Piccolo:
"I, Kera the Saiyan, request to be released from your service as a bodyguard."
The assembled gasped in amazement. Most had not known that Kera was Vegeta's bodyguard. Piccolo, to whom this information was not new, waited for Vegeta's reaction.
"Why do you want to be dismissed from my service?" It sounded like Vegeta was following a code.
"I wish to make a bond."
Again astonished looks and exclamations from some of the others. Piccolo looked over at the group for a moment. Krillin, Gohan and Chi-Chi did not look surprised.
"With who?" Vegeta's voice had changed to a growl.
Kera was still looking at the ground. "With the Namekian Piccolo."
"What?!" roared Vegeta. For a moment, his hair flared golden and his pupils turned green before he calmed down again.
Kera didn't move, as if she had expected this reaction.
Vegeta looked to Piccolo, who calmly returned the look. Then Vegeta looked to Kera again.
"Answer me one question, Kera. Have you already made the bond with the Namekian?"
Kera hesitated, looked up at Vegeta, and finally nodded. Vegeta did not respond. Piccolo wasn't even sure he had seen Kera's nod until he finally spoke again.
"I demand a Payk'arel," he said in an icy voice. Kera remained in the kneeling position, but everything about her stiffened. Everyone remained silent, waiting for Kera's answer.
Piccolo wondered what the word meant as he heard Kera's explanation in his mind.
He took a step forward and shouted, "No! You will not ...!"
Kera jumped up and interrupted him, eyes flashing. "It's not up to you to decide that."
Vegeta gave him a deadly look as well. Apparently the Saiyan blood was supreme in this matter. "Do not interfere, green one. Kera will accept the challenge, because if she doesn't, she'll lose Saiyan pride."
"Now will someone please explain to me what this is all about?" Bulma couldn't take it anymore with impatience and tapped her foot on the floor. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she looked at Piccolo, Vegeta and Kera in turn. Vegeta made an inviting gesture with his hand towards Kera, asking her to tell the story.
"For those of you who don't know: I am Vegeta's cousin. My mother was the sister of Vegeta's mother, the Saiyan Queen. My parents died very young and I was taken into Vegeta's family and trained. I belong to Vegeta's closest circle next to Nappa and Radditz. I am one of his bodyguards. He doesn't need protection because he's one of the strongest warriors ..." Vegeta gritted his teeth. Kera continued in explanations. "... Still, it is tradition for the Prince of Saiyans to have a solid circle of familiars around him. Only the strongest warriors. When our planet was destroyed, we wanted to find all the Saiyans scattered in space. I was to find Kakarrot - Goku - on Earth. My space capsule crashed, I lost my memory, Piccolo found me and I stayed with him."
The confusion among those present was almost palpable. "Fair enough, but that still doesn't explain what this Piskirel is," Bulma wanted to know.
"Payk'arel is a fight to settle differences. The one who wins the fight to within an inch of death can call in a favour from his opponent. If I want to be released from the rank of bodyguard, I have to earn that favour. Only when I have discarded the status of bodyguard can I make my own decisions. The oath I took when I was four years old was binding for life."
"Yes, and? You've already failed to fulfil your vow in the last few years, haven't you, or have you been around Vegeta?" Bulma asked the critical questions.
"That's right. Kera is still bound to me by the oath." Vegeta now took the floor. "She can't just do whatever she wants. When we were back on Earth after Namek, we agreed that she would rest her services until further notice. I did not release her from the oath."
"Vegeta, you stubborn goat." All eyes focused on Bulma. Amazingly, Vegeta did nothing to reprimand Bulma. He clenched his hands into fists and gave her angry looks. "You're not on your home planet here anymore, you're on Earth. No one is forcing you to adhere to any customs that no one can control anyway."
"What do you know?" Kera and Vegeta spoke at the same time. A Saiyan's pride and sense of honour obviously couldn't just be turned off. Bulma, who had been under the belief that she was speaking for Kera, was now totally taken aback by the change of sides, which was incomprehensible to her, and surprisingly kept her mouth shut.
"Vegeta, what if you allow her to bond, but she still remains your bodyguard?" Piccolo had taken a step forward at his words. Kera quickly turned back to Vegeta to watch his reaction to Piccolo's words.
"No. The Payk'arel has been pronounced and must be executed."
Piccolo saw the dying hope in Kera's face.
"When and where?" was all she asked.
"In two days. On the plain where the fight against Cell took place. Everyone may bring a witness." Kera held out her hand to him. He grasped her forearm. It was sealed.
"Can I stand up for her?" Piccolo was now standing right next to Kera.
"Piccolo, please don't interfere." Kera didn't look at him. Unperturbed by her comment, Piccolo kept talking. "Vegeta, she can't fight!"
"Saiyan warrior women can only not fight for two reasons. Either they are injured so badly that they are confined to bed, or they ..." Vegeta didn't finish the sentence and eyed Kera up and down. "Is it true?" he hissed. The eyes of the bystanders jumped back and forth between Kera and Vegeta as if trying to follow a conversation in secret language.
Kera nodded curtly. Vegeta's mood did not improve. Energy waves were wafting around his body. He was getting really angry. "How dare you withhold this information from me?"
Piccolo put himself between the two and growled at Vegeta. "Don't you dare go near her."
Vegeta could control his anger only with difficulty. "In two days at the appointed place. Now get out of my sight," he spoke through clenched teeth.
Kera pushed Piccolo aside and at the same time took half a step past him. She raised her right fist to her chest again and bowed her head. "Yes, my king." She pushed herself off the ground and disappeared as quickly as possible. With one last grim look at Vegeta, Piccolo followed her.
Vegeta disappeared in the other direction. Left behind were Bulma, Chi-Chi, Krillin and all the others who could only stare at each other in confusion. No one could explain what had just happened between Vegeta, Kera and Piccolo.
Piccolo caught Kera up in the air and clasped her hand. She squeezed it tightly. She spoke in his mind, 'Saiyan warriors hide their pregnancies for as long as possible. The warriors have a great protective instinct when it comes to their women. There are also women who are not trained as fighters, but when those who can fight are expecting a child, there is always great excitement. Every child means another warrior. For the people, the risk of something happening to the women during pregnancy is too high. They more or less lock them up. They are not allowed to take a step on their own and certainly not to be involved in fights.'
'Did you really think he would lock you up?'
'Yes ... maybe. I don't know. Or maybe he's just pissed that I'm expecting a child from a non-Saiyan. There are so few of us Saiyans left.'
Piccolo didn't know how to respond to that, and just stroked her hand for the rest of the flight.
At her hut, he landed in front of her and caught her in his arms. "These children in your belly will be as proud as their mother, uniting the power of Saiyans and Namekians. Vegeta will be sorry he underestimated you."
Kera smiled and leaned in to Piccolo. She stroked his chest gratefully as he carried her into the hut. By the time he laid her on the bed, she was asleep.
Kera:
After two restless days, Piccolo and Kera flew to the meeting place agreed with Vegeta. He was already waiting for them on the barren plain. Standing a little apart was Bulma. Kera was surprised that Vegeta had actually brought a witness. Bulma apparently had more influence on him than Vegeta wanted to admit at the moment.
Kera asked Piccolo to stop with a curt gesture of her head as she walked towards Vegeta. She knelt before him as she had two days ago and bowed her head. "My King."
None of the four present dared to move. Only when Vegeta told her to rise did some of the tension leave Kera.
Vegeta looked at her for a moment before he began to speak. "Is it true that you are expecting a child from this Namekian?"
"As a matter of fact, there are children. Two. And please don't speak so dismissively of him," Kera replied.
Vegeta didn't let on if this news rattled him. "I want to talk to you in private." Kera nodded. Vegeta rose into the air. Kera wanted to follow him directly, but saw from the corner of her eye that Piccolo had taken a few steps towards her.
"Please wait here. Vegeta won't hurt me."
"You don't know how Saiyans treat their women. So stay out of it, greenie," Vegeta shouted at Piccolo from above.
Kera saw Piccolo clench his fists and bare his teeth in anger, but he remained standing on the ground. Kera now rose into the air as well and followed Vegeta. Not far from the previous location he landed again. Here Bulma and Piccolo could not see them and certainly could not hear them due to the wind.
Vegeta remained standing with his back to Kera. "You will continue to be my bodyguard." Kera was about to object, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand. "You stay. But I allow ..." He paused for a moment, as if considering his words carefully. "... I will not do anything against your bond. After the children are born, I want to go with you into space for some time and look for other Saiyans. Maybe there are still some somewhere. And we will train regularly."
Kera hesitated for a moment and let the words sink in. Then she went back down on one knee and bowed her head. "Thank you, my king."
Vegeta turned and then did something she hadn't expected. He knelt down as well, grabbed her by the shoulders and said, "You don't have to bow to me, not you."
Kera raised her head and looked at him. His eyes briefly reflected the Vegeta Kera knew from before. The Vegeta she had grown up with, played with and later told her worries and fears to in her teens. She threw her arms around his neck, sobbing up and whispering a "Thank you!" against his neck.
Vegeta stiffened briefly, but then put his arms around her. "It's okay, Kaya." He called her by her nickname. She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. In that moment she was so happy and felt reminded again of the time she had spent with Vegeta on the Saiyan planet. Before they had been sent on missions to conquer other planets. Before they had had to give up their childhood to do Vegeta's father's bidding and before Frieza had destroyed their planet and they had had to work for that scum.
Vegeta moved away from her a little and sat down on the dusty floor. She sat down next to him. Together they stared at the mountains in front of them for a while, then Vegeta put an arm around Kera. She rested her head on his shoulder.
This situation took them both back many years. To a time when the planet Vegeta still existed and they both grew up in the king's palace. They trained hard every day and usually just fell into bed at night from exhaustion. As they both belonged to the royal family, they had to become the strongest warriors. Kera and Vegeta did what was asked of them, day after day. There were only a few hours when they were unobserved. They both enjoyed these few hours very much. Both felt that they were not up to the king's expectations, but had not yet found a way out of it. Sometimes they fantasised that they would conquer a planet and then keep it for themselves to live on.
"Remember when we were going to move to another planet?", Kera addressed the question to Vegeta. She felt his smile. But since he didn't answer, she kept talking. "After all, we're on another planet now."
Vegeta gave a short laugh, stroked her hair with his chin and then rested his head against hers. "But on a planet without Saiyans."
"That's right. Maybe we can still find some. There must have been more warriors on missions when the planet was destroyed." After a pause, she added, "Do you miss our planet?"
"I miss my mother. And some warriors I fought with."
"I miss your mother too. Among all the cold warriors, she had a warmth that brought light to the worst hours. I saw her pain and despair because she couldn't give us an easier life. Now, looking back, it was probably her who made it possible for us to have a few hours off every now and then."
"You're certainly right about that. Do you remember her warm hands? I always felt she could caress the pain away with them."
Kera was sure Vegeta would never utter such words in front of Bulma. At least not yet. Maybe there was still a chance he could regain those feelings.
"Yes. Her hands were wonderful. Like she had healing powers." A pause arose in which they both followed their memories of Vegeta's mother. "Can you promise me something?"
"What?" she asked.
"That you will remain part of my family." At these words, Kera put her arm around Vegeta's waist, moving even closer to him. "I have a family of my own now. But you are part of it. Without you ..."
"It's okay." She squeezed him and he too pulled her even closer. With his thumb he gently stroked her upper arm and she stroked his hip. She closed her eyes and thought back to the time on Vegeta and later on Frieza's spaceship. They had often sat there like that. Silent, close to each other, just enjoying each other's closeness. Knowing that after the short rest they would have to pretend again.
Vegeta lifted his head and placed his free hand under her chin. She lifted her head and looked at him. "I'm glad we found each other again."
"Me too," she breathed. Kera looked Vegeta in the eye and put her hand to his cheek.
"Kera!" She was snapped out of her thoughts. Caught off guard, she turned around. Piccolo and Bulma were standing behind her, only a few steps away. She hadn't heard or sensed them.
Vegeta rose to his feet. He had that aloof hard look in his eyes again that everyone had come to see. Kera remained crouched on the ground, undecided how to react. Vegeta held out his left hand to her. She grasped the hand with her left as well and allowed herself to be pulled up. But instead of letting go, Vegeta's hand went up to her elbow. This was how Saiyan warriors who were close greeted and said goodbye. Vegeta did not stop at a distance, but took another half step forward, grabbed the back of her neck with his free right hand and pulled her towards him until he could put his forehead against hers. Kera could literally feel Piccolo holding his breath behind her.
Kera put her right hand on Vegeta's neck and smiled very briefly. Vegeta joined the warrior salute with the family salute.
"Kaya." He whispered her nickname again, causing her smile to widen a little.
"Vegeta." She spoke his name just as softly. The bond between them was renewed with that. Vegeta disengaged, nodded to her once more, and then went to Bulma.
"Come, woman." To Bulma's credit, she didn't say anything, just looked at him and Kera once questioningly, then let Vegeta take her in his arms and fly away with him.
"Let's fly home." Piccolo's demand was harsh. Confused, she turned to face him. But he had already risen and was already turning in flight towards her home. Kera could only scurry after him. The whole flight Piccolo was silent. Kera stayed behind him the whole time, because she did not manage to catch up with him. He flew unusually fast.
Finally arriving in the forest in front of her hut, she stumbled on landing and saw herself already lying on the ground, but Piccolo caught her at the last moment. She drew in a gasping breath. The flight had been more exhausting than she would ever want to admit.
"You should lie down and sleep." Piccolo's tone had not changed. Harsh and cold. Kera shuddered. He had sounded like that when she had just met him.
She yanked her arm out of his hand. "What's your problem?"
"What did you discuss with Vegeta?"
"I'm going to remain his bodyguard. After the birth, we'll train, and later we'll go into space to look for more Saiyans."
"I don't want you to be his bodyguard."