"I came here to fight you," God damn it stupid Saiyan genes! Trunks couldn't believe this was the most sensible reason she could give for her presence on the Capsule Corp Compound. The smile worn as a mask, a gentle confident threat, challenged the Prince and he narrowed his eyes on her. Now it was his turn to be slow to answer. Time to return the favor.

"You're afraid?"

Vegeta crashed the bottle of water he was holding, rage irradiating from the insinuation. Victory. He turned heels and walked back to the GR, and Trunks followed. The time traveler closed the door of the GR behind her. She took a second to see the state of the training room: dents everywhere, recent and not so recent blood on some tiles, a few discarded bots by the control panel, a few towels, a few bottles of water. Clearly Vegeta more or less lived there. She wondered why he hadn't turned on the gravity of the room, but the state of the control panel and the absence of any lights around it gave her an answer- broken. At least the room could still withstand immense power, from what her mother had told her about the invention she had needed to dismantle and repurpose before the initial Cyborg strike on West City.

She moved forward and faced Vegeta. Uncanny how they crossed their arms exactly the opposite: him always keeping his fingers on his ribs, hidden under his arms, her always putting her fingers on her opposite elbows. She uncrossed first and took the same low boxing guard like she did with the spar with Piccolo.

"Transform." He ordered.

She waited a moment, she should really ask why, but she knew better. Vegeta was proud and combative. Fighting him with anything less than everything she got would infuriate him even more, and he wanted to test himself. Her eyes flashed teal, and she summoned the power that came to her slowly. The person who would be her father observed with a lot of attention. He felt the change of ki, he saw the smile disappear, the emotions change, the fists close more tightly, the muscle build up a little tougher and tenser. Up close, without her jacket, he could observe. He uncrossed his arms and took his own stance.

Trunks challenged with a slight nod, Vegeta built up power as much as he could, and charged, fired, punched, kicked, tried every trick in his book, but the teenager didn't move an inch. She deflected, held a finger to his fist, a forearm to his kick, an ankle to his swipe, an open hand to a Galick Gun. Every time he got physically close, she pushed him off with his own force, and he charged again. His punch to the head landed behind her, and the super Saiyan grabbed his arm to throw him upwards with his own momentum. He flipped on the wall where he landed, propelled himself back at his target, and she just met his foot with her open hand, pushing him off again. Vegeta didn't give up, and he rode his frustration and anger to give it all, cursing all sorts of profanities. And he grew even more furious because she never retaliated beyond using his own strength against him.

Trunks was somehow enjoying this. Her vastly superior speed and power allowed her to fully observe her would-be father's fighting style, his technique, his efforts. His guard was always flawless, his use of the terrain was fascinating, and he aimed his hits to kill. He had fallen into the same trap Piccolo had laid out for her. This is how she got to know Vegeta. And the despair, the anger, the loathing, the jealousy.. she could taste it and it satisfied her.

"I'm barely warmed up, Vegeta-san," she had to twist the knife. Encouragement didn't mean anything to him, she had understood already. He was livid. Good.

"You insufferable piece of shit I will feast on your entrails!" His power rose. At least he's always had the thirst for blood, I guess the super Saiyan transformation.. will not fundamentally change him like it affected Son-san, Gohan-san or myself. Whether that's good news or bad news…

"Big talk when you've not even scratched my skin," counterclockwise now.

At every try, he roared and tapped into deeper energy reserves, and every time he was met with the unyielding resistance. Trunks admired the dedication. They'd been at it for hours, and he hadn't stopped to even catch a breath. Maintaining the form was becoming strenuous, even if she didn't use a lot of energy, it was becoming hard to remain focused for so long.

When she grabbed his wrist after another attack attempt, instead of pushing him off, she forced him to turn and locked his arm behind his back. She put the other arm around his neck at the same time, and she held firm. The thirst clawed at her mind, demanding blood, but she ignored it and ignored him trying to fight off, until he went still. She still held him like that, firm and uncomfortable, but not painfully. At least not painful anymore now the articulation had cracked under the pressure. He'd never admit giving up, but his energy was almost non existent, he was exhausted, he should have passed out a long time ago. Still, she held, her chin almost resting on his shoulder.

"Freeza," she spoke low, he tensed, "I killed him in your name."

Vegeta had so many questions, he tried to turn his head but couldn't, he tried to word them, but his vision started to fade. Trunks let the grip go, but she still held his wrist to let him down slowly. She abandoned the super Saiyan form seeing her father barely holding on his hands and knees, she waited for him to manage back into some sort of conscious state. He forced himself against the machines and sat, drenched, panting. She crouched in front of him, but he didn't look at her. He coughed and finally asked.

"Why?"

"Because I know what he did to you, to us."

He punched down, the tiles barely registered. He'd truly not slept for over a week.

"I will not die to your stupid washing machines."

She smiled. The determination gave her hope.

"You're- from the future." He groaned, she made an affirmative sound. He looked back at her, finally, the sweet release of sleep claiming him after days of intense self-loathing induced training.

"Do I get there? Achieve the legend?"

He passed out, she wasn't sure if he heard her affirmative nor if he would remember, but it didn't matter. She briefly checked his vitals. He was out of commission for good, exhaustion finally claimed him. She took his arms, then pulled herself up and then him, and carried him on her back to the house. He's lighter than Gohan.. The grim memory clouded her mind.

Bulma quickly opened the door to the house for her, in her pajamas, eyes full of worry and anger. It was well past dinner time. Hell it was even night already.

"What the fuck, Tora!" She even scolded.

"He did it to himself," she winced.

"I know, I saw! Why didn't you stop him like three hours ago?"

"What do you mean, saw-?" Oh, right, monitored, cameras. "It's just exhaustion. Mind opening me to his room?" She readjusted him on her back and followed the blue-haired woman upstairs. With her help she laid Vegeta on his bed, on his side. Bulma used a wet towel to clean his face, and she too checked his vitals. While Bulma tended to the full-blooded Saiyan, Trunks grabbed a towel to wipe her own face and she put it on her shoulders, she was drenched in sweat (mostly his, but also hers). They shut down the light, closed the door and left him to rest.

"Bulma-san." Trunks asked, and they went into the room she'd given her. With a serious face she indicated the door, and Bulma closed it, slightly uncomfortable with the idea of being alone behind closed doors with this determined stranger who tried to seduce her with strawberries. The teenager just sat on the side of her bed, pushing the sword behind her, and invited Bulma to sit near her. She did, stiff. Trunks just stayed silent, looking into oblivion in front of her, elbows on knees, head on her locked fingers. She wanted to be near her mother, but this Bulma wasn't her. What could she tell her now that she requested her presence? How to monitor Vegeta? How to encourage him? What type of robots to give him? How to force him to call it quits and sleep? How dangerous the super Saiyan transformation was? Nothing made sense, she'd find out on her own, none of this was necessary, she needn't intervene.

Her mind circled back to the truth.

"I miss my mother."

Vegeta's sleep cycle and focused mind can also be seen in the Namek Saga ;)