The Curse

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z and Blade of the Immortal do not belong to me. This is a work of fanfiction, and I make no money from this work at all. It may also have yaoi, I don't know yet. Angsty piece. Definite AU.

"Who sleeps here, beneath the grass?" asked a soft voice, and he turned to see the face of his tormentor, his savior, the one with the whip that drove him.

"Someone I loved," was his simple answer, turning back to the weathered grave marker, bowing before it in the human reverence of the dead.

"I didn't think you could love," she said, and Vegeta wanted to sigh. "You are learning."

I'm so tired of being here

suppressed by all of my childish fears

if you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

because your presence still lingers here

and it won't leave me alone

"Old woman, is there a point to this?" he muttered softly, absently rearranging some flowers, and was surprised to find it joined by a single lily. Raising an eyebrow he realized that it had been brought by the old woman.

"There won't be until you choose one," he was answered, and a single point of incandescent light appeared on the tip of his finger.

"Why don't I kill you now?"

"Because you well know I can die no more than you."

Snarling with disgust, the light on Vegeta's finger went out. "It would make me feel better."

"Who was she?" asked the old woman, kneeling and giving her own homage.

These wounds won't seem to heal

this pain is just too real

there's just too much that time cannot erase

"It still hurts," he said in a hollow tone, not having met her eyes. "She was my daughter..."

She had meant the world to him. He had screwed up with his son; it wasn't until it was too late for him to try to fix things that he had realized it.

He could remember her being handed to him, wrapped in a ridiculously pink blanket. As soon as he had looked into her eyes, he had been wrapped around her moment's old fingers.

when you cried I'd wipe away all your tears

when you'd scream I'd fight away all your fears

and I've held your hands through all these years

you still have all of me

He remembered waking up to soothe her nightmares, cleaning her scraped knees, watching her become an almost young woman...

~*~*~*~*~

"Was this before or after I stuffed you with the kessen-chu, the holy blood worms?" his musing was interrupted.

"After, that's when, one night," he sighed and looked off into the distance. This part disgusted him because it was so STUPID. So stupid... "I heard someone sneaking into Capsule Corp. I thought it was a burglar, because whoever it was, had been masking their ki. That person had to be a danger, right? And they were about to enter Bra's room. I went to see who it was... and wound up killing her boyfriend."

Lowering his head, Vegeta wondered if he would ever forgive himself for that. He'd killed a boy he had been a second father to, his son's best friend, his daughter's lover.

"And she couldn't even hate me for it..."

The old woman didn't say anything, her eyes hidden in her bangs.

you used to captivate me

with your resonating light

but now I'm bound by the life you left behind

your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams

your voice has chased away all the sanity in me

"She went insane. Became a little kid again, dependent on her daddy for everything..."

He could remember her running to her otouchan, her hero, the man who made the bad dreams go away. She begged for him to make things better, and when she saw the blood of her lover on him- she snapped.

"It has been some time since then, young man. I told you that redemption has a great deal more holy market value than going around killing people."

"Why did you choose me?"

these wounds don't seem to heal

this pain is just too real

there's just too much that time cannot erase

"I didn't... but that is another story."

Vegeta looked at her like she was insane, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. The he shrugged and went on.

"My son never forgave me. I tried to give up fighting, let myself go soft, and he bided his time. Then oh, how he got his revenge..."

Vegeta had caught Trunks, mad as his sister, about to rape her, and begged him to stop- actuallybegged. When Trunks had laughed at him, and said only his death would satisfy him. Vegeta looked at him with dead eyes- and grabbed an ornamental letter opener, and sank it deeply into his own stomach, and jerked upwards, the skin tearing open and dumping his ruptured innards on the floor.

Father looked at son, light headed with pain and blood loss.

"Does this make you happy?" the Saiya-jin prince gasped, eyes still clear. He hadn't believed the old woman who had made him immortal when she had fed him those things... but he didn't feel like he was coming away from his body like he had when he had died before.

"You-" Trunks hissed, eyes full of fury. "You would take my revenge from me?" Vegeta's purple haired mirror screamed, no control or sanity left. Going Super Saiya-jin, he took his laughing sister, who hadn't the wit to be afraid, and sent a blast of ki through her heart.

"NO!" Vegeta wailed, his soul lost. Struggling through his own blood, which was erupting into worms and his body being knit back together, despite himself, he pulled free the letter opener and flung it at Trunks, and they fought.

when you cried I'd wipe away all your tears

when you'd scream I'd fight away all your fears

and I've held your hands through all these years

you still have all of me

"We fought," Vegeta muttered, coming back to the present. "And I killed my son, and my daughter..."

Sighing, he cracked his knuckles absently. "I left my mate then because I couldn't bring myself to look at her. I had killed two of her reasons for living. I have killed two of my own reasons for living... How do I get rid of these damn blood worms?"

"They are holy blood worms, young man, and you need to find a goal. One to live for, immortality gets boring if you don't do that," half sang the old bat, who sat like a statue, an odd expression on her face.

"A goal?" he sneered, still looking at his daughter's grave. "A goal... I cannot stop fighting, because that is what I do, what I am. When I tried, I killed those I cared about... but I killed a lot of people with loved ones. I killed 'good people'. I guess... I could kill a thousand evil men, women, beings..."

"A worthy goal, if you can figure out who is evil and who is not. Very well then- you kill a thousand evil beings, and the kessen-chu will leave you alone."

Vegeta looked up at her, shock writ plain on his face. "You want me to kill a thousand people?"

"Not so keen on the idea now? Its too late... and its your business how you go about it. I'll leave you alone now," said the old woman, getting to her feet while dusting off her knees.

I've tried so hard to tell myself that your gone

and though your here with me

I've been alone all along...

Vegeta was left alone, staring at the grave marker, lost in memory. He imagined he could still hear someone calling for her daddy...

To be continued!