Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Butterflies & Hurricanes ❯ Chapter 2
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Froglady15 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Drama / Hentai / Romance / Suspense / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.16.2016 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 475 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Drama / Hentai / Romance / Suspense / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.16.2016 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 475 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just my Husband,
laptop, my 3 dogs and a very overactive imagination… Dragon
Ball Z and any songs mentioned in this fic DO NOT belong to me. I'm
just borrowing them for my own twisted amusement.
Butterflies and Hurricanes
AN:I hope this chapter isn’t confusing… Just still trying to set everything up before jumping into the plot. Right now, anything written in Bold Italics is a flash back. Not the bond.
Chapter 2
Bulma watched Trunks doze off once he was finished his evening meal. She smiled down at him as she gently rocked him in her arms. She knew Vegeta would be annoyed if he came home to see her coddling the infant, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t help it; in a matter of months he’d be huge! And who knew how long he would allow her to cuddle him? She knew Saiyans weren’t overly cuddly beings; being that her son was half-Saiyan she was expecting that within a few months Trunks wouldn’t want to be held or fussed over. So she would take all she could right now.
Chi-Chi and Kakarott’s son, Goten, was only five months older than Trunks and was already very independent. He did not like to be fussed over from what she had seen so far. Though Kakarott did not seem to mind if Chi-Chi was overly affectionate with the baby. Whereas Vegeta was constantly on her case about it. She didn’t really understand why? After all, he was her child too. If anything, she wished Vegeta would be more hands on with Trunks.
He would take him and hold him when she asked him to and while he never objected or complained, it was clear that he was extremely uncomfortable around him. It was like he was afraid he would break him if he held him wrong. Bulma just shook her head and kept her thoughts to herself. He had never managed to hurt her when they were together. Why would he think he would hurt his son? Especially when he constantly reminded her how said son was half-Saiyan, so he would be much stronger than the average human infant.
Bulma knew he loved Trunks. She noticed how he would look at him when he assumed no one was paying him any mind. She saw how he would keep close watch over him if she was cooking or went to the other room to do something. However whenever she did catch him, he would always act nonchalant as though he had barely noticed his son’s presence. It made her feel good to know that he did care and that he would watch Trunks if she needed him to without having to ask him to, but it bothered her that he did not interact more with him.
A few times she had come to Trunks room in the middle of the night to check on him only to find Vegeta standing over his crib, silently watching over him. He never said much; and to her everlasting annoyance, he would keep his thoughts and feelings to himself so she never knew what he was thinking or feeling. It bothered her.
One evening, she had left Trunks in the care of her parents while she went to take the dogs for a walk; they had been rather pent up in the months she and Vegeta had been away; and now that she had Trunks to occupy her time, she felt bad that she didn’t have as much time for them that she once did. So she made a point of letting them both off leash to play and run off some energy together at least once a day.
Flashback
Bulma saw him exiting the Gravity Chamber on her way out and had convinced him to come with her.
Vegeta took Aro’s leash and walked beside her on her right; she had Danger walking with her on her left, Aro walking with him on his right. He never fully understood the point in why it mattered what side the dog walked on? As long as it was not trying to walk him and was behaved and not a nuisance, it mattered little to him what side they walked on.
It was one of the reasons he favored walking Aro. Aro would walk on whatever side Vegeta happened to be holding the leash on. Danger, on the other hand nearly insisted on walking on a person’s left; not that it was a bad thing. Vegeta would only be put out to have to switch sides with him. He knew it was only because Bulma had taught him to always walk on a person’s left, but it was lost on him. So he preferred and usually took Aro.
He was jarred out of his trivial thoughts when Bulma leisurely laced her fingers with his. They walked together in companionable silence with the dogs.
They eventually reached the end of the long road they usually took before Bulma let his hand go and let Danger off his leash to run. Vegeta did the same with Aro and the two took off into the long grass, playfully nipping and growling and purposefully bounding into and bouncing off one another.
They had been gone for a few hours, enjoying the quiet solitude that surrounded them on the warm evening. No crying or diapers to be changed, it was a nice change.
Before Trunks’ birth, those months they had taken for themselves had been wonderful. They had basked in each other’s presence. No stress or strategizing, they had just taken time out for themselves and did not worry about anything until they knew she was getting close to delivery. It had been so easy when it had been just the two of them. Vegeta was like a completely different person when they were alone together. It was like he could let everything go and just be himself. She missed that. Now that they had returned to Callisto, he had once again gone back to his aloof self.
“So?” she sighed to him, taking his hand in hers again and leading him off to the right of the road where there was a huge trunk of a fallen tree laying there. They both sat down, watching the dogs play. To anyone else observing them, they might think the two dogs were having a fight to the death by the snarling and clashing of their bodies against one another, however, Bulma was not concerned. They would play hard and then crash for the evening.
“Hmmn?” Vegeta grunted in response.
“How’s training?”
“Fine.”
“Are you still liking that upgrade my father was able to make while we were gone?” she asked. Her father had stumbled upon her plans for an upgrade to increase the gravity pressure while they had been gone. Of course, being the scientist he was, he was unable to stay away from the prospect of a new project, no matter how little he knew on the subject. Dr. Briefs set himself to understanding the physics behind the miraculous Gravity Room and had been able to catch on to it within a few days while his daughter had been away and he had managed to make a few changes and modifications to it as well as upgrade the gravity simulator.
“It is good,” He replied with a nod. “What is it you wish to discuss, Woman?” he asked, turning to her with a raised eyebrow. He had felt her slight nervousness since they had left the house and knew something was troubling her, however, she was keeping herself somewhat closed off from him and so he was unable to pinpoint what the exact cause was for her unease.
“Nothing,” she lied with a weak shrug.
“Out with it.” he growled, not wanting to play the game of guessing why his mate was acting so strangely and hiding her thoughts from him. It had been this way, on and off, for a few weeks now.
Usually she was very open with him so he had ignored it, assuming that either she would get over whatever it was that was troubling her or eventually let him in on it, which she usually did. That she hadn’t over the past few weeks was starting to bother him. Was there something serious going on that she felt she could not approach him with? If that was the case, what could be so bad that she felt she could not come out and tell him about it? He had not felt that it was a case where she feared him or wanted to distance herself from him; their bond was strong enough that he was able to tell that it was not a case of her not wanting him around her as left over ramifications of what she had been through previously only a short few months ago.
There were still many nights she suffered from nightmares from what Dr. Gero and Frieza had done to her. They were occurring less and less, but it did not disturb him any less when they did happen. Through the bond, he was privy to many of them when he was asleep and his mind would get dragged into hers as a result of her distress.
The positive thing about it was that most of them were not factual events that had ever taken place. They were simply atrocities that Gero and Frieza had fabricated and had wanted her to believe. However, from time to time she did have nightmares of events and scenarios they had put in her mind that had actually taken place; much to his shame. He never liked confronting those nightmares with her. Not only would it force him to relive something he wished to never think of again, but he had to admit to doing these things as well. They were always things he would never have wanted her to know about.
Those nights were hard. More often than not when it was a case of her dreaming up something factual from his past, she would end up comforting him rather than him comforting her. He hated it; it made him feel weak and ashamed. She never made him feel that way; in fact she would get upset at him for feeling that way but it never made him feel any better.
He felt it was his job to protect her from everything and anything; himself included. When she would have a nightmare of something from his past and it upset her, he felt ashamed. However, he was always amazed how she never pushed judgement on him or asked him how he could have done such things. She simply accepted it. He would argue that he still should not have done things he had and she would argue that he was a soldier. He would counter that it was not an excuse, though it had been the excuse he had told himself countless times over the years to justify his actions in his mind after they had been done, however after the death of Frieza, he found that he could not use that thinking as an excuse anymore.
Her cold words to him after Frieza’s death when she could not remember their past life together had hit him hard. He did not resent her for them and he had known she was only going by the falsehoods she had been made to believe and he knew she did not feel that way anymore, but the truthfulness of her words still rang out to him whenever he was faced with having to admit to her some of the things they had put into her mind as real events:
"I saw video footage of you on several missions. I saw what you are capable of. How many innocent beings you've killed with your bare hands; you enjoyed it. You laughed maniacally and reveled in the carnage you created."
Vegeta hung his head, unsure of how to respond.
"You took delight in destroying those civilizations." She said. "How could I be with someone like that?"
"I was a soldier. I was following orders." He answered.
"Vegeta, there is a difference between following orders and making sport of it."
"I never tortured or maimed and left anyone behind to suffer. I simply went in and did whatever job I was sent to do."
"That may be true, but you still enjoyed the mayhem and destruction." She said accusingly. "From what I saw, there was no remorse. No mercy or pity. Just a ruthless murderer. No different from the beings who came down to my planet and slaughtered most of us. The rest of a very select few of us, like me, were taken."
She could not read the expression on his face. "Have you nothing to say? No explanation?"
"What is it you want me to say?" he asked almost bitterly. "I did do all of those things. I will not say I did not enjoy doing some of them- I am a warrior. I come from a warrior race, it is what we do. I am not proud of my actions but what is done is done. I was not myself. I used those missions as an outlet for releasing my pent up rage. That is all."
"That's no excuse." She said, shaking her head at him. "Did I know about all of that? Before, I mean. Did I know about how vicious you can be?"
Vegeta gritted his teeth. "You knew that I had done things that I was not proud of. You accepted that and never pushed for any further explanations or judged me for the things you did know."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I don't believe you. There is no way-"
"You asked me to tell you what had happened between us and I have been forthcoming and open with you," he interrupted her. "You and I shared a bond. A mental link. I knew your thoughts and feelings. And you knew mine. You overlooked my past and accepted me as I am."
-0-0-0-
Vegeta knew he could not change the things of his past and he had accepted that. However that did not mean he liked her knowing everything he had done. Though he knew she meant no harm, he didn’t like being fussed over; especially when it was him that was supposed to be comforting her.
They had successfully re-established their bond, but were still working through some of the issues of what had happened to Bulma. The ordeal had changed her. Not for better and not for worse, but it had changed her. He could not just brush off her questions about things anymore and leave it at that. She wanted to know specifics and reasons for things. Sometimes he didn’t mind it, and sometimes it drove him crazy and he wished she would just leave things alone.
He wondered now what it was that she was bothered over and hoped more than anything it wasn’t something else to do with his past that was bothering her; he did not feel like discussing it.
“Are you going to tell me what your issue has been these past few weeks or am I to continue ignoring it until you decide to fill me in?” he asked abruptly.
“I don’t have an issue,” she answered. “I just wish you’d spend more time interacting with Trunks is all. You don’t go out of your way to hold him or do much of anything unless I ask you to, which I do appreciate, but I just wish you would more go out of your way to bond with him instead of just taking him when I need your help.”
Vegeta frowned as she spoke. “You wish for me to dote on him and coddle him constantly as you do?”
“Well, maybe not constantly. I know that’s not who you are and I don’t expect that of you, but if you would just take the initiative once and a while, it would be nice. I sometimes feel like you don’t care about him and I know that isn’t true. I know you care,” she answered carefully, not wanting to offend him or pick a fight. She want even sure she knew what she wanted from him now that they were actually discussing it and she felt silly for even bringing it up. “I just want you to spend time with him. He’s a baby; he won’t be little and cute for long and I don’t want you to miss out on these early precious stages. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. That’s all.”
"Woman, my own father did not hold or coddle me or have any use for me at that age," he replied dryly. "I do not think he held me even once." He added quietly almost as an afterthought.
"Okay, that does not surprise me that he wouldn’t, but you aren’t your father. You always say how you want to be nothing like him where raising Trunks is concerned, yet here you are; you have every opportunity in the world to raise him differently from how you were raised and yet you seem to want to ignore him every chance you get and act as though he is nothing more than an inconvenience, and what annoys me is that you act this way and I know that’s not really how you feel."
"What is it you are expecting from me? He is a Saiyan. I do not want him growing up to be weak and pathetic."
"He won’t grow up to be weak and pathetic, Vegeta." she argued in annoyance. "He will grow up to be strong and have a good sense of self-esteem and values because he will know that he is loved by both of his parents."
Vegeta growled at her. "That is your department,be my responsibility to train the boy up.then,have nothing to offer him.He is your responsibility."
"That's so not true, Vegeta! You have lots to offer him-"
"Like what?" he cut her off. "Telling him stories about what it was like to spend my childhood living under theof the most notoriously evil tyrant this universe has ever
"What about before that?"
"There was nothing before that!" heirritably.
"Your mother-"
"There is nothing to discuss where she was concerned. She was weak and died. It destroyed my father and I was sent into slavery. Before that my father was not a tolerant man. It was my mother's job to raise me and my father's job to train me. By the time I was able to walk I began my training. The rule was keep up or prepare for a beating.is the only interaction I had with my father."
"That's nice, and that's what you want for Trunks? For him to grow up like you did with no fond memories of his father at all what so ever? I thought you wanted to be different?"
"It will be different!"
"How so? Because from the picture you are painting it doesn’t sound much different to me."
"I will start training himsoon as he is able to handle it. I will go easy on the boy until he is capable of defending himself. I will not simply beat him to a pulp the first time we train-"
"I certainly hope not!" she objected. "If that's the case, then I don’t care what you want, you will absolutely not be training him. Is that clear?"
Vegeta rolled his eyes at her over reaction. "He is half-Saiyan. He can handle almost anything, Woman; and that is not the point. I will not simply throw him in and expect him to be able to keep up with me as my father expected of me. Nor will he ever be sent away to be a slave to anyone. My son will be a slave to no one. He is my heir and will be treated as such and be expected to behave as such.
"Therefore, I cannot be doting on him and coddling him.will allow him only so much from you because I understand that is something of your culture but the time will come and you will need to let him be if he is to grow up to be strong. My people will not be accepting of him simply because of his paternity and his life will not be easy. The last thing he will need is to be mocked and ridiculed because his mother insists on unnecessarily coddling him and he being unable to defend himself from those determined to harm him. I will not allow him to be a sniveling brat and I will not let you encourage that. I will stand my position on this.
“I will watch over and protect the boy, I till teach him everything I know; it is all I know. Do not mistake my lack of affection I bestow on him as meaning that I do not care about him. He is my son; you are my mate.”
"I get all that, but he's just a baby." she sighed. Why wasn’t he getting her point on this? "I knowcan’t be overly affectionate with him if we make it back to Vegeta-sei, which by the way you still haven’t discussed what we are doing or of we are doing anything with that. Are we returning? And if so, When?"
"I will be leaving soon." he said, nodding affirmatively.
"You?"
"Yes. I will not be bringing you or Trunks along with me until I feel it is safe to do so."
"So what do we do in the meantime? You're just going to leave us here on our own?"
He shrugged. "You've resided on this planet for a long time on your own without me around. You have your parents and Kakarott's harpy and their brat. You will not be alone."
"I might as well be if you're ditching me to raise your son while you go home." she said accusingly.
Vegeta sighed heavily; he did not want to fight with her. “We will discuss this at a later time. I have not spoken to Kakarott yet about his plans.”
“I don’t know his plans either, but I’m almost certain that leaving Chi-Chi and Goten here alone is not in his plans.” She replied, still annoyed with him.
“Then that is his decision. Kakarott is a third class warrior. No one will give two shits that he has taken a non-Saiyan as a mate and now has a child with her,” he said in a tone more harshly than he had intended it to be. “I have told you this, you will not be accepted as my mate and Trunks will be seen as nothing more than an abomination. Bringing you both back with me is not smart. I do not know how I am going to keep you both safe.”
Bulma sighed deeply in annoyance. “I understand that, but I still don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” he sighed. “We will discuss it at a later time, alright? I am not leaving immediately. I need to figure out where Kakarott’s head is at and I need to determine what the state of this supposed war between my father and King Cold is at before I make any decisions on leaving.
“If the planet is in the state of war then I most certainly will not be bringing you and Trunks with me. If it is not and my father was lying in effort to make me return then I may bring you both back and at least only leave for a short time to feel things out and then return for you both. It will be temporary.”
Bulma nodded, understanding his reasons but still not liking the thought of him leaving her and Trunks behind. “I know you’ll do what you feel is best. I’ll try my best to support you on it even if it’s something I disagree with. They’re your people. You know them better than I do.”
“Hmmn.” He grunted, not wanting to comment or discuss things further. “I will put more of an effort in with Trunks.”
“Thank you,” she smiled, letting go of his hand and wrapping her arm around his waist and leaning into him, her head resting on his shoulder. It wasn’t very often she got him to compromise with her on anything. “That means a lot. Especially if you do leave without us. He’s still so young, he’ll forget you. I want him to know his father.”
“He will.”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” she whispered. “What if you go back and there is a war and you’re killed? What if you’re captured and are unable to return for us?”
“You are thinking too far ahead of yourself, Woman,” he growled. “I do not even know if there is a war. My father may have just said that to make me return in haste. And if there is a war, no one can match me. I will end them all.”
Bulma nodded, not wanting to get into that just right now either lest she voice her fears and have them come true. For now, she would enjoy what they had right now.
Present day…
That conversation had taken place a few weeks ago and she was just glad that he was still here, that they were together and Vegeta had kept to his word and had been putting more of an effort in with Trunks. He still wasn’t overly affectionate with him, but he had started exposing the boy to small amounts of Ki and made a point of being around more than he had been before she had spoken to him about her concerns.
She smiled to herself as she reflected on their conversation this evening and how he had finally agreed to bring them with him. She knew he was only worried for their safety, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that his going on his own was the worst plan and so she refused to back down on her insistence that he bring them with him.
Bulma put Trunks back into his crib for the night once he was sound asleep and headed back to her room. She changed into her nightgown and went to bed, hoping Vegeta would not stay out too late. She hated sleeping alone without him, but drifted off to sleep nonetheless.
-0-0-0-
Bulma awoke the next morning with the familiar feeling of his warm embrace. She smiled sleepily as she snuggled herself in closer to him, wondering how he hadn’t woken her up? Since Trunks’ birth she had become a very light sleeper.
Thinking of Trunks, she tried to sit up to go and check on him, only to be pulled back into his chest; his arms firmly wrapped around her waist like a vice so she could not escape.
“Stay,” he mumbled sleepily.
“I need to check on Trunks before he wakes up and then wakes up the whole block.”
“The boy is fast asleep; he will not wake for a little while yet.” He said, skimming his nose along the back of her neck, taking in her scent.
She turned around awkwardly in his arms so she was facing him. “When did you finally get in?”
“A few hours ago,” he answered. “I spoke with Kakarott and did a lot of thinking.”
“Oh?” she asked, her stomach dropping in dead, hoping that didn’t mean he had changed his mind on bringing her and Trunks with him.
“We will leave in the next few weeks,” he said. “You and Trunks and myself.”
Bulma sighed in relief.
“You thought I would change my mind?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. Don’t take that the wrong way. I know how seriously you take mine and Trunks safety and that you wanting to leave us here is just you trying to do that, I do get that; but I just don’t want you to leave without us. I have such a bad feeling.”
He was quiet for a few moments, studying her features as he thought of an appropriate response. “I still think that is the best option, but you are right that every time we go separate ways it does not go well. At least if you both are with me I can keep a close eye on you. As well, I am not ashamed of you or Trunks. I made a decision to take you as my mate and I do not regret that decision. You both will return either with me or I will not return at all.”
She smiled at him, resting her hand on his cheek. “You give up so much.”
He shrugged. “They will yield and learn to accept it or die. I will not return without you and I will not be taking some other Saiyan female as my mate to keep them happy.”
“I love you,” she whispered, stroking her thumb along his jawline. She didn’t like it when he talked like that; it made her feel guilty, but she admired him for sticking to his decision to stand by her. He could easily choose not to.
He leaned forward and kissed her. “If things go badly and it is too dangerous, I will send you away. Understood?”
She nodded. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure, Vegeta.”
“Hmmn.” He grunted, rolling on his back, pulling her close to him.
They lay there in silence for a long while enjoying the tranquility of being close to one another. “I will be going to visit the Namek later on today to see what he can find out about Vegeta-sei and King Cold. I need to gather as much information as I can before we leave. I will determine afterwards when it is that we will leave.”
“Alright,” Bulma said.
After a few more minutes of silence, both contemplating their decisions and potential ramifications, Vegeta tapped her on the shoulder. “The boy is about to wake.”
“Oh is he now?” she said leaning up on her elbows and looking down at him. “You can sense him?”
Vegeta nodded. “Go see to him before he wakes fully. He did, after all, inherit my appetite and your lungs.”
She smacked him playfully on his chest with a mock scowl. He quickly grabbed her offending hand and sat up, crushing her to him, kissing her deeply. She smiled against his mouth and kissed him back for a moment before pushing herself away from him to get up for the day. God knew, if she stayed even another moment longer she would not be able to leave him; she kind of missed the days where staying in bed all day together was an option.
As she skipped across the floor and began pulling on her pants, Trunks began to cry loudly.
She shot Vegeta a scowl, in memory of his comment just a few moments ago.
Vegeta shrugged, “He did inherit your obnoxiously loud voice, Woman. What is it you want me to do about it?”
She rolled her eyes at him, tossed a shirt at him in hopes of it landing on his head, which he caught easily and then sent her a smirk.
Bulma left their bedroom to tend to Trunks, who was crying his eyes out and flailing his arms and legs around in protest.
“Alright, alright; I hear you.” Bulma sighed, picking him up. “Let’s get you changed and then some breakfast, hmm? That’ll make everything all better.” She said, taking him to the changing table.
“I am going early to see the Namek,” Vegeta said from behind her.
She turned around briefly to see him standing in the middle of Trunks’ room watching her work. “You don’t want breakfast first? I won’t be long. I’m sure my mother is already up and preparing something.”
“No, I will not be gone long,” he said. “I must see to this now so that we can make a decision.”
“Alright,” she said, finishing dressing Trunks once she was done changing him. He was squirming already, anxious for his meal.
Vegeta didn’t say anything further as he turned to leave and headed outside. He contemplated bringing Kakarott with him since his decision potentially concerned him and his family as well, but decided against bringing him and set off in the air towards where the Namek resided.
It didn’t take him long to get there and to his surprise, Piccolo was already waiting for him outside his small modest home.
“Prince Vegeta,” he greeted. “I am glad you decided to stop in, I was going to make a point of calling on you in the next day or so.”
“Is that so?” Vegeta snorted in reply, crossing his arms arrogantly.
“Your father is looking for you and Bulma.” Piccolo stated.
-0-0-0-
Butterflies and Hurricanes
AN:I hope this chapter isn’t confusing… Just still trying to set everything up before jumping into the plot. Right now, anything written in Bold Italics is a flash back. Not the bond.
Chapter 2
Bulma watched Trunks doze off once he was finished his evening meal. She smiled down at him as she gently rocked him in her arms. She knew Vegeta would be annoyed if he came home to see her coddling the infant, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t help it; in a matter of months he’d be huge! And who knew how long he would allow her to cuddle him? She knew Saiyans weren’t overly cuddly beings; being that her son was half-Saiyan she was expecting that within a few months Trunks wouldn’t want to be held or fussed over. So she would take all she could right now.
Chi-Chi and Kakarott’s son, Goten, was only five months older than Trunks and was already very independent. He did not like to be fussed over from what she had seen so far. Though Kakarott did not seem to mind if Chi-Chi was overly affectionate with the baby. Whereas Vegeta was constantly on her case about it. She didn’t really understand why? After all, he was her child too. If anything, she wished Vegeta would be more hands on with Trunks.
He would take him and hold him when she asked him to and while he never objected or complained, it was clear that he was extremely uncomfortable around him. It was like he was afraid he would break him if he held him wrong. Bulma just shook her head and kept her thoughts to herself. He had never managed to hurt her when they were together. Why would he think he would hurt his son? Especially when he constantly reminded her how said son was half-Saiyan, so he would be much stronger than the average human infant.
Bulma knew he loved Trunks. She noticed how he would look at him when he assumed no one was paying him any mind. She saw how he would keep close watch over him if she was cooking or went to the other room to do something. However whenever she did catch him, he would always act nonchalant as though he had barely noticed his son’s presence. It made her feel good to know that he did care and that he would watch Trunks if she needed him to without having to ask him to, but it bothered her that he did not interact more with him.
A few times she had come to Trunks room in the middle of the night to check on him only to find Vegeta standing over his crib, silently watching over him. He never said much; and to her everlasting annoyance, he would keep his thoughts and feelings to himself so she never knew what he was thinking or feeling. It bothered her.
One evening, she had left Trunks in the care of her parents while she went to take the dogs for a walk; they had been rather pent up in the months she and Vegeta had been away; and now that she had Trunks to occupy her time, she felt bad that she didn’t have as much time for them that she once did. So she made a point of letting them both off leash to play and run off some energy together at least once a day.
Flashback
Bulma saw him exiting the Gravity Chamber on her way out and had convinced him to come with her.
Vegeta took Aro’s leash and walked beside her on her right; she had Danger walking with her on her left, Aro walking with him on his right. He never fully understood the point in why it mattered what side the dog walked on? As long as it was not trying to walk him and was behaved and not a nuisance, it mattered little to him what side they walked on.
It was one of the reasons he favored walking Aro. Aro would walk on whatever side Vegeta happened to be holding the leash on. Danger, on the other hand nearly insisted on walking on a person’s left; not that it was a bad thing. Vegeta would only be put out to have to switch sides with him. He knew it was only because Bulma had taught him to always walk on a person’s left, but it was lost on him. So he preferred and usually took Aro.
He was jarred out of his trivial thoughts when Bulma leisurely laced her fingers with his. They walked together in companionable silence with the dogs.
They eventually reached the end of the long road they usually took before Bulma let his hand go and let Danger off his leash to run. Vegeta did the same with Aro and the two took off into the long grass, playfully nipping and growling and purposefully bounding into and bouncing off one another.
They had been gone for a few hours, enjoying the quiet solitude that surrounded them on the warm evening. No crying or diapers to be changed, it was a nice change.
Before Trunks’ birth, those months they had taken for themselves had been wonderful. They had basked in each other’s presence. No stress or strategizing, they had just taken time out for themselves and did not worry about anything until they knew she was getting close to delivery. It had been so easy when it had been just the two of them. Vegeta was like a completely different person when they were alone together. It was like he could let everything go and just be himself. She missed that. Now that they had returned to Callisto, he had once again gone back to his aloof self.
“So?” she sighed to him, taking his hand in hers again and leading him off to the right of the road where there was a huge trunk of a fallen tree laying there. They both sat down, watching the dogs play. To anyone else observing them, they might think the two dogs were having a fight to the death by the snarling and clashing of their bodies against one another, however, Bulma was not concerned. They would play hard and then crash for the evening.
“Hmmn?” Vegeta grunted in response.
“How’s training?”
“Fine.”
“Are you still liking that upgrade my father was able to make while we were gone?” she asked. Her father had stumbled upon her plans for an upgrade to increase the gravity pressure while they had been gone. Of course, being the scientist he was, he was unable to stay away from the prospect of a new project, no matter how little he knew on the subject. Dr. Briefs set himself to understanding the physics behind the miraculous Gravity Room and had been able to catch on to it within a few days while his daughter had been away and he had managed to make a few changes and modifications to it as well as upgrade the gravity simulator.
“It is good,” He replied with a nod. “What is it you wish to discuss, Woman?” he asked, turning to her with a raised eyebrow. He had felt her slight nervousness since they had left the house and knew something was troubling her, however, she was keeping herself somewhat closed off from him and so he was unable to pinpoint what the exact cause was for her unease.
“Nothing,” she lied with a weak shrug.
“Out with it.” he growled, not wanting to play the game of guessing why his mate was acting so strangely and hiding her thoughts from him. It had been this way, on and off, for a few weeks now.
Usually she was very open with him so he had ignored it, assuming that either she would get over whatever it was that was troubling her or eventually let him in on it, which she usually did. That she hadn’t over the past few weeks was starting to bother him. Was there something serious going on that she felt she could not approach him with? If that was the case, what could be so bad that she felt she could not come out and tell him about it? He had not felt that it was a case where she feared him or wanted to distance herself from him; their bond was strong enough that he was able to tell that it was not a case of her not wanting him around her as left over ramifications of what she had been through previously only a short few months ago.
There were still many nights she suffered from nightmares from what Dr. Gero and Frieza had done to her. They were occurring less and less, but it did not disturb him any less when they did happen. Through the bond, he was privy to many of them when he was asleep and his mind would get dragged into hers as a result of her distress.
The positive thing about it was that most of them were not factual events that had ever taken place. They were simply atrocities that Gero and Frieza had fabricated and had wanted her to believe. However, from time to time she did have nightmares of events and scenarios they had put in her mind that had actually taken place; much to his shame. He never liked confronting those nightmares with her. Not only would it force him to relive something he wished to never think of again, but he had to admit to doing these things as well. They were always things he would never have wanted her to know about.
Those nights were hard. More often than not when it was a case of her dreaming up something factual from his past, she would end up comforting him rather than him comforting her. He hated it; it made him feel weak and ashamed. She never made him feel that way; in fact she would get upset at him for feeling that way but it never made him feel any better.
He felt it was his job to protect her from everything and anything; himself included. When she would have a nightmare of something from his past and it upset her, he felt ashamed. However, he was always amazed how she never pushed judgement on him or asked him how he could have done such things. She simply accepted it. He would argue that he still should not have done things he had and she would argue that he was a soldier. He would counter that it was not an excuse, though it had been the excuse he had told himself countless times over the years to justify his actions in his mind after they had been done, however after the death of Frieza, he found that he could not use that thinking as an excuse anymore.
Her cold words to him after Frieza’s death when she could not remember their past life together had hit him hard. He did not resent her for them and he had known she was only going by the falsehoods she had been made to believe and he knew she did not feel that way anymore, but the truthfulness of her words still rang out to him whenever he was faced with having to admit to her some of the things they had put into her mind as real events:
"I saw video footage of you on several missions. I saw what you are capable of. How many innocent beings you've killed with your bare hands; you enjoyed it. You laughed maniacally and reveled in the carnage you created."
Vegeta hung his head, unsure of how to respond.
"You took delight in destroying those civilizations." She said. "How could I be with someone like that?"
"I was a soldier. I was following orders." He answered.
"Vegeta, there is a difference between following orders and making sport of it."
"I never tortured or maimed and left anyone behind to suffer. I simply went in and did whatever job I was sent to do."
"That may be true, but you still enjoyed the mayhem and destruction." She said accusingly. "From what I saw, there was no remorse. No mercy or pity. Just a ruthless murderer. No different from the beings who came down to my planet and slaughtered most of us. The rest of a very select few of us, like me, were taken."
She could not read the expression on his face. "Have you nothing to say? No explanation?"
"What is it you want me to say?" he asked almost bitterly. "I did do all of those things. I will not say I did not enjoy doing some of them- I am a warrior. I come from a warrior race, it is what we do. I am not proud of my actions but what is done is done. I was not myself. I used those missions as an outlet for releasing my pent up rage. That is all."
"That's no excuse." She said, shaking her head at him. "Did I know about all of that? Before, I mean. Did I know about how vicious you can be?"
Vegeta gritted his teeth. "You knew that I had done things that I was not proud of. You accepted that and never pushed for any further explanations or judged me for the things you did know."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I don't believe you. There is no way-"
"You asked me to tell you what had happened between us and I have been forthcoming and open with you," he interrupted her. "You and I shared a bond. A mental link. I knew your thoughts and feelings. And you knew mine. You overlooked my past and accepted me as I am."
-0-0-0-
Vegeta knew he could not change the things of his past and he had accepted that. However that did not mean he liked her knowing everything he had done. Though he knew she meant no harm, he didn’t like being fussed over; especially when it was him that was supposed to be comforting her.
They had successfully re-established their bond, but were still working through some of the issues of what had happened to Bulma. The ordeal had changed her. Not for better and not for worse, but it had changed her. He could not just brush off her questions about things anymore and leave it at that. She wanted to know specifics and reasons for things. Sometimes he didn’t mind it, and sometimes it drove him crazy and he wished she would just leave things alone.
He wondered now what it was that she was bothered over and hoped more than anything it wasn’t something else to do with his past that was bothering her; he did not feel like discussing it.
“Are you going to tell me what your issue has been these past few weeks or am I to continue ignoring it until you decide to fill me in?” he asked abruptly.
“I don’t have an issue,” she answered. “I just wish you’d spend more time interacting with Trunks is all. You don’t go out of your way to hold him or do much of anything unless I ask you to, which I do appreciate, but I just wish you would more go out of your way to bond with him instead of just taking him when I need your help.”
Vegeta frowned as she spoke. “You wish for me to dote on him and coddle him constantly as you do?”
“Well, maybe not constantly. I know that’s not who you are and I don’t expect that of you, but if you would just take the initiative once and a while, it would be nice. I sometimes feel like you don’t care about him and I know that isn’t true. I know you care,” she answered carefully, not wanting to offend him or pick a fight. She want even sure she knew what she wanted from him now that they were actually discussing it and she felt silly for even bringing it up. “I just want you to spend time with him. He’s a baby; he won’t be little and cute for long and I don’t want you to miss out on these early precious stages. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. That’s all.”
"Woman, my own father did not hold or coddle me or have any use for me at that age," he replied dryly. "I do not think he held me even once." He added quietly almost as an afterthought.
"Okay, that does not surprise me that he wouldn’t, but you aren’t your father. You always say how you want to be nothing like him where raising Trunks is concerned, yet here you are; you have every opportunity in the world to raise him differently from how you were raised and yet you seem to want to ignore him every chance you get and act as though he is nothing more than an inconvenience, and what annoys me is that you act this way and I know that’s not really how you feel."
"What is it you are expecting from me? He is a Saiyan. I do not want him growing up to be weak and pathetic."
"He won’t grow up to be weak and pathetic, Vegeta." she argued in annoyance. "He will grow up to be strong and have a good sense of self-esteem and values because he will know that he is loved by both of his parents."
Vegeta growled at her. "That is your department,be my responsibility to train the boy up.then,have nothing to offer him.He is your responsibility."
"That's so not true, Vegeta! You have lots to offer him-"
"Like what?" he cut her off. "Telling him stories about what it was like to spend my childhood living under theof the most notoriously evil tyrant this universe has ever
"What about before that?"
"There was nothing before that!" heirritably.
"Your mother-"
"There is nothing to discuss where she was concerned. She was weak and died. It destroyed my father and I was sent into slavery. Before that my father was not a tolerant man. It was my mother's job to raise me and my father's job to train me. By the time I was able to walk I began my training. The rule was keep up or prepare for a beating.is the only interaction I had with my father."
"That's nice, and that's what you want for Trunks? For him to grow up like you did with no fond memories of his father at all what so ever? I thought you wanted to be different?"
"It will be different!"
"How so? Because from the picture you are painting it doesn’t sound much different to me."
"I will start training himsoon as he is able to handle it. I will go easy on the boy until he is capable of defending himself. I will not simply beat him to a pulp the first time we train-"
"I certainly hope not!" she objected. "If that's the case, then I don’t care what you want, you will absolutely not be training him. Is that clear?"
Vegeta rolled his eyes at her over reaction. "He is half-Saiyan. He can handle almost anything, Woman; and that is not the point. I will not simply throw him in and expect him to be able to keep up with me as my father expected of me. Nor will he ever be sent away to be a slave to anyone. My son will be a slave to no one. He is my heir and will be treated as such and be expected to behave as such.
"Therefore, I cannot be doting on him and coddling him.will allow him only so much from you because I understand that is something of your culture but the time will come and you will need to let him be if he is to grow up to be strong. My people will not be accepting of him simply because of his paternity and his life will not be easy. The last thing he will need is to be mocked and ridiculed because his mother insists on unnecessarily coddling him and he being unable to defend himself from those determined to harm him. I will not allow him to be a sniveling brat and I will not let you encourage that. I will stand my position on this.
“I will watch over and protect the boy, I till teach him everything I know; it is all I know. Do not mistake my lack of affection I bestow on him as meaning that I do not care about him. He is my son; you are my mate.”
"I get all that, but he's just a baby." she sighed. Why wasn’t he getting her point on this? "I knowcan’t be overly affectionate with him if we make it back to Vegeta-sei, which by the way you still haven’t discussed what we are doing or of we are doing anything with that. Are we returning? And if so, When?"
"I will be leaving soon." he said, nodding affirmatively.
"You?"
"Yes. I will not be bringing you or Trunks along with me until I feel it is safe to do so."
"So what do we do in the meantime? You're just going to leave us here on our own?"
He shrugged. "You've resided on this planet for a long time on your own without me around. You have your parents and Kakarott's harpy and their brat. You will not be alone."
"I might as well be if you're ditching me to raise your son while you go home." she said accusingly.
Vegeta sighed heavily; he did not want to fight with her. “We will discuss this at a later time. I have not spoken to Kakarott yet about his plans.”
“I don’t know his plans either, but I’m almost certain that leaving Chi-Chi and Goten here alone is not in his plans.” She replied, still annoyed with him.
“Then that is his decision. Kakarott is a third class warrior. No one will give two shits that he has taken a non-Saiyan as a mate and now has a child with her,” he said in a tone more harshly than he had intended it to be. “I have told you this, you will not be accepted as my mate and Trunks will be seen as nothing more than an abomination. Bringing you both back with me is not smart. I do not know how I am going to keep you both safe.”
Bulma sighed deeply in annoyance. “I understand that, but I still don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” he sighed. “We will discuss it at a later time, alright? I am not leaving immediately. I need to figure out where Kakarott’s head is at and I need to determine what the state of this supposed war between my father and King Cold is at before I make any decisions on leaving.
“If the planet is in the state of war then I most certainly will not be bringing you and Trunks with me. If it is not and my father was lying in effort to make me return then I may bring you both back and at least only leave for a short time to feel things out and then return for you both. It will be temporary.”
Bulma nodded, understanding his reasons but still not liking the thought of him leaving her and Trunks behind. “I know you’ll do what you feel is best. I’ll try my best to support you on it even if it’s something I disagree with. They’re your people. You know them better than I do.”
“Hmmn.” He grunted, not wanting to comment or discuss things further. “I will put more of an effort in with Trunks.”
“Thank you,” she smiled, letting go of his hand and wrapping her arm around his waist and leaning into him, her head resting on his shoulder. It wasn’t very often she got him to compromise with her on anything. “That means a lot. Especially if you do leave without us. He’s still so young, he’ll forget you. I want him to know his father.”
“He will.”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” she whispered. “What if you go back and there is a war and you’re killed? What if you’re captured and are unable to return for us?”
“You are thinking too far ahead of yourself, Woman,” he growled. “I do not even know if there is a war. My father may have just said that to make me return in haste. And if there is a war, no one can match me. I will end them all.”
Bulma nodded, not wanting to get into that just right now either lest she voice her fears and have them come true. For now, she would enjoy what they had right now.
Present day…
That conversation had taken place a few weeks ago and she was just glad that he was still here, that they were together and Vegeta had kept to his word and had been putting more of an effort in with Trunks. He still wasn’t overly affectionate with him, but he had started exposing the boy to small amounts of Ki and made a point of being around more than he had been before she had spoken to him about her concerns.
She smiled to herself as she reflected on their conversation this evening and how he had finally agreed to bring them with him. She knew he was only worried for their safety, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that his going on his own was the worst plan and so she refused to back down on her insistence that he bring them with him.
Bulma put Trunks back into his crib for the night once he was sound asleep and headed back to her room. She changed into her nightgown and went to bed, hoping Vegeta would not stay out too late. She hated sleeping alone without him, but drifted off to sleep nonetheless.
-0-0-0-
Bulma awoke the next morning with the familiar feeling of his warm embrace. She smiled sleepily as she snuggled herself in closer to him, wondering how he hadn’t woken her up? Since Trunks’ birth she had become a very light sleeper.
Thinking of Trunks, she tried to sit up to go and check on him, only to be pulled back into his chest; his arms firmly wrapped around her waist like a vice so she could not escape.
“Stay,” he mumbled sleepily.
“I need to check on Trunks before he wakes up and then wakes up the whole block.”
“The boy is fast asleep; he will not wake for a little while yet.” He said, skimming his nose along the back of her neck, taking in her scent.
She turned around awkwardly in his arms so she was facing him. “When did you finally get in?”
“A few hours ago,” he answered. “I spoke with Kakarott and did a lot of thinking.”
“Oh?” she asked, her stomach dropping in dead, hoping that didn’t mean he had changed his mind on bringing her and Trunks with him.
“We will leave in the next few weeks,” he said. “You and Trunks and myself.”
Bulma sighed in relief.
“You thought I would change my mind?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. Don’t take that the wrong way. I know how seriously you take mine and Trunks safety and that you wanting to leave us here is just you trying to do that, I do get that; but I just don’t want you to leave without us. I have such a bad feeling.”
He was quiet for a few moments, studying her features as he thought of an appropriate response. “I still think that is the best option, but you are right that every time we go separate ways it does not go well. At least if you both are with me I can keep a close eye on you. As well, I am not ashamed of you or Trunks. I made a decision to take you as my mate and I do not regret that decision. You both will return either with me or I will not return at all.”
She smiled at him, resting her hand on his cheek. “You give up so much.”
He shrugged. “They will yield and learn to accept it or die. I will not return without you and I will not be taking some other Saiyan female as my mate to keep them happy.”
“I love you,” she whispered, stroking her thumb along his jawline. She didn’t like it when he talked like that; it made her feel guilty, but she admired him for sticking to his decision to stand by her. He could easily choose not to.
He leaned forward and kissed her. “If things go badly and it is too dangerous, I will send you away. Understood?”
She nodded. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure, Vegeta.”
“Hmmn.” He grunted, rolling on his back, pulling her close to him.
They lay there in silence for a long while enjoying the tranquility of being close to one another. “I will be going to visit the Namek later on today to see what he can find out about Vegeta-sei and King Cold. I need to gather as much information as I can before we leave. I will determine afterwards when it is that we will leave.”
“Alright,” Bulma said.
After a few more minutes of silence, both contemplating their decisions and potential ramifications, Vegeta tapped her on the shoulder. “The boy is about to wake.”
“Oh is he now?” she said leaning up on her elbows and looking down at him. “You can sense him?”
Vegeta nodded. “Go see to him before he wakes fully. He did, after all, inherit my appetite and your lungs.”
She smacked him playfully on his chest with a mock scowl. He quickly grabbed her offending hand and sat up, crushing her to him, kissing her deeply. She smiled against his mouth and kissed him back for a moment before pushing herself away from him to get up for the day. God knew, if she stayed even another moment longer she would not be able to leave him; she kind of missed the days where staying in bed all day together was an option.
As she skipped across the floor and began pulling on her pants, Trunks began to cry loudly.
She shot Vegeta a scowl, in memory of his comment just a few moments ago.
Vegeta shrugged, “He did inherit your obnoxiously loud voice, Woman. What is it you want me to do about it?”
She rolled her eyes at him, tossed a shirt at him in hopes of it landing on his head, which he caught easily and then sent her a smirk.
Bulma left their bedroom to tend to Trunks, who was crying his eyes out and flailing his arms and legs around in protest.
“Alright, alright; I hear you.” Bulma sighed, picking him up. “Let’s get you changed and then some breakfast, hmm? That’ll make everything all better.” She said, taking him to the changing table.
“I am going early to see the Namek,” Vegeta said from behind her.
She turned around briefly to see him standing in the middle of Trunks’ room watching her work. “You don’t want breakfast first? I won’t be long. I’m sure my mother is already up and preparing something.”
“No, I will not be gone long,” he said. “I must see to this now so that we can make a decision.”
“Alright,” she said, finishing dressing Trunks once she was done changing him. He was squirming already, anxious for his meal.
Vegeta didn’t say anything further as he turned to leave and headed outside. He contemplated bringing Kakarott with him since his decision potentially concerned him and his family as well, but decided against bringing him and set off in the air towards where the Namek resided.
It didn’t take him long to get there and to his surprise, Piccolo was already waiting for him outside his small modest home.
“Prince Vegeta,” he greeted. “I am glad you decided to stop in, I was going to make a point of calling on you in the next day or so.”
“Is that so?” Vegeta snorted in reply, crossing his arms arrogantly.
“Your father is looking for you and Bulma.” Piccolo stated.
-0-0-0-