*Author's Note: I'm going ahead with the rest of the chapters I finished because of the nice reviews I gotten (arigatou gozaimasu! ^_^) and because at this point the story starts off in the um...sub-story that's about Gokuu. The main reason I put in this sub-story was to distract Vegita from killing Bulma because if that happens--no story, ne? Pikaru, the other guard at Bulma's door, is named in this chapter. Also, Vegita has a flashback of when he was younger, so I hope that's not confusing for anyone. Oh, and I hope everyone gets the little bit at the end with Gokuu. I just thought it would be kinda kawaii.
Chapter 5
Midnight. The perfect time to stalk up on someone and go in for the kill. There was a nice moon outside, signaling the feeling that Vegita all ready had. He actually thought the woman had made a good suggestion to kill her in her sleep. If he did a good enough job, he could make it seem like an accident. Maybe the foolish Capsule people wouldn't believe the woman had died in her sleep by chance, but it was a good enough cover up for the Saiyajins none the less. They could fight all they liked, but they would never find evidence to actually prove the Saiyajins had a hand in Bulma's death. Not that they truly needed to remain innocent; they could easily admit killing her and destroy the Capsule Kingdom without a problem. It was just a little more fun to act like it was an accident.
Vegita told Sukuwa and his partner Pikaru to take an break for an hour while he watched the Princess from the inside. They looked at him strangely, but didn't question him when he looked at them as if he would kill for even attempting to inquire about his reason. An hour was more than enough time for him, but he decided he would take his time to do it. There was no rush; no one knew that he was planning to kill her, not even his father. His father actually believed that he was going to let her live until he decided whether or not he wanted to give the woman a try. Vegita had debated it after their episode in the bath, but he believed that was a sign of weakness. He hated weakness in others, but he abhorred it in himself. The Saiyajin no Ouji was not a weak person, and he would go great lengths to verify that.
When Vegita opened the door to her room, he was somewhat amazed how much moonlight had seeped into the room with the one window. Even with the piece of wood patching up the large hole in it, the whole room seemed to be lit up with it or at least covered the bed against the back wall. Bulma was well asleep by now, covered up to her waist in the dark sheets and her head turned toward the window. She looked lifeless all ready; her face seemed ghostly white in the moonlight. Vegita stood at the foot of her bed, examing the person he would have to kill. At the moment, he had a sort of regret that he decided to kill her when the moon was so visible; her features were radiant such as they had been when she was in the garden and the sunlight was covering her. This was a little worse for the Prince because now she was sleeping and looking particularly innocent. Vegita knew he had no problem with killing innocent people; that was always more fun. They would act so shocked that they
were being killed for no good reason at all and their cries of anguish were much louder than those who deserved it. Bulma's innocent look, however, was making Vegita feel uncomfortable and certainly not like killing someone. That did make him angry, but it didn't make the feeling go away.
"How can I ever be King if I let a mere woman get to me?" Vegita said, walking up to the side of the bed she was laying on. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, it would never work. If I let her live, she'll just cause me a hell of a lot of trouble."
Vegita raised his hands above Bulma's head. He had thought about choking her to death, but he decided he'd give her a little dignity in death. Not that she deserved it after making him look like a fool, but she was royalty after all. He'd just quickly snap her neck, but Vegita thought he couldn't make a broken neck look like an accident, unless he made it look like she fell out of the window. The Prince kept his hands where they were, but thought of another idea as he looked at the slender neck in his view. If he applied pressure to a few specific points at the same time, he could stop her heart instantly, without any signs of foul play. He grinned, thinking about how the Capsule Kingdom would try to figure out how she died. They would suspect poison, but find no trace of it in her body. He laughed, imagining how much time they would spend trying to determine the cause of their death and never come close to figuring it out.
He brought his hand down to her neck, gently rotating her head so he could easier see where he needed to apply pressure to. Bulma murmured and parted her lips that had previously been closed. Vegita froze again, having one of the strangest urges he had ever had. He wanted to touch her rose-like lips; somehow he thought they would feel like a flower petal as well. Slowly his urge was pushing away his determination to do what he had came to do. His finger even began to move toward her lips before he had even realized it. Vegita felt like he was going crazy, and he couldn't stop it. Before he knew it, his finger had brushed over her top lip. He withdrew his hand quickly, gaining control over himself for a short period. Vegita hadn't even noticed that he was breathing hard until he had that momentary sense of control again. Bulma hadn't stirred again, but Vegita felt urged to touch her again. He softly took a finger and outlined her lips. Bulma pressed her lips together again
and then left them open again. The Prince felt his control completely coming back when he felt heat in his cheeks.
"What in the hell?" Vegita said, turning his back on the sleeping Bulma. "I'm losing my mind!" He turned his head back to make sure he wasn't speaking loud enough to wake Bulma up. "I've never done anything like that before..."
Vegita became furious with his weak actions and tried to get back in the mood to kill the woman. He fought with his foreign feeling for five solid minutes. However, he couldn't overpower his strange urges. Vegita muttered a curse and decided he would have to kill her when she was awake and in a more displeasing manner. He quickly began to leave the room, but stopped as he reached the door to take a glance at Bulma again. He felt some kind of hatred for her, but it wasn't allowing him to feel like killing her. Vegita forced himself to stop looking at her and left the room. He let out a relieved sigh as if he had been in danger by being in the room. Sukuwa and Pikaru hadn't returned yet, so he couldn't leave just yet. He was tempted to just find them and get the hell away from Bulma as soon as possible, but it would arouse suspicion in them that he didn't need. Right now all the Prince needed was to get himself together before he lost any more of his mind.
***
The next morning in Vegita, two Saiyajin soldiers were returning from a mission they had just completed in another kingdom. It was supposed to be a short trip; they were to take care of some nuisances in that kingdom and return home with the reports. However, it had taken a few more days than they had assumed. It was no matter really; the two didn't have anything terribly important they were waiting to do. In fact, they almost wished they would have been away longer; they knew about the alliance with Capsule and they knew it wasn't going to be pretty.
"So, what do you think?" the Saiyajin asked, with long wild hair that ran all the down to his knees.
"About what?" the other Saiyajin asked, frowning not only because of the question but of the length of time they had been riding on the horses.
"Vegita-Ouji was supposed to meet his future mate yesterday from Capsule."
"Uhn."
"Do you think he's killed her all ready?"
"Most likely." The older Saiyajin didn't really seem interested in the matter as the younger.
"Too bad," the Saiyajin said snickering. "I think it would have been interesting if the Saiyajin no Ouji mated with a non-Saiyajin."
"Tournament's coming up." The elder one seemed ready to change the subject. He let out a sigh as he saw the beginnings of Vegita. "We're nearly there."
"Do you actually think you'll get far in the tournament?"
"I'll make it farther than you will."
"Ha! Care to bet on that?"
The older Saiyajin grinned and rubbed the scar on his face. "I bet you won't make it to your third round," he said.
"And if I do?"
"What do you want?"
"I've heard after your mission to Angoba you've picked up a special item."
"That was over twenty years ago..." He narrowed his eyes at the grinning Saiyajin. "How the hell did you know about that?"
"I have my ways...so, do we have a deal?"
"Hmph, what do I get if you do lose before your third round?"
The first Saiyajin brought his horse to a halt as they reached the castle. "What do you want?"
The other did the same. "I have guard duty in Section 0093; if you lose, you take my place."
"Section 0093? Why the hell were you assigned there?"
"Nappa is doing business there and wants inconsequential people by his side in case anything happens."
"Heh, expendable, you mean?"
"Doesn't matter what you call it. This is one Saiyajin that isn't going to be so easy to get rid of."
"This Saiyajin too. I'll agree to your part, if you'll agree to mine."
"Fine."
The younger Saiyajin grinned again. "You might as well hand it over to me now, Tousan."
The father glared at his son. "One day your arrogance is going to get you killed, Radditsu."
***
"The Princess is still alive?" Nappa laughed, having heard the latest from Sukuwa. "Where is the Prince now?"
"Still training, I suppose," Sukuwa said, shoving food between words. "I've heard he's been doing so since dawn."
"Hmm, Vegita-Ouji doesn't usually train that early before eating..." the commander said, rubbing his chin. He must be upset, he thought. "If I were you, I wouldn't do anything that might upset him today."
"I'm not planning to. Especially since I'm all ready on his bad side for allowing the Princess to escape."
Nappa laughed again. "What about Pikaru? He was just as much to blame."
"Him too, but he's less willing to admit it ever happened."
"Good idea," Nappa said, picking up his mug. "You two would be the laughingstock of the entire Saiyajin empire if everyone wasn't laughing at the Prince."
"Laughing at the Prince?" Sukuwa said, raising a brow.
"Well, laughing on the inside," Nappa said, he raised his mug to his lips and poured all of its contents into his mouth. "No one's crazy enough to laugh in his face."
"If they want to keep their own face."
Nappa smirked and rubbed his thumb over his mustache. "The tournament is in three days... If the Princess of Capsule is still alive, then the Prince must be accepting her as his mate."
"Why is that?"
"Vegita-Ou is announcing Vegita-Ouji as the next descendant to the Saiyajin throne."
Sukuwa stopped eating completely. "I haven't heard of that. Is the Prince himself aware of that?"
"No. I think it's a ploy by the King to get the Prince a mate as soon as possible. Once he names him as the heir, he must already have an intended mate."
A grin formed at the side of Sukuwa's mouth. "How insidious of His Majesty."
"A definite trait of the Vegita line," Nappa said, chuckling.
***
Vegita stopped his training and leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. Sweat was rolling all the sides of his face, and his whole body was burning from the exertion. He was beginning to tire and was so hungry he could eat anything. It had been about seven hours since he had started training, longer than he usually would train. One, he needed to stop at one point to eat; two, he didn't want anyone to think that he actually needed to train for a long amount of time. Vegita actually didn't, but training was always one of his favorite activities, especially when he could convince someone to spar with him. Often, he would spar with someone without the use of a weapon, just to give them a better chance of not looking pathetic before him. However, whenever the Prince was feeling the need to truly shed some blood, he would spar with some kind of blade and usually end up killing his opponent. He was less likely to kill someone with his bare hands; not that he couldn't do so, but
he more often remembered that he was sparring with someone and not intentionally trying to kill them. When the Prince had a sword in his hand, all he could think about was trying to cover the shiny metal object in the red substance. At this particular moment, Vegita would have no problem killing a few opponents, but most of everyone was keeping well out of his way.
For once Vegita felt very confused. "If I don't get rid of her soon...I know I will regret it," he said, flicking a bead of sweat off his nose. He stared down at the tiled floor for a long time. "I am going to do it today--I will not have that woman as my mate."
Vegita cracked his back and rotated his shoulders. "As soon as a get a few things taken care of," the Prince said, mind set on it now, "I will go straight to her room and finish what I intended to do."
***
Bulma had awoken with the dread that she had passed on. She was more afraid that she had been sent to Hell, and it had an uncanny resemblance to the Vegita Kingdom. All night she had dreamed about the various ways she would be killed without knowledge that it had been done. She dreamt she had been stabbed ten different ways, shot through the heart with an arrow, and choked until her lungs finally gave out. The choking scared her the most because it had been her last dream and had felt so real. Vegita had a wickedly satisfied look on his face as he squeezed the life out of her. Frankly, Bulma had to touch her neck several times to make sure it didn't have the Prince's fingers imprinted in it before she believed she was still alive. She was only partially relieved that was true. The Princess was now alive with the horrible images of how she could have been killed and most likely later on would be killed. It disturbed her so much that she refused to eat anything.
It was afternoon now, and though Bulma had expected Vegita to barge into her room at any moment and declare that he was going to kill her, she hadn't seen him at all. It made her feel a little better, but it kept her on edge. Why hadn't he killed her? The possibility of the reason being good never occurred in her mind; she kept thinking it was a terrible reason like Vegita decided he rather kill her when she was awake and unsuspecting. Another reason she had came up with was that he wanted to poison her, thus giving her a second reason not to eat breakfast. Bulma ruled out the poison idea and ate her lunch, thinking Saiyajins wouldn't waste food like that. Later, she thought that the Saiyajins might have an immunity to poison like she had heard and wondered if she were going to die from the food. An hour later, she still felt the same, so she figured that Vegita wasn't planning to poison her. Plus, Bulma sort of had the feeling he wasn't the type to indirectly kill people.
Bulma had finally stopped worrying about her death long enough to go through some of her things. She wasn't unpacking; she was simply trying to find something to take her mind off things. In her third chest, she came across a thick book. Bulma smiled and pulled it out, recognizing it as one of her picture albums. About three years ago, a scientist had invented the camera and the Princess had taken several pictures of herself as well as her friends.
The Princess sat down on her bed and flipped through the book slowly, trying to remember when each picture was taken. There was a picture of her sitting in her garden and a later picture of her looking up as it started to rain. A large picture of Gokuu smiling with his sword raised up was next to a picture of Gohan running through one of the halls in the castle with a scared expression. Under that picture was a picture of Gohan slamming into a guard. Bulma turned to the next page of pictures, seeing Yamcha, Kuririn, Gokuu, and other knights sitting at a table with drinks in their hands. Bulma laughed when she saw the picture of Chichi yelling her head off at a stunned Gokuu.
Bulma didn't notice when her door opened and closed soon afterwards. She was having too much fun strolling down memory lane. When she saw something from the corner of her eye, however, she leapt up from her bed. Her album book fell to the floor and displayed two pages with amusing pictures of Gokuu.
"Vegita...Ouji," Bulma said, glad she remembered to add his title before it was too late.
Vegita tried not to grin at her near mess-up and looked at what she had dropped. The Prince narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of something familiar. He ignored Bulma for a moment and walked over to the album book to get a better look.
"I don't believe it..." Vegita said, bending down and picking up the book.
"My album book..." Bulma said, surprised he was interested in it.
Vegita stared at the picture of Gokuu, nearly stunned by the resemblance. "It's..." the Prince said, trying to think of his name. "I think it was...Kakarotto..."
"Kaka what?" Bulma asked, wondering what he was talking about.
*Yes, it must be Bardaku's son,* Vegita thought, looking at the foolish pictures before him. *I remember my father telling me a while ago about that...*
***
Vegita watched with some contempt all the soldiers passing him. All of them were smiling or had blood-thirsty looks on their face as they prepared the Saiyajin army. The Elite army had already passed; now the first, second, and third class armies were passing that he was required to stand by and watch as one of his duties. He just wanted to go out and fight; it would be his third major battle. Vegita was ready and these soldiers were making him have to wait. Just as the Prince was about to snap at his father, he viewed an odd Saiyajin with a rather lifeless look to him. He wasn't sulking, but he didn't appear enthusiastic like the others were. In fact, the Saiyajin looked more like he was pouting.
"Tousama, what is wrong with that Saiyajin there in the third line?"
King Vegita looked where his son had asked, and saw the only Saiyajin he could be possibly talking about. "Oh, Bardaku?" he laughed. "He just lost his newborn son recently."
"So? What's another low-class Saiyajin anyway?"
"His mate also recently died, a little after giving birth to his son."
"The child died with her?"
"No, he actually lost him," King Vegita said, still laughing. When Nappa had told him the story, he had found very amusing. "He was riding with the brat on the back of his horse and he had fallen off. Bardaku looked everywhere for him, but he found no trace of him."
"He's Radditsu's father, am I right?"
"Yes, he's quite disgusted with his father's attitude about a lost son that most likely was another weakling."
"Hmph, pathetic," Vegita said, frowning as Bardaku passed him. "Did he even have a chance to name it?"
"Aa, I believe his name was Kakarotto."
Vegita laughed. "What a ridiculous name."
***
Vegita nodded, knowing that he was looking at Kakarotto. "So, that's what happened to the little brat, eh?" He smirked to himself.
"Huh?" Bulma said, looking at the pictures. "Do you know Gokuu?"
"Gokuu?" Vegita said, thinking that was an even more ridiculous name.
"Well, those are pictures of my friend, Son Gokuu."
Vegita released a laugh and shut the book. "Hmph, and you say you don't like Saiyajins."
"That hasn't changed." Bulma frowned, clueless to what he was talking about.
Vegita just laughed again. "I'm taking this," he said, turning to leave.
"Huh, wh-why??" Bulma said, taking a step forward.
"Don't worry about it," Vegita said, exiting the room. He grinned to himself, thinking he had stumbled on something quite interesting. *I wonder how I can use this... Oh, wait a minute, I was supposed to kill that woman. Well, I'll do it later. I have plenty of time to do so.*
Vegita tucked the album book under his arm and started down the hall. "Kakarotto..."
***
"You want to send one of your knights to our kingdom?" King Vegita asked, frowning at the other King on the video screen.
"Yes, I believe it will solidify the alliance between us," King Briefs said calmly.
"In what way?"
"Well, I intend to use the knight as a diplomat--I would imagine you Saiyajins don't have many of those."
"No," King Vegita said, grinning. "Most of the foreigners in our kingdom are slaves."
"Not surprising," King Briefs said good-naturedly. "How is my daughter doing?"
"I have yet to see her myself," King Vegita replied. "My son is in charge of her well-being. I haven't heard too many bad things regarding her, so I assume she is fine."
"What sort of bad things?" King Briefs asked, wondering if Bulma had done anything stupid.
"Well, we Saiyajins don't like foreigners too much, regardless if they are royalty," King Vegita said, grinning more at the King's concerned look. "The Princess was supposed to stay in the room given to her, but she escaped--"
"You make it sound as if she is a prisoner."
King Vegita laughed. "She certainly is not a prisoner," he said, trying to choose more tactful words. "We just don't trust foreigners well enough to have them running around our castle as they please."
"So, Bulma left her room without permission," King Briefs said. "That caused trouble."
"The way I understand it is that the guards around the castle were in an uproar trying to locate her. Luckily, my son found her before she went somewhere where she could get into a great deal of trouble."
"Well, Bulma is a tricky girl," King Briefs said, smiling because his daughter managed to slip through the fingers of such people.
"I doubt she will manage to trick the guards again," King Vegita said, a bit annoyed at the man's smile. "Those guards know they can easily be replaced."
"If you allowed a Capsule knight to watch over the Princess, I doubt she would ever cause you any trouble," King Briefs offered, affably. The other King seemed to be bothered by his pleasant attitude.
"Well, that may not be necessary," the Saiyajin King said. "However, I will think over the matter."
"Thank you, Vegita-Ou." The paler King made a short bow to the other King.
"Hmph," King Vegita said, ending the transmission.
King Briefs smiled to himself and turned off the screen. "Well, I think that went well."
***
Bardaku was very surprised to discover that the Prince had summoned him for reason unknown. He hated when he was in contact with Nappa, and this had been one of those rare occasions. Usually his superior relayed messages to him that had been from Nappa to his platoon. An Elite commander hardly ever spoke to a third-ranked officer. Now the Saiyajin no Ouji himself wanted to see him? Bardaku had barely finished his report on Tofunda before he was told he was to see the Prince right away. Radditsu had joked that he was in trouble, but Bardaku knew that wasn't possible. He hadn't done anything unusual as of late.
*What the hell would he want with me?* Bardaku wondered, saluting to all of his superiors in the hall. *I don't have anything the Prince would want. Hell, the Prince doesn't have anything I want.*
Bardaku knocked on the door to the room he was told to go to. A voice told him to enter and he did so. The Saiyajin had never been so close to the Prince before. With the sinister look on the young one's face, he doubted he really had a desire to.
"Your Majesty," Bardaku said, bowing to him. "You wished to see me?"
"Bardaku, right?" Vegita said, sitting in a chair and motioning for him to stop bowing.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"About twenty years ago you lost your son, am I right?"
Bardaku frowned, wondering why he was bringing that up. "Yes..."
"Where exactly did you lose him?" Vegita continued, loving the one the other Saiyajin seemed to be agitated by the question.
"In some forest...by a waterfall," Bardaku answered, trying to remain dignified through the inquiry. "Your Majesty, if I may ask a question."
"Why am I questioning you about Kakarotto, hmm?" Vegita guessed.
"Yes...Kakarotto..." Bardaku clenched his teeth. He had taken much of his time to try to forget he had a second son.
Vegita threw the album book on the floor. "It might interest you to see this."
Bardaku frowned and picked up the strange book from the floor. He opened the book at random and nearly dropped it when he saw a picture of Bulma and Gokuu smiling together. Vegita grinned, watching his reaction with amusement.
"Is this...real?"
"Yes, I found the Princess with this," Vegita said. "It seems Kakarotto has been living in Capsule without knowing of his Saiyajin heritage."
"I don't believe it!" Bardaku said, touching the picture with his fingers it confirm its authenticity with a second sense. "I thought he was..."
"Judging by those pictures it seems that Kakarotto would be better off dead," Vegita said, folding his hands together. "He's been raised as a Capsule person."
"He looks so much like me," Bardaku said, temporarily ignoring the Prince. "Sire, I think a Saiyajin cannot deny his blood no matter where he grows up."
"Hmph, a nice hypothesis, but I think Kakarotto has proved that wrong," Vegita said. "If he displayed any kind of behavior like that of a Saiyajin then I seriously doubt he would be good friends with the Princess. She's quite against the idea of Saiyajins."
Bardaku was silent. *Kakarotto is alive...* he thought. *I thought my only chance to honor my mate's dying wish was gone...but now...*
"Your Majesty, I am curious as to why you have informed me of my son's existence," Bardaku finally said.
"I'm just a bit curious myself to see what a Saiyajin raised like a normal person would be like," Vegita said, eyes glinting mischievously. "He might be amusing, or if he's completely mad it would be a Saiyajin's duty to eradicate one of our own that has become inept. You agree that would be the merciful thing to do?"
"Yes," Bardaku said, his brows coming together. *If he's insane I couldn't stand to see what I had done,* he thought. *My mate wanted me to train him into the best fighter ever--a Saiyajin to be proud of. An inferior Saiyajin, regardless if he is my son, should be eliminated.*
"As the upcoming ruler of Vegita and the Saiyajin empire, I intend to make it clear that I will not tolerate inferior Saiyajins in my presence," Vegita said. "I think I will have someone bring Kakarotto here to see if he stands up to Saiyajin standards. If not...I'll try to find an amusing way to dispose of him."
"This woman in the picture is the Princess?"
Vegita made a movement of his eyebrow that confirmed that.
"So, she is unaware of Kakarotto's true lineage."
"Obviously," Vegita scoffed. "Which is why I am convinced that he will be a sight to see. A Saiyajin isn't what you would call a face in the crowd unless he were among other Saiyajins."
Bardaku bowed again. "My liege, I thank you," he said, closing the book. "Even if Kakarotto is killed here, it would ease my mind greater than knowing that he wasn't a true Saiyajin."
"A response typical of a true Saiyajin." Vegita smiled, thinking that he were beginning to like the strange Saiyajin even though he were of a much lower rank than him.
"May I keep this?"
Vegita waved his hand. "Do as you like," he said, dismissive of it because it belonged to Bulma. He knew that she would not be pleased of what he had done, but all the better.
"Thank you again, Your Majesty." Bardaku bowed again and left once the Prince gave him a signal he may do so.
"Kakarotto..." Vegita mused. A nasty grin came about his lips. "He'll be perfect to demonstrate my power. After I get rid of the Princess and deal with this lost Saiyajin, I will be looked upon as the most powerful and feared Vegita in Saiyajin history!"
***
Chichi handed Gokuu a cloth with a worried expression. "Are you catching a cold?"
Gokuu took the cloth and blew his nose. "I think it's just something in the air," he said, sniffing a few times. "I've never sneezed that many times in a row."
Chapter 5
Midnight. The perfect time to stalk up on someone and go in for the kill. There was a nice moon outside, signaling the feeling that Vegita all ready had. He actually thought the woman had made a good suggestion to kill her in her sleep. If he did a good enough job, he could make it seem like an accident. Maybe the foolish Capsule people wouldn't believe the woman had died in her sleep by chance, but it was a good enough cover up for the Saiyajins none the less. They could fight all they liked, but they would never find evidence to actually prove the Saiyajins had a hand in Bulma's death. Not that they truly needed to remain innocent; they could easily admit killing her and destroy the Capsule Kingdom without a problem. It was just a little more fun to act like it was an accident.
Vegita told Sukuwa and his partner Pikaru to take an break for an hour while he watched the Princess from the inside. They looked at him strangely, but didn't question him when he looked at them as if he would kill for even attempting to inquire about his reason. An hour was more than enough time for him, but he decided he would take his time to do it. There was no rush; no one knew that he was planning to kill her, not even his father. His father actually believed that he was going to let her live until he decided whether or not he wanted to give the woman a try. Vegita had debated it after their episode in the bath, but he believed that was a sign of weakness. He hated weakness in others, but he abhorred it in himself. The Saiyajin no Ouji was not a weak person, and he would go great lengths to verify that.
When Vegita opened the door to her room, he was somewhat amazed how much moonlight had seeped into the room with the one window. Even with the piece of wood patching up the large hole in it, the whole room seemed to be lit up with it or at least covered the bed against the back wall. Bulma was well asleep by now, covered up to her waist in the dark sheets and her head turned toward the window. She looked lifeless all ready; her face seemed ghostly white in the moonlight. Vegita stood at the foot of her bed, examing the person he would have to kill. At the moment, he had a sort of regret that he decided to kill her when the moon was so visible; her features were radiant such as they had been when she was in the garden and the sunlight was covering her. This was a little worse for the Prince because now she was sleeping and looking particularly innocent. Vegita knew he had no problem with killing innocent people; that was always more fun. They would act so shocked that they
were being killed for no good reason at all and their cries of anguish were much louder than those who deserved it. Bulma's innocent look, however, was making Vegita feel uncomfortable and certainly not like killing someone. That did make him angry, but it didn't make the feeling go away.
"How can I ever be King if I let a mere woman get to me?" Vegita said, walking up to the side of the bed she was laying on. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, it would never work. If I let her live, she'll just cause me a hell of a lot of trouble."
Vegita raised his hands above Bulma's head. He had thought about choking her to death, but he decided he'd give her a little dignity in death. Not that she deserved it after making him look like a fool, but she was royalty after all. He'd just quickly snap her neck, but Vegita thought he couldn't make a broken neck look like an accident, unless he made it look like she fell out of the window. The Prince kept his hands where they were, but thought of another idea as he looked at the slender neck in his view. If he applied pressure to a few specific points at the same time, he could stop her heart instantly, without any signs of foul play. He grinned, thinking about how the Capsule Kingdom would try to figure out how she died. They would suspect poison, but find no trace of it in her body. He laughed, imagining how much time they would spend trying to determine the cause of their death and never come close to figuring it out.
He brought his hand down to her neck, gently rotating her head so he could easier see where he needed to apply pressure to. Bulma murmured and parted her lips that had previously been closed. Vegita froze again, having one of the strangest urges he had ever had. He wanted to touch her rose-like lips; somehow he thought they would feel like a flower petal as well. Slowly his urge was pushing away his determination to do what he had came to do. His finger even began to move toward her lips before he had even realized it. Vegita felt like he was going crazy, and he couldn't stop it. Before he knew it, his finger had brushed over her top lip. He withdrew his hand quickly, gaining control over himself for a short period. Vegita hadn't even noticed that he was breathing hard until he had that momentary sense of control again. Bulma hadn't stirred again, but Vegita felt urged to touch her again. He softly took a finger and outlined her lips. Bulma pressed her lips together again
and then left them open again. The Prince felt his control completely coming back when he felt heat in his cheeks.
"What in the hell?" Vegita said, turning his back on the sleeping Bulma. "I'm losing my mind!" He turned his head back to make sure he wasn't speaking loud enough to wake Bulma up. "I've never done anything like that before..."
Vegita became furious with his weak actions and tried to get back in the mood to kill the woman. He fought with his foreign feeling for five solid minutes. However, he couldn't overpower his strange urges. Vegita muttered a curse and decided he would have to kill her when she was awake and in a more displeasing manner. He quickly began to leave the room, but stopped as he reached the door to take a glance at Bulma again. He felt some kind of hatred for her, but it wasn't allowing him to feel like killing her. Vegita forced himself to stop looking at her and left the room. He let out a relieved sigh as if he had been in danger by being in the room. Sukuwa and Pikaru hadn't returned yet, so he couldn't leave just yet. He was tempted to just find them and get the hell away from Bulma as soon as possible, but it would arouse suspicion in them that he didn't need. Right now all the Prince needed was to get himself together before he lost any more of his mind.
***
The next morning in Vegita, two Saiyajin soldiers were returning from a mission they had just completed in another kingdom. It was supposed to be a short trip; they were to take care of some nuisances in that kingdom and return home with the reports. However, it had taken a few more days than they had assumed. It was no matter really; the two didn't have anything terribly important they were waiting to do. In fact, they almost wished they would have been away longer; they knew about the alliance with Capsule and they knew it wasn't going to be pretty.
"So, what do you think?" the Saiyajin asked, with long wild hair that ran all the down to his knees.
"About what?" the other Saiyajin asked, frowning not only because of the question but of the length of time they had been riding on the horses.
"Vegita-Ouji was supposed to meet his future mate yesterday from Capsule."
"Uhn."
"Do you think he's killed her all ready?"
"Most likely." The older Saiyajin didn't really seem interested in the matter as the younger.
"Too bad," the Saiyajin said snickering. "I think it would have been interesting if the Saiyajin no Ouji mated with a non-Saiyajin."
"Tournament's coming up." The elder one seemed ready to change the subject. He let out a sigh as he saw the beginnings of Vegita. "We're nearly there."
"Do you actually think you'll get far in the tournament?"
"I'll make it farther than you will."
"Ha! Care to bet on that?"
The older Saiyajin grinned and rubbed the scar on his face. "I bet you won't make it to your third round," he said.
"And if I do?"
"What do you want?"
"I've heard after your mission to Angoba you've picked up a special item."
"That was over twenty years ago..." He narrowed his eyes at the grinning Saiyajin. "How the hell did you know about that?"
"I have my ways...so, do we have a deal?"
"Hmph, what do I get if you do lose before your third round?"
The first Saiyajin brought his horse to a halt as they reached the castle. "What do you want?"
The other did the same. "I have guard duty in Section 0093; if you lose, you take my place."
"Section 0093? Why the hell were you assigned there?"
"Nappa is doing business there and wants inconsequential people by his side in case anything happens."
"Heh, expendable, you mean?"
"Doesn't matter what you call it. This is one Saiyajin that isn't going to be so easy to get rid of."
"This Saiyajin too. I'll agree to your part, if you'll agree to mine."
"Fine."
The younger Saiyajin grinned again. "You might as well hand it over to me now, Tousan."
The father glared at his son. "One day your arrogance is going to get you killed, Radditsu."
***
"The Princess is still alive?" Nappa laughed, having heard the latest from Sukuwa. "Where is the Prince now?"
"Still training, I suppose," Sukuwa said, shoving food between words. "I've heard he's been doing so since dawn."
"Hmm, Vegita-Ouji doesn't usually train that early before eating..." the commander said, rubbing his chin. He must be upset, he thought. "If I were you, I wouldn't do anything that might upset him today."
"I'm not planning to. Especially since I'm all ready on his bad side for allowing the Princess to escape."
Nappa laughed again. "What about Pikaru? He was just as much to blame."
"Him too, but he's less willing to admit it ever happened."
"Good idea," Nappa said, picking up his mug. "You two would be the laughingstock of the entire Saiyajin empire if everyone wasn't laughing at the Prince."
"Laughing at the Prince?" Sukuwa said, raising a brow.
"Well, laughing on the inside," Nappa said, he raised his mug to his lips and poured all of its contents into his mouth. "No one's crazy enough to laugh in his face."
"If they want to keep their own face."
Nappa smirked and rubbed his thumb over his mustache. "The tournament is in three days... If the Princess of Capsule is still alive, then the Prince must be accepting her as his mate."
"Why is that?"
"Vegita-Ou is announcing Vegita-Ouji as the next descendant to the Saiyajin throne."
Sukuwa stopped eating completely. "I haven't heard of that. Is the Prince himself aware of that?"
"No. I think it's a ploy by the King to get the Prince a mate as soon as possible. Once he names him as the heir, he must already have an intended mate."
A grin formed at the side of Sukuwa's mouth. "How insidious of His Majesty."
"A definite trait of the Vegita line," Nappa said, chuckling.
***
Vegita stopped his training and leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. Sweat was rolling all the sides of his face, and his whole body was burning from the exertion. He was beginning to tire and was so hungry he could eat anything. It had been about seven hours since he had started training, longer than he usually would train. One, he needed to stop at one point to eat; two, he didn't want anyone to think that he actually needed to train for a long amount of time. Vegita actually didn't, but training was always one of his favorite activities, especially when he could convince someone to spar with him. Often, he would spar with someone without the use of a weapon, just to give them a better chance of not looking pathetic before him. However, whenever the Prince was feeling the need to truly shed some blood, he would spar with some kind of blade and usually end up killing his opponent. He was less likely to kill someone with his bare hands; not that he couldn't do so, but
he more often remembered that he was sparring with someone and not intentionally trying to kill them. When the Prince had a sword in his hand, all he could think about was trying to cover the shiny metal object in the red substance. At this particular moment, Vegita would have no problem killing a few opponents, but most of everyone was keeping well out of his way.
For once Vegita felt very confused. "If I don't get rid of her soon...I know I will regret it," he said, flicking a bead of sweat off his nose. He stared down at the tiled floor for a long time. "I am going to do it today--I will not have that woman as my mate."
Vegita cracked his back and rotated his shoulders. "As soon as a get a few things taken care of," the Prince said, mind set on it now, "I will go straight to her room and finish what I intended to do."
***
Bulma had awoken with the dread that she had passed on. She was more afraid that she had been sent to Hell, and it had an uncanny resemblance to the Vegita Kingdom. All night she had dreamed about the various ways she would be killed without knowledge that it had been done. She dreamt she had been stabbed ten different ways, shot through the heart with an arrow, and choked until her lungs finally gave out. The choking scared her the most because it had been her last dream and had felt so real. Vegita had a wickedly satisfied look on his face as he squeezed the life out of her. Frankly, Bulma had to touch her neck several times to make sure it didn't have the Prince's fingers imprinted in it before she believed she was still alive. She was only partially relieved that was true. The Princess was now alive with the horrible images of how she could have been killed and most likely later on would be killed. It disturbed her so much that she refused to eat anything.
It was afternoon now, and though Bulma had expected Vegita to barge into her room at any moment and declare that he was going to kill her, she hadn't seen him at all. It made her feel a little better, but it kept her on edge. Why hadn't he killed her? The possibility of the reason being good never occurred in her mind; she kept thinking it was a terrible reason like Vegita decided he rather kill her when she was awake and unsuspecting. Another reason she had came up with was that he wanted to poison her, thus giving her a second reason not to eat breakfast. Bulma ruled out the poison idea and ate her lunch, thinking Saiyajins wouldn't waste food like that. Later, she thought that the Saiyajins might have an immunity to poison like she had heard and wondered if she were going to die from the food. An hour later, she still felt the same, so she figured that Vegita wasn't planning to poison her. Plus, Bulma sort of had the feeling he wasn't the type to indirectly kill people.
Bulma had finally stopped worrying about her death long enough to go through some of her things. She wasn't unpacking; she was simply trying to find something to take her mind off things. In her third chest, she came across a thick book. Bulma smiled and pulled it out, recognizing it as one of her picture albums. About three years ago, a scientist had invented the camera and the Princess had taken several pictures of herself as well as her friends.
The Princess sat down on her bed and flipped through the book slowly, trying to remember when each picture was taken. There was a picture of her sitting in her garden and a later picture of her looking up as it started to rain. A large picture of Gokuu smiling with his sword raised up was next to a picture of Gohan running through one of the halls in the castle with a scared expression. Under that picture was a picture of Gohan slamming into a guard. Bulma turned to the next page of pictures, seeing Yamcha, Kuririn, Gokuu, and other knights sitting at a table with drinks in their hands. Bulma laughed when she saw the picture of Chichi yelling her head off at a stunned Gokuu.
Bulma didn't notice when her door opened and closed soon afterwards. She was having too much fun strolling down memory lane. When she saw something from the corner of her eye, however, she leapt up from her bed. Her album book fell to the floor and displayed two pages with amusing pictures of Gokuu.
"Vegita...Ouji," Bulma said, glad she remembered to add his title before it was too late.
Vegita tried not to grin at her near mess-up and looked at what she had dropped. The Prince narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of something familiar. He ignored Bulma for a moment and walked over to the album book to get a better look.
"I don't believe it..." Vegita said, bending down and picking up the book.
"My album book..." Bulma said, surprised he was interested in it.
Vegita stared at the picture of Gokuu, nearly stunned by the resemblance. "It's..." the Prince said, trying to think of his name. "I think it was...Kakarotto..."
"Kaka what?" Bulma asked, wondering what he was talking about.
*Yes, it must be Bardaku's son,* Vegita thought, looking at the foolish pictures before him. *I remember my father telling me a while ago about that...*
***
Vegita watched with some contempt all the soldiers passing him. All of them were smiling or had blood-thirsty looks on their face as they prepared the Saiyajin army. The Elite army had already passed; now the first, second, and third class armies were passing that he was required to stand by and watch as one of his duties. He just wanted to go out and fight; it would be his third major battle. Vegita was ready and these soldiers were making him have to wait. Just as the Prince was about to snap at his father, he viewed an odd Saiyajin with a rather lifeless look to him. He wasn't sulking, but he didn't appear enthusiastic like the others were. In fact, the Saiyajin looked more like he was pouting.
"Tousama, what is wrong with that Saiyajin there in the third line?"
King Vegita looked where his son had asked, and saw the only Saiyajin he could be possibly talking about. "Oh, Bardaku?" he laughed. "He just lost his newborn son recently."
"So? What's another low-class Saiyajin anyway?"
"His mate also recently died, a little after giving birth to his son."
"The child died with her?"
"No, he actually lost him," King Vegita said, still laughing. When Nappa had told him the story, he had found very amusing. "He was riding with the brat on the back of his horse and he had fallen off. Bardaku looked everywhere for him, but he found no trace of him."
"He's Radditsu's father, am I right?"
"Yes, he's quite disgusted with his father's attitude about a lost son that most likely was another weakling."
"Hmph, pathetic," Vegita said, frowning as Bardaku passed him. "Did he even have a chance to name it?"
"Aa, I believe his name was Kakarotto."
Vegita laughed. "What a ridiculous name."
***
Vegita nodded, knowing that he was looking at Kakarotto. "So, that's what happened to the little brat, eh?" He smirked to himself.
"Huh?" Bulma said, looking at the pictures. "Do you know Gokuu?"
"Gokuu?" Vegita said, thinking that was an even more ridiculous name.
"Well, those are pictures of my friend, Son Gokuu."
Vegita released a laugh and shut the book. "Hmph, and you say you don't like Saiyajins."
"That hasn't changed." Bulma frowned, clueless to what he was talking about.
Vegita just laughed again. "I'm taking this," he said, turning to leave.
"Huh, wh-why??" Bulma said, taking a step forward.
"Don't worry about it," Vegita said, exiting the room. He grinned to himself, thinking he had stumbled on something quite interesting. *I wonder how I can use this... Oh, wait a minute, I was supposed to kill that woman. Well, I'll do it later. I have plenty of time to do so.*
Vegita tucked the album book under his arm and started down the hall. "Kakarotto..."
***
"You want to send one of your knights to our kingdom?" King Vegita asked, frowning at the other King on the video screen.
"Yes, I believe it will solidify the alliance between us," King Briefs said calmly.
"In what way?"
"Well, I intend to use the knight as a diplomat--I would imagine you Saiyajins don't have many of those."
"No," King Vegita said, grinning. "Most of the foreigners in our kingdom are slaves."
"Not surprising," King Briefs said good-naturedly. "How is my daughter doing?"
"I have yet to see her myself," King Vegita replied. "My son is in charge of her well-being. I haven't heard too many bad things regarding her, so I assume she is fine."
"What sort of bad things?" King Briefs asked, wondering if Bulma had done anything stupid.
"Well, we Saiyajins don't like foreigners too much, regardless if they are royalty," King Vegita said, grinning more at the King's concerned look. "The Princess was supposed to stay in the room given to her, but she escaped--"
"You make it sound as if she is a prisoner."
King Vegita laughed. "She certainly is not a prisoner," he said, trying to choose more tactful words. "We just don't trust foreigners well enough to have them running around our castle as they please."
"So, Bulma left her room without permission," King Briefs said. "That caused trouble."
"The way I understand it is that the guards around the castle were in an uproar trying to locate her. Luckily, my son found her before she went somewhere where she could get into a great deal of trouble."
"Well, Bulma is a tricky girl," King Briefs said, smiling because his daughter managed to slip through the fingers of such people.
"I doubt she will manage to trick the guards again," King Vegita said, a bit annoyed at the man's smile. "Those guards know they can easily be replaced."
"If you allowed a Capsule knight to watch over the Princess, I doubt she would ever cause you any trouble," King Briefs offered, affably. The other King seemed to be bothered by his pleasant attitude.
"Well, that may not be necessary," the Saiyajin King said. "However, I will think over the matter."
"Thank you, Vegita-Ou." The paler King made a short bow to the other King.
"Hmph," King Vegita said, ending the transmission.
King Briefs smiled to himself and turned off the screen. "Well, I think that went well."
***
Bardaku was very surprised to discover that the Prince had summoned him for reason unknown. He hated when he was in contact with Nappa, and this had been one of those rare occasions. Usually his superior relayed messages to him that had been from Nappa to his platoon. An Elite commander hardly ever spoke to a third-ranked officer. Now the Saiyajin no Ouji himself wanted to see him? Bardaku had barely finished his report on Tofunda before he was told he was to see the Prince right away. Radditsu had joked that he was in trouble, but Bardaku knew that wasn't possible. He hadn't done anything unusual as of late.
*What the hell would he want with me?* Bardaku wondered, saluting to all of his superiors in the hall. *I don't have anything the Prince would want. Hell, the Prince doesn't have anything I want.*
Bardaku knocked on the door to the room he was told to go to. A voice told him to enter and he did so. The Saiyajin had never been so close to the Prince before. With the sinister look on the young one's face, he doubted he really had a desire to.
"Your Majesty," Bardaku said, bowing to him. "You wished to see me?"
"Bardaku, right?" Vegita said, sitting in a chair and motioning for him to stop bowing.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"About twenty years ago you lost your son, am I right?"
Bardaku frowned, wondering why he was bringing that up. "Yes..."
"Where exactly did you lose him?" Vegita continued, loving the one the other Saiyajin seemed to be agitated by the question.
"In some forest...by a waterfall," Bardaku answered, trying to remain dignified through the inquiry. "Your Majesty, if I may ask a question."
"Why am I questioning you about Kakarotto, hmm?" Vegita guessed.
"Yes...Kakarotto..." Bardaku clenched his teeth. He had taken much of his time to try to forget he had a second son.
Vegita threw the album book on the floor. "It might interest you to see this."
Bardaku frowned and picked up the strange book from the floor. He opened the book at random and nearly dropped it when he saw a picture of Bulma and Gokuu smiling together. Vegita grinned, watching his reaction with amusement.
"Is this...real?"
"Yes, I found the Princess with this," Vegita said. "It seems Kakarotto has been living in Capsule without knowing of his Saiyajin heritage."
"I don't believe it!" Bardaku said, touching the picture with his fingers it confirm its authenticity with a second sense. "I thought he was..."
"Judging by those pictures it seems that Kakarotto would be better off dead," Vegita said, folding his hands together. "He's been raised as a Capsule person."
"He looks so much like me," Bardaku said, temporarily ignoring the Prince. "Sire, I think a Saiyajin cannot deny his blood no matter where he grows up."
"Hmph, a nice hypothesis, but I think Kakarotto has proved that wrong," Vegita said. "If he displayed any kind of behavior like that of a Saiyajin then I seriously doubt he would be good friends with the Princess. She's quite against the idea of Saiyajins."
Bardaku was silent. *Kakarotto is alive...* he thought. *I thought my only chance to honor my mate's dying wish was gone...but now...*
"Your Majesty, I am curious as to why you have informed me of my son's existence," Bardaku finally said.
"I'm just a bit curious myself to see what a Saiyajin raised like a normal person would be like," Vegita said, eyes glinting mischievously. "He might be amusing, or if he's completely mad it would be a Saiyajin's duty to eradicate one of our own that has become inept. You agree that would be the merciful thing to do?"
"Yes," Bardaku said, his brows coming together. *If he's insane I couldn't stand to see what I had done,* he thought. *My mate wanted me to train him into the best fighter ever--a Saiyajin to be proud of. An inferior Saiyajin, regardless if he is my son, should be eliminated.*
"As the upcoming ruler of Vegita and the Saiyajin empire, I intend to make it clear that I will not tolerate inferior Saiyajins in my presence," Vegita said. "I think I will have someone bring Kakarotto here to see if he stands up to Saiyajin standards. If not...I'll try to find an amusing way to dispose of him."
"This woman in the picture is the Princess?"
Vegita made a movement of his eyebrow that confirmed that.
"So, she is unaware of Kakarotto's true lineage."
"Obviously," Vegita scoffed. "Which is why I am convinced that he will be a sight to see. A Saiyajin isn't what you would call a face in the crowd unless he were among other Saiyajins."
Bardaku bowed again. "My liege, I thank you," he said, closing the book. "Even if Kakarotto is killed here, it would ease my mind greater than knowing that he wasn't a true Saiyajin."
"A response typical of a true Saiyajin." Vegita smiled, thinking that he were beginning to like the strange Saiyajin even though he were of a much lower rank than him.
"May I keep this?"
Vegita waved his hand. "Do as you like," he said, dismissive of it because it belonged to Bulma. He knew that she would not be pleased of what he had done, but all the better.
"Thank you again, Your Majesty." Bardaku bowed again and left once the Prince gave him a signal he may do so.
"Kakarotto..." Vegita mused. A nasty grin came about his lips. "He'll be perfect to demonstrate my power. After I get rid of the Princess and deal with this lost Saiyajin, I will be looked upon as the most powerful and feared Vegita in Saiyajin history!"
***
Chichi handed Gokuu a cloth with a worried expression. "Are you catching a cold?"
Gokuu took the cloth and blew his nose. "I think it's just something in the air," he said, sniffing a few times. "I've never sneezed that many times in a row."