Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ 5 ( Chapter 5 )

The Bite--Chapter 5

By Elbereth in April

Vegeta lay down in his bed and closed his eyes, but he was afraid to sleep. He knew he had to though, if he was going to function.

He tossed and turned for awhile, then sighed. `I'll just set my shields as high as they can go and hope for the best.'

He finally fell into an uneasy doze. He awoke once to hear the floor creaking as someone passed his door, and again later when an owl hooted outside his window. He fell into a real sleep about 4 AM, and promptly started to dream. . .

___________ ___________

Kakkarot was bowing in front of Frieza, who was sitting on his throne. "Rise," Frieza said.

Kakkarot stood up. "I can still feel him, my lord. It's very faint, but it's there. We're forever linked through the bond. I can trace him that way. We can find him."

Frieza smiled, a delighted, sadistic smile. "Good. Nobody runs out on me. Especially not him."

"As you say, my lord."

"So what planet is he on?"

"That's just it. He's--further away than that. I think he's in another dimension."

"Dead?" Frieza frowned.

"No, sir. Just far away."

Frieza thought about this. "Interesting," he said slowly. "Well. No distance can stop my revenge. I think I know of a way."

Kakkarot smiled.

The dream lost itself in Kakkarot's smile. His smile and his burning, malicious eyes. "I know where you are, Vegeta. I will find you. You're mine, now. You can never get away."

His laughter and his eyes filled Vegeta's head. Vegeta screamed.

"All mine. . ."

He screamed again, then was suddenly awake. His eyes snapped open. He was on the floor, trembling and covered in sweat. The bite mark felt as if acid had been poured on it, eating its way through the bone and muscle of his shoulder. He choked back a sob.

"No," he said. "No!"

The door burst open and Bulma ran in, followed by Trunks, who hovered in the doorway. Bulma came and knelt beside him, all concern. She ran a hand over his sweaty forehead. "Are you OK?"

He looked up at her. "It can't be real!"

"What can't be?"

He blinked. `Oh kami, please let it not have been real.' He was still shaking. "I--I'm fine. I just--it was a dream."

Then Hito was standing behind Trunks, scowling at him. He could hear Lord Frieza say, "Never show weakness." He remembered Hito's voice, "Don't disgrace me, brat."

Oh kami. He had to get away from them. "I'm going to the bathroom," he muttered, and bolted out of Bulma's arms and into that sanctuary, locking the door.

"Come on. We go back to sleep," Hito ordered them.

"But, Vegeta," Bulma protested.

"He's not going to share his private life with you. Come on."

They went, but Bulma was still clearly worried.

Inside the bathroom, Vegeta stared at himself in the mirror. He had pulled his shirt off and was running his fingers over and over the bite. His mind was in a haze of panic. `If I get rid of the bite. . . would it get rid of the bond?'

He ripped open the medicine cabinet. He knew he'd seen a razor in there. He took the blade and set it against the mark on his shoulder.

__________ ____________

Hito sat back up in bed abruptly, a throbbing ache running through his shoulder. "What is it now?" Bulma cried.

Hito frowned. "Stay here. Onna, don't argue!" He left and stalked back to the guest room. His other self must still be in the bathroom. He pounded on the door. "What are you up to, brat? Open the door!"

Vegeta gasped and dropped the razor. He'd run it over and over the mark, but it was still there. It hadn't done anything except make his skin bleed. And it had hurt like anything.

"Do you hear me?" Hito was yelling just outside the door. He must have felt it, then. The bite was still burning, even through the new pain of the other. He dabbed at the blood with toilet paper and threw the razor back in the cabinet. Hito knocked again.

"Dad, what's going on?" Now Trunks was out there, too.

"I'll break the door down," Hito threatened.

Vegeta pulled his shirt back on. How well had he hidden the evidence?

"1. . . 2. . ."

He pulled the door open and stared at the other two Saiyans. "What?" He tried to look as blank as possible.

Hito scowled darkly and started to speak, when all at once, Goku appeared in the room behind them. Vegeta felt himself flush and then go pale as his pulse speeded up again.

"Goku! What are you doing here?" Trunks was getting more and more confused.

Hito walked over and stared Goku in the face. "Good question. Why are you here, Kakkarot?"

He expected that sheepish grin but Goku didn't give it. He looked completely serious. "I don't know, Vegeta. I just felt like something was wrong. I can't explain it."

Hito looked back at Vegeta, missing the way Goku rubbed his shoulder.

Vegeta drew in his breath. Of course he would have felt it, too! "I just had a nightmare, OK? I must have projected it really strongly or something. You were probably sensitive enough to pick it up. That Piccolo guy probably heard it, too. But everything's fine."

All three stared at him. Hito didn't seem to believe him. But Trunks sighed and said, "I'm going back to bed." And he did.

Hito looked back over at Goku again. "You can go home now. You're not needed here."

Goku and Vegeta's eyes locked. Every muscle in his body tightened. There was the faintest of pressures batting at the very outside of his mind, and a rush of energy through the bond, like blood through a vein. Vegeta stood very still and tried to keep his breathing steady but it was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.

After an agonizingly long moment, Goku looked away and smiled at Hito. "All right. I'm going." He pressed two fingers to his forehead and vanished.

Vegeta slumped against the door, his nerves shot. His tail unwound and flicked around. But he still had Hito to face.

Hito's eyes flickered to his collarbone, where the blood was starting to seep through his shirt. But then he shook his head, apparently still puzzled. "Try not to disturb us all again," he said dryly, and left as well.

Vegeta slid down the wall to the floor and buried his face in his arms. How could he fight everybody? How long could he hide the mark? If only he could think straight--and sleep without dreaming!

`Oh kami, please, it has to be a dream.'

He wished he could weep.

_________ __________

The lawn outside CC now contained two picnic tables heaped with food. Bulma, Chi-Chi, Trunks, Goten, Vegeta, their newly met girlfriends, and surprisingly, Hito, were all sitting around the tables, preparing to dine.

The adults were, in fact, at one table and the teens at the other, but they still felt nervous and under scrutiny. However, they were determined to enjoy themselves. Except for Vegeta, who was wondering what in the world he'd gotten himself into.

Last night hadn't been mentioned again. Vegeta certainly wasn't going to bring it up. He had pushed it all into a far corner of his mind and tried to pretend it hadn't happened. Surely, surely it had been a dream, anyway. Right now he was going to concentrate on this strange luncheon.

Vegeta had very little experience with females, or humans, and very little idea of how to have fun in a "normal" human way, He was fully conscious of Hito eavesdropping on them with a sightly amused, slightly disdainful expression. What was worse, Kakkarot's mate sat right over there and she utterly confused him.

He had thought Bulma and Hito were going to embarrass them, but it was Chi-Chi who had fussed over her son and given the girls piercing looks and interrogated them with so many questions, he was surprised they hadn't fled. So far Hito had mostly just smirked knowingly in the background. All three girls had secretly and longingly checked him out.

Just when he had decided Chi-Chi was uptight, ballistic, and scary, she had calmed down and been rational, smiling, and. . . normal. How in the world had she and Kakkarot ended up bonded, anyway? Did she love him?

Vegeta realized Julie was speaking to him. "I can't believe how much you look like your uncle, Vegeta."

"Yes. Well, that's why I was named after him."

"Is he your mother's brother or your father's?" Becky asked.

"Father's," he answered after a pause.

Goten was looking back and forth at them, frowning. "But Vegeta. . ."

Trunks kicked him under the table.

"We got sidetracked last time and never asked you about your mother," Becky said conversationally to Vegeta.

Vegeta tensed. He didn't like all these personal questions, especially in front of Hito, especially about his mother. "What about her?"

"What does she do?"

Trunks shifted uncomfortably, aware of Vegeta's tension and his father's sudden straight back and pricked ears. "She's dead, too," he answered for him. "That's why he's living with us now."

All three girls murmured condolences. Vegeta lost his appetite. Reina was going to change the subject, but Goten, who had wanted to know for a long time, asked, "I know about your dad, but how did your mother die? How old were you?"

Vegeta glared at him. "I was 3. She was assassinated."

Hito stood up so fast he almost knocked the bench over. "Can I talk to you a minute, brat." It was not a request but a command.

Vegeta put down his fork and followed him to the porch.

"What do you mean, she was assassinated?" he demanded, scowling deeply.

"They found her in her room one morning, dead. She'd been poisoned. They never caught the assassin. That's all Father ever told me before. . . before he died, too."

"Hn." A pause. "Do you have memories of her?"

Vegeta swallowed hard. "A few."

"My mother died giving birth to me, brat."

They stared at one another.

"Tell me."

Vegeta looked at the ground. Was Hito actually being sentimental? Or just trying to figure out why the timelines once again differed? He couldn't very well ask.

"Just--someone singing. And dark eyes. And trying to walk, and seeing a hand reaching, and her smiling across the room. I suppose it was her." He really didn't like to talk about her.

Hito grunted. Vegeta looked up. Hito was staring at Bulma, with no real expression. Bulma was watching them, looking worried. < "Vegeta?" >

< "Everything's fine." > Partially a lie.

Vegeta felt something surge through their bond. Love, pure and deep, sent from Bulma to Hito, so strong he felt it, too. Hito half-smiled.

"Finish eating, brat." He went back to his table.

`So Hito has feelings after all,' Vegeta mused. `Huh. Well. . . he still intimidates me.' Vegeta sighed, deliberately pushed thoughts of his mother away, and sat back down with the others.

Becky gave him a worried look not unlike Bulma's. It made Vegeta feel slightly better.

They were still all very curious, but the subject wasn't mentioned again.

"We're talking about our hobbies," Reina told him. "What are yours, Vegeta?"

He couldn't say purging planets, keeping out of Kakkarot's way, and training to destroy Frieza. "Martial arts."

"That's what your friends both said," Reina laughed.

Trunks smirked. "Goten also said eating."

"That's not very well-rounded. Don't you have any other interests?" Julie wanted to know.

The boys thought. "Astronomy," Vegeta said finally. "And flying."

"Meditation," Trunks added.

"Anime and comics and video games!"

"The theory of gravity."

"Science."

"Dinosaurs!"

"Hunting," Vegeta finished with a smirk that made Trunks laugh.

The girls appeared to be trying to take all this in. The adults looked on in amusement.

__________ _________

After the girls left, Chi-Chi and Goten went home, too. Trunks and Vegeta went inside to play video games. Vegeta found them intriguing. He had become semi-addicted to Tekken.

He was waiting for his turn when he felt suddenly puzzled, shocked, and giddy in rapid succession. Except it wasn't him feeling it, he realized, but Hito. What was going on?

Hito and Bulma burst into the room a few minutes later, Hito smirking and Bulma glowing. "Guess what!" she exclaimed, laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm pregnant!"

The boys just about fell over. Then Trunks jumped to his feet, ran over, and hugged his mom. "I can't believe it!"

Vegeta gazed at Hito. He seemed genuinely pleased. He felt a smile forming, and let it. "Congratulations."

"Did you just find out?" Trunks asked.

Bulma nodded. "Your father can feel the baby's ki inside me! Isn't that amazing? He even knows she's a girl!"

"A girl?" Trunks looked displeased at first, then smiled. "Aw! A cute little chibi with Vegeta's face and a dress!"

Both Vegeta's frowned. "Show some respect," Hito retorted.

Trunks kept smiling. "And purple hair!"

Vegeta laughed. Hito turned the frown on him. "Hey, they're your brats," Vegeta smirked.

_________ ___________

After training with an unusually lenient Hito, eating supper, and being told quite bluntly to stay downstairs for the next few hours, Vegeta and Trunks continued their game of Tekken well into the night.

"So what do you think of your mom having a baby?" Vegeta asked finally.

"It's a shock," Trunks replied. "But now that I'm getting used to the idea, I can't say I mind. Having a little sister might be nice. Take some pressure off me to fulfill the dreams of both my parents and grandparents all by myself."

"Hn. What kind of dreams?"

"Running Capsule Corporation and being the strongest fighter in the universe. You get to share in that last one. Ah, man!" Jin had just died in the game.

Vegeta shrugged. "Of course. I have every intention of becoming the strongest fighter in the universe."

Trunks watched Kuzuya fight on-screen. "What do you think of Becky?"

"Oh, she's not bad. For a human. And Reina?" His eyes flicked to Trunks and back to the game.

"I like her. I like Hatsu back at school better, though." He grinned. "You should see her play soccer."

Vegeta snorted. "You need a Saiyan woman. How about Pan?"

"She's two years old! You can have her!"

"I'll stick with Becky for now. She's quiet."

There was a pause. Then Trunks frowned. "I hope you didn't mind what Goten said," he began awkwardly. "He didn't mean anything."

Another quick glance. "I don't like him. I know you do. But he's too. . . oblivious. I don't trust him."

Trunks sighed. His best friend and his new. . . brother or cousin or friend--what was he? Anyway, they didn't get along, which was depressing, but not surprising. After all, he was also his father.

He looked at the clock. "Did you know it's after 2 AM?"

Vegeta was glad. He was putting off sleep. He needed it badly but he was afraid to dream.

"Goten likes Hatsu, too," Trunks added as an afterthought.

Kuzuya fought on.

___________ ___________

4 AM. Vegeta was doing sit-ups on the floor beside his bed. His whole body craved sleep.

5 AM. He made himself a sandwich and flipped through an issue of "Career Women," figuring he was at an all-time low. He ate a second sandwich.

Push-ups. More Tekken. Science Mystery Theatre on T.V. A sunrise that turned the whole sky yellow, orange, and pink. He sat on the roof in baggy sweatpants and a faded T-shirt, bare feet poking at the roof tiles. It was already getting warm.

7:30 AM. He heard the hum of the gravity machine starting up. That would, of course, be Hito.

7:48 AM. Kami, what was he going to do?

8 AM. Time to sneak back to his room and pretend he'd slept all night. He could officially "wake up" now.

He was going to have to sleep, one of these nights. Until then, he'd get by.

____________ ____________

A/N: OK, I fudged with the ages of Pan and Bra a bit, but don't let it upset you. It's better this way.

And yes, Kakkarot will be coming to Earth, but we have to resolve a few things yet. Be patient for a couple more chapters. It will be worth the wait. I'm paying attention to your requests.