Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4

By Elbereth in April

Bulma regarded Vegeta with a worried eye at the breakfast table the next morning. He had dark smudges under his eyes.

"Aren't you sleeping well, Vegeta-chan?" she asked him as she served out the pancakes.

He tensed and stared at his plate. "Fine."

"You haven't been doing anything but training since you got here," Bulma said, her forehead crinkling. "You should take the morning off and go out with Trunks."

"Onna!" Hito protested immediately. "Training is important. He can't waste the time. And Trunks shouldn't either."

"Aw, come on, Dad. We need to meet some people our age. And Vegeta-chan has to try pizza."

"That's right. Hang out at the mall awhile," Bulma suggested. "Take in a movie. I'll give you enough money for lunch."

Vegeta had never "hung out" before. He found himself curious, although part of him felt he should be training.

"Maybe we could find some girls," Trunks whispered to Vegeta.

Vegeta hid a smirk. He didn't particularly want to meet more strange humans, but he would like to try new foods. "OK."

Hito looked disgusted. Vegeta ignored him. "All right," Hito said grumpily, "but after lunch you're both getting the workout of your lives."

"Yes, Dad," the teens chorused. Hito looked at Vegeta with shock. Vegeta smirked.

_______________ ______________

"So," Vegeta said, looking around and trying to maintain his bored expression. "This is a mall."

The mall was huge, two stories, and full of humans of every shape and size. Vegeta supposed that, with his experience of various planets and aliens, he shouldn't be all that overwhelmed, but he was. If he'd been ordered to come here and blow this place up, he wouldn't have had a problem, but to walk around with all these loud, strange humans, to fit himself in and. . . intermingle. . . made him nervous. He kept his tail wrapped tightly around his waist. He also felt very strange wearing Trunks' "human" clothes. He'd been assured that he was in the latest style.

"So now what?" Vegeta asked. "We track for females?"

Trunks grinned at him. "Yeah. Think of it as a hunt."

Vegeta nodded, pricking up his senses.

"We wander casually," Trunks instructed. He set off. Vegeta followed, imitating Trunks' casual walk. It seemed to involve a certain amount of strutting. Well, Vegeta knew how to strut.

"The purpose of a mall is to hunt?" Vegeta queried.

"Um, no, it's to shop for clothes and stuff."

Vegeta's eyes darted back and forth, searching for his prey. "There's one," he said, nodding in the direction of a girl, 16 or so, with long blonde hair.

"Yeah, but she's with her mom. Ideally, we want a couple alone and on the prowl, like us."

"The females are hunting, too?"

"Most are shopping. But some are hunting. And we won't be on the only males hunting, either."

"Ah." Vegeta understood this game now. He smirked.

They continued their wandering. Past a book store, a collection of electronic gadgets, candles, more clothes than anyone could possibly need. . .

"Hey look! A toy store!" Trunks exclaimed, getting completely sidetracked.

Vegeta followed him into the store. "What is the point of this singing gorilla?"

"There is none, really," Trunks replied, heading for the action figure section.

Vegeta's tracking senses, however, suddenly picked up a signal. They were being watched. He turned his head slowly, to meet the admiring gaze of three girls, bunched together and giggling.

He smirked, openly eyeing them back. They appeared to be the correct age, of average attractiveness, alone, and on the prowl. His smirk deepened as he strutted casually over.

The girls giggled some more. One hid behind the other two. The one in front smiled boldly. "Hi."

"Hello, onnas."

"Haven't seen you around before."

"I'm new."

They appraised each other. The first one was 14, with short curly brown hair and dimples. The other was short, 14, with red hair parted in the middle and hanging down all around her face. "Where did your friend go?" that one asked.

"Maybe we should all go see," Vegeta invited.

The shy one poked her head around the second girl's back. She had hair somewhere between blonde and brown, in a loose braid down her back, jade hoop earrings, and dark green eyes. She was 15.

The girls followed Vegeta to the aisle Trunks was in. He looked up from examining super heroes to see them all staring at him.

He smiled somewhat nervously. "Hi."

"Onnas, this is Trunks. I am Vegeta. And you are?"

"Julie," said the bold one.

"Reina," said the redhead.

The shy one looked at her feet, then looked up at Vegeta through her eyelashes. "Becky." Vegeta instantly centered on her as the challenge.

"Are you shopping?" Trunks asked.

"Yes." Julie smiled, displaying her dimples to maximum effect. "Reina needs a new backpack."

"And you?"

"We were going to see the new anime movie out," Trunks replied.

"I don't suppose you were going to do that, too--after you bought your backpack?" Vegeta inserted smoothly.

Julie smiled. Reina giggled. "Could be."

So the 5 teenagers walked casually out of the store together, Trunks smirking and Vegeta inching his way closer to Becky.

_______________ _________________

They sat down in a row in the movie theater, girl-boy-girl-boy-girl. Trunks had a large popcorn but Vegeta thought it looked weird. `So much for new foods,' he thought ironically.

"Why do my feet stick to the floor?" he asked.

"Movie-goers tend to be messy," Julie answered. "Someone probably spilled their drink."

They were growing used to his strange questions. Trunks had explained that Vegeta was his cousin from Siberia.

Vegeta found himself looking over his shoulder a lot. He didn't like all those people behind them.

"So what's Siberia like?" Becky asked suddenly.

"Cold and barren. And the onnas are nothing compared to you." Becky blushed. Trunks missed his mouth with his popcorn. He tried to imagine his father doing this.

The lights went out as the previews started.

"You sit in the dark in a room full of strangers?" Vegeta demanded.

"It's not like you can't feel their ki."

Vegeta still didn't like the idea. He was also unimpressed with the martial artist abilities of the hero. "I could take this guy out with one ki blast."

"What *is* ki?" Reina wanted to know, but the couple behind them whispered, "Shhh!"

Vegeta turned around in his seat and gave them one of his deadliest stares. They leaned backwards in their seats.

"Stop that!" Trunks whispered, punching him in the shoulder.

Vegeta scowled at Trunks and faced forward again.

He checked the blocks he had up on the bond. He had been monitoring it off and on all day. OK so far.

Julie had her arm pressed up next to his on the armrest. He thought briefly, then moved his leg so his knee was touching Becky's. This was all new and strange to him. He wasn't sure about the proper way to treat his prey, now that it was caught. Becky stiffened minutely, but didn't move her leg.

After the movie, Trunks happily invited the girls to accompany them across the street to Noble Romans, where they serve the best pizza and breadsticks in the world. (A/N: I don't own, but I highly recommend. If you go to IN, check them out.)

The girls looked at each other, then at the boys. They seemed to waver.

"I could invite Goten," Trunks offered.

"OK," Julie said. That would give them a boy each.

Vegeta hid a scowl. He still wasn't crazy about Goten. He should be training right now so he could become stronger than him. Just in case.

Trunks got out his cell phone and called his friend. "Can you convince your mom to let you eat lunch with me? We're at the mall--but don't tell her that part."

Goten agreed to come right over. They all met up at the restaurant. Goten kept grinning bashfully at everyone and scarfing down pizza.

"Goten. How's your father?" Vegeta asked while Julie was trying to eat a slice of Deep Dish Sicilian as seductively as possible.

"Just fine," Goten answered with his mouth full.

"Been sleeping well?"

Trunks' eyes narrowed as he licked cheese off his fingers.

Goten shrugged. "Guess so."

"He mention anything--unusual--happening lately?"

"No." Goten looked puzzled. "Is there?"

Vegeta raised his eyebrows, portraying innocence and snatching the last breadstick from under Goten's fingers. "No."

"What does your father do?" Reina asked Goten.

"He. . ."

"He's unemployed," Vegeta smirked.

"Yeah, well, so's Trunks' dad."

"Our dads are martial artists," Trunks put in hurridly.

"What does your dad do?" Becky asked Vegeta. She had been warming to him steadily.

The other two looked at him. "He--he was in government. But now he's dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry." And she looked as if she truly was.

Vegeta blinked.

After lunch, there was a general realization from all concerned that if they didn't head home soon, they were going to be in trouble.

Trunks managed to pry Reina's phone number from her just before they left. Julie forcibly wrote her phone number on Goten's palm. Her friends nudged Becky, who blushed, and whispered her number to Vegeta. So the boys were all elated.

They waited until no one was watching to fly home. Goten separated from the other two, who continued on.

"Fun, huh?" Trunks grinned at Vegeta.

"Human women are awfully brazen."

"Huh. You picked the shy one. I'm kind of surprised."

"Why?"

"Well, Mom's definitely *not* shy."

"Face it. There's only one Bulma in this dimension, and your dad's got her. I'm going to have to settle for someone else."

"Oh." Trunks frowned.

Vegeta finally realized what he had felt had been missing all day. Radditz. Radditz would have liked Reina. Maybe even Becky.

"I'm trying to picture what color hair your kids would have if you mated with a red head," Vegeta said suddenly. "Pink maybe." Then he sped up. Trunks chased after him, but couldn't catch him without going Super.

________ ____________

Trunks and Vegeta stood in front of Hito in the GR.

"You've wasted enough time today. Let's get at it."

"But, Dad. Two phone numbers."

Hito paused, then smirked. "Maybe not *completely* wasted."

Hito kept managing to surprise him.

Then he went and turned up the gravity. "Let's see what Vegeta-*chan* is made of."

With the gravity up to 30, Trunks and Hito both attacked Vegeta at once. He grinned.

He couldn't seem to get out of the defensive. He was managing to block most of what they threw at him, but he couldn't get any hits in himself. Plus, he was rapidly growing tired.

He thought maybe his lack of sleep was affecting him after all. He tried to increase his speed.

Trunks threw a roundhouse punch that connected with his nose. Blood spurted as he fell backwards several feet. Hito followed that up with a ki blast that knocked him back into the wall.

He groaned and got back to his feet just as Trunks materialized in front of him and kicked him back down to the floor. Vegeta swept Trunks' legs out from under him, rolled on top of him, and hit him in the face with his hand full of ki. Trunks shoved him off and they both managed to stand again.

He kneed Trunks in the stomach and took to the air, kicking Trunks in the jaw on the way up. Hito met him in mid-air, throwing a punch to his ribs that he was able to partially block, then kicking him in the side.

Vegeta was suddenly painfully aware that he was going to lose this battle. He didn't dare take enough energy away from his mind shields. The solution was obvious; he needed to gain more energy so that he could fight more effectively and still shield himself.

How to do that?

He came back to the fight abruptly as Trunks' fists slammed into his spine and he found himself falling. He swung around to hit the ground feet first and kick himself back up into the air.

He flew right into Trunks, wrapped his arms around his back, pinning him in place, and flew him into the wall. Trunks struck hard, but simply took the impact, shook his head to clear it, and immediately retaliated by grabbing Vegeta's tail as he started to fly away.

It didn't hurt, but it did stop him from leaving. And it made him *very* angry.

Power flowed into him from somewhere as he shouted, "Final Flash!" and let all the power out through his hands.

Trunks' eyes widened but he was far too close to dodge. The attack blew him through a newly created hole in the GR wall and into the side of CC itself.

Vegeta dropped his hands in wonder and dismay. He hadn't expected that at all!

"Very good, brat," came Hito's voice, "but try not to kill your sparring partners. And do you have any idea how furious the onna is going to be about having to fix this?"

Vegeta swallowed hard.

_________ ____________

After Bulma had checked on Trunks and yelled at them for awhile, Trunks sat on the sidelines to rest and Hito and Vegeta continued their training in the yard.

The punches and kicks were flying too fast for anyone but Saiyans to follow, as Vegeta found his new energy had not dissipated. He wondered if anger was a key.

His train of thought was broken as he noticed Hito smirking evilly. "If you're 13, you haven't purged the Planet Rodran yet, which means you don't know this little maneuver. Big Bang Attack!"

Vegeta yelped and threw up his arms as the blast hit him and knocked him to the ground, forming a large crater. He lay there for a minute, panting, and trying to block out the pain. He didn't mind being beaten (much), but that smirk of Hito's was infuriating. He wondered if his own smirk made others feel that way. He certainly hoped so.

He pushed himself slowly to his hands and knees, then made his feet. Then he gave the most dangerous looking smirk he knew how to do. "And you, Vegeta-san, never met Nasu. Fire and Smoke!"

He cupped his hands together in front of his waist, then brought them apart about five inches. A red glow began to build in them as Hito watched with narrowed eyes. Then abruptly the glow brightened to blinding intensity and exploded outward in a huge burst of fire. Hito and Trunks both gasped and stared at the spot as the fire and smoke cleared.

While they were staring, Vegeta appeared behind Hito and knocked him into the blast, then Final Flash'ed him. Smirking all the while.

Trunks started to laugh. Hito stood up again after a moment, a determined scowl on his face. Then he and Vegeta were sparring again.

__________ ________

Over supper, Vegeta would just break out into a smirk every so often. Hito decided he was getting overly cocky. "So," he said in an innocent tone, "are you two brats going to call those girls you picked up today?"

"What's this?" Bulma demanded sharply.

Vegeta stared at his plate. Trunks regretted ever mentioning it to his father. "We got two phone numbers today," Trunks said meekly.

"What do you know about these girls?" Bulma frowned.

"Well, Reina lives in West Capital City and goes to high school there. Her parents own a dry-cleaning business," Trunks reported.

"The Prince of all Saiyans with a drycleaner's daughter?" Hito snorted.

"Yeah, well, Vegeta's girl's dad lives in England and works in a factory!" Trunks scowled, a perfect copy of his dad's own.

"Her parents are divorced," Vegeta explained with a sigh. "She lives next door to Trunks' girl. She is in the school choir and she hates dogs. Her mom is a human resources director--whatever that is--and she has an older sister in college. Her name's Becky."

"And Goten's girl's dad is a chiropractor," Trunks announced. "Her mom is their school nurse. But she wants to get more education and become a gynecologist. Goten didn't know what that was, so she had to explain it!" He and Vegeta both laughed at the memory.

"Well. . . you should invite them over so I can check them out before you go anywhere else with them," Bulma ordered.

Hito smirked. "Yeah, let us check them out."

Vegeta and Trunks exchanged horrified looks.

_________ __________

A/N: OK, let me know what you think. This was a more lighthearted interlude.