Author: Sinistra

Rating: PG - 13

Warning: Miner Swearing

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with DBZ.

Authors Note: Thank you for the reviews again. They made me really happy :D Also I noticed a mistake in the previous chapter. I said "Juunanagou, Kuririn and Yamcha were the Taimou Clan's traders, scouters and massagers," it was meant to be messengers. Hehe sorry about that peoples, I was not well when I wrote that chapter (mentally not well *shrugs* my friend made me laugh too much ^^) Well I would of updated sooner but I've come down with a cold and its made me dizzy an' all.  Anyhoo… Chap 3 now.

Beta Readings: If anyone wants to beta read my stories just email me at fuzzy_fluff_nut@yahoo.com.au . But you'll also have to explain to me what it evolves!! Sorry but I don't know anything about that *feels really stupid*

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Living by the Sword The new member of the Taimou Clan

Vegeta ran along the familiar path that would lead him and the injured woman to the Karigoya. The Rice swung uncomfortably on his back and his sword hit his leg every time his leg moved. But the only thing that he managed to keep still – with great difficultly – was his arms. Buruma groaned softly every now and again as Vegeta jumped over a log or two.  Her Komodo and his clothes were blood stained and her wound was roughly wrapped in some cloth. He had to stop some time back to slow the bleeding, by that time Buruma came down with a slight fever.

Growling in frustration, he nearly missed the river which he had to follow which would lead him to the Karigoya. Turning swiftly the rice hit his back painfully, he grunted in slight pain but ignored it and pushed himself to the limit. Running at top speed he grabbed as much air as he could while running at full pace and pushed him self further. Within moments he reached the small two story house. Sliding the door open with too much force, he startled the occupants in the main room. Breathing heavily he managed to get out a croaky 'Medical attention' before losing the remaining strength in his legs and collapsed, Buruma still held securely in his arms. Juu rushed past him to grab a bucket of water to heat up, while Chichi disappeared up the stairs to retrieve cloth and Juu's tools. Jay moved off the bed he was on and grabbed clean sheets which were laying on the floor. Kuririn and Goku went to Vegeta, Kuririn took Buruma out of Vegeta's grasp while Goku helped a very reluctant Vegeta up onto his feet towards a near by stool. Juu returned and placed the bucket of water over the fire. Looking at Buruma's wound she saw it was roughly bandaged up.

"What happened Vegeta?" She asked not taking her eyes off the woman's wound. Vegeta managed a small croak and Juu rounded on Goku.

"Goku You numbskull!! The most obvious thing to do right now is to get Vegeta some water," she yelled. Goku jumped out of his worried state and nodded. Moments later he returned with a small cup with water in it. Vegeta took it whole heartedly and drank and answered Juu's question.

"Thieves." One word answered everything. The Karigoya Clan had a bad rep' with the Thieves in the area as they killed most of them. Juu cursed just when Chichi came running down the stairs to her side. Placing the tools and cloths on the ground by Juu and went to the other side and grabbed the lamp and held it high. Juu nodded her thanks and ripped the Komodo open further to get better view to the wound. Cleaning it with a dry cloth she ordered Kuririn to get the bucket from the fire. He obliged and placed the warm water beside Juu. Juu then started her work on the unconscious body of Buruma.

***

By now, Vegeta, Goku, Jay and Kuririn had all fallen asleep against the wall – Vegeta had moved off the stool – while Chichi was barely awake trying to hold the lamp up, as was Juu, who every now and again missed the wound and caught mid air. Finally it was done and Juu placed a blanket over Buruma's body. Placing a hand on Chichi's shoulder, she nodded and they both got comfortable against the wall next to the bed used for medical attentions.

Morning came by quickly and Vegeta was the first to arouse quickly followed by Goku. They had a habit, as children, to get up seconds between each other. Goku stretched slightly as Vegeta stood up to stretch. Glancing over at Buruma's form he saw she was breathing steadily, snorting softly he murmured something about 'loud women always getting hurt'. Goku stood up next to him and glanced at Buruma's form as well. Not looking at Vegeta he spoke quietly as to not wake anyone else up.

"Care to spar in hand to hand combat or swords?" Vegeta smirked. Sometimes Goku could be dim-witted and un useful but when it came to sparing with the fists or the swords he was very much like Vegeta. Very intelligent in that area.

"Hand to hand combat," he replied and stepped over Kuririn's sleeping form towards the door. Goku nodded and followed. Once outside they took their places a couple of ft away from each other. Getting into a low fighting stance both opponents studied the other, trying to find a weakness in their posture. Sadly none found one. At once they both lunged at each other and sent several kicks and punches towards each other. Goku ducked from a round house kick from Vegeta and sent a fist to the stomach which Vegeta jumped back to avoid. Getting up quickly Goku charged on Vegeta again and sent an upper cut punch but Vegeta grabbed his fist and used it as a boost, shooting himself into the air and doing a couple of back flips to land behind Goku. Taking the advantage from the shocked Goku, Vegeta elbowed him in the back sending Goku forward. Goku re-caught his balance and turned around in time to block a punch directly to the face. Vegeta was smirking now and Goku returned the smirk.

They continued their sparring match for at least an hour before both could not penetrate the others defence barrier. That was the problem sparing with the same opponent every time, you learned his moves fast and so the match gets shorter. Walking back into the Karigoya both men noticed that Chichi and Juu were hovering over Buruma who was trying to sit up and Kuririn was no where to be seen. Clearing his throat, Goku caught the attention of the three girls.

"You're awake," he said to Buruma. Buruma nodded slightly but managed to sit up without anyone telling her not to. She looked over at Vegeta, who she noticed still had on his bloody clothes. Vegeta and Buruma met eye contact suddenly and looked away just as quick. Vegeta gave a short 'hn' in greeting and disappeared down the corridor, up the stairs.

"Don't worry about him, his always a grouchy basted ," Chichi turned to Buruma who nodded. Chichi sighed, "So as I was saying. I'm Chichi and this is Juuhachigou or Juu. That man over there," she motioned to Goku, "is Goku. You must already know Vegeta, and Kuririn was the short one that walked out not so long ago along with Juunanagou or Jay, Juu's brother," Buruma nodded again.

"Buruma Briefs," was what she said. Chichi smiled and Juu grunted.

"I still don't see why Vegeta would bring back a whore," she grumbled out loud. Much to everyone's shock Buruma growled.

"I'll have you know blonde, that I am not a whore and I came from a resemble family," Buruma shot back offended of someone calling her a whore. Turning around Juu looked at Buruma and frowned.

"If you came from such a good family why aren't you with them?" she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. Buruma feld her arms and made herself comfortable on the bed, by now though Goku made his way over and was kneeling at the end of the bed. Buruma glanced at him and frowned.

"I rather not say," she spoke softly. Juu sighed.

"Fine. Do you have anywhere to go?" Buruma shook her head no. And Juu nodded, "Fine. You can stay here for the mean time. But your not staying here permeantly. When you're healed you will leave. Understood?" Juu stood up and gathered her tools and cloths and turned around. Not bothering with the answer, but Buruma answered anyway.

"Then where would I go?" she snarled back. Juu looked over her shoulder and shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't care. It was your own fault you came here in the first place," with that said she disappeared around the corner, down the corridor.

"Bitch," Buruma grumbled out loud. Chichi laughed softly and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about Juu. She wasn't originally apart of this clan and she likes to test new comers," she put in simply.

"New comers?" Buruma asked slightly confused. Chichi laughed.

"You're a member of the Taimou Clan now," she smiled and she got of the bed and stood in front of Buruma. Goku smiled and stood next to Chichi.

"That's correct. When Juu was fixing you up last night we had a short talk and thought you'll be the 8th member of the clan. Quite simple and besides," Goku smiled, "we need more females," this earned a playful hit from Chichi. Goku chuckled and nodded once to both girls and left the room.

"8th member? Who's the other? I only have met 6 of you," Buruma said. Chichi was dumbfounded for a couple of seconds.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that's right Yamcha. I don't really like the guy but Vegeta and Goku insist having him in the clan because of his fighting skills. But lately Vegeta and Yamcha have been having a lot of quarrels. No one knows what that's made of," Chichi trailed off and shrugged, "Come on lets go and find you a room and get you some clothes," holding out her hand to help Buruma stand. Buruma accepted it and was hauled up. Slowly both females made their way to the corridor and up the stairs.

They entered a room with a fairly large bed in it, which could easily fit two people in it. Walking over to a very well designed wardrobe Chichi opened it and a full stack of Komodo's was neatly in there. Grabbing one of the top Chichi let it drop and placed it in front of Buruma. Smiling so gave Buruma the komodo and turned around back to the wardrobe. A couple of seconds later she tossed Buruma a light blue one and some more later one.

A couple of minutes past and Buruma had at least 5 Komodo's laying in her out stretched arms. Chichi smiled and turned away to one of the doors. Sliding it open she disappeared in side only to reappear with two white robes. Motioning Buruma to follow, which she did, she went down another hall and slid open another door. It happened to be another room, much darker than the one previous. It had navy blue material attached to the window to block out the sun which made the room dimmer than what it originally was. There was another bed in there, slightly larger than the previous but still large enough. There were neatly stacked books and a wardrobe in the corner, some prints on the wall opposite the bed. As Buruma gazed at the room Chichi lit a near by lamp.

"Every female in the Karigoya must stay with one of the males," she started, "we do this because of the rep. we have with the thieves and small gangs around the area," Chichi said while she took the Komodo's from Buruma and feld them neatly. Only leaving one out, the robes were placed next to the Light Blue Komodo.

"Who do you and Juu stay with?" Buruma thought she knew the answer but she just wanted to know. Chichi smiled.

"Juu stays in Kuririn's room and I," Chichi got a dreamy look in her eyes and sighed, "stay with the cute and most sweetest guy there is, Goku" Buruma quirked an eyebrow, at Chichi's tone but decided to ignore it.

"So," pause, "who am I staying with?" Chichi looked at her and immediately got out of her dazed state.

"Well Juu and I discussed it last night, we thought to put you in with Jay but his the salutary type," Buruma nodded in understanding, "Then there was Yamcha. Vegeta put his foot down of that…"

"Vegeta?" Buruma cut Chichi off. Chichi nodded.

"Yes. He dislikes… no wait – hates the man. He says that a stupid, idiotic weakling like him couldn't protect a woman right even if his life depended on it. I have to say, out of all the men Yamcha is the weakest (AN: No offence to all of you Yamcha lovers. Yamcha isn't a bad guy I admit)," Chichi stopped to see Buruma's reaction but she was busy looking at the Komodo. She snickered mentally, this next part should rally her up, "So we put you with Vegeta," Buruma's head snapped up.

"What?" Her voice was low and it held a note of anger in it, "I do not want to live in the same room as that, that man," Buruma was going to insult him but he hadn't done anything wrong to her… yet.

"Well Vegeta doesn't want to share with you either. But he agreed otherwise we would of put you in with Yamcha," shrugging Chichi turned towards the bed and grabbed the komodo and the two robes, "Come on. I'll show you the hot springs. It'll help your wounds," Buruma sighed and nodded, following Chichi down the hall and back down the stairs they saw Juu leaning against the wall with a robe as well.

"'Bout time," she grumbled and Chichi smiled

"Sorry. I had to show her where she was sleeping," Chichi said to Juu. Juu nodded in understanding and walked out of the Karigoya.

"Where are the others?" Buruma asked. Juu looked at her and shrugged.

"Knowing them they are probably in the training room doing hand-to-hand or swords, though there could be a possibility they are doing both,"  Juu said as they walked along a path.

Soon Buruma could hear water running and it was getting sort of hot. Smelling the air, she could smell the fresh scent of water and the lush plants surrounding it. Soon they came into a clearing which had the hot springs in it. Stream rose out of the springs and the water was surrounded by all sorts of flowers and plants, that made the area nice and shady. Buruma couldn't help but smile and look around, this caught Juu and Chichi's attention.

"Like it do you?" Juu said behind her. Buruma nodded and Juu stepped to the side of her, "That's why the original Taimou Clan chose this place so that we could have a place to relax and be away from civilisation," Juu finished and walked over to a rock. Placing her robe on there she turned back to Buruma.

"If you want you can wear the robe into the springs, or you can go without," Juu shrugged and turned around again to disrobe.

"You'll bath naked with the men just a 2 minute walk away," Buruma said, abit shocked at the idea. Chichi placed a hand on their shoulder.

"I wouldn't worry about it," she smiled as she moved away to another rock, "When the boys know were here they don't come anywhere near us. Unless we scream…" Chichi dropped the sentence as that and started to disrobe her self. She placed Buruma's robe and another rock beside hers, and started climbing into the springs. Buruma turned away from Juu and Chichi as they climbed in for respect of modesty. Once she heard two faint splashes she turned around and looked at Chichi and Juu. Juu smiled.

"You can come in you know," she said, "if you don't feel comfortable there is a bush over there that you can disrobe behind and slip on the white robe. No one wont see you," smiling again Juu ducked underneath the water and Chichi turned around to her.

"Just to warn you Vegeta might see you naked tonight or sometime…" smirking she also ducked under water leaving a bewildered Buruma behind. Opening her mouth to retort she quickly shut it as they would of not heard her any way. Grumbling something unintelligent she grabbed the white robe and went behind the bush to disrobe. A few minutes later she remerged with the white robe one. By now Chichi and Juu had resurfaced and were chatting happily, while Buruma was trying desperately to pull the robe down further. It was just below her rear which made it resemble uncomfortable. The slash, she made sure was done up properly. Walking towards the edge she knelt down and slid her self in, the warmth taking her by surprise. Looking up Juu and Chichi were looking at her and were smiling. She smiled back and swam over to them to sit on the under water ledge.

"So is this what you lot do to relax?" Buruma chuckled and she heard Chichi and Juu do the same.

"Yeah we do," Juu answered. There was a pause and Chichi started up a conversation.

"So Buruma, what was your family?" Buruma looked at chichi and bit her lip.

"They were killed by the opposition of the imperialists," she looked down at the steaming water, it was always difficult to talk about her family when they were killed in front of her eyes at the young age of 6. Buruma jumped slightly as Chichi put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"My family was also killed by the opposition," smiling slightly she continued, "I was hurt when Goku found me in the woods. I was running away from a couple of drunken men who wanted a 'good time' with me. They had managed to cut me in some places but I quickly healed," grinning she continued, "now look where I am?" laughing slightly she patted Buruma on the shoulder and grinned. Juu came over to them and sat on the opposite side of Buruma.

"My brother and my self were born into this clan,"  she smiled, "but Kuririn and Yamcha were found. Kuririn was a pocket-picker and accidentally picked Jay's pocket," chuckling she continued, "We took him in after that when he gave us some money. Goku said he'll be a good scouter for the clan. And Yamcha well…" Juu trailed off, "Yamcha was drunk when he stupidly attacked Vegeta. Vegeta hurt him badly on the face, hence the scars, so he was accepted because he withstood Vegeta's attack," sighing she leant back on the cool rocks. Chichi sighed too and leant back, Buruma shrugged mentally and followed suite.

"So what happened to your parents Juu?" Buruma asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. Juu continued to stare up at the sky that had an orange hue to it.

"They were killed on an assignment," taking a breath she continued, "Vegeta and Goku brought their bodies back. Mother had gone after Father to stop him fighting, but she got the death end of the blade protecting Father. Father, blinded out of anger, charged but didn't keep his guard up," smiling slightly Juu closed her eyes, trying to block the images floating back into her mind. Buruma placed a hand on Juu's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I should of not asked," Juu snorted, taking back her old manner.

"Please, I'm used to it," smirking she looked at Chichi and nodded. Both Juu and Chichi grabbed Buruma's fore arm and brought her with them, under water. Resurfacing a few seconds later, Buruma's hair was everywhere in front of her face as Chichi and Juu rose up and were giggling. Buruma narrowed her eyes and smirked. Bringing her arms up she put her hands on their heads and dunked them, catching them off guard. Letting them go Juu rose first with her blonde locks in front of her eyes and Chichi rose next with her brunette hair everywhere at once. Buruma started up in a fit of giggles and soon Juu and Chichi joined in.

***

Vegeta ducked a fist from Goku and side stepped a sword swing from Kuririn. They had an exercise that it'll be two against one. One fighting with a wooden sword and the other with fists. It was Vegeta's turn and he dogged everything easily. Smirking suddenly, he slammed his fist into Kuririn's stomach and kicked Goku in the head. Goku fell down backwards while Kuririn was bent over holding his stomach. Chuckling Vegeta picked up the wooden sword and placed it back into it's place, on the rack!

"You both had your guard down" he chuckled as Goku got back onto his feet and Kuririn onto unsteady feet. Goku grinned while rubbing the sore spot on his head,

"Yeah well, who's up for some food?" Forgetting about his stomach Kuririn groaned and Vegeta snorted.

"Goku we just ate," Kuririn said walking over to Jay who was sitting down watching. His wounds hadn't healed enough for him to practice yet. Goku laughed.

"I know we just ate, but I'm still hungry," and to prove his point his stomach growled loudly, followed by a slightly softer one – Vegeta's. Vegeta scowled and mentally cursed his stomach as he turned around to exit the training area. Goku chuckled and followed Vegeta out. Kuririn shook his head in disbelief and helped Jay stand so they could follow.

Entering the main house, the women had come back from the springs and were chatting quietly. Buruma had the light blue Komodo on with a starry kind of pattern on it, Juu had a pale yellow one on with a dark blue flower at the bottom and Chichi wore a dark blue Komodo with a flower stem that reached the bottom of the Komodo to the top. They were sitting by the fire which had three white robes hanging over it, one was ringing wet. Vegeta quirked an eyebrow just as Goku came up beside him. Goku was immediately noticed by Chichi who stood and rushed into his arms. Juu rolled her eyes and Buruma just looked on in some bewilderment. Vegeta snorted in disgust and walked over to the other two women. Stopping in front of Buruma he looked down at her, so her had to crane her neck upwards to look at him.

"Woman come with me," stepping around her he entered the hallway as Buruma just looked on after him, "WOMAN!!" Buruma 'eeped' and ran into the hall way. Juu shook her head as Goku and Chichi snuggled up together across from her. Soon Jay and Kuririn entered, Jay walked by him self and hobbled over towards the small stool there while Kuririn went straight to Juu and wrapped his arms around her waist. Juu couldn't help but lean back and close her eyes.

"How was your training?" Juu whispered. Kuririn smiled.

"Interesting," was all he said and everyone just sat there in silence.

Vegeta entered his room – um… Buruma and Vegeta's room – with Buruma in tow. Sliding the door shut behind her she looked at Vegeta who disappeared into the bathroom. Soon he re-entered and looked at Buruma, turning away again he headed towards the drawer and started taking off his weapons o.O

"Did the blonde fix your wounds right?" he growled. Buruma let loose the air she was holding without even realising it.

"Yes she did," Vegeta turned towards her and looked at her stomach.

"It wasn't a really deep cut but you would of lost a lot of blood," Vegeta part lied, partly didn't. Walking towards the wardrobe he opened I and saw the folded Komodo's, and the remaining work clothes of the Inshoku. Quirking an eyebrow Vegeta grabbed it and turned towards Buruma with a questioning look.

"I wanted to keep it if that's all right with you," she sarcastically said. Vegeta snorted and chucked it back in. Closing it and went to the bed and sat on the edge. Sighing tiredly he slipped his top off so it just hung. Buruma looked on, he was well toned and not to mention cute too. 'Whoa hold up! Where did that last part come from. You don't even know the guy well,' Buruma cursed mentally but didn't notice Vegeta standing in front of her – her eyes still on his chest. He chuckled suddenly bringing her back to reality.

"Like what you see woman?" he chuckled, but was not expecting what was to come.

"Gezz your stuck up with your self aren't you?" Buruma snorted. Vegeta smirked, 'so this woman has got a small fire in her after all.'

"No I'm not stuck up with my self. I think you're the one stuck up not getting rid of that ridiculous ripped up uniform," Vegeta snorted

"Ridiculous?? I have you know buster, that I worked in those clothes at the Inshoku," she took a breather, "and at least I have a different variety of clothes,"

"Variety? Variety my arse. Those clothes are Kakarott's harpy,"

"Her name is Chichi, and she is not a harpy," Buruma bawled her hands into fists, her anger growing. Vegeta chuckled.

"I don't care what her name, your name or any one's name is," He smirked at the dark hue that sparked in her eyes.

"Well then who's got a short term memory eh?" It was Buruma's turn to smirk but it was quickly wiped off as Vegeta pushed her against the wall, crushing her between his body and the wall.

"I do not have a short term memory woman," he snarled his breath tickling her ear. Suddenly his licked her ear lobe making Buruma shiver involuntary, "Obviously I'm going to like my little feisty bed warmer," he chuckled and let her go. Proceeding into the bathroom. Buruma was breathing heavily but soon regained her composer and growled.

"I am not your bed warmer asshole," she yelled through the closed door, "And my name is Buruma!" and with that she slid the door open and slammed it shut, walking down to the main room, while leaving a chuckling Vegeta behind and walking into some questions.

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AN: Hope you like this chapter. I thought adding a sparring match in there would spark up the dbz related part of the story *shrugs* dunno. Anyhoo… I'm also thinking of bringing in my characters (Mickeal, Sinistra, there clan, etc) but I want you to tell me what you think. In the view will be fine or email me at fuzzy_fluff_nut@ahoo.com.au and tell me. I'm not sure if I only want the main characters to be the dbz characters or if I should bring some of mine in. Oh yeah please R&R :D

Karigoya - Shack (the house)

Taimou - Ambition

Inshoku – Eating and Drinking (The eating place thingy)