I've started moderating guest reviews. If you review as a guest then it might take a little bit for your comment to appear on my story, as I will need to approve it. :)

Have no question that I will be approving criticism, as that is something I always welcome. Constructive criticism is something I credit so dearly to helping me to grow as a writer. That's not a reason for my decision to start moderating. There's a difference between constructive or passionate criticism and the type of hateful spambots I've been getting for months. :)

The two had been airborne for five hours when Vegeta sank down into the co-pilot's chair, grunting as he caught his breath.

"How was it?" Bulma asked, her eyes straight ahead as she steered the jet. Vegeta had spent the duration of the flight locked away in the gravity room, training at thirty-percent gravity as the battle bots chased him any way he went.

The saiyan was still winded as he buckled himself into the seat. This had been the first time in ages that he'd felt so challenged during a workout session, and he was in a state of endorphin-induced euphoria.

"Well?" Bulma cleared her throat, pulling a lever to start lowering the jet.

"It's adequate." Vegeta replied, wiping some sweat away from his forehead.

"That's all?"

"It's... not bad. It's good."

"Just good?"

"What do you want me to say, dammit? I enjoyed it."

"You enjoyed it, you say?" Bulma clicked her tongue at this. "So, would you say it was more than adequate, then?"

"Yes! It was MORE than adequate!" Vegeta folded his arms over his chest and let a puff of air out of his mouth. "There! Are you happy now?!"

"I am." Bulma smiled, her eyes still straight ahead as she pulled another lever.

"Insufferable woman." Vegeta grumbled irritably. The wheels had been let out below the plane, and the turbulence was growing louder as they reared towards the ground. It muffled his voice as he spoke.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Woman!"

.

It took only a few moments for Vegeta to be able to sense the presence within Kakarot's house after landing. He'd observed that there were other people at this home with his scouter back when he had first arrived on Earth, but he hadn't imagined that two of the individuals had been Kakarot's wife and son. It didn't make much sense, either. Neither of the power levels he was currently tracing were of any significance. Was he really to believe that one of those was the offspring of saiyan blood?

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me that Kakarot had a mate." Vegeta growled as he stepped out from the plane.

"Get over yourself!" Bulma said for the second time that day. "If you actually think I would have told you in the middle of everything that was going on at the time, you really must think I'm dumb!"

"Well, it would have been good to know that my species now has half-breeds!" Vegeta shot back.

"I could say the same for mine!" Bulma snapped, putting a hand on her hip. "Now enough with this tantrum and let me do the talking, okay?" She began to walk towards the small hut.

"You said something similar when we got our first dragonball." Vegeta replied from behind, moving to follow after her. "… And it was I that ended up having to bail you out. Remember?"

"Are you going to bring that up every time you get the chance?" Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Of course I will!" Vegeta growled. Nevertheless, he folded his arms over his chest and stood back when Bulma knocked on the small wooden door of the spherical hut. It only took a few seconds before the door swung open, and in its place stood a woman who looked like she was already holding back a yell even before greeting her guests.

Vegeta might have thought she had saiyan blood in her - if he hadn't already known better, of course. Her olive colored skin and her eyes fit the saiyan description. Even her jet black hair was strikingly similar to the locks that all saiyans carried with them. The only difference was that her hair was slicked back into a tight bun, whereas a saiyan's mane would have been too thick and ragged to accomplish such a thing.

Her form was far too petite to be a saiyan woman, as well. At least, from what Vegeta could remember of them. Not having even been of pre-pubescent age when his planet was destroyed, his memory of saiyan women were distant and diluted. He hadn't been subjected to more than the midwives that took care of him during his father's time away, and those wenches had always worn loose fitting gowns that disguised their figures. That being said, Vegeta was distinctly sure they had carried an impressive amount of muscle tone on them - a feature that nobody on Earth seemed to have.

"Can I help you, or are you just going to stare at me all day?!" Kakarot's widow suddenly spat, which pulled Vegeta out of his ponderings. She was now glaring at him, and he was sure he had been doing the same to her before she had spoken.

"Chi-Chi!" Bulma hissed. "What a way to greet someone!"

"Hmph!" Chi-Chi squeaked, stepping back from the doorway to let her guests in. "He was the one looking at me like I'm a piece of trash!"

"I doubt that." Bulma replied with tight lips, thinking 'he probably was...'

"Anyway," The Bluehead said, stepping deeper into the small living room and taking a look around. "Where is Gohan?"

"He's in his room, doing homework..." Chi-Chi said, now speaking so calmly that one wouldn't have guessed she had just been snarling a moment ago. "Why?"

"Look." The Bluehead said. She was already feeling out of breath from the long-winded discussion that was about to take place, and she hadn't even started yet. "You aren't going to believe this... but just hear me out..."

It was then that Bulma explained to Chi-Chi about Vegeta's encounter with the two teenagers he had battled. She was thoughtful enough to know that it would be best for Vegeta's dignity if she didn't go into gross detail about exactly what the two kids had done to him. Though she refrained from being so descriptive about how injured he was after the encounter, Bulma still did all she could to stress at how strong the two teenagers truly were. Hinting that she wasn't sure if any of the Z-Fighters would be able to defeat them, the Bluehead urged Chi-Chi to consider the danger of the situation. "They want Goku, and if they find out where his house is, they'll come here looking for him!"

"I know exactly who you're talking about," Chi-Chi said. This was a statement that made Bulma nearly fall back in surprise. "You do?!"

"Of course I do! They've been talking about it all over the news! Those two took out all of Amenbo Island yesterday!"

Bulma looked to Vegeta, as if to confirm that this was the location he'd encountered them at. The glare on his face hardened when they locked eyes, and that was all she needed to know it was true. "So..." She turned back to Chi-Chi. "You… Well, then you know all about what they're capable of. So you understand why you need to leave here!"

"Leave?! No! There's no way I'm leaving!" Chi-Chi put her hands on her hips defensively.

"What?" For the second time that day, Bulma had to catch herself from falling back in shock. "What do you mean NO?!"

"This is my house, and I'm not going anywhere!"

"Then..." The Bluehead, wide-eyed and flabbergasted, wasn't even sure what to say. "Then, at least... You'll at least let me speak to Gohan-"

"Oh, no you don't!" Chi-Chi snarled. "I don't know what you think you came all the way out here to do, but I'm not letting you pull my son away from his schoolwork!"

"You aren't serious?!" Bulma snapped back. "Did you listen to a word I just said?! You guys are in danger!"

"You think I didn't hear you? What – you think I'm deaf? Of course I listened! And I'm not falling for it! We're staying right here, and Gohan is going to continue his studies so he can get into a good college someday!"

"What is a college?" Vegeta scoffed from behind.

Both women turned to glare at him. "STAY OUT OF THIS!" They screamed in unison, before turning back on each other.

"Chi-Chi, I am trying to help you protect your son so he'll be around to go to school someday!" Bulma fumed. As Vegeta watched, he found it amazing at how her head seemed to grow larger as she yelled at her dead friend's widow.

"No! You just want to take him away from me so you can force him to become one of those moronic fighters - just like Goku was!" Chi-Chi screamed back, her mouth growing larger in turn. "I won't allow it!"

"Did she just say fighters are stupid?" Vegeta cut in, stepping towards the hissing women. "Did she actually just say that?"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Both females yelled again.

"And anyway!" Chi-Chi continued. "You think I'll let my son go off with YOU TWO? That oaf over there doesn't even KNOW what a college is! You'll ruin any progress he's made academically! What a joke!"

"I'll have you know that I graduated from high school when I was 15 years old!" Bulma screamed. Her hands were balled into fists at both sides, and her face was growing increasingly swollen as she yelled. "I have three university diplomas!"

"Right! Sure!" Chi-Chi waved her hand at them. "Whatever!"

"HEY!"

It was a booming voice so loud that both women collapsed on each other. A clumsy tangle of limbs, the two were fighting one another to be the first to get back up. Chi-Chi had both hands pressed against Bulma's cheek to use her for leverage, and the Bluehead was flailing her legs hysterically as she looked up to the source of the voice. Vegeta was standing before them, his chest puffed out as he scowled, his breaths growing shallow as he glared at the two girls.

"I am not an oaf!" He bellowed, pointing a twitching finger at Chi-Chi. "And you will not speak of any saiyan in that way, Woman! Kakarot may have been below me in rank, but there is no disgrace in being a warrior! Do you understand!"

"Wo-man?" Chi-Chi's palms dug deeper into Bulma's cheek as she used her for leverage to push herself up. "Who are you calling WOMAN?! I have a name, you know!"

"Who are you to be so daft?!" Vegeta barked back.

Bulma had finally gathered enough leverage to push herself off the ground, but Chi-Chi was so beside herself with rage that she kicked her foot down to prove a point. Unfortunately for the Bluehead, this meant that she received a firm stomp to the shoulder. With a groan she fell back down onto her stomach, her core bubbling with rage as her lungs fought for capacity to yell.

"Damn you!" Vegeta continued barking. "Pay attention to what you're doing! Get away from Bulma! You IDIOT!"

Chi-Chi's mouth dropped open, and she seemed to realize for the first time that she was standing on top of the Bluehead. She was about to step off, but Bulma made her move before she had the chance to. Within a second, pale fingers were wrapping around one of Chi-Chi's ankles, and the widow went flying into the wall with a scream as Bulma heaved. "Get off me!"

Vegeta's lip twitched as he watched Bulma pull herself to her feet and slap a dust stain off her shirt. He didn't know what exactly he was witnessing between these two Earth Women, but he had the strong opinion that Earthling fights were excruciating to listen to. Still, it was rather amusing to see the Bluehead give that bigmouthed banshee what had been coming to her...

"Mom?" A tired voice crowed from the back of the house, and everyone looked up to see a new figure entering the room. Vegeta raised an eyebrow, glaring up at the prepubescent boy that had stalked out from his bedroom and was now sheepishly trailing in from the hall. "Oh - Miss Bulma." He said with soft surprise before his eyes landed on his growling mother that was still laying against the wall. "Mom? Are you okay?"

"So!" Vegeta announced, not paying any regard to Chi-Chi's fallen state. "You're the offspring! Come here, boy."

Gohan had been bent over his mother so he could help her to her feet, and he turned slowly to glance at the stranger from over his shoulder. "Me?"

This child was so timid, and his facial expression was dripping with uncertainty. 'This is the one?' Vegeta thought, biting his lower lip.

Gohan might have been thinking something similar, for his face was soured as he straightened his posture. "Umm... Who are you?"

"This is Vegeta." Bulma said. She was still slightly out of breath from her altercation with Chi-Chi, and she wiped some sweat from her forehead before gesturing towards the silent saiyan that was standing on the other end of the room. "And Vegeta, this is Gohan… Goku's son."

"Mrm." The saiyan grumbled, continuing to look the boy up and down. Vegeta wasn't very surprised that Gohan was so close to passing as a full-blooded saiyan. With his mother's genes, the boy's features were hardly diluted at all. He even had the muscle tone to be a saiyan. The only telling sign that he wasn't full-blooded was his hair. His mane, thick and jet black, was hanging loosely from his scalp instead of flaming straight into the air. Just like his mother's.

"What were you guys fighting about?" Gohan turned to Chi-Chi, who was now standing and furiously patting her head with the palm of her hand.

"Nothing!" Chi-Chi squawked, though her voice came out too loud to be calm. "Bulma and her friend were just about to leave."

"But Mom-"

"I said there's nothing wrong! Those two are leaving RIGHT NOW! Aren't you guys!"

"You know what, Chi-Chi? What you decide for yourself if your own business." Bulma shot breathlessly. "But to risk your own son's life so casually is another thing altogether. He has the right to know."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Chi-Chi screamed, but before Bulma had a chance to register what was happening, a muscular arm was tightly wrapping around her waist and pulling her back. A second later, in the exact spot that the Bluehead had just been standing in, a flurry of plates were now clattering into the wall. Bulma looked up to see that Vegeta had managed to foresee this. It had only taken him a second to register what Chi-Chi was doing, jump to the Bluehead's side, and pull her across the room before any harm could come to her. Bulma fought back a smug grin at the thought of it.

"What's going on?!" Gohan said, this time with more authority than before. "Mom, why are you so mad?! It's just Miss Bulma! Tell me!"

"These two want to take you away from your studies!" Chi-Chi snarled. "They're saying those - those Island Killers we've seen on the news will be coming for us, but that's the worst excuse I've ever heard! It's all a bunch of lies!"

"You're a complete idiot!" Vegeta snapped back, a palm against Bulma's stomach as he pushed her behind his form. The Bluehead stood on the tips of her toes so she could peer over the saiyan's shoulder. "It isn't a lie, Gohan." She said. "Those teenagers that destroyed Amenbo Island said multiple times that they want Goku. They'll be coming here sooner or later, I just know they will!"

"This is stupid!" Vegeta barked, drowning out the noise of Chi-Chi's retaliatory remark. He glanced at Bulma with a scowl on his face. "If that idiot Woman is going to be so dense, then it's her own fault when she dies. There's no point in pushing the subject with her. But you!" He pointed a finger at Gohan, who was watching Vegeta with his mouth hanging open. "You will come. I have business to settle with you."

"NO!" Chi-Chi howled. "Gohan! Go back to your room! You aren't going anywhere!"

"Maybe we really should just leave…" Bulma whispered to Vegeta, though she sounded just as angry as he was. "I have a feeling that things are going to get really bad if we stay..."

As Bulma said this the saiyan looked towards the boy. Vegeta growled when he realized that the child had already disappeared to some unknown location within the house.

"There's a city that's not too far from here. We'll go get supplies to fix the broken door, and we'll come back for the dragonball after Chi-Chi's had enough time to calm down." Bulma muttered in his ear.

Chi-Chi… being calm? Such a concept was impossible for Vegeta to imagine! He couldn't believe this woman could process the capability of ever being anything other than manic!

It was with this thought that Bulma guided the saiyan towards the door. Her arms were quivering as she walked, her mind anxiously fighting back the urge to scream something at Chi-Chi for being such an irrational bitch at a time like this.

"That's right, you get out!" Chi-Chi huffed triumphantly as they passed her by. "And don't come back any time soon! You hear me?"

She was holding her breath so sternly to keep from yelling something back, and Bulma's face was nearly as blue as her hair was by the time they got outside. Finally a safe vicinity away from Chi-Chi, Bulma ran her fingers through her long hair and let out a loud exhale that ended in a short scream. She was feeling lightheaded, and the Bluehead was unsure if this was due to her extreme anger, or if it was a result of holding her breath for so long. But, as she stomped her feet and let out a string of obscenities, she slowly began to feel better.

Vegeta, who had seemed as if he would fly off the handle for a moment while they were still inside the house, had resorted to handling his rage simply by kicking a bush. His jaw locked and his arms folded over his chest, the saiyan left Bulma where she was as he briskly strolled towards the pink jet that was waiting for them.

The Bluehead trailed behind, still breathing heavily as her body settled from being so vexed. The saiyan had already disappeared inside the jet. And, just as she was reaching the door herself, she heard a soft voice calling her from behind. "Miss Bulma…"

Wide-eyed, she spun around to see Gohan running towards her from the rear end of the house. Perhaps he had snuck out from a back door, or maybe even crawled out from his bedroom window. Still irate and unsure of what to expect from this, she raised an eyebrow as the adolescent briskly raced towards her. He stopped only when he was an arm's length away, and he looked up at her as he caught his breath. "Is it really as bad as you say it is?" He finally said, his voice low so his mother wouldn't hear from inside the house.

"I wouldn't have come here to warn you guys if it wasn't." Bulma replied. "I'm worried…"

"Then I want you to take this." The words hadn't fully left his lips before he was thrusting an orange sphere into Bulma's unsuspecting hands. Her brows rose when she realized what he was giving her, and what exactly that meant. Tears suddenly filling her widened eyes, she looked back up to Gohan's face and nodded. "Just come with us." She breathed. "I don't care what your mother says. This is a lot more important than school – hell, I can teach you more than your mom ever could if it's that big of a deal. But you can't just stay here, you-"

"I can't leave my mom, Miss Bulma…" He interrupted, quickly looking towards his feet so he could break eye contact with the emotional lady in front of him.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Bulma breathed. "You're still young. You couldn't possibly grasp the seriousness of what you're saying!"

Gohan's eyebrows screwed at this, and he looked back up at her. She saw it then – the deep gaze in his pupils. He really did understand the situation, and he even agreed with her. He knew. Yet he still shook his head, his hands tightening into fists at his sides. "I can't leave her…" He muttered. "If she doesn't want us to go, then I need to stay… My mom… I'm all she has…"

With that he turned on his heel and began to run back towards the house. Bulma watched him go, feeling as if she were going to have a panic attack. The Bluehead had been through quite a lot in the past few weeks, but she was certain that this had been the saddest thing she'd ever encountered. And yet, it was out of her control…

The door to the jet opened behind her, and Vegeta's irritated face appeared in its wake. He'd heard the ordeal from inside the plane. "I thought the boy was sneaking off to join us." He growled, watching as Gohan disappeared behind the house. "Where's he going?"

Bulma bit her lip. She turned, brushing past the saiyan roughly as she stormed into the plane. "Get in!" She barked, climbing into the cockpit and throwing herself in the seat. Vegeta rolled his eyes and pulled the door shut before settling into the copilot's chair. The Woman's reaction had been enough, and he didn't see the use in saying anything else.

Kakarot's son had been eliciting an aura even weaker than his mother's. It seemed that whatever genetic makeup he had received from his father had been, strength hadn't been included. Vegeta had been intrigued by the boy, but the child seemed stupid. He'd completely ignored all of the warnings Bulma had tried to give. He was obviously lacking something in the head, and if he wasn't even strong either then perhaps it wasn't much of a loss, after all…

…

A little over an hour later, Bulma was stepping out of a hardware store and back onto the street. She'd managed to find the replacement hinges needed to fix the broken capsule home door.

Vegeta had insisted that he would stand outside and keep watch over the building. He'd told her that he wasn't comfortable with the fact that the teenagers he'd encountered didn't have any discernible ki, and he didn't want to take any chances.

She looked up and down the street for him, and there he was. At the end of the block, glancing over the corner with marked concentration. He probably hadn't even realized she'd stepped outside yet. Bulma couldn't help but smile as she watched him, thinking of how endearing it was that the saiyan was being so protective.

But, as she began to make her way towards him, something stopped her in her tracks. A voice so familiar that it took her breath away, and not in a particularly good way. "Bulma."

She turned, eyes wide as she watched the source of the voice approach from the opposite end of the street.

He looked tired and out of breath, but sure as day it was Yamcha making his way for her. The Bluehead looked him over, the Z-Fighter dressed in loose lounge clothes as he went straight for her. He stopped right in front of her, his lips parted as he caught his breath. Eyes glossing across her features, Yamcha seemed to be in shock as he took her form in. Then, without speaking a word, he opened his arms. Pulling her into his chest, the Z-Fighter's muscles quivered as he hugged her as tightly as he could.

Bulma's eyes were still wide with shock, her figure stiff and not returning in the embrace she was receiving. "Yamcha?" She gasped, her voice muffled by his shoulder. The man holding her was her ex boyfriend – one that she had broken up with two years earlier. His touch felt repulsive, and she could have gone the rest of her life without encountering the odor of close contact with his skin again.

"I'm just so happy you're okay." He whispered, sounding as if he was stifling back tears. The sound of his voice so close to her ear was enough to make her skin curl, and she clenched her jaw. He was trailing a finger down her back now, resulting in disgusted goosebumps to form across Bulma's body. "I sensed your power level over here, but I thought it was too good to be true. I just – Just… Don't worry – you're coming home with me. I won't ever let you go agai-"

And that was all he was able to get out, for a moment later Bulma felt his arms suddenly disappear. She looked up to see Vegeta shoving the Z-Fighter back, a snarl eliciting from his throat. "So, the little piggy shows back up for round two?" He barked, offering Yamcha another shove.

"Ugh, it's you!" The Z-Fighter yelled back. He stepped back to avoid another one of Vegeta's shoves, looking back at the Bluehead with determination.

"I already spoke to Krillin." Bulma said shortly, feeling her cheeks redden. "I told him I don't want to go anywhere with you." She wasn't sure why, but in in that second she was more angry than anything else. This was not a happy moment of reuniting. That hadn't even been an embrace she'd asked for, nor would have consented to if she'd been asked. The truth was that their breakup had not been on good terms. Bulma had been so angry with Yamcha at the time that she'd refused to even answer his harassing phone calls for the first six months. And even then, she didn't have much to say to him. They had been spending more time than ever recently, and that was mainly because of Goku becoming so sick.

In fact, it had been weeks since she'd last seen Yamcha – she had hardly even thought of him since the day that Goku died. And, though this wasn't his first attempt at "rescuing" her from Vegeta, he hadn't even had the nerve to attempt it himself until now. Sure, he spoke high and mighty as if he were a knight in shining armor, but the man had initially sent Krillin after her to do the hard work of it all! After everything, he was just going to randomly ambush her on the street and act so damned heroic about it? At a time when she really could have gone without the unnecessary stress of it all?

He was even using the situation to try and get handsy with her! To try and re-spark a chemistry that had long been dead!

Vegeta seemed to be in a blind rage. She could see it by the way he held himself, the way he was leaping towards Yamcha. And, despite how angry she was, the last thing she wanted was to see her ex boyfriend getting mauled to death. And so she jumped, holding her arms out and trying to get between the two as the saiyan prepared for the impending beat down.

"Stop it!" She snapped, her cheeks stinging as she yelled. Oh, if she wasn't so acutely aware of Vegeta's superhuman strength, she would have appreciated the gesture. Hell, she was tempted to slap Yamcha herself with how he'd been rubbing her a moment earlier.

"Get away!" Vegeta yelled, rearing his teeth as he glared down at the Bluehead standing in front of him. "I'll kill him! The fool!"

"Don't touch him!" Bulma yelled back. "Just leave him alone!"

"Yeah, that's my girl!" Yamcha chimed in. "Come on, Bulma. Let's go. I'll take you right now. We can get away from this place and forget about it all. I bet you're so scared, babe. I bet you're so-"

"Yamcha, you need to get out of here!" The Bluehead turned on him now, offering the same cold glare she'd just been giving to Vegeta. "I already told Krillin that I don't want to go back. We're looking for the dragonballs, and you're wasting my time! What's wrong with you?!"

Yamcha looked shocked, and then hurt. He opened his mouth and closed it, smacking his lips together like a thoughtless fish as he considered how to respond. And, as he opened his mouth again to finally say something, he was pulled away. Vegeta had taken the moment to whirl around to the Z-Fighter's backside, and was now forcefully ripping him from Bulma's proximity.

With one hand Vegeta held Yamcha into the air, and with his other he readied his arm. The saiyan let go of him just as his fist collided with Yamcha's cheek, the Z-Fighter flying off into the distance with a low scream.

"Good riddance!" Bulma hissed. Despite her anger, as she watched Yamcha's figure fade into the distance she nearly felt bad for her ex boyfriend. She could imagine that he might be feeling the aftershock of that blow for days to come… "How annoying!" She huffed as Vegeta turned back towards her. She had been expecting the saiyan to make some snide comment about the situation, but he only glared at her instead. Without a word he began to march down the street. Bulma, still carrying her bag of supplies from the hardware store, went walking after him.

.

"Are you going to say anything?" Bulma huffed. She'd been trailing behind the saiyan for twenty minutes as they stalked out of the city, and Vegeta hadn't responded to anything she'd said during that time.

"There's nothing I have to say to you." He growled. It was then that he stopped abruptly so he could glower at her from over his shoulder. "We are at a good spot for that plane now."

She knew him well enough to understand when he was in a bad mood, and it was as clear as it could be that he was angry with her. Biting her lower lip, Bulma retrieved her beloved capsule and threw it. A moment later the pink jet had appeared in front of them, and Vegeta was already climbing inside without even a nod of acknowledgment.

"Hey!" The Bluehead snapped once she had climbed in after him.

"Hurry up and start this lackluster piece of machinery up!" Vegeta barked, throwing himself into the copilot's chair. "I want to get to the next dragonball before the day has completely ended."

"Hm!" Bulma took a seat in the pilot's chair. "Good luck with that one! Sunset is in two hours, and I need to fix the door to the house while the lighting is still good! We'll make some distance, but we won't be anywhere near another dragonball until tomorrow!"

"Dammit!" Vegeta spat. "Fine then! We will fly for an hour towards the next dragonball before you land and mend your cursed door. But we will land somewhere that is rural – not near any large cities or villages. We will be less likely to encounter those teenagers if we stay somewhere that is more isolated."

"What was it that you were saying last night and this morning?" Bulma shot as she angrily started up the jet's engine. "You told me that I am free to make my own decisions. So, stop telling me what to do!"

He grunted something in a language that the Bluehead had never heard before, but otherwise did not respond. Vegeta sat, stiff and looking as if he'd jump out the window at any second for the duration of the flight. And when they landed he disappeared outside before Bulma even had time to unbuckle herself from her seat.

Even when she appeared by his side to release the house from its capsule, Vegeta didn't speak a word. In fact, he stormed inside the house before the capsule's cloud had completely dissipated. He'd left the Bluehead alone as she examined the injured door and screwed it onto a new set of hinges. It took her thirty minutes to complete the task, and only when she was done did she step inside. Vegeta was sitting at the dining room table when she entered. He still had a bitter scowl on his lips as he stuffed his face with uncooked food, glaring at his plate on the table as he swallowed it all down.

He gave her a short glance before looking up to scowl at the wall.

This was when Bulma put a hand on her hip.

That was it.

"What's your damned problem?" She hissed, launching for the table and slamming her palms down on it. "What's with your attitude? Why are you acting like this towards me!"

"Why?" He scoffed.

"You're being such a jerk!" She snapped. "It's obvious you're mad at me about something, so just spit it out!"

"I already said that I have nothing to say to you." Vegeta growled. "If you want somebody to talk to so bad, perhaps you should go see what your friend Yamcha is up to!"

"Yamcha?" Bulma replied, her face souring at the mention of her ex boyfriend's name.

"Feel free to go rub yourself against him like you were earlier, for all I care! Let's see how well he can protect you from those hellions that are wreaking havoc on your pathetic world."

"Vegeta, would you just stop this?" Bulma gagged, but she was no longer yelling. "I wasn't rubbing myself against him, the guy just grabbed me."

"Right! And he called you his girl." The saiyan folded his arms over his chest.

"He was stupid to do that." She replied, taking a seat across from Vegeta now. "We've been broken up for years. He was just being an idiot. I'm not anyone's girl, and he knows that. Okay?"

"Hm…" Vegeta muttered, not looking at all pleased. "You say you broke up with him. But that means he still had relations with you at some point. And you were just so quick to come to his defense, weren't you? For a man you don't care about, you were so fast to tell me to leave him alone."

"Oh, for the love of Kami…" Bulma was pinching the bridge of her nose now, doing all she could to keep from losing her temper. "Just because I didn't want you to kill him doesn't mean I want him in my pants! Look, this hasn't been a very good day for either of us. Could you please stop being childish just because you're jealous?"

"I am NOT JEALOUS!" Vegeta barked, throwing himself out of the chair. "You're a fool if you think I'd ever be jealous of either of you!"

"You might say you aren't jealous, but you sure are acting like it!" Bulma snapped back. "It's not my fault he showed up today, dammit!"

"I can't stand this." Vegeta growled. "Give me the capsule for that gravity room you made."

"Fine, then." Bulma said, digging into her pocket before retrieving the yellow capsule. "Go workout. Maybe you'll be calm enough to have a civil conversation when you're done!"

The saiyan grabbed the capsule from her in a flash, and then he was making his way for the front door so he could unsheathe the gravity room outside. "I am not jealous, Woman." He growled. "Accuse me of such a thing again, and I'll show you just how little I care."

He left her then, sitting alone in the kitchen to think about what all had just happened. She was frustrated at his behavior, overwhelmed at all that had occurred earlier, and even relieved that she was finally alone. Perhaps she would have been more upset with Vegeta for his hostility if she didn't already have enough on her mind as it was. But, as it turned out, there really was a lot that she needed to process. And so, with that, she kicked off her shoes and made her way to the restroom so she could run a bath.

.

The moon was high in the sky, and the crickets surrounding the house were chirping loudly by the time Vegeta walked back inside. It had been several hours that the saiyan had been blowing off steam, and yet he still felt just as angry as he had been before he'd started.

The living area was empty as he took in his bearings, and it didn't take much deduction to know that Bulma must have long ago retreated to sleep. That woman – the infuriating female that had accused him of something as pathetic as jealousy – was slumbering away while Vegeta was lost in his own thoughts. He didn't understand how she could have been so matter-of-fact about the whole ordeal. How she could have had the nerve to even have to ask what had been the matter.

The case was rather cut and dry, wasn't it? That bastard had been holding Bulma – really holding her! So close that there could have only been one meaning behind it. So close that he had been stroking her back, a gesture that seemed far too natural for the saiyan's liking. It was clear that those two had been in such a position with one another plenty of times before, and yet she still had the audacity to play dumb about Vegeta's temper… And now she was sleeping the night away, as if she hadn't a care in the world…

… Or, at least, that's what the saiyan had been quick to assume. But when he sat down on the couch and reached out to feel for her dozing ki, what he felt was rather contrast to what he had come to expect.

A lump formed in his chest as a startling sense of dread overcame him, his mind locked on the Bluehead's aura. The sensation was growing deeper with each passing second, and the saiyan's eyes snapped open to understand what it meant. This was how she was feeling? The Woman wasn't asleep at all!

Or, perhaps she was snoozing, and was in the middle of some type of nightmare?

Either way, he wasn't even aware of his actions when he stood up and began to walk towards the bedroom door. His senses, which were set on autopilot, didn't even pause long enough for Vegeta to lecture himself about seeking her out. If he'd been in his typical state of mind he would have stubbornly stayed put, allowing her to figure her own way out on how to handle the emotions she was experiencing. Especially after their heated exchange of words earlier that day – why should he care to check on her now?

But he wasn't feeling so stubborn in that moment, and all his body wanted to do was get a taste of that soft sensation that he would normally receive when he was locked in on her ki as she slept. With how hostile his chest felt in the aftermath of the day, he required such a thing. It was all he desired at that late hour. He just needed to feel it yet again…

"What is it?" Bulma asked lazily when the door opened. She had been staring out the window as she lay in bed, so her back was turned to the saiyan as he slowly entered the room. She listened as his footsteps traced across the floor before stopping at her bedside. This was when the Bluehead finally turned to look up at Vegeta's darkened figure above her bed. "What?"

"I'm just in here to see if you've gone to bed." Vegeta replied, sounding irritable per usual.

"Oh." The Bluehead grinned, though she knew he couldn't see her reaction. That line he'd just used was so forced that she nearly laughed. "Well, do you have your answer?"

"Perhaps."

"Okay. Are you still mad?"

"Perhaps."

"Alright." She pulled the blanket so that it was sitting just below her chin, and Vegeta's figure did not retreat back into the darkness. He did not offer any other attempt at explanation of his actions, nor did he show any sign of leaving. It was as if he were waiting for something on her end, and the Bluehead found herself saying the first thing that came to mind. "I can't sleep."

It certainly wasn't a lie. And, even though it was quite an obvious statement, it seemed as if this was something he'd been wanting to hear. "Why is that?" He replied, his tone much less defensive than it had been a moment earlier.

"Would you like to sit down?" She scooted closer towards the window, giving him enough room to take her up on her offer. And he did, the mattress sinking slightly as he took a seat just beside her. He was posture was quite stiff, his back reclined against the headboard with his arms folded across his chest. Bulma turned towards him, making out more of his features now that he was so close so her. "How do you do it, Vegeta?"

"Do what?"

"Everything you described to me the other night… How do you get to sleep after going through so much? I feel like I'll never be able to rest again."

"Is that all?" He muttered, his back sinking a little deeper into the headboard as he spoke. "Just don't think about it, Woman. Isn't it obvious?"

"But I can't." The Bluehead replied, and her voice cut off into a choke at this. "You know, I tried to call my parents tonight. After you stormed off. I tried to get them to come with us, and they acted just the same way that Chi-Chi did."

"They yelled at you and started throwing plates?"

"No!" She reached out to offer the saiyan's rib a jab. In the midst of how crazy the day had been, this guy still had a way of making her laugh about it. "I meant that they acted as if it wasn't a big deal. They just gave me some lame excuse about how they couldn't afford to leave because Dad's in the middle of a big project for work. As if that's more crucial than protecting their own lives. I just don't get it! Maybe I'm not being clear enough. It's as if they don't understand."

"I would have listened to you." Vegeta muttered. "You were straight forward and direct when you were talking to Kakarot's wife. If they don't understand what 'you're going to die if you don't leave' means, then it seems that the problem would lie with them."

Bulma let out a slow, long sigh at this. "That just doesn't make me feel any better…" She turned her back to him so she could look out the window again as she bit her lip. "I just can't live with this. I feel like I need to do more, you know? It's like I'm going crazy. There are so many things that can happen, and nobody will listen to me no matter what I say. But I can't simply accept the fact that they want to just wait around to die! I need to do more!"

"You've done enough. If they want to be foolish enough to ignore a clear warning, then that is their own fault."

Bulma closed her eyes and shook her head. Vegeta made everything sound so logical and fair. He had a point, but that still didn't make her feel any less anxious about the terrifying possibilities that were forming in her mind. She took a deep breath, trying to keep from growing too emotional, and she rolled onto her back so she was gazing up towards the ceiling. "Vegeta?"

"Yes?"

"Could you tell me something else about your past? I want to know what it was like living on Frieza's ship."

Now it was the saiyan's turn to sigh beside her, but he didn't shoot her down. Instead he found a more relaxed position on the bed, and he began to speak. It was a story that Bulma found to be incredibly intriguing, yet it sounded too farfetched to feel real. It included many different aspects that might have been typical for some old-time fairy tale that her mother might have told her when she was ages younger. Vegeta spoke of Frieza, describing him as some ugly vermin that was so bent up at birth that his face never regained a natural shape. Vegeta detailed his henchmen, a group of 'idiot men that lacked just as much in mental capacity as they did the ability to chew their own food without Frieza licking it up for them first.'

Vegeta explained that Frieza's ship had been made up of many different stories, which included cell-like rooms that warriors like himself were given as quarters. "If I had been a member of the Ginyu Force I might have had more luxurious quarters. Frieza didn't deem me a high enough rank to be one of those puppets, but I suspect it had more to do with the fact that I could actually think for myself than it did with my strength."

Kami, just listening to this surreal tale was enough to make the Bluehead forget about how messy everything in her life had become. In that moment, as the man sitting beside her explained so many things that she could only begin to imagine before he moved on to something else, all of her worries were fading. It took all of her curious concentration to keep up with what Vegeta was explaining, and she was too mesmerized to be distracted by any of the thoughts that had been earlier nagging her mind.

The saiyan could feel it, too. Slowly but truly, that feeling of impending doom that had been radiating in her aura was fading into something more pleasant. Vegeta was surprised that his own words seemed to be doing it to her, and that was enough to motivate him to keep going. He told her every boring aspect to the way of life under Frieza's reign, and he was surprised that such minute details seemed to be pleasing to the Bluehaired woman laying beside him.

Growing more calm himself as an effect of her aura, the saiyan sat with her for so long that he had lost track of time. But when he finally stopped speaking and looked down to see Bulma's dark silhouette curled into the blanket as she dozed, he found that he really didn't mind the hours of sleep he'd just sacrificed. In the dead of the night, as Vegeta compared how serene she felt now to how dreadful her ki had been before he'd gone in to see her, the saiyan grinned.

He stood to make his way back for the den, listening to her soft breaths as he retreated from the room. Vegeta still wasn't sure how such mundane details could have effected Bulma in such a way, but he couldn't help but feel that the time invested might have been worth it.

The saiyan prince himself may not have fully realized it yet, but deep inside he knew what was to occur each night shared under the same roof as that Bluehead. He'd sit with her every night until she fell asleep, if that was what it took for her to relax about the fate of her planet. He'd give up hours of his own rest just to speak to her about whatever she wanted, and he'd do it without giving things much thought.

For, in Vegeta's mind, as he relaxed into the couch and found refuge in Bulma's own blissful aura, it was all worth it.