Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ Family Bonding ( Chapter 89 )

A Light in the Darkness - Part 89: Family Bonding
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

 

PAIRING: None
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: none
C&C: Please! ^_^
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned the Saiyans. All of them. At least all of the ones with hair. And yes, we're including Yamcha, Ranma, and Ryouga in that, now you know. Dragonball Z and the associated characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. Ranma 1/2 and the characters of Ranma Saotome and Ryouga Hibiki are owned by Viz, Rumiko Takahashi, and some Japanese studio I don't know the name of. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball or Ranma 1/2 themselves. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it. Oh, I guess we do own Hakusai and Serori. But I doubt anyone cares. ^_~
SUMMARY: Vegeta and Trunks spend some family time together, Saiyan style.

NOTES: The rest of this story is completely unbeta'd, as I can't seem to find a beta who will be as brutal or thorough as I like, and will get me chapters back in what I feel is a timely manner. I have, however, had training as an editor, and I've edited the remainder of this pretty thoroughly. I would simply like people to be aware that no one else has gone through it to catch any errors or inconsistencies, so it may be more flawed than I realize.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Day 14

 

It was later than usual when the Prince of the Saiyans awoke. He wasn't at all tired due to his time in the regeneration tank, but he did not want to move yet. Vegeta opened his eyes when the woman sleeping next to him made a soft noise in her sleep and cuddled closer to his side. He couldn't stifle a smirk when she sighed again as he ran his hand lightly down her back.

 

Vegeta brushed his mouth across hers and whispered against her mouth. “Wake up, woman.”

 

Bulma felt Vegeta's hand on her hip, and slowly felt herself coming to consciousness. His words whispered against her mouth sent a shudder down her spine, but she held it in. “Why?” she whispered back. She was still feeling sleepy and didn't want to wake.

 

Vegeta shifted Bulma in his arms, smiling down at her as she drifted back to sleep. She would have been startled to see the tender way in which he brushed her hair out of her eyes and placed a kiss against her temple before he slipped from her embrace.

 

Vegeta dressed, never taking his eyes off his mate, content to watch her sleep. He knew that she would be sore and tired when she woke. He could take credit for that, he thought smugly, as he pulled his boots on and remembered the previous night. He thought she might soak in the tub for a while after she got up; it would help her sore muscles.

 

A few minutes later he entered the kitchen in search of something to eat, and found Gohan, Ryouga, Ranma, and Trunks already eating. They all stopped when he entered, each with different expressions on their faces.

 

Trunks looked up at his father as he entered the room, then he blushed slightly and looked away. The sounds of his parents making love the night before had been unmistakable. He knew the other boys had heard it, too. Apparently neither Gohan nor Ryouga understood what they had been hearing, but Ranma obviously had, since he gave Vegeta a roguish grin. This made Trunks blush even more deeply. It was difficult to think of his parents that way, even though he knew they must have done it before he was born.

 

“Hello, father,” he said softly, not looking at Vegeta.

 

Vegeta barely inclined his head at the pale-haired youth and wondered what the hell he was blushing about, as he turned to rummage in the refrigerator. “We should start training today,” he said without looking at them. “Three years isn't much time, but we will deal with what time we have.”

 

Trunks was having trouble looking at his father. He hadn't known his father in his own time, but his mother... he just couldn't think of her that way. “All right. I'd like it if you could train me... Father.”

 

“Where's Bulma?” Gohan asked innocently. “Isn't she coming down?” He was confused at the way Ranma suddenly chuckled, and Trunks' blush managed to tint his cheeks an even deeper pink.

 

Vegeta arched a brow at Trunks' reaction, and smirked when Trunks refused to meet his eyes. “She is still sleeping,” he told Gohan. “She is exhausted.”

 

Gohan blinked in confusion. Still sleeping? That didn't make any sense. Why would Bulma be so tired? But as he looked back and forth from Vegeta to Trunks, he decided it wasn't something that was going to make any sense to him. “OK,” he agreed. After all, Bulma wasn't needed for them to train. If she was like his mother, then he thought she wouldn't like that sort of thing much, anyway.

 

Trunks was still trying to forget the idea of his mother as being sexually active. She had avoided most men by the time he was old enough to be aware, and those she had been around she had never showed any interest in. It had given him an image of her that he was beginning to suspect had been very wrong. Apparently she had been very different around his father than she had ever been for anyone either before or after him.

 

“Are we going where we used to train?” Trunks asked Gohan automatically.

 

Gohan turned a puzzled gaze to Trunks. “Where we used to train?” he asked in confusion. He had noticed Trunks calling Vegeta `father', and didn't understand. “Have we met before?”

 

He didn't think they had. He had trained alone with Piccolo for a year, then he had trained by himself this past year. He didn't know where this other man came from, except that he had shown up at the Budokai the previous day, and he had apparently come home with the others. Gohan hadn't had a chance to ask why, though.

 

“No, I....” Trunks' eyes lowered to the table. “I'm sorry. I forgot that you don't know me yet. I'm Trunks. I came from the future... from a future that doesn't exist anymore. I came back here to save my father's life. He was supposed to have died yesterday. Along with Tenshinhan and Hakusai and Krillin.”

 

Vegeta snorted. “But no one died.” He smirked as he sat down. “Dying doesn't bother me, brat. I have already been dead once.”

 

Trunks shook his head. “But it's what it did to everyone else,” he said softly. “It's what it did to mother... and the others. And what Hakusai's death did to Yamcha, and what Krillin's and Tenshinhan's deaths did to Goku.” He smiled faintly. “Without you, they stood no chance against....”

 

He paused, suddenly realizing what was going to happen today and he paled. He glanced at Ranma and Ryouga, who had been watching them curiously. His voice became softer. “There were several people who came and wiped out some of the others. So when Cell came... there just wasn't anyone left to fight him. We needed all of you... and you weren't all there.”

 

“No chance against who?” Vegeta asked, eyes narrowing. The boy was hiding something. “What is going to happen that you have not told us?”

 

Trunks' eyes dropped. It wasn't something he had wanted to tell his father about yet. He was afraid of what Vegeta would do, how berserk he might get. “Father... I....”

 

Yamcha chose that moment to walk in the room. He saw his two younger brothers sitting at the kitchen table and his face lit up. “Hi, guys!” he called out, oblivious to everyone else at the moment. “Hey, how are you two getting along around here?”

 

Ranma shot Ryouga a look. For once the lost boy hadn't threatened to try to kill him, not since he had woken up in that strange laboratory. “I dunno. Are you sure I'm your brother?”

 

Yamcha blinked at the question. “Well, yeah. Bulma said your DNA matches my brother's perfectly. It was in our mother's computer. And you've got a tail. I mean, only Saiyans have tails....”

 

Ranma glanced down at the tail that was swishing behind him, and scratched his head in confusion. “Yeah, what's up with that? Why've we got tails?”

 

“A tail makes a Saiyan go oozaru on the full moon,” Trunks answered quietly.

 

“All Saiyans have tails,” Vegeta added unhelpfully as he gulped down his food. He paused briefly and glanced back at his. “I need to get rid of mine.”

 

“You want me to pull it off again?” Yamcha asked, as he sat down and started to eat as well. “Unless you want someone else to. I think I'll keep mine for a little while. I don't think I can go Super Saiyan yet, anyway.”

 

“Super Saiyan?” Ranma asked curiously, blinking at them. “What's that?”

 

“It's what Ryouga did when he was fighting you yesterday,” Gohan piped up. “Our power levels go way up and we get really strong! My daddy can go Super Saiyan. So can Hakusai, but Bulma said she probably shouldn't while she's pregnant.”

 

Vegeta nodded. “Yes, I think I do want you to pull it off again later.” Vegeta eyed Yamcha thoughtfully. “It may hinder you as well if you decide to keep the tail. You won't have any control as an oozaru.”

 

“Ah... I didn't think of that.” Yamcha put one hand behind his head sheepishly. He had only been thinking of what he could do with it with Hakusai.... “Yeah, you're probably right.”

 

Ranma frowned. The whole oozaru thing seemed highly improbable and unrealistic to him. “Why would ya guys want somethin' that turns ya into a fifty foot ape? `Specially if ya got no control over what ya do when you turn inta one.”

 

“In the oozaru state we are ten times stronger than normal.” Vegeta sat back from the table and arched a brow at Trunks who seemed to be hanging on every word. “Saiyans are protective of their tails for the power it gives us. Some Saiyans - mostly the elites - even managed to learn how to control how they behaved during their transformation. I can control it. That baka Kakarotto cannot. But if the baka put his mind to it he probably could. Without control, you lose all awareness of who you are and what you are doing. You cannot tell who your enemy is and you don't even care if you attack allies. All you want to do is destroy.” He smirked. “It took the elites to keep the other oozaru under control at those times. But mostly we didn't care.”

 

“There is a story that there was a Saiyan who could go Super Saiyan while in his transformed state,” Vegeta continued, still smirking. “It killed him and destroyed the solar system he was in.”

 

Trunks stared at him. “How could he go Super Saiyan if he was oozaru? You need to have a tail to go oozaru, and you can't have a tail to go Super Saiyan! How was that possible?” At their surprised expressions, he blushed slightly. “Mother told me you can't go Super Saiyan with the tail. That's one of the reasons she kept removing mine. She hoped one day I'd be able to go Super Saiyan so I could defeat Cell. She knew that....” He swallowed, his eyes dropping again. “She said you never managed to make Super Saiyan before you died, and she wished you'd had the chance to have done that.”

 

“She will now get her wish,” Vegeta muttered. “I would never dream of disappointing your mother. I would never live to hear the end of it.” He shrugged when Trunks frowned. “As for the story, who knows? It happened almost a thousand years ago. If I knew how he had managed it, I wouldn't have my tail removed.”

 

“Well, what if whatever made him do it could only happen while you're oozaru? Then you wouldn't be able to go Super Saiyan - whatever that is - unless you're oozaru.” Ranma shrugged. “Just a thought....”

 

Yamcha stared at him. “He has a point, Vegeta. I mean, you can't go oozaru unless there's a full moon or you make other Saiyans around you go oozaru as well. But if you don't have your tail, you could go Super Saiyan without having to be oozaru first. I think that's a lot better, don't you?”

 

Vegeta nodded. What they were saying made sense and he was inclined to believe that theory was a likely one. “It is possible. Saiyans are not typically thinkers.” He smirked. “At least the males are not.”

 

Trunks didn't contradict his father, but he felt that his father was more of a thinker than he would ever admit. His mother had told him, her voice full of pride and grief, about what a strategist his father had been, how clever and intelligent he had always been in battle. Even Kamesennin had admired him for it. Kamesennin had once told Trunks that if it hadn't been for the fact that Vegeta wouldn't listen to anyone, he could even respect him. Trunks wished Kamesennin hadn't died, but he had been killed in a battle against Cell, and it had caused Trunks a great deal of personal grief.

 

Maybe that's why mother and father loved each other so much. I don't think mother could have loved someone she didn't respect. He felt a sharp pain of grief at having seen her die just as he left to come here, and was glad he was changing things so his parents would live now. And he was glad he would get to know his father, even if Vegeta couldn't show any affection towards him.

 

Yamcha got up, finished with his breakfast. “Hey, guys! Let's go out and train some, all right?”

 

“Why not?” Vegeta stood up and made his way to the door. He looked over his shoulder before he left the kitchen. “Come on, brat.” Vegeta spoke to his son. “I want to see what you can do.”

 

Trunks followed his father without a word, and Ranma and Ryouga shot each other a quick glance. Ranma grabbed Ryouga's hand before the other boy could say anything, and ran after the others, dragging the lost boy behind him. He looked at the three Saiyans already standing outside. “You guys gonna train? Can I come with ya?”

 

Gohan had followed both of them as well. He looked up at Vegeta. “Vegeta-sensei?” he asked, in an almost formal tone. “Will you teach me some more today? Please?”

 

Vegeta arched a brow at Gohan, and then gave a slight nod. “I don't see why not.” He glanced over to Ranma and frowned. “I don't suppose you know how to fly?” He folded his arms across his chest, eyeing the youth with some interest. He had an idea of what Ranma could do; he had seen it in the tournament the day before.

 

“Fly? Whaddaya mean, fly? I ain't no bird, I can't....”

 

Ryouga laughed slightly mockingly at his brother's confusion. “Yes, Ranma. Fly. Like I did yesterday at the Budokai. Like this.” He levitated slightly off the ground, almost nonchalantly, trying to make it look easier than it really was for him. The expression on the other boy's face was worth it; Ranma was completely dumbfounded.

 

Ranma turned to Vegeta, his mouth open in surprise. “You guys c'n fly? You gotta teach me how ta do that! I need ta know how to fly!”

 

Yamcha scratched his head. He remembered that it hadn't been easy to teach Ryouga; they had had to do a mental link before he had been able to stay up in the air for any amount of time without having to concentrate exclusively on flying.

 

“Well, let's go out there and we'll show you. It may take a little while....” he said with a sigh. He wondered if it was going to be as difficult with Ranma. He knew that even now Ryouga had trouble doing anything else while trying to fly. He didn't think his brother could fly and do combat just yet; he would have to get to the point where flying no longer took concentration.

 

Vegeta sighed, rubbing his temple. He didn't understand why humans did not include flying in their basic training exercises. After all, it did not take that much ki to do it. “Why don't you carry him?” Vegeta asked, lifting off the ground and looking down at Yamcha. “It will be faster if we just take him there and then teach him.”

 

Yamcha nodded and was about to do it, but Gohan anticipated them. “Kinto'un!” he called out, and the little yellow cloud zoomed in and hovered near Gohan, somehow managing to look eager, if that was possible for a little yellow cloud to do. Gohan smiled at the little cloud and pointed to Ranma. “Can you carry him?”

 

Kinto'un hovered close to Ranma, who looked at the cloud dubiously. Gohan giggled, then climbed onto it to show Ranma. “See? It'll carry you. Come on, you can do it!” He instinctively knew that Ranma would be able to get on it. When the pig-tailed boy clambered onto it and didn't fall through, Gohan knew his beliefs had been justified. Ranma's heart was just as pure as Ryouga's, and Kinto'un could carry him.

 

“All right, Vegeta!” Gohan said eagerly. “Let's go!”

 

Vegeta turned and headed west to the place where he had been training Gohan for the past couple of days. As he flew, he could sense the others behind him. Yamcha was the closest, flying next to Ryouga, who still seemed to need a little help.

Vegeta found himself watching the odd group as they landed a few minutes later. How had he managed to get stuck with these people? He scowled at the others indiscriminately. He kept a close eye on the pale-haired teenager who was his son. The boy was too quiet to be his offspring; his personality not at all similar to either Bulma's or his own. He arched a brow when Trunks looked in his direction. The boy blushed almost instantly, something that was almost beginning to irritate Vegeta. Where had that mannerism come from? He certainly didn't blush, and he had never seen Bulma do so either.

 

“Is there something you want, brat?” Vegeta asked mildly.

 

Trunks glanced down a moment, then looked back up at Vegeta. “No, Father. I just wanted....” He trailed off, not knowing how to tell his father that he still found him a little intimidating. His mother had told him so much about Vegeta, but there had been a lot of gaps. She hadn't known Vegeta for very long before he had been killed, so although she had told him what she knew, Trunks wasn't sure how much of what she told him was truth and how much had been wishful thinking - dreams brought on by the haziness of time, of the wish that he had been with her longer.

 

Vegeta folded his arms across his chest as he eyed his son. “I am beginning to wonder if you are my son. You certainly don't have your mother's mouth. I suppose I should not complain. One of that woman is enough.”

 

Trunks' fists clenched, almost angry at Vegeta's implication. “I'm your son, Vegeta,” he muttered harshly through gritted teeth. “Mother told me I am. You may not accept me but I am your son!” He turned away then, the flush that stained his cheeks no longer from embarrassment, but now from shame.

 

Vegeta smirked at his back, enjoying the sudden display of temper. Finally there was a trait in Trunks that he could identify with. “Then come here, brat, and prove it.” The challenge was clear in his voice. “That is if you think you can.”

 

Trunks' fists clenched even more tightly against his sides. He turned suddenly, his eyes flashing with fury. “KAME HAME HAAAA!” he shouted, sending the unexpected blast directly at Vegeta, hitting him squarely in the chest.

 

Vegeta was knocked back from the force of the blast, and landed ungracefully on his rear. Vegeta stood, chuckling as he brushed himself off. “You call that an attack?” he asked as he folded his arms across his chest. “I suppose I need to show you how it is done.” He charged at the young man, taking him by surprise.

 

Vegeta was not trying to hurt his son, he merely wanted to see how strong he was, what his limitations were. He knew instinctively that Trunks was his son, he could sense it in a way he couldn't explain. And the best way Vegeta knew to get closer to his son was to spar with him. That was one thing all Saiyans understood.

 

Vegeta's fist slipped under Trunks' defenses and connected with his jaw, knocking the youth away from his father. Vegeta snorted, his eyes alight with an emotion none of the others could even guess at. “Brat, you can do better than that.”

 

Trunks had been goaded into a rage, one he couldn't control. He had experienced this kind of fury only a few times, and it had always taken his mother to calm him down again. He didn't realize that it was a combination of his mother's temper and a natural Saiyan anger. He had never known any other Saiyans, so hadn't seen what they were capable of. Bulma had tried to explain it to him, but words couldn't convey the truth well enough.

 

Trunks continued to attack Vegeta in his rage, most of his blows missing, but a few connecting much harder than they otherwise might if he hadn't been so angry. Vegeta could see that his anger was making him a little sloppy; he hadn't learned to control his anger, to focus it and use it to enhance his fighting ability. He had the natural talent to be a true warrior, and he had obviously had a lot of training, but it wasn't Saiyan training. In time, if he learned to focus his anger, Trunks could be stronger than he had ever imagined. Unlike humans, Saiyans could use their anger for them in battle; it didn't always work against them. But they needed to learn how to channel it properly.

 

Vegeta blurred out of Trunks' line of vision and reappeared behind him. He grabbed both of the young man's arms, bending them behind him at an awkward angle. “So, brat,” he said almost conversationally, holding his son in a position from which he couldn't get free. “You have a lot of potential. Your anger is making you careless, leaving more openings for your opponents. You need to control that anger so it becomes an asset, not a liability.”

 

Vegeta let go of his son abruptly, and Trunks stumbled to regain his balance as he turned to face his father. Vegeta smirked at him, folding his arms across his chest and continued speaking. “You did not have a proper teacher. Though Roshi didn't do a bad job, you need a harder master. I won't be so easy on you.”

 

“Easy!” Trunks hissed, angry at the implied insult in Vegeta's words. He had never thought of Roshi's training as being particularly `easy'. He remembered Roshi and Bulma telling him about how he had made Krillin and Goku carry milk over miles of rough terrain and up mountains, and how he had made them farm with their bare hands and help construction crews. Very little of that had been available during his own training, but Roshi had managed to find other things for him to do. And when he had been able to move that giant boulder the way he had been told Goku had, that had been one of the proudest moments of his very young life. He had been only six at the time, but he remembered the way he had almost burst at the accomplishment, only to have that pride shot down as Roshi told him how his training was then only going to accelerate.

 

But then Trunks thought about it, and realized that by Saiyan standards his training probably had been easy. Bulma had told him a few things, indicating she hadn't known everything, but she had guessed a little about Vegeta's early life. She had told him that it had seemed to her Vegeta had suffered horribly at Frieza's hands, often taking beatings in the name of `training'. She didn't really know the truth of it, but had picked it up from little things Vegeta had let slip occasionally. Trunks hadn't pressed her hard, because the few memories of Vegeta that she had she had savored over, wanting to remember the good things about him and not the bad. Trunks wondered just how hard Saiyan training really was... and then he realized that in order to get his father's approval he would go through hell and back.

 

“All right, father,” he said quietly, his fists dropping to his sides and relaxing. “Then train me.”

 

Vegeta noticed the change in the young man's demeanor but was not sure what it meant. He inclined his head, and glanced over at Yamcha. “Teach your brother to fly. After that join us.” Vegeta looked back at his son. “I have some things I need to teach my son.”

 

Yamcha blinked, startled at Vegeta's abrupt command, and then nodded, automatically obeying the other man unquestioningly. “Come on, Ranma,” he told his brother as he led the other demi-Saiyans away from Trunks and Vegeta. Gohan shot the Saiyan Prince a longing look, then sighed and followed Yamcha as well. He had the feeling he wasn't welcome there just at that moment, even though he really wanted to train with Vegeta.

 

Trunks didn't even wonder at the immediate acquiescence of the others; he wasn't aware of the hostility that had existed between Vegeta and the others even just a few weeks ago. Somehow all of that had changed; something Trunks simply didn't have the background to be aware of.

 

When the others had moved some distance away, so Trunks and Vegeta could only barely hear the instructions the others were giving Ranma and Ryouga on the art of flying, Trunks studied his father under slightly lowered brows. He shifted slightly, preparing for whatever move Vegeta might make.

 

“Is that the only ki blast you know?” Vegeta asked suddenly. “Or did Roshi teach you anything else?”

 

Trunks blinked, surprised by his question into relaxing slightly. “That's the only one Kamesennin knew,” he replied softly. “But he taught me a few more.” At the look of surprise that flitted briefly across Vegeta's features, Trunks smiled slightly. “Kamesennin couldn't use the attacks himself, but he could explain them to me, and he taught me well enough how to use them. I learned Krillin's Kienzan, Tenshinhan's Solar Flare, and Piccolo's Makankosappo.”

 

He knew the last was one Vegeta had never learned, and although it took a while to power up, was well worth it in terms of power. “I even learned your Big Bang Attack. Would you like to see it?”

 

Vegeta barely managed to hide his surprise. “I would.” He folded his arms across his chest in his usual manner and watched Trunks expectantly.

 

Trunks nodded, then held out both hands in front of himself. It surprised Vegeta, because he had always done it one handed, but the cry Trunks made and the power that came from his hands was definitely the same thing. His son just focused the energy slightly differently for some reason.

 

The blast flew out from Trunks' hands and hit a nearby rock outcropping, disintegrating it completely. Trunks stood up, dropping his hands to his sides, as he looked back at his father, his expression hooded.

 

Vegeta cocked his head. It was his attack though there were some variations to it. The possible explanation was that it had been Kamesennin that had taught it to Trunks and not himself. “It's not quite what I do but the power is there.” He stepped away form his son, gathered his power and brought one arm up, thumb folded in and released the same blast, wiping out several trees in the process.

 

Vegeta frowned off into the distance, trying to pinpoint what his son had done. He lowered his arm then glanced back at his son. “Interesting,” he murmured. “Very interesting.”

 

Trunks watched his father, his face impassive. He had never actually seen any of the attacks in practice, other than the Kame Hame Ha that Kamesennin had taught him. All the old man had been able to do was give him a sense of the power to be released; the manner of focusing it was up to him. Kamesennin had even mentioned that Gohan had been good at taking attacks and modifying them to his own needs, although Roshi hadn't really understood it himself.

 

“Well, then teach me, father,” Trunks said quietly, “if I'm not doing it right.”

 

“It wasn't wrong either,” Vegeta said. “But this is how I do it.” He spent the next several hours explaining to Trunks the basics of his ki attacks. He showed him how to focus his anger to strengthen the attack and wasn't in the least bit surprised at how quickly the young man caught on. This was his son, Vegeta knew as he watched the young man practice the attack that he had taught him. Now he just needed to make him stronger.

 

Trunks watched avidly, and followed Vegeta's cues and instructions carefully. He didn't realize how much he wanted his father's approval, and unconsciously was working harder at everything than he would have for anyone else.

 

To be continued.....

 

~~~~~*~~~~~

 

And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness... Flying lessons. Has anyone ever imagined what it would be like if Ranma could fly?

 

Only twelve more chapters after this one. The end is in sight. ^_^