Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Dragonball Z

A/N: The song featured in this is Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne, but with a couple of changes. I just thought it summed up Appura's feelings.

Chapter 16

Seven Shooting Stars

Appura tried to pretend it wasn't real, that it wasn't really her mother's pyre that stood before her, that it wasn't her mother's body being carried in by Yamcha and Goku. She blinked back some tears and looked over the pyre. Gohan was stood there and his mere presence was a source of comfort. The whole clearing was silent as Goku and Yamcha gently laid Ima to rest on the pyre. It was a traditional Saiyan funeral for someone who wasn't a warrior but died in battle, to honour their valiant effort. Everyone was wearing traditional Saiyan garb. Vegeta wore his traditional Saiyan armour complete with a red cloak and the crest of the Royal House of Vegeta on the breast plate. Trunks wore something identical. Bulma had crafted armour for the Son men as well. Yamcha was wearing his gi. Bulma was wearing a version of Saiyan womanswear but with her own spin on it. Chi-Chi was wearing a nice formal dress, not feeling comfortable in the Saiyan garb Bulma had made for her, though she got points for trying.

Appura herself was wearing the traditional clothes of a Saiyan Princess. She wore Saiyan armour on her top half but it ended just above her midriff. It had big shoulders and the family crest on the chest. Then on her bottom half was a loincloth-style piece of soft white material. She wore the same gold-tipped boots as her father and brother. She also wore blue arm braces on her wrists and there was a beautiful silver tiara spanning her forehead. The tiara had been an early birthday present from Bulma. Bulma had learnt from Vegeta that Saiyan Princesses came of age at nineteen and that was when they were formally introduced to the grand populace and would be permitted to socialise without a chaperone. But Bulma had decided that as seen as the entirety of the remaining Saiyan population on Earth knew about their princess, there was no need to withhold the gift.

Yamcha and Goku stepped back from the pyre and took their places in the circle of people surrounding. Appura took a deep breath and, in unison with her father, began reciting the right passages in Ancient Saiyan. She wasn't sure on the exact meaning but knew it was something about a non-warrior earning a warrior's death, and letting the blood of their enemies wash the ground. That last part made Appura's stomach turn as she thought about how she had slaughtered the Saiyans too dumb to run away. She finished the passages and sighed, meeting Gohan's gaze once more. Everyone present, capable of summoning their ki, formed the smallest ball of energy in their open palm before sending it to the pyre. The dried sticks and wood crackled as they caught fire. Now was the part Appura had been dreading.

Her mother had always encouraged her singing and she had written a song for her mother.

"Mama, na na na, mama
I miss you, miss you so bad
I don't forget you, oh it's so sad
I hope you can hear me
I remember it clearly

The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same
Oh

Mama, na na na, mama

I didn't get around to kiss you
Goodbye on the hand
I wish that I could see you again
I know that I can't

Oh
I hope you can hear me cause I remember it clearly

The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same
Oh

I've had my wake up
Won't you wake up
I keep asking why
And I can't take it
It wasn't fake
It happened, you passed by

Now you are gone, now you are gone
There you go, there you go
Somewhere I can't bring you back
Now you are gone, now you are gone
There you go, there you go,
Somewhere you're not coming back

The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same no..
The day you slipped away
Was the day that I found it won't be the same oh...

Mama, na na na, mama
I miss you."

By the time she had finished singing, the fire had taken full hold, sending her mother on to the next life. Saiyan afterlife had been the one lesson they had never gotten to, mainly because her mother wholeheartedly believed she would be one of the few Saiyan's to die of old age.

Ima burnt quickly. It had started as a practical event, the burning of bodies, to stop the spread of disease, but eventually the Saiyans had adopted it as formal practice to the point where only the Royal family, Elites and the members of the Temple of Thuranz used it. The lower classes that died in battle tended to be left where they fell. Those who died on their home world were buried in mass graves with those who died the same day, week or in peaceful times, the same month. The mass graves had been located far away the main cities mainly due to the huge stench from where the graves were left open for so long.

Burn quickly she might, but not quick enough for Vegeta. Ima's skin was barely scorched when he turned on his heel and left the clearing. Appura and Gohan were the last ones to leave the clearing. Ima's death and the birth of their son had put a huge strain on their bond and made Gohan reluctant to leave her alone, for fear she might leave. An irrational fear as Appura had pointed out but it was deep rooted in Gohan's mind.

The fire was dying down when Appura moved to leave and Gohan went with her. They returned to the Son house to find Vegeta putting Trunks and Goten through their paces. Appura's last nerve finally stopped. The princess had been completely frazzled recently and this was the final straw. Her mother's funeral was supposed to allow people to mourn, especially the two young boys who hadn't lost someone permanently before. It was supposed to be a time for them to learn and understand what had happened. Not for her father to continue his training!

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed. Trunks and Goten froze in place, whilst Vegeta glared at her. The door to the Son house opened and faces appeared around it, complete with Goku who was obviously chewing.

"That is it! I've had it!" Appura snapped as she stomped over to her father as the two boys ran for cover behind their mothers, "I've had enough of you! I've had enough of your ignorance, your attitude. You really didn't care did you? Oh no, no one's loss can ever match that of the mighty Prince Vegeta losing his Daddy, therefore he can do whatever the hell he wants. That's all you are! A cold, heartless, selfish bastard!" She followed the statement up with a swift poke in her father's chest. It was in the split second that followed that Appura finally understood the phrase 'the calm before the storm'. There was a brief pause and then, next thing she knew, she was being flung through the air, landing in a crumpled heap, head first. Some deep rooted instinct told her to stay down. But that did nothing to help her. She felt a hand close around the back of her neck and drag her up. She tried to turn Super Saiyan but like all of her attempts since her initial transformation, all that happened was her hair flickered and stood on end but nothing more.

"Listen to me, little girl," her father hissed in her ear, "I am your Prince first and your father second, so listen up! I will not tolerate your weakness anymore. My debt to your mother is paid. I will not put up with your weakness any longer, so if you want your son to have his mother, you will watch your mouth because I will not tolerate it anymore." With that he dropped her and began to walk away. Within moments, Appura was back on her feet and charging at him. Vegeta sidestepped her pathetic tackle with ease. She was blinded by fury, her training meant nothing now the red mist had descended. She recovered and launched herself at the Saiyan Prince once more, he merely battered her away as if she were some annoying fly. Appura landed in a heap at Gohan's feet. She made to go after Vegeta again but was stopped by her mate wrapping his arms around her, pinning her to his chest.

"Just leave it, Appura, he's not worth it," he whispered to her as she struggled against him, "He'll never be worth it." Appura stopped struggling and her shoulders shook slightly as she sobbed.

Dende looked out over the Earth that sprawled far beneath his feet. He was meant to be resting as the people and animals of his charge slept, but it eluded him. He felt tense, on edge and it had little to do with the massive power levels coming out of Mount Paozu that afternoon. He knew of Ima's funeral and guessed the tensions between the Saiyans had reached boiling point. He sighed as he looked up into the massive expanse of black and blue and twinkling stars above him. Somewhere out there was his people, the Namek, but there was also danger. The remnants of an old Saiyan war, at least one side of it, still lurked and they were drawing dangerously close to Earth and the last of the losing side. While he remained indifferent towards Vegeta, Dende was still bound to protect the others, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Appura and Kabu because they were born here and Goku, a Saiyan who considered himself human. They were counted amongst his charges and he had a duty of care to each and every one.

As he stared into the night, Dende felt his body become light, almost as if he had left it behind and was floating above it. Images flashed before his eyes. Seven shooting stars. A king, sat upon a throne of bones and blood. And words, but not any words of Earth, words of an ancient alien race. Dende felt his heart pound and landed back with a thump! Suddenly everything seemed real once more. He took a couple of shaky breaths before turning on his heel and running into the main building. He quickly found himself a wax tablet and began drawing what he had seen. It was there that Mr Popo found him the next morning.

"Dende? Master?" the genie enquired as he took in Dende's shaking frame. He leant over the young Namek's shoulder and saw what he had drawn.

"What is it, Dende? What is it you have drawn?" he asked.

"The future," replied Dende.

Appura tried to ignore the elevated power level of her little brother. He was probably playing with Goten and Gohan at the opening of Hercule's hotel. Appura had been invited along but she had received a phone call from the hospital, asking her to come in for a meeting about her son's health. She had ordered Gohan to go and enjoy himself, saying if it was important, she would call him. Goku's ki spiked again. And her father's. What the hell were they up to?

"Ah, Ms Vegeta, thank you for waiting, or is it Mrs Son now? I forget…" said Dr Pepper.

"It's still Ms Vegeta," replied Appura, "Can I ask what this emergency is about?"

"I do apologise, I did make a note to call you last week, but obviously with your mother dying, I put it off and err, lost my note," replied the ageing doctor.

"It's quite alright," Appura said.

"Anyway, we've been monitoring your son's progress, if he continues to improve like he has, we suspect he would be well enough to go home as early as next week," the doctor continued, "Obviously, we'd like to keep him in longer than that, but I suspect you may need your nursery completed within two weeks." The old doctor broke into a smiled and Appura could have hugged him. She refrained though, fearing her Saiyan strength could crush and kill the old man. "Thank you, Dr Pepper," she said delighted, "Thank you so much, I've got to go, I promised Kabu's father I would call him as soon as I had news. Thank you." She turned and quickly left the office. Things were finally going right!

She flew across town to the site of Hercule's hotel and was greeted by, well, it looked like the hotel had actually been demolished. Appura was certain that Gohan had said they'd been invited to the grand opening, not the ground breaking. She picked her way carefully around the piles of rubble to where she sensed the rest of the Z fighters. They all seemed well, though she could hear her father and Goku arguing over pork chop but what else was new?

"Appura!" she heard her brother cry as he ran to her, "You missed it! It was amazing, these two aliens came and Goten and I had to fight them!"

"Wait, what? Aliens? Why were aliens here?" Appura asked.

"Oh, they were chasing our uncle, Tarble," Trunks said, brushing off the fact as if it was nothing, "So, anyway, they decided that Goten and I could have the first try at defeating them…"

"Trunks, slow down and back up, what's this about an uncle?" Appura said, desperately trying to get the ten year old to organise his thoughts.

"My apologies, I should introduce myself," said a voice to the side of Appura. She turned to see a man, significantly shorter than herself, but a mirror image of her father. The mini-Vegeta stepped forward, extending a hand.

"My name is Tarble, I understand you are Appura?" he said.

"Yes," said Appura, a little in shock.

"Vegeta's daughter I understand, your mother was a high priestess of Thuranz," said Tarble, sounding like he'd swotted up before hand, "You are betrothed to Gohan, son of Kakarott and have an infant son named Kabu with him."

"Ok, so you have my life story, huh?" Appura joked.

"Your father spoke quite proudly of you," replied Tarble, "He seemed to think you were a notable achievement." Appura shook her head.

"I will never understand my father," she said, "Just a few weeks ago, he told me that if I mouthed off at him again, he'd beat the living daylights out of me and then he's boasting about me to a total stranger."

"Saiyans are two-sided coins, at least, according to my wife," Tarble laughed.

"My dad's more like a twenty-sided dice," replied Appura.