Kera:

Kera had forgotten or repressed the incident on Bulma's estate. She no longer thought about it. She enjoyed her peace for the following months.

"Kera, Gohan asked if I could come to training. He wants a few hours of quiet." Piccolo wiped the sweat from her brow. They had already spent the morning training and were taking a break. He handed her a cup of water. She drank it down and then nodded.

"Sure, I can't do much more today anyway." She sank backwards and bedded her back in the grass. Her hands rested on her belly. Piccolo sat down beside her and stroked her belly. He smiled.

"They seem to be working out too."

Kera uttered an affirmative sound. She was happy every time she felt the twins' movements, but sometimes it hurt. The two seemed to really want to become fighters.

Dende, whom they visited every month so he could examine Kera, estimated that it could be about six months until the birth. If he was right, the pregnancy would take about twice as long as earth women. However, Dende kept pointing out to her that he could only make assumptions, because he had still not been able to find reliable records. She was also expecting twins. These pregnancies were different, at least for earth women, and in many cases the babies were born too early. They had to let it come to them, he kept saying. But he assured them every time they visited that the twins were doing well and that was the most important thing to Kera and Piccolo.

"Give Gohan my love." Piccolo stayed beside her for a while longer, then kissed her briefly on the cheek and rose.

Kera dozed a little and awoke when she felt another energy. A shadow settled over her and she opened her eyes. She blinked until she could see sharply again and realised that Vegeta was standing over her. He raised his hand half-heartedly in greeting and dropped down beside her.

"What are you doing here?" Kera straightened to sit.

He answered with a counter question, "Fancy a training fight?"

"Vegeta, we haven't talked to each other in months. Then you show up here wanting to train?"

"I need new challenges." He didn't address the fact that they hadn't talked in so long.

"And I like to train with you. After the birth. As arranged." After a pause, she added, "I've already trained today. Dende advises me not to overexert myself so much."

"Tomorrow then?"

Kera thought for a moment. She too wanted a new challenge. The Saiyan blood inside her began to boil. "Alright. Instead of Piccolo, I'll train with you tomorrow then." She pointed to the mountains. "Over there."

"See you in the morning then." And away he went.

When Piccolo returned that evening, she told of her meeting with Vegeta.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Piccolo was sceptical.

"We'll train over in the mountains. Just the morning. Just like I train with you." Piccolo swayed his head back and forth. She could just read his concern on his forehead. She put her hand on his arm.

"Piccolo, I know what you mean. The part that's Sitara has concerns too, but the part that's Kera wants to train, take on new challenges, fight until she drops and become stronger because of it."

He stroked her hand. "Okay. I'll stay here. If anything happens, call me."

Gratefully, she kissed him.

The next morning, after breakfast and a goodbye kiss, Kera flew into the mountains. She landed on a rocky plateau and waited for Vegeta, who appeared only a few minutes later. Instead of landing and greeting her, he attacked her directly from the air. Kera was able to dodge at the last moment, so Vegeta's fist left a small crater in the rock and luckily not in her body. Kera countered with an energy ball, which Vegeta simply knocked out of the air.

Out of the dust, he suddenly stood directly in front of her and lunged for a punch that Kera managed to block just in front of her face. "Good morning, Vegeta." She grabbed his blocked arm, pulling him even closer with it, and rammed her knee into his stomach. Vegeta gasped.

For hours, the training battle stretched. Kera felt herself enjoying it. With Piccolo she had fun too, but with Vegeta it was even different. He made other strings vibrate inside her and it felt terrific. Vegeta didn't seem to hold back and she was grateful for that.

She countered a kick from Vegeta, causing him to back away. The next moment he was gone. She searched for him with all her senses. There! He was above her. She wanted to fire an energy beam at him, but he was faster, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her down with the force of his speed. He cushioned the fall by wrapping his arms around her.

Kera tried to break free of his grasp. He pressed her arms to her side and hovered over her so he wasn't on top of her. His face was right next to hers.

"Kaya, that's enough." It must have taken him an incredible amount of effort to finish the training fight. He was enjoying it too, she was sure. Kera was breathing heavily. Forced to rest like this, she felt the strain. She desperately needed to take a break. But the Saiyan in her wanted to keep fighting.

With an enormous effort, she lifted her legs and clasped Vegeta's legs, pulling him down and to the side. In the process, he loosened the grip on her arms and she was able to sit on him with the momentum she had. She had bent over him and was holding his arms by the wrists.

"Won." She beamed at him from above. Vegeta had suffered some minor cuts and scrapes, and certainly many bruises, but he wasn't out of breath like she was. He could still knock her over now and get the upper hand that way.

Vegeta waited only a second to counterattack. He jerked his arms upwards and raised his hips at the same time. Kera released her hands from his wrists, braced herself on the ground and used the momentum Vegeta gave her through his hips to roll behind him. But before she could get back up, he was beside her, pinning her to the ground.

"Won," he said in the same tone of voice she had used only two seconds before. A battle raged in her mind between the pure Saiyan warrior who wanted to win at all costs and Sitara, who appealed to her rational, reasonable side. Which reminded her that she was not only responsible for herself, but also for two other lives. The rational side won out. She felt, her breath coming fast, the bruises, the abrasions. Vegeta gazed into her eyes the whole time and seemed to see her internal struggle.

He loosened his grip on her upper arms and brushed her hair out of her face with one hand. He left his hand on her cheek and gently stroked it with his thumb. Kera's breathing was faltering now. Her heart raced and seemed to skip a beat again and again.

She raised her free arm and now stroked Vegeta's cheek as well. At that moment she felt so close to him. Every minute they had spent together, seemingly ages ago, flashed past her inward eye. The training battles, the public ceremonies, the hide-and-seek. In the hard world of the Saiyan, there had been no room for warm feelings or tenderness. They had both known that and had bowed to his father's will. Stolen minutes of togetherness had helped them during this time.

"What are you thinking about, Kaya?" Vegeta had moved closer at these words. His hand was still caressing her cheek. She couldn't form a clear thought. What was happening right now?

She swallowed. "About the past."

"About what exactly?" His mouth was now right next to her ear. His breath tickled her. His voice was rough. Her lips felt dry and she moistened them with her tongue. Unconsciously, her hand had moved from Vegeta's cheek to his back and was stroking him there.

"About everything. The training battles with you, those boring official occasions that we only survived because we encouraged each other. Remember when we once had a whole afternoon and evening to ourselves?" She felt his smile next to her ear.

He straightened up, propped himself on his right arm and ran his hand through her hair. With his other hand he now wandered down from her cheek, stroking her shoulder and arm.

"Yes, I remember that well. First the humiliation at training in the morning, then the ordeal of lunch. I just wanted to get away. Away from Frieza, who never let us out of his sight for a minute. Even on missions, I had the feeling he was watching us somehow. And when we had conquered a planet, it still wasn't enough. That day I was just fed up. I wanted my peace. So you took me to this green planet to take my mind off things. Frieza's rampage was worth it." Vegeta grinned.

Kera now looked Vegeta straight in the eye. "I'm so grateful we found each other again. Even though Earth has become a new home, I've always missed something. That was you." A tear rolled from her eye. Vegeta gently brushed it away with his thumb.

"Don't cry, Kaya. We have each other again now." She tried to hold back the tears, but another tear trickled down her cheek. Vegeta leaned over her and kissed the tear away.

Kera was so surprised that she sucked in a sharp breath. He had done the same then, on their night off, when Kera had cried silent tears, overwhelmed by the play of colour in the setting sun.

The smile she felt on her cheek told her that Vegeta was also thinking of that very moment. He continued to press more kisses on her cheek until he had touched every square inch of her left cheek with his lips. Kera had closed her eyes, enjoying the gentle touch that was such a stark contrast to the steely fighter he had been until a few minutes ago.

Where he had touched her, her skin seemed to glow. Her head had almost completely shut off. She seemed to exist only in the places where Vegeta had touched her.

His lips now wandered over her chin to her other cheek, covering it with kisses as well. Hot, intimate. Her scalp tingled as Vegeta's hand gently massaged it there, while his other hand stroked her right arm, which now seemed to be on fire.

When Vegeta had also covered every square inch of her second cheek with kisses, he raised his head and regarded her. The eyes she had kept closed all this time, she now opened to look into his dark eyes. She put her right arm on the back of his neck and ran it along in a circular motion. She felt his tense muscles and hoped that the touch was doing him good.

He closed his eyes and moaned softly. A pleasurable sound that made her heart pound. She paused her massaging movements and looked at Vegeta. He opened his eyes, from which spoke a hunger she also felt. His lips came closer to hers.

Suddenly she felt a sharp twinge in her abdomen. In the same moment, Vegeta scooted backwards. A cry of pain escaped his lips and he held his head.

Kera's eyes widened and she put her hand in front of her mouth. Her other hand went to her stomach. The pain was gone. Had she only imagined it? Slowly she straightened up. Vegeta sat about two arm-lengths away from her, had one leg up and one arm resting on it. His hand supported his head. He looked utterly confused.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. I just had this one thought in my head. And then all of a sudden there was this headache, like something hit me from the front."

"Me too," she admitted. "And then I had this twinge ..." She stroked her stomach. Or had her children intervened, like in the fight with Piccolo? Kera shook her head slightly. It couldn't have been. "We were just so heated from the training that we ... in a different way, wanted to move on." Her stuttered attempt at an explanation sounded exactly like what it was. A lame excuse. Vegeta seemed to have the same thought.

"Bulma will not find out about this, do you understand?" he said sharply, looking her in the eye.

Two thoughts whizzed through Kera's head: apparently Bulma meant something to Vegeta and secondly, "How are you talking to me again?!" She straightened up and had her hands clenched into fists. Vegeta stood up as well and took a step towards her.

"Don't go over the top, Kera. Just because you ..."

"Our time together gives me the right to speak openly with you. Likewise, you can talk to me. Openly, not condescendingly or as if to a subordinate."

Kera saw Vegeta's inner struggle in his eyes. He certainly wanted to say that as a bodyguard she was ultimately subordinate to him, but he stifled it.

"I'm flying home to Piccolo now." Without another word, Kera rose into the air.

Back at the hut, she found Piccolo meditating by the waterfall. She joined in the meditation. She wasn't sure if she should tell him about this incident with Vegeta. She definitely didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't know herself why she had done it. The events haunted her mind, but she felt nothing about them. She could remember what she had felt at that moment, but now she could no longer find those feelings inside herself. Had it perhaps just been an overacting after all?

The weeks dragged on. Kera's belly had grown into a big round ball. Piccolo had taken care of her every day. Kera was sure that he would be a wonderful father.

Meanwhile, she could only train a few hours a day. Her centre of gravity had shifted so much due to her stomach that she had problems with some exercises. To distract herself, she regularly visited Bulma. There she also saw Vegeta from time to time. Since the training incident, however, she had only exchanged a few words with him. Kera felt insecure. She would like to be closer to him again, but she did not trust her own body.

After her regular visit to Dende, who informed her that the birth could be any time now, she flew to Bulma, who seemed to be as excited as Kera. She chattered happily to Kera, who kept nodding. As dusk fell, Kera said goodbye to her friend.

"Next time I see you, maybe I can already hold your babies," Bulma said as she hugged Kera.

Kera smiled. "Maybe. I'll just go to the bathroom real quick and then fly off the balcony."

On her way to the bathroom, Kera passed Vegeta's training room. She stopped for a few minutes and watched him, fascinated. She wanted nothing more than to be in that room now and exercise her muscles. But she had to admit to herself that her body was no longer in the shape she was used to. Sometimes she couldn't breathe very well or was out of breath very quickly. In the meantime, she longed for the day of birth. After that she would finally be able to train again. She sighed and wanted to go on. As if Vegeta had heard a noise, he stopped and looked through the window.

He saw her, turned off the increased gravity and beckoned her in.

"Fancy a training session?" he greeted her.

"Nothing I'd like better, but I'm afraid not today." She pointed to her stomach.

"I was planning to leave on the spaceship and train in space for a few months." Kera felt as if she had been knocked on her head.

"When?" She tried to suppress the uncertainty in her voice.

"Tomorrow."

Sadly, she looked away. That would mean Vegeta wouldn't be present for the birth of the children. She didn't know why it bothered her at all. It made her sad. Maybe because he was her only living relative. Surely he should also witness the happiness she would experience at the birth.

"Don't you want to wait until the little ones are born." After a pause, she added, "Please. It can't take that long now." Vegeta had stepped right up to her and lifted her chin with one finger. They looked into each other's eyes.

"Do you want me to stay, Kaya?" Kera nodded.

"All right. Just because it's you. We'll pick up the training after the birth then, okay?" Another nod.

"Thank you, that means a lot," Kera said, giving Vegeta a quick hug. Then, with a wave, she left the room.