Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Dusty Trail ❯ 2 1/2 Weeks ( Chapter 1 )

I do not own Dragonball/Z/GT. All characters and their likenesses are property of Akira Toriyama, Bird Studio, Viz, and everyone else with official licenses that were paid for by a ton of moolah. I'm just a fan, and my writings, artwork, and intermittent ramblings are in no way meant to harm, discredit, or defame the genius of Mr. Toriyama. It's just for fun and creativity's sake. I make no money off of it, and I don't expect anyone else is either. I do however own my lame jokes, overused clichés and unoriginal storylines.

Steal them and die! Now, on with the show!

*******

Time passes slowly for the wandering soul. Ever on a journey, never finding its path. Long days turn into longer nights as the spirit searches endlessly for a sign that it is headed in the right direction. On a journey in the precarious desert that is life, the roaming spirit becomes blinded by its goal and will shrivel and die in the blistering sun unless it discovers the old trodden road…or perhaps…a traveling companion.

*******

The Dusty Trail

Chapter One

Two-and-a-half Weeks

`Damn.' She was walking over to him again. Why could she not just leave him be? He did not need supervision; he needed to train. And he trained ALONE. Resuming his katas on the Capsule Corporation grounds, Vejiita tried to ignore the insane woman who felt the need to bother him at the most inappropriate times…meaning, of course, always.

"My, you're up early this morning, Vejiita-kun!" chirped Mrs. Briefs with her usual cheerfulness. It made him sick.

"I am less likely to run into distractions this way," he mumbled. Distractions like the vulgar woman's mother, for one. What the hell was she doing up so soon, anyway? It could not be much later than daybreak!

"Oh, you and your `distractions'! Come inside, I made you some breakfast! It's your favorite!" she exclaimed, winking mirthfully at him. As if on cue, his stomach began to assert itself with a low rumble. Damn weakness. As if the Briefs woman could even fathom his true `favorite' meal…

"Goodness me! You must be famished!"

Fine. It was not as if he was unused to the blatant lack of respect by now, anyway. This fool was not worth the energy it took to berate her for her insolence. Grumbling under his breath about inane Earth creatures, Vejiita turned on his heel and followed his bubbly hostess into the Capsule Corp. building.

*******

"Bulma, sweetie! Come to breakfast!" crooned the bouncy woman into the intercom at the foot of the stairs. Vejiita just snorted and continued to fill his face. The woman's mother was a very good cook, and though she usually irritated him enough to blow his own head to bits, he did respect her skills enough in this area to let her live. That, and she had quite a rack.

"….just five more minutes….zzz…" came the lazy reply.

"Bulma. Sweetness. GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED THIS INSTANT AND COME DOWN TO BREAKFAST!!"

Shocked by the sudden outburst from the woman he considered a total flake, Vejiita nearly choked on the four pieces of bacon, two fried eggs, and crust of toast he had jammed in his maw. Raising an eyebrow, he looked over to the woman's father whose nose was buried in the financial section of the morning paper. `He is either hiding, totally engrossed in that `stock market' contraption…or this is completely normal…' Vejiita unconsciously shivered at the thought. It appeared as though he was going to be in for some deep meditation this evening if that was indeed the case.

It had only been a little over two weeks since he and the revived Nameks had been wished to the Earthling's home planet, Chickyuu, from the exploding home of the green goblins, Namekusei. He had been invited to stay with the Briefs family, but he was still unsure as to why. Perhaps the atmosphere on this planet made beings inherently stupid. Judging by Kakarotto's behavior as well as that of the indigenous life forms he had come across, he did not doubt that possibility in the least. He had yet to find a sane member of the species. He only hoped whatever the strange plague was, that it was not catching.

The Saiyajin Prince was no stranger to various multitudes of worlds and cultures. His job demanded that he do a great deal of sight-seeing, but he never spent enough time on a world to come to know any one culture to such a degree as he was learning this one. Vejiita was still acclimating himself to the Earthling concept "hospitality" that was so readily on display by the elder Briefs woman. He was so used to hostility when it came to his presence on any planet, that anytime someone tried to assist him, he would automatically go on the defensive. Vejiita was only now becoming used to the wench's mother. Her prattling about and sparkling nature seemed to be truly genuine, and he could sniff out no malice from her. Though startling to say the least, her sudden outburst did not cause his view of the female to waver. It was much too amusing to watch.

Vejiita sat back in his chair and swallowed the last of his breakfast, crossed his arms and waited for what he hoped would be some post-meal entertainment. Smirking slightly, he took in Bulma's mussed, yawning glare as she tromped down the stairs, slipping on the final one in her tired state, and nearly falling on her face. `This will be fun.'

"Good morning, sweetie. Can I get you some pancakes?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," the younger woman managed to get out through a yawn. Vejiita grimaced as his nose picked up on the lovely fact that the harpy had not yet brushed her teeth.

"Bulma, you do remember what today is, right?" queried her mother.

"Um…yeah, sure. It's the big shareholder's meeting in East City. Vejiita, would you stop looking at me like that?"

Vejiita merely snorted in reply and continued to scrutinize the woman, thoroughly enjoying the look of disgust shot back at him. Dr. Briefs interrupted his revelry by focusing his daughter's attention back to her mundane job. "Bulma, do you remember what time that shareholder's meeting is?"

"Yeah, dad, it's at eight. It's a day seminar complete with a catered luncheon. Why?"

"Look at your watch."

"6:37"

"And how long does it take to get to East City?"

"An hour with the turbos."

"Giving you…"

"About 20 minutes."

Doctor Briefs went back to reading his newspaper as his wife gathered dishes to load into the dishwasher. Vejiita simply stared at the barely-awake woman and smiled to himself as he waited for the supposed "genius" synapses in the girl's brain to start firing. It took Bulma at the very least 45 minutes to get herself presentable enough to acquire provisions, let alone prepare for an important business meeting. `This should be good.' Blinking in sudden comprehension, Bulma did not disappoint the Saiyajin Prince.

"Oh, SHIT! Mom, can you wrap up a bagel for me to go or something? I gotta shower, change, get the specs on the new solar hybrid engine together…" Bulma rambled on as she hurried back up the stairs, flailing her arms in a harried flourish.

"AND BRUSH YOUR TEETH, WOMAN! YOUR STENCH IS REPULSIVE!" Vejiita bellowed around an entertained grin.

"SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLE! I'd still smell better than you even if I was wrapped in garbage and slept at the city morgue!"

Ever amused, yet growing a bit irritated by her insolence, Vejiita lowered his voice a few hundred decibels and purred just loud enough for the female to hear, "That can be arranged easily…and with much enjoyment on my part…woman." Vejiita grinned to himself as he caught no response from the Earthling. He could hear no movement from her last position at the top of the stairs, nor could he even hear her sputtering for a reply. He must have truly scared her. `What fun.' He waited silently for the woman to snap, when he was drawn out of his reverie by a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Now, Vejiita-kun. That wasn't very nice of you," Mrs. Briefs scolded him, brandishing a wooden spoon in her delicate fingers. "I think you should apologize to her when she gets back from her meeting."

Staring into the face of the female enigma incredulously, Vejiita simply gave her a "hmph" in reply, his own fine-tuned senses not even registering the gentle caress of her fingers on the nape of his neck, so great was his confusion at her demeanor. Apologize? HIM?! Does she not know who he is? That he can break her in two with a thought? Looking at her strange, vacuous expression, he silently concluded that perhaps she represented the most idiotic of the species. Perhaps that was why she acted so kind to him, a known, reputable killer who enjoyed his work for god's sake. Hell, had he not even, inadvertently, killed her daughter's mate? Belatedly shrugging the strange woman's hand from him, he watched as she gave him a wink before turning back to the stairwell.

"GET MOVING BULMA! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" the elder Briefs woman shrieked. Yes, this was going to be a long day.

*******

After a quick shower and change of clothing, the Saiyajin Prince decided to take his training elsewhere than Capsule Corp. If it was not the Doctor trying to prod him for his bodily fluids, mumbling about some sort of "alien autopsy" show he had seen, then it was Mrs. Briefs offering him tea and crumpets everywhere he turned. While he was never one to turn down a free meal, the elder Briefs woman's attentions to his posterior tended to get tiring very fast.

Flying slowly over the lush, blue planet, Vejiita absently wondered if his own ever looked this beautiful in flight. He could only remember flashes of that blood-red orb, as even before he was handed over to Freeza, merely an impudent whelp, he did not see much of it. As royalty demanded, he was usually off on some other world with his father for diplomatic reasons. Of course, Saiyajin diplomacy usually involved large outbursts of ki and exploding civilizations. In hindsight, he had known that the Saiyajin, including the King himself, were nothing but pawns to that bastard, Freeza…though it would take nearly a decade for him to admit as such.

`Reflecting on the past is not one of the best ways to utilize your time,' he berated himself, yet Vejiita could not quell the memories from seeping to the surface of his consciousness. It seemed harder to block them the longer he stayed here… His entire race had been reduced to ashes, save himself and that half-breed abomination of Kakarotto's, and all because of that cold-blooded lizard he called "master" for over 20 years. How could he have been so blind? His race was despised for its power and ruthlessness. But Freeza…he used that power. The Saiyajin were his hands and feet for generations, and he himself was the embodiment of the collective pride of his people. The purest warrior ever produced from Vejiitasei. Freeza's prize student. Yet his people were betrayed. It was all a lie. The alliance of empires was not born out of a respect for the Saiyajin might as he had long believed true. No. His father had lied to him. The Saiyajin were slaves, plain and simple. Why? Because they had no choice. Damn Freeza to Hell! They should have died FIGHTING, not massacred like…like…

Feh. Who was he trying to fool? The Saiyajin were dead because of his own weakness. HE was supposed to be the "legendary", not some tailless moron who grew up on a planet he was supposed to have decimated. HE should have been the one to restore the nobility of his house, the pride of his people. But no, it had to be Kakarotto. The third-class loser. The only truly free Saiyajin ever to have lived under the darkness of the Kold Empire's reign.

In a small way Vejiita was grateful to the other Saiyajin for destroying the little prick, but he also abhorred him for it. Vejiita finally had his freedom from Freeza, but now he was stuck on this backwater mudball of a planet that constantly reminded him of his failures. He was a slave yet again…a slave to his memories. Memories of past indignities; past shame. For the first time since his death at the hand of his "master", he was beginning to feel something other than hatred and blind madness, and he did not like it. He was now a slave to his own mind and the one thing he thought had died with him when Freeza punctured his heart with a lone bolt of ki. Fear.

It was not courtesy or gratefulness that kept him from destroying Chickyuu and all its inhabitants. No, it was fear. Fear of having nowhere else to go, nobody to turn to. He had never really been truly alone in his life. Indeed, he was not the most social creature, yet he always had his comrades…even if they did make him want to smash their faces in. Even on Namekusei when he was searching for the Dragonballs, he didn't feel alone. He was so wrapped up in getting the edge on Freeza, that he didn't have the time to feel anything but hatred and bloodlust. By the time he did have time to think, he had made reluctant comrades in Baldy and Kakarotto's brat. Then he had faced Freeza himself. What had he been thinking? Vengeance? He knew he could not possibly beat the alien, did he not?

"Delusional," muttered the Prince darkly to himself as he continued musing, his flight taking him over a vast expanse of water. It didn't matter now what he had thought that day. Freeza was dead and it was at a Saiyajin's hand, as he had requested. He was now the strongest warrior in the universe and had a whole planet to lord it over, should he so desire. So why was he not doing so? Was this not all he ever wanted? To rule instead of being ruled? Was this not what he was bred for? No…Vejiita no Ouji was dead, killed in a grand explosion seen throughout the cosmos as but a meteor shower. He would simply try to ignore his useless emotions as he often had in the past and finally enjoy this new "freedom" he had longed for, fought so hard for. Quietly. Unobtrusively. Until he died here, virtually unknown.

Vejiita didn't realize where he was going until his feet gently scraped over the dry ground of a sparse desert. Looking around, the Saiyajin pulled up to land and caught sight of a glorious sunset behind rocky bluffs in the distance. Too exhausted mentally and physically to bother flying anywhere else more inviting, Vejiita sat cross-legged on the arid land and watched the last vestiges of the sun's rays glide over it, before finally closing his eyes and succumbing to his body's aching need for rest.

*******

"Bulma, have you seen that nice, young man around?" chirped Mrs. Briefs as she walked into the living area, watering can in hand, to tend to her plants.

Hmph. Nice, young man indeed… "No, mom. I haven't seen him since you threatened him with your spoon yesterday. I think you scared him off," replied the younger Briefs woman. Honestly, sometimes she believed she was adopted. Of course, her mom didn't watch the TV much, so it wasn't like she knew the kind of destruction Saiyajins were capable of. But still, she didn't have to treat the little monkey like one of the family.

"Oh, do you think so? I hope not! He's such a sweet boy. Maybe while you're waiting for Yamcha to get back from Spring Training, you should take him out to a movie, or even the amusement park! He always seems so grouchy. Maybe seeing the sights will do him some good!" exclaimed the bubbly woman.

"Mom, I don't think even plastic surgery could take out that scowl." Bulma found herself fighting once again with her own mind, wondering if she should finally tell her mother that Yamcha wasn't really at Spring Training with the Taitans. The news of his death at the hands of the Saiyajins would no doubt break the woman's heart as well as potentially make her terrified of their houseguest. The last thing she wanted to see was her mother terrified. Just the thought of what happened last time her father's kitty spooked Mrs. Briefs was enough to send a shiver down Bulma's spine.

"Well, if he doesn't come back soon, he's going to miss out on my specialty chocolate chip cookies. I know! Maybe if I make a batch now, he'll come running! That boy always seems to know when I'm baking something yummy."

"Yeah mom, maybe…" Watching her mother twirl about the room, getting more water on the carpet than on her plants, Bulma sighed. `I bet Piccolo would call mom's gardening skills a waste of good food. Maybe I'll pay him a visit. I suppose that he could sense where Vejiita is,' she thought, watching her overly-cheerful parent skip out of sight and into the kitchen where the banging of bakeware began to ring forth. `If nothing else, it would make mom happy.'

"Bulma honey! Run out to the store and buy another ten pounds of butter!" called out her mother's voice from the other side of the adjoining wall.

"Why? How many cookies are you baking?!"

"Fifty dozen!"

Bulma sighed again and got up, shaking her head and heading for the elevator that would take her to the indoor garden in Capsule Corp. where the refugee Nameks resided. `Yeah. Piccolo. If for nothing else than to keep my sanity.'

*******

Ok, if anyone here has read anything else I've written before, I'm sure you're used to long, LONG waits between chapters. I apologize in advance for anyone who gets hooked on my story, because I only write chapters as I have time/am inspired to do so. At last check, I haven't had either for about a year. But in response to Mia Skywalker's challenge to write a B/V with the characters non-AU and completely following canon, I decided to get off my expanding ass and try my hand at it. If you see any glaringly wrong (and happen to have documented PROOF that I'm wrong…canon, NOT FANON) sections, by all means, let me know. I really want to try staying IC as much as possible. Flame me, though, and I'll just laugh at you. Ja!