Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ 3 ( Chapter 3 )

The Bite-Ch. 3

By Elbereth in April

The Vegeta's faced off in the gravity room. "This is 20 times gravity. What do you think?"

This Hito was not going to get a chance to smirk at him. "Fine."

He smirked anyway; he knew it was a lie. But not a major one; Vegeta was already adjusting. `He's good,' Hito thought. `Better than me at 13. I wonder why.'

"All right then," was what he said. "Let's begin."

They started out hand to hand, kicks and punches and blocks. They rapidly progressed to ki attacks. Hito was much more experienced although Vegeta had amazing concentration and a cooler head. Still it was obvious Hito had the advantage. When he finally beat Vegeta down a bit and the spar had wound down, they took a break.

"I need to teach you how to repress your ki. And how to sense others' without a scouter."

"I'm ready!" Vegeta smirked eagerly, ignoring his bruises and cuts.

Vegeta learned quickly. After he had mastered this lesson, it was time for lunch. He discovered Goten had come to visit again.

"You spend a lot of time here, don't you?" Vegeta said by way of greeting.

Goten looked a bit sulky. "My mom kicked me out of the house a little while ago and told me to come over here."

Vegeta shrugged.

"Fortunately, I cooked plenty," said Bunny. The eldest Briefs were eating with them.

Just as Vegeta started eating, though, he turned a strange color and adopted his blankest expression.

"What's wrong?" Bulma asked, concerned.

"N-nothing," Vegeta stammered. His bite mark was burning and all kinds of images were streaming through his mind. Kakkarot and his mate were. . . being. . . intimate. He shuddered slightly. With a lot of effort, he managed to block most of it except a strange euphoric feeling.

Towards the end of the meal, he twitched suddenly and dropped his fork. "Are you sure you're OK? You look kind of flushed."

"Actually I-I feel kind of weird," Vegeta confessed before he thought.

"Let me take you to the lab and run a couple tests," Dr. Briefs volunteered enthusiastically.

"No! I'm fine!"

"Come on, Vegeta," Bulma ordered. "We have to make sure you're not getting sick."

"It's too late now," Trunks told him mournfully. "Next time don't admit you feel bad."

Hito smirked at him. Vegeta rolled his eyes and gave in.

Dr. Briefs drew some of his blood and had the doctor check him over. Vegeta proved uncooperative. Bulma followed them down and watched to make sure he was OK.

Dr. Briefs studied the results and frowned. "He's not sick, although his pulse rate is rather high. But. . . Bulma, look at this." He handed her a paper.

"What?" Vegeta demanded.

"There're traces of a drug in your blood," Bulma reported slowly. "Basically it lowers your ability to reach and use your ki. I'd say Frieza's been drugging you."

Vegeta's hands clenched and his tail unwrapped from his waist and swished about. But he said nothing.

"It'll probably be a week before it's all out of your system."

"I wonder if Vegeta-san was drugged when he arrived here," Dr. Briefs mused.

Vegeta shoved himself off the medical table. "I'm going to take a shower. I still feel-dirty."

__________ ________

After his third shower of the day, Vegeta found Trunks, Goten, and Hito all sparring in the gravity room. They had all transformed to Super Saiyan and the gravity level, according to the monitor outside the door, was 200 times normal. He obviously had a quite a ways to go to catch up.

Not wanting to disturb them, he walked away. `It's not like I can't train on my own,' he thought, feeling inexplicably lonely. He took to the air, heading for the woods he saw in the distance behind CC.

He landed in a small clearing beside a running brook. He stared down at it. So he'd been drugged. He felt as if he should have been more indignant and surprised, but really, it was a small thing to add to the list of all the crimes against him.

No--then again, it wasn't. How much stronger could he be now if he hadn't been suppressed all these years? He snarled and blasted a tree, then regretted it. He was supposed to have more self-control.

He started stretching in preparation of training. Then with his newly learned ability, he thought he sensed a strong ki coming towards him. It didn't feel quite human.

A green-skinned alien came walking through the trees.

"You're a Namek."

"You're the alternate Vegeta that Dende told me was here," the Namek replied.

"Who's Dende?"

"The guardian of Earth."

"Are you Piccolo?"

He nodded. They appraised one another's strength.

"You killed Radditz."

"It was self-defense."

They stared each other down some more.

"You have incredible mental shields," Piccolo stated, frowning. "Been attacked a lot, have you?"

Vegeta almost flinched, eyes widening. "Get out of my head or I'll kill you!"

Piccolo held up his hands. "Easy. I'm not in your head. That was a simple observation. I'm not going to attack you."

Vegeta had taken a fighting stance, regarding him warily. Piccolo seemed all right, but it could be a trick.

Piccolo smirked. "Wanna spar?"

Vegeta smirked back. Did everyone on this planet like to fight as much as he did? "Sure."

They circled each other, then Piccolo attacked. He aimed two quick punches to his stomach, which Vegeta blocked, kicking out as he did so. Piccolo moved aside and aimed another punch at Vegeta's head. Vegeta dodged and spun around, kicking Piccolo's legs out from under him. Piccolo grabbed him by the shoulder as he fell, pulling him down, then rolling over so Vegeta was on the bottom. He hit him in the ribs and the face before Vegeta shoved him aside and bounced back up. He floated in the air and kicked Piccolo in the shoulder, spinning him around, then double-handing him in the spine. Piccolo grunted but whipped back around and hit Vegeta in the gut.

Vegeta gasped and fell back a bit. Piccolo rose to meet him in the air. Vegeta held out his palm and fired a blast at him, which Piccolo dodged. Piccolo smirked and fired a weaker version of his beam cannon attack, so quickly Vegeta could only try to block. This singed him somewhat and he scowled. He was weaker than everybody!

Piccolo rushed him again and hit him so hard he careened into a tree, bouncing off and hitting another one. Vegeta moved his hands into an attack that Piccolo's eyes widen.

"Kamehameha!"

Piccolo was so startled he didn't dodge in time. The blast him, knocking him into the ground, hard.

He stood up and shook his head to clear it. "That's Goku's attack!"

"Is it? I saw Goten do it about four times yesterday. Wanted to try it out." Vegeta shrugged and smirked.

Piccolo muttered, "Vegeta and yet not Vegeta."

Vegeta raised his eyebrows and began to retort but broke off as he and Piccolo both felt another ki coming.

"That's Gohan," Piccolo told him. "Probably coming to see why I'm fighting you."

"Gohan is Goku's other brat?" Piccolo nodded.

Gohan landed next to them. "Hey guys!" He smiled widely.

There was something about Gohan very different from his brother, Vegeta decided, something that age difference alone didn't account for. Vegeta thought Gohan looked about 10 years older than him, still young to be married with a brat.

Vegeta measured Gohan, pondering. Of all the people he'd met so far, Trunks and Gohan seemed the least threatening. He couldn't explain why. He reminded himself sternly that he was still the offspring of Kakkarot and not to be trusted.

"You're obviously the new Vegeta that Goten told me about," Gohan said, still smiling. "I'm his brother, Gohan."

Vegeta nodded and crossed his arms.

"I see you've met Piccolo!"

"We were sparring," Piccolo explained, half-smiling at Gohan.

"You've got a mate, right?"

Gohan was slightly confused by the abrupt change of subject, but answered. "Videl."

"You bonded?"

He looked somewhat taken aback but kept smiling. "Yeah. And we've got a daughter, Pan."

"And you're a Super Saiyan, too."

"Yeah."

Vegeta wiped a little bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Interesting."

"Well." The three of them stared at each other. "Um, I didn't mean to interrupt your fight. I'll just be going back home."

Vegeta shrugged. "I can feel Trunks coming."

A few minutes later, Trunks landed in the clearing. "Hi guys! Mom sent me to find Vegeta."

"Hi," Gohan said brightly.

"Am I supposed to return?"

"Uh huh."

"Hn. Whatever." He followed Trunks into the air, leaving Gohan to wave goodbye and turn to Piccolo.

"So, since I'm here, sensei, wanna spar?"

__________ __________

Vegeta and Trunks didn't have far to go. They landed just outside the door to CC and went in. Bulma was on the phone, arguing with Hito at the same time.

Hito turned to them. "This ridiculous onna is planning a party. She wants her friends to meet you."

Vegeta stiffened, glancing at Bulma with not quite concealed horror. "Tell her no!"

Bulma quickly ended her conversation and hung up. "Don't be that way, Vegeta-chan. Everybody's been asking about you."

"Let them wonder!"

"You've already met several of them. It's just the Z-warriors, mainly. It'll be fun."

Vegeta shook his head violently.

"I told her it was a bad idea," Hito huffed, "but she won't listen."

If Hito wasn't going to get him out of this, he was sunk. He decided to give in gracefully. "OK-just this once."

"Really?"

He smirked at the adults. "Since it's you asking."

They gaped at him. Trunks grinned.

Bulma blushed and smiled. "All right! Trunks, help me make some calls."

"Aw, mom. . ."

"Come on, brat." Hito jerked his head at Vegeta. "You've been lazing away since lunch. Time to get back to training."

Vegeta was ready.

___________ _____________

Vegeta was already getting used to 20 times gravity. And it was so refreshing to be able to battle an opponent who he knew wasn't going to attack his mind. Normally he could never concentrate 100% on a pure physical attack. He always has to save some back. Habits dying hard, he could never completely let his guard down, but it'd been a very long time since he'd only used 10% of himself on his mind shields.

Hito could only wonder why Vegeta seemed quite a bit stronger and more focused since that morning.

They fought mostly in silence, except for periodic taunts from Hito. Vegeta crashed into the wall for the sixth time and Hito shook his head. "Pathetic."

Vegeta concealed his rising anger. He knew how he was; Hito probably couldn't help himself. Insults could be part of the battle. Or-hn-the opposite.

He waited until Hito was rushing towards him to say, "Did you know that Trunks idolizes you?" When Hito almost imperceptibly faltered, he ducked the rush and slammed into Hito from the side. His own momentum carried Hito into the wall. Vegeta smirked at him.

Hito picked himself up, at first angry, then he smirked back. "Hn. It's only to be expected."

Vegeta laughed. "And they say I'm arrogant."

"Let's try you on the robots now," said Hito, ignoring that last comment.

"Robots?"

"Programmed especially for training. They get destroyed a lot, so the onna has to keep building more." He walked over to the computer and punched in some keys. Several small black robots rose into the air, humming.

Hito smirked at him. "Here we go."

Excitement filled Vegeta at another new enemy. This gravity room was great!

__________ __________

At supper Bulma went over the party arrangements. "Next week, lunch, casual. The whole gang's coming."

"And that would include?"

"Goku and Chi-Chi, Goten, Yamcha, Gohan and Videl and their daughter, Krillin and his wife and daughter, Tien, Chatzou, Piccolo, and Roshi."

"Wow, even Piccolo's coming. And he already met you, too."

Vegeta drank some milk. "Maybe he wants to finish the fight."

Bulma continued to talk excitedly. Trunks looked bored, Hito grumpy. Vegeta was lost in his thoughts. So. The whole Kakkarot clan was coming, plus a bunch of strangers. He'd have to be on his guard. Despite the assurances he'd been given, there was no way he was just going to relax around Kakkarot.

Kakkarot. . . he concentrated. Kakkarot had just finished eating and was feeling very satisfied. His thoughts were wandering while his mate and son babbled at him. He wanted to go fishing tomorrow. Kakkarot looked around suddenly. Vegeta shoved his mind away quickly, heart beating fast.

Hito was staring at him. Vegeta met his eyes. "What are you up to, brat?" he asked abruptly, silencing Bulma and Trunks.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You looked like you were talking to somebody. In your head."

Admit nothing. Don't show anything. "No. Just scouting."

"Scouting?"

"Checking the area."

"How much can you sense?" Hito demanded.

Eyes narrowed, defenses up. "A lot. Why?"

Onyx stare met stare, scowling.

"Are you like, ESP sensitive or something?" Trunks asked curiously, buttering another roll.

A glance at Trunks, a shrug.

Bulma looked back and forth at the two of them. "Quit that."

They looked at her. Vegeta wished he could laugh. But it really wasn't funny anyway. Would this Hito try to hunt out all his secrets? And did Hito really dislike him or was this the way he treated everyone? Cause he was really intimidating. `Maybe if I was older, I'd have the same effect. It's hard to be truly threatening at 13. Although at 16, Kakkarot sure manages it. . .'

Vegeta dropped that thought quickly.

He would have to perfect Hito's unemotional stare.

______________ __________

He was dreaming again.

"Nappa has defected."

Vegeta had gone to the laundry to pick up some new uniforms. He looked at Radditz over an armload of clean clothes. "What?"

"I just overheard Kakkarot promise him `power and military rewards' for becoming another of Frieza's toadies."

Vegeta had a brief feeling of betrayal before he suppressed it. He knew nobody could be trusted.

"Well. Let's just go have a little conversation with Nappa then, shall we, Radditz?"

Radditz grinned evilly and followed him.

The dream sped forward. Light burst around him. Nappa fell at his feet. Frieza was coming and he was telling Radditz to run. Run.

He was sparring in the training room with Radditz, several years before. "You know what I miss, Vegeta? Chocolate. I haven't had chocolate in years."

He kicked Radditz in the stomach, hard. "I heard the Ginyu Force had some."

Radditz almost hit him in the face, but he dodged. "You think if we vowed loyalty to Frieza, he'd get us some?"

He knocked Radditz into the wall, where he slowly slid to the floor. "Don't even joke about that."

He and Radditz stared at each other, then he gave in and smirked. Radditz pulled himself back up.

"Maybe we could get our hands on some."

Radditz raised his eyebrows. "How?"

"The Ginyu Force."

Radditz aimed another punch at Vegeta, who blocked and slammed his fist into Radditz's jaw. "Sounds dangerous."

"We just need a clever plan."

"And of course, no one's more clever than you."

Vegeta smirked again. "Of course." He caught Radditz's fists. "What do you think?"

Radditz tried to free his hands and couldn't. "If you're in, I'm in. Chocolate is worth the risk."

Vegeta stood outside Recoome's door. Radditz was in the room, scenting out the chocolate. Vegeta was trying to keep Recoome's and Jeice's attention until Radditz could get the candy and get out.

Hiding in the dark in the loft above the hangar bay, watching the Ginyu Force searching for them among the space pods. After they gave up, the Saiyans split the chocolate, 1 and 1/2 candy bars each.

Run, run. He had made Radditz run. But Vegeta had not.

"None of us will mourn the death of Nappa," Frieza said. "But rebellious acts cannot be tolerated. Kakkarot assures me this was an act of rebellion on your part."

"You believe his word over mine?" Vegeta protested, despite knowing it was hopeless. "I'm a Prince!"

"Your title is no longer even relevant," Frieza sneered. "It never meant much in the first place. Your power is nothing compared to mine. All you monkey freaks are pitifully weak. I'm not sure why I even bother to keep you around. You're pathetic, really."

Vegeta flushed. "That's right. His death didn't mean much. Just let it go. It didn't hurt you."

Frieza smiled and Vegeta's blood ran cold. "Ah, Vegeta." His voice was like silk. "We're talking about hurting you."

__________ ________

With a hoarse cry, Vegeta managed to wake himself up at that point. He didn't go back to bed. He went out on the roof to stare at the stars. Trunks found him there two hours later.

He laid down next to him on his back. "My dad comes up here all the time."

"Your dad ever talk about Frieza?"

Trunks looked over at him, trying to read his expression by moonlight. "No."

"What about Radditz?"

"No."

"Not a bad guy, Radditz."

Trunks waited. When it was obvious Vegeta wasn't going to say anymore, he asked, "In what way?"

"He was brave. And he was loyal," Vegeta answered softly.

"You know Radditz tried to kill Goku and Piccolo."

"Hn. Not my Radditz." Trunks acknowledged this. "And maybe," he continued, "Kakkarot and Piccolo deserved it. Did you ever think about that? I mean, you don't get to hear his side of the story."

Trunks opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"Why aren't you asleep, anyway?"

Trunks shrugged. "Don't know. Just woke up."

"Tai hou shin te arzellas," Vegeta murmured.

Trunks screwed up his face in concentration. "I awake. . . to see stars. Right?"

"You speak Saiyago?" Vegeta smiled delightedly. "Cual hel Trunks, rin lei ouji hono Vegeta-sei!"

"All hail Trunks, next in line for the throne of Vegeta-sei." Trunks smiled back, but then Vegeta stopped smiling.

"Are you ever bitter that you'll never be prince in Vegeta-sei?"

Trunks sighed. "Not too much. I mean, I never lived there so I don't know what I'm missing. Dad's told me stories, but it's not the same thing."

"I only got to live there 5 years. . ." Then he abruptly changed the subject. "Do you think there's a Bulma in my timeline?"

He laughed. "There has to be. My mom is everywhere."

Vegeta smirked.

Trunks looked at him slyly. "Why. . . you looking for a girlfriend?"

Vegeta blushed, thankful for the darkness that hid it. He scowled. "No!"

"Just asking." Trunks grinned.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Not at this time. It's summer, so I don't really see anybody."

"Hn."

____________ ___________

Vegeta had finally gone back to bed shortly after Trunks did. But he was again awoken from sleep, this time by an intense burning from his shoulder.

Vegeta opened his eyes in alarm. Kakkarot was testing the bond. He threw up all his mental shields as strong as they would go, thankful that he'd trained his mind to shield himself somewhat even while he slept.

Kakkarot was strong. Kami, he was strong. He was trying to figure out where this strange mental link had come from. And he was persistent.

`Don't let him know who you are. Don't let him get inside your mind. Don't let him feel anything.' He was sweating, teeth clenched, muscles tense. He squeezed his eyes back shut.

He thought his heart was going to explode, it was beating so hard and so loud.

Then abruptly, the seeking stopped.

Vegeta let out a whooshing gasp on air, panting. He didn't let his guard down for a second. He couldn't. Never again. He never knew when Kakkarot might strike.

Vegeta didn't see how being raised on Earth could change the man's basic nature. He had decided long ago that Kakkarot was intrinsically evil. This one may have fooled everyone else, but not him. It was undoubtably only a matter of time, now that Kakkarot was aware of the bond. He just hadn't had the opportunity before. If he attacked hard enough, he might even be able to link in to Hito, since he and his other self seemed to be tenuously connected.

He couldn't get his heart to be quiet.