Desert nights were as harsh as their days, bitter cold supplanting the burning heat. For a world with such soft, tame inhabitants, the land itself could be surprisingly violent. Under most circumstances Vegeta enjoyed it. Vegetasei had been cruel, but monotonously so, lacking the variety of Chikyuu's icelands and oceans, jutting mountains and dense forests. But sometimes he recalled his homeland, and then he would go to the purity of the deserts, the wastelands so like those which had birthed the Saiyajin.
He had brought Kakarotto here because it was logical; if the other Saiyajin were coherent, he would agree he would rather destroy rocks than trees or creatures or cities when he lost control. That Vegeta felt more comfortable here on a visceral level did not matter, nor did his passing thought that Kakarotto's buried instincts might also find it soothing factor into the decision. Such weakness had no bearing on a Saiyajin, ill or not.
Now he had some regret, however. His ki was barely high enough to keep himself warm as was his usual habit. Starting a fire with his hands had proved harder than he would have thought, and he was irritated with how tiring it had been to rotate the stick with enough speed to make heat. Once he had the fire going he was dismayed by how fast it ate through the bramble he had collected. At this rate it wouldn't last half the night.
And Kakarotto was already shivering, though the night's full cold had yet to descend. Vegeta had dragged him close to the fire; he lay there now curled on his side, trembling despite the sweat soaking his black hair. He looked, Vegeta admitted, alone in this cave, terrible. Not that Kakarotto was ever anything less than a ridiculous sight, with his rangy third-class build and the absurd native garb. Orange had been a jester's colors on Vegetasei. But his clothes now were rags, and his cheeks sunken, muscles shrinking to the bone as the fever razed his flesh. Once he had overcome this disease he would recover quickly, of course...
Once he overcame it. Not if, because Kakarotto never lost. It wasn't in him. For a good reason he would give his life, but nothing less. A warped version of a Saiyajin's pride to be sure, but Kakarotto had his people's tenacity, that could not be doubted.
Vegeta stared into the fire, watched it curl around and crush the spiny nettles to glowing ash. "You will not lose to our enemies. If you deny me victory, than you cannot so cheaply grant them such a prize."
He didn't realize he had spoken aloud until he heard a shallow inhalation, then a raspy voice. "Ve--Vegeta?"
"Kakarotto? You're awake?" It annoyed Vegeta, how quickly he responded to the weak gasp. Even more when he realized he had unconsciously been speaking in his native tongue. He switched to what Kakarotto could understand. "So you are still alive."
"Vegeta...have to stop...have to stop them..."
"Stop who?" Vegeta mustered what ki he could, but felt nothing for kilometers around them more dangerous than a poisonous lizard.
"They're coming...they'll be here..." Kakarotto's eyes were open, mirroring the golden fire as his head rolled against the stone. "Gotta...they'll...Raditz said more would come..."
Raditz? "Kakarotto, you idiot, we already came. Years ago. You stopped us."
"Vegeta...protect..."
Vegeta sighed. "You protected them from me." He had done an altogether too good a job of it, really. Sometimes Vegeta wondered if he would have been better off never coming to this damn planet. Never meeting Kakarotto and his idiotic family and friends...Bulma. Trunks. It was an odd and entirely unpleasant feeling, to imagine never knowing Bulma, to imagine Trunks never existing at all. To have never endured humiliation at Kakarotto's hands...
Cowardice, to think of avoiding battle. To have never fought Kakarotto...it twisted his gut even to consider it.
"Vegeta--" The fool was so weak he couldn't kneel without wavering, but he still was pushing himself up, struggling to stand.
Vegeta shoved Goku down with one hand, dropped him back to the ground and pinned his shoulders. "You rest," the prince growled. "I'll protect them."
For a moment Kakarotto's wandering gaze fixed on him, seemed to see him for the first time. Vegeta saw recognition there, the only true lucidity since this had begun. He braced himself; if Kakarotto was still lost in the past, he was the enemy...
"Thank you, Vegeta," Kakarotto sighed, and slipped back into unconsciousness.
"Uh oh."
Kuririn was at Bulma's side in an instant. "What do you mean, uh-oh?"
If she had been under any less stress she might have given him an itemized list. Now she only sighed, rubbing her temples. Migraine didn't begun to cover the magnitude of her current headache. Apocalyptic was closer to the mark. "I've been going over all the data I collected about the probe, before Vegeta destroyed it. To see if there were any clues in it about this disease."
Kuririn nodded impatiently. Across the room, Juuhachigou had paused in her sweeping to listen. It had been atypically generous of her to volunteer herself and her husband to pick up the wreckage of the laboratory; Bulma supposed she had done it to avoid being pressed into nursing duty. Her bedside manner was more suited to cleaning, although there was something terribly incongruous about the android wielding a broom.
At least she hadn't fled the scene entirely. Piccolo had vanished the moment he had seen Gohan settled in the bed by his brother's. Bulma sighed again. "Didn't Piccolo say that whoever it was that sent the probe were killed off by the Saiyajin? And the probe has just been floating around the universe for the last few decades?"
Kuririn frowned in thought. "Yeah, that's what it sounded like."
"Then we have a problem."
Bulma slid open the window and chucked out her aircar's capsule. It expanded into the vehicle, hovering outside the lab. She clambered inside as Kuririn scrambled to the window. "Wait! Where are you going?"
"To find Vegeta," Bulma said. "This has gone on long enough. We need answers, fast. Call me if anything comes up," and slamming the door shut she piloted the car into the sky.
Short chapter, but I'm not sure how long the next will take, and I wanted to reassure folks that I am still around. As long as some reader remains! Thanks to Brios201 and Scythe Zero for reviewing; and Dreamwraith (glad I'm more or less keeping in character - hope you continue to enjoy this!), Jen-chan, and Sholio (Vegeta-Goku is my favorite interaction - does it show? ;) for keeping with it!
