Chapter2
You Love Me, You Just Don't Know It Yet
Quote: "What a guy, he won't quit. That's all right, I won't either. Ahh, but my body might." Gokku
Part 1
"God damn it, why did we have to stop?" grumbled an angry Gokku. "And just when it was starting to get good. If I'd ten more minutes with that fusion boy, I'd have..." Gokku got up and punched at the air in rapid session, he jumped into a kick. "And then I have..." He continue to beat the crap out of the air.
Vegeta stared straight ahead, looking right through Gokku. He sat down against the wall and tilted his head back. A image of Bulma popped into his mind and his imagination began to run wild. He just couldn't get her out of his mind.
"Vegeta. Vegeta! Wake up!" said Gokku, raising up his hand to slap him. Vegeta caught his hand before he could complete the swing.
"What do you want, Kararot?"
Gokku drew back and put his hands on his hips. "What's wrong with you? Aren't you mad that Nall made us leave before we could finish our fight? You've been in a daze ever since we got back, and you were blushing just a minute ago."
"I was not!" protested Vegeta, getting up and moving away from Gokku.
"Yes, you were." Gokku grinned. "What were you thinking about?"
"That's none of your business," snapped Vegeta, turning his back to Gokku.
"Aren't you mad at all?" asked Gokku, changing the subject.
"Sure I'm mad, but you heard Nall, we'll get another chance."
Gokku flopped down on the ground. "Yah, but what the hell are we suppose to do now? This is boring!"
"Kararot, did you feel anything when you were around those people?"
Gokku rolled over on his stomach and looked up at Vegeta. "What are you talking about, Vegeta?"
"Did you feel like you should know any of them?"
Gokku thought for a moment. "Well, they did look familiar. One looked just like you, and one looked just like me, and the others looked a little like either of us. I did sense something strange when I looked at them, but it wasn't anything important. Why do you ask, Vegeta?"
"I don't know, I have the strangest feeling I've met them before, but for the life of me I can't remember where or when."
"Why do you bug yourself with stupid questions, Vegeta? If you have that much time to think, you should put it to better use." Gokku pulled himself up and crouched down into a fighting stance.
"Not now, Kararot. I'm not in the mood," said Vegeta.
"Now I know something's wrong with you," said Gokku, standing up straight.
"I'm going to go take a bath, if you feel like it, you can join me." (No pervertthoughts people, in japan there are public bath houses where men takebathes together in the men's side and women in the women's side. Gokuis only inviting Vegeta to take a bath at the same time as him, that's all.)
Gokku turned and left the room heading down to the bath house.
"Maybe there is something wrong with me," grumbled Vegeta, under his breath.
He also left the room, but he headed in another direction away from the bath house. Vegeta entered a large room and stepped on a round disk on the floor. It glowed brightly, and in a flash the surroundings had changed. Vegeta stepped into a place that seemed to be completely empty. As his feet stepped off the disk, a floor appeared, stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Crono!"Vegeta called out.
A force of energy showed itself, then shifted into a man with white hair, and ageless eyes. He looked both old and young, and wore white robes. In his hand, he held a staff that looked too black against him.
"Something wrong, Vegeta-san?" smiled Crono.
"Why do you even bother asking questions, when you know everything?"
Crono smiled deeper. "Just trying to be polite. You want something."
Vegeta nodded. "Can you open a portal back to the other dimension, one that they won't notice?"
"That would be easy," said Crono.
"Do it."
Crono laughed. "Acting without Nall's permission. You could get in a lot of trouble."
"If he finds out," Vegeta said, narrowing his eyes at Crono.
"I won't tell if he doesn't ask," said the timeless being. "I'll make another when you're ready to come back." Crono thumped his staff against the floor and a black portal opened on the floor.Vegeta walked over and was about to jump into the portal when Crono spoke.
"Have fun with Bulma-san," he said, then pushed the stunned Saiya-jin into the hole with his staff. The portal closed behind him. Crono smiled warmly as his form returned to energy.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Part 2
Bulma sighed as she watched Goten and Trunks take a sleeping Pan, Uub, Bra, and Gogeta inside. Trunks walked over to her with Bra and Gogeta in his arms.
"You coming inside?" he asked softly.
"I'll go in, in a little bit."
Trunks nodded. Bulma gently kissed Bra on the forehead, and brushed a few strands of hair out of Gogeta's face. "She's very cute, looks like a girl version of you."
Trunks blushed. "Good night, Mom."
"Night, Trunks," she said, and gave him a kiss on the check.
"Dad," mumbled Gogeta and snuggled closer to Trunk's chest. Trunks blushed a deeper shade of red and turned to go inside. Bulma smiled and watched him leave. She stood by herself in the cool night air, everyone was inside but Piccolo, who was asleep on the other side of the building.
"Can we talk?" said a soft voice. Bulma's heart nearly leap into her throat, she knew that voice well.
"Vegeta," she breathed, turning her eyes to see his outline in the shadows. She knew she should run and tell the others, and she knew this wasn't her Vegeta, but she kept quiet and walked towards him unafraid. "You want to talk with me?" she whispered, only a foot away from him. She couldn't see well in the dim light, but she could sense his nervousness. The shadow nodded then, turned and walked away. Bulma wordlessly followed him, till they came to a thick tree planted in her back yard. Vegeta leaned against its trunk and crossed his arms. Silence fell over them for a long time.
"What did you want to talk about?" asked Bulma, still speaking softly.
Vegeta was silent for a moment longer. "Have we ever met?"
Bulma thought. "Yes and no."
"Yes?" he said, barely heard.
"In what's left of this world," Bulma said, gesturing with her hand, "You're my husband and I'm your mate. We have two children: a son, Trunks, and a little girl, Bra."
Vegeta raised his eyebrow. "And no?"
"You and I have never met, because your leader Nall messed with the time line, making you and Gokku, I mean Kararot, his soldiers."
Bulma could see the shock on Vegeta's face. "That can't be true, and yet he could do what you say," Vegeta said more to himself than Bulma.
"Vegeta, do you know who you are?" asked Bulma, taking a step towards him.
"What kind of question is that? I have and always will be Vegeta."
"No, you are so much more than that," said Bulma, walking over to him. She was barely a foot away from him. Vegeta could feel her breath on his skin when she spoke again. "You are Saiya-jin, the prince of Saiya-jins, a man full of pride and power. You are the must annoying person I know,but you are my husband and our children's father. You are my love." She leaned closer to him till their lips almost touched. She felt Vegeta's arms encircle her, pulling her against a body she knew well. He rested his cheek against hers and breathed in deep, smelling her. It felt so right to hold her, yet he knew it was wrong. Vegeta pulled away from Bulma and turned his back to her.
"Vegeta," Bulma said softly.
"Even if what you say is true, I'm not that man. I'm not your Vegeta, he disappeared with this world." He began to walk away from her.
"Vegeta!" said Bulma raising her voice.
Vegeta turned back to look at her and smiled. It wasn't his normal smirk, it was his rare smile she'd seen only once or twice since she'd known him. A black portal opened in front of him. "I'm sure your Vegeta must have loved you very much, Bulma."
Bulma watched as he entered the portal and vanished. She wrapped her arms around herself feeling cold. "Stubborn fool," she whispered to the wind.She turned around and walked towards the house, feeling cold and lonely.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Part 3
Bulma and Chi-Chi, the first ones up, were cooking breakfast.
"Bulma," said Chi-Chi. "Is something wrong?"
"What makes you say that?" asked Bulma, turning her back to Chi-Chi and chopping lots of potatoes for hashbrowns.
"It's just that you seem kind of distant this morning," said Chi-Chi, going over to her friend.
"I just didn't sleep too well, that's all," said Bulma, wielding the large knife.
"Bed too empty?" asked Chi-Chi softly.
Bulma stopped cutting. "More like too cold, and too big, and—"
She stopped talking as she felt Chi-Chi's hand fall on her shoulder. Bulma turned around to see her friend's supportive smile. If anyone knew about missing their husband, it was Chi-Chi. Bulma realized how selfish she must seem to Chi-Chi. "Don't worry," said Chi-Chi. "The boys and those nice grandchildren of yours will fix everything and drag those good for nothing Saiya-jins home."
Bulma smiled at Chi-Chi. "Thanks." Chi-Chi nodded back.
Their touching moment was shattered by a male voice yelling obscenely at the top of his lungs.
"That sounds like Trunks!" shouted Bulma. Bulma and Chi-Chi ran up the stairs to Trunks' room, were they were meet by Goten, Carrot, Goshin, and Gohan. They all peered into Trunks' room to see Trunks on the floor, one leg still draped on the bed, and staring with wide eyed and open mouthed at his bed and its contents. On the bed, sat Pan and Gogeta.
"But Trunks, we're married. Married couples are suppose to sleep in the same bed, you don't need to get so worked up over it. It's not like I have cooties," protested Pan.
"Dad?" said Gogeta, peering down at Trunks. The boy crawled away from the bed.
"We're not married!" he shouted. "And you're not my daughter, I'm only 18!
I'm too young to have a 10 year old kid!"
Gogeta began to sniffle, then began to cry loudly.
"No! Wait! Don't cry!" said Trunks, waving his hands before himself. He glanced at his door to see them all staring at the scene. Trunks paled.
"It's not what it looks like!" Trunks grabbed his pillow and tried to suffocate himself as everyone burst out laughing.
"Pan," said Gohan in his father voice. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything wrong. Gogeta and I had bad dreams so we crawled into bed with Trunks. He's my husband, so he's suppose to comfort me," said Pan firmly.
"I'm married to a eight year old," Trunks' muffled reply came from his pillow.
"Come on, Pan, you too, Gogeta. You shouldn't sneak into anyone's room without their permission."
"But dad, he's my husband," whined Pan.
"He's my dad," whimpered Gogeta.
Everyone but Trunks and Gohan snickered. "No buts. Move it, you two," said Gohan.
Pan and Gogeta reluctantly left the room.
"Well, well, look at all the guys in boxers," said a voice. Everyone turned around to see Veggi already dressed leaning against the wall. All the guys suddenly remembered they were only wearing their boxers. Carrot wore black silk, Goshin wore yellow with a smile faces on them, Goten's had dragons, and Gohan, hearts. Veggi moved to look into Trunks' room. "You look good in red, Trunks," she said, referring to Trunks' red silk boxer shorts.
"Ahhhh!" shouted Trunks and ran into his bathroom.
Veggi chuckled. "Morning, Chi-Chi-san, Bulma-san. Is breakfast almost ready?"
"Almost," said Bulma with a smile.
The rest of the guys quickly vanished to get dressed. By the time they were done, breakfast was ready. Everyone gathered around the table and went on to clean it of food.
"So," said Goten with his mouth full. "What are we going to do today?"
Chi-Chi frowned at him. Goten dabbed at his mouth with a napkin.
"We're taking a little trip today," said Veggi.
"Where?" asked Gohan.
"The only place there is, the other dimension that that Nall character created. I'm a little curious as to what it's like," said Veggi.
"We're all going?" asked Gogeta.
"Yep," said Veggi.
"All right!" shouted Pan. "I get to sit by Trunks!" Trunks slumped in his seat, his face turning red.
"You're not going," protested Chi-Chi.
"What?" said Pan in a disappointed voice.
"We all should go. Only me and Veggi know how to work the barrier and if something went wrong, you guys would be in real trouble," said Carrot.
"But what about these bands?" asked Bulma holding up her wrist.
"They'd keep you from disappearing, but where would you go? Everything outside the barrier is a vast void. There isn't even a planet to stand on," said Carrot.
"Oh," said Bulma.
"Besides it's probably safer this way, you won't have to worry about disappearing in Nall's dimension."
"No," said Chi-Chi sarcastically. "Just Gokku and Vegeta."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"No matter what we do it will be dangerous," said Goshin. He looked at everyone at the table, "We can do this. I know together we're strong enough."
"Well said, Goshin," said Gohan. "So let's all hurry and get ready. The sooner this is over the better." Everyone agreed and went back to eating.