Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Branded ❯ Chapter 1

Trunks' eyes followed his mother around the kitchen over the enormous bowl of cereal he was devouring. Bulma yawned as she poured herself a cup of coffee, then sank into the seat opposite her son, propping her chin in her hand.

"Did Dad have another nightmare last night?" Trunks asked. Bulma's chin slipped from her hand in surprise and she bumped her cup, splashing drops of coffee onto the tabletop.

"How did you know about that?" she demanded. She had deliberately kept Vegeta's problem a secret from his son, knowing how embarrassed the proud Saiyan Prince would be.

"Nightmares are for the weak!" Vegeta had told her the first time she had expressed concern about his dreams. Even after accidentally hurting her in his sleep, he refused to admit to having them.

"I heard you telling Grandpa about it months ago," Trunks admitted.

Bulma lowered her head and stared down into her coffee. She was ashamed to learn that conversation had been overheard by anyone, especially Trunks.

It had been only the third time Bulma had been awaked by Vegeta's thrashing about in the middle of the night. The first two had startled her so badly that she had left the room completely and slept on the couch in the living room. That time, she had tried to wake him from his torture. Still asleep, he had reached out and snapped her forearm like a twig.

The next morning, he had no recollection of harming her during the night. Although concerned that she was in pain and admitting that it was possible that he could be partially responsible, he denied having nightmares. A heated argument followed and Vegeta had returned to his former bedroom for nearly three weeks.

They had maintained separate rooms during the beginning of their relationship, only coming together for a few passionate hours at a time. Then, after the defeat of the Androids, Vegeta had begun to remain with Bulma now and then for the entire night, yet still desired the privacy of his own room.

That all changed after Majin Buu, when Vegeta finally realized the importance of his family. Having lost both Bulma and Trunks to that monster, he understood and recognized the feeling of love. The pain he felt when they were dead, then the relief when they were wished back, were the strongest emotions he had ever felt. Even his hatred for the long-dead Frieza paled in comparison to this feeling he had for his family. After that, he had abandoned his own bedroom and moved in with Bulma.

Bulma was the happiest she had ever been. Vegeta was tender, yet passionate, in their lovemaking and he held Bulma close all night just as she always wanted him to do. Everything was perfect; until the nightmares started a couple months later.

After the arm incident, she had confided in her father while he tinkered with a project in his workroom. She admitted her fears of Vegeta's nightmares and worry that he could become even more violent in his sleep. He could destroy the entire continent if that was what his dreams led him to do. He certainly had the power to do it. That's when she acquired the tranquilizer gun.

"You shouldn't have been eavesdropping, Trunks," Bulma admonished, yet her voice lacked her usual severity.

"I didn't mean to," he said. "I was testing some wires for Grandpa inside the pod. Grandpa probably forgot I was in there."

"That certainly sounds like your Grandfather," Bulma sighed. "Well, since you already know, yes, he did have another nightmare."

Trunks fiddled with his spoon nervously as he asked, "Did you have to ... you know ... have to ..."

"If you're asking if I had to use the tranquilizer on him," Bulma interrupted, saving him from having to say the words, "the answer is no. I don't really think I'll have to anyway. They don't seem to be changing at all. It's just more of an annoyance, really."

"Do you think they're about Buu? Or Cell? Or the Androids? Or Frieza?" Trunks counted his father's enemies off on his fingers.

"I have no idea," Bulma sighed again. "But it has to be the same dream, because they all play out the same way. For all I know they could be something that happened when he was a baby."

Trunks looked as if he were about to ask something else, but the sound of the back door slamming startled them both. Vegeta strode into the kitchen, his training clothes already beginning to show sweat marks from his morning workout routine.

"What is taking you so long?" he demanded of Trunks. "I've been in the gravity chamber for an hour already!"

"Sorry, Dad," Trunks said, downing his entire glass of juice in one huge gulp. "I overslept."

"Saiyan warriors don't oversleep," Vegeta remarked. He then turned to Bulma and added, "Don't wait dinner for us."

Trunks groaned, but obediently followed his father out to the gravitational training room. He knew he was in for the hardest training torture of his life!