Warning: Some slightly suggestive scenes ahead.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z, Super or GT or any of the associated characters that appear in this fanfic.
Chapter 3: A Chance to prepare
Vegeta gaze searched the sky as he picked up on a familiar energy entering the atmosphere.
Kakarot. He thought, gritting his teeth. Although, in light of the events of the past few hours, Vegeta decided that he no longer felt the same level of ire towards his nemesis that he used to. Probably because the future would see the fool die of disease like a weakling while he went on to become the Legendary Super Saiyan, surpassing levels he not very long ago had felt was nearly unattainable. The thought almost brought a smile to his face. Almost.
Granted, that future may not come to pass anymore now that his future brat intervened. A Brat whose existence was another conundrum altogether, he thought with a frown. Vegeta couldn't decide if the idea of siring half-breed brats with the woman disgusted him or intrigued him. Either way, the thought evoked a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. On the one hand, half-breeds were a disgrace - a stain on your good name. On the other, he was the last Saiyan alive. It wasn't as if there would be anyone left to sneer at him for the insult, or anyone left to birth him legitimate pure-blooded heirs. Besides, the brat was strong. Immensely so. Vegeta guessed that had to count for something. Then there was the other side of the coin: the Woman. Vegeta didn't even want to think about how that came about.
Well, he amended, he had a good idea what his motivation would have been. The woman was no Hag. And, despite not being very strong, was very hot-tempered - an attractive quality to Saiyan males. That, coupled with her superiority complex and above average intelligence and Vegeta could almost see it: how they ended up in the sack. She must be one hell of a lay, he mused. Maybe he would get to find out for himself in this timeline too, he thought, his eyes briefly flitted to the woman's curvy form, lingering on her shapely behind.
Vegeta tracked Kakarot's ship all the way to the ground, watching as it landed not far away from where their party had gathered. They all picked up and flew to the landing site. Kakarot emerged shortly after they all landed, wearing the most ridiculous garb Vegeta had ever seen, even more so than his gods-damned pink shirt.
"Wow" Kakarot said, catching sight of the gathering warriors, "Hi guys. How'd you know I was coming? And where's Frieza? I could have sworn I felt him land here."
"He was here. Now he's dead." Vegeta answered.
"Gosh, Vegeta. You're here too! Did you kill him? He's quite strong."
"Tch" the fool was deliberately mocking him, Vegeta thought, aggravated.
"Actually, Goku, that would be me." Bra answered, stepping forward.
'Bulma?" he asked, confused before catching sight of the real Bulma. "...What's going on guys? Why's there a younger version of Bulma here?"
"She's my daughter, actually." Bulma answered. Offering no other explanation in order to deliberately fuck with the idiot. Vegeta approved.
"Your daughter?! Geez I haven't been gone that long have I?" Goku exclaimed, looking between the two blue haired females. His eyes suddenly found the brown furry appendage wrapped around the brat's waist. He seemed to do a double take, then pointed at it "Hey! That's a tail! A Saiyan tail."
"So it is, captain obvious." Bulma deadpanned. Then decided to put the poor fool out of his misery. Pity, he thought.
"Goku, meet Bra. My half-saiyan daughter from the future. She travelled back in time to warn us of a dangerous threat that will threaten the earth's population in three years time."
"Really?" Kakarot asked, sounding almost exited.
"I also happen to be the one to blast that butthole, Frieza and his slimy bastard of a father King Cold into the next dimension in your absence." she added, a smug smirk tugging at her lips. "You're welcome."
"Wow." Kakarot said, after a while. Seeming to absorb the information. "That must mean you're pretty strong, huh?"
"Stronger than you, I'll bet." she challenged. Vegeta felt his stomach clench in a strange combination of pride and envy at the statement. Just like that, Kakarot's demeanor changed. It was eerie, watching the buffoon persona slip away, revealing a fierceness that was the spitting image of his sire, Bardock.
The two flew off shortly afterward and Vegeta had to suppress the sour feeling in his stomach as he felt and then watched as first the girl and then Kakarot ascend to Super Saiyan with an ease that galled him. It should have been him. He thought resentfully. In the distance, they burst into a flurry of motion. Vegeta had trouble following their movements, but saw each time a swing of the girl's sword was parried and blocked by Kakarot, using only a finger of all things. They separated briefly then the girl launched herself at her opponent with a move straight off of his own repertoire. Vegeta was so shocked at seeing the familiar move that it took a while to note that Kakarot was laid out.
By the gods, Vegeta thought. She really is my daughter. Which caused him to smirk smugly because that particular move was so dirty that the poor imbecile would probably never have expected it to come from an opponent with such an angelic face. Vegeta found himself chuckling at the thought. He looked at Kakarot, lying with his face in the dirt, and his chuckling full out turned into a bellow. Gods, that was classic!
When his amusement dimmed and he managed to focus on the interaction again he noted the girl had something metallic in her hand. Vegeta couldn't see exactly what she was doing until she took the gadget and pressed it up against Kakarot's arm. It looked like what these pathetic creatures on this planet called a pistol. She must have shot him with it because Kakarot was suddenly up, standing two feet away from her with his hand clutching at his arm and a perturbed look on his face.
"Smart girl" he heard the woman speak beside him. He looked over to see her clutching something over her eyes. It seemed to be some sort of sight enhancing goggles, if he had to guess. She lowered it and looked at him with an amused expression. "Future me must have told her about Goku's needle phobia. It would have been a nightmare to get him to cooperate and get the shot he needs to survive that virus."
"So she baited him into a fight and got him while he was unconscious" He mused, finishing her train of thought. She nodded. "Hmm" Vegeta grunted. "So the universes' strongest warrior is afraid of needles… pathetic." he spat. He watched the woman shrug beside him.
"Everyone has weaknesses, Vegeta" she stated. "it's what makes us mortal" Then she turned, and rejoined her friends.
Bulma guessed that her future self would have wanted her daughter to stay with them and prepare for the androids. So she offered Bra a room at Capsule Corp. Bra was hesitant at first, insisting that she go on ahead three years to join them when the battle started, but it didn't take much effort to convince her to stay. Bulma tended to think it was Vegeta's gruff "Don't be stupid brat. Obviously you still have a long way to go before you're ready to face the tin cans again" that convinced her.
"But I'm stronger than you, Papa." she had said, a bit cautiously. Vegeta seemed to turn red at her words, whether in anger or embarrassment, Bulma couldn't tell. Vegeta exploded.
"Don't call me that! I'm not your father. Not here. And it doesn't matter how strong you are. Your technique is deplorable: Sloppy and unpracticed. You need more training."
Bulma noticed the sadness in Bra's eyes as she watched Vegeta. Saw her flinch as the Saiyan denied his parentage. Poor girl, she thought with pity. Before she could intervene on the girl's behalf though, Bra straightened her shoulders and glared defiantly at the Saiyan prince.
"Ok." she stated. "I will stay, Father. If you will train me."
"I told you not to call me-
"I will call you whatever I want, Old Man." she said, chin in the air. Bulma snorted, not surprised at the spunk. With them as parents any future children of theirs couldn't help but have that sort of backbone. Bulma suddenly sobered, the father-daughter argument becoming white noise as she analysed her previous train of thought. It was almost as if her having Vegeta's children was a given. She didn't know if the possibility scared or relieved her. When she first found out about Bra. She was, not quite disgusted at the fact that would have children with him in some alternate timeline, but was definitely against the idea, dismissing it as an immediate impossibility. Now, however… she didn't know. She could never see Vegeta settling into the role of a father, it was too absurd. And yet. She glanced over at the arguing pair again.
"You can't tell me what to do!" Bra screeched and Bulma watched Vegeta wince.
"I'll not have anyone of my blood being trained by that idiotic waste of a saiyan!" Vegeta yelled back.
"You're either my father or you're not. You can't have it both ways if you decide you don't want that role. If I want Goku to train me 'Not-Father', then I sure as shit will have him train me!"
"You're awfully young to have such a dirty mouth."
"Yeah well, I learned from the best."
The two stared at each other, breathing heavily for a moment, then both swung around at exactly the same time and huffed, their backs to one another and arms crossed. Bulma couldn't help but find it adorable. She was thinking very dangerous thoughts, she realised.
Now they were standing before the Capsule Corp compound. It was just her, Bra and Vegeta. Yamcha was, understandably, bitter about the revelations of the day. He went back to his own apartment. He had barely looked at her since the revelation of Bra's parentage. Bulma couldn't spare him one ounce of guilt since she hadn't really done anything with Vegeta. Yet… a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. Bulma shook her head as if that would make the voice go away. She instead focused on her current dilemma: Bulma didn't know how she was going to explain it to her mother without the woman losing her mind. Her father, Bulma had no trouble dealing with. He was a scientist, like her, he would get it. Panchy however... let's just say that when Bulma's mother got the urge to match make, she was downright scary, especially when it was grandchildren that was on the line. Bulma already had to toss out a fake packet of birth control the previous year. Thank goodness Yamcha was away on training most of the time because she didn't notice that the color of the pills seemed wrong until halfway through her cycle and she caught site of a previous packet lying in her drawer, with a pill sporadically missed here and there. Bulma had the suspect packet tested and lo and behold: they had been switched to folic-acid supplements. Needless to say, Bulma had been watching her birth control like a hawk since that time. There's no guessing what her mother would do once she finds out about Bra.
Suddenly Bulma had an idea. She would have to call Tights later on to explain, but Bulma didn't think her estranged older sister would mind temporarily becoming a mother of a 14-year old.
When Bulma collapsed on her bed hours later, she nearly drifted of then and there. It had been one heck of a day, she reminisced, starting this morning with her erotic dream of Vegeta, and snowballing from there. She sighed, recalling her mother's reaction to meeting Bra.
"My goodness Bulma! What have you cooked up in your lab this time? Who is this girl? Why she looks just like you when you were young."
"Mom, this is Bra. She's Tight's daughter."
"Tights? Oh my goodness! A grandbaby! Oh why didn't my wayward firstborn tell me she had a child? I'm going to have to have a real talking to that girl, but where are my manners dearest." Mrs Brief addressed Bra for the first time, "Come on into the kitchen and I'll bake you something sweet. Oh! This is so exciting!"
Bulma smiled remembering how well Bra and her mother got on. Amongst comments of "You're so skinny Bra, you should eat more. Boys these days prefer a nice round rump" and "My, you sure have a healthy appetite" Bra's cheeks had been perpetually rosy with embarrassment and mirth. She seemed happy, though and Bulma reminded herself that it was the first time meeting her grandparents, having found out a little more about her backstory on the way here. Momma and Poppa died the same day her son in the future did, Bra said. She couldn't imagine it, and it won't happen this time around, Bulma resolved.
Poppa had later come to her to get the full story about Bra. He was concerned about the future and absolutely dumbfounded at the fact that she and Vegeta had shacked up and had a kid (she didn't tell him about the baby that died), but mostly he was very excited that her theory about time being not so much linear but more like a tree, with different decisions creating different branches of existence was proven with her future self's time travelling invention. That, and he couldn't wait to get his paws all over her future self's data.
She was rolling the Capsule between her fingers. The one that contained the information on the androids sent by her future self. Bulma really wanted to start delving into it, but her eyes were burning from exhaustion, her mind still on the events of the day.
Vegeta retreated to the gravity room almost the instant they landed at the compound, hell bent on getting stronger and reaching Super Saiyan. Honestly, she was a bit worried about him, knowing now what it truly takes to ascend; that it wasn't only about strength. She guessed that Vegeta must be worried too. To be able to suffer an emotional trauma he would first have to make himself vulnerable enough to experience it. He would need to really care about another person and Bulma just did not see that happening with Vegeta. The man is a cold-hearted murdering bastard. He would never… but he did, she suddenly realised. The fact that he did it in the future meant that he isn't a lost cause. He obviously cared deeply, probably even loved his children as impossible as it may sound now. He turned Super when the first died and trained and raised the second with her future counterpart. Her future self also probably cared for him deeply. She admitted, it was the logical conclusion. It would have taken a while though. That man would have been a real hard nut to crack for her future self, but Bulma bet that she'd enjoyed the hell out of it because Bulma Briefs was at her happiest when a challenge was put before her.
See could see it now, she thought, how they ended up together. She was already sexually aware of him because of that stupid dream. The fact that he was an asshole and that she couldn't trust him not to kill them all has so far kept her mind from straying too far into that territory. Oh, and she had Yamcha. She reminded herself belatedly. Those mental boundaries were now slowly melting away. She bet with both their tempers that they would be explosive in the bedroom. She felt her body heat as images of her dream flashed in her brain. Then there was the danger factor - another of her secret boxes that he ticked. There was nothing more satisfying than the knowledge that she could bring a powerful, dangerous man to his knees. She felt the heat pool low in her belly as her imagination got out of hand.
Oh Kami, she thought, this is so wrong, but she couldn't help herself as she slid her hand down her flat stomach and into her underwear and let herself relive her dream all over again.
AN: A bit early, but I needed to get this one out. I'm getting married next week so my life's been quite hectic this month. Anyhew... Untill next time.