'

'I manipulate the energy around me to propel me upwards and keep me there. It's a fundamental skill for a true warrior. The speed and duration I can attain while airborne directly reflects the power I have. The stronger you are, the more energy you can control.'

Although mildly insulting, Bulma found his explanation very educational. She knew all about energy manipulation, after all, she did it too. Except she needed her trident to channel the energy she controlled. He, however does it without external tools. How skilled must he be...

'When have humans become so strong?' she asked in complete awe.

Suddenly, his amiable expression changed, disgust distorting his features.

'Human?' he laughed humorlessly 'Please Woman, do not compare me to the pathetic life forms that inhabit this mudball.' he sneered. When he didn't elaborate, Bulma projected her confusion.

'Not human... What are you, then?'

'I am Vegeta, the prince of all Saiyans.' he stated with no little pride.

'Am I supposed to smell what that is or do you want me to wrench it from behind you mental shields again, because I can do that you know.' she sassed. This time his sneer was directed at her, but he continued anyway.

'My people were a warrior race, One of the Universe's strongest… They are all gone now -wiped out by a psychopathic tyrant along with my home planet long ago. I am the last true saiyan left' His bitterness was projected along with his sentiments and it left a bad taste in her mouth.

'I am sorry, Vegeta.' she sympathised. It wasn't well received.

'I don't need your pity, Woman.' the silenced stretched on as she contemplated the implications of his revelation. He was not from this planet. He was… from the stars. The more she learnt of this man who was not a human, the more constricted she felt by the binds of fate. Bulma searched the heavens, her eyes straying to the moon once more. The moon was nearly as full as it had been the first time she surfaced, which meant she's been away from home almost a full moon cycle. Bulma noted this duration for her internal calendar. In the ocean their time cycles were variable, depending on your vocation, unlike the land people who had a clear distinction between day and night. Even though her people marked time differently, they still commemorated the first Mammalian Queen's accent to the throne every meryear. Legend has it that this Queen, Aquellé was her name, was the first merperson to transform into a human when on land. It was said she made a deal with Neptune that, should he grant her legs and lungs so that she could find her love on land, she would sacrifice her firstborn to him in return. She received her wish and was united with her love. Only for a short while however, because he spurned her love and she returned, grief-stricken, to her own domain.

Scorned, the heartbroken mermaid refused Neptune his due when the time came to collect. In return he cursed her with barrenness and cursed her bloodline so that it can no longer bear males. That is, until 'the strongest one' puts a male heir on the throne -according to their prophecy. This was the story told to all princesses at a young age. The descendants of Aquellé inherited her ability to transform on land and the King after Aquellé, her first and only child, had many daughters by many different concubines. The Council chose the strongest of the royal Breeding daughters to sit on the throne, offering their own sons as the potential fathers for the next male heir, but no matter how many children the queen birthed, not one of them was a son, and so it became a tradition that carried on over the generations, each queen becoming less the powerful monarch and more of a puppet playing to the Council's whims. The Council was essentially making Aquellé's descendants pay for the foolish decisions she had made, and its tragic consequences. It was despicable.

Still, Bulma couldn't help wondering about that prophecy. What if the Council had it wrong all along. If she were indeed the mermaid that would return a male heir to their throne, then she probably didn't have to mate with ten mermen to birth a son. If their next King would be heir to land and sea, as the prophecy says, she needed a land dweller to father him… maybe that land dweller was Vegeta. The thought chafed. She didn't like the fact that her life may well have been planned out for her by some vindictive deity. It made her doubt if the feelings she had for him were real or if she were being manipulated. Nevertheless, real or not, he was all she had in terms of companionship and if she wanted her sanity to remain intact she needed to interact with him on some level. Her partner was still staring broodingly at the fire. She decided a distraction was in order.

'My name is Bulma Arowana, seventh daughter of Morgana Arowana* -queen of the Mammalian Merrealm. Up until before my journey to the surface, I was Captain of her Royal Guard, and before that, when we were still at war with the Eelian merclan, I was General of her army... All of that means nothing now that I have a functional womb -capable of bearing what all my people hope to be the next King of our realm.'

Curiosity piqued, he returned to her side and she proceeded to tell him the rest of her story while he silently prepared his dinner. It was the first time she had the time to process the series of events leading up to her current predicament. It felt good to have someone to unload on and when she was finished he handed her a piece of roasted -if a bit charred -meat. It was surprisingly good.

As both parties stared reflectively into the fire, content in each other's company, another onlooker was observing with keen eyes…

"Things are progressing well, Mr. Popo"

"Yes Kami, I see. It is surprising to see them so civil with one another, what with the both of them being such hotheads. To be quite honest Kami, If it weren't for the fact that the purple haired boy showed up from the future and identified Vegeta as his father, I'd have that thought you might be sending Bulma to her death when you had the Imoogi escort her to that island."

"Ah, the Imoogi -I almost forgot that's what the natives call Umishenron nowadays. Yes well, I'm simply doing my part to ensure the survival of the planet's population, be it under the ocean or above. Besides, it's about time the tragedies of the past be set right."

"To what tragedy are you referring Kami-sama?"

"That of Bulma's ancestors, Aquellé and Han... I forget you weren't with me at that time, Popo. You know, Bulma and Vegeta actually reminds me a little bit of them. Aquellé had the same thirst of adventure and if she felt they weren't fair, the same complete disregard for the rules of society. Prince Han may have been a bit more noble than Vegeta, but when it came to pride and pigheadedness -well, those two might have been two peas in the same pod as the humans say. I just hope Vegeta treats Bulma better than Han did Aquellé. Anyway, let me tell you their story -Bulma's People's version is not quite accurate I'm afraid.

You see, it all started when a young mermaid princess decided to use the dragonballs to wish for legs.

Aquellé was a curious child -always out and about and getting into places and things she wasn't supposed to. She gave her poor widowed father many gray hairs. She was an only child, her mother had died shortly after her birth and was thus the only heir to her father's throne.

As a teenager -this is in meryears though, which are a lot longer than human years, about two and a half if I recall properly -she set her mind to wondering the surface areas. This was before the wars between the different merclans had started. She was warned many times to stay away from places where humans cast their fishing nets and hunted for whales, but being entitled and spoiled did not help Aquellé sense of obedience at all. This was how she first came into contact with Prince Han. He was on a sinking ship, directing his crew off into the lifeboats. Now, Aquellé was in the habit of collecting souvenirs from wrecked ships, so she waited around to see the outcome. Watching the prince bravely risk his life to make sure all his crew members were safe, she naturally became intrigued. When the prince was hit on the head by a burning beam and fell overboard, Aquellé didn't think twice about rescuing the drowning hero. She brought him to shore and set him down within a cave upon the beach. There she sat with him until he woke, her shining glow-scales casting a soft green light around them in the dark cave.

The prince eventually woke, more than a bit startled to find himself in the embrace of a mermaid. Aqullé retreated as soon as the prone prince in her arms ceased being quite so prone. Once Han got over his shock however, he beckoned her closer. She hesitantly approached, stopping within arms length of the human. He then slowly reached out and stroked her cheek -his eyes displaying the gratitude that she could not understand from his words. She disappeared then -both parties boyed by the first strains of a crush.

The prince then returned to his castle, full of seemingly tall tales he recounted to his bewildered, but relieved family and friends. His accounts of rescuing mermaids were quickly blamed on hallucinations caused by a head injury. He however never forgot his ocean savior and returned every night to the sea shore to try and catch a glimpse of her. Sometimes all he caught was the flash of scales, but mostly he never saw her. Meanwhile, she saw him almost day. She would watch from her secret hiding place every evening as he stood on the beach. All the while the prince grew more jaded from the ridicule he endured because of his unwavering belief in mermaids, Aquellé's crush had turned into obsession. After a while, the prince's visits became less frequent as the responsibilities of the monarchy started weighing him down, one of them was producing the next heir. Aquellé's obsession became a desperate pursuit of attaining the ability to walk on land. Years went by, Han had by this time married, but his attempts at acquiring a male heir had failed miserably. He only produced daughters. With the birth of each new daughter, whether by his wife or mistress, the Prince sank more and more into despair. Aquellé's search for legs however had a more hopeful course.

Aquellé's had learnt about the magical orbs that summoned a wish granting dragon and set out to obtain them. Her search plateaued though when she acquired all the dragonballs that were entrusted to its guardians in the ocean. In that time, each dragon ball was housed with a chosen guardian and its secret was privy to only the protegé of the Keepers respectively. The clever little mermaids managed to find, by hook or by crook, all three balls that were kept in the allied cities of the different merclans. Then she managed to beguile a young martial artist into finding the rest on land. At that time Roshi was still an apprentice to the Turtle Master who was also one of the Dragonball Keepers on land… and as bad as he is now with the… uhm… feminine species, he was worse in his youth. Unfortunately, Roshi was the only human she could persuade to help her in that one: he had learnt the skill of telepathic communication from his sensei and two: he was a self-serving pervert, to put things bluntly. So, in return for allowing him to use the second wish he was to find the rest of the dragonballs and also to speak the wishes to the dragon for her."

"-Wait," Popo interrupted, "How old is Roshi to have been alive at that time?"

"About five centuries if I recall correctly"

Kami paid no heed to the collapsing Popo, simply continued his story as if there were no legs twitching in the air beside him.

"Suffice to say, Roshi used his wish for longevity and Aquellé… well she could finally be reunited with her human prince.

The excited princess couldn't wait to go to her prince. Luckily she had Roshi word her wish just right that she still be allowed to return to her true form once she submerged in the ocean and filled her lungs with sea water. She thus made no time swimming to Han's Kingdom. She did however have some problems with communication because humans weren't naturally inclined to telepathy. She only managed to enter the palace as a mute maidservant, scurrying around until she got the chance to meet up with Han, who was by then no longer a prince but the King.

The Queen was living on her own estate, so it was easy to ignore the fact that he was married and eventually the chance came to reintroduce herself to him. The moment was all she hoped it would be. The two began a torrid love affair -both blind to the persons the other one has become in the years since their first meeting. Nevertheless, no matter how inconvenient the timing, they fell in love and for a while, everything was perfect.

Reality soon came crashing down on the couple when Han's wife decided to visit her husband. By that time the King's affair was an open secret to all in the castle and the word had thus managed to reach the Queen at her home. Caught between duty and love -the expectations of his mistress and that of his wife, Han quickly found himself in hot water. Pressured by the need for a legitimate heir, he consented to conceive another child with his wife, expecting Aquellé to understand. He changed his mind when the time came to make good on his word to his wife, but it was too late. By that time Aquellé had also made quite a few enemies in the castle, what with most of the maidservants in the castle coveting her position. One such enemy managed to mislead Aquellé into believing that she had been cast away by her love, who had returned to his wife. The heartbroken mermaid left. She returned home with Han's child in her belly: a son who had his father's affliction. Han's son took the his mother's oceanic throne after her and became its last King to date -only females were born to the throne after that.

Aquellé and Han never saw each other again.

The reckless actions of Aquellé had many painful consequences. The subjects loyal to Han's jealous Queen followed her orders to attempt eradicate merkind from the oceans. This sparked an all out war on between humans and mers. The other merclans blamed Aquellé for the sudden violence against their species and also sought justice for her crimes of theft against their cities, for they eventually found out what happened to their missing Dragonballs. It was a period of great bloodshed. If the humans were not killing mers, they were killing each other.

I had to do something…

I decided to split Shenron in two and commissioned Umishenron to separate the two realms and guard the way between them. The dragonballs never entered the merrealm again, the seven balls now only scatter onto the earthy regions of the planet and summoned Tsuchishenron, who could only grant one wish. This split greatly reduced Shenron's power but it provided some, if only a little relief to the warring, so it was worth it. The bad blood remained between the different merrealms however, but their battles are skirmishes compared to the bloodbath Aquellé and Han created."

"-But Kami, why did you leave a path to the surface world? Surely you could have kept them completely separate, and then Shenron would not need to be split."

"Because of my vision, Popo. I foresaw the time in which the ocean people would need to join with the earth's forces to save the planet. The birth of Trunks is instrumental to this cause. Unfortunately my prophecies weren't enough warning the first time round, because the androids still prevailed in Future Trunk's timeline. Maybe the earth's special forces will fair better this time around."

"Maybe…" Popo agreed, and the two settled back into their observation of events.

AN: Well, that's it for now folks. Now the real story starts. Review and lemme know what you think and also give me a heads up when you find any grammatical errors and stuff.. thanks! Here are some fun facts.

*Name origins for interest sake:

Morgana (Bulma's mother) means 'dweller of the sea' in welsh

Arowana is a freshwater fish that can obtain oxygen from the air (air breather) -it also has very pretty scales in a variety of colors

Marina (Bulma's younger sister) means 'of the sea' in latin

Mina (Bulma's older sister) means 'light' in arabic

The rest of the names are either from dbz itself or obvious (Marron, Orcana, Ray, Knives ect.)