Chapter 3

Vegeta was so busy studying and just all around preparing for the fight that the time flew by. Suddenly, he looked up and realized that it was one year and nine months since Trunks's appearance. So far, all was going according to plan: he had grown tremendously in mind, body and spirit, ascended, and most importantly, not been seduced by Bulma...

They were alone in the library yet again. Vegeta had gotten what he came for but he wasn't finished. If he missed anything that could have been useful... if any source or fact slipped past him... he had failed as a martial artist. Know thine enemy. Vegeta never let down his guard both in battle and in academics. He was fortunate enough to have been granted this time to prepare, and he would be damned if he didn't take two extra days to sift through all the information one last time.

But as the hours passed in focused silence, Vegeta realized that he had found all there was to find, which admittedly wasn't much. He was pretty such that Gero was making cyborgs and he was almost certain that it was impossible to feel their chi, but it was all just speculation. Well... it was better this way. Vegeta wanted to beat them with his own strength, not because he'd discovered their ultimate weakness. No one liked taking advantages of weaknesses more than him, but this battle wasn't for play. There would be time for that later, after Kakarrot was out of the way. But right now... this was a matter of pride.

(Although, they didn't seem to have any weaknesses at all. According to Bulma, their infinite energy drives could power them for thousands of years, at least, and they didn't lose stamina. Hmph. He would just have to break them.)

"That's it for tonight," Vegeta said, closing the book. "Don't bother coming back tomorrow."

Bulma was already getting up to go. "Really? Why not?"

Vegeta was curious at the disappointment in her voice. "Because I don't think there's anything else to find... why are you surprised? It's been weeks and we've made little progress," he said, on the cusp of bewilderment and getting up as well. "It's done."

Bulma frowned and took out a cigarette, fumbling with her lighter. "You know, I really liked getting to spend this time with you," she said after a long pause. She looked at him, eyes expectant and bright.

"Yeah, and?" Vegeta said, barely paying attention as he wrestled with the sheaves of paper.

"…" Bulma frowned… but after a second she shook her head. "Nothing. See you later."

The second the door closed behind her, Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Cow," he muttered. Who did she think she was?

It almost killed him to leave her alive, after that, but he might need her mind later on. At the very least, it wasn't worth his cover being blown. Kakarrot, as simple-minded as he was, had such a strong moral sense that Vegeta knew he would smell a rat if Bulma just spontaneously disappeared.

But still. "Nothing"? He was insulted just on the grounds that anyone thought him that oblivious. He could almost taste the desperation and lust on her skin heavy and stifling like an unwashed fur coat. Disgusting. She couldn't even follow through with her desires. She just gave up when she sensed his disinterest. He hadn't pegged her to be that timid... in fact, it was downright uncharacteristic...

…

Which probably meant that this wasn't the end. Earthlings couldn't stand unresolved sexual tension, one-sided or not.

Vegeta still stood with his arms full of notes, too sickened to leave just yet. Though she still didn't have a clue about him, he knew Bulma's ways. She flirted outrageously with every half-decent looking man who was unlucky enough to cross her path. She jumped from lover to lover, tiring of each of them quickly. She always looked for her next victim. But Vegeta wasn't like the rest. She couldn't have him.

Standing in the dusty library, a chill suddenly ran down his spine. What if he hadn't purposefully shut her down, but instead listened? Would she have asked to go out with him?

Vegeta's blood seemed to freeze in his veins as he realized what could have been the start of the chain of events that led to Trunks being conceived. His eyes widened in horror. He could see exactly how it would play out: he got to know Bulma, she grew on him enough that he spent more and more time with her, they slept together. Vegeta either got distracted by the idea of fatherhood or kept seeing Bulma, either way his discipline slackened. Even the way he was now, if he didn't continuously train his mind and body, they would fall out of practice. Come the androids, he was not sharp anymore and they tear through him easily. Like a bullet through a wet sheet of paper.

If Bulma pulled that again, Vegeta was going to let her have it. Useful or not, advance on him again and she would die.

But he made it past the first test. Vegeta had spent literal days agonizing. Would spending time with Bulma awaken desires in him that he had never known of? Would even the knowledge of the future not be enough to stop him? He knew the answer now... there was never any danger. He felt nothing for Bulma.

And now there was nothing that could distract him from his goal.

Five months later

(10 months until the androids)

Vegeta was outside for the first time in weeks on a field trip. Back in the day, he would never even consider relenting on his training but now he was starting to get the feeling that resting is good. Oh, he wasn't slacking off. His breaks were strictly monitored and, to be honest, few and far between. But the body needs to breathe once in a while. Having spent generations in cramped spaceships, the Saiyan race evolved to regard the sun as something of a dentist appointment. To remain healthy, a typical Saiyan only needed exposure to natural light once every few months.

Vegeta planned to spend at least half of the day outside. He had chosen a great, sprawling forest that seemed completely uninhabited. He'd catch some fish, get used to normal gravity, and just breathe in the clean air.

There. That was the place.

Vegeta landed and scanned the terrain. Close to the heart of the forest, a few feet from a river. "This one," he muttered. This spot would do.

The river was about twenty or thirty feet wide, wide enough to have some very big fish. He'd start by catching one for lunch... he could cook it with his chi... after he might follow the river to the sea...

"Hey! Heeeey!" A shrill voice interrupted his plans. Vegeta closed his eyes and his head dropped a fraction of an inch. He hadn't bothered to check if anyone was around. Why should he? This place was hundreds of miles away from even the most rural of settlements. So naturally, he had been found within the first five seconds of touching down.

So far, the day was off to a start worthy of Earth.

Vegeta slowly turned around, shoulders tense. There was a small Earthling boy standing in front of him, about ten years of age, brown hair and freckles. Boring.

"Did you just fly?!" the kid shrieked, voice grating terribly on Vegeta's ears. Annoying.

He crossed his arms. He was not in the mood to deal with the tedious locals, today of all days. He wanted so badly to just kill the whelp and be done with it... but Earth was off limits... for now.

"..." Oh, what did he care about pretending he was weak? "Yes."

The kid's jaw dropped and he didn't say anything for a long time. Mindless. Vegeta spotted a five foot long fish swimming by, snatched it out of the water and started a fire as the kid blinked. Hopefully he'd just leave.

When Vegeta looked up from the cooking fish, the kid was a lot more calm and was eyeing him unabashedly.

...Brave? Or foolish?

"Are you an alien?" the boy asked bluntly. He seemed curious rather than terrified or shocked. Earthlings were so... adaptable.

Vegeta blew out the fire. "Yeah."

The kid jumped up and down. "I knew it! Do you fight bad guys?"

"I guess you could say that..." Vegeta was getting annoyed. Kid should learn to keep his nose out of other people's business.

"C-O-O-L! I'm gonna show you to Mom and Dad." The boy marched over to Vegeta. "I've never met an alien before!"

His novelty was wearing off fast. "Sorry... uh... sport," Vegeta said. "The alien's busy. Move along."

The kid glared and grabbed Vegeta's arm. "Come on, stupid... MOVE!"

That did it. Vegeta flicked his wrist and sent the child splashing into the river. Vegeta wasn't going to kill him with his own hands... it wasn't quite time for that yet. This way, there was a chance that the kid would get carried to wherever his parents were camping before he drowned, but Vegeta doubted it... especially with that broken arm.

Vegeta ate roasted fish and listened to the birds, the wind rustling the tree leaves, and the little boy's screams as the current dragged him under.

OoO

Two weeks later, Vegeta was still in the forest.

At the end of the first day, he had been getting ready to go. The dusky sky- dim, hard to see by. He couldn't find his gloves. As he searched for them by the light of his Super aura, he contemplated how long he could stay a Super Saiyan. He still hadn't dared to try again after the first day. There were too many things that could go wrong- people that could be killed... collateral damage... loss of trust... but most importantly, loss of control.

Vegeta eyed his surroundings. He could do practically anything here and no one would ever know. He had time.

Why not?

Vegeta would later look back on his time in the forest with new respect for the wisdom of his past self. There, in one of the most remote corners of the world, he had been safe to venture into shadowy boundaries of his chi. They had appeared when Vegeta first ascended, and he hadn't gone near them since. When he was Super for a day, for just an instant out of the whole day... he had caught the smallest glimpse of this new force... just an instant, but he remembered it and it disturbed him...

It reminded Vegeta of when he was a small child, still unable to keep his rational mind when in the giant ape form.

It was black and numb, in stark contrast to the screaming bright of being a Super Saiyan.

It was an alien entity, separate from his own energy, yet still within him. That day, he could feel it reaching out to him, vying for his attention. He didn't know what it would do to him... he didn't know if he could control it.

It made him nervous.

There was no room for uncertainties anymore. Vegeta packed up everything he had brought, able to leave at a moment's notice... relaxed into the floating lotus position... and went into a trance.

After sixteen hours exactly, the darkness found him.

It told him of the Moment.

Two Earth months later, Vegeta resurfaced.

He didn't remember.

But he discovered a tiny chink in the seemingly invincible Super Saiyan armor: it just used too much energy. It was a short-term weapon, not a natural state.

It took Vegeta a day of constant eating to get back his strength, but he came away with information.

Good.

OoO

Vegeta could easily keep track of the Earth as it spun beneath him, even at speeds far greater than any his past self could even conceive of. Everything -even the tiny green veins on the leaves- was laid bare for his pleasure as he rocketed towards West City.

Being a Super Saiyan was glorious.

So was the way his shadow stretched in front of him to touch the threshold of Capsule Corp. The livid sky said it was around seven. Good- it was past supper, so he should be able to eat quickly in solitude before heading off to the gravity room.

Vegeta couldn't help but grin as he strode inside. The warmest sense of peace was sneaking up on him. He imagined the dull mass of outer space, background to his childhood. Soon he would return with nothing left of Earth except memories and ash.

He couldn't wait. Walking to his room, he remembered himself for the first time in a while. He felt happy.

Of course, that couldn't last.

Vegeta had barely set foot in the door before Bulma materialized.

"Where were you?"

"Out in the woods. I told you, did I not?" Vegeta said, rummaging through his drawers for a change of clothes.

"Yeah, you said you'd be gone for the day. In case you haven't noticed, it's been two months!"

"Thanks for telling me," Vegeta snapped, his good mood officially shattered. His muttered answers to her questions actually mattered? "And what's with the familiar tone?" She sounded like… a wife…

"I was just..." Bulma crossed her arms. "Worried, that's all."

"You were worried?" This had officially reached a new level of stupidity. "What could you possibly have to worry about? That I'd get attacked by one of your 'bears'? Maybe fall in a river?" Like the boy. "Oh, I know. You were scared that I'd breathe the wrong air. Doesn't that happen to humans?"

Bulma frowned. "Only in places with high altitude." Okay, maybe she hadn't quite used her brain for once. "Look, I'm just glad you're back." He was looking at her in that way again. His black eyes stared nervelessly right back at her, like two coals.

As she met his gaze Vegeta froze, an unpleasant feeling sitting heavy in his stomach. It was strange that Bulma was meeting his gaze... normally she got flustered and looked away... in fact, the only other time had been... in the library...

He always looked at Bulma like that, with all this intensity. She thought she finally understood what he was trying to tell her.

Vegeta unknowingly registered how much more confident she looked now than before. Maybe she had just gotten a good review on one of her crackpot inventions. Oh, what did he care? More importantly, should he let the citizens of Earth live in terror, not knowing when he'd finish them off, or should he just put this planet behind him? Hmmmm...

Bulma drummed her fingers on the door frame. Rats, she was losing him. She wasn't going to chicken out like she had in the library. She had to meet him more than halfway on this. But how to begin? Bulma knew from experience to be careful or else Vegeta would withdraw. Hmmmm…

Vegeta could get behind frankness. Matter-of-fact it was. "Vegeta, we've known each other for a while now, and there's this... all this tension... I want to get rid of it."

"Hm?" Vegeta was snapped away from pulsating scarlet visions of Kakarrot and remembered himself. Since when was he so distracted?

Bulma rolled her eyes. Why was he so fidgety tonight? Looks like words weren't going to cut it. She leaned forward, not breaking eye-contact, until Vegeta could feel her breath on his face. His back stiffened.

Slowly, carefully, Bulma placed a hand on his chest. Vegeta's eyes flicked from it to her face. He was stiller than Bulma thought was possible, save for his heart, frantically beating against her palm. She tried not to smile. He was so shy.

Vegeta must not kill her. He couldn't, not until he was absolutely certain that he was the strongest. He saw the healthy glow of her skin, could practically feel the warm blood pumping through her, begging to escape. No. Not yet. He had to talk his way out of this. "Bulma, I'm not-"

Bulma had felt his heated stares; she knew what he really wanted. She definitely knew what she wanted. Eyes half closed, Bulma softly met her lips with his.

Broken strings snapped strings puppet grabbing at him HATE HATE HATE

Vegeta's willpower broke. Like a devastating wave, the Super Saiyan crested over his rational self… power exploded out from him, the shock wave sending Bulma crashing against the wall… the lights flickered off, leaving only Vegeta's flaming aura to light the hall…

"LEARN YOUR PLACE, EARTHLING," Vegeta snarled in a voice so distorted by fury that Bulma didn't recognize it. "I don't care if Kakarrot finds out, touch me again and I am going to gut you."

Bulma cowered against the wall, too paralyzed with terror to move. Oh god oh god oh god who was he? What had gone wrong?

Was he going to kill her?

Seeing her fear started to melt Vegeta's anger. Good... she had stopped looking at him... that way... she might just make it out alive… Vegeta wanted to save her death as a celebration after he had gotten rid of Kakarrot… and her fear placated him.

It was only right that such a lesser being be reduced to this in front of him.

To Bulma's near-indecent relief, the manic energy in Vegeta's eyes faded along with his hair. He was calming down. Ha ha, of course he wasn't going to kill her! He was Vegeta, all bark and no bite. But still…

"N-n-never d-do that again." Bulma got up, unsteady on shaking legs. "V-Vegeta, you can't just-"

"Shut up." Vegeta punched her face just hard enough and Bulma dropped. Frontal lobe stores short-term memory. All it took was a little tap and Bulma would forget this whole scene.

Vegeta looked at Bulma's prone figure and sighed. He was almost too tired to note that this was probably when they had slept together in Trunks's timeline. He wanted off of this planet. But he was bound by Kakarrot's mere existence. He wanted to leave right now. Instead, he had to get Bulma to a doctor before she died in her sleep.

Saving lives instead of ending them still felt unnatural, but what else could he do? Vegeta threw Bulma over his shoulder and started walking down the hallway. Maybe he could tell them that she was distracted and hit her head on a wrench or something. Anything to get him back to his room so he could take a shower and wash all filthy traces of her away.

By the time Vegeta finally got the knack of telling apart good chi from bad chi, he still had half a year left. He spent most of his days meditating in 300 G's. At that point, all he was doing was maintaining his strength so he wasn't soft when the time came to fight. When you're in a trance, time passes differently- much slower, but also all at once. Your body feeds off of its own energy and you don't need food or water.

Then it was the morning of May 12th. It was time. Vegeta had never done so much to prepare for a single fight. If he failed, that simply meant he never had a chance to begin with.

But Vegeta wasn't failing.

OoO

"You idiot!" Son Goku exclaimed. "Why did you tag along?"

"To watch, of course!" Bulma said indignantly. Were they expecting her to just stay home with her parents, hoping the world didn't get turned to dust? Besides, she didn't come all the way to this remote island just to turn back. "Don't worry, I'll go home as soon as I get a look at the androids."

Goku scratched his head. "Well, all right. Hey, don't you have some news?"

"Huh?" Bulma arched an eyebrow. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"You know," Goku whispered, "about the baby?"

"What baby?" Kuririn cried, overhearing. "Bulma, are you pregnant?"

"What? No. No. Of course not," Bulma said, bewildered. Had Goku lost it?

Goku, as a matter of fact, was asking himself that same question. Trunks should be about a year old by now. What had happened? He glanced at Piccolo, a question in his eyes. The Namekian shook his head. No, he hadn't told anyone who Trunks's parents were. So what went wrong?

After a second, Goku shrugged it off. His usual method. They had bigger things to worry about.