A Saiyan Heart
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Disclaimer: Just in case you didn't read all the other disclaimers – Dragonball is not mine. Never was, never will be. I make no profit from this.
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Author's Notes: This is my favourite chapter so far. Vegeta is so much fun to write! Anyways, we're drawing to a conclusion here.
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Bulma was sorting through some old boxes when Videl arrived.
"Here it is! I'd forgotten I had it until you asked. I put it away to have a look at it later, but what with going to another planet and all, I forgot all about it."
She handed the device to Videl. Videl turned it over in her hands. It was like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle snapping together. There was an almost audible click. This was what she'd been thinking of.
Her fingers were shaking slightly as she traced the blue lense.
"I think there's some charge still left in the battery," Bulma said, still chattering away. "It should still be able to read energy levels, although it won't help if your opponent can hide their ki. What did you say you wanted it for again?"
Videl turned it over, marvelling at the awful feeling of familiarity.
"Curiousity. Gohan told me about them, and I wanted to have a look."
Bulma brightened.
"Well, if you're interested in the relics of old adventures, there must be lots of things lying around. I could have a look…"
In the next room, the phone rang. Bulma huffed..
"Damn. I'll be right back."
She walked into the kitchen, leaving Videl with the old scouter. Videl heard her pick up the phone and exclaim;
"Oh hi, Chi-Chi..!"
They'd be talking for ages, no doubt.
Videl turned the scouter over. Something about it's design. There was something here…
Her fingers found the 'on' button and the screen came alive with numbers and figures. Videl stared down at it, an awful temptation sweeping over her. On the one hand, she very much wanted to put it on. On the other, she couldn't shake the feeling that if she opened this door, she wouldn't be able to close it.
Well, I didn't come this far for nothing…She slid the scouter on. Numbers scrolled past the screen in english. That surprised her. For some reason, she'd been expecting…something else. A different language perhaps.
She did a slow scan of the room. No energy levels worth mentioning. How was she supposed to test this thing if there was no one to read?
There was a mirror on the wall. She walked over and stared at her reflection. It was disturbing in a way she couldn't define. Like seeing herself in a twisted mirror. Short black hair, simple earrings, the scouter over one eye. She only needed a smirk, and she'd be the image of an evil saiyan warrior…
She didn't need the sudden flickering of numbers to sense the strong ki behind her. Feeling guiltily like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, she turned around.
Vegeta was standing in the doorway.
He looked taken aback as he stared at her. But also frowning slightly, as if he were trying to place her.
"Sorry," she said, quickly slipping off the scouter and turning it off. Without having to search for the 'off' button, no less. "I just wanted to see what it looked like."
He didn't answer for a moment. He continued to gaze at her with that unnerving flat stare. Then;
"You're Gohan's mate, aren't you?"
Any other woman would have bristled at being called 'mate' rather than 'wife' or even 'girlfriend.' She, however, nodded simply.
"Yes." It felt odd, that single word hanging out there. It felt like she should add something on. Like 'sir' or 'captain' or something.
She almost chuckled. She really was a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar!
"For a moment I thought you were someone else…" Vegeta's lips curved in a smirk and he shook his head dismissively. "Never mind."
He held out his hand for the scouter. It was a distinctly imperious gesture that should have had her spluttering with rage. But she found herself handing it over obediently.
He turned the scouter over, much the same way she had.
"I forgot I had this piece of junk."
Videl watched him. Finally she worked up the nerve to speak.
"Um…Vegeta…not to pry…but who did you think I was?"
He gave her a sharp glance, and for a moment she was certain she was going to be ground to mince-meat, Gohan's mate or no.
Then he shrugged.
"A woman I once met. No one important. Just another third class soldier."
A saiyan. He'd thought she was a saiyan. Videl's throat constricted, even as her body quivered with excitement, and her fingers curled into fists. Something inside her screamed;
Yes! Yes! That's it! That's the answer!She ruthlessly suppressed that something. She focused on Vegetta, who was looking at the scouter as if deciding whether or not to crush it.
"What were the saiyans like?" She found herself asking. He looked sharply at her, and she hastened to explain. "I mean, Gohan's a saiyan, but not the same way you are, or even Goku."
Vegeta nodded slowly.
"Very perceptive. For a human."
She swallowed the insult, keeping her silence, waiting for him to speak. Finally he did.
"Gohan is potentially the most powerful creature in the world. Of all worlds. But it takes more than talent to make a fighter. It takes heart."
Videl nodded. It was similar to what her father told her once, in a moment of rare seriousness.
"Gohan's heart is human. He will never be a fighter, not where it counts. But Kakkarott and I… our hearts are saiyan. We will battle and struggle and fight until the end of days. To die in battle is to die gloriously. The only greater glory is to win."
There was a rhythm to his words. A poetry that sucked her in. She was disappointed when he stopped speaking. All that was left were the echoes, dying.
Vegeta was silent for a beat.
"Sometimes I think that your Kami has made a mistake, and put the wrong souls into the wrong bodies. The one called Tien has the heart of a warrior, but is trapped inside the puny body of a human. My son has the power of a thousand generations of saiyans, but his core is soft and human."
He held the scouter for a moment longer, studying it. Then he tossed it to her.
"Keep it," he said. "There's no one left to carry it."
He walked out.