Disclaimer: I realize the necessity of these things and, liking the five dollars I have in my possession, will gladly tell you I do not own Dragonball Z. Akira Toriyama, who probably reads these and chuckles, has that honor. He has reaped the benefits of his genius and now sits in luxury…. Oh well, I'll be famous someday…. I will!

Beaten by mere Earthlings, Prince Vegeta is now stuck on Earth, forced to endure the care of a blue-haired heiress who dares to disrespect him. Elsewhere, Frieza makes his move to Namek, unhindered as he gathers the dragonballs to wish for his immortality. This does not look good….

Prologue

Vegeta grunted, his breath coming in short yet sweet huffs, each one that left him seeming his last. He clung to those breaths as they indicated he lived even as he cursed them for the shooting pain they left in his chest. He figured that every rib had broken when the kid had landed on him. If he'd been fully Oozaru and not in between boy-size and Oozaru-size, Vegeta was sure he would not have survived.

He tried to move his right hand, grunting in agony as the appendage twitched painfully but did not budge. The child had managed to land with his still huge shoulder on that arm, breaking it cleanly. Well, Vegeta supposed it wasn't that clean since he could see bone sticking out of the torn skin. The other arm wouldn't move at all; he couldn't even feel it. He dully heard baldy mumble something about him not being dead and gritted his teeth, determined to make the bald one's words more than true.

His arm, however, was not cooperating. He squinted one eye, the other closed over the wound Kakarott had managed to inflict, feeling the fingers of his hand twitch and grunting with the effort of cursing these Earthlings. He, the Prince of all Saiyans, had been beaten. He had been stronger than every single one of the weaklings that were still alive and breathing around him. They had simply used their numbers and their loyalty to their planet to tire him out. By the time the child had gone Oozaru, he was so weakened that he could only form enough power to create the disk he had seen baldy make and fling it at the tail, severing it completely from the boy's body. He couldn't even move out of the way as the boy's huge form settled on top of him, sending him crashing down with it.

He felt a twinge of regret for having to cut off any Saiyan's tail, even a demi-Saiyan. It was the boy's only tie to his legacy and he himself had just felt the stabbing pain of losing his own. However, it had been a matter of survival, plus the fact that the boy knew next to nothing about his heritage. Vegeta thought bitterly that it hadn't hurt half as much as it should have for the boy.

As he watched the bald one approach him, picking up that fat guy's sword on the way, he reflected that this was not the time to have such thoughts. He again strained his arm up, bending the elbow and causing his breath to come out in rapid and shallow gasps. However, his arm refused to move further and the shooting pain told of possible muscle damage. The arm thumped back down to the dirt he lay on, now as useless as the other.

Krillin limped over to the fallen Saiyan, hunched over and holding back the aching in every part of his body as he determinedly lifted the sword from the ground and readied it. This was going to end; right here, right now. He stood over the fallen Saiyan Prince, watching as the man tried in vain to raise his right arm, obviously trying to reach something. Well, Krillin wasn't going to give him the chance.

He raised the sword slowly over the man, who watched the blade rise with a surprisingly calm expression in his undamaged eye. No, this was not a man who would beg for mercy. He was meeting his death head-on. This only proved further Krillin's belief that this was a 'brave foe'. He thrust the sword high over his head, aiming the point at the man's heart, intent on giving him a clean death.

Vegeta grunted, still trying to reach for the remote control to his pod that stayed tauntingly out of his reach. The blade of the sword the bald one held caught the sun and reflected the light back to him, momentarily blinding him. He growled at the man above him, upper lip lifted in a snarl that carried with it that hint of pride that not even his imminent death could quash. He was the Prince of all Saiyans. He would not die helpless and prone on the dirt of this backwater planet, not even able to raise a hand to defend himself.

He could feel the other three's eyes on him and managed to lift his arm and reach under the left breast of his armor, grasping the one thing that would save his life as the blade swooped down, whistling through the air as it cut for him.

"This…is for everyone…you killed!"

Mere inches from piercing his breastplate, the sword was suddenly halted and the bald one's face took on an empty expression. Vegeta wasted no time in figuring out what had happened, grabbing the opportunity to fully bring out the device he had been looking for, entire body trembling from the strain, and trying to figure out a way to punch in the code with one hand.

Krillin shook himself from Goku's mental hold, "G-Goku?" He then noticed the man beneath him laying something flat and square on the ground so the hand he had managed to move could punch the keys on it. He blocked out whatever his friend was saying in his mind, using the blade of his sword to crack straight through the thing, barely missing the man's hand. Not that he was trying to miss it, just that the man moved his hand fast.

Vegeta groaned inside as his last hope was sliced through by baldy's blade and glared up at the man with his good eye, trying to emit all his hate and helpless rage into the human that would have the distinct honor of saying he had killed the Saiyan Prince.

Krillin seemed to be muttering to himself from Vegeta's point of view as he steadily met the other's piercing stare with one of equal heat and weight. "No…. I'm sorry…but I can't."

"Finish it!" Vegeta managed to ground out, dark eye glimmering with something like resignation. Krillin bared his teeth down at the Saiyan and raised the sword again, set in doing this deed.

Vegeta wanted to scream in frustration as the midget again paused; sword lowering as he looked off to the side and up, mouth open slightly at whatever had caught the man's wandering attention. He wanted this over with. It was bad enough he had suffered this humiliating defeat, but to have to wait for the death? What kind of torture was this?

Vegeta painstakingly moved his head so that he could see whatever the bald one was looking at. He had to squint his remaining eye against the dirt and grit that swirled up and over him as he watched some kind of air transportation land not five feet from he and the other. He scowled at it as the contraption's door lowered softly to the ground. He felt a great weight settle over him, as well as a warmth that could not be denied its insistence as his eye fluttered for a second and closed on the world around him.

~^

Bulma took in the scene before her with the most serious expression she had ever worn as she stepped off the lowered ramp after Master Roshi. ChiChi was cradling Gohan, frantically trying to revive the boy. Krillin was standing over a still body with lowered sword. Yajirobe was slowly righting himself and making his way to Goku. And Goku- She covered her mouth with a slim hand and quickly made her way over the rubble to the fallen man, getting down on her knees beside him, quietly relieved when the man smiled weakly up at her.

"Goku…are you okay…?"

Goku's voice came out soft, an unusual sound from the normally loud and rambunctious man. "Yeah, Bulma. We defeated…the Saiyan. Heh…how's that for…teamwork?"

Bulma smiled and Master Roshi spoke up from above her right shoulder. "Don't talk, Goku. We're going to get you to a hospital."

Bulma looked up from Goku's form to eye Krillin, who was still looking at them as if he was in a dream; correction, nightmare. Her eyes automatically settled on the form underneath him and her brows lowered over her blue eyes. She rose, surprisingly steady, and moved around Goku to approach him as Master Roshi and Yajirobe picked the fallen hero up and began to carry him into the transport. "Krillin?"

Krillin blinked and seemed to come back to where he was. He looked down at the Saiyan, taking in the shallow breaths of the man and furrowed brow that spoke of pain even through unconsciousness and let the sword drop from a numb hand. The man was obviously dying, his wounds too much for even his body to take. At least, if he died like this, Krillin wouldn't feel so bad about not listening to Goku's request.

Bulma stopped a couple steps away from the man who was staring down at the other. She did not take notice of him, only held concern for her friend. "Krillin?"

Krillin's head snapped back up to her and he smiled as softly as Goku had. "It's over, Bulma."

Bulma nodded, finally looking down at the other man. "That's one of the Saiyans?"

Krillin nodded. "Once he dies, they're all dead." He leveled the oblivious Prince another glare and Bulma noted this, as well as the fact that the man he talked of still breathed.

"He's still alive? Are you crazy? Kill him!" As if the other could hear her, he shifted on the ground, moaning as one of his wounds tore open and began to bleed anew. Bulma let out a soft 'eep' and scooted back some, eyes wide with fright. The man looked scary even comatose.

Krillin shook his head, gazing at Bulma's outburst with wide eyes. "Bulma, he's dying. I don't need to kill him. Besides, we have more to worry about than him…."

Bulma's brows creased and dread began to grow in the pit of her stomach. Would it never end? "What do you mean?"

Krillin glanced away and began to lead Bulma away from the Prince and toward where Master Roshi waited, having already tucked everyone else inside. "Bulma, everyone but us was killed…even Yamcha."

Bulma beamed brightly, as if the very sun wanted to reflect on her face, "Oh, but that's okay. We've got the dragonballs. We'll just wish them back." Her face slowly fell, as Krillin's own face did not lift from his somber mood. "Won't we?"

Krillin slowly shook his head; daring to meet her own quickly moistening ones "Piccolo was killed too. That means the dragonballs are gone. We can't wish anyone back…. I'm sorry, Bulma."

Bulma fell back, shock evident in every feature of her face. "N-no! It's not true!" She did some quick mental calculations, mind working to find a flaw in Krillin's story. Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe were alive. Master Roshi had said four were alive. That was four. She felt the tears start up and did not stop them as she began to mumble incoherently of Yamcha, falling to her rump on the hard, dirty ground.

She numbly felt Krillin awkwardly patting her shoulder and whispering soothing words and her head snapped back up, eyes blazing as she locked them on the passed-out Saiyan. "This is his fault!"

She heaved herself upward and stalked over to the body, evading Krillin's grasp and going onto her haunches beside the man with no trace of the fear she had felt earlier.

Grasping his shoulders, she gave the man a good shake, "You're not going to die on me, you hear? You're going to pay for doing this! Yamcha and I were supposed to get married! You hear me, Saiyan? You better wake up or so help me Kami I'll kill you!"

Vegeta groaned as sudden movement lurched him from where he had been and brought him with all the gentleness of cold water in the face back to reality. His eye opened to stare up at something that contained blue in it shaking him violently up and down, slamming him into the ground repeatedly and sending flashes of pain through his whole body as it screamed words he couldn't understand.

He snarled at the thing, almost spitting. He had been somewhere comfortable and quiet, somewhere where there was no pain, no blood, and no sense of loss or failure. He tried to bring his arms up to grab at the thing and throw it off, or better yet, crack its neck, but could do no more than the growling he was currently doing.

His body fell back with a dull thud to the ground as something hauled the thing off of him. He growled some more, trying to a least swing an appendage in the hopes of catching whatever had ruined that restful place. He would never forgive them for that!

Bulma realized that Krillin was shouting something to her as she woke up from whatever had caught a hold of her. He was shaking her as she had been shaking the Saiyan. She held up both of her arms, placing them firmly on Krillin's. "I'm okay, Krillin! Now stop shaking me or I'm going to hit you upside the head!"

Seeing that Bulma was back to her semi-rationalized self, Krillin stopped thrashing her around. Both looked to be having a hard time breathing and both needed to put their eyes somewhere else. So, naturally, they traveled to the prone man on the ground. Vegeta was still growling, but his eyelids looked to be growing heavier with each passing second and there were even more wounds that had opened and were spilling out his life's blood onto the dirt.

Bulma suddenly threw her arms up, breaking Krillin's hold, and once again sat down beside the man. Krillin moved to stop her if she looked to be returning to shaking the man, but she merely snapped at him over her shoulder. "Get some bandages and a tranquilizer. We're taking him with us."

Krillin made to protest, but Bulma seemed to know he was going to do this, for she turned around. Such was the power of her conviction it showed through her eyes and voice and stilled Krillin immediately. "This beast killed our friends. I'm not about to let him just die thinking he at least won that much. He will realize each and every mistake he's made if I have to shove it down his throat! Now get me those bandages and that tranq before he bleeds to death. I can give him a blood transfusion at Capsule."

She smiled grimly, a sadistic light in her eyes as she looked down at the once-again unconscious man. "Think he'll like human blood in his veins?"

A/N: (shrugs) I don't know where this is going either. Merely a vague impression…. Anyways, I was thinking 'what if' again. All quotes and scenes taken from the manga…. I love Bulma this sadistic!

Reviews are welcome and needed to feed my imagination. Any ideas for where this should go? heehee