Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ Interlude ( Chapter 42 )

Trunks: What?! You like my scream?! What kind of weirdo are you?

Brenda: Hey, it takes talent to be able to give a truly heart wrenching scream. That's one thing I think the English dub has over the Japanese version. My favorite characters (Gohan and Trunks) know how to scream. ^_^

Gohan: *mumbles* She sure picks some odd things to admire... *sweatdrops*

At first, Vegeta was not aware that he had been left on his own inside the capsule house. He had not felt it worth his time to see the trio of shoppers off, so he had remained within the building, sprawled out on the couch as he thought about what he would do while the others were gone. Maybe he could convince his future son to spar with him, perhaps teach him new techniques. After all, Trunks was probably the strongest, so if he, Vegeta, wanted to become the strongest fighter in the universe, what better way than to have the purple haired demi-Saiyan train him? The only problem that he could see was that Trunks might still be angry with him for the incident last night. But since no permanent harm was done to Kakarot, and I didn't actually do anything to the girl, Trunks won't stay mad at me for long. In his mind, Goku would always be Kakarot, no matter what his friends and family called him, because he was a Saiya-jin and Kakarot was his Saiya-jin name. Even though Goku was only a pathetic low class child, he was still Saiyan, and as such deserved better than to be called by an alien name. Ah, well, nothing to do but wait and see.

And so Vegeta waited for Trunks and Goten to come back inside.

And waited.

And waited.

With a growl of impatience, the ten year old Saiyan jumped up off the couch and stormed outside to see what the hell was taking those two so long. He stalked through the door and opened his mouth to shout something, but shut it again when he realized there was no one in sight. Huh? Where did they go? Tentatively reaching out with his ki senses, he searched for the two younger boys in an ever broadening area centering on the capsule house. That's odd. I can't find them. They're either hiding their power, or they're far enough away that they're not in my range. Giving one last attempt to locate either of the two boys from the future, Vegeta stretched his senses as far as they would go until he began to sweat from the strain. His efforts paid off when he felt a familiar flicker of ki just at the edge of his range that seemed to be remaining stationary for now. After a minute, the flicker disappeared as Trunks, for that was who the ki signature belonged to, moved again, too far for Vegeta to track.

"Kuso!" Vegeta swore with feeling. "Those two brats have left me here alone! They didn't even tell me they were going somewhere, much less where!" His face darkening in anger, the young prince stalked back inside the house, furious at being ignored or forgotten. Not knowing what exactly to do with himself, he stomped around the house aimlessly, until he passed by the room where Goku was sleeping. For lack of something better to do, he walked in and glowered down at the bloody child. "And I suppose they're expecting me to look after you," he growled in annoyance. "Me, the Prince of all Saiyans, playing nursemaid to a third-class baka!" Someone had failed to pull the covers back up over the boy's injured form, but he callously chose to ignore that, since it wasn't his doing, and since it would only be encouraging weakness in Goku. If Kakarot can't handle a little cold, he is no Saiya-jin!

Despite how much he protested the fact that he had been left in charge of Goku's care, Vegeta sat down in the chair and glared at the sleeping boy. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he felt the need to rant at someone and Goku was the only one present, even if he was unconscious. "Look at you! It's disgusting that even a third-class like you could be injured by a falling tree branch! What were you doing, suppressing your ki to the point that you had no defenses left? Idiot!" Sighing moodily, he quit talking for a long time, simply raking his eyes over Goku's battered body critically, noting every scratch and bruise, every drop of blood on his pale skin, every ounce of muscle and baby fat. After a while, he spoke up again, most of the ire drained from his voice, replaced instead by an odd emotion even he couldn't identify. "For a seven year old third-class who's been raised by a bunch of pathetic weaklings, you really haven't done that badly. You and your brother weren't aware of it, but I watched your little spar. You're both so far below me it's ridiculous, but if you think of it in terms of the classes, your brother could almost qualify to be a first class soldier, and you... given proper training and time, you could be rather strong yourself. Perhaps even a worthy sparring partner." Allowing his mind to travel to that theoretical future, the prince smirked contemptuously and stood up. "Except for the fact that you obviously have brain damage. No matter how strong you ever become, your spirit is too weak to be Saiya-jin."

Vegeta stepped towards the bed and stared down at the chibi who continued to be oblivious to his prince's presence. "Of course, you'll never be able to beat me. I am, after all, the Saiya-jin no Ouji," he said softly, noting how Goku was shivering in his sleep - from cold or blood loss, Vegeta couldn't tell. "But I am curious to see how far you could go if you had someone to teach you. Perhaps I will take you back with me to Vegeta-sei and give you over to one of the royal trainers. Who knows? Maybe they could even awaken some of your Saiya-jin instinct, make you a warrior I'd be proud to have at my side."

The vague, unknown feeling returned and the ten year old suddenly found himself reaching out to tug the covers back up over Goku's naked body. He told himself it was because he didn't want to deal with accusations from his future son or the irritating voice of the onna should they decide that he had purposefully neglected the brat. Pulling his hands back to his sides, his face became unreadable. "And if you ever tell a single soul a word I have said," he added menacingly, even though he knew Goku had been completely unconscious the entire time, "I will make you wish that you had never been born."

Despite how much time had passed during his monologue, neither Goten and Trunks nor Bardock, Radditz, and Bulma had returned. Grumbling his displeasure at his continued baby-sitting, Vegeta sat back down into the chair and prepared himself for what looked to be a long wait.

"Goten! Hurry it up already!" Trunks shouted angrily at his friend. "We don't have all day!"

"I'm sorry, Trunks, I'm going as fast as I can!" Goten whined from his position in front of a cliff. A continuous tinkling sound filled the air as a stream of sparkling water flew over the edge of the ravine. Curious as to what was making the noise, a squirrel who made its home in a hole in the side of the cliff poked its head out, just in time to be hit head on by the thin stream of steaming liquid. The hapless squirrel chattered furiously at the offending fluid, dashing back into its protective hole where it could wash its fur and rid itself of the pungent substance that had drenched it.

"Geeze, Goten, how much did you drink, anyway?" The lavender haired demi-Saiyan glared in disgust as his black haired friend finally pulled his orange pants back up and tied the belt that kept them up.

"It was only a couple of gallons!" Goten protested as he floated back into the air, his tail waving lazily behind him.

Lifting himself up into the air after his friend, Trunks shook his head and powered up to go faster. "'Only a couple of gallons!'" he mimicked, a drop of sweat rolling down the back of his head. "Good grief. Anyway, we need to get to Karin's Tower fast so we can get those senzu beans, then get back before your grandpa and uncle get back with my mom."

"That should be easy," Goten giggled, matching his friend's speed. "You of all people should know how long it takes your mom to shop, Trunks!"

Trunks grinned maliciously as he thought about the torture the two Saiyans had to be going through as they traveled the perilous war zone known as the mall. He supposed he should have warned them about Bulma, but he doubted they would have understood until they'd experienced shopping with the girl themselves. Besides, the explanation would also have taken way too long and delayed the trip to Karin's Tower, which would leave Goku suffering longer than he needed to.

As Bardock's feet touched down in the parking area of the shopping complex, he was greeted by shocked and disbelieving stares from everyone within the vicinity. Frowning, he glanced down at his clothing. He hadn't thought it was in that bad a condition. Radditz, too, suffered the open-mouthed attentions of the humans, which was odd because his clothing wasn't even as tattered as his father's. Scratching the back of his head in confusion, the older Saiyan turned to Bulma, who was just now capsulizing her car and popping it back into her pocket.

"Bulma, why the hell is everyone staring at us?" he asked as they headed towards the large building, trying not to sound too irritated. He never did like being the center of attention, and now was no exception.

"Gee, I don't know," the girl muttered as she wove her way through the crowds of shoppers. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that most people on this planet can't fly." Upon reaching the large set of open doors, Bulma darted inside the building and immediately headed off to the left where the number of people was marginally fewer. "You two better stick close to me," she cautioned the two. "It'd be pretty easy to lose each other in this crowd, and I don't want to spend valuable shopping time looking for either of you."

There was no need for her to say it twice. Both Saiya-jin tried to keep one eye on their guide and one eye on the people around them, tense and edgy due to such close proximity with so many beings. Bardock uncomfortably noted that the only times he had ever been in areas as crowded as this were on certain planet clearing missions, and on those occasions close quarters with a bunch of aliens wasn't a problem for long. Large blasts of ki that incinerated dozens of people in one shot tended to make for plenty of room to walk in. Unfortunately, since those were the only times he had been surrounded like this, he was instinctively on the defense, constantly watching for an attack to come from any angle. Needless to say, the warrior was beginning to feel that what he had thought to be a relatively simple errand was going to turn into a harrowing experience.

Radditz was having just as hard a time as Bardock in maintaining his composure. Although he was younger and had had fewer experiences with planet clearing, he, too, was unused to crowds on this magnitude. On an intellectual level, he knew that no one here could possibly pose a threat to him or his father, but on an instinctive level, it felt like he was surrounded by enemies. Every time he was jostled, his body cried out to retaliate, to protect himself from harm. For once, he didn't mind being in the human female's presence, as her whole aura exuded confidence and familiarity with the situation. None of the hundreds of people passing by seemed to bother her in the slightest, and she remained completely unfazed by the thousands of sights, scents, and sounds that were confounding his acute Saiyan senses. For that, Radditz almost envied her.

His gratitude for her presence was short lived, vanishing like a pricked bubble as soon as the girl led them into the first store. A women's lingerie store. "What the hell are we doing here?!" he demanded in mortified outrage as his eyes took in the room full of lace, straps, frills, silk, satin, and seemingly endless supply of clothing of the most revealing nature possible. All meant for females.

"Oh, well, I figured while we're shopping, I might as well pick up some things for myself!" Bulma said, dismissing the whole situation brightly. "You two can wait right here and look around while I try some of these things on!" With that, she abandoned the two males, snatching a night gown off a rack and heading towards the fitting room. Bardock and Radditz exchanged dismayed looks, suddenly very aware of the suspicious looks they were receiving from the female shoppers and sales clerks. They were, after all, the only two males present in an extremely female-oriented store.

I'll probably repeat this every time there's a chapter with content that might be misinterpreted. This isn't a yaoi fic, so anything that seems like it might imply that shouldn't be taken as such.

Please review!