Bulma slid down the ladder and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. The red, green and blue candy-cane striped ladder was made of whatever Vegeta had dug up on his rounds to pick up food other than the huge deer-thing they'd caught the other day.

"Hey, Bulma," Goku said, getting up and grinning at her. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," she said, smiling back. She was tired, sweaty, and covered with all kinds of dirt and grease from various jobs around the ship. but she did feel pretty damn good.

Krillin gave her a whistle as he came around the corner. He grinned and winked, saying, "Yo, Goku! Send her my way! What'll Chi Chi say?"

Goku grinned back mischievously. "She don't even gotta know."

Bulma laughed. It had become so boring she accepted the playful flirting from the boys, and even joined in after a while. It didn't help that the rest of her clothes either had even LESS material than what she currently wore, or she just didn't have any more. So she was stuck like that until they got back to Earth.

Vegeta didn't participate in the playful bantering, but Bulma couldn't miss the gazes he gave her. Finally she stood next to him and smiled. "I guess I might as well ask you what kind of foods are here."

"What are you talking about, woman?" he muttered around a leg of something.

"Well, we're going to be stuck here for a long time, so I might as well know what the hell I'm going to eat." She leaned on the top of his head and asked, "Right?"

"Just because you look somewhat respectful like that doesn't mean I'll change my opinion of you."

Bulma's lower jaw dropped. "I look WHAT? I look like a SLUT and you're calling it RESPECTFUL?!"

"Yes." He never once missed a beat between his answers and eating. At least Bulma could see his hands when they moved. "And what's a slut?" Bulma groaned and smacked herself on the forehead, turning around to pace.

Krillin tapped Vegeta on the shoulder. "How WAS it on your planet anyway?"

Vegeta eyed Bulma and nodded. "Actually, that was dress for formal occasions. They wore less around the house and casual occasions."

Krillin grinned and leaned on the table. "You SURE they're no Saiyan women left?" he joked.

Bulma slapped him casually upside the head. "Krillin, shut up," she said lazily. "But really, Vegeta. You think I look respectable?"

"Of all the things I DON'T do woman, I do not lie."

Krillin raised an eyebrow but didn't say a word. He may not lie, but he had more ways of selectively telling the truth than even Goku did.

"That didn't directly answer my question."

He looked straight at her. "Yes, I think you look respectable. Now will you get away, woman, and let me finish my lunch?"

"I have to work on those controls anyway. Might as well get something out of spending the rest of my life with the three most annoying men that ever lived."

Vegeta grunted in response and turned away. Goku was sitting on the door they had yet to figure out how to close. He was a little slow, but he didn't miss the glances Vegeta was sending Bulma. And she looked at him the same way sometimes. When she wasn't about to wring his damn neck that is.

"What's up, Goku?" Krillin asked as he sat next to his best friend.

"Nothing much, he answered. "Just thinking."

"New hobby?" Krillin grinned as he tapped Goku's arm. "And did you remember to read the instruction manual this time? Thinking's a hard job."

Goku grinned back. "Nope. This one I can do all by myself. No instructions needed."

"Wow! You gotta teach me this one."

"It's free too."

"Jeez! What's the secret? What's it feel like? What--" Krillin couldn't finish the sentence because by then both boys were howling with laughter. It was so stupid and so lame and they were so bored it was funny.

"Kakorrot! What's going on?" Vegeta yelled over to them, cutting into their laughing fit.

"Nothing!"

"It's an awful lot of noise to be nothing, shit-for-brains!"

"You wouldn't understand! It's for people with a sense of humor!" Goku called over to the other Saiyan. Vegeta only grunted and shook his head. "By the way, Vegeta! I want to talk to you later!"

"Why? If you want to threaten me, just do it now. It will have the same result now as it will later."

"That's not it. Just meet me in the training room."

Vegeta debated saying no, but then maybe he could get Goku to explain these strange feelings he was having. Of all the things he knew about Goku was that he wouldn't tell a secret. He was able to be trusted. Plus, his curiosity won out and he finally nodded. "Fine Kakorrot. I'll see you later."

============================================

Bulma sighed as she stepped out of the shower. It felt so good to be clean again, but she could swear the buzzer for the viewscreen was going off again. By the time she got out there, Chi Chi's face was on the screen and she was looking for anyone. "Never fails," Bulma muttered to herself. "You get in the tub and someone wants to talk." She wrapped the towel even tighter around her and plopped down at the screen. "So, what's up now?"

"Bulma, why are you soaking wet?" was Chi Chi's first question as soon as she stopped ranting long enough to realize someone had come to talk to her.

"I just got out of the shower. You know, even when I'm this far from home, the phone STILL rings when I get in the shower."

"Sorry. Where are the others?"

"Probably out killing something. Why?"

"I don't know. Routine question, I guess. Old habits die hard."

"Tell me about it," Bulma muttered. She was going through her own bad habit of trying to pick up other men while Yamcha was currently unavailable to her. "I NEED to get OUT of here, Chi Chi. I swear, I'm starting to think VEGETA is nice."

Chi Chi's face paled within the space of five seconds. "Vegeta? Nice? Those two words don't belong in the same STORY let alone the same sentence."

"I know, I know. But he is for some reason. He's almost... HUMAN at times. I swear, if he WAS human, once you got past the cold-blooded killer thing, he'd be a really sweet guy." Then she looked at her friend's astonished and disbelieving face. "Don't mind me. I'm going stir crazy. I don't know what I'm saying."

"It sounds like you're falling for him."

Bulma jumped out of her seat. "You've GOT to be kidding me! Me! And the arrogant Prince Blockhead? I don't THINK so Chi Chi!"

"Just a thought," Chi Chi said innocently.

"Yeah, well, keep thoughts like that to yourself. It's bad enough here with three... MEN without assuming there's a romance too. Three guys and they're all idiots and morons. Not to mention one's married and the other two are shorter than I am and twice as rude. Why me?" she moaned.

"No Vegeta! Don't shoot them! They're the good guys!"

Bulma looked up at Krillin's warning. "What the hell--" She looked out the window and felt like she'd just landed in OZ. About fifty munchkins were gathered around the ship, while Goku and Vegeta were on guard and Krillin was greeting them.

Bulma smiled as she saw the leaders. They saw her and the one that had first trusted her saw and waved up at her. "This day just got a little better."

Krillin was busy filling the guys in on their friends from the invisible ship and the run-in with the people from it. The superior... officers?... ignored story time and walked past the three boys to get into the ship.

As they climbed the platform, then the ladder, Bulma stood at the top to greet them. When the two teenage leaders got to her, Bulma took a step back and nodded to them. Then she said, "You know, you guys really get on my neves. Now, how about programming the controls in MY language when you fix it?"

"Yeah," Krillin chimed in as he climbed up the ladder. "There's at least ten from earth she knows. Pick one."

The boy shot him a look then turned back to Bulma. "I'm sorry. We tried, but it wouldn't accept the programming."

"Then put it back in Namek or something! Just do it so I can get the hell out of here!" Bulma raged, throwing up her hands.

"I don't know Namek," he said calmly.

"Then pick something else," Bulma hissed, leaning in close. "Dammit!" Then she blinked, leaned back and grinned. "Wait. Never mind. You're going to teach me whatever language you programmed it in."

Krillin rolled his eyes. "O, brother. Here we go." He jammed his hands in his homemade pockets and turned to go back to Goku.

Bulma grabbed Krillin by the nape of his neck and spun him around. "And YOU'RE going to help him fix this damn place. I am going to TRY and find something that actually COVERS me."

Krillin paled a little as Bulma walked into the bedroom. The boy that was talking to her nudged him. "What?"

Krillin looked up and smiled wryly. "Her clothes got torn up when we ran into you guys the FIRST time. The scraps are holding the sink pipes together." Then he winced and paled even further as Bulma's cry out outrage at not having anything decent to wear floated out to them. "But don't tell HER that. PLEASE."

Goku -- wondering what happened to Bulma for her to be making THIS much noise -- floated up to see her standing in the doorway with arms crossed and foot tapping. Then he looked at Krillin and guessed the monk was in deep shit.

"Hey, Bulma," he said, trying to direct the monster's attention away from Krillin, "I thought you were going to get changed."

She glared at him with a scowl that challenged Vegeta's worst. "No clothes," she grunted between gritted teeth.

"Oh." Goku looked behind him because by now Vegeta had come to float behind him, interested by the conversation.

"She needs new clothes," he agreed, stepping into the ship. "That much I agree with."

"Probably the only thing," Krillin muttered to himself.

Bulma looked at Vegeta and put her hands on her hips. "As much as I agree with you, why the hell are YOU the one that says that?"

Without pausing, Vegeta marched over to her and stripped off most of what little cloth she had left. He smirked at her expression.

Finally, she got herself together and managed her get her mouth next to his ear before shouting at the top of her lungs, "What the FUCK do you think you're doing?"

"You were making me uncomfortable dressed like that." He shrugged.

"YOU were uncomfortable. Has it ever occurred to you that I might be uncomfortable wearing MORE than this before? Now why in hell are you uncomfortable? I thought Saiyan women dressed like this!"

"They do. For formal occasions. You were dressed up and I don't have my formal armor," he stated simply.

"Oh, is that all?" she asked sweetly. Then she kicked him again. "Dammit! NOBODY even knew that before now, and nobody except you CARES!"

"That's the point. I DO care."

"I DIDN'T until you took it upon yourself to treat me like a living mannequin! But NOW I do. NOW I want to kill you!"

"Don't bother to waste the energy, woman. We both know you can't."

Bulma was so pissed off she couldn't answer him. Finally she just kicked him one more time for good measure and growled as she tried to keep her pride inside the hurricane she was creating.

Krillin couldn't move either. "Wow... I mean... wow! Vegeta, you did it! It's a miracle!" He shook his hand at the older warrior and grinned, still keeping an eye on Bulma. "How did you...."

"Do WHAT, Cueball?" Vegeta asked, slightly annoyed.

"You shocked her speechless! Man! I didn't think it was POSSIBLE!"

While Krillin blabbed on, Vegeta tuned him out and smirked to himself. While he WAS uncomfortable with Bulma dressed up and himself not, it hadn't been too bad to see more of her either.

============================================

Gohan -- bored out of his mind because King Kai had yet to return -- began to pace again as he looked for Bubbles, or even Gregory. At least he could play with the cheerful monkey or talk with that annoying cricket. Having nothing to do was starting to get to him.

He sighed as he sat down against the tree and closed his eyes. This was going to be a long day; the least he could do was take a nap before his new trainer came home. A noise alerted him to someone coming, and he instantly jumped to his feet, smile pasted on his face.

"King Kai! I've been waiting! Where were you?" he asked as he rushed toward the sound.

The clattering of falling pans redirected his course to the house. Grinning, the little warrior leapt through the small window and into King Kai's rocking chair, displacing Bubbles.

The monkey howled, making Gohan look up at the figure in the doorway. He stood and brushed his clothes off, head cocked to one side as he looked more closely at the shadowed man.

"Hey. Where's King Kai?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes with the back of one hand. "You're not him."

A deep chuckle made its way to Gohan's ears. "I don't know, little one, and I don't particurally care." He stepped forward and smirked at the little boy. "This is MY place now."

"No it's not," Gohan protested, clenching his fist. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before. "This belongs to King Kai."

"I just told you, not anymore." The guy took another step into the light and Gohan saw purple skin and strong boots that ended about halfway up VERY muscualr calves. The armor flapped down to about mid-thigh and rose to broad shoulders supporting a heavy horned head.

"Captain Ginyu!" Gohan growled at the recognition of the annoying bastard that had kept his father out of the way. "What are you doing here?"

Captain Ginyu smirked at the young Saiyan. "How many times do I have to repeat myself, boy? I live here now."

"Bullshit," Gohan spat, then instantly clapped a hand over his mouth.

At that the mutant leader laughed outright. "So, the shrimp's got a mouth on him, huh?"

Gohan didn't hear the taunting. He was too worried about what his mother would do if she heard him talking like that. "She'll fry me," he muttered to himself. "Then she'll kill Mr. Piccolo for teaching it to me." Then he paused and thought about it a little more. "And Vegeta," he added as an afterthought.

The captain only heard part of it, but that was more than enough. "Sorry, kid. Your mommy ain't gonna save you this time."

Gohan looked up. "She couldn't if she tried," he admitted. "But I don't expect her to. Besides, how much can you posibly do? I'm already dead." Then he looked him over and grinned. "And you're not in my dad's body anymore. Guess you got yours back, huh?"

Ginyu grunted and smirked. "But your dad's not here to save your ass this time either, kid."

"I don't need him to. I can beat you all by myself," Gohan bluffed. One that didn't work.

The older fighter laughed. "You couldn't even defeat Raccoome! What makes you think you can best me?"

Gohan clenched his fist and didn't answer. Little trickles of blood ran down his fingers from where his nails bit into his palm in anger, but he ingnored that as well. The only thing he could focus on was Captain Ginyu and the pain he'd caused Goku in the fight.

"Having second thoughts, little one?" the Ginyu leader taunted, seeing the rage in Gohan's eyes. "You know, your dad had such a hard time with me. I don't think you'll be able to handle it. Maybe you should ask Raccoome for a rematch before you challenge me!"

Gohan growled a little. He could almost hear himself chanting, "You hurt my dad" just like in the fight with Raditz. But he stayed silent. Captain Ginyu hadn't seen his power and was overly confident. He vaguely remembered Vegeta telling Goku it was deadly to underestimate an enemy; a lesson Gohan was determined to teach the cocky Captain.

"Well, now, little boy, if you want to fight, here I am," he said, spreading his hands."But you'll have to come to me."

Gohan stepped back into a stance he used while fighting Piccolo: it made him look like a pathetic little kid who was trying to be impressive; perfect to get the Ginyu's guard down.

"I told you, boy, you'll have to come to me. I'm not moving until you do." He chuckled again and smiled grotesquely.

Gohan powered up slowly, noticing the absence of the other man's scouter. What he ddin't know was if the now dead Captain could sense power levels. Better safe than sorry. For now.

"Come now, child. I thought you were like your father in some ways, but being a coward wasn't what I thought you to be." Gohan's eyes widened at the comment, but Captain Ginyu interpreted as getting to him by insulting Gohan himself instead of Goku. "By the way, isn't your mommy worried about you?"

"She's always worried about me," Gohan said through gritted teeth. "So what else is new?" His hair was flickering gold every once in a while, and each new insult to Goku or Chi Chi only lessened the time between the flashes.

"Really? Her poor baby, off to fight? You should go back and sit on her lap. Where you belong," he hissed, hands on hips and leaning over.

That struck home. Gohan launched himself at the taller fighter and knocked the unsuspecting Ginyu backward. Unable to be seen because of his speed, Gohan attacked again from behind and landed on top of the cocky Captain, pinning both arms behind the huge armored back and sitting on them. His slight weight was more than enough to hold the basketball-sized hands on the flaps guarding the shoulders.

Ginyu struggled, but the way Gohan had him pinned, he couldn't bring his arms down to get leverage and he couldn't push the tiny Saiyan off with his hands up to his neck.

Gohan leaned over and grinned in the outraged purple face. "Gotcha," he chided. "Since Mommy's not here, I guess I'll have to use you instead. That's where I BELONG, isn't it?"

"Damn you, kid! Get the hell off of me!"

Gohan bounced on his arms a bit, almost breaking both. "You should know better than to use language like that around children," he lectured.

"Hell, you USE it!"

"I know," Gohan said innocently. Then he jumped on his attacker's arms again and pushed them up even higher so that now the large hands reasted on the back of their owners' head. "It's because I've hung around one too many ASSHOLES like you."

A bright flash of light lit Gohan's view and he ducked just in time to avoid the huge thing someone had thrown at him. Gohan didn't hesitate. He turned and attacked.

============================================

Bulma tried helplessly to repeat the fast-moving dialogue of this strange new language. "Dammit!" she swore after a few minutes. "Why can't I do this? Every other one I was able to at least SAY!"

"You're used to Earth languages. They're very different from mine," he explained patiently. "Mine is much harder because they're sounds you've never heard before. Not only is this a language from off-world, it's from a completely different galaxy. It takes a lot of time. WE had a hard time with it, and it's our native language!"

"Stupid woman," Vegeta muttered in Saiyan. "It's not THAT difficult."

Bulma whirled around to face him. "What did you say?"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "You understood me?" he asked incredulously.

"No. Which is WHY I was asking." She turned to the boy and said, "That sounds like a cross between this one and yours."

He followed Bulma's gaze at Vegeta with a thoughtful one of his own. "You're right. Should you learn that one, speaking mine would only be the next step."

Krillin covered his eyes and sat down, shaking his head. "THAT'S an offer she can't refuse."

Bulma's eyes widened in excitement as she latched herself onto Vegeta's arm. "YOU'RE going to teach me that," she said in her best wheedling voice.

"Says who, woman?"

"You DO want to get off this planet, right?" Bulma asked as she batted her eyes.

Vegeta crossed his arms -- with Bulma still attached with an iron grip -- and shook his head. "Wait until we get to your planet, woman," he muttered.

"All right! Gentlemen, start your teaching!"

Goku wiped the sweat off his forehead as he hauled food up to the ship. "What's going on?" he asked Krillin, who still looked like he was hiding.

"Bulma's learning two other languages."

Vegeta noticed Goku and scowled at him. "Kakorrot, come here," he ordered. "You should learn this too. A Saiyan warrior who doesn't know his own language..." He trailed off with a shake of his head.

Goku shrugged and wandered over. "What's up?" he asked as he joined Bulma on the chair.

The guy sat on the slight windowsill and smiled. "All right. Back to the basics."

============================================

King Kai appeared just in time to nearly be decapitated by the last member of the Ginyu Force. He ducked and saw that the orange-skinned fighter had been thrown off the planet -- literally -- by Goku's little boy. Gohan was still looking extremely pissed off, though his hair stopped flicking on and off like a light bulb with a lunatic next to the switch.

He saw Gohan power down slowly then lean nonchalantly against a nearby tree. The old martial arts master gathered his wits and stood up as tall as he could. "Gohan, who were they?" he asked as he went up to the young Saiyan.

"King Kai!" Gohan jumped up and grinned. "Where have you been? Those guys tried to say this was their place now, so I made them go away. The jerks."

"Do you know them?" King Kai asked, a little amused.

Gohan nodded. "They're the ones who held my dad back in the fight against Frieza." He clenched his fists. "Assholes." Then he clamped his hand over his mouth, his face changing several interesting shades of red. "My mom is gonna kill me when I get back."

"Why is that?" King Kai asked as he grabbed a piece of fruit off his tree.

"Well, one for dying, and two 'cause of the way I've been talking." He slumped down to the ground and pouted. "I sound like Piccolo. Or Vegeta."

"All warriors use it eventually," King Kai said as he bit into the blue apple. His eyes twinkled behind the dark glasses. "Just some sooner than others."

"But I'm seven years old!" Gohan protested, sitting up. "That seems a little wrong to me."

King Kai was pleased with his new student. Not only had he stayed so naive and innocent behind all the things he'd seen and done in the past three years, he was kind and so much like Goku it was uncanny. Yet again King Kai wondered how much he could teach the boy.

"Gohan, don't worry about it. I'll get rid of that nasty habit for you before you leave." King Kai smiled at the kid and pulled another apple from the tree. "Hungry?"

"Always," Gohan answered as he accepted the small blue treat. "Thanks," he said around another bite.

He turned his back to Gohan and sighed. "Gohan, what exactly did Piccolo teach you?"

"Didn't you ask me that?" Gohan asked as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"You never answered."

"Oh." Gohan stood and wrapped his tail around his waist before going over to his teacher. "Well, I'm not exactly sure. If we spar or something I can show you."

King Kai smiled faintly. 'It's been such a long time since I've had a match... and especially against someone that would give me a challenge...' He turned to face the small boy. "All right. Show me what Piccolo was good for."