Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ Ch 2 ( Chapter 2 )

The Bite

By Elbereth in April

A/N: I shall continue calling the present time line Vegeta by the name of Hito (Adult) as the alternate Vegeta goes by the name of Vegeta . They have a little discussion about names in this chapter; the other characters will call them Vegeta-san and Vegeta-chan. Got all that? Don't worry, you'll remember.

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Chapter Two

The two Vegeta's, Bulma, and Trunks sat around the table for lunch. Bulma and Trunks attempted to make conversation. "So, Chibi Vegeta. . ."

"What? Chibi?" Vegeta protested immediately.

"That's what they called me when my future self was here," Trunks explained.

"So this is like a normal occurrence for you?"

"No," the others replied at once.

"Anyway, I don't want to be called Chibi."

"Well how can we tell you two apart then?"

Vegeta smirked. "Why don't you call him Father?"

Bulma laughed and Trunks choked slightly. "Why don't you call me Lord Vegeta?" Hito Vegeta countered.

"Then I'll be Prince Vegeta."

"We are *not* calling you Lord Vegeta. You're arrogant enough as it is," Bulma told him.

"Onna. . ."

"What about Bulma's Vegeta?"

The two Vegeta's glared at each other.

"We could call you Kawaii Vegeta," Bulma said to the teenager sweetly.

"Why don't you just call them Vegeta-san and Vegeta-chan?" Trunks suggested, grinning.

"Fine," said Hito.

"Oh, whatever," Vegeta murmured grumpily.

"More pot roast?" Bulma offered.

"So tell us about your timeline," Trunks said.

"The King gave me as a hostage to Frieza when I was 5," Vegeta told them reluctantly. "Vegeta-sei blew up when I was 7. The only Saiyans left were Radditz, Kakkarot, Nappa, Nasu, and me. We stayed on under Frieza. No other choice. Kakkarot belongs to Frieza. He is an enemy to the Saiyan race. Nappa tried to join him so I killed him. That left me and Radditz."

"What happened to Nasu?"

Vegeta looked down. "Frieza took her for breeding stock last year. I don't know if she's still alive."

"Did you ever meet a Nasu?" Bulma asked Hito. He shook his head.

"A lot of variation," Bulma commented interestedly. "I wonder what made the difference."

"Did Kakkarot ever live on Earth?" Trunks asked.

"Not that I know of."

"Apple cobbler?"

"Well--what about here? What happened here?"

Hito remained silent until Bulma kicked him under the table. He sighed. "Hostage at 5. Frieza destroyed our planet shortly after. Remained. . ."

Vegeta stood up. "It *was* Frieza! I knew it was!" His tail whipped back and forth and his eyes looked a little wild.

The others regarded him in surprise, then understanding. "He was afraid of us. Of our growing strength. He was afraid of the legendary Super Saiyan," Hito told him.

Vegeta stared at him, breathing a little hard. "I suspected. . . I knew that meteorite story couldn't be true. . . I didn't want to believe it."

"Believe it, brat."

Vegeta took in deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He sat down, deliberately closing himself off and putting on an expressionless face. He felt safer that way.

Hito continued talking to take the attention away from the teenager. "Remained in Frieza's employ for 20 more years. Radditz went to Earth to see whatever had happened to his brother Kakkarot, who was sent to purge the planet as an infant. Kakkarot had apparently fallen and knocked his head in as soon as he got here, because he lost his memory. The baka. He was adopted by some old man and raised as a human. When Radditz came to tell him of his true heritage, he decided to protect Earth and renounce his Saiyan side. The jerk. Anyway, Piccolo killed Radditz and Kakkarot, too, in order to do it. Then Kakkarot was wished back to life. . ."

"Excuse me?" His mind was reeling from one shock to another.

"I'll explain all that. He came back to life to fight Nappa and me. I came to Earth to get the dragonballs Piccolo told Radditz about. That's how Kakkarot came back to life. You collect these seven magic balls and a dragon appears and grants you a wish. Seriously."

"What would you wish for?" Bulma interrupted to ask.

"Immortality," Vegeta answered immediately.

"Huh. Him, too."

"It's the surest way to be guaranteed invincibility."

"*Anyway,* it came out that it was actually a Namekian who created the balls, and when Nappa killed Piccolo, the dragonballs disappeared. So we all went to Namek, but Frieza followed us. It was a race. Basically, there was a big fight over their dragonballs, Frieza was killed, and we all ended up back on Earth."

"Nappa?"

"I killed him for incompetence."

"And you decided to stay on Earth."

"It has the best sparring partners."

"Did you get to make your wish? I don't think you're immortal."

"No," Hito growled. "I was interrupted."

< "But you got me instead," > Bulma purred.

Hito blinked and then smirked at her. Vegeta blushed and looked at Trunks.

"I'll let you settle in today," Hito said after lunch. "Tomorrow we start training. Trunks! Show him around." Then he disappeared off to his gravity room.

Trunks looked at Vegeta. "Well, let me show you the house."

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Vegeta followed Trunks around. After he'd had the grand tour, Bulma showed him which room would be his and gave him some of Trunks and Vegeta's clothes to wear. Then the boys wandered around outside.

"So. What do you think of your father?" Vegeta asked him as they walked.

Trunks looked at him. "My father is the greatest man who ever lived. And he's a Prince! And he's strong and brave."

Vegeta stopped walking and stared at him.

"Wanna spar?" Trunks grinned.

Vegeta's eyes lit up. "Of course."

They started at it. It wasn't as much fun for Trunks, who had to stay at a much lower power level than normal, but Vegeta had a great time. He loved a challenging fight.

After Trunks knocked him down hard enough that he could barely get back up, they decided to call it quits. They sat on the grass for awhile, breathing hard.

"What? That's the look that means you want to ask me something serious."

Vegeta frowned. "It is?"

"Yeah." Trunks waited patiently.

"I'm not the one who killed Frieza. Am I?"

Trunks sighed. "No. It was Goku--Kakkarot."

Vegeta lay down on his back and looked up at the sky. It was a pale, pale blue with clouds that looked like they'd been painted on and then smeared across the sky.

`There's always somebody stronger. I'm doomed to eternal failure, I guess. I never get my revenge--to restore my pride. For Vegeta-sei. . . no, don't think about that. But--my son thinks I'm the greatest guy in the world.'

Vegeta looked at Trunks and gave him a half-smirk, half-smile. "You ever *tell* your dad how great he is?"

Trunks looked down, suddenly bashful. "No."

"You should. You might be surprised."

"OK." Trunks grinned. Having this other Vegeta around could be very informative about his dad. "Let's go inside and see if we can get a snack."

"All right." Vegeta stood up and suppressed a groan. Boy did he ache! "I think I may need to get cleaned up first." He looked down at his torn and bloody clothes.

"Yeah, me too. We don't want Mom to throw a fit."

They went in.

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Vegeta was walking down the hall to join Trunks in the kitchen after a quick shower and change of clothes. He stopped when he heard two people talking, mind to mind.

< "Trunks? Is he around?" >

< "Hey, Goten. He's gonna be staying with us." >

< "Do you think he'll mind me being here? He didn't seem to like me." >

< "That was all just. . . a misunderstanding. I guess the Kakkarot he knows isn't a very nice guy. He never lost his memory or came to Earth. I guess his Saiyan side was always in control of him. Your dad as a Saiyan must be evil." >

Goten sounded confused. < "I just can't imagine Dad as evil." >

< "No. Me either." >

< "So. . . is it OK if I hang out awhile then? There's nothing to do at my house." >

< "Well, I guess so. Unless he seems too upset by you. But I suppose he needs to get used to you." >

The voices stopped. They'd reverted to normal, spoken conversation.

OK. Trunks wasn't afraid of Goten. He didn't sound evil. And Vegeta said he was safe. No big deal then, right? Vegeta continued walking. He entered the kitchen, braced for the sight of a Kakkarot-clone.

It still gave him an eerie twinge to see him. He rubbed the bite under his shirt absently.

"Hi!" Goten grinned widely and rubbed the back of his head. "Hope it's OK I'm here! I'm Goten--remember me? Pleased to meet'cha."

Vegeta appraised him carefully from across the room. He didn't feel dangerous but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Vegeta crossed his arms and gave him a careful nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey, grandma's home--she's made cookies!" Trunks announced, relieved that Vegeta seemed unalarmed.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Cookies?"

"Cookies!" Goten exclaimed in delight.

They went in search of them. Mrs. Bunny Briefs almost dropped the pan when she saw Vegeta. "Oh my goodness, it is Vegeta! And he's so young! And so adorable!" She set the pan down on the stove, ran over, and hugged him.

Vegeta shoved her away, face bright red. He'd come close to ki blasting her. He hadn't had someone rush him except to attack him since--well, ever. He couldn't remember being hugged.

Bunny just laughed. "Have some cookies, boys!"

They did.

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Vegeta lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling. He had removed the picture of kittens from the wall but otherwise pretty much ignored the room. He was wearing some of Trunks' old pajamas.

So. This was his new life. He calmed his breathing and ignored his headache and tried to think.

The other residents of Capsule Corp seemed to be OK people, especially Trunks. He wasn't sure what to think of his older self; he was a lot harder to understand than what he should have been. `Considering he's me.'

Goten hadn't done anything threatening while he had been there, aside from going Super Saiyan again and sparring with a Super Saiyan Trunks. Vegeta had watched them fight in awe. His final opinion, however, had seemed to match Trunks': sometimes so simple he was simply annoying. But it was obvious Trunks and Goten were very loyal friends, and Trunks wouldn't be friends with an evil bully. . . unless he'd been put under Goten's mind control and the whole limited intelligence and innocence was all an act. But no, they'd fought too much, and Trunks was usually dominant. Besides, Trunks didn't have a bite mark; he'd checked covertly.

He felt hesitantly and cautiously along the bond. Kakkarot was asleep. He was dreaming about swimming in ice cream. He was eating it up as he went along, but he was very cold. He muttered something in his sleep. His mate woke up a fraction and pulled the blanket over him.

Vegeta slowed down his breathing again. That's right. This Kakkarot had a human female mate. If Vegeta concentrated hard enough, he could feel her, too. This Kakkarot was *not* his Kakkarot. This Kakkarot was *not* evil.

So they said.

There was no way he was going to get to sleep.

He threw back the sheets and left the room. He remembered the layout of the buildings perfectly well; it was a skill he'd acquired out of necessity once.

He walked through the dark, silent hallways until he found an outside door. He looked up at the stars. He didn't recognize any of them. He walked out onto the lawn, just taking everything in, then he flew up and landed softly on the roof of CC.

He sat down cross-legged, but he couldn't meditate either, so he gave up after a few minutes and stretched out on his back, staring up at the stars.

Hito came and joined him after about half an hour. Vegeta looked over at him. "I come here all the time."

They watched the stars in silence for awhile. "I don't know any of these stars," Vegeta said at last. "Where's Vegeta-sei?"

Hito pointed it out for him.

`20 years, he said,' Vegeta thought. `He was under Frieza for 20 years.'

`Me at 13,' Hito thought. `Only. . . hn. Maybe worse.'

"You're going to train me tomorrow, right?" Vegeta asked suddenly. "I want to learn how to transform to Super Saiyan."

"First you're going to have to learn how to fight under 100 times our gravity." Hito smirked. "We'll see how you do. As they say on Earth, `no pain, no gain.'"

Vegeta stared at him for a moment, then gave him back one of his mirthless, bitter smirks. "Pain I'm used to."

Hito stood up abruptly. "Til tomorrow then." He floated to the ground and went back inside.

Vegeta watched the stars until the sky started to grow light.

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A/N: If anybody can think of a better title, let me know. And keep reviewing, I need encouragement for this particular story.