Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, YYH, or the characters

"The freedom of this girl, is that what you desire?"

Jiro looked over to Vegeta with sad eyes. He mouthed, "Tell her I love her," before turning back to the mirror. He added between their minds, You can honestly tell her that you had nothing to do with it.

Before Vegeta could react or question the meaning of his words, Jiro said, "Yes, it is. Make all the members of the PTO forget about her and forget about the experiment. Make my daughter free."

"Are you willing to pay the price for your wish?"

And that's when Jiro's words clicked in Vegeta's mind. Rage and injustice were what Vegeta felt in that moment. "No!" he snapped at the mirror, but Jiro simply smirked, sadness radiating off of him.

"Yes, I am…My previous plans all failed. My plan for this mirror has failed as well. This may be the only way she can be free and still live, even though now I must pay the price and I will never get to experience that freedom with her."

"Then so be it."

A blinding light engulfed the roof and Vegeta was actually able to feel the so called "spirit energy" Kaiya and her friends talked about after long last. It was strange, different, and didn't even feel as tangible as ki. As the glow of the light started to diminish, so was both Jiro's spirit energy and ki. His life force completely faded away as the light disappeared.

Vegeta felt numb when he realized he was alone on the enemy's rooftop and that said enemy had been killed, not by him nor through torture, but by his own foolish sacrifice. His nearly nonexistent thoughts were interrupted when the voice of the mirror spoke again, this time to him.

"In exchange for this man's life, the girl you were joined by is no longer a file, name, or face in the Planet Trade Organization. Any orders they gave regarding her are non-existent."

The mirror then became dark again and the silence on the roof was deafening, and Vegeta could take no more of it. His rival returned from dropping Kaiya off in the other dimension she had roots in and was stunned into silence at the scene in front of him. Vegeta knew that Kakarot probably thought he ended Jiro, and it irritated Vegeta to know end knowing that he hadn't.

"Save the hurt puppy look, Kakarot," the prince scoffed. "I didn't lay a hand on him. The fool ended his own life so that the PTO would forget everything about her."

"I wouldn't call him a fool for that," Goku replied. "In fact, I'd say what he did was noble. If that Cooler guy does ever come looking for us, they won't even go looking for her."

"'Noble,'" Vegeta repeated. "Bah, you are all fools."

And with those final words, Vegeta took off for Capsule Corp. with a bitter taste in his mouth. The taste did not hold the same bitterness that defeat would cause, and tasted far worse than anything he had ever experienced. It was the tang of unresolved anger in not getting the chance to reclaim the pride of his race. Unfortunately, there was no way of bringing Jiro back, ever.

"He'll get over it," Goku stated to himself, though he wasn't sure how true that actually was. He looked over to Jiro's body and frowned. "Now how am I going to tell her about this?"

Kaiya and Hiei made it to the fray. Thanks to the advanced notice, the demons were prepared while the demon hunters were quickly meeting their end. Using the Jagan, Hiei located someone he knew well, and she was surprisingly with their friends.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kaiya asked in shock. "I thought you were still at the temple."

"Kuwabara had a premonition," Kurama explained. "He opted to stay back at the temple with Yukina."

"At least we know his priorities," Hiei stated, silently thanking the human for choosing to guard his sister. "Mukuro."

A female demon who adorned red hair and a covering over her right eye nodded to Hiei. Kaiya blinked when she saw the woman who glared at her in return. "Who is this child?"

Kaiya glared back at Mukuro. "First off, I'm not a child, and second, who are you?"

"Kaiya," Hiei growled at her in warning. He motioned to the woman and said, "This is Mukuro, the Demon Lord I once served."

Mukuro's good eye widened in recognition before she closed it and chuckled. "Ah, so this is the girl," she mused. "Well, in that case, I approve. She has spirit."

"I wouldn't have cared if you gave your approval," Hiei told her, "but thank you. It means…quite a bit."

Kaiya glanced between the two when she finally understood who Mukuro was. She and Hiei had discussed his past at length sometime during the last year, including the most recent past. Mukuro, as Hiei had stated, was one of the three Demon Kings, along with Yusuke's demon ancestor and Kurama's old thieving partner from the days before he met Kuronue. Mukuro had a similar story to hers regarding her father, or so Hiei had told her. He never disclosed anything about Mukuro that was too personal, but explained that she had given him guidance when he needed it, a home when he didn't have one, and a title that held weight in Demon World. He was the successor of her territory and, even though Demon World was run by a strange form of democracy now, that still meant something to the Makai populace. Whether Hiei said it or not, Kaiya knew he saw Mukuro as a confidant and considered her opinion the way Kaiya considered her own mother's. Hiei never said he saw Mukuro as a mother-figure since he still had memories of his own mother, but he treated her with respect that those had for their elders, especially their parents.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mukuro," Kaiya said respectfully while dodging an unconscious body of a demon hunter flung their way, "though I wish it was under better circumstances."

As a demon hunter moved to attack Mukuro from behind, the woman simply flicked her hand causing energy to attack the unsuspecting human, killing the cloaked man instantly. "I share your sentiments," she remarked. "Perhaps when this is all over we can actually engage in that small talk humans are so interested in."

"I've taught her a lot about our culture," Yusuke joked as he smacked Kaiya's back. "By the way, good to see you in one piece. Where the hell did you run off to?"

Kaiya paled as Hiei growled. "Let's worry about the demon hunters trying to eliminate our friends," she suggested. "We can discuss my whereabouts later. You guys will never believe what happened."

So the spirit detective gang focused on the fight at hand, though it was the demons unassociated with Spirit World that did the real damage. A few demons from Yusuke's territory had joined up with them and Mukuro, and they told Kaiya that it was thanks to her they knew they wouldn't get in trouble for defending their land. It had actually been a very good and beneficial thing that she had taken that mission so that the demons could fight back. The demon hunters were weak, and their technology was experimental. They didn't stand a chance.

Hiei caught a glance of someone which took him away from the battle royale taking place. Kaiya called after him, but he singled out Jake in the crowd, which made no sense since he had witnessed Jiro kill the hunter. Still, he was not letting him get off easy. He had tortured Kaiya before, and kidnapped her against Jiro's command now. The human, no matter how much Kaiya wanted to believe, could not and would not change. He proved that to the fire demon.

"I'm surprised you were willing to leave your little girlfriend," Jake taunted.

Hiei narrowed his eyes at the human. "Strike one against you. How dare you even mention Kaiya when you did all that you did? You're pathetic."

"No, you are," Jake growled, "and she is. Even Jiro is…I can't believe everything was a lie. Too bad I can't take it out on him, though. I'll settle for you."

Though the question was in Hiei's mind, what exactly Jake meant by not being able to take anything out on Jiro, he didn't voice it. Instead he readied his sword and covered it in flames, the mortal flame to be exact. He normally didn't use moves combining swordsmanship and spirit energy, for he felt it lacked taste and artistry, but he would make an exception. Jake did not deserve to be taken down with the Darkness Flame, but he did deserve pain, and a lot of it. The mortal flame and his sword would take care of him. He would regret ever going after Kaiya.

"How are you here?" Hiei remarked.

Jake only smirked. "Doppelganger. Jiro didn't even realize that I wasn't truly in the room. We were all here to make a coup."

"Well," Hiei stated, "in that case it was a waste. Your team is failing. Jiro never prepared you for a real fight against A and S class demons. How sad for you."

Hiei sprang into action, charging at Jake with his glowing sword, but the human smirked and it put Hiei off a bit. Why was he acting so smug? He was at the disadvantage.

"You didn't count on her following you, did you, fire demon?"

In a flash, Jake was holding some sort of gun that was aimed somewhere else. Hiei quickly took a glance to see that the gun was aimed at Kaiya. She had frozen in spot before regaining her composure. "I would drop that if I were you," Kaiya remarked. "I know full well what type of gun that is and I know that it won't hurt a Saiyan much. Something Frieza's lower soldiers used."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jake spat out. "What the heck are you talking about, demon?"

Hiei took advantage of his momentary confusion and manage to cut the arm holding the gun clean off. "Gah! Ugh!" Jake cried out grabbing his wound and falling to his knees. "The…the f-f-f-f- H-How dare you…you bastard!"

Hiei smirked at the damage he caused and then looked to the amputated appendage. "Call me what you will," Hiei said before spitting on the useless arm. "But I wasn't the one about to attack an unarmed and undefended fighter."

"B-But you would," Jake stuttered. "All you demons would."

"If we were fighting for our lives or the lives of those close to us, yes we would," Hiei acknowledged. "And I will even admit I used to be like those demons you came across, killing humans out of amusement and boredom." He looked over to Kaiya, who already knew his past well enough. "There were other circumstances back then that I refused to acknowledge, and I no longer kill for the sake of killing. You, on the other hand," he growled out looking back at the weakened human beneath him, "you were willing to murder an innocent woman of your own kind just because she had a trace of demon blood and became friends with us. She never went against you humans, and I know you know that."

"She took the man I respected away from me," Jake spat out before gasping in pain.

"No," Kaiya remarked. "You did that to me. My father…he was always acting. If he hadn't been putting on the act for you we might have been able to get past all of the Frieza stuff."

"Seriously," Jake breathed out in frustration. "What the hell is a Frieza?"

Hiei glowered over the human, raising his sword above his heart. Kaiya, look away. Not needing to ask why, Kaiya did as she was told. "Something, human, that you won't need to worry about in a few seconds." And with that, Hiei plunged the flaming sword through Jake's heart.

The flames disappeared from the metal and he sheathed it. The sound of the hilt hitting the scabbard told Kaiya that it was over, so she turned back to look at her boyfriend sheepishly. "Don't give me that look, onna," Hiei reprimanded her. "You know it needed to be done."

"I…I know," she whispered. "Still, I wish there could have been another way."

"The battle is over," Hiei said, abruptly changing the subject. "Not one demon hunter is left in Demon World, or in Human World for that matter."

Kaiya smiled a little bit, thinking of the fact that Jiro was no longer a demon hunter. "Good. We should get back soon, I guess. It has to be daybreak by now. Jiro will be so happy it's over."

"Kaiya…wait, there's…something you should know," Hiei stated awkwardly.

Apprehension flowed through the hybrids body as she saw that strangely emotional look Hiei was giving her. Even if they were alone, they were still in public, and Hiei was in his element where he always had worn a hardened mask. The fact that he was displaying such raw emotion right now was starting to make Kaiya fearful. "W-What is it, Hiei?"

"Jiro…he won't be there when we get back," he said quietly. Before he ended Jake, he had caught the stray thought about the Forlorn Hope. "He's gone."

"No!" Kaiya screamed, slapping Hiei in the face. "Don't say that! He'll be there."

"No, Kaiya…he won't." He let Kaiya hit him repeatedly while holding her shaking form.

"No…" Kaiya said as she landed hits. "No, no, no…not now." Tears started streaming down her face as her punches became less frequent. She broke down on him just in time for their friends to find where they were. Hiei gave all of them cutting looks telling them not to say anything while communicating what had occurred back in Human World.

When Kaiya's sobs started to slow and Hiei's grip on her tightened, the fire demon whispered, "Kakarot is with him. We should go."

"I really thought…" Kaiya started to say, but she couldn't voice what she wanted to say. She didn't need to with Hiei, though, and she knew that.

"I know, Kaiya," he said pressing his forehead to hers. "I know."

Goku was still on the rooftop looking between the mirror and Jiro, trying to make sense of how everything happened. He knew what Jiro did, but how a mirror could grant wishes like the Dragon Balls yet take a life didn't make sense to the Saiyan warrior. He and his friends had made wishes on the Dragon Balls many times, mostly to restore lost lives, and it came at no consequence. Jiro could have waited for the Dragon Balls to become active again instead of using the broken mirror.

He turned around when he sensed a group of energies appear behind him, using a portal Spirit World had called up for them. Kaiya was surrounded by her friends, looking horrified and confused by the scene in front of her. She had her fist clenched and held close to her chest as tears fell from her saddened, green eyes.

Goku stepped away so that she could walk towards her father's body. Hiei needed to help her get there, for in the moment she was nearly frozen in her spot due to the grief consuming her. "He did it for you," Goku stated as Kaiya and Hiei knelt down in front of her father. "The PTO doesn't know who you are anymore."

"I know," Kaiya replied hoarsely. "Thank you, Kakarot."

The Earth-raised Saiyan rubbed the back of his head, unsure of what she was thanking him for. "You're welcome? For what, exactly?"

"For staying with him," the girl said sadly. "I'm glad he wasn't alone."

"I'm glad I was here," Goku told her, "but I wasn't the one with him when it happened. Vegeta was."

"He was?" Kaiya asked in shock flashing a stunned expression towards the other Saiyan. "But I thought…never mind. I think…I think I need to go home."

"Yeah, we'll take care of everything here," Yusuke voiced. "You've had a long day. Should we alert his family?"

"No," Kaiya said in alarm before relaxing in Hiei's grip. "I…I don't think he contacted them when he came back. Please, just…can someone tell Maya?"

Kuronue nodded. "I'll take care of it. You go home a get some sleep."

"Yeah," Kaiya chuckled bitterly. "Sure." If I can.

Vegeta was still livid by the fact that two fights that night had been taken away from him, his rematch with Kakarot and his battle with Jiro, not that the latter would have been a real battle. Training in the GR didn't even seem to alleviate the aggravation he felt at the choice Jiro had made. He chose the coward's way out, wishing away his mistakes as a means to correct them while taking his life in the process to not have to deal with the outcome. Vegeta did not see it as a sacrifice for his daughter, but abandoning a fight with the Arcosians and with him. Sure, Kaiya was free now to choose what she wanted to do, which had been what Vegeta had wanted when he sent her off of Frieza's ship as a teenager. He did not run away from his problems, but faced them and was punished for them. He was not a coward like Jiro, and yet the weakling had the nerve to ask him a favor, to tell his daughter he loved her. Besides those words being completely worthless to the Saiyan prince, they were not his words to tell. If Jiro had wanted Kaiya to know so badly, then he would have told her himself.

Kaiya touched down in the backyard of Capsule Corp. after asking Hiei to give her a moment alone with Vegeta. Hiei agreed but was planning on keeping tabs on the two. He knew that Vegeta was not exactly happy with how things played out that night, and he was concerned that he would take it out on Kaiya. With her being emotionally vulnerable, anything Vegeta would say would hold weight. Hiei did not want Kaiya shutting down again like after Jiro had been defeated the first time or after she went on her mission after a fight with Vegeta.

Vegeta didn't say anything when she touched down; he simply stared up at the stars wondering why he was still there. In all honesty, Earth was proving to be more of a distraction he didn't need. What he needed was to transform and best Kakarot. He wanted to test his strength against the androids when the time came, but until then he needed to train and accomplish his primary goal. He couldn't do that on Planet Earth. He needed to leave as soon as possible, regardless of the emotional torrent threatening his mind because he was feeding off Kaiya's emotions or the fact that Kaiya would remain there.

"Kakarot told me you were with my father when he died," Kaiya stated with admiration. "I know you didn't like him, but it means a lot that you were there for him and he didn't have to go through it alone."

"I didn't do it for that reason," Vegeta remarked curtly. "For all I care that mirror saved me the trouble of having to kill him myself."

Vegeta felt a jolt in his mind and turned to see Kaiya glaring at him. "You wouldn't have had to. We were on the same side. He told me everything."

"He will always be the bastard who contributed to the destruction of the Saiyan race," Vegeta declared. "We would have never been on the same side." He looked over to his ship in that instance, wanting to just launch into space.

Kaiya sighed, but said nothing else before turning away from him. She knew everything he was thinking because of their mental link and it hurt her slightly, but she didn't want him to think she was hurt. "So that's it then?" she asked. "You want to leave to train, and you still want to destroy Kakarot. I thought you left that part of your life behind you."

"I left the PTO behind, yes," Vegeta admitted. "The rest is a part of me that you wouldn't understand."

"No, I wouldn't," Kaiya agreed, "though I do try. I tried to use that part to fight on my mission and I still couldn't take life. I know we'll always be who we are, but I honestly thought the connection could help us learn more and balance us, but you only see it as a distraction."

"You said that your master or Hiei could tell us how to fix this," Vegeta said, side-stepping the comments Kaiya had made.

"Hiei told me," Kaiya admitted, "but I don't think I'm going to tell you." Vegeta's expression darkened as he walked over to her. He could sense her fear in her mind, but she stood her ground. "I know that pisses you off, but if you want to break the connection, you have to figure out how to do it. I never once judged you for your dark or angered thoughts despite how different that is from my thinking, but you judge me all the time for my mercy and 'stupidity,' right? That's what you think of me. I get it, and I don't mind. I know how to block your thoughts from me because I know more about how telepathy works. If you want to permanently break the connection you need to figure it out for yourself. Good luck with training. I hope I do see you again. Maybe by then you'll understand me a little better."

"There is nothing to understand," Vegeta ridiculed. "You let that idiot walk all over you to gain his acceptance and then the second he says the words you've always wanted to hear, you let your guard down. He could have killed you."

"But he didn't," Kaiya pointed out. "I don't choose to look at everything as a fight. You don't have to anymore either, you know. We are both free now."

Vegeta rolled his eyes at her words. "This is my choice, Kaiya," Vegeta growled. "The fact that you suggest otherwise is an insult."

Kaiya smiled, though Vegeta didn't understand why. "Payback for all of the insults I've sensed from you," she chuckled. "Look, I'm not out here to fight you or even say change what you're going to do. Just letting you know the option is out there."

"You are a strange girl," Vegeta mumbled. "You make even less sense than Kakarot."

"You've wanted to understand my thinking for a while," Kaiya mentioned, which Vegeta couldn't disagree. Since he had sensed her emotions all the time, and since they affected him when he didn't want them to, he figured he should know. "I don't see the world as black and white. I get that there's evil and good, and I get that there's a part of everyone that's somewhere in between. It doesn't bother me, anything I saw you do in your past, nor does it bother me that I'm friends with demons that used to steal and kill for a living. Doing bad things doesn't make someone evil, just like doing good things doesn't make someone good. I can be honest with myself and say that Jiro wasn't a good person. I'm not forgiving what he did. I forgave him, because he's my father, and I was hoping we could put it all behind us and maybe one day we could have had our good memories back.

"I know that I'm talking in circles," Kaiya joked. "I know how I am. And right now, I see you wondering what my point is and you're even wondering what I think about you." Vegeta yet again glared at the girl, wanting her to, as she said, get to the point. "I think you've done bad things because you were raised to believe it was right but, despite that, you went against everything you were taught to do the right thing. You helped me when you didn't have to…you sent me away against your orders. You went against Frieza even though that's considered mutiny. You've done the right thing a few times for the right reasons. Despite things you've done, I see you as a good person. I acknowledge that your goals still aren't pure, but I don't care because you're my brother and I accept you.

"That's the way I think," she said finally reaching her point. "My friends and family are the most important thing to me, and no matter what any of you have done or will do, I still love you and can forgive you. I may not approve of your desire to kill Kakarot, nor do I like the idea that you wanted Jiro to die, but I can't change it."

"So you're overlooking it and honestly wishing me luck with my training," Vegeta remarked.

"Not exactly," Kaiya responded. "I'm wishing you luck with training because I know it's important to you. As for overlooking what you're planning to do, I hope you change your mind, for your sake. And before you flip out for me saying you're weak, that's not what I meant. I just mean…Vegeta, he's one of us. I understand the rivalry, but I don't think you want to kill him."

"You are a naïve child," Vegeta spat. "You don't know anything about me."

"I am naïve," Kaiya said with a nod. "I accept that. I can also admit that I'm a hopeful optimist. You can't admit, though, that you don't want Kakarot dead. If you truly did, you wouldn't have left me with him when you fought Hiei." She smiled at him. "Nor do you like him that much. You have mixed feelings. Believe me; I know what that's like."

"All of this useless babble was just a way to distract me from leaving," Vegeta said accusingly. "Now leave me be. I'm leaving."

"I know," Kaiya whispered while looking down. "Think what you want, but I wasn't trying to stall. Sometimes talking helps me sort out my emotions which, to be honest, are all over the place tonight. I just wanted to talk to you a few extra minutes before you left. I don't know when I'll see you again and I don't know…I just…I'll miss you, Geta." Before he could say anything, Kaiya threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Please come back…and not just to destroy, or not destroy, Kakarot. I need you, brother, to come back for me too."

Vegeta shook his head as he just stood there. Eventually he pushed her away and walked into his ship. He looked over his shoulder before the door shut and saw Kaiya still smiling at him. She obviously couldn't feel his emotions, but he could feel hers. She wasn't lying when she said she knew how to block him out and that he would need to figure it out for himself. He then understood something. Kaiya had her pride too, and she didn't want to admit to him that she couldn't tell him exactly what to do, but she told him what he needed to do. He needed to figure out how to raise a wall himself. There was a chance that her master or her boyfriend could teach him to raise a wall, but it would delay him leaving. Vegeta smirked. The girl agreed she was delusional, even about him, though she accepted the reality.

"Foolish kid," Vegeta said fondly. "She's an enigma."

"You know that conversation made absolutely no sense," Hiei stated as Kaiya came to bed.

"I know," she admitted. "I can't think straight right now, anyway. I didn't have to make sense. I think I got my point across anyway." As she slipped into bed, she faced him and smirked. "Now, why were you spying on us?"

Hiei blushed slightly before looking at a spot on the bed. "A lot happened today and you are also upset about Jiro. I was worried he would say something to hurt you."

Kaiya shrugged. "Even if he had, I would have gotten over it. I'm starting to learn that not everything that comes out of someone's mouth is the way they really feel." The girl then frowned and turned over in bed. "I really wish that he wouldn't have done that. I don't care about that Cooler guy or if he would have remembered me."

"I know that, and he knows that," Hiei told her. "Sometimes others do stupid things that others don't agree with to protect someone they care about. Unfortunately, we have to accept what he did. Life moves on."

Kaiya nodded, knowing Hiei was right. "I feel a little numb right now, Hiei," she confessed. "I don't know if it's the shock of today or the fact that my father led a double life."

"It's to be expected, onna. You'll feel different with time. Until then, you have us."

"I know," Kaiya assured him. "Like last time."

Hiei nodded as he nuzzled against her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Like last time."

Weeks passed after that night, and Spirit World was in disarray dealing with the sentencing of so many souls. At first it was called into question by the Spirit Defense Force, or SDF, if it was truly self-defense, but Koenma assured them it was and to not cause trouble for the demons. They reluctantly accepted that and left well enough alone. The biggest issue was getting the mirror back into the vault without them questioning it. Thankfully Kurama had returned the object in secret. It wasn't like Koenma had his father to answer to anymore, but things were still rocky in Spirit World since Koenma took power.

Kaiya and Mayonaka decided to have a small, private burial for their father. When he had died before, there had been a memorial service back in the states that the girls had opted not to go to. Since they were pretty much the only ones who knew about his return, they decided they would use this burial for their own mourning.

Things were strange now that Jiro was gone and Vegeta was off somewhere in space. Kaiya still felt like everything around her wasn't real. It was a difficult feeling to shake, but she knew her boyfriend was right about her needing time. That was what they planned to do, take time away from everything. There was still another month or so before her studies resumed, and she and Hiei had been doing a lot of talking about their future as of late. They hadn't forgotten the fact that in this whole ordeal they found out they were soul mates. It was quite hilarious how they complimented each other, her being dejected by her father making her distrust men and him being dejected by his people making him distrust women. They had sure come a long way from that.

"So you two are going on a trip soon, huh?" Bulma teased. "I'm sure your mother will be happy to see you."

"Yeah, she will," Kaiya agreed as she packed the last of her suitcase. "We figured we'll go spend time with each side of my family and then take a nice, long extended vacation. If Vegeta comes back, though, please let me know."

"I will," Bulma told her before a wave of nausea hit the blue-haired woman. Kaiya watched her, concern etched on her face. This hadn't been the first time Bulma had randomly fallen sick in the past month and Kaiya was worried about her.

"Do you think maybe you have the stomach flu?" Kaiya called out to her. Bulma chuckled bitterly as she washed her face in the bathroom.

"Nope, that's not what this is," Bulma told her. "I found out earlier today that I'm pregnant."

Kaiya paused in what she was doing and ran into the bathroom, staring blankly at Bulma. "You're what?" Bulma opened her mouth to speak again, but Kaiya stopped her. "Rhetorical. What I should be asking is when did you start dating again?"

Bulma laughed at the girl's reaction and led her so they could both sit down on the bed. "It wasn't like that, Kaiya," Bulma told her. "It was sort of a spur of the moment type thing that just happened."

"With who?" Kaiya said in exasperation. Then her eyes widened. "Please, don't tell me it was that Yamcha guy."

Bulma smiled remembering just how much of a first impression Yamcha had made on the girl. "No, Kaiya, it wasn't Yamcha. Actually, it was Vegeta."

"WHAT?"

Kaiya pretty much had fallen over onto the floor, Bulma looking down guiltily wondering if there was a different way she could have put that. The young hybrid just looked confused, shocked, stunned…there had to have been many more words to describe the far-off look on her face. "You mean…I don't even want to know," Kaiya remarked making Bulma laugh a little at her reaction. Kaiya sat up in her spot on the floor and looked up at Bulma. "So you and my brother…you guys are having a baby?"

Bulma smiled fondly. "Yeah, it looks like it."

"That means I'm going to be an aunt!" Kaiya realized as she jumped up. "Oh my God…now I don't want to go away for too long."

"No, sweetie," Bulma said waving off her concern. "You will only be gone for about a month or so. When you get back, we can go nuts over this together. For now, you just go and enjoy your time with your family. We'll keep in touch."

Kaiya grinned at Bulma and nodded, her tail swirling around behind her. "You better," she threatened halfheartedly. "I want to know everything about my niece or nephew. Oh my gosh! I'm becoming an aunt on both sides."

"What do you mean?" Bulma questioned. She wasn't aware of any of Kaiya's relatives being pregnant.

"Well, Yukina is having twins," Kaiya stated with a smile on her face, "and well…there's more about this trip that Hiei and I haven't told the others about yet."

"I think I know," Bulma teased. "Let me guess, this is a getting to know the in-laws more before the two of you drop the bomb on them that you're getting married, and then you'll tell everyone here, right?"

"You know me so well now that it scares me," Kaiya muttered before her enthusiasm from before returned. "Yes, that's right, but it's also the 'hey everyone, I'm part demon and Saiyan now and I'm marrying a demon so deal' type thing. Not so much for Jiro's family or my mother since they already knew but my mom's parents and sisters are going to flip out when they learn that, so we figured visit Jiro's family first, visit mom and her family, tell everyone we're getting married, and then when we're leaving the last night before vacationing, dropping that bombshell on them and getting the hell out of there."

The two women began to chortle with laughter that they needed to lean on each other for support. "Well, I wish you luck with that. At least when I tell my parents I'm pregnant and that Vegeta's the father, I'll only have to worry about my mother asking when she'll have more grandchildren and my father designing new toys for the unborn child."

Kaiya shook her head, smirking slightly, knowing that was exactly how everything was going to play out. "Welp," she replied, "things are definitely going to get interesting for sure. Anyways, Hiei is on his way back from the temple saying goodbye to his sister. We'll be heading out tonight."

Bulma beamed at the girl and threw her a capsule. Kaiya just looked at her strangely. "It's a capsule plane. You guys have an all clear for takeoff tonight."

Kaiya joked, "Great, all that was missing was my boyfriend taking a joyride in a plane tonight. Our trip is complete."

"Ah, so my work here is done," Bulma joked with her before sincerely saying, "I hope the two of you enjoy every minute of your trip."

"Thank you, Bulma," Kaiya said softly, "for absolutely everything."

Vegeta was stunned at everything he had heard that day. He had been meditating, trying to find a way to sever the connection to Kaiya's mind. Over the past few weeks, he had gotten better at blocking out her emotions for short periods of time, but he had not been able to erect a barrier between them. It was during this period of meditating to make his mind stronger that he had felt Kaiya's immense joy. He hadn't felt her feel that way since he had returned home from his trip in space. Curiosity got the better of him and so he pressed a little further. Kaiya had blocked his thoughts from invading her mind, but she willingly left her mind open to him. He couldn't believe everything going on back on the blue planet.

He was going to be a father, definitely unexpected. Kaiya was going to tell her entire family, and Jiro's, about everything, which was also unexpected. She and Hiei were planning on getting married…not completely unexpected.

There was a lot going on that proved to be more of a distraction now that he was away. Still, his training was going well, and he did not plan to interrupt it at all, even if he could sense his sister's foolish hope that he would return for her wedding. He did not understand the significance of the strange ceremony, but that was the same for every Earthling tradition. He wasn't going to linger on it.

Instead, he blocked out his sister's emotions once again, hoping to do so for an even longer time than he had been. This new power he was feeling, energy from the spirit, that he was using to block everything out intrigued him. Smirking, he voiced his opinion. "Interesting indeed." For a second, it was almost as if he was agreeing with his sister on that.

A/N: This concludes the Jiro Conflict Arc. The next few arcs will be a part of another story, Against the World. I don't know when I'll be starting that story, but the main trials in that one will be Cooler, the Androids, and Cell. Anyways, thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story, and hopefully you'll enjoy the next installment.