Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ 7 ( Chapter 7 )

The Bite--Chapter 7

By Elbereth in April

Sometime around 8 AM, Hito had gone to train and relocated Trunks to his bed. A little before 10:00, Trunks woke up, totally confused as to how he'd changed rooms in the night. Vegeta woke up when he heard Trunks stumbling around the room.

"Where am I?" Trunks mumbled sleepily.

"Earth," Vegeta responded seriously.

Trunks rubbed his eyes, smiled, and dismissed the whole problem. "I can't believe they let us sleep so late. Usually one parent or the other would be yelling."

Vegeta stretched languidly and stood up on the bed. He could see the woods from this window. He wanted to fight that Piccolo again soon. He looked at Trunks. "Hunting?"

Trunks smiled wider. "Yeah."

__________ ____________

Hito declined going hunting; if Vegeta hadn't known better, he would have thought Hito was ignoring him, worried that last night he'd shown too much weak human sympathy. Well, perhaps it was likely.

Vegeta didn't care. He and Trunks gathered what they'd need and flew off to an unpopulated, primitive island full of interesting game. Hunting put Vegeta in his element, and he had a fine time.

Trunks was impressed with his skill. "You're an extraordinary stalker."

"I should think so," Vegeta smirked. "I'm good in an ambush, too."

"No wonder you brought back those girls."

Vegeta walked arrogantly to where his latest catch was lying. "That tyrannosaurus never knew what hit him. And neither did they. My charm overwhelmed them."

Trunks laughed. "Charm?"

"Well. . . magnetism, then."

Trunks wasn't sure if he could debate that. "Well, *I've* got Royal Saiyan blood in me, too. Don't get too full of yourself."

An eyebrow quirked. "Is that a challenge?"

After a quite enjoyable spar, they had to wait until the animals they'd scared away returned. "You're getting stronger every day, Vegeta," Trunks remarked.

"Am I?"

"Yep." Trunks felt rather proud of his father's double. He bet Papa was, too, even if he'd never admit it.

"Good," Vegeta muttered. "Niawa thala undutu."

"Only the strong survive," Trunks murmured.

____________ ____________

The coyote they ate on the island. The bear, T-rex, and pterodactyl they took home to share with Hito (and Dr. Briefs, who accidentally ate some of the flying dinosaur without noticing).

Before they left, they went for a swim in a sparkling lake that was too inviting to pass up. Trunks floated lazily on his back while Vegeta swam along the very bottom. When he came up for air, Trunks asked, "Were you trying to go Super yesterday?"

Vegeta tensed and treaded water next to him. "Hai."

"You will get it. Don't worry."

"How does your mother's time machine work?"

Trunks frowned at the apparent complete change of subject. "You should really ask her."

"But--do you know how hard it was to invent?"

"Very hard. But she's a genius."

"Not the only genius in the universe."

Trunks shaded his eyes from the sun and watched Vegeta. "No."

Vegeta watched the waves form around his moving limbs.

"Vegeta. . ."

"What?" in his most closed-off tone.

". . . never mind."

_____________ _____________

Training that evening was interrupted by an irate Bulma who had been craving hot fudge and salami. "Who ate all the hot fudge?" she shrieked.

Trunks and Vegeta looked at each other, then both pointed at the innocent Hito.

"Nani?"

Their argument died down into smoldering, suggestive looks, whereupon the boys hastily left the GR. "I can't believe Hito is so--so. . ."

"Carnal?"

Vegeta laughed.

When the phone rang an hour later, it was Vegeta's conquest, Becky. "Hi, Vegeta."

He was taken totally by surprise. "Um. Hi."

"How are you?"

"Fine. You?"

"Fine."

He frantically tried to think of something to say.

"You know what?" she spoke first. "My mother's cousin knows you and your family. His name's Yamcha. He said he and your aunt used to date. Isn't that wild?"

"Very." Yamcha, huh? He filed that away.

"So, um, do you want to do something this weekend?" she asked, clearly nervous.

There was only a small amount of regret when he shook his head. "I'm going to be busy training for awhile."

"Training? For what?"

"A fight."

There was a lengthy pause. "Oh. Well I guess I'll see you around then."

"Yeah." They hung up.

_____________ _____________

Trunks and Vegeta finished another late night round of Tekken. Vegeta hesitated in front of his door, looking over at the guest room. It was empty.

He went inside his room and changed into old sweatpants. They were faded at the knees, but for sleeping it didn't matter.

Sleeping. He stared at the bed. He hadn't dreamed last night. Maybe he was cured. It was only midnight. Maybe he could get a full night's rest.

He brushed lightly along the bond, just a feather touch. Kakkarot was squirming under a scolding from his mate. Vegeta found that highly ironic. Kakkarot had his own worries then. He was going to bed.

____________ __________

Radditz stood in front of him, facing someone off to his right. He looked tired, but pleased about something. "You're alive. We weren't sure. . ."

Nasu. He was talking to Nasu. She looked taller, more mature. "I escaped Frieza's ship the night he tried to send me to his breeding pens. I've been running and hiding ever since. But what are you doing here?"

He grimaced. "Running and hiding, too. They're after the Prince. I have to warn him. But I don't know where he is."

Nasu smiled. "I may be able to help."

The dream shifted.

"It was him. I know it was him."

Nappa didn't want to believe. "They say it was a meteorite."

"You think the King couldn't have stopped a chunk of asteroid? You think Bardock couldn't have?"

"I heard. . . I heard my father was acting strange lately," said Radditz in a low voice.

Vegeta just shook his head angrily. "It was Frieza. I know it."

"But he promised us," Nappa whined.

"You trust in his word, Nappa? After all this time? You're a fool if you do."

Radditz looked at him, eyes uncommonly bright with unshed tears. "My brother was offworld on a mission. He's still alive. Maybe there were others. . ."

"Just one. Nasu. Zarbon said so."

"Well, there you go. You can marry her and repopulate another planet," Nappa said.

Radditz and Vegeta just looked at him.

Another shift. He was sitting next to Radditz on his friend's bed, listening to him vent. "He's not my brother anymore. Frieza owns him. Vegeta, I don't understand it! How did this happen?"

"I don't know."

"I can't stand to even look at him now. I don't know him. My own brother!"

They'd tried to win him back at first. They'd tried being reasonable, they'd tried being gentle. Then they'd yelled some, and tried to knock some sense into him. But even then they'd held back.

That was a mistake.

"You see. Attachments *are* weaknesses."

Yes. And *everyone* was a potential enemy.

The scene misted over, became mist and light. He was in a communal shower room on a ship flying toward Frieza's base. The mirrors were fogged over, but he wasn't looking in them anyway. He was looking down at the three bloody wounds scratched across his stomach. He was watching the blood seep down until it splashed on the floor. He supposed he should do something about it, but the room seemed so warm, and his body seemed so warm, and the blood was warm, too, so it all seemed right.

There were suddenly outraged squeals and shouts, and a number of men of all species trying to cover themselves up with towels. "Hey! You can't come in here!"

Nasu ignored them all in that disdainful way only Saiyans can seem to assume. "Vegeta-sama! Vegeta!"

He turned slowly at the sound of his name.

"You are injured, my Prince," she said softly in Saiyago. I am going to take you to the doctor."

"It's all right," he replied, smiling. "I was cold before."

She gave him a look of serious concern that changed quickly to determination. "Vegeta-sama, I have no doubt that one day you'll purge hell. But not today."

Blackness. Frieza's voice. "Vegeta, we're talking about hurting *you*."

Oh. Back to *that* dream. He couldn't wake up.

He'd been badly beaten. Now he was in a small, dark room. He was hanging from a pipe in the ceiling, strung up by his tail.

His feet were tied together, tied to his tail, and his arms were dangling to the floor, wrists tied, as well. His tail felt like it was on fire. He was weak and dizzy and in so much pain.

When the door opened, it was Frieza, smiling, with a rod in his hand. He knew he was going to be whipped.

Mercifully, the dream skipped the whipping, and he was being untied and lowered to the floor. Frieza had left. It was Kakkarot holding him now, and dreams had no mercy after all. No more than real life did.

Kakkarot was patting him on the cheek, forcing him back to consciousness. Vegeta knew what was coming next.

Stop, stop, his mind pleaded, and the picture was replaced with total blackness, lowering down like a veil. But then someone laughed.

"Ah. There you are. Thinking of me again, are you?" Blackness surrounded him. "You're not trying to hide from me, are you? You can't hide from a bond."

Terror built on all sides as the blackness closed in. "Frieza won't kill you, you know. Oh, he'll come close enough, but in the end. . . he's promised you to me."

Kakkarot was in front of him, right in front of him, and he couldn't move. "And I shall so enjoy having you." Kakkarot's smile truly was terrible.

With every last bit of his energy, Vegeta finally willed himself awake. He whimpered. He was reeling, so tired, and so afraid, and it was only 3:30, and he thought he might go insane.

Was Kakkarot really talking to him? Or was it just his imagining it all in a dream? Or was this time's Kakkarot putting it in his head somehow? He didn't know. He shuddered and sat up.

This Kakkarot had trained in 100 times gravity for a week and then gone Super Saiyan. All right.

So it was outside to the GR, be careful not to wake anyone, turn it on, let's try 60 Gs. OK. Stretch. How did you turn on those robots again? Must be that button there. Train.

Hito came in at 7:00 or so and gave him a weird look. Vegeta ignored him and downed another robot.

Hito grunted and walked over to the GR settings. It read 75. "You're monopolizing the room, brat. You've got the gravity too low."

Vegeta stopped and scowled darkly at him. "Turn it up then."

Hito hesitated, then put it on 100. Vegeta felt the increase in pressure around him and smirked at Hito. He wasn't in a particularly good mood, "Let's go."

Hito immediately smirked back and powered up.

"This is better, brat," he said after blows and kicks had rained furiously for awhile. "You were letting too much distract you from your training. All that bit with meeting girls. . ."

"You have a wife," Vegeta shot back at him, aiming a kick to Hito's head that only missed by centimeters. "I still can't figure out how that happened."

Hito snarled and didn't answer. Vegeta dodged a powered-down Gallic Gun attack. That was close. Sweat dripped into his eye and stung. He wiped it away, phasing out and behind Hito, bringing both fists around into his back. Hito just spun and grabbed his leg and swung him around into the wall.

Blood spurted out of his mouth. He spit it on the floor and jumped back up, ramming an elbow into Hito's stomach. Hito countered with a kick in the ribs. Vegeta stumbled back a few steps and fired the Big Bang Attack he'd learned yesterday. Hito batted it away and smirked. Vegeta's eyes narrowed. That was it. He was going down.

Only he couldn't seem to get an advantage. Hito had years more training and experience and a slight hint of recklessness that ignored times when other people would show caution. It gave him an edge.

Vegeta was becoming increasingly frustrated and battered. But he didn't believe in giving up. They kept fighting until around 11:30 when Bulma came knocking on the door and demanded that they come eat lunch. When they resisted, she said firmly, "Vegeta-chan, you're a growing boy and you need food. And Vegeta-san, you should be a good example. Now come."

So they went.

"Hey, Reina said you didn't want to go with us this Saturday," Trunks said over lamb stew.

Vegeta shrugged. "I have more important things to do."

"Like what?" Trunks looked insulted.

"Train."

"You corrupted him," Bulma accused Hito.

"He's just finally showing some true Saiyan qualities," Hito sniffed.

Vegeta's face blanked completely. What did he mean by that?

After lunch, it was back to the GR. Hito set the gravity at 115 this time. Vegeta welcomed it. He was going to go Super Saiyan or die trying.

________ ________ ________

A/N: OK, next chapter is the party. I know you've been waiting. Wait'll you see what happens between Vegeta and Goku. . .