*A few months later*

Val hardly noticed Raditz being gone, enjoying his absence like she did when he would be away on missions with Napa and Vegeta and the others in his squad. It was rather odd for Vegeta and Napa to be on the ship without him though. She could feel Napa watching her, making her uncomfortable. Napa took up the mantel bringing people from other races in front of her in hopes she would change. The most she felt about one of them, the one rumored to be from the Western side of the Universe, was stirring in her gut, and a dry warmth in her palms, but she quelled it, refusing it to let take her over just as Asa taught her, if that indeed was what was happening.

A few days after the last one, enough time to pass where she was clearly not going to change, Napa came and berated her for not changing while she was training with Asa. It was Asa who noticed him come in first and stopped sparring immediately. Val had not picked up on it as fast, landing a harsher than necessary kick to her chest, knocking her down. Val was excited at first to get in the hit, but her excitement was quickly dashed when she heard the yelling behind her.

"What is your problem, you foolish child?!" she heard Napa yelling behind her. She whipped around, looking up at him in surprise. "Why haven't you changed yet?" he growled down at her, stepping up toe to toe with her.

She looked up at him blankly, desiring to roll her eyes at him, but biting it back. "I can't control it," she repeated for like the hundredth time with him alone.

She heard Asa groan behind her. She turned to Asa, putting her back to him, to help her up. Val had her hand in hers when she felt a sharp crack on the back of her skull. She winced, falling down on top of Asa and fell back down on the ground. The pain in her head throbbed. Asa pulled her against her protectively, hand coming to the back of her head.

"Maybe I just have to beat it out of you," he threatened down. Val tensed up at the threat to her, wanting very much to round on him and attack him, not matter how futile of an idea that might be.

"Don't, sweetness," Asa whispered down to her.

"You, or your old grandma here," he antagonized.

Val turned her head just enough to see him out of the corner of her eye. She watched him kick Asa in one of her legs. She felt like something snapped inside of her. She slipped out of Asa's protective hold, rounding on him. She must have caught him off guard, sucker punching him in the throat, the most vital place on him that was not protected by his armor. She watched him back away, coughing and choking. His hand gripped his throat. Her palms itched, so she shook them out. She watched him carefully, fully expecting him to retaliate, but stayed standing between him and Asa.

When he finally got his voice back, he wheezed down at her, "you little bitch." He raised his fist up, looking fully prepared to bring it down on her.

"You let that small child get a hit off you?" a voice called out from behind Napa. All of the froze, looking over to see Vegeta at the door. "What kind of Saiyan are you?"

Napa looked back at him, grimacing.

Before he could answer anything, she shouted, louder and more angrily than she expected, "I'm not a child! I'm not that much younger than you!" She shook her hands out again, the hand she struck Napa with aching.

Napa spoke next, "your protector, your fiancé, Raditz is dead, did you know that?" She looked up at him, not expecting that. She thought about the brother Raditz had, same age as her, wondering what happened. "His brother and another alien killed him on that little, podunk planet. But not before revealing the priceless treasures on that planet. And when I get my hands on those priceless treasures, you'll wish Raditz was still here to protect you." He gave her a look that made her hands shake. "You can still be useful to restarting the Saiyan race."

"Mind your tongue and yourself," Vegeta said, sounding short with him. "Come on, we need to get ready to go." Vegeta beckoned.

Napa started walking out towards Vegeta, but stopped midway to warn her, "I'll be back for you."

She watched him go, wishing she could strike him anew. She watched him go, feeling her hands heat up all the way to her wrists and lower forearm. "I hope you die at the hands of Raditz's brother, too!" she shouted, feeling frustrated at how childishly her voice squeaked. He turned to look at her. "Or worse! No- much worse!" She stomped towards him, feeling flushed. "I hope you die worse than he did, groveling for your pathetic life!" she swore.

"Sweetness, stop," Asa called from behind her. She wrapped her arms around her arms and middle, pulling her back and holding her close. One of her hands covered her hands, clutching them so tightly it burned. Val twisted in her grip, trying to break free. Asa whispered in her ear, "you must calm yourself. Calm yourself, Kiri." Her hands burned.

Val dropped, slipping from Asa's grip and facing her, back turned on the two Saiyans behind her. "Why? I hate it here! I hate them! I hate Frieza!" she felt her suppressed rage bellowing over, threatening to consume her. "I hate him most of all!" she voiced the realization, hating him for what he did on the nights he took Asa away. Her hands felt aflame now, but not pained.

Asa was on her once more, clasping her hands covering them up with hers. "Please calm yourself," she begged. Val looked down at their entwined hands, seeing a golden light shining between Asa's fingers. "Stop there."

"I hope he dies at the hands of what he fears the most, so then he can know what true fear is," she said, feeling the heat of her hands spreading up her forearms. She down at her hands, glowing in a goldenrod hue. It started to burn unpleasantly, making her feel fear of her own.

"Sweetness, stop. Right now," Asa pleaded. "Or..." she closed her mouth, opened it again, and closed it once more. Her eyes looked back over the two Saiyans behind her. She shook her head.

Val looked up at her, seeing a desperate look in her eyes. She looked back down at her hands. "The flames, they hurt," she squawked out, seeing her skin redden.

"Let go," Asa advised, coming to her once more. She took her hands in hers, but recoiled this time around at the heat coming from her hands. "Don't let your anger consume you." Asa's knelt down next to her, hands coming to her hair and behind her ears on either side of her head. "Your father had a temper, but you don't have to have one to match his. You can feel anger, but you can't let it control you."

Val felt her lower arms still aflame, the pain getting worse. She pulled back from Asa, not wanting to hurt her. She held her hands out from her body, shaking them out as hard as she could manage, seeing the flames shoot out her sleeves and burn scorch marks on the ground on either side of Asa. Asa stepped on one of them when it started to light a spark before it could do anything.

Val looked down at the scorch marks and then her hands, with the skin red, swollen, and blistered here and there. Asa came up to her, as gingerly as possible pulling her sleeves up to see her forearm. Val cried out as the flowy sleeves rubbed along her forearms, skin peeling off with it. She saw the burns covering her skin there, too, almost up to her elbows. She studied the burns, humming under her breath.

She heard someone come up behind her. She cringed, thinking it was Napa, but only half cringed when she saw it was Vegeta. He studied her burns. "Take her to the med bay," he ordered Asa. Napa did step up, but only after the fact. Vegeta cocked his head at him. "Let's go," he ordered, walking away.

"What was that?" Napa asked as they left.

"Some sort of temper tantrum," Vegeta ruled.

"Temper is right. She really did a number of herself," Napa commented with a laugh. "Kid's a fire cracker."