Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters. This work of fiction is meant for entertainment purposes only.
Author's Note: Secondary goal, to create a different mythos of the saiyans. I want to portray how they acted in circumstances beyond battle.
Daughter of Goku, Enemy of Mine
Chapter 2
Vegeta awoke nestled in the cushions of his futon and his woman's body. Just as he had expected, some time in the night he had returned to his room. Goten had wriggled around as he slept so now as the soft play of light descended into the room, the young saiyan sprawled half off the futon, snoring loudly. The boy whimpered in his sleep and kicked his feet at Vegeta's back as if he were trying to run. Vegeta didn't bother to reposition Goten; the boy seemed to like sleeping uncomfortably. Instead, the saiyan prince concentrated on the slight young woman in his arms. Her lips rested just barely against his bare arm.
"Half-breed," Vegeta growled and blew gently on her face. Mai wrinkled her nose and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few moments, then relaxed again and sank into Vegeta's bare chest.
"Good morning," Mai sighed happily. She shifted so her face rested beside his on the pillow. He nipped her nose in response. Mai began to fall back asleep, but a clanking sound downstairs roused her again. She furrowed her brows at the noise.
"Take a bath with me," Vegeta demanded softly. Mai grinned wickedly.
"Ok!" came a little voice behind them. Goten rubbed his eyes vigorously and jumped on top of Vegeta. The Prince shrugged off the boy and batted him away each time the kid returned.
"Not you, boy," Vegeta barked. But Goten wouldn't leave the older saiyan alone. The two wrestled, which enticed Mai to leave the bed for calmer pastures. Vegeta tried to grab her hand to make her stay, but Goten knocked him over on to his belly. Vegeta snatched the back of Goten's head with inhuman speed and ground the boy down into the pillow. Then he twisted the blankets around the boy, trapping him in a cocoon.
"Let me out, Vegeta!" Goten yelled, wiggling helplessly in the ball of covers that trapped his arms and legs, leaving his head to poke out the top. But Vegeta ignored him and stumbled out of bed, giving chase to Mai. Down the hall he raced to cut her off at the bathroom, but he slowed momentarily as he crossed the door to the kitchen. Pots and pans lay scattered all over the floor. Chichi rested in a chair drawn up to face the window. Her head leaned heavily against one arm.
"What's her problem?" Vegeta asked himself, but kept moving to catch his Mai. However, he was too late. The bathroom door had already slammed shut. Vegeta skidded to a stop, slipping slightly on the rug. He looked around him to see if any had noticed his little clumsiness. He cleared his throat softly and leaned against the wood door. Inside he could hear her humming. Water roared as the bathtub filled. Vegeta scratched lightly against the door and grew excited when he heard her soft footsteps padding across the tile closer to him
"Not today Vegeta. Wash Goten for me, will you?"
His stomach sank. "Let me in now," he grumbled, putting his entire body weight on forehead and leaning against the door.
"No, I have school today," she chirped through the door. He could hear her clothes fall to the floor, and the gentle sound of water sloshing as she slipped into the bath. Vegeta sighed and punched the door so it rattled in its frame. Mai giggled to taunt him further.
"What's the point of going to school," he growled and stalked back to his room. Faintly, he could still hear Goten struggling and cursing the Prince's name. However, Vegeta paused outside the kitchen again. Chichi had not moved from her spot. He walked into the room and kicked a pot with his bare foot.
"What's this mess, woman?" he sneered, but Chichi didn't respond. Even her breathing was still and had a sense of what Vegeta could only call surrender. "Pathetic," he thought to himself in contempt. The woman had never been strong as long as he had known her. Always, it seemed she was on the verge of another collapse. He snorted again and with a little telekinesis, he guided the pots and pans back to their places in the kitchen. Cabinets opened and shut, slamming very loudly, as the cooking gear flew back in place. The clattering noise woke Chichi from her stupor just as Vegeta was turning around to leave her.
"Why are you here?" she asked him, her voice hateful and muffled against the window she faced. Vegeta clenched his jaw. He gripped the doorframe, cracking it slightly.
"Stupid question, wench," he growled and stomped away. He was so angry that he accidentally slammed into Mai who was wrapped in a plush towel, dripping on the floor. Water slicked off her hair and down her neck. Vegeta gently held her away from his body, momentarily entranced by her feral eyes and matted hair. Mai knew that Vegeta rarely made mistakes; he never "accidentally" did anything. But when he did, she knew something was upsetting his calculated cool. His eyes would yield no information, so she glanced over his shoulder and saw her mother staring out the window. There was no breakfast on the table. Mai sighed and looked back up at Vegeta. He growled softly. They shared the same thought: the memory of the months following Goku's death.
Mai quietly broke Vegeta's grasp and swept into her own room, closing the door firmly. She leaned back against the security of her door and sighed, letting the towel drop. She liked the tingling feeling of her damp skin drying in the air. As rifled through her underwear drawer, she let her thoughts drift back in time, almost five years ago.
She had been foraging in the woods for food. Already, her basket was filled with mushrooms and some berries. It had been hard, stooping over for so long, especially with the weight of the baby fast asleep on her back. She had tied Goten to her, piggy back style, with a long strip of cloth wound around her waist and secured around his fat little body. Her back was damp with sweat and the little boy's drool. She had been so worried to find another piece of food that she hadn't noticed the suppressed ki that was following her.
Vegeta returned to his room and grabbed a clean towel. Goten had already struggled out of his blankets and what appeared to be his clothes in the process. The boy rustled through the room, completely naked and undisturbed by Vegeta. The older saiyan tossed another towel to the boy who buried his face into it gladly. Goten then ran ahead of Vegeta to the bathroom. The Prince followed more slowly, carefully averting his eyes from the kitchen.
"Vegeta!" Goten whined, sticking his head out the bathroom door. "I dropped my tooth brush down the sink drain!"
Vegeta closed his eyes and thought of the orange plains of Vegetasei to calm himself. But his thoughts wouldn't remain in peace. He opened his eyes again and Goten stared piteously up at him, looking as if he were about to cry, pointing excitedly at the sink drain. Vegeta remembered seeing that same goofy face for the first time, strapped to Mai's back all those years ago. "You have no idea how close you were to dieing," he thought to himself, looking down at the boy as he fished the now very dirty toothbrush out the drain.
He had sense Mai's familiar ki while he was training in the mountains. Fighting an invisible opponent, screaming with rage and frustration, he had froze in the air when he felt that little twinge of recognition. "It's Goku's daughter," he had thought to himself, suddenly curious. He powered down, aware that there was only so much he could do sparring by himself. What he needed was someone to fight, to beat up and regain some of his old confidence. So he had flown towards her ki, excited to see her again. She had beat him once before in her saiyan ape form, but he knew he could defeat her. He was older now and better trained. His fifteenth birthday had just been the other day. For all he knew, her training had ended with the death of her Father and after her defeat of Cell.
"This will be fun," he had thought to himself.
However, he had been shocked when he found her. Inside the cover of the tree branches, he watched as she searched the ground for food. "How beneath her," he had thought. But what disturbed him even more was the child strapped to her back. "But how?"
He had known she was maybe two years younger than him, and though thirteen seemed far too young to have a baby, he knew it wasn't impossible. His pulse had pounded. "Who had touched her?" he had wondered. "Who ruined this fighter. She could have been the best."
Vegeta sighed, which he was getting very tired of doing, as he rubbed the shampoo into Goten's hair. Goten sat very content on the tiled floor. He choked a little when Vegeta poured the pan of warm water over his head, washing away the suds. Then the two of them sank into the steaming bath tub, enjoying the peace of a boy to young and a man to old to have to go to school.
"She had looked so sad," Vegeta thought to himself, placing a damp washcloth over his wilting hair. He looked down as Goten ducked under the water again, testing how long he could hold his breath. Bubbles trickled to the surface from the boy's still grinning mouth. "I had hated you. I hadn't known till then, but I was counting on her as the last female saiyan. I was so…disappointed," Vegeta conceded to himself.
Watching her through the leaves, he had felt his stomach lurch when she untied the cloth from her waist and gently lowered the baby onto the mossy turf. Carefully and lovingly, she had wrapped him in a bundle. On her hands and knees she had plucked mushrooms off the ground and tossed them carefully into her basket. Obliviously, she wandered further and further away from the little boy, who was still fast asleep. Stealthily, Vegeta had slipped down from the tree and landed silently behind her. Creeping slowly to the baby, he glanced back at Mai who still had her back turned to them. Raising one hand above his head, Vegeta had taken a final good look at the baby.
"Disgusting, he looks exactly like his grandfather. Goku…" he had sneered to himself. But in that moment of pause, Mai had felt an aura of evil invade her calm. She had whipped around, still crouching on the ground, to see Vegeta about to strike Goten.
"Stop!" she had screamed, blasting a ball of energy at the saiyan. Vegeta had glanced up barely in time and his eyes widened to see the immense mass and power of the ball bearing down on him. He had bent his neck out of the way and the blast sailed beyond him, incinerating a path to a distant mountain which exploded moments later. The noise had waked Goten who bawled. In that split second, Mai had moved over her brother's body, protecting him from the tyrant who still had his hand raised.
"Move!" he had roared. She shook her head and held the boy closer to her body. He kicked her, sending the two flying. But she had risen, unhurt, though the baby cried harder from fear.
"Why are you doing this, Vegeta?" She had been wearing a cloak, which she wrapped protectively around Goten.
"I won't tolerate another man's child," he had spat. She pulled back in confusion, narrowing her eyes. Like a lion, he would accept no one else's cubs but his own.
"When did you ever have a claim to me?" she had whispered, incredulously. Desperately, she searched for an opening to leave the crazed saiyan. But he was so quick and clever. His eyes searched her every move.
"I'm prince of the saiyans, so you belong to me. Now give me the brat and I will put him out quickly."
"Vegeta, he's my brother," Mai had stated flatly. Vegeta was so surprised, he had stepped back. It wasn't her child after all. He had pointed at the wailing baby.
"Goku's?" he had asked. Mai had nodded, but didn't let her guard down. She wasn't sure if this information would calm him. She had known how much Vegeta hated Goku. No matter how hard he had tried, Vegeta never could outstrip her father, and that hurt worse than any physical attack he had endured from the fellow saiyan. Vegeta snorted, completely unsure of how he felt. Mai's red hair had fallen over her eyes and she had hugged her brother closer.
"Wench, I should kill you both."
Mai had nodded her head, preparing herself for battle, but her pounding heart had been completely unprepared for his next speech.
"But, I can't lose any more of my race." Vegeta swallowed and stalked away. "I will never forgive either of you for being Goku's children. But he's gone, so you're mine."