Chapter 1: Kill Tomorrow

That evening, after Vegeta had placed his belongings in the area which they were to go, he jumped out his window onto the tree that was conveniently right outside. Making sure he was not seen, Vegeta dropped on the front lawn and jogged away from the house. Once he was a safe distance away, he pulled up the hood on his navy sweater (a little difficult to do as his dark hair was spiked about a foot in the air) and shoved his hands into the front pouch. It was in mid-spring, so he was warmed by the sweater but was still kept cool from wearing camouflage boarder shorts.

Once he reached the end of the street, he passed giant gates leading back into the sub-division. Making a mental note that they were how he was to get back 'home', he continued towards the main streets of the city. The sun was beginning to touch the horizon, but it didn't faze him at all. In his home town, Vegeta was always out late and was used to traveling alone at night. His parents didn't mind too much, as long as he was home and hadn't gotten into too much trouble. Vegeta thought back to his easy going life since his parents did not give him many restrictions. 'Better to learn from experience,' they had always told him. He doubted this couple would give him limited boundaries, but that wouldn't stop him.

As he neared the center of downtown, familiar noises and odours began to fill his senses. More than once, he was tempted to meet anyone in the back-alleys, but had to remind himself that he was an observer tonight and not to get involved in anything this soon.

As he passed one alleyway though, commotion inside a shadowed path caught his attention. There was a circle of three or four thugs around someone he couldn't see, but could tell that they were not planning on letting the person go. Vegeta gave the scene one last glance and continued to walk past it, seeing many hassles like that in the past.

A whimper from inside and a flicker of silver captured Vegeta's interest once again. He stopped and looked back at the corner of the alley and could see one of the thugs had a little dagger, and saw the figure inside the circle. He was around Vegeta's age, give or take a year, and looked like he had been through a few fights that day. The boy was forced onto his knees from a blow one of the thugs gave him, and became more visible through the bully's legs. He looked up and spotted Vegeta at the edge of the alley and gave him a pleading look. He couldn't see who Vegeta was by the shadow his hood cast on his face, but Vegeta was able to see every bruise on his face and his vibrant grey eyes.

Vegeta's first instinct was to turn and continue walking, but as soon as the boy looked at him he felt he had to help. Giving a sigh, he fazed to behind the bullies and tapped one on the shoulder. As he turned around, Vegeta pulled his fist back and planted it directly onto the guy's face. He reeled back from the blow, but his counterparts launched themselves at Vegeta and had forgotten about the boy they were just bullying.

Vegeta easily dodged the thug's pathetic attempts to punch him, and waited until they started to tire out before he attacked. He gave each of them a single punch before they were either knocked out or thrown back and ran away. After assessing that the area was safe, he turned back to the boy who was now pressing himself against the alley wall and giving Vegeta a look of confusion and awe, with a little bit of fear. "H-how did you do that?" he managed to say, wiping off a bit on blood on his lips.

The boy began to get up from the ground, using the wall as his balance and never took his eyes off Vegeta's hooded form. Vegeta continued to stare at him, knowing he had witnessed what no one else was allowed to see. He thought for a moment before answering, "Practice. Go home," and he turned to leave the alley.

"Wait, who are you? I haven't seen you around here before," the boy said as he started to follow Vegeta.

Getting annoyed with the boy's questioning, Vegeta quickly faced the boy, causing the boy to almost bump into him but was able to stop a foot away from his face. They were around the same height, but Vegeta's menacing demeanor and hard eyes caused the boy to take a few steps back. "You don't want to be associated with me, boy. Go home." With that, he turned back around and tried to leave again.

But the boy did not back down. In fact, he became braver from Vegeta's words. "Associated with you? You just got lucky back there. I could've taken them on, but... they caught me at a bad time," he replied to the back of Vegeta's head. "And my name's Chester, not boy."

Vegeta whirled around and growled at him, "Are you looking for another fight tonight, Chester? You really don't look like you could handle one."

Chester raised his arms in defense. "Dude, I'm not looking for anything. You're the one that snapped at me when I just wanted to know who sav- had helped me. And it's not everyday you see a guy move at the speed of light."

Vegeta's face softened a little when he saw Chester wasn't trying to cause any harm. He took in more of Chester's appearance where his sweater sleeves had dropped and old, dark marks could be seen. Unfortunately Vegeta couldn't make out what they were from the shadows of the alley. Chester quickly noticed his error and pulled at the sleeves immediately. "Try not to question it; you won't get an answer that you'll understand," Vegeta stated like he had been asked the question before.

"Try me," Chester replied with a raised eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Vegeta chuckled at his spirit. It reminded himself of what he would do if someone was being difficult with him. "Maybe later," he said softly. He started to walk away when Chester asked him one last question.

"Can I at least know who you are?"

Vegeta paused. Without looking at Chester, he replied, "Just call me Vegeta. That is, if we ever meet again." He continued around the corner and was relieved to know that Chester was not following him, and was hopefully heading to his own home.

Looking at the sky, he realized the sun had disappeared completely, and his 'parents' may have tried to check on him. That took longer than I had expected, he thought. Vegeta also took notice that he wasn't close to wherever downtown ended and the suburbs began. He only knew of one way to figure out his bearings. Not wanting to have anymore attention tonight, he turned down the closest deserted alleyway and ran straight to a wall. About three feet away he jumped up and placed his foot on the wall to bounce over to the opposite wall. He continued this jump until he reached the building's roof, where he landed like a predator ready to pounce again.

From the rooftop, he was able to locate the gates leading to his house and a path through the city to take him home. About two blocks down the street, he noticed the blonde that he had saved earlier walking towards a few houses to the east. Chester looked around before crossing the street and ran up to what Vegeta assumed was his front door. Once his newfound friend was inside, Vegeta watched his alley and the street it stemmed from until he was sure no one was able to see him. He stepped off the roof and landed with a small thud on the ground.

Vegeta navigated through the streets and shortcuts he had seen on the rooftop until he arrived outside his sub-division's gates. Quickly making his way to his house, Vegeta began to pick up sounds coming from said house, and he pinpointed them to being right outside his door. He leaped through the tree and landed with a thump on his bed. As soon as he had landed, the door banged open to reveal his guardians out of breath and looking slightly shaken.

"Vegeta! We've been knocking on your door for fifteen minutes and you didn't answer; we thought you could've been hurt or something!" his 'father' said to him while leaning on the doorframe. His 'mother' stood behind the man clutching her hands to her chest in relief.

He gave a short laugh and with a shrug replied, "Sorry, I'm a heavy sleeper."

And they finally meet. I know I said this would be out next week, but I felt a creative streak and decided to post it now while my brother and fellow FF author had taken over the MSN and Diablo computer... so enjoy! (FYI, my brother is Mr. Light Chicken Bulbs and mainly writes comedies if you're interested.)