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: I combined the previous chapters 1 and 2 because it seemed like people weren't getting past the first chapter and I think Vegeta's development only really started in the second. So I combined them so people might get hooked a little better. So here's the new chapter 3.
Read and review!
Chapter 3
Mai sat cross-legged on nimbus, heedless if the wind ruffled her skirt or exposed her. There was no one to watch anyway. She was nearly eighteen now. High school was almost finished, though she attended only for formality. Her mother had long ago pushed beyond these grades. But then Goku had died and education didn't seem to matter to Chichi anymore. Goten was evidence of that. His schooling consisted almost entirely of what Vegeta was in the mood to teach him, and Mai was suspicious that Vegeta's idea of schooling might be very different from hers. She sighed. Always, her thoughts returned to Vegeta. What an odd family they made together.
After their meeting in the woods, which was nearly a year after Cell's defeat, he didn't move in with the Sons immediately. "No, it took a long time," Mai thought to herself. He had never wanted to take over Goku's family. He made it very clear that he had nothing to gain standing by them.
"Weaklings, all of you," he had grumbled more than once. But he usually only spat this remark in front of her mother, who Mai had to admit, hadn't fared well since Goku's death. She always seemed like a strong woman; in fact she was one of the few people whom Goku really feared. But after his death, Chichi began to fade.
Almost six years ago, Mai had noticed that her mother's tummy began to swell suspiciously. Chichi never announced she was pregnant. Mai simply assumed and was correct. When Goten was born, Chichi held him listlessly and looked for the first excuse to hand the baby off to Mai. The young, saiyan woman was dumbfounded how similar Goten looked to Goku. The same spiky black hair and goofy grin. And like all the Sons, he was ferocious but wouldn't harm a fly. Mai loved how Goku seemed to live again through his son. But, Goten's uncanny looks gave Chichi the opposite reaction.
"He just reminds me that Goku's dead," she had sighed and turned away from her son. In those first few months, Chichi could hardly move herself from her chair overlooking the window in the kitchen. She barely spoke. She didn't clean. She only begrudgingly nursed Goten. And she stopped cooking, which worried Mai.
"It's ok, mommy. Don't worry about it," Mai had shrugged. It wasn't fair to make her mother work so hard.
"No wonder I got so good at cooking," Mai thought to herself as she whizzed by an airplane on her golden cloud. But it had been hard, finding food. Hunting and gathering had always been her Daddy's job. He often took her with him when she was really little, but then it seemed like they were constantly fighting off one threat after another. Since the threat of the saiyans, she and her father had lived practically separate lives conjoined only by their common goals to defeat Vegeta, then Freeza, then the Androids, then Cell. There was never a moment just to relax and learn the skills of living and fending for one's self. After her father had died, she found she was suddenly thrust into the role of defending and caring for the family. But with a baby and a mourning woman, the job was simply too much.
Carrying Goten around made hunting nearly impossible. He always had the knack of falling out his little bundle just at the crucially wrong moment. He had been dinosaur food more than once. Berries, fruit and mushrooms alone weren't enough to feed two half-saiyans, though her mother ate hardly anything, anyway.
"When is she going to get better?" Mai asked herself, looking up at the sky. Sunny as usual, it never seemed to reflect their tedious and painful lives. Always, the world looked bright. It dawned on her just at that moment that her mother would probably never get better. She would be erratic at best. Some nights there would be mountains of food for the boys (Mai didn't eat much, the infamous saiyan appetite seemed to be a boy thing), and other days there would be nothing. Not even a word from her mother. Mai sighed heavily and jumped off nimbus, landing deftly on the school blacktop.
"What would we have done without Vegeta?" Food had shown up mysteriously in their yard after that first, violent meeting. Wood was chopped. Wild beasts threatened off the land and kept away from Goten who had been a very precocious toddler. Occasionally she would glimpse him standing watch over their house, on his distant tree perch, silhouetted by the sun. One day she had flown out to meet him and was surprised to find that he didn't flee from her.
"Why are doing this Vegeta? What do you want?" Mai had asked him, pleadingly. She had been afraid that he expected something in return. After their earlier meeting, she was terrified to think that it might be herself that he wanted. But he didn't speak to her, only arched his incredibly arrogant eyes. Then he had launched into an attack, which Mai dodged with all the speed she could muster. Still, he landed a kick on her ribs. She had rubbed them tenderly before realizing he was waiting for her to return the attack. He had grinned so wickedly, his tail lashing furiously. They sparred into the night, exhausting each other. By dawn, Mai had been ready to drop lifelessly to the ground and sleep where ever she lay.
"I'm going to bed," she had told Vegeta and flew back to her home. He had simply hovered, covered in the orange light of dawn clouds, and let her leave.
"He's such a saiyan, always needs someone to fight," Mai huffed aloud, grasping her hands behind her head as she walked down the school halls. Akira chased after her, though she could easily outpace him at a walk even when he was running. "Wow, she's so cool," he thought to himself, though he could never quite catch up to her.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Vegeta! Wait a sec," Goten called after the Prince, who stood erect with his arms crossed just outside. Beside the open door was a small pillow with a yellow sphere nestled in the indent. It had four red stars inside.
"The Dragon Balls…" Vegeta let the thought slide on the fringe of his mind.
"Dear Daddy, let me train hard," Goten announced to the ball, clapped his hands twice and bowed at the waist in a manner that Vegeta had taught him was proper for a saiyan. Vegeta laughed nastily at Goten who peered out of the corner of his eyes at the Prince. "Don't be jealous, just because you don't have a Dragon Ball," Goten growled and stomped past the much taller saiyan with his chin held high. He looked uncannily like Vegeta at that moment.
"That's your great-grandfather's Dragon Ball, stupid," Vegeta said and walked behind Goten so his every step kicked the younger boy in the butt. Goten ground his teeth and spun around.
"Let's go, Veggie head!" he yelled, crouching into the defensive pose Vegeta had taught him at the tender age of two. The Prince shook his head and swatted the boy away like a gnat. Goten flew into a tree and busted it into two pieces. "My head," he whimpered and held the bump with his arms. Vegeta leaned one arm against the wood pile and stared anxiously at the ground.
"I shouldn't be here, I should be at my own home," he mumbled softly. "Goten, let's go, we're getting you're sister," he ordered. Goten forgot his lump and clapped his hands. He took off in the air, leaving a jet stream behind him. Vegeta quickly followed.