That little pest was after him.

Vegeta could feel that he was being followed by Kakarot's son, but he didn't stop until he was more than halfway back to the plane. After nearly twenty minutes of the kid's relentless chasing, the saiyan abruptly twisted in the sky so he could make a sharp landing on the forest floor.

Gohan followed, landing just beside him with a firm thud.

"What do you want, kid!" Vegeta barked without even looking at him. "I already told you to stay out of my way!"

Gohan hadn't really planned what he would say when he'd caught up to Vegeta. All he had known was that he needed to see him. He trusted Bulma's opinion on people, but the adolescent boy still felt unsure about the temperamental man in front of him. Gohan was standing across from Vegeta and staring at him, but the hostile saiyan prince refused to return the gesture.

"Well?!" Vegeta spat, glaring at a tree as if he were about to attack it.

"Is Miss Bulma still with you?" Gohan, rigid and hesitant, finally asked.

"Bulma? You chased after me to ask about her?" Vegeta began incredulously. It was then that he turned to Gohan, ready to start on a long winded tirade. But when his eyes fell on the boy, who still looked just as uneasy as ever, the saiyan's mind skipped. "Hey, wait a minute..."

The kid was kid was looking back at him, his lips slightly parted as he watched the furrowed wrinkles fading from Vegeta's forehead. "You know," The man said. He was not yelling anymore, but his tone was still hostile. "The Woman would probably find delight in seeing you, though I'll never understand why."

"Okay?" Gohan nodded. It was amazing how this strange guy could be so insulting, no matter what he was saying! Perhaps his mother hadn't been too far off base when she encountered an immediate dislike for him…

"Fine. Okay, that's it. Keep following me and you'll be reunited with your precious Miss Bulma. But don't speak another word to me, or I'll show you just how powerful I really am. Got it?!"

With that and nothing else, the saiyan prince took off into the sky again.

.

Her mind was foggy.

For the last hour, Bulma had lost herself to her own pent up woes. Sitting on that same spot on the plane's floor, the Bluehead had sobbed until a throbbing headache rendered her soundless.

How was it that only a month ago her deepest grief was the death of her childhood best friend? Now, weeks later, Bulma almost missed that. At least back then she had only one person to mourn...

But how could she say that now?

Now for all she knew, Goku's wife and children were dead, too.

And not only them, but her parents…

Most likely the entire city had collapsed at this point!

For all Bulma knew, the entire continent she had spent her life on was on the verge of being wiped out, and the toll would only continue to rise.

It almost felt stupid, and even selfish, to remember that just a month earlier she had mournfully thought that she had lost it all when Goku had taken his last breath…

Bulma was now rocking back and forth, taking in slow gulps of air as she massaged her aching temples. "Okay, girl..." She sighed, a shiver running down her spine. "Get it together. Get it together... You've got to stop crying…"

But suddenly she stopped rocking, and it wasn't due to her own encouraging words. Her hands paused their caressing movements on the sides of her head, and she licked her dry lips. Opening her eyes and staring at the metal wall in front of her, the Bluehead carefully nodded to confirm that she had officially concluded her bout of tears.

Outside was the loud whistling sound in the sky that indicated Vegeta's return. As morose as she felt, the idea that she would no longer be alone soothed the residual sadness out of the Bluehead's eyes, and she quickly rubbed them dry.

She took the few seconds before the saiyan's arrival to stand and find a chair in the back of the plane. Crossing one leg over the other, Bulma tried to appear casual as she glanced out the window. And, when the door was pulled open and the saiyan prince came marching in, she heard his feet stop short in the doorway.

"You look like hell." His voice cracked, and Bulma looked up from the window with an innocent expression on her face that said 'who, me?'

The saiyan, while his voice sounded rough, had a concerned look on his face that seemed foreign on such a man. He was making his way for her, holding a hand out as he approached. "I told you to find something to occupy yourself, Woman! But I wasn't thinking about that!"

"What are you on about?" Bulma stood. She glared at him, as if this would mask the swollen eyes and pink complexion that always came after a full-blown crying session.

"I'm on about you." He replied, and he was standing just in front of her now. "Were you in distress the entire time I was out?"

Bulma was going to respond, but the sound of more feet arriving in the doorway had her looking up instead. When she saw Gohan, who was peeking into the plane and looking as if he were frightened that he was interrupting something between the couple, her face lit up.

"Gohan!" She exclaimed, and she jumped to meet him. As she moved Vegeta caught her wrist, preventing her from getting more than a step away.

"Wha-?" She started, turning to look at the saiyan prince over her shoulder. Vegeta still had that concerned look in his eyes, but a firm tone in his pupils was now diluting any empathy. Bulma stared back, his grip around her wrist tightening. "What is it?" She asked softly, still feigning ignorance to his observation.

His eyes were glazing at he stared at her, his frown deepening when she asked her question. Finally, with a sigh, he let go of her and turned away. "Go speak to the boy." He muttered. "We will continue this conversation later."

With a smile, Bulma turned back towards Gohan, who was still standing in the doorway. "Where did you come from?!"

"I followed Mr. Vegeta," The boy replied, in that timid tone that was so typical of him to have.

"Vegeta brought you here?" The Bluehead beamed, turning back to take another look at the saiyan prince himself. "Oh! That's why you were so urgent about me staying here! You wanted to surprise me!"

Vegeta's eyes widened, having been caught completely off guard by her proclamation. "I... I what?" He blinked, but Bulma was already back to fawning over Gohan before he had the chance to think of a more fitting response.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked, scooping the boy into a warm hug.

Gohan remained stiff against her embrace, his breath catching in his throat as she ran an affectionate hand down his back.

"Oh!" The Bluehead cooed. "I'm just so happy to see you're okay!"

.

An hour later, Gohan had bathed and was eating a quick meal that Bulma had thrown together in the capsule house.

The boy, rigid and uncomfortable in demeanor, hadn't spoken much since the Bluehead had whisked him away into the her cheer and attempts at hospitality, the boy hadn't so much as smiled. It was easy enough to see that something in his life had gone horribly wrong since their last encounter.

While he had always been fairly timid in behavior, his interactions were lacking any of the carefree ambience that was always profound in a boy so ripe with age. Perhaps he had gotten into a dispute with Chi Chi and had snuck away, and was now riddled with guilt? Or perhaps this was pent up tension about the passing of his father, which had still happened only recently?

Whatever it was, Bulma tried to communicate to the child that he was in a safe environment with her careful attempts at comfort. She watched as Gohan ate, devouring his food in the same desperate manner than both Goku and Vegeta always had when they consumed anything. When he finished with his entree he looked up at the Bluehead, and it was then that he spoke more than he had in the last hour. "Thanks a lot for everything, Miss Bulma. But you really didn't have to."

"You were hungry, weren't you?" She replied, still sporting a smile. She was sitting across the table from him, and Bulma slid the plates out of the way so she could have a more clear view of the kid. "Are you ready to tell me how you got all the way out here?"

Vegeta, who was irritably leaning against a corner at the side of the room, looked up when she asked this. The only thing that had kept him from locking himself in the training room during Gohan's visit had been the subtle curiosity of Piccolo's premonition about the boy.

"I'm not ready to tell you, but I don't think it's something I should keep to myself." Gohan said bluntly, and Bulma found herself leaning closer towards him. "Well, um... you know those Island Killers you warned me and mother about?" He fidgeted slightly in his seat. "Well, I guess you were right about them. Mom should have listened..."

"No." Bulma raised her eyebrows. "Wait… Do you mean...?"

"They came just a couple of days after you visited..." The kid was mumbling now, breaking eye contact with the Bluehead so he could instead stare at the wall.

"Rubbish!" Vegeta snapped then, stepping out from the end of the room. "There's no way you would be sitting here if those two had attacked, boy!"

"Vegeta!" Bulma hissed.

"Why would I make this up?" Gohan replied, rather monotonously for the situation. "They did come for us. That's exactly why I'm here, Mr. Vegeta."

"You're a little liar! There's no way those two would have spared you during a confrontation, and they're too fast for you to have outrun." Vegeta spat. "How do you think you'll explain that?"

"Maybe if you let the kid speak, he would explain!" Bulma shot. "Stop being so rude!"

With a grumble, Vegeta stalked across the room and took a seat at the far end of the table. Glaring at the child, he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair expectantly.

"Don't mind him." The Bluehead said, turning back to Gohan and placing her hand over one of his. "He's more harmless than he seems."

"That's a lie!" Vegeta chimed defiantly, but the Bluehead dismissed this with a wave of her hand. "Come on." She said to child, trying her best to sound reassuring. "I want to hear the rest of your story. What exactly happened?"

"Well, I can't say much because there's a large chunk that I don't remember." Gohan said, pulling his hand away from Bulma shyly. "I just... I remember seeing them hurt my Mom... They… One of them hit her… with this white beam of light… I just saw her getting hit, and the next thing I remember, Mr. Piccolo was flying me out here."

"Piccolo?!" Bulma gasped.

"Yeah. Mr. Piccolo."

"With the pointy ears and the green skin?" The Bluehead looked as if she was suddenly feeling wheezy, sweat forming at her hairline and her cheeks growing pink in hue.

"Yes..." Gohan had an impatient tone now. Why did everyone keep questioning everything he said? As if he didn't know his own life! What were with these two?! "He was flying me out here. We landed by the lake. I was hurt pretty bad, but I have some senzu beans, so I was fine after I ate one... You know, I had been carrying them around in my pocket ever since your warning. It's a good thing I decided to start doing that."

"Wait - what lake?" The Bluehead gasped. "Here?! Is... Is Piccolo here?" She quickly began fanning herself with her hand, her eyes growing so wide they looked as if they would burst out from her skull. Vegeta raised an eyebrow and straightened his posture in his seat, staring right at her. "What's with you, Woman? You're acting like some small flustered animal."

"I've been staying with Mr. Piccolo ever since." Gohan stated calmly. "I... I don't always like it... He's even more strict than my mom was... But I do like him."

"You aren't going back to him, are you?" The Bluehead shook. "T-Tell me you're planning to stay with us instead..."

"Of course I am!" Gohan replied. "Why wouldn't I? And I should probably be leaving soon, actually. I know he's waiting for me."

It was with this that he turned to Vegeta. "I hope you consider what Mr. Piccolo said earlier, sir. He's really smart, and I think he makes a good point."

"Hm." Vegeta grumbled, glaring back at the boy.

"What point?" Bulma's mouth was hanging open, her voice growing higher in pitch. "Vegeta, what is he talking about? What happened while you were gone?"

"It doesn't matter." The saiyan growled back.

"Mr. Piccolo is training me so I can learn how to fight." Gohan explained. "He thinks that Mr. Vegeta should team up with us so we can beat those guys. He thinks it's the only way we stand a chance in defending the Earth, and I have to agree with him."

"Piccolo?! Since when does he care about Earth?!" Bulma croaked, but Gohan was pushing himself up from his chair. "Hey! Wait!"

"I'm really happy to see you're alive and doing well." Gohan nodded. "But I really need to be getting back. I hope you guys will think about everything and come see us soon."

"There's no point in going back." Vegeta finally announced.

"What?" Both Bulma and Gohan replied in unison.

"Piccolo is on his way. He'll be here soon."

"He is?" Gohan smiled.

"Oh, God!" Bulma screeched in horror, and she jumped so high that she went crashing into the ground with the chair landed on top of her. Feeling stunned, the Bluehead just laid where she was as she blinked some of the consequential stars from her eyes.

The last she had seen of Piccolo, he had been defeated by Goku during the world tournament. He had vowed that he would surpass Goku's strength so that he could one day kill him and take down Earth, and the Bluehead had been hoping he'd never be successful in his training and she'd never see him again.

Before Bulma had found enough motivation to stand, Vegeta was already at her side. "What's with you!?" He was asking her again, pulling the Bluehead to her feet with hardly any effort whatsoever. "One would think you're afraid of Piccolo with how you keep reacting to the mention of his name."

"Of course I am!" Bulma hissed, grabbing one of Vegeta's meaty biceps and curling her nails into it. She was trying to keep her voice low so that Gohan might not hear, but this was a futile effort since the boy was standing just across from her. "Piccolo is not a good person!"

"Why would you say something like that?" Gohan chimed.

"Because he's not!" Bulma squealed. "He hated your father and he wants to kill us all! He... He-!"

"Woman." Vegeta hissed then, and unlike Bulma he was actually being successful in shielding his words from Gohan's ears. He was leaning to the side of Bulma's head, his lips just centimeters away from her ear. As he spoke his warm breath clapped against her skin, causing light bumps to curl down her spine. "Whatever may have occurred between you and that man is irrelevant now. I am stronger than Piccolo, and he is of no threat to you. I will protect you."

"I don't think Piccolo hated my dad." Gohan said then. "He has a tough way about him, but I don't think he's that bad. There's no way he could hate someone. He's a good person, Miss Bulma!"

The Bluehead was gritting her teeth now, her nails still clamped into Vegeta's arm. "Remember what I said before." The saiyan prince was muttering. "You are capable of being quite courageous... Be brave in front of the boy, Woman..."

"I can't!" Bulma wailed. She let go of Vegeta, shaking her head profusely as she began to back away. It didn't take more than a second before her back was slamming against the wall, and she jolted from the shock of it.

"Well," Vegeta cleared his throat. He turned towards Gohan now, nodding at him. "I'd say the opinion is unanimous. Bulma doesn't like Piccolo, and I don't need any help. You two are on your own."

Gohan opened his mouth to object, but Bulma's shaking voice beat him to it. "I didn't say that!"

"What?!" Vegeta balked.

"The training room." Bulma continued carefully, though her chest was still bobbing as she panted in fear. "They can use the training room."

"What?!" Vegeta balked again. "No way! That's my room!"

"It is not!" The Bluehead snapped back. Suddenly she didn't look quite so frightened anymore. "I'm the one who made it - it's mine! And even if I'm apprehensive of Piccolo, I still care about Gohan! I'm not going to hold them back if they want to train to beat those teenagers!"

"I already told them to stay out of my way!" The saiyan prince shot, but any attention on him was abruptly disrupted when a loud knock came at the door.

"Ah!" Bulma squeaked, all the fear coming back to her face. "He's here!"

"Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan exclaimed, jumping to greet the guest.

"Veggie." Bulma huffed, clambering back towards the saiyan prince and finding a safe spot behind his back. "Veggie. He's here."

"I know he's here! You don't have to tell me!" The saiyan grumped as her fingers curled into his skin. "And why should you care? You invited the man to use our resources!"

"I know I did. Of course I did. What choice do I have? How could I say no? What if he really does want to do good?" She pressed her forehead against the back of his shoulder. "Oh god... He's actually here…"

"Quiet, or he'll hear you." The saiyan hissed. "Stop worrying so much. I'm here, remember?"

The Bluehead didn't respond. She just tightened her lips, nodded against his back, and then looked up over his shoulder to see as Gohan opened to door and invited the one and only Piccolo inside.

"I'm not going inside, kid. I didn't come here to sit around and play kiss-ass." Piccolo was stating to the boy before shooting a scowl at Vegeta. "Gohan, I came here to tell you it's time to leave. We need to start our next sparring session."

"You can do that here!" Bulma blurted from over Vegeta's shoulder. "We have a great gravity simulator that would be perfect!"

Vegeta clenched his jaw at this. He let out a low gurgling sound, slapping a palm into his face as he cringed from that Bluehead's blabbering mouth.

.

Five minutes later, Bulma had explained the concept of the gravity room to Piccolo, who seemed to be intrigued. "I have to admit it's impressive you had enough perception to think of such a thing." He told her, in his calm, yet intimidatingly deep voice. "But we're not yet ready for that. Maybe in a week."

"A week?" Vegeta snapped. "I told you the kid wasn't strong! You still need a week before he can even handle increased gravity!"

"Shut up." Piccolo replied, shooting Vegeta a sideways glance. "I said the kid isn't ready, but that doesn't mean he's weak. If he's going to train, then he's going to do it right. He still needs to perfect his form before he adds higher resistance."

The saiyan prince paused at this, unable to find a reason to mock that… Piccolo had a point, and he resented it.

"The kid has been progressing incredibly fast. We might not even need a full seven days." Piccolo continued calmly. "If you ever get your head out of your ass for longer than two seconds then you'd see how much he's improved since he was living with his mom."

"Rrr..." Vegeta growled, balling his hands into fists.

"Anyway, we're leaving. You may not care to see us again, but we'll be keeping track of you and come back when the kid is ready for more intensive sparring. Try not to get yourself killed before we meet again."

With that, as Bulma watched from over Vegeta's shoulder, Piccolo ushered Gohan outside. The boy had hardly been able to even utter a goodbye before Piccolo grabbed the back of his shirt and went shooting off into the sky with him.

"Such idiots!" Vegeta growled, stepping out of Bulma's clutches. He marched to the entry of the capsule house and slammed the door shut, resulting in a few hairline cracks that formed along the frame. "Woman!" He snapped, turning towards the hallway. "Where did you put the capsules!? I'm going to go train!"

"My name is Bulma!" She shot back, but the Bluehead ran after Vegeta to the bedroom so she could retrieve her dufflebag, which had been stashed in a corner.

"I thought you wanted to go get the next ball?" She asked, snatching the capsule for the training room and holding it out for the saiyan.

"It can wait - we still have time." Vegeta growled, pulling the capsule out of her hand. "Those fools think they're too good for your creations. The kid will be strong in a week – bah! I'll show them just how much progress I can make! They'll be groveling at my feet the next time I see those two!"

"So you're just going to start training? Right now? I'm getting bored, Vegeta!" The Bluehead cracked as he stormed from the room. "If you spend the rest of the day training, then I'm going to go explore! There's a town nearby that I can go pick up supplies from. We're running low on groceries."

"You will not!" Vegeta barked from the living room. "You won't be going anywhere without me!"

"Yes I will!" Bulma huffed, stalking out to meet him as he reached the house's small foyer. "I can't keep sitting around with nothing to do. I getting so stir crazy! I need to stretch my legs!"

"Woman, I don't know what stir crazy means, but you're going to stay right here. You go out, and you run the risk of encountering those kids." The saiyan replied. "Even if you don't encounter those teenagers, you still have a large change of encountering trouble. Need I remind you yet again about the incident with the first ball?"

"Well, I'm not going to meet those kids because they're most likely nowhere around here!" Bulma shot back. "And I won't be going to another saloon or crummy joint. I'll just be going to a marketplace to pick up food!"

"You will wait until I am available to escort you." Vegeta announced firmly. "I need to be there to defend you should an undesirable encounter arise." And, as if that settled everything, he walked outside. Bulma watched from the doorway as he threw the capsule out and disappeared into the room that formed from the yellow smog.

Gritting her teeth, Bulma gave her hair a short tug. "Who does he think I am?!" She screeched. "I've been going out on my own for my entire life! I don't need some man to hide behind at all times!" And with that, as Vegeta remained sealed away with the gravity machine, Bulma disappeared into the bedroom. It took only only two minutes for her to change into a clean set of clothes and run a brush through her hair.

Soon after she was outside, climbing into the driver's seat of her deep green hover car. "I'll be back before he's done with his workout, anyway!" She huffed as she started the engine.

Vegeta, who had set the gravity machine to 150 for the first time, was completely distracted as Bulma took off into the sky...

.

The town was about forty minutes away in her hover car, which Bulma was no longer accustomed to driving. She had grown used to the higher speeds on her pink jet, and as a result she had underestimated her arrival time...

"Wow, it took nearly an hour..." She commented as she landed her car. "Maybe Vegeta really will be done training by the time I get back." Regardless, she hopped out and capsulated the car in a swift motion before turning to get a look at the town.

Shops were lit and filled with people, and civilians were all strolling down the sidewalks beside her. 'It's been so long since I've been out in public!' She thought excitedly, a wide beam spreading across her face. 'This is great!'

The calm, every day manner in which the citizens were going about their time was rubbing off on Bulma as she strolled past a line of stores. To see such lively activities made her nearly forget about the impending doom that had been lurking in the back of her mind.

It just felt so good to be shopping again!

Quickly she was lost in an old routine of admiring fashions that were on display in store windows, mentally calculating the prices in her head to determine how much she could reasonably spend on a few luxury items.

After strolling up and down the main street and scanning the store windows for nearly an hour, the Bluehead settled on one particular store that was sporting several sets of rather soft looking fur coats. "This might come in handy if we end up in another ice land!" Bulma commented under her breath. Images of a few days earlier were replaying in her mind, and the idea of having had a thick fur coat to snuggle under left the Bluehead reaching for her wallet before even stepping inside.

It was just when she put her hand on the door handle that she began to hear a familiar whistling sound in the sky overhead, and Bulma groaned. "Great. Here comes Vegeta." She sighed, letting go of the door and stepping back out onto the street to wait for his impending arrival. She had thought that she'd surely have a few more hours to herself before the saiyan discovered that she had left, but this man was full of surprises…

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the latest installment. I know I ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I just couldn't help it. I have some fun interactions planned for the next chapter, so I can't wait to get that one typed up!