Without further ado:

Chapter 19: This Might Be Awkward...

"Daddy!" Gohan exclaimed while flash stepping to get to his father, tears swelled to the point of blurring his vision. His arms circled his neck holding onto him tightly as he grinned. "You made it! You're finally home!" He whispered.

Grinning Goku hugged Gohan just as tightly. As much as he wished to reassure his son that he'd never leave again, that he was here to stay; he couldn't make a promise he knew would be impossible to keep. His desire for battle would always be at the back of his mind, and it could very well take him to other worlds once more, or take his life. "I'll try and call next time," he joked making Gohan laugh through his tears.

"Goku!" At the cry, Goku was nearly knocked over by another body hitting his. Thin arms joined his neck as a slim body locked onto him.

"B-Bulma?!" Red colored his face as he looks into the beautiful crying face of the bluenette. She was beautiful, beaming happily while looking at him with her crystalline blue eyes, blue curls bouncing around her shoulders while a mix of giggles and sobs escapes her red painted lips. Seeing her now brought forth a swirl of emotions, he knew he had missed the woman, but it wasn't until now that he realized how much.

His heart tightened.

He is going to be Trunk's father. Whatever he had to do, he would, because she was to be his and his alone.

Grinning at his thoughts, Goku nuzzled Bulma's cheek before nudging Gohan's.

Looking behind him he looked at Kagome who nodded back at him, his family was coming together, and he would always protect them. "I want you guys to meet someone really important to me," too busy looking at his sister he hadn't seen the flash of jealousy in Bulma's face before stepping out of his arms. He didn't notice. Even with a majority of the brain damage corrected he would forever maintain some of his naive charms.

Grinning at Gohan, he beamed. "Gohan I want you to meet Kagome,"

Gohan stepped forward tilting his head slightly at the girl. Dark sapphire eyes met curious gray. "You saved me back on Namek,"

Her eyes darkened as she gave a solemn nod. Kagome couldn't allow Frieza to kill another person, and a child no less. Even if the events following were unpleasant, she would do it again and again. An innocent child needn't suffer such a hideous fate.

He rushed her with a hug his arms wrapping around her legs tightly. Taken aback by the suddenness she looked up at Goku for help, who simply grinned, and back to the boy with the messy black hair. "Thank you," he whispered into the fabric of her clothes where he nuzzled her stomach.

Tears prickled her eyes, and she returned the hug, an arm around his back while she caressed his hair with her opposite hand.

Krillin leaned close to Goku, a hand cupped to his face as he whispered. "So what's her deal? You two dating?"

Goku blinked owlishly before he laughed grabbing the attention of everyone. "Gross, she's my sister," he laughed patting the back of the blushing bald man.

Behind him, several jaws fell to the floor including Bulma's, actually mostly her."Sister!"

He nodded. And if anyone bothered to notice, they could have seen matching relief wash over Vegeta and Bulma only for her to blush at her previous jealousy.

Gohan not even fazed by the news, in fact, he beamed happily holding the woman, who was now his aunt, a little tighter.

"You all can finish catching up later, Goku tells them what the boy said or I will," Piccolo growled his gruff voice cutting through the air silencing the excitement.

"You could hear that!?" he gabbed.

"Of course he could, Namekians are known for many things and their hearing more so. Back when they were a more prominent race there was a saying; "No secret is safe when a Namekian is near," rumor has it they can even hear to the far ends of the galaxy," Kagome explained with a simple laugh as she patted the surprised Saiyan's shoulder.

Sweat gathered on Goku's brow while staring at Piccolo. He had no idea as to explain Trunks' existence or the danger facing the future.

"If you can't speak then I will," Piccolo growled.

Panic set in. If he said anything about Trunks; the boy could not be born, or he and Bulma might not get together. And he couldn't let that happen, she was his, and he was going to make sure of that.

"Don't worry I won't do anything to jeopardize the boy's existence,"

With a sigh, Goku nodded nervously while eyeing Bulma out of the corner of his eye. With bated breath, he waited for her reaction.

In a matter-of-fact way, Piccolo explained the situation to the mixed group. And as promised he avoided the parentage of the boy while still explaining that Trunks was, in fact, from the future. "I for one plan to use the next three years wisely. The rest of you can do whatever you want in the meantime, but I refuse to die again,"

Yamcha laughed shaking his head at Piccolo and then Goku. "Please, for all we know he could simply be claiming he's from the future,"

Bulma nodded with a hum. "A time machine? Really? Those are only in Syfy movies,"

"And for what I know there are only three saiyans left in the universe; Kakarot, me and Kagome," her name finished on his lips in a whisper. Vegeta looked at her, and she looked back blushing before with a shake of her head she stepped forward Gohan going with her, his hand gripping the red fabric of her pants.

"Actually there is an entire planet within the eastern corner of the universe full of saiyans," everyone looked to her their eyes wide while sweat began gathering on several of the human's brows.

"But-"

Kagome raised her hand to him. "Now isn't the time Vegeta," before she could say anything else a roar, of what sounded to be coming from the turbines of a jet, filled the air. Looking around, the group spotted a yellow vertical ship and waving from the cockpit sat the lavender-haired boy.

He waved as the vessel reeved and then it simply disappeared.

Kagome, the only one who didn't look, shook her head. Whatever the reason, she had believed the boy and trusted in every word he told them. Placing a hand over her heart Kagome rubbed at the ache that had taken root there, it was like she was missing someone or several people, but their names and faces were out of her reach.

"I'll train," one declared frozen in place as he stared at the empty space in the sky.

"Me too," they all volunteered one after the other.

"Kakarot tell me... How did you survive?" Vegeta asked from his place farthest from the group.

"That's right Frieza's spaceship was broken, wasn't it? King Kai said you wouldn't be able to make it back… We all thought you were dead and the dragon said you were alive," Yamcha said sheepishly hesitant to admit how little faith he had in his longtime friend.

"I'd have agreed with him," Goku laughed before Kagome hit him.

"It's not funny! We could have died in that lava pit!" She growled.

He rubbed his head as he continued to laugh. "Anyway after finding Kagome on Frieza's ship I was able to find one of those weird round ships," Goku answered.

"Of course, the Ginyu special force! You must have found one of their ships," Vegeta shouted finally understanding as he remembered the events on Planet Namek.

"So with Kagome, I climbed aboard and pressed all the buttons. Next thing I knew we were flying,"

"We ended up crash landing on Planet Yardrat,"

Vegeta nodded in understanding, "Ginyu and his men were in the middle of conquering it. It had to have been programmed to go there automatically, and those clothes must be from Yardrat,"

"Yeah the natives were really nice, and the food was delicious," Kagome hummed dreamily while Goku hummed in agreement.

"They sure could eat,"

"Not as much as you," she giggled.

"I know you, you wouldn't just leave without gaining something Kakarot, those Yardrats don't have any considerable strength, but they use strange techniques. You must have learned some,"

"Bingo Vegeta," Goku grinned while tapping his nose. "You sure are sharp," he finished with a wink as he elbowed Kagome. Pink coloring the bridge of her nose as she hit him in return.

"Okay, I get it, so that's why you didn't come back until now," Krillin exclaimed excitedly.

"So what kind of techniques were they?" Bulma asked.

"I didn't have much time, so they only taught me one thing, and that took a whole lot of work. And now I can teleport,"

"TELEPORT?" the group yelled in unison.

"No one can teleport! That's impossible!" Krillin shrieked.

He simply nodded. "Kagome's still getting the hang of it, though she did pick up transformation really well,"

"Transformation?"

"Yeah, she can go super saiyan too!" He beamed while she blushed, everyone was shocked whereas Vegeta was dealing with a mix of jealousy and pride. He was proud of her but jealous because he had yet to do it himself.

"I still don't believe the teleport part, if you really can, prove it," Krillin egged on.

Kagome shot a glare down at the shorter male. Nervously he avoided the eye contact.

"Want to see? No problem you think of a person, not a place, then you find his ki. So you can't go someplace where there isn't anyone you know! Let's see where should I go?" He hummed tapping a finger to his chin before grinning happily. "Okay!" in the blink of an eye Goku vanished leaving Kagome to stand awkwardly with everyone staring at her.

Goku reappeared with a mischievous giggle.

"So you've perfected a parlor trick?" Vegeta laughed.

"Oh yeah?" he laughed. "Recognize these?" grinning he wiggled the red-rimmed sunglasses he now sported. It took only a moment for the humans to catch, their reaction forcing a giggle out of Kagome.

"Those look like Master Roshi's glasses," Krillin stuttered.

"That can't be?!"

"Roshi's is like 7,000 miles away, or even more round trip!"

"It's called instant transmission!" Kagome giggled.

"Hey Krillin, do you mind giving these back to Master Roshi for me?" Goku asked handing the glasses to Krillin.

"Uh okay,"

"Is there nothing you can't do," Bulma jokes.

There was nothing but silence for a long moment before someone asked the question that everyone had meant to ask.

"What happened to Frieza? We all felt him coming, and then his power vanished," Gohan asked looking from his father to Kagome. Now that they knew about the future and his father and aunt's journey why not return to the present.

"Yeah what happened Goku? We all thought you defeated him on Namek," Krillin questioned.

Tapping a finger against his chin Goku took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"He's dead," Kagome stated her eyes looking back at the ship. Goku sighed as he grips her shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. She was hurting, even now, it would be a long time before she would heal. The last year had already been so hard on her, the nightmares alone were hard to witness, yet like now he could see her mind reeling and churning over tortured moments of her past.

"But how? We felt him approaching,"

"Kagome had me teleport onto the ship,"

"You finished the fight from Namek on that ship!?" Krillin asked with wide-eyed amazement as he gazed up at Goku: the assumed hero.

"No, Kagome did," he grinned proudly, but even then his eyes held a ting of sorrow. He was proud she had grown so strong, but her sadness was painful to watch. Like her brother, and self-proclaimed protector, he wanted to rid the world of anything that could hurt her, but he couldn't protect her from her past, her memories or even herself.

Vegeta stared at her from afar, the group had gone to surround the two, but he stayed back. There were so many emotions; he wanted to be next to her, wanted to hold her, smell her. She was here but so far from him.

"Why are you just standing here?" Her voice was a whisper, the care in her voice forcing him to look down at the bluenette. She looked up at him only to look back at Kagome and Goku. "Go to her," then looked back to him.

"I can't," he whispered just as softly unable to prevent the hurt in his voice.

"Ok," she nodded before walking back to the group.

"Kagome it would be a pleasure to have you stay at my place," Bulma cheered.

She blinked owlishly at the bluenette surprised by the sudden invitation. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden,"

Bulma laughed, waving away the concern. "Please, I insist. And if you need a job, I'm sure we can think of something. Vegeta is our security guard,"

Kagome was forced to look at Vegeta but only for a second as she was rushed by emotions. Some that she didn't want to face just yet, she needed some time before she could face them, and him.

"I would greatly appreciate that Bulma," she bowed her head in thanks.

An arm wrapped around Bulma's shoulders. Goku grinned down at her while pulling her to his side. "Mind if I stay for a while too?" he leaned in close causing the girl to blush.

Their noses were almost touching, Bulma's blush growing to spread across her face and down her neck. He was so close, she could not think of a time he had ever been this close to her, and that look in his eyes, it made her knees week. Had he ever looked at her like that? No, definitely not. It was like she was prey, captured by his intense eyes that swirled and danced with hunger that was completely foreign to her.

She licked her lips, his eyes following the pink appendage. Was this actually going to happen? Was he going to kiss her? Her heart raced, pounding violently in her ears. He was leaning in, his head dipping down till their noses brushed against one another.

"Can I stay too Bulma?" Gohan interrupted.

Closing her eyes, trying to will down the embarrassing, she turned to look down at Gohan. "I don't see why not," he grinned whereas Goku had pulled away now his arm slipping from his place at her waist. Before she could stop herself, she latched onto that arm pressing herself against it. It had been so long that she had waited for his return, in all that time she had come to realize her feelings. She loved him, always had. It was only after he'd died the first time that she really began analyzing her feelings, and even more thoroughly after the second time, she'd thought him to have died.

She wanted him more than the air she breathed, his warmth that she now clung to, she never wanted to let go. Bulma wanted everything that had to do with him, to wrap herself in his warmth and feel him under her fingertips.

"I've missed you," she whispered into his sleeve. He's woodsy musky encased her thoughts making her heart flutter once more. She had missed him so much.

Hugging her to him, he nuzzled the top of her head. "I missed you more," he whispered back. As simple as it was her heart leaped at the words and caught in her throat.

Kagome smiled at the two although her nose wrinkled at the scent of their arousal. She would need to remove herself from the two as quick as possible before their hormones began affecting her own. Chancing a glance, Kagome was met with shining black eyes staring back at her. Even so far away from one another Kagome shivered; this was the closest he'd been in years. Her fingers ached; wanting to reach out and touch the tan skin tautly wrapped around his large muscles. He had matured passed the charming young prince that had stolen her heart. Before Kagome stood a matured saiyan, powerful and capable. His aura swirl around him violently with power, it made her want to pant and knees weak.

A blush rose to color her nose, seems the pheromones her brother was amitting were affecting her. But if they were affecting her, they would be affecting him as well.

Forcing herself to look away Kagome did her best to not succumb to her instincts which screamed to go to him, to submit in every way and give herself to the power male she still admittingly loved.

"Well hello~ beautiful, my names Yamcha," the male stepped next to her, his arm falling to hug her shoulders. He smiled in what some may call a charming manner. Perhaps he was consisted handsome with deep brown eyes and short black hair, a scar making his face in a dangerous fashion, and his body was well defined with thick muscles. But he wasn't Vegeta.

Her heart fell. She wanted Vegeta to be the one coming to her, but at the same time, she worried about Trunks. What if Vegeta was the father? She would need to back off and not act on her own wants.

"Hands off," there was a growl and a tug at her waist before she met a hard chest. "She's spoken for,"

Vegeta had wanted to take his time in approaching her but seeing that fool touch her, the smell of arousal coming from his pores; he was at her side pulling her to his chest. He nearly moaned at the feel of her smaller frame pressed tightly to his own. With her head naturally tucked under his chin Vegeta gifted the human male a deadly glare that spoke of death and pain. No one, especially this human, would stand in his way of being the woman he had loved so dearly and live.

"Vegeta," his name left her lips in a whisper, barely audible but it took his breath away. Looking down he looked into dark, sorrowful sapphire eyes; they were so much darker than he remembered.

Raising a hand, he tenderly stroked her cheek with a calloused thumb. So many things raced and dance upon his tongue, he wanted to bare his heart, cry even, but most of all he wanted to kiss her. The last kiss they shared still seared into his mind.

He pulled her tighter to him, his fingers fished into the fabric of her clothes in an attempt to keep her close. She stood right in front of him, pressed against him, but still, a part of him insisted this was another dream. Why would she return, when she had admitted that the saiyan race had survived, what reason would she have to come to earth if that was the case?

Resting his forehead against hers, he looked deep into the swirling depths.

"Kagome I-"

"All right everyone let's get out of here," four sets of eyes turning to Krillin with heated glares in place. The bald man has ruined two separate moments.

Stepping away from Vegeta Kagome blushed while looking away. Whereas Vegeta stared after her longingly, wanting to pull her back into his arms.

"To Bulma's," Goku beamed his hold on the bluenette remaining much to her embarrassment. Scooping her up with both arms the woman nearly screamed.