Piccolo:

The next few months passed in a way Kera and Piccolo had never dreamed possible. After Dende had given his consent for them to leave the palace, they had flown to their hut in the forest with their children in their arms.

From which their hut had disappeared. In its place now stood a house, which had considerably more space than the hut. It soon turned out to be a gift for the birth of Bulma and Vegeta. Kera felt her pride hurt at first, as she had preferred to build something on her own, but she didn't have much time to get upset.

The twins demanded a lot from her. Feeding, changing nappies, carrying them around until they were asleep. Kera was glad that Piccolo didn't have to sleep like she did, so he took care of them a lot and only woke her up when the children needed to be nursed.

At half a year old, Reyak was already taking his first steps. His sister watched him again, fascinated, until a month later she also pulled herself up on the edge of the small living room table. But instead of putting one foot in front of the other, she floated up, hovered about waist height above the floor and then landed in Piccolo's outstretched arms, who looked completely dumbfounded at Kera, who also couldn't get a word out.

"Seems like the two of them are already very different," Piccolo said, looking deeply into his daughter's dark purple eyes.

By the twins' first birthday, Kera and Piccolo had become so accustomed to family life that they wondered what it had been like without the children. The two developed very quickly - as was to be expected. It was as if they were already three years old and not just one.

"Mum, can we fly to Trunks?" Reyak and Trunks were getting along well, which Kera was very pleased about.

"Sure. Menka, would you like to come?"

The little girl shook her head and looked at her father. "Can we fly to Dende?"

Piccolo smiled and nodded. Menka seemed to have a crush on Dende. Whenever they were there, she would pester the young Namekian with questions of all kinds, which he answered patiently and seemed sad each time they flew back home.

Kera and Reyak said goodbye to Piccolo and Menka and flew off. After about half the distance, Kera took her son on her shoulders. He was strong and persevering, but still a child. She wanted to give him the opportunity to be a child as long as possible.

When they landed at Bulma's house, she noticed an aura she had missed and stumbled into the house more than she walked. She called a quick hello into the living room to Bulma and Trunks and left Reyak there. Then she ran on.

In the kitchen by the refrigerator stood Vegeta. "Finally!" she exclaimed, falling around his neck. Caught off guard, he dropped the plate he had been holding, which fell clattering to the floor, and hugged her. He laughed against her neck.

"I missed you," she whispered, hugging him a little tighter. She sniffled.

Vegeta pushed her an arm's length away from him. "You look good."

She smiled and brushed an unruly strand of hair behind her ear. "Tell me, how was your trip?"

"I found evidence of Saiyans on other planets."

"Really? That's insane. Where? When? How?"

"Take it easy," he placated Kera's outburst. "They were just stories. I still have to follow up on these clues."

"When can we leave?" Kera felt her adrenaline rising. If there really were other Saiyans, they absolutely had to find them.

Vegeta answered with a counter question, "How good of shape are you in?"

Caught, Kera looked to the ground and cleared her throat. "Well, there wasn't that much time to train last year."

"Then we should train first and then fly off."

"Good, then I'll come directly tomorrow ..."

"The day after tomorrow." Puzzled, she looked at Vegeta. "I just got home. Give me a day off."

"Sorry," she mumbled, "you want to spend time with Bulma and with Trunks."

Vegeta didn't directly acknowledge her statement, but he looked towards the living room with a smile.

Full of anticipation, Kera said goodbye as dawn broke and could hardly wait until she could start training.

Vegeta:

Just under a year in space. Alone in the vastness of space. Out loud he wouldn't say it, but he had indeed felt lonely at times. Had thought of Bulma and his son. And also of Kera and her children.

When his spaceship had landed in the garden, he had immediately looked out for Bulma and had felt a twinge of disappointment when she wasn't out.

He found her and Trunks in the living room. When she caught sight of him, she had immediately come running up to him and hugged him, but had quickly let him go when she had realised what an outburst of emotion she had just displayed. But Vegeta had pulled her close to him again. He had almost forgotten how good their closeness felt. Bulma, who seemed equally surprised by this embrace, returned it only after some hesitation.

"Come on, Trunks, say hello to your daddy," she had prompted the boy, who stood indecisively beside the sofa. Vegeta had crouched down and smiled as Trunks approached him.

After a long shower and plenty of food he felt really good again. Then, when Kera had shown up, he had been more than pleased.

He had only glanced at Kera's son, who had been playing with Trunks in the living room. He had grown a lot in one year and radiated a strong aura. He wondered if they had started training with him yet? He would ask Kera about it the day after tomorrow.

In the hallway he met Bulma, who had just come out of the nursery. She put a finger to her lips and indicated for him to follow her into the bedroom.

Vegeta needed no further prompting for that.

He took her quickly, savagely, right up against the wall. She wanted to turn away from him when he was done, but he took her in his arms and carried her to the bed and slowly began to undress her, making love to her again. Bulma seemed surprised at his renewed gentleness, but said nothing and enjoyed his touch.

Even after that, he did not leave, but remained lying there. Hesitantly, Bulma laid her head on his bare chest.

The next day Vegeta did something he had never done before: he relaxed, then lay with Bulma again for the night.

A day's rest had done him good, but now he was so jittery again that he would have preferred to go to the gravity room before sunrise. But he held back, ate a hearty breakfast and then waited for Kera to join him.

They trained until midday. Kera sank to the floor of the room, drenched in sweat. Breathing heavily, she remained lying. Vegeta stood over her.

"A little out of practice, huh?" he asked with a grin.

"I was otherwise occupied," she admitted between breaths.

"I think we'll let it go for today." He reached out his hand, grasped hers with it, and pulled it upward with a flourish.

Kera uttered a surprised sound as she got to her feet faster than she had expected. Swaying, she held onto Vegeta and looked at him.

For the first time Vegeta noticed that their eyes were at the same level. He did not have to bend down to her or look up at her. Her eyes were so dark that one could get lost in them.

"Vegeta!"

He startled up. He looked around. Kera and he were no longer standing in the middle of the room, but next to the door. Her back was pressed against the wall, her right leg was wrapped around his waist, one of his hands was against her cheek.

The confusion he felt spoke from her gaze. As if burned, he jumped back a step.

"I think you'd better go now."

She nodded and darted out the door.

Restlessly, Vegeta paced back and forth in the gravity room. What had just happened there?

Kera:

Two days later, they met in the hills near Kera's house. They trained a little longer than they did at Vegeta's and quickly parted. They didn't talk about the event after their last training.

For a month they met every other day, alternating between Vegeta's and Kera's. Their training sessions became longer. Despite aching muscles, Kera enjoyed the training. Her body was back in top shape.

Grinning, she looked at the scratch on Vegeta's cheek. She had finally hit him at the end of their session today, which she took as a good sign. Annoyed, Vegeta rubbed his cheek and looked at her grimly.

"Enough for today," he said grumbling and turned away from her to fly home.

"Are we training tomorrow?" she called after him.

"Fine, daily training then. If we can keep this up for the next month, we'll fly out."

Kera rejoiced. Soon they would fly into space to search for other Saiyans. As she sat with Piccolo and the children in the evening, she reported her training success and was congratulated.

"Mum, are you really going to space soon?" asked Menka.

"Yes, I want to go with Vegeta to look for other Saiyans."

"Do you think there are any left?"

"I hope so. It would be great." She looked dreamily into the fire.

"Can you tell us about the planet?"

"Planet Vegeta was home to the Saiyans and the Tuffles, who were very technologically advanced. The Saiyans also wanted to use these technologies and took them by force. We conquered other planets and sold them to those who were looking for a new home. For years, all was well until Frieza managed to get us into his service. He was so much more powerful than us. That was just before Vegeta and I were born." She paused for a moment. "I'm curious, by the way, if you can transform into Ozarus. Saiyans are tested for fighting power when they're born and are put into different categories from the start. Vegeta and I are Saiyan first class. But in the meantime we have discovered that this system is not very well thought out. Fighting power can easily be increased over the years, and when we transform into a Super Saiyan, our fighting power is significantly higher. We can even suppress it altogether."

Menka showered her with questions about life on Planet Vegeta, while Reyak wanted to know more about the training Kera had gone through as a child. Kera answered as many questions as she could until it was time for the children to go to bed.

When the children were asleep, she was still sitting by the fire with Piccolo. She had leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Do you think there will be problems if I move so far away from you?"

She felt him shake his head. "I don't think so. Our bond is different. Since the fusion with Kami, our connection has changed more and more. I don't think distance matters. You have a part of me with you always."

Kera nodded. "You will look after our children, won't you?"

Piccolo smirked. Kera knew that question was actually redundant, but this new mothering instinct she had carried with her since they were born had made her ask this question.

"Of course. And I will keep training them." After a pause, he said, "If they want it."

"Menka doesn't seem that eager to be trained in the martial arts, does she?"

Piccolo shook his head. He had noticed that as well. While Reyak seemed to be able to train tirelessly, Menka seemed to be reluctant to endure the training sessions. She preferred to spend time with Dende, who showed her around the library.

"Perhaps the abilities of Kami have come out in her again. He created the Dragon Balls, after all, but he wasn't a fighter."

"I have yet to come to terms with that thought," Kera said slowly.

Kera and Vegeta now trained every day for several hours. After about a week, Kera finally managed to take Vegeta down. Triumphantly, she jumped up and down.

"I've finally got my old form back!" She grinned at Vegeta, who had propped himself up on one arm and was looking up at her with a half-amused, half-annoyed expression on his face.

Kera paused with her happy dance and looked at Vegeta. His eyes seemed to want to pull her under his spell.

"Kera!"

She blinked. Vegeta had yelled at her. Why? Then she realised the situation. She was no longer standing next to him, but sitting on top of him, who was still lying on his back on the ground. Her face was very close to his.

Startled, she jumped up. "What was that again? Why is this happening?" She realised she was panicking.

Vegeta seemed equally caught off guard. "I have no idea."

"Vegeta, we can't ... we mustn't ..."

"You think I don't know that? You think I want this?" he snapped at her angrily. "It's like I'm having blackouts. I can't remember ..." His eyes darted to the wall clock mounted above the door of the gravity room. "Shit, it's been 15 minutes since I last looked at the clock!"

"We have 15 minutes we can't remember?" Kera's voice almost rolled over. She fumbled her lips. "Oh, no," she breathed.

Vegeta did the same. "Did we ...?"

Kera looked at him with wide eyes. "I think so." She swallowed.

The silence between them stretched until it became uncomfortable and Kera couldn't take it anymore. "I'm flying home now," she said quietly and left the room without another word.

Vegeta:

Vegeta watched her go for a long time. As he stood in the shower, he pondered why Kera had left so quickly. Had they had a fight? Then why couldn't he remember?