Fire Dragon: Well people, aren't you proud of me? I posted this exactly on the due day. Yay!!! Now, I'm very disappointed in you.
Water Dragon: Yup, you only gave us f-f-Wahhhhhhhh just four reviews!!!" (falls to the ground crying)
Fire Dragon: See, you made her cry now. So, since I posted this really fast, and really long, I want more reviews to post again in a weak, if not, I will be very disappointed! I'm stopping all my other stories to dedicate all my time to this one, so sorry for those of you who are reading Dragon Quest and Dark Side of the Moon, but that'll have to wait until I finish this one.
Water Dragon: That's right, we are only about four more chapter to the end, so we want to finish this before we continue the others.
Fire Dragon: Now WARNING, WARNING In this chapter Vegeta will be WAY out of character, but please bear with me. And for some of you who told me that Vegeta and Goku could have finished the bad guys off the first time, well that's right but it wouldn't have fit on my story so please don't flame me. As always thanks for those few of you who reviewed.
Disclaimer: FD: I'm just a poor college student with only…lets see…thirty cents and 2 pounds of drier lint. O.o Hey Water Dragon, how much do you think the lawyers would give me for the drier lint?
WD: -.-;;; I think they'll charge you for taking it.
FD: Oh…well then, I don't have enough money to buy the rights of BSSM or DBZ, so that means that I don't own them.
Coming Back Home
Ch 21
Walking into the lab, Goku and the rest found Bulma working on a small chip under a huge magnifier. Looking up from her work, Bulma saw them come in.
"Did you find him?" Bulma tackled Goku before he could do anything else.
"I'm sorry Bulma, but we couldn't find him." Goku said regretfully.
"We had our hands full." Piccolo grunted.
"Huh?" Bulma took a second look at them. All of the warriors were battled and looked extremely tired.
"What happened to you guys?" Bulma blinked.
"OH MY GOD!!!! My babies! What happened?" Chichi came out of the kitchen dropping a plate that she had been holding. Quickly, she moved to inspect if Gohan and Goten where hurt.
"C'mon mom, I'm fine." Goten blushed as his mother kept trying to find bruises. Looking up, he saw Minako giggling making him blush even harder.
"So?" Bulma probed picking up a First Aid kit that was lying around (FD: With Vegeta and the Gravity Room, I think those have to be everywhere in the house. ^-^;;;) and helped the girls with their own bruises.
"Well, these guys came and began beating the living cr-OUCH!!!" Goten rubbed the back of his head.
"Watch your mouth, young man." Chichi admonished him.
"Anyway, we were looking around the town when these guys appeared, and to make a long fight short, we lost." Goku said while Chichi cleaned some of his cuts.
"What? Some guys beat you?" Bulma asked incuriously.
"Yup, that's why we're gonna go and train on The Chamber of Spirit and Time." Makoto said.
Chichi looked at Goku. "They must be pretty tough if you have to go train in there again." She said seriously.
"I couldn't even land a punch." Goku's face became contorted with disgust. "It was as if I didn't have any power at all!" He whispered.
"Very well," Chichi turned to them. "Then take the girls with you, if you're going to train, you might as well teach them all you can." Chichi said while everybody looked at her shocked, except for the Outers.
"Mom, are you feeling alright?" Goten asked worriedly.
"Of course I'm alright. But I know they are warriors as well as Usagi's friends, and I also know that they would like to help you fight." She sent a confirming look at the senshi who nodded.
"Damned right!" Makoto yelled before covering her mouth with her hand. "Hehe, I mean, you're right Ms. Son! We want to fight."
"You'll only be in our way." Piccolo said sizing them.
"We can fight, and we will fight." Haruka said. "And if you want to help us train that's up to you, but we're fighting anyways." She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.
"Anyways Piccolo, if what I heard is correct, what you encountered were magical barriers, which you couldn't even penetrate. On the other hand, we can make severe damage to any kind of magical attack or at least dissolve the barrier so you can attack. Either way, we do need to learn how to fight more efficiently to help you." Ami said sternly.
Minako just looked at her and back at Piccolo. "Yeah, whatever she said." She rooted.
Rei looked at Minako and then at Goku "-.-;;; Umm…anyway, what Ms. Son said is right. We want to fight, we have to find Mamoru, and we have to help Usagi, and the only way in which we can help is to take those guys out of the way." Rei looked at them.
"Fine, we'll go first thing in the morning." Goku said. "We'll find a way to take everybody inside. Maybe, we'll just divide you, so you can enter two at the time with one of us." Goku stood up. "Well, it's time to sleep. I'm sure that wherever Usagi is, she's in good hands." He said taking Chichi's hand.
"Umm…talking of Usagi…where is she?" Chichi asked.
"Vegeta took her to go look for Mamoru." He said. "And I know that he'll take good care of her." Goku reaffirmed before she could say anything. Nodding, Chichi let him take her out of the room and by taking the girls hands he transported them to the house.
~~~$@~~~$@~~~$@ Next morning
After saying good-bye to Dende and Mr. Popo, Usagi followed Vegeta, dropping the thousands of miles, just to find herself on a jungle.
"Well?" Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest.
Giving a small nod, Usagi concentrated on finding the side of the link attached to Mamoru. Vegeta saw Usagi concentrate, seconds later a small golden crescent moon blazed on her forehead.
"What the-" With that, he saw Usagi's eyes snap open.
"This way, I can feel him, but barely." Usagi said unusually calm, even Vegeta had to make a double take. Not waiting for a reply, Usagi took air, heading for where she had previously signaled.
~~
Usagi was trying her hardest to keep up with Vegeta who was speeding through the trees with easy and practice that even her head start couldn't equal. She was about to shout at him to stop a moment, even if it meant to hear his mockery, when he stopped abruptly. Before she could do anything to stop herself, she crashed into Vegeta's back, which withstood the hit without even flinching. Holding Vegeta's shoulder for support, Usagi steadied herself and looked up just to find two figures standing before them.
One of them was a woman, dressed all in sky blue, next to her stood a guy that towered her by a head and dressed all in black. Both of them watched them with condescending smirks, and looking down at them they nodded and started to descend. Usagi could feel that the pair was covered with dark energy that was coming from a tiara kind-of-thing that they had on their foreheads.
"So, we finally found you. Do you know how hard to track down you two are?" The guy joked.
"But now that they're here, we can take care of them." The woman smiled sarcastically.
"Hn. And why do you think you can beat me?" Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest.
"Because you can not win against us." The dark guy smirked.
"We'll see about that." Vegeta said falling into a fighting stance.
"Fine, if that's what you want, we'll give you a fight that you'll never forget." The guy smirked again not moving an inch. Usagi fell into a fighting stance just behind Vegeta who was now powering up.
"Lets see what you're made of." Vegeta growled. Moving as fast as he could, Vegeta lunched himself against the guy. At the same time the woman had moved, circling Usagi. Usagi turned to give all her attention to the woman who was eyeing her.
"Well brat, since those two are busy, I think I'll have some fun with you." She smirked showing Usagi her canines. Usagi prepared herself for the attack.
~~~
After fifteen minutes of fighting, Usagi couldn't believe that she was still alive, much less that Vegeta was still trying to hit the guy who hadn't yet done much but dodge Vegeta's hits. Exhausted and with several cuts from the woman's hits, Usagi dropped to the ground to catch her breath. Within a second, Usagi heard something land next to her violently. Looking at her side Usagi could see Vegeta's body with several dark electric currents running thru his body.
"No! Vegeta are you alright?!" Usagi moved to his side. Turning him around, she breathed in relief when she saw him breathing.
"Oh, the poor baby doesn't wanna play any more?" The guy smirked playing with a Ki blast on his hands. "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. And here I thought that the great prince of all the Saiyans was more powerful than that." He laughed.
"Now, what do you say if we finish this two pests once and for all." The woman said not showing much interest.
"As you wish." With that the guy's Ki blast grew. Releasing it to where the two warriors where.
"Nooooo!!!!" Usagi stood, running in front of Vegeta so she could be in between the blast and him. Bracing herself for the impact, Usagi brought her hands to cover her face. The blast made contact with her body in the same moment that Vegeta's sight landed on her. The last thing that Vegeta saw was that the brilliant light engulfed her petite form, swallowing her whole before going blind for a few seconds.
After the effect of the light wore off, Vegeta looked frantically everywhere in hopes to find Usagi. There in the middle of the huge crater lay Usagi's body, blood all over her hair and clothes that where now reduced to mere shreds. Shaking his dizziness, Vegeta ran to her side. God, Bulma was going to kill him for sure for his mistake, not counting that Kakarott would surely revive him with the dragon balls and kill him all over again. Checking for a pulse, he found it, weak, but it was there. Pulling a senzu bean that he had pocketed before he had left, Vegeta forced it down Usagi's throat. His actions where rewarded with a small moan and her eyes began to open.
"Urg…"
"Baka onna, you could have killed yourself." Vegeta looked at her with confusion. Why did the girl try to save him? It was not like he had been kind to her, far from it; he had treated her with disdain and even objected to her relationship with Mamoru. So, why did she? No matter now, looking down at her, he saw her trying to stand.
From above them, both figures laughed manically. Leaving her side, Vegeta moved to glare at them.
"Well, it seems that our little Saiyan has some fight left after all." The woman smirked.
"You two against me, leave the weak girl alone." Vegeta snapped not minding the growl that came from behind him as the glare that Usagi was giving him for his words.
"Whatever you want, we can kill you right now, and leave the girl for later." The guy answered with a strange glint on his eye when he saw Usagi.
Growling again, Vegeta launched himself against the two. Nobody was going to mess with his son's mate. Not trying to think twice about how he had come to accept Usagi as Mamoru's mate, Vegeta took both of them at once.
Usagi couldn't do anything but to watch as the two did a double attack against Vegeta. Even she wasn't that dumb as to try to take both enemies at once. Catching as to what Vegeta was trying to do, Usagi waited, he was either trying to buy her time to recuperate from the last hit or for her to run. However, Usagi stood her ground.
Again, Vegeta found himself being the punching bag of his opponents. Having the guy hitting him from the front, and the woman electrocuting him from behind, he couldn't find a safe way to finish them off. Suddenly, the guy disappeared leaving him hitting thin air just to reappear behind him. Bringing his hands down while forming a big fist, the guy hit Vegeta on the back of his head sending him falling to the ground for the second time on the day.
"I'm getting bored with this." The woman said faking a yawn. "What do you say if we kill them now, that way we won't have to worry about them later?" She asked with a bored tone.
"Sure, why not?" He said moving to her side. Usagi saw as both of them brought their hands over their heads forming a combined Ki blast that would for sure not only kill Vegeta and herself, but that would blow up whatever was on a fifty miles radius.
Quickly, Usagi turned to see Vegeta standing. He as Usagi herself, watched helplessly as the giant Ki blast fell as in slow motion on them.
Feeling a sudden rush, Usagi powered up at her maximum. If she had been able to beat Beryl, Metallia, Mistress 9, Queen Nehelenia, The Dark Moon Kingdom, and Chaos, she was not gonna let killed by this two. Pulling out everything in her, she prepared herself.
Vegeta felt an unexpected force besides him. Looking at the source, he saw Usagi powering up. Vegeta felt as her power level skyrocketed into something that he had never felt before. Usagi's eyes looked at the blast with cold blue eyes before suddenly turning silver. Not only that, but her hair as well turned the same tone of silver as her eyes. Her clothes melted to form a sailor fuku, and a yellow crescent moon appeared on her forehead. By this time, Usagi was yelling at the top of her lungs. Vegeta watched in surprised as the little kid turned Super Saiyan in front of his eyes.
With a sudden burst of power, Usagi altered the course of the Ki blast sending it to explode safely into space. Both attackers looked in disbelief as Usagi sent with a flick of her hand their blast into oblivion. Turning to see her, they watched her still standing looking at them with cold, silver eyes.
"That's enough! You've done enough damage to this earth already, and on behalf of the peace and this people, I'll punish you." Usagi said monotonously to them. Usagi lifted her hand forming a small Ki blast. Lifting her other hand, Vegeta saw Usagi produce the small crystal he had seen her use while healing Mamoru the first day that they had arrived. Combining both, Usagi's Ki blast turned from its usual yellow color to silver, doubling its size a tenfold as well as its power.
The pair looked in terror as the Ki blast formed, and most of all when they heard Usagi's cold voice say "Now say good bye to this world, see you on the next dimension." And with that Usagi let her attack fly.
Vegeta could hear their desperate and painful yells as if they were music to his ears, looking them being electrocuted was enough pay back for him. However, before they could be completely obliterated, both disappeared letting the blast pass and disappear into space. Knowing that it would be long before they came back for more, he turned to see Usagi. To his surprise, she was still standing on her Super Saiyan form smiling at him.
"Did you see that Vegeta? Did you see me? I did it! I turned Super Saiyan!" Usagi smiled excited before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and fainted falling to the ground.
~~~$@~~~$@
Usagi woke up on an estrange cave. Looking at her surroundings, she could see Vegeta standing near some logs. Lifting his hand, Vegeta lighted them with a small amount of energy, making a small fire.
"Hn. You are awake." Vegeta said without even looking at her. After the fire grew in size, he got up and turned around to see her. "How are you feeling?" What the hell was that about?!?! Since when did he care about her welfare? It was true, she did save his life, but he didn't ask for it. Usagi took him out of his musing when she eased herself up to be in a sitting position.
"Better." She smiled weakly.
"Hn. Good, if not that baka Kakarott would have had a fit."
Usagi cocked her head to one side and frowned, puzzled. "Do you hate him that much?" She asked, deep in thought.
"I umm…" He opened and closed his mouth several times, no answer coming from him. Did he really hate Kakarott? After all this years? He didn't know why, but hate sounded a little bit too much. He couldn't stand him, except for when sparring, and when they went to the family picnics Bulma loved some much, or the parties at CC, and Bulma's get-togethers. WAIT!!! It dawned on him that without knowing; in the last few years he had actually got closer to Kakarott and his family getting to almost being his friends. 'Almost' being the key word on that sentence.
"He is the closest thing to a friend that I have." He said disdainfully, more to himself than to Usagi. Without any comment, he took a capsule out of his waistband and threw it to one side of the cave. Exploding, the small capsule poured its contents of what it looked to be a small fridge. Walking to it, Vegeta took some water bottles and handed one to Usagi.
"Thanks." She said gratefully. Looking at the bottle, she laughed.
"What's so funny?" He grunted.
"It's just that I realized that your 'baka Kakarott' is the same as my Mamo-chan's 'Odango Atama'." She giggled.
Vegeta lifted an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
"You see," She continued, still looking at the bottle. "When we first met, we got off the wrong foot. We despised each other to the point that each time that we ran into each other, we would always get into these big arguments." She lifted her eyes to look at Vegeta, who had a blank expression on his face, but was listening to every word she had said. She took a small sip from the bottle and continued her tale. "So, we were known to be mortal enemies, and the funny thing is that I didn't hate him at all, he just annoyed me to no end. He would remind me of my failures, as a student, a leader, and as a friend. I would lash at him, but it was actually me the one I was lashing at."
Vegeta's expression changed for a moment. Like how Kakarott reminded him of his failures, even without saying a thing. He would remind him of what he couldn't become, but was Kakarott's fault?
"Anyway," Said Usagi. "After some time, I found out that he did care about me, but that he was afraid to open up to me so he wouldn't get hurt."
Vegeta's face darkened, but he remained quiet. Moving gracefully, Vegeta took seat on a boulder across Usagi.
"You see, he had always been alone." Usagi said emphasizing the last word. "He was left alone since he got to the other dimension. The children in the orphanage were very mean to him." Usagi looked carefully at every single gesture that Vegeta made. "But you knew that, right? Sure you have talked to him during your stay in the chamber." She changed her tone of voice, and said slowly. "After all, you were there a year, right? That's enough time to get to know him better."
Vegeta's eyes widened and then he paled. Usagi looked at him intensely. "You didn't, did you?" She said almost accusingly, but still gently. Her voice sounded…disappointed? Vegeta lowered his eyes in guilt. He didn't like what this girl was doing to him, not one bit. She was making him feel guilty, and he didn't like feeling guilty. He had felt that way all his life, Vegeta-sei's destruction, Freeza's slaughter, purging planets, not spending enough time with Bulma and Trunks…Mamoru's disappearance. He felt guilty.
During his stay with Frieza, he tried to get rid of any feelings that would make him weak, like compassion, love, friendship, he threw them away like dirty clothes, but guilt clung to him like a second skin. She was right, he had spent a year's worth with Mamoru and didn't get to know him, hell, he didn't even know Trunks that well. Vegeta realized something else, he had been treating Mamoru like a child, like he was still five years old, as the last time he had seen him. But he was a man now, with his own life, and ready to make his own decisions.
Usagi sighed loudly. "It was hard for me to gain his trust, he was so wounded that he rejected me, and treated me bad, and insulted me, but I would always try again. Masochist? Maybe, but I knew that deep down he was a good guy, he just needed someone to help him realize that."
*Bulma* He thought suddenly, a grim smirk graced his lips. *She always said that she saw the good in me*
Usagi's eyes lit with joy when she saw Vegeta's reaction. *Bull's eye!*
"He wouldn't even let me hold him." She said bringing her legs to her chest and hugged them. "He would reject any kind of touch."
"Hmph," Vegeta snorted, "Affection is a weakness."
"Oh, but you are wrong." She countered. "The real weakness here is not accepting your feelings because when you fight them, it only brings more confusion, and when confused, you don't act one hundred percent. I learned that the hard way." She finished sadly.
Once again, Vegeta's eyes grew in size; his startled face showed the confusion he felt. Usagi didn't let him recover and continued.
"If you are fighting two fights, one with your enemy and the other within yourself, you double the chance of loosing. Instead, when you have set your emotions, you become stronger. What ever you're feeling at the moment fear, rage, love, you name it; you don't fight it, instead embrace it. Specially love," She said deadly serious. "For you see, you can fight for rage, for fear, for revenge, but if you fight for love you are willing to sacrifice everything. Now, that's true strength. You put everything above yourself because the other feelings are selfish, revenge is for the pain you felt, rage is for the pain you're going thru right now, and fear is because of the pain you're afraid of having, but if you're fighting to protect your love ones you become second."
Vegeta closed his eyes tightly; he could remember how he had died by trying to kill Majin Buu. He wanted to yell at her to stop. Why was she telling him al thins things? What did she know about getting hurt? She didn't know anything, anything at all.
"What do you know? You're just a child." Vegeta snapped.
"But I know, I've been there before." She said, her eyes swelled with unsheathed tears. "I've seen my love ones die so many times, I've seen so much pain that is unbearable, and the funniest thing is that my friends turn to me in the time of need, can you believe it? They actually think that I'm there for strength when in reality they are the ones that give me support." She chuckled.
Vegeta looked at her, thinking on what she had just said. Looking at her now, he couldn't see the little cry baby that had come that first day, but a woman who had lived thru many things on her life. Without even wanting it, he thought of how fitting Mamoru's life and his connected, you could almost say they were identical. Being left alone since childhood, fighting all his life, excluding everything and everybody, and finally finding someone that cared about them. Shaking his head, Vegeta looked outside, noticing that it was already almost dawn he glanced at Usagi who was almost falling asleep.
"Rest now," He said dismissing the previous talk. "We'll get to CC when you can walk." Vegeta said watching as how Usagi favored her left leg. Nodding Usagi lie down on the ground and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.
~~~$@~~~$@~~~$@
Usagi and Vegeta arrived to CC around midnight, and to their relief, the lights on the main lab were still on. Walking to the lit room, Usagi and Vegeta found Bulma working on an artifact on the table, while Ami and Trunks where asleep on the couch. Lifting her eyes from her work, Bulma saw the two battled warriors walking her way.
"Oh god, what happened?!" Bulma said helping Usagi to the chair, knowing that it would be useless to try to help Vegeta into relaxing. Hearing her worried tone, Trunks stirred waking Ami as well.
"Usagi! What happened to you?" Ami sprang to her feet trying to help her friend.
"I-it's ok Ami, I'm just tired." Usagi said.
"Tired and with a twisted ankle. Why didn't you heal yourself with the Crystal?" Ami said pulling some bandages from another First Aid kit. Meanwhile Bulma had brought some senzu beans. Giving one to Vegeta, she handed the other to Usagi.
"So, what happened?" Trunks asked, watching as his father ate the senzu bean.
"These two guys came out of nowhere and beat the crap out of us." Vegeta growled. "I hadn't felt this useless for the longest time on a fight!" Vegeta watched his fist clench.
"Don't worry, you weren't the only one." Trunks said making a fist of his own.
"What? You were attacked too?" Usagi asked looking at Ami.
"Yes, the day before yesterday, they defeated us like we were nothing." Ami said. "That's why Goku took the others to the Chamber of Spirit and Time." Ami said finishing dressing the cut on Usagi's arm.
"The Chamber of Spirit and Time? Wasn't there where daddy said Vegeta had taken Mamo-chan to make him train for one year in only a day?" Usagi asked.
"That's right." Bulma said handing her a towel so she could clean herself.
"Thanks." Usagi took the towel and wiped the grime off her face and arms.
"Everybody is up there except for Trunks and I since we're working on a device to help track the thing that took over Mamoru, and it looks like we're gonna need it since you came back." Ami said holding a small piece of metal on her hand.
Abruptly Vegeta stood up and moved to the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Bulma crossed her arms looking sternly at Vegeta.
"I'm going to Kami's Lookout onna, I'm not helping by standing here doing nothing." Vegeta said walking out the door being followed by Bulma.
"Vegeta wait!" Bulma put her hand on his arm.
"What do you want onna?" Vegeta asked annoyed.
"Thank you." Bulma said hugging him.
"Huh?" Vegeta said confused.
"Thank you for doing this for me Vegeta. I-I don't know what would I do if I lost him again." Bulma sobbed burying her head on Vegeta's chest. Taking a deep breath Vegeta's hands circled Bulma's waist bringing her closer to him. Vegeta could smell the distinctive smell of Bulma's shampoo. Smoothing her hair, Vegeta lifted her face to meet her eyes.
"Don't worry onna, I'll bring him back here. After all, he is my brat too." Vegeta whispered before carefully kissing her on the lips. With that, he walked and flew to Kami's Lookout.
Wiping the tears from her face, Bulma returned to the lab.
"So, tell me more about this thing." Usagi said eyeing the devise on the table.
"Easy." Bulma said picking it up. "You put this on your locket, since Ami here says is the focal point of your energy, making the signal ten times stronger." Bulma said as she put the small chip into the locked that Usagi gave her. Taking the locket back, Usagi tried to concentrate again, however after a few seconds she fell exhausted into the chair.
"Are you ok?" Ami asked before handing her a glass with water that Trunks had given her. Nodding weakly, Usagi drank the water before giving the empty glass back to Ami.
"Yes, but I think I'm still too tired to try." Usagi said leaning back into the chair.
"Don't worry honey, now go to sleep, we'll continue tomorrow." Bulma shooed the three youths out of the lab. "Trunks, take them to the guest room, I don't think they'll want to go home right now. I'll call Chichi to tell her that you're here." Bulma said looking how Usagi paled. "Don't worry, I won't tell her about the fight." She told her, giving her a small smile.
"Thanks." Usagi said before following Trunks to the guest room.
~~~$@~~~$@
Vegeta could see several of the Z fighters on the patio, waiting for the occupants to get out of the Chamber of Spirit and Time. Landing next to Goku, he crossed his arms looking at the clock noticing that the doors would open in only five more minutes.
Goku frowned looking as Vegeta landed next to him, Usagi nowhere in sight. "Where is Usagi?" Goku asked not feeling Usagi's Ki signature anywhere in the vicinity.
"Alive, and that's all you need to know." Vegeta grunted looking at Goku who frowned even deeper. "She's with the woman, resting right now." Vegeta said before moving next to the door. He could see the door begin to open, and without any word he proceeded to enter.
"Wait Vegeta, where are you going?" Gohan asked just as he, Minako and Hotaru came out of the room.
"Isn't it obvious boy? I'm gonna train." Vegeta snapped.
"Oh no you're not, if you want to train you'll have to take two of the girls with you." Goku said seriously.
"Not happening." Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest.
"Well, then you're not going in. We have to train the girls, so either you take them or you are not going inside the room." Goku said gaining one of Vegeta's death glares. "Look, we all have to take them. Piccolo already took Makoto and Michiru in, and Gohan just came out with Minako and Hotaru. Tell you what, you take Rei and Haruka, and I'll take Usagi and Ami when they come up ok?" Goku asked.
From behind they heard Yamcha snort. "It's not like a little training its gonna make much of a difference to this weak girls." He said earning a punch on the jaw and another to the gut.
"Look who's the weak now." Haruka said punching him again.
"Serves you right for calling us weak!" Rei looked down at where he was holding his stomach.
Looking at them Vegeta had to smile, maybe they weren't lost causes after all, and Vegeta already liked this Haruka girl already. "Fine Kakarott, I'll take them." He said before going in.
~~~$@~~~$@ Back to CC~~~$@~~~$@
Usagi woke up just to find herself on a large room. Looking out the window, she could see the sun already midway on the sky. Standing up, she looked herself on the mirror. Looking around she saw the door to the bathroom, and entering, she took a bath and put on the clothes that Bulma had laid for her the previous night.
Following her nose, Usagi rapidly found the kitchen where Ami and Trunks where eating and talking.
"Usagi you're awake already!" Ami smiled, standing to serve her friend a plate with breakfast.
"Yeah, but it looks like I'm starting to repeat my bad habits of waking up late. What time is it?" Usagi said while digging into her food.
"It's three o'clock." Trunks said.
Almost chocking with the food, Usagi looked at him surprised. "Three o'clock already?!?! Why didn't anybody wake me up?"
"Well, since you said that you had a tough battle yesterday, we didn't want to disturb you." Ami said kindly.
"Thanks, now could I have more?" Usagi smiled.
~~~ Two hours later on Bulma's lab.~~~
"Now Usagi, I want you to concentrate on Mamoru's signal." Bulma said while looking intensely at Usagi. Nodding, Usagi tried again to find his signature, however, she could only find a fine thread that didn't go anywhere. Sighing again Usagi slumped into the chair.
"It's useless! I can't trace him. I'm too weak to find where the link goes." Usagi moaned near tears.
"Don't give up Usagi, I'm sure that when you are more rested and relaxed you'll find him." Bulma looked at her.
"Yes, but what if I'm too late? What if he's already dead by the time I'm able to find him? What if-" Usagi sobbed using Bulma for support.
"Don't worry Usagi, we'll find him." Bulma smothered her hair. "Now rest, that way you'll have more energy for later." She smiled.
Nodding Usagi calmed herself. From her position, Usagi caught Ami walking with Trunks towards her. A smiled appeared on her face looking at how Trunks' hand was holding Ami's. Blushing, Ami took her hand from Trunks' and moved to where she was.
"You ok Usagi? Did you have any luck?" Ami asked hopefully.
Shaking her head, Usagi turned to see the brooch that lay on the table. "No, I'm still to tired from the fight." Usagi said regretfully.
"It's ok, it's better if you rest though. We have a very long day tomorrow." Ami smiled at Usagi.
At this Usagi frowned. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, it's our turn to go into the Chamber of Spirit and Time with Goku tomorrow for our training." Ami explained.
"We're going in? What about the others?" Usagi asked looking at Ami.
"Well, Piccolo took Makoto and Michiru two days ago, and Gohan took Minako and Hotaru yesterday." Ami said.
"Yup, and I heard that even Vegeta took Haruka and Rei inside today." Trunks said with a mixture of wonder, fear, and shock. Ami had to gasp as this.
"What? Vegeta? Taking Haruka and Rei into the chamber? How did that happen?" Ami asked.
"I'm not sure, Goku had to have tell him something to make him take them, other wise, I don't know how they could have made him cooperate." Trunks joked.
Usagi frowned hearing him talk about his father. "Don't talk like that, I know Vegeta would help if they asked him to." She said seriously.
Trunks looked at Usagi, Why would she be defending Vegeta? Maybe she saw something on Vegeta that none of them had seen before, just as Ami had said 'Usagi always sees the best on everybody, no matter how bad they are, she will always find the way to be their friends.' Ami had told him how she befriended the Dark Moon sisters, healing them. However, he found it hard to believe that she could be a friend with Vegeta. Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought.
"Well anyway, we're going in at six in the morning, so we better be ready. I'm sure Goku will not go so easy on us." Ami said.
"Yeah, I know, but I'm gonna surprise daddy when he sees that I already went Super Saiyan!" Usagi squealed in delight. This revelation earned shock expressions from Ami and Trunks.
"Really? You did?" Ami smiled.
"Yup, it was so cool! I felt all this power running thru my body, and then I sent this huge Ki blast to the bad guys." She smiled and then frowned. "But they ran away." She said darkly. "No matter, I know I'll see them again." She finished smiling again.
Without any other word, the three youths moved to their rooms and waited for tomorrow to come.
~~~$@~~~$@ At Kami's Lookout ~~~$@~~$@
Usagi arrived to Kami's Lookout with Ami and Trunks five minutes before six. Landing besides the others she looked at everybody.
"Daddy!" Usagi ran to hug her father.
"Hey there kiddo!" Goku hugged her back. After hugging him, Usagi hugged her friends who where happy to see her after three days.
"Are they still inside?" Usagi asked eyeing the door.
"Yup, but they're gonna get out any time now." Makoto said looking at the door.
As in on cue, the door opened revealing Vegeta, Rei and Haruka coming out of the room.
"Rei, Haruka!" Usagi ran to hug them.
"Hey koneko-chan!" Haruka hugged her too.
"I'm glad you're here." Rei smiled.
"Hi Vegeta." Usagi gave him her one hundred-watt smile.
"Kid." Vegeta replied before walking away. Everybody stared at Usagi and then at Vegeta.
"Did he actually acknowledge her?" Goten asked gaping.
Without letting anybody say anything, Usagi took Goku's hand and dragged him to the door. "C'mon daddy, we have to start training." She jumped enthusiastically. Nodding Goku followed Usagi pausing on the door.
"You coming Ami?" Goku asked.
Nodding Ami walked to the door, however, she felt a hand grip hers. Looking back, she saw that it was Trunks who had stopped her.
"Trunks?"
Before she could do anything else Trunks lifted her head with his hand and kissed her gently on the lips.
"I will be waiting for you out here." He whispered before letting her go.
Ami couldn't do anything, looking at him she felt her heart quicken. With one swift move Ami's hand gripped the back of his head lowering him to her. Giving him a long, passionate kiss she blushed. "Now I call that a kiss." She smiled before running to the door.
"You go girl!" Trunks stood there, dazzled and blushing bright red as he heard Minako rooting for her friend.
~~~$@~~~$@ The Next Day ~~~$@~~~$@
Everybody waited for the last ones to get out of the Chamber of Spirit and Time. Looking again to the clock on the wall, they waited patiently for them to come out. Hearing the door open, all eyes looked at the figure that came out of the room.
Once outside Usagi, Ami, and Goku breathed the clean air outside. Walking to the others, Ami went to stand next to Trunks who took her hand on his. However, Usagi stopped dead on her tracks grabbing her chest with her hand.
"I see that I've found you just in time." A deep voice said in front of Usagi.
Gasping Usagi grabbed her chest, her eyes widening at what she saw. "No…I-it can't be you. Kunzite!" Usagi yelled.
~~~$@~~~$@~~~$@~~~$@~~~$@
Fire Dragon: Hahahaha evil cliffy!!! Mwahahahaha you must be hating me by now, but that'll teach you to give me just four reviews! (keeps laughing maniacally and sticks her tongue at the readers) There, you have more Ami/Trunks romance as you commanded as well as Usagi's long awaited becoming Super Saiyan. And by popular demand, Chibi-Usa will make an appearance at the end. (I'm trying to imagine Vegeta and Goku's face ^-^) But it will be at the very end. Please forgive me about the whole Vegeta issue, but I need him to be in good terms with Usagi at the end of next chapter, so I have to make some ground. Now, please be good reviewers and send me your thoughts (although remember: no flames). Until then, Ja ne.