Note: This story is one of fourteen that I am writing - companion pieces to my as-yet-unpublished-book, DRAGONBALL Z: AND THE GREATEST OF THESE. While the book itself fits accepted DBZ canon, these stories are meant to expand on themes not explored in depth in AND THE GREATEST OF THESE, or as in the case of "Twisted Timelines," are tales based on those two words of such promise… 'What if…'

Twisted Timelines

Chapter Three

Vegeta felt his wife twist around uncomfortably in bed, trying to get settled.

"Are you all right? You keep fidgeting."

"I just can't seem to get comfortable. This stomach of mine just keeps getting in the way," Kurenai said in irritation, frowning at her abdomen. "If I didn't know better, I'd think that the little one is turning somersaults in there."

Vegeta glared at her stomach. "Hey, if you can hear me in there, cut it out. If your mother gets no sleep, I don't get any either. And if you make either of us miserable now, you can be sure you'll be grounded for it later."

Kurenai chuckled as the baby within her seemed to quiet down. "I think it worked."

"Let's hope so." He drew his wife close to him again so that her stomach rested against his. It felt decidedly odd to have this much space between them when she was lying right in front of him.

"So was Bulma able to confirm a delivery date?" Although the green-haired scientist's primary field was electronics and capsule creation, Kurenai and Vegeta occasionally had her run medical tests to make sure that the pregnancy went smoothly. Also, Bulma wanted to make sure that Kurenai's own body did nothing to jeopardize things, given her abnormally vigilant immune system and regenerative capabilities.

"Mm-hmm. She's estimating around June 24th, give or take a week, if all goes well."

"Wonderful, another six weeks of you not being able to sleep, having weird food cravings, demanding backrubs – ouch!" He frowned as Kurenai reached out and punched him in the arm.

"Just for that, you get to change the first month's worth of diapers."

Gently she rubbed her stomach, then glanced over at her husband. "You sure you're not disappointed?"

"That it's a girl?" he asked, and she nodded. "Not really, no. I know you want a daughter, and if she's anywhere as powerful as you are, she'll make a worthy heiress of the Vegeta lineage." That thought pleased him – a child with his own physical power and his wife's magical abilities.

"At least we know that she'll be able to take care of herself," Kurenai said absently, and Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her.

"That's true enough, but something tells me there's more to that comment."

"I don't know…" She idly rubbed her hand over her heart, where the prince could see the dragon tattoo inked into her skin. "Just thinking aloud, I guess."

It bothered him when these hunches or feelings came over her – the Dragon whispering in her ear, they had taken to calling it. Of all the Z Warriors, only Vegeta had ever been able to sense that there was a greater power within Kurenai than any of them ever dreamt of. The first time he and she had sparred, Kurenai had unleashed a tremendous power to fight him, to the point where she could have killed him easily. But when he broke her concentration, the power had vanished again, and since that day, only flickers of it ever showed through.

Most of the time, those flickers came in the form of dreams or odd hunches, like the one she'd had that told her that Goku was dying. Kurenai had woken screaming out of a sound sleep, scaring at least ten years off of Vegeta's life, and immediately the two of them had flown to Goku's house to discover the other Saiyan gasping in unimaginable pain.

Another had come while Kurenai and Vegeta had been meditating in the gravity chamber. The prince had sensed his wife's energy level changing, and had opened his eyes to see his wife staring at nothing, her eyes wide with wonder. As he had touched her arm to get her attention, she began to describe a world of towering buildings, brilliant reddish skies, and racing winds. Vegeta had been stunned to hear his wife describe his home world of Vegeta-sei.

If only you could tap into that power at will, he thought enviously, you would be the most powerful warrior on the planet.

Suddenly he felt her shiver and saw her eyes open wide. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She sat bolt upright and turned to stare at the window.

"Kurenai?"

The immortal ignored him, continuing to stare outside. He leapt to his feet and strode to the window, but there was nothing out there that he could see.

"Come on, Kurenai, this isn't amusing. Talk to me!"

She sat in the same enraptured trance, and he glanced back out the window. All right, think logically, she might be looking beyond what I can see out there. What direction is she staring in? He looked around to fix the cardinal points in his mind, then back at his wife.

Southwest.

The answer to Vegeta's questions came the next morning. While Kurenai was still in bed, trying to catch up on lost sleep, he'd been pulling on his shorts and sneakers for a workout in the gravity chamber when a sudden announcement came through on TV.

"Reports are still coming in about an explosion of undetermined origin earlier this morning that rocked the city of Sazebo, nine miles southwest of South City. Eyewitnesses report that the explosion has leveled nearly half of the city, but the number of casualties is still unknown. Our correspondent will be on the scene shortly, and we hope to bring you more news within the hour…"

Vegeta sat down hard on the edge of the bed. Something about this feels wrong… humanity might be the undisputed experts for self-destruction, but this goes way beyond their normal stupidity.

"You're right," came Kurenai's voice from behind him. He turned to see his wife sitting up in bed and watching him. It wasn't the first time she'd answered as though she could read his thoughts. "Whatever caused that explosion, it certainly wasn't natural, like a gas leak or somesuch."

"You saw something last night." It was a statement, not a question.

She nodded. "I was hoping I was wrong."

"But why level half a city? And an insignificant one like Sazebo? It would make more sense if someone were to try and destroy West City."

Kurenai bit her lip thoughtfully. "I don't know."

Her expression changed to one of dismay as the prince got up again and this time began pulling on his Saiyan body armor. "You're not planning on going there, are you?"

"No, I'm going to just sit here and watch TV. Of course I'm going."

"Then I'm going with you." She started to heave herself out of bed, but he firmly pushed her back against the pillows.

"You are staying right here. You are in no condition to go wandering all over the planet. I don't need help."

"I'm immortal, Vegeta, what could possibly happen to me?"

"You are, yes. We don't know if Keiki is, and I won't allow you to jeopardize the baby over something like this."

Her eyes narrowed and she stopped struggling to rise, but as he pulled on his boots, he saw her reach for the phone. "And don't go calling any of the others, either. I'm sure they already know and will be on their way as well."

She sighed and reached for his hand, pulling it against her face to cup her cheek. "Promise me you'll be careful, Vegeta. Don't go taking any unnecessary risks, I want you to come home safe to Keiki and me."

He leaned down and kissed his wife goodbye.

As he raced toward South City, his mind whirled with questions. What could possibly have caused that explosion? The only people on this planet powerful enough to do it are, as Kakarot would have called us, "the good guys." Unless Piccolo has for some weird reason reverted to his Demon King aspect…

"Hey, Vegeta!"

He looked over his shoulder to see Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha zooming up alongside him.

"I don't need your help, so you all may as well turn around and go home."

"Not a chance, Vegeta," Yamcha smirked. "Kurenai would kill us if we let anything happen to you."

"Besides, Yamcha's more afraid of your wife than he is of you!" Krillin called cheerfully, earning a glare from the former bandit.

"I take it all of you saw that news announcement."

Gohan nodded. "Yeah… no idea what caused it though."

The group flew over South City then turned slightly southwest, aiming for Sazebo. Then all six pulled up short in mid-flight as they saw smoke billowing over the horizon.

"My God," Tien whispered. "That can't just be from this morning's explosion."

"Something else must have happened," Piccolo growled, "but we won't find out hanging out up here. Let's go!"

Vegeta and the other Z Warriors followed the Namek toward the island, and all of them were stunned to see not only Sazebo, but most of the island had been hammered into ruins. People were fleeing any way they could – by plane, helicopter, boat, aircar, whatever they could manage.

"Whoa…" Yamcha whistled. "What causes that kind of damage?"

"Someone like us." Vegeta's voice was flat.

"But there's no one down there like that, we'd be able to sense their power levels, right?" Krillin asked. "I mean, it's possible to suppress it, but it'd actually be raised to attack." As if in response to his words, another explosion rocked the island, but the Z Warriors felt no indication of any sort of power.

"We may as well go down there and take a look," Piccolo stated. "Spread out, and if you see anything, raise your power level so we can sense it. And don't do anything stupid."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Gohan muttered.

To be continued…