Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Weakling ❯ Rebirth ( Chapter 1 )

Title: The Weakling

Author: Killarri

Email: killarri@yahoo.com

Rating: R

Warnings: Language

Disclaimer: Akira Toriyama, TOEI Animation, Viz, FUNimation, among others, own DBZ. This is merely fan work done out of love for the amazing characters that they created.

Special Thanks: Thank you bunches to Abby for betaing this for me!

The Weakling

Chapter One: Rebirth

"Woman!"

The enraged yell echoed throughout the yellow domed structure, through every room, and when it was heard by the blue-haired woman it was addressing, she rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath about asshole alien princes.

"WOMAN!"

The bellow was closer this time, coming from the landing at the base of the stairs, and with a heavy sigh, the large hardback novel slammed shut and Bulma stomped to her bedroom door. Yanking it open in her anger, she poked her head out into the hallway and yelled at the top of her lungs, "What do you want, monkey boy?!"

There was a loud growl followed immediately by the sound of heavy footfalls ascending the stairs. His face was set in a dark scowl, but that wasn't really surprising. Vegeta looked angry most of the time, and quite frankly if he didn't look pissed, Bulma would be concerned.

"That pile of scrap metal is broken, again." The statement was accompanied with a glare, and crossing his arms across his chest, he continued, "Fix it."

Bulma rolled her eyes and willed herself to be completely unaffected by the saiyan's intimidating glower. He was more bark than bite, or so she had convinced herself. "I'm busy." She informed him and then turned to go back into her room. It was Sunday, her only day off and she was not going to waste it slaving away fixing the gravity room for his royal pain-in-the-ass.

She wasn't surprised, turning to close the door, to see that Vegeta had followed her into the room, and if looks could kill she would be a smoldering corpse on the ground by now. But then again, it wouldn't take him much more than a look to accomplish that anyway. Bulma grew nervous at the reminder, but fought to keep it from showing openly. Instead she glared hoping that he would get the visual hint and leave.

He didn't though. He just glanced around the room. "You don't look busy," he commented lowly, and then turned to her smirking. "Unless you consider sitting on your fat ass busy."

Bulma's fists clenched at her sides, and she ground her teeth in anger. What she wouldn't give to wipe that blasted smirk from his face. She briefly imagined the elation she would feel if she could give into the overwhelming urge to deck him. But a move like that was at the very least stupid and would probably better be characterized as suicide. Vegeta had destroyed entire worlds without thought. One little weak earth woman would be no trouble at all for him.

"It's Sunday." She informed him simply, letting her irritation with him shine through in her voice. "It's my only day off and I'm not doing shit."

The smirk faded and the icy glare returned. "You will fix it." He growled menacingly and Bulma didn't miss the threat behind the statement.

"No." She returned stubbornly. It was all bravado; inside Bulma was slowly growing terrified of the angry alien in front of her. He could end her life with a finger, but she still refused to back down. She was Bulma Briefs damnit! She would not be ordered around in her own home!

In a movement so fast she didn't see it, he was across the room and standing directly in front of her. One hand enclosed her neck in a firm but not painful hold, and he lifted her body a couple of inches above the ground. She was beyond terrified now and displayed it openly by thrashing wildly in his grip.

"The only reason you are breathing right now, woman, is because you repair that machine. As long as you continue to do so, you'll remain with the living. But if you refuse, then you'll enjoy the rest of your day off from the afterlife." At the last part of the hissed threat, his hold tightened around her neck, not enough to crush it, but just enough to be slightly painful.

Bulma stopped trying to dislodge herself from the saiyan's grasp; it was only making things worse. The only hope at getting out of the situation was to try and reason with him. "Who will fix the gravity room for you if you do?" She asked calmly, though it was difficult to keep her voice from trembling in her terror. She was, after all, literally staring death in the face.

"I could always get the old man to." He replied referring to her father.

"He wouldn't if you killed me. Then you'd be forced to kill him too, and Goku wouldn't stand for that." At the reference to the other saiyan, Vegeta's hold tightened to more than painful. Still, she pressed on, "The only way…to kill him would be….to destroy the planet."

A cold smirk crept onto his face as he said, "That would save me the trouble of waiting for the androids, wouldn't it? Now, are you going to fix the fucking machine or not, woman?"

Bulma nodded, unable to manage a verbal response since she couldn't breathe. He released her and she dropped to the floor coughing. A few tears leaked from her eyes unnoticed and a hand tenderly massaged the sore place on her neck as she recovered from her latest brush with death. Damnit! Why did she have to antagonize him like that? It wasn't very smart telling the second strongest being on the planet to go to hell, especially when that someone was as volatile and dangerous as Vegeta.

"I'll expect it fixed in an hour." He didn't even spare a glance at the huffing woman on the floor and strode from the room, shutting the door behind him.

Rage filled her as she stared at the closed door. There wasn't any good in him at all, like she had first believed-had wanted to believe. He really was the heartless killer that Yamcha had warned he was. Kami, she would give anything to be able to just sock that son of a bitch and wipe that smug self-satisfied expression from his face. But even if she could hit him, it wouldn't do any damage. About the only thing that could damage a saiyan was another saiyan.

Her eyes widened as the beginnings of a brilliant plan formed in her mind. A smile crept onto her face as her mind furiously worked out the details. It could work and she was sure that Goku wouldn't mind helping her. With a new found determination, she headed out to the GR. She needed to hurry up and get it fixed for her asshole houseguest and then she would be able to plan her revenge.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

All those who encountered the Saiyan Prince stomping through the Capsule Corporation grounds quickly ran the other way after catching sight of the positively murderous expression on his face. He was absolutely livid. How dare that mouthy blue-haired wench disrespect him like that? There was nothing-NOTHING-more important than his training. If the bitch wanted to live when the androids showed up in two years, then she needed to get that fact through her thick head.

Normally, when he was this angry because of that blasted woman he could go and vent his frustration in the gravity room. But since the inferior, human-built hunk of junk was broken, Vegeta decided to settle for blasting the shit out of a part of this Kami-forsaken planet. In a burst of blue ki, he took to the air and pouring on the speed quickly arrived at the small deserted island he'd discovered some months ago.

The short flight had done wonders to clear the rage from his mind, and in hindsight, Vegeta was beginning to regret his decision to frighten the woman into submission. She was one of the few people on the planet that didn't cower when he approached. He intentionally goaded her into screaming matches; her quick, wry mind nearly matched his own and sometimes, she could be so saiyan like with her insults.

And now, she would surely be afraid of him.

He told himself that it didn't matter what the woman thought of him. He was the Saiyan Prince; he could do no wrong. And he didn't care what one loud-mouth, bitchy earth woman thought of him. Once Kakarott and the androids were destroyed, the pathetic mud ball known as Earth would be next.

He spent the next hour and a half blasting the hell out of rock formations on a couple islands and as much as he tried to reassure himself that he didn't care, he still felt guilt for making the fiery woman hate him. He didn't want her to hate him, and that fact annoyed the Prince to no end. He couldn't care for her. He refused to, and silently resolved to avoid her from now on as he took to the air and headed back to the yellow domed building that had become his home.

The gravity room was fixed when he returned and the woman nowhere in sight. Vegeta frowned fractionally as that observation brought on more guilt for treating her so badly earlier. He ignored it though and instead entered the small structure. He was training to save her fucking planet after all-though it was really a moot point since he was going to destroy it himself afterwards but none of them knew that-and she could at least fix the damn machine.

It didn't really matter much anyway. In two years, the Earth would be destroyed, either at his hands or the androids, and he wouldn't have to worry about that blue-haired wench.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Two days after the encounter with Vegeta all the preparations were in order. Bulma had secured a month long vacation from work, the capsule house was ready and all the essential capsules were packed, and Goku was more than happy to help her, volunteering to gather the dragon balls for her instead of doing it together as she had suggested. It was much faster for Goku to get them on his own since he could fly and all. Hell, with that new instant whatever thingy he learned in space, he could just teleport to any large concentration of people near where the radar indicated a ball.

If the only way to damage a saiyan was to be one, then so be it. No matter what it took, Bulma was going to show that jackass that she was not one to be messed with. Her plan was simple: use the dragon balls and ask Shenron to make her a saiyan. There were still two years before the androids were scheduled to arrive and she could use a wish now and the balls would be active again by the time they showed up. Simply being a saiyan wouldn't be enough, however, so Bulma asked Goku to train her and thus she secured a month away from Capsule Corporation to dedicate to that. She even had a spare GR that she'd built for Vegeta ready to use.

And when she returned from her month long vacation, she would be a force to be reckoned with. Hopefully it would be enough to knock that smug son of a bitch down a peg or two. She held no illusions of winning any battle with Vegeta, the man had been training his whole life and there was no way she could top that in a month. All Bulma really wanted was to prove that she wasn't as weak or useless as he thought. Well, that and just to be able to hit the bastard. She thought with a small cackle.

Smiling deviously, she headed out to the gravity room to announce dinner when she walked right into an orange-garbed brick wall and fell roughly to the ground. The aforementioned brick wall, also known as Goku, smiled sheepishly and extended a hand to help her up, which she took with a smile. The full blue satchel on his shoulder caught her attention, and she squealed, "You got them all!"

"Yup." Goku replied cheerfully, patting the full bag.

Bulma clasped her hands together and hopped up and down in her excitement. Seconds later, she realized exactly what she was doing and stopped immediately with the beginnings of a crimson blush spreading across her cheeks. I have been spending way too much time around Mom. She thought, laughing nervously. "Anyway," she began, more than a little embarrassed, "I was just going to tell Vegeta that dinners ready. Go on in and get some before he comes in."

Goku's smile grew wider at the promise of food. "Thanks, Bulma."

"Just be sure to put that," she gestured towards the full blue satchel, "somewhere where Prince Always-Pissed-Off won't find it."

"No problem," he replied before taking off in a flash towards the main house.

Some things never change. Bulma thought with a light giggle. Through everything-marriage, the revelation of his extraterrestrial origins, protecting Earth from tyrants bent on world domination or its destruction-Goku was pretty much the same sweet, innocent, loveable boy that she met all those years ago, on her very first dragon ball hunt. It was comforting; as long as he was there, they could always meet the next challenge head on.

Should she have even asked Goku to help her get revenge? Everyone needed this time to prepare for the androids arrival. Could he even afford to take a month to train her for nothing more than petty revenge? What if she was putting their future at risk, just to prove a point to that pig-headed, arrogant ass?

Stubbornly, she shook the doubt from her mind. Goku said he didn't mind helping her, and he seemed genuinely happy to do it. More importantly, she needed to do this. For some reason, she didn't want Vegeta to think of her as weak. She may be weak, physically, but she was strong in will and mind. There was more to a person than just physical strength, although he didn't think so. Bulma was tired of being ordered around like a servant in her own home. She was tired of catering to the spoiled Prince's whims, and lastly, she was tired of being intimidated by him.

Bulma Briefs was not weak, and she intended to prove that fact.

The gravity room was silent, and frowning slightly, she entered the metal structure to find that it was indeed vacant. Now where was he? He wasn't in his room which had been the first place she checked. Well, I don't have time to search all over for his stupid ass, she thought exiting the metal room. Once outside, she drew in a deep breath and released it screaming, "VEGETA!"

Moments later, an annoyed looking prince dropped down from the branches of a nearby tree. Bulma grinned in spite of herself, happy to give him even a fraction of the grief that he gave her. "Dinner's ready." She informed him, giddiness making its way into her tone. She couldn't help it. In a few short hours, her vacation would begin and even though it wasn't exactly a vacation-or technically a working one-the thought of getting away from work, Vegeta, and just the world in general for a while was exciting. Nothing could ruin her good mood.

"Did you cook it?" He asked snidely, probably trying to bait her into an argument.

Not gonna work, Chimp boy, she thought, sticking her tongue out. "Nope, actually my mom made it."

"Such immaturity from you," he chided, smirking, "I would expect more from you than such childish retorts."

Childish, huh? Perhaps she saw a challenge in that comment. Perhaps it was just her incredibly good mood. Or maybe she was just really giddy and on a sugar high courtesy of a package of licorice she'd been munching on at work earlier. Whatever it was, the incredible need to be extremely childish took hold of her, and she set off towards the house, skipping. She passed Vegeta on the way, skipping. She skipped all the way to the kitchen, and then she skipped around the kitchen, grabbing a plate of food, and skipped to the table to sit across from Goku.

"What's with you?" He asked and the look on his face clearly said he though she was insane.

"Just in a good mood." She replied with a slight shrug.

"A good enough mood to act like a preteen?"

"Yup." She giggled while Goku began eating again, at a near record pace. "I'm just really excited about this vacation, that's all." She sighed, pushing her food around on the plate with her fork. "Things have just been real hectic around here for a while and some time away will do me good."

"This isn't going to be a picnic you know." Goku pointedly reminded her. "You're going to have to work really hard if you want to do this."

"I know. I've really wanted to do something like this for a while." At his disbelieving look, she amended, "Well, learn to fight anyway. I mean, Namek wouldn't have been so bad for me if I knew how to fly and shoot energy blasts and things like that. I'm sick of being the weak, worthless one that everyone has to protect."

"You're not worthless, Bulma." Goku sighed.

She dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand. The only reason she wasn't completely worthless was because of her inventions. But when the bad guys showed up, she was always left cowering in fear. She could never help her friends. While they fought and died to protect earth, she was always left behind, watching them, praying for them. "No, I'm not," she agreed reluctantly, "but I'm about to get a lot more useful."

"Well I hope you don't mind, but I told Piccolo about your situation."

"And?"

"And he suggested trading off-he trains you, I train Gohan and switching off like that."

"Why?" She questioned, a little uncomfortable with the idea. Piccolo still kind of freaked her out. It wasn't that long ago when he wanted to kill Goku and take over the world and though he was officially a good guy, she still couldn't help but be intimidated by his presence. Hah! This is coming from someone who lives with the prince of evil psychotic aliens.

"Well, it's just that…" he began sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in the classic Goku way, "you need to be toughened up a bit before any actual combat training, and he's better at that than I am."

"Do I have to?" She whined playfully. It didn't really matter to her. If she could get used to Vegeta's presence in her home, then she could deal with Piccolo training her.

"If you want to have any chance in a fight with Vegeta, yeah."

"Fine." She replied with a mock-pout. "Speaking of Vegeta, where is he? It doesn't usually take him this long to come in to eat."

Goku only shrugged eyeing her half finished plate. "You going to eat that?"

Giggling, she pushed it over to him. At first she sat back in her chair, watching with morbid fascination as her best friend shoveled each bite in his mouth at a blinding speed, managing to get crumbs all over himself and the table. It was like passing a car accident. You know you shouldn't look, but you're unable to stop yourself. After a few moments, that got boring and she walked across the room to the counter where her purse lay and rummaged through it until she found a hard, red colored cardboard box and a purple lighter. Upon opening the box, she frowned noticing only three cigarettes were left and filing a mental note away to buy another pack, she extracted one and lit it, then drew a small puff and exhaled it with a sigh.

"And another thing," Goku said heading over to her. He took the lit cigarette and snuffed it out in the ashtray, then took the box out of her hand and crumbled it, "No smoking."

"No smoking?"

"And no more caffeine."

"No caffeine?" She repeated dumbly. That meant no morning coffee. "No coffee?" She asked hopeful that he would remember just how much she loved the stuff.

"No coffee."

Bulma sighed, leaning against the counter despondently. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Could she really live without cigarettes, coffee, and a ton of other modern conveniences for four weeks? She had always been a pampered girl, growing up in one of the richest families in the world could do that to you. She'd never enjoyed camping, or the great outdoors, or hell, even sports. Why was she going to do this again?

As if on cue, the answer to her question sauntered into the room, that damn confident smirk plastered on to his face like it was ninety-percent of the time. Oh yeah, that's why she was doing this. Because that man aggravated her to no end and she wanted to kick his ass. And anything she had to give up would be worth it.

"Hey Vegeta!" Goku greeted happily, either obvious to the murderous glare Vegeta sent his way or ignoring it. Either way he was ignored as Vegeta walked right past him to get his dinner then sat at the table as far away from the other saiyan as he could possibly get.

Bulma rolled her eyes from her perch against the counter. Kami, Vegeta's attitude was seriously beginning to grate on her last nerve. Why did I ever invite him here anyway? She asked herself. All he ever does is complain, eat, and break my inventions. "Whatever." She grumbled under her breath, determined to keep her good mood. "Hey Goku, ready to go?"

"Oh, yup, I'm done." He grinned and stood, carrying his dirty dishes to the sink. "Thanks for dinner."

"No problem." She responded automatically. "Hey! Don't forget the bag!" She called out as he exited the room.

"Oh yeah!" He replied, turning around. "I kind of forgot." He chuckled and Bulma thought she saw the barest hint of crimson tainting his cheeks, but it was gone moments later. Still chuckling, he ascended the stairs throwing a goodbye to Vegeta over his back.

Bulma also made her way to the stairs, but stopped short of them and turned to address the other occupant of the room. "Don't blow yourself up while I'm on vacation."

"Why? Would the woman miss me?"

"Hardly," she replied with a light laugh. "I just want to be here to see it."

His smug look dissolved into an intense scowl, and Bulma laughed again in her victory. She winked at him, feeling a brief moment of satisfaction when his angry mask gave way to confusion, and turned, bounding up the steps two at a time. She just needed to get her capsule case and things from her room, and then she'd be on her way. Opening the door, Bulma saw Goku standing in the middle of the room, staring at the blue satchel lying on the chair next to her bed.

"What's wrong?"

He scratched the back of his head, his features clearly bewildered. "I could've sworn I put it underneath your bed."

Bulma shrugged and opened the bag. One…two…three…four…five…six…seven . "Well, they're all here." She stated handing him the bag. "Maybe you just thought you put it under the bed but didn't." She grabbed her capsule case, already stocked with clothes, a capsule house, an air car, a couple air bikes, and the extra gravity room she would be using. "Ready to go?"

Goku nodded, grabbing her arm with one hand while placing to fingers to his forehead. In a few moments, they air thinned out around them, and they disappeared.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once night had fully descended on the sleepy wooded area where Goku made his home, Bulma stood in front of seven glowing dragon balls, ready to make her wish. Goku stood next to her, and Chi Chi and Gohan were also outside ready to witness Bulma undergo the transformation from human to saiyan. With the moment finally at hand, she had to admit she was a little nervous. Still she wasn't going to let a little nervousness turn her back now so she gathered a deep breath and in an even tone said, "Eternal dragon, by your name I summon you forth, Shenron!"

No matter how many times she'd seen Shenron in all his glory, Bulma couldn't help but be awe-stricken each time. They'd chosen to call the dragon at night to keep it as inconspicuous as possible. As dense as Vegeta could be sometimes, he would probably notice if the sky darkened during the day and make the connection. But even with the time of day, Bulma could only hope that the lightening that preceded the dragon's arrival wouldn't be noticeable all the way at C.C.

"Who has awakened me from my slumber?" The dragon's voice boomed. "I will grant you any one wish."

Bulma gulped and stepped forward. "I wish to be a saiyan with the strength of an elite soldier."

There was a slight pause, and in that moment, Bulma nervously held her breath hoping that the wish was within the dragon's power to grant. "It shall be done." Shenron said before his eyes glowed red and a circle of bright, white light surrounded her.

Bulma's sigh of relief quickly turned into a scream as her whole body was engulfed with intense pain. She fell to the ground on hands and knees, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth against the pain. She could feel the bones in her body elongating and strengthening. After a few moments, the pain centered on the base of her spine, and a few tears leaked from her eyes as a furry, azure tail sprouted from her backside. All pain faded after that and she was left on the ground, panting. Once she caught her breath, she stood, a little wobbly at first because of the tail. Finally daring enough to open her eyes, she immediately noticed the difference, the heightened senses of a saiyan made it much easier to see accurately in the dark, and she vaguely noted that she could also hear better than before also.

Hesitantly, she turned towards her friends with a slight smile and asked, "What do you think?"

Goku circled around her, hand on chin and a thoughtful frown on his face. "Well, you don't really look that different besides the tail. Your hair is a bit stiffer and your ki jumped a lot, but other than that you seem about the same."

"Oh shit! Do you think Vegeta can feel my ki too?"

Goku shrugged, "Only if he was really paying attention to it."

Bulma sighed in relief. "Good, I don't want anything to tip him off about this."

"I'll make sure to let Piccolo know that you need to learn how to suppress your ki first."

"You know," Chi Chi began with a sleepy Gohan at her side, "I don't see why you want to do this in the first place Bulma."

"I just want to prove to that arrogant jerk that I am not as weak and helpless as he thinks."

Chi Chi eyed her shrewdly, "And why do you give two shits what Vegeta thinks of you?"

Bulma opened her mouth to reply and then shut it, realizing that she really didn't have one. Why did she care what Vegeta thought anyway? "I don't know." She replied honestly after a few moments.

"Whatever." Was Chi Chi's only reply as she bent down slightly to ruffle her son's hair affectionately. "Ready to go to bed, Gohan?" She smiled as the child sleepily nodded and then glanced at her husband. "You coming to bed too?"

Goku yawned and then nodded, following his wife and son inside their home.

"Night you guys." Bulma called before heading off to the capsule house she'd set up temporarily a few feet from their house. Since Vegeta did come out here occasionally to spar with Goku, she would be taking residence about a mile away for the duration of her training.

Her training.

The thought brought a smile to her face as she changed into her nightgown and snuggled underneath the blankets on her bed. It was going to be a lot of hard work, but the end result would be well worth it. Even if she never got strong enough to be able to take on Vegeta, she'd at least be able to protect herself, and the piece of mind that came with that was worth giving up smoking and even coffee. And so Bulma finally drifted off to sleep, that smile still lighting up her face.

So how was that? This idea's been floating around in my head for a while so I finally decided to write it. As always, all comments are appreciated. If you want to flame, go ahead. I just laugh at them so all it does is serve to amuse me and make my review count go up. ^_~

Next time: Boot camp Piccolo-style! Will our beautiful, blue-haired genius survive?