Disclaimer; I own nothing but a laptop, and desktop computer and a bunch of old crap no one will ever use.

A/N; Well I FINALLY got the next chapter up. I am unbelievably sorry that it took so long, but I have been swamped will...um...stuff. Well anyway, I hope you enjoy this and maybe the next one will be out sooner than this.

And Then You'll Know

Chapter 19

He stood over the bed, looking down at her peaceful face, she was so beautiful when she slept. Not that she wasn't beautiful when she was awake as well, it was just that certain calmness that graced her delicate features when she didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Letting out a long sigh, he crouched down and continued his inspection of her at a closer range. Reaching out, he ran his finger down her cheek, which was streaked with dry tears, and he wasn't sure, but he though he could see a bruise forming.

"What am I going to do about you huh?". He heard the door being pushed open, and familiar voices filled the air, but he chose to ignore them, they'd be in soon enough anyway.

"No, but I mean, seriously, how dumb can one person get?" 17 asked as he strolled into the room, his arm thrown casually over Tarie's shoulder, Nison was also with them and they three of them were laughing like maniacs. 17 stopped when he noticed Krillen and gave him a friendly nod and a smile. "You can wake her if you want, she's been asleep since 3" he said, then turned his attention back to his friends. He didn't have to worry about his sister, he knew she was in good hands. Krillen would do anything for her, of that he was sure.

"Are you sure, that's only 3 hours" argued Krillen.

"I said go for it, once you go she'll only go back to sleep again anyway. It'll be good for her to use her energy now, means she'll sleep better tonight"

Krillen stood up and looked 17 directly in the eyes "She doesn't sleep well?" he asked his voice full of concern.

Tarie shook her head and stared blankly at the wall. "She can't. She has the worst nightmares. If she even manages to get a few hours of sleep it's a blessing" 17 nodded his head in agreement.

Krillen turned back to 18 and knelled beside her again, resting his hand on her forehead he smiled affectionately at her, "I'm going to make it all better for you 18, I promise".

"Well are you going to wake her or not?" asked 17 after a few more minutes.

"No, I have to join my father for dinner soon. Just tell her I stopped by" he said, and he quietly left the room

***

Chi-chi sat in front of her vanity, carefully applying eyeliner. She had spent hours picking out what to wear to dinner. Normally she would have just worn what ever she was wearing during the course of the day, wether it be her training spandex or her favourite pair of jeans and a top. But tonight her father had asked her and her brothers to dress up nice, as in smart casual, for they were having the Queen dine with them. And she held the Queen in her highest respect.

Standing up and walking over to her full-length mirror, Chi-chi spun around and admired herself. Her full length, white, ruffled skirt hung perfectly, and looked great, and her silky black shirt with 3-quarter sleeves beautifully complimented it. She had tied her hair back into a messy bun, with a few strands left to hang free, and it had a very casual classy look to it. Quickly pulling on her black sandals, she headed out the door and rushed down the busy palace halls towards to dining room for the evening meal.

Krillen could see Chi-chi up ahead of him, walking at an oddly fast pace, why was she in such a hurry for dinner, she was usually the one who strolled in 10 minutes late.

Walking into the dining room, he took his usual seat across from his sister, picked up his glass of water and skulled the entire thing in one go, but one of the women serving quickly rushed to refill it. "Thank-you" said Krillen as he brought the glass to his lips again.

It wasn't long until Vegeta joined them, he obviously hadn't taken note of the Kings whishes of a fresh set of clothes, because he was still in what he had been wearing earlier on, and there was a big, un-explained wet patch drying on his shoulder. "What happened there?" asked Chi-chi motioning with her eyes to his shoulder.

"I'll tell you after".

Suddenly the Kings boisterous laugh could be heard from just outside the door. Instinctively, all 3 of his children bolted into a standing position to greet him. He pushed open the door and allowed Kahlia to enter before him, she took her seat next to Chi-chi and the King took his spot at the head of the table. The meal was served shortly after.

"You all look lovely" commented Kahlia as she poked at her vegetables with one of the many forks layed out before her. She really had no idea what each one was for, so she was just following the rest of the family.

"How was your trip here?" asked Chi-chi.

"Long" replied Kahlia with a sigh, "But it was worth it, Vegeta-sei is just as beautiful as I remember it. I've been looking forward to this trip for weeks" Chi-chi smiled and nodded sympathetically.

"Well if you like, when you have some free time, we could go shopping. We have great shopping here" offered Chi-chi. Kahlia's eyes lit up, oh how she loved to shop, "I'd love to, are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure".

Kahlia turned to the King then, "Is that ok with you, I mean you didn't have anything planned did you?" The King laughed out loud, "No nothing, but we may be having some guest for dinner"

Chi-chi gasped and sat up straight in her chair "That's right! Kakkarot is joining us tomorrow," she said happily "he can come shopping to"

"Kakkarot?" the Queen asked.

"Yeah Kakkarot, my boyfriend"

***

"Bulma honey, have you changed you bandages yet?" Mrs. Briefs called from the kitchen, where she was preparing breakfast.

"Yes mum" Bulma called back as she searched madly through her enormous closet from something to wear. She eventually pulled out a pair of white sweat pants that had blue stripes down the sides and a light blue singlet top. The she quickly brushed her hair and pulled in into a loose ponytail. She could hear her mother calling and her dad for breakfast and she quickly hurried into the kitchen.

"Morning daddy" she said as she bounded into the room and planted a kiss on her cheek, then she walked over to her mum and repeated the process. Taking her seat at the table, she took a big sip of orange juice and dug into her cereal. She certainly did have a Sayian appetite.

"Do you think you'll be able to help me in the lab today?" asked Mr.Briefs as he held his coffee cup to his lips.

Bulma shrugged her shoulder "Sure, why not. I don't have anything better to do". Standing up, she took her dirty bowl over to the sink, and proceeded to wash it under the warm water. Just as she was drying her hands, there was a knock on the door. Mr.Briefs got up to get it, but Bulma beat him to it.

"Sit down daddy, I'll get it" she said.

Pulling open the front door, she was surprised to say the least, "Vegeta.....what are you doing here?" she asked.

Vegeta stood quiet in the doorway for some time before he said anything, "Just checking up on your arm" he finally replied. Bulma felt her heart flutter, did that mean he cared about her? "That's really sweet of you, thanks" she said. There was a moment of awkward silence before she spoke again "Would you like to come in for breakfast?"

Vegeta shook his head, "I've already eaten" he said and he turned to leave.

"Vegeta wait!" called Bulma. He stopped and turned to face her, watching while she stepped outside her apartment and gently closed the door. "Well?" Vegeta asked.

"I guess I just wanted to say thank-you. I don't think you fully understand how much gratitude I feel towards you" she said as she took another step closer to him, so their bodies were almost touching, for the second time in two days. "Don't mention it, I did what anyone would have done" he said, trying to sound modest, and once again he tried to leave. But Bulma stopped him again, by grabbing onto his wrist.

"Vegeta," she leaned forward and gently pecked him on the cheek, "thanks". After that was said, she turned and disappeared back inside her apartment.

***

"Bulma! Have you seen by black shoe?" called a frantic Chi-chi as she rushed around her bedroom in search of the elusive missing shoe.

"Which one?" Bulma asked with a laugh from her spot on Chi-chi's bed, where she was flipping through the latest edition of some trashy tabloid.

Chi-chi stopped and looked at her friend, with a very un-impressed expression on her face. "Very funny. You know exactly which one I am talking about" she replied.

"Yeah, I do" agreed Bulma, "But I don't know where is it". Chi-chi let out a frustrated growl and pulled open her closet doors, where she began her search for another pair of shoes, she didn't have time to hunt down just one. Kakkarot would be here in half an hour and she wasn't even dressed yet. At the moment she was running around her bedroom in a pale pink singlet top, and matching panties, or what she called her pyjamas.

"Ah Chi, don't you think that before you worry about shoes you should at least pick out a pair of pants". Chi-chi stopped and looked down at her bare legs. Then she pulled open the other half of her closet and took out about a dozen pairs of pants. "Which ones?" she asked

"Um.....those ones" said Bulma pointing to Chi-chi flared black leather pants which tied up, up the sides. Chi-chi put them on then continued on her search for her shoes.

Some time later, there was a knock on the bedroom door, followed by the happy called of a man "Chi!". Chi-chi spun around, a look of shock on her face, looking up at the clock on the wall, she realised he was right on time.

"Can you get that B?" asked Chi-chi as she turned her attention back to the mirror.

"Sure" replied Bulma and she jumped off the bed and opened the door for Kakkarot, "Hi!" she greeted him.

"Hi Bulma," he strolled over to Chi-chi and planted a big kiss on her cheek "Hello".

Chi-chi pulled her hair into a ponytail and stood up, "I'm almost ready" she said as she put on a pair of heeled black boots.

"Well, have fun you guys. You'll have to go again some time so that I can come with you. You know how much I love to shop"

"Yes we do" agreed Chi-chi, "Of course we'll go again, I can't wait for you to meet the Queen, she's so cool, you'll love her. "C'mon Kakkarot, we gotta split" she said as she grabbed Kakkarot's hand and dragged him out the room.

***

"Hey, hey are you awake?" 17 nudged his sister gently, "18!". 18 groaned and rolled away from her brother, "Go away".

"18, you've been asleep for like 16 hours, I think it's time you got up". Slowly, 18 opened her eyes and sat up, and for the first time since the ball, it didn't hurt like hell to move, not that it felt totally pleasant, but it was bearable, and that was something she was grateful for.

"Glad to see you're feeling better" 17 said through a wide smile, she was the most important thing in his life, and to see her on the road to recovery made his heart soar.

"Yeah," she said, "I don't feel so bad today". A loud yawn escaped her lips and she stretched her arms up towards the ceiling, "It's freezing in here!"

"You're telling me" agreed 17, "I feel like I'm about to freeze up". 18 laughed at her brother's comment. "I should probably head up stairs. Chi-chi's gonna kill me for being late"

"I'll come with you, I got rostered onto kitchen duties". 18 burst out laughing, she knew how much her brother despised working in the kitchen. He'd rather do anything than work in there, washing dishes, scrubbing floors, peeling vegetables. He cringed at the thought of it.

"Well, this is my stop" said 18 as they reached the archway that lead into the hall that only the royal family and a few other select people were allowed to enter. It was the family's private living quarters, and totally off limits to most of the people who lived and worked in the palace.

18 walked down the hall, the wooden floorboard were cool against her feet. She reached Chi-chi's room and headed inside, only to get a shock and a half.

Chi-chi wasn't in there. And there was no list of jobs for her to do either.

This was her lucky day.

***

17 walked into the kitchen, grumbling like a sourpuss. He hated working in here. Hated it, hated it, hated it!

But his mood lighted slightly when he saw his best friend down on the floor with a wire scrubbing brush and a bucket of soapy water, "Nison!"

The boy with pale green skin looked up and flashed 17 a big grin, then threw a brush at him. Not so subtlety asking him to help scrub the floor

Nison stood up and flashed 17 a cocky grin "Well I'm done in here, looks like you're on your own"

"Where you off too?" asked 17 as he picked up another dirty dish and placed it in the warm soapy water.

"I believe I'm 'off to' help you girlfriend fix sinks in the laundry" he said, his voice filled with sarcastic joy.

17 laughed, rolled his eyes and turned his back to his friend "Tell Tarie I said hi"

"Will do" Nison called over his shoulder on his way out the door.

And then 17 was alone, he began to hum to himself, making up the tune as he went along. Smiling, his thoughts drifted from the task at hand to Tarie. He loved her – that was the simple truth. He had loved her for as long as he could remember. They'd grown up together, been friends since he lost his sister at the tender age of 11. He remembered the first horrible night he spent in this place. Crying, scared to death, looking everywhere for his sister, though he wasn't going to find her, Tarie had come to him and the two had instantly hit it off. They had been the best of friends ever since

Yet he always had a feeling of guilt tugging in the back of his mind. He felt guilty that this was all he could give her, when he knew how much more she deserved. There was so much he wanted for her, but most of all he wanted her out of this hell hole, and off this dump of a planet. He wanted her to be free and happy, even if that meant leaving him behind – he was willing to sacrifice everything for her. He would die for her.

***

Nappa was fuming, he just had his ass kicked by a commoner – a commoner! Well maybe not a commoner, he wouldn't drag himself as low as to take on one of the villagers. He had fought against Kakkarot's elder brother – he went by the name of Radditz. It had started out as a simple sparring match between the two men, but it quickly became more that that, since they were both competitive and wanted to show of just what they could do. But unfortunately for him Raddizt had quite a few tricks up his sleeves, he sure was a sneaky little bastard.

Grimacing as he put pressure on his sprained ankle, he hobbled toward the kitchen, hoping to find someone or something there to take out his anger on – and perhaps get something to eat while he was at it.

And he was in luck. There were many breakable objects in the kitchen, as well as a scrawny looking sayian standing at the sink, and obviously there was some food lying around somewhere. Smirking and cracking his knuckles, he took another step into the kitchen, hoping to get the slave boys attention. But 17 didn't even look up, he just picked up another dish and began to scrub.

'Stupid brat' Nappa though to himself as he strode over to the fridge and searched for something decent to eat. But there was nothing...absolutely nothing. Could his day get any worse?

17 stood at the sink, completely oblivious to the fact the he was not alone anymore. He was almost done here now, then it was outside to clean to swimming pool – and that was no easy task.

Taking his hands out of the dirty dish water, he sighed and turned to leave – only to collide with something that was easily twice his size, and before he could even begin to mutter an apology, he was smacked clear to the other side of the room.

"Ouch" 17 mumbled as he rubbed the side of his head and spit his own blood out of his mouth. He hadn't seen that one coming. Blinking away a slight case of dizziness, he stood up and glared angrily at Nappa. He'd never really liked Nappa all that much, though what he's done to deserve that was really beyond him.

Nappa turned away from the scrawny man and grinned, that felt good, but it had been to easy. What he wanted was a challenge, but who could he fight against, be challenged by, but still beat, it certainly was a conundrum. But then again.... He could just beat the crap out of the slave. Throwing a calculating glance over his shoulder at the younger man - who was still curiously watching him, he decided that it would be to easy to beat this guy, he would probably kill him, and he didn't wish to explain to the King why he was going around killing off his slaves. Shaking his head, he decided it would be best to vent his anger somewhere else, and he left the room.

17 rested his weight against the counter and counted his blessings, that was the first thing that had gone right for him all day. Nappa could have, and would have crushed him. But he'd gotten away with nothing more than a smack in the mouth. Running his tongue against his teeth, he grimaced and spit more blood on Nisons nice clean floor, it tasted horrible. Then he reached his hand up to his head, to the spot where it had connected with the kitchen counter, it was throbbing, and 17 was pretty sure that wasn't a good thing. When he pressed his hand to the wound, he frowned and let a few choice words escape his lip, he could feel something sticky and warm against his finger tips, and he knew straight away that it was blood. But luckily for him, it was only a little bit of blood, it wouldn't cause him any serious damage, maybe just a head ache. That was two things that had gone right for him in one day. Someone must be feeling sorry for him.

***

It was late when Chi-chi and the Queen arrived back from their shopping trip, well after dinner and almost dark.

Chi-chi yawned loudly as she headed up the hall to her room, Kakkarot right at her side. Holding tightly onto his hand they turned another corner and then another.

"My feet are killing me" complained Chi-chi as they headed toward her bedroom.

"Allow me to help" offered Kakkarot, and before Chi-chi had a chance to reply he had swept her off her feet and was cradling her in his arms.

"You know, this really isn't necessary" said Chi-chi

"I know"

When they arrived at Chi-chi's room, Kakkarot gently put her down on the bed then rested himself beside her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and sighed loudly.

"What's wrong?" asked Kakkarot as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Nothing...everything" Chi-chi was very vague with her reply.

"Well which one is it?"

Chi-chi sat up, and rested her head in her hands. "Daddy's sending people to Namek, to fight Frieza".

Kakkarot gasped, this was big news! "Chi, I had no idea, do you know who's he's sending?"

Chi-chi began to snivel, she was about to start crying, she just knew it.... She didn't want him to go "The same people he sent out last time" then she burst into tears and buried her head in Kakkarot's chest "I don't want you to go" he whimpered, her voice muffled by Kakkarot.

Wrapping his arms around her in a big bear hug, he rubbed her back in slow comforting circles. "Shhh don't cry Chi, it's ok. I'll make sure it's ok. If I have to go to Namek then so be it, you know I'll come back, nothing can keep me away from you. I love you".

Chi-chi wiped her eyes and looked up at Kakkarot, that was the first time he had ever told her that. "Y-y-you what?" she stuttered

"I love you Chi-chi" Kakkarot repeated himself, with a wide grin. Then he brought his lips to Chi-chi's and kissed her for the longest time. It was the single most romantic experience of Chi-chi's life. When she pulled away, she was quiet for a long moment as she mulled over the situation, then she looked up at Kakkarot and smiled through her tears.

"I love you to"

***

A/N; Aww. Well what did you think? I'd love to hear in a review.

And thank-you to all you people who are reviewing my little story – well it's not so little anymore and the way it's going it could easily clear 35 chapters. I love you all for reviewing, if there was a way to come around and thank you all personally I would :)

Review Please!

I said please so now you have to

~Deadly Beauty