A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. Savor it while you can. I don't know when 21 will be coming out of my brain. I've been working on it for almost a week and haven't gotten very far with it yet. But I shall sit there with it and beat it out of my head for all you wonderful people.

Black Sunrise

He stretched slowly, arms above his head as his mouth parted in a yawn. Hands came from his sides to rub the remaining sleep from his eyes and he turned with an arm stretched out, looking for Bulma.

She wasn't there.

Rolling onto his stomach, Vegeta pushed himself upwards away from the bed and fell back down, unable, or unwilling, to move. She'd come back he figured. She probably just went to go and check on Rayne. He looked to the clock on his night stand and rubbed his eyes again. Rayne would be up in a few minutes, just enough time for him to hop into the shower for a quick rinse down and then into something warm and comfy.

And he did just that. Rayne woke up just as he was pulling on his pants and with awkward hops, he tugged on the right leg to his favorite sweats, grabbed a hooded sweatshirt from the shelf and walked out of his room and into the little girls room.

Her arms were waving in the air, her cries drowning out all thoughts that were running through his mind. Where was Bulma? Vegeta shrugged as he bent over and plucked the little girl up from her crib then walked out of the door behind Luna. Rayne had turned her crying wails into laughing giggles as he bounced her down the stairs and into the living room to see all of the gifts that were under the tree in the corner.

"Look at this little Miss Priss!" Vegeta whispered as he hopped towards the tree. "Presents for you, and presents for me!"

Mitch walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee and a warmed bottle for Rayne then sat down with the little girl on his knee. "Good morning Master Vegeta."

"Good morning Mitch. I see that Santa has brought enough gifts to spoil a little girl rotten." He accented his words with a pinch to Rayne's cheek. He cocked his head to the side, frowning slightly.

"What's troubling you this morning Master Vegeta?"

"Bulma isn't around anywhere is she?"

Mitch shook his head slowly, mind racing to come up with an excuse good enough for Vegeta to believe. "I think that Miss Bulma slipped out of the house first thing this morning to go and drop something off at he post office. She left me a note stating that if she wasn't back when you awoke, that you were to open the gifts without her and she'd return as soon as she could. So I suggest you start opening your gifts Master Vegeta. Pass a few of Rayne's to me and I'll teach her how to tear the paper away."

Vegeta did as Mitch had instructed him too and had to hold back a smile as the little girl found the joys of ripping paper from packaging to be one of the most thrilling things in life. Shaking his head, he reached for a small box that lay under the tree but as he went to pick it up, an envelope fell from on top of a large flat package and landed almost in his lap.

Seeing that it was addressed to him, he placed it on his legs and reached for the black-wrapped parcel under the tree and pulled it to him, making sure to be careful with it. His name was written on the black paper with a gold pen and by the way the writing was scrolled out, he knew that it was from Bulma. Now he made a point of being extra careful.

Peeling away the paper slowly he caught his first glimpse of what was soon to be one of the most cherished gifts in his life. As the paper was peeled back, paint was starting to show and soon the whole canvas was uncovered, laying before his very eyes.

She had taken a picture of her daughter and him while they were sleeping together one afternoon and transferred the picture onto canvas and with her talent, created one of the most beautiful paintings he had ever seen. The setting sun was perfect, along with the texture of the curtains and even the posts on his bed were down to what they really looked like. His heart stopped. This was what she was working on all those nights ago when he had told her that painting was nothing more than putting paint onto a canvas.

He was wrong. He knew it, and now she had proven to him just how wrong he was. Mitch looked up from Rayne and saw Vegeta sitting in the middle of the room looking at the picture with a shocked look on his face and then lovingly set it aside to reach for the letter that he had placed on his leg. Breaking the seal, he picked himself up from the floor and sat in the armchair beside Mitch.

Leisurely pulling the thick wad of papers from their creamy binding, he unfolded them and began to read.

Dearest Vegeta,

I have started this letter more than a thousand times and I have yet to come up with the perfect way to say everything that I need to say. Let me start off with saying this. I am sorry. I am sorry for everything that I have done to upset and hurt you in the past, and I am sorry for everything that I will do to hurt you in the future. It is Christmas morning and by now you're probably wondering where I've wandered off too. I just want you to know that I'm not coming back.

His eyes snapped open as he re-read the last sentence.

Well, I will be coming back, I just don't know when yet. By now you're probably more than just a little confused but let me ask you to do the largest favor I have ever asked of you before. Take care of Rayne for me while I'm gone. You don't know how much it hurts thinking about the fact that I'm not going to wake up and have my little girl sleeping in the next room or being able to go into her room whenever I want to too make sure that she's all right. It hurts Vegeta. God, if you only knew just how much.

The ink on the paper had run in a few spots where drops of water, or tears, had fallen. His mouth went dry but he forced himself to continue to read.

I know that you love her more than anything in the world and I know that she's in good hands when she's with you. I also know that it wasn't fair for me to leave such a responsibility on your shoulders when you're still so young and wanting to go out and do whatever it is that young men do in their adolescent years. But please, I beg of you, look after her for me. I don't trust her with anyone else but you, and coming from me, that means a lot. She is my whole life and if anything were to happen to her, I'd curl up and die. She is safe with you. Safe from the troubles that have followed me around the world and knowing that she wouldn't be safe around me, I have left. Fled actually. I have run away from everything that is dear to me.

More splattered ink. More tears.

In my running away from Japan, I not only insure her safety, but yours as well. I have brought more trouble into your life than I could shake a fist at, and I'm thankful that you've stuck by me for this long. But this is something that I have to do away form everyone that I know and love. If any of you, Rayne, CC, 'Ku, Mitch or Star, were to have gotten hurt over me, I would never, ever forgive myself. I know that no matter what happens in the future, my daughter always has a place in your home.

His eyes were starting to burn.

I pray you to be my eyes, and watch over my daughter in all the ways that I won't be able too. Take pictures of her regularly and keep them in a book for me to look at when I return. Like I said earlier, I don't know how long I will be gone for but you have to know Vegeta that I love you. I love you like a woman should love a man and I know that our relationship wouldn't be perfect, but it would be perfect for me...for us. I want you to be Rayne's father Vegeta. Matt would have approved of you. I want you in my life not only as a friend, but as someone I could depend on every day of my life. I need you Vegeta, I need you more than I have needed anything in my life. And that is why I had to leave. My staying there would have gotten you or Rayne, or both of you hurt. I didn't want, nor could I have handled that. Don't hold this against me. Please don't. Be mad. Be as mad as you want to be, but please, please know that I love you and I have never meant to hurt you.

He didn't know that he was crying until he saw the tears falling onto the paper.

I love you so much. I know that I shouldn't, but I do. Yes, you have hurt me deeply when you told me that painting was nothing more than putting paint onto a canvas, but with your gift, I hope you realize just how much work I have put into it. Not only work, but all of my feelings. I have sweat, sworn and fought with this picture to get it just perfect for you, and now you can say you own the one piece of work that will never, or at least I hope not, be sold or viewed by the rest of the world. This is your picture. I painted it for you with all the love in my heart. I didn't want to go. You've got to realize that. But it was ... is something that I have to do. There will not be a minute that passes by while I'm away that I don't think of you, or my ... our daughter. My heart breaks knowing the pain that this is causing you and Rayne is too little to understand that I will not be there, to young to understand that this is something that I've got to do to insure all of our safety.

He couldn't believe what he was reading. Bulma gone? Where?

Safety is something that is needed to be able to continue life as it once was. Jade will not stop until he is sure that I'm either his, or dead. I refuse to be both and that puts me in grave danger. Bulma Briefs is now dead. Nothing more than a passing face in the rushing crowd of the worlds' population. Do not be shocked when you read of my death. It will not be true. No matter what you read, do not believe it. Please don't. Know always in your heart that I am safe where I am, as safe as I can be when there is someone more dangerous than you could have imagined after me. But I will be safe. Don't doubt that for even the slightest moment. And I promise you, with everything that I hold dear to my heart, I will return. I cannot tell you when, and I cannot tell you where, but you will see me again. When this mess is cleared up. I will not be allowed to live my life the way I want it too until I know for sure that Jade is out of my life. Either I kill him, or he's locked away some place for the rest of his God-awful life. I know that Cara is working for Jade and that scares me as she is capable of anything she puts her mind too.

His blood began to cool down, fear taking hold of his stomach as he felt bile rising slowly into his throat.

Take care of Rayne for me. Please, I beg of you. I trust her life in no others hands but yours. I have to end this now, for all of the words in the world have fallen away from my grasp. I love you. I think I always have. No matter what you do, do not blame yourself for my leaving. This has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me. I know that Rayne will be safe and that you'll take care of her for me. Love her enough for the both of us. Tell her that her mommy loves her every chance that you get. But no matter what the circumstances are, do not allow her to call anyone else but me Mama. If I find out that she's going around calling someone else her Mama, I'm going to be very, very vexed. No one knows I'm gone. No one knows where I'm going too. Don't bother asking my parents, they know that I've left, but don't know where it is that I've run off too. Make sure to laugh for me. Make sure you smile and keep hope in your heart. Dream often of me, as I know you'll be in every one of my dreams. Dream of our future together, if there is still a future. If you hate me after this I will leave your life for the rest of my days on this Earth. When you look up to the moon, know that I am looking down on you.

All of my love,

Bulma.

She signed her name with X's and O's but after that, it was done. There were no more words on any of the papers and he clenched them in his fist, bowing his head. She was gone, and she wasn't going to come back. He feared the worst for her, and he had but only one thing that mattered to do in his life. Look after the little girl that had been intrusted in his hands. She would be happy and know every day that her mother loved her, just like Bulma had asked him too.

His eyes darted to the painting and he grew sick looking at it. He saw her love radiating from the array of colors and for one moment, couldn't believe a single word that he had just read. But he was being foolish and knew that she loved him more than life itself. She had left Rayne to him and no other didn't she? He had to give her points for that, but now she left him with an even bigger mess to sort through.

He got the task of telling everyone that she had gone off somewhere to fight the evil that had been plaguing her life alone. If she loved him as much as she said she did, why didn't she let him come with her? Why did she leave him here, alone, in the dark? Alone? Never. He had her... their daughter with him and with him she'd stay. Not even death would be able to separate him and his little girl. He would always look after her. But that didn't mean he couldn't get raging drunk tonight.

Like a machine, he opened up the rest of the gifts mechanically, putting them off to the side without really glancing at them and once the gifts were gone, he looked to the side and saw that he had placed the ones from her into their own little pile. Mitch was smart and didn't say anything to him but talked to Rayne, commenting on all of the gifts that she had gotten.

Vegeta couldn't bring himself to neglect the packages, both big and small, that came from Bulma and with loving fingers, he caressed the neatly wrapped packages before gingerly opening them. The first one he opened was a new sweater, black of course. The next was a new pair of pants, followed by a pair of new shoes. A few CD's that he'd been wanting for a long time, two new books that Bulma hinted at for a long time that he should read and last but not least, a picture in a silver frame.

Her face smiling up at him brought on a new onslaught of fresh tears that leaked away from his bottom lids, slipping down his cheeks. In the silver frame was the picture that Mitch had taken of the three of them and engraved on the bottom of the frame was: My Family. With love, Blue. In every corner of the frame was both the moon, through only a sliver of it's fullness, and two stars. How could have do this to him? How could she have just upped and left when she felt her life getting to be a little too rough?

The letter was discarded on the floor in a crinkle of papers and he didn't care. He knew what it is that she said and knew what it was that she meant, even though she hadn't said everything. She loved him, but refused to let him help her.

Well screw her then. If she wouldn't give him tips as to where she was, he'd go all over the bloody planet in search for her. It wouldn't be too hard to find her...would it?

No matter how many hours pass, know this Bulma, wherever you are I'm going to find you and I'm going to stay with you no matter what you say. You're my life, my love, my everything. You're gone right now and I'll allow you this time but as I make this vow here and now, I will find you and you will not push me away.