I don't own DBZ, Akira Toriyama does, this is just a fanfic. I do own Odan Goe and Kari, though.

_This_ is emphasized, and ((this)) is a thought. **************************************************************************** ****

Things Best Forgotten Part 1 by NansJns

Don't look back! The thunder's rolling. Don't look back! You know what's there. Don't look back! The sight will break you. Look ahead, and forget to care.
"Still Alive" by Leslie Fish

Ch.2: "I Know Who You Are. . ."

Goku noticed pretty quickly that Vegeta was more tense than usual. They had been practicing for over an hour, and Vegeta was this side of blowing up the gravity room. Usually he didn't get like that until they'd been training for at least six hours, or Kari pulled another one of her 'home-made' techniques that frustrated them both so. Kari had work to do, so she couldn't join them that day, and Goku was a little grateful. Vegeta didn't need the extra push.

"Hey, Vegeta, what's up? You're jumping to the big guns much faster than usual," Goku finally spoke up as he avoided a rather large ki blast.

"Someone has been watching me!" Vegeta answered as he prepared another ki ball.

"Believe me, I'm watching you very carefully!" Goku replied as he readied a ki attack of his own.

"Not you, you idiot! Someone has been watching Capsule Corp. for the last few days!" Vegeta snarled as he unleashed his ki blow.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Goku deflected the ki and fired his own ki beam.

"I've heard footsteps, felt eyes on my back, caught glimpses of moving shadows. I'm sure that someone has been spying on me," Vegeta growled, dodged the beam, and lunged at Goku.

"Have you told Bulma about this?" Goku asked as he blocked Vegeta's furious kicks and punches. He then turned to the offense and started hitting and kicking back.

"She thought I was imagining things," Vegeta blocked the blows and brought his knee up into Goku's gut. Goku gasped for a moment. "Until Trunks said he'd been noticing things too."

"Huh. So, why haven't you caught whoever it is?" Goku straightened up and dropped back into a combat stance.

"Because every time I try, he disappears! He's either the fastest son of a bitch in the galaxy, or he's throwing around extra shadows to distract me while he gets away!" Vegeta snapped and swung a kick at Goku's mid-section. "I'm going friggin' crazy trying to catch this bastard!" Vegeta's ki suddenly turned gold, as did his hair.

"Hey! There's no need to take it out on me! But if you want to go Super Saiyan. . .!" Goku barked back, and stepped up to Super Saiyan as well. Odan watched the whole thing from a distance with binoculars. His heart was hammering. He had read their lips, and knew what they had just done. Super Saiyan. Saiyan. ((May Kami have mercy on all of us. . .)) he thought quietly.

Shortly after Goku went home, Bulma was headed out to pick up some ingredients for dinner. Having a Saiyan and a half-Saiyan in the house tended to cause food supplies to rapidly diminish. Bulma had quickly learned not to take either of them shopping, either - they wanted everything in the store. She was a few steps from the front door when Odan came up the sidewalk.

"Odan! Hi! It's been a week! I was beginning to think you wouldn't be able to come!" Bulma called to him and waved. He waved back weakly.

"Hi, Bulma. Listen, I think we need to talk. . ." he started, but at that exact moment, Vegeta and Trunks came out of CC. Odan frowned at them, a look of distrust and fear flickering into his eyes.

"Mom, we thought of a few more things you need to get. Who's that?" Trunks paused as he looked at the stranger. Vegeta's dark eyes locked onto him and a small frown creased his face.

"This is my old friend, the one I told you about - Odan Goe," Bulma explained. "Odan, this is my husband, Vegeta, and our son, Trunks," she introduced them.

"Oh yeah - the guy who moved away. Hello," Trunks said with a friendly smile.

"Hello," Vegeta said stiffly.

"Hello." Odan replied just as stiffly. Bulma glanced back and forth at them, wondering at the sudden tension in the air.

"Did you move away because your parents found work elsewhere?" Trunks asked, hoping to ease the situation. Odan snorted in response.
"My parents were long dead by then. I had to leave because my body couldn't handle breathing the Earth's atmosphere any longer," Odan answered coldly. Just the sight of Vegeta was making him lose control.

"What?!" all three of them balked, and then a line of light passed down Odan's body. The human appearance vanished with the light, revealing solid-black skin, pointed ears, cat-like eyes, and two wide white stripes down his face over his eyes.

"O-Odan?!" Bulma gasped. Odan focused only on Vegeta.

"Vegeta. I knew I'd heard that name before, and that I'd seen your face. Prince Vegeta, ruler of the Saiyans, the butchers who slaughtered my race and sold my planet!" Odan snarled. Vegata felt shock fill his veins with ice.

"Dad? What's he talking about?" Trunks asked nervously. Before Vegeta could answer, Odan raised one arm and Vegeta and Trunks found they couldn't move a muscle. With them safely locked into place, Odan turned to Bulma.

"How could you marry this mass-murdering bastard? Do you have any clue as to the atrocities he's guilty of? He reeks of innocent blood!" Odan proclaimed. His fear and hate of the Saiyans was over-ridding his common sense. Bulma struggled to say something but could find no words. How could she answer questions like those? Odan's eyes flashed to Trunks, who just looked frightened and confused. "And more than marry! You bore him a child! A son! A son with power equal to his father's! How many innocents will he massacre?!" Odan shouted, then he took a few deep breaths and seemed to regain a little of his control and sanity. "No, it's not your fault. I don't know how he tricked you, but it's over now."

"But you're wrong!" Bulma finally found her voice. "He didn't trick me! I know he did some terrible things in the past, but. . ."

"Crimes he was never punished for," Odan's eyes narrowed as he pulled a long, silver dagger from a sheath inside his coat. "Crimes he will pay for now."

"Coward!" Vegeta growled, still unable to move. It was bad enough that this man had dragged up his past after he had worked so long and hard to forget it, but to revive it in front of Trunks, who had never known about it, was the last straw.

"Don't try to get me to challenge you to a one on one fight. I know I can't win. This is about justice," Odan observed icily and raised the dagger to ram it into Vegeta's chest. ((You should suffer before you die, but I don't want to give you a chance to escape. A dagger will be a little more painful and take a little longer than a bullet or laser beam. It will have to do.)) Odan reasoned as he started to drop the blade.

"STOP!" Bulma screamed before the dagger dropped more than inch. She was terrified. She had to do something to save her husband and her son. She had a bad feeling Odan might take Trunks out too to prevent him from doing anything like what Vegeta used to do. Odan turned to look at her, still holding his dagger at the ready. "Please, stop! Listen to me, Odan. . ."

"Bulma, trust me - this animal has to die. For everything he's done. . .it's almost too good for him," Odan's eyes blazed with a hate unlike any Vegeta had ever seen before. "All Saiyans should die. It was such a stroke of luck when their planet was destroyed. . .but a few got away! That Goku guy. . .and the woman Kari. . .and _you_, 'your highness'. . . they all have to be dealt with!" Bulma moved between the two men quickly and held out her arms in a defensive gesture.

"Just listen to me! He's not like that any more! Trunks, Goku, and Kari have never been like that! These are good people!" Bulma snapped loudly. She didn't dare mention Goku's sons. There was no reason to pull them into unnecessary danger. Kari had been pushy, but she was no planet destroyer. "And besides. . .he only did those things because Frieza ordered him too!"

"Frieza? Frieza just paid them for it. Even if he wasn't there, they would have gone right ahead and wiped out planets anyway," Odan shook his head. "You shouldn't speak of things you don't understand."

"You're the one who doesn't understand! Look, please, Odan, if you're really my friend, you'll let me talk to you. . .away from here. You'll hear me out," Bulma pleaded swiftly.

"Don't go anywhere with him!" Vegeta hissed.

"I know what I'm doing," Bulma answered. Odan seemed to consider her words for several long moments. Finally, he sighed and re-sheathed his dagger.

"All right. We'll talk," he agreed. "My ship is this way. We'll have privacy there," he motioned to the right, and Bulma nodded. They quietly walked away.

"No! Bulma, come back! Bulma!" Vegeta's body strained to move, but whatever Odan had done was strong, and he still couldn't move.

"Dad. . .what was he talking about? Why did he say those things to you, about you?" Trunks' voice was soft, and held a tiny tremble. He was afraid of what the answer might be. Vegeta was silent as he watched his mate and would-be executioner disappear down the street.

"Trunks. . ." Vegeta finally said when he couldn't see them any longer, "before I met your mother. . .I was a planet pirate. All Saiyans were. We'd go in, wipe out all intelligent life, and then sell the place. Frieza was a tyrant lord who had us under his thumb. We'd go where he ordered us to go. Kakarot was sent to this planet as a baby to conquer it. But he hit his head, and lost his memory. I grew up under Frieza's watchful eyes. I killed, and I didn't care. I didn't know how to care. But then. . ." Vegeta drew in a slow breath. It was just sort of pouring out of him, and he needed to get it all out. Trunks felt sick. "I came here. I fought Kakarot and lost. I returned to Frieza, and ended up on Planet Namek chasing Dragon Balls. Frieza killed me, and then I was wished back to life and to Earth with the Namek people. I ended up staying at Capsule Corp. while I waited for Kakarot to return and then while waiting for the androids, and I fell in love with your mother. We had you, and after a while I found I couldn't kill indiscriminately anymore. What I was. . .is just a dark shadow clinging to my heels now. Your mother and I didn't want you to know about my past," Vegeta admitted. He looked at his son, who looked very thoughtful.

"So everything he said was true?" Trunks said lowly.

"More or less," Vegeta sighed. Would Trunks turn on him now?

"But. . .you're good now, Dad. You were brought back with all the other good people with the wish made during the fight against Buu," Trunks brightened some. Vegeta smirked.

"That's right. I'm not that monster anymore. I'm a new kind of monster," he chortled. They stayed frozen for what felt like forever, but was more like thirty minutes.

"Dad?" Trunks spoke again. Vegeta darted his eyes to him. "Don't worry. We'll get Mom back, safe and sound. And. . .I don't care about what you used to do." Vegeta smiled a little and suddenly reached out and touched Trunks' head. They both blinked. They could move again!

"It wore off!" Vegeta exclaimed, and they both felt around for Bulma's ki. It took only a few seconds to find it, and they blasted off after her. Odan was crazy, and they weren't going to leave her alone with him.

"Hey, what's up?" Goten suddenly joined them. "I thought we were going to. . ."

"No time! My mom's trying to talk a crazy person into not killing us!" Trunks cut Goten off. Goten looked confused.

"Say what?" the black-haired boy scratched his head.

"What's all the fuss? I was home when I felt your kis sky rocket," Goku suddenly teleported in.

"We'll explain on the way!" Vegeta hissed as he tried to find Odan's spaceship.

Bulma sat in a room of Odan's ship. It was small, but comfortable. Odan sat across from her, watching her intently.

"I just don't understand. How could you. . .willingly, with that. . .that monster?!" Odan had to force the words out. Bulma tried to think of a way to explain, but he took her silence as an answer. "_Was_ it willingly, Bulma?" That question threw her; she was so shocked she started to sputter. "Did he force himself on you?" Odan pressed, sure he knew the answer.

"HE. . .DID. . .NOT!" Bulma's shock gave way to anger. "I practically instigated the whole thing! Vegeta has _never_ forced himself on me," she said firmly and loudly. Doubt flickered in Odan's eyes, but he said no more about it.

"How can you overlook everything he's done?" he asked quietly after a few uncomfortable moments. "How can you just pretend it didn't happen? That he didn't do it?"

"The past is the past. It can't be changed. But he has changed, Odan. He's. . .loving, and warm. He loves me, and our son. He died once to protect us, and this planet. He did some terrible things, but he's making up for them now," Bulma said softly and reasonably. Odan scoffed and shook his head.

"He can never repay the universe for what he and his race did," Odan observed coldly.

"You can't hold him responsible for the entire Saiyan race," Bulma countered.

"Why not? He is the Prince, isn't he? They were his people," Odan pointed out.

"He was six when his planet was destroyed! He never had any power over them!" Bulma snapped.

"What about the others who survived? Those who escaped some of their attacks said there were three male Saiyans, the Prince and two others," Odan stated sharply. Bulma swallowed nervously. "And then there's Goku and Kari, not to mention your son."

"All right. . .he had some power over Nappa and Raditz. . .but they're dead now. Goku grew up on Earth, thinking he was human. He's never done an evil deed in his life. As for Kari- she was kept in a cage her whole life until twelve years ago. Frieza was using her as a guinea pig. Once she was free, she spent all of her time trying to find others like her. And Trunks is a sweet, intelligent, happy little boy who never even knew about his father's past until you started raving about it!" Bulma declared strongly. Odan sighed.

"Let's. . .take a little break, get something to drink. We both need to calm down and think a little," he said as he stood up. Bulma stood as well, and after he left to fetch drinks, she turned and walked to a nearby window. She sighed deeply and leaned against the cool glass. ((He's not really listening. But what if. . .he's right? What if. . .Vegeta is unforgivable? No! I know _I'm_ right! Vegeta is. . .the other half of my soul.)) Bulma closed her eyes, and could just about feel Vegeta's arms around her. She was right, and she had to make Odan see that. What worried her most was that she had realized he wasn't crazy, just very, very scared and full of hate and remembered pain. ((That makes him just as dangerous, but more mentally sound to carry out his plans.)) she thought as she bit her lip.

The Saiyans stared at the unassuming building. Their senses told them that Bulma was right below them, but the building didn't really look like a spaceship - unless it was disguised. While they had been searching, Gohan had joined them after feeling all of their kis.

"I say we go down there and knock," Vegeta said as he dropped to the ground. They all followed him and made ready to enter the building\spaceship.

**************************************************************************** ****

Can the history of the Saiyans really be forgotten and forgiven? Next time, Ch. 3: Justice.

E-mail me at NansJns@aol.com! If my address doesn't work, send your comments to my brother, Scorpinac@aol.com!