Chapter 6.

Bulma leaned back in her chair as she went over the information in her head. She had taken numerous blood samples from Trunks and she still couldn’t quite make out the complicated structure of the Nanites. She briskly picked up her coffee cup and tilted her head back to down the rest of her drink. She grumbled in annoyance as she realised there was none left. Bulma slammed the cup down and sighed.

‘Come on Bulma, you can do this, you’re a genius for crying out loud, if you can work out Dr Gero’s androids you can figure these little abominations out!’ Bulma thought to herself whilst tapping her slender fingers on the side of her empty cup.

She turned to look at her son and then back at her computer screen. She let out an over exaggerated sigh and decided that she needed more coffee. The break from the computer screen would do her good. She stood up and went to walk out of the door until she realised she had forgotten her cup she turned back round to pick it up but instead of heading for the door again she wondered over to Trunks.

Bulma placed her hand on his head and knotted her eyebrows in frustration. “Don’t worry Trunks, I’ll figure it out, if it is the last thing I do I swear I’ll get you better again!”

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Bulma’s mother giggled like a young teenage girl as she witnessed Goku ram the food she had just cooked him and Vegeta down his throat like he hadn’t been fed in months.

Vegeta sat opposite grinding his teeth together watching the greedy Goku stuff his face. Vegeta my also eat a large amount of food like any other Saiyan but he, unlike Goku, was bought up to eat quickly but politely. He was a Prince and so he was taught proper manners in the Royal house of Vegetasie.

“KAKAROT!”

Goku stopped immediately and rice began to fall from his chin. “Waff uup fegeda?” He said through all the food still stuffed into his mouth. This made the Prince even more royally pissed.

“YOU Kakarot are a pig! Didn’t your adoptive human scum teach you any manners?

Goku swallowed his food and wiped the rice from his mouth with the back of his hand. “ Sorry, I’m just hungry that’s all, hey…. Are you gonna eat that?” Goku said eyeing the last steak with drool seeping from his lips. He reached out before he even let the infuriated Vegeta answer but quickly pulled his hand back as he felt the sharp prick of a falk hit the back of his hand.

Goku yelped like a puppy and watched in horror as her saw four small red dots begin to appear where Vegeta’s falk had hit.

“Hey Vegeta! That wasn’t very nice!” Goku said sounding whinny rather than angry.

“Your lucky I didn’t chop your greedy little hand off completely!” Vegeta said cutting into the steak neatly and devouring it in front of his gluttonous companion.

A few moments passed and Goku sat looking a lot like a child that had just been scolded rubbing the back of his hand subconsciously. Goku began to think about the way Vegeta was training earlier. If only he could lean how to perform the same moves who knows how much it would increase his power. Goku was determined to figure out a way to get Vegeta to confess the secrets behind them.

Vegeta sat back and wiped his mouth with a napkin before abruptly throwing it back onto the table. Goku was about to strike up a conversation now that Vegeta had finished eating but before he could even form the words and high-pitched voice interrupted them.

“Oh my! You two must have been hungry! Not even a crumb wasted! Would you both like some dessert? I got Ice cream!” Bulma’s mother squeaked excitedly.

Goku never said no to seconds especially if it was dessert but he knew that there might never be another time that he could sit with Vegeta on his own having been invited by him in the first place. Vegeta usually kept a certain amount of distance from Goku at all times unless it was imperative that they have to be in the same room, such as when training or fighting.

“No that will be all.” Vegeta didn’t even look at the smiling woman at the side of him as he gave his stern answer. Bulma’s mom never took Vegeta’s tone offensively, whether that was because of how dense she seemed or because she understood him better than everyone thought, but she always cooked, for him and made sure he was as comfortable as possible whilst residing in her home.

Goku looked a bit disappointed and decided now wasn’t the time for yummy ice cream, “No, but thanks for the food, its was delicious!”

“No problem, anything for my boys, you just let me know if you need anything ok!” She smiled and walked off picking up her watering can as she walked outside. She knew that the two handsome bald men were hanging around somewhere maybe they could keep her company. She hummed a little tune as she went in search of the unsuspecting Krillen and Tien.

“ I sometimes wonder how in the world Bulma could be related to that woman!” Vegeta said under his breath.

Goku looked up at Vegeta and smiled. “Yeah but she’s a great cook! Bulma can’t cook for beans!” He said scratching the back of his head smiling again.

“ Hn, I’m sure Bulma would be pleased to hear that.”

Goku’s smile faded and was replaced with worry, he knew better than to spark Bulma’s wrath.

“However…I couldn’t agree more.” A smirk crept upon Vegeta’s lips as he finished his sentence.

Goku smiled and thought on how now would be the best opportunity to strike up the conversation about his training. Vegeta picked up his glass and drank the lemonade the ditsy blonde woman had poured him earlier. He looked forward as he drank noticing the eager look on Goku’s face.

“What?” Vegeta said as he finished the last sip sounding slightly aggressive. He hated being stared at.

“Oh…er…nothing…well it’s just that…”

“Just what Kakarot? Say it! Don’t jabber on like an ass!”

Goku swallowed hard not knowing how to ask, so he decided to just come out and say it. “How did they teach you to train like that? I mean I know you don’t like talking about your past and all, but I really was impressed by what I saw! Especially under 600 times earths normal gravity!”

Vegeta felt his fists tighten as he heard him drag up the thing he didn’t want to discuss with the saiyan in front of him. He hated talking about his past; that he was right about, but he also knew that Goku was bringing it up for another reason and that was to learn the secret art of Kyokushin. The very training that he, his father and his ancestors before him we taught as rulers of the planet Vegetasie. Vegeta couldn’t believe the audacity of this third class soldier. To even hint at asking to be taught these sacred moves offended him to the core.

Goku continued to jabber on about the swiftness of the moves and how he couldn’t keep up on what he was doing. Suddenly Vegeta slammed a fist onto the kitchen table so hard that the wood began to make a slight cracking noise. Goku stopped what he was saying and glanced up to see Vegeta glowering at him with an unapproved look on his face.

“What did I say Vegeta, why do you look so mad?”

“What didn’t you say Kakarot? I thought you knew better than to bring up that subject again! I am not teaching you those moves at that is final!” Vegeta moved his fist from the table to reveal an indent in the wood. Something the woman would be nagging him about later no doubt.

Goku didn’t say another word he slowly gazed down at the table and sighed. He knew that now wasn’t the time to push Vegeta especially with the state Trunks was in at the moment. He considered leaving the table when he looked up to find Vegeta had already left. Goku looked surprised he hadn’t even heard him get up. But before he could figure out where the angry prince had got to he heard a grumble come from the corner of the kitchen.

“My planet my have been destroyed Kakarot but that doesn’t mean that I have to tell you everything I know!” Vegeta had his back turned to the curious Saiyan and Goku noticed a hint of sadness to his words.

“ I understand Vegeta…Its just that…well I’ve always wanted to know what my home planet was like. I mean I never got to see all that you have seen.” Goku noticed Vegeta’s back stiffen at his words and knew that what he had just said had affected the prince in some way.

Vegeta slowly turned his head to the side to glance at Goku from over his shoulder. He unfolded his arms and turned around fully to face him. “ I didn’t experience our planet that much as Freezer took me away on my fifth birthday!”

Goku tried his hardest to not look sorry for Vegeta; He knew that Vegeta didn’t appreciate pity. He looked down trying not to look him in the eyes hoping Vegeta would carry on. A few more second went by and finally Vegeta began to speak again, “ All I remember is that the sky was a beautiful red, we had two suns and three moons. It had a very dry atmosphere, almost desert like. Humans wouldn’t last five minuets in the atmosphere on our planet as the gravity was a lot higher than earths is!” Vegeta’s eyes were in a dream like state as he dug up memories of his long lost home.

“The palace I lived in had everything. Training rooms like you have never seen, gigantic dinning halls and expensively lavished living quarters. All I had to do was click my fingers and servants would come running.” A smirk fluttered across his face but is faded quickly as he carried on. “ But there were tough days, the reign of Freezer came when I was only three years old. My father would get angry with me for no reason and push me harder than any other Saiyan father would. He trained me the arts of Kyokushin at just three and a half. Usually under normal circumstances I would have been trained at five years old this sacred training technique. But I know now that my father trained me earlier for a reason and a purpose.” A look of pure hatred spread across the Vegeta’s face as he stared of into space.

“ The reason was to train me to be stronger than even he! To surpass all others before me, and the purpose was to destroy that freak that brought down the greatest warrior race that ever existed! But…I failed, I failed my father, my people and…myself!” Vegeta closed his eyes as flash backs of his father and his people ran through his mind.

“You didn’t fail them Vegeta, Your the strongest warrior I have ever met, your determination and will is inspirational! How can you say that you failed them?” Goku said in disbelief.

“BECAUSE THEY ARE DEAD!” Vegeta bellowed trough out the room as Goku jumped out of his skin.

“ My father trained me in the hope that it would bring Freezer down to his knees when the time was right, but I didn’t did I? Do you know what I was doing when my father was murdered along with my people and our planet?”

Goku could see the anguish in the Princes eyes but he had no choice to allow him to let it all out, he quickly nodded, “No.”

“I was sat in that execrable lizards ship twiddling my thumbs hoping my Father would come and take me home and tell me that he had made a mistake by handing me over like some bargaining chip to the enemy!” Vegeta ground his teeth, as he looked up at Goku, “What a fool I was!”

“Your father must have cared about you Vegeta, you were his son. He must have! Besides didn’t freezer say he came to rescue you?”

“Yes, very foolish, he should have known he was no match for freezer!”

“ Yeah but he came back for you even though he knew he would probably be more than likely killed! You see Vegeta he did care, maybe not the way I care for Gohan but…”

“ You know nothing about my father Kakarot so don’t even insinuate that you do! My father realised his foolish mistake when it was too late and for that he paid with his life! He should have let me fight by his side; it was my right as Prince to fight for our people, for our planet!! But he didn’t; he handed me over like a coward hoping it would save Vegetasie and it’s people!”

“You mean you wish you could have been fighting Freezer that day, with your father?” Goku said with a worried expression on his face, he knew what Vegeta was implying but he just couldn’t believe it.

“Yes Kakarot, I should have fought to the bitter end with my soldiers behind me all the way, showing Freezer what the warrior Saiyan race was made of!” Goku noticed Vegeta’s fists clenching and his Ki spiking as he spoke.

“You mean…you wish you had been with them when they were wiped out? Surely you don’t mean that Vegeta!” Goku was shocked at Vegeta’s sudden confession.

Vegeta slowly walked to the doorway and turned to look at Goku. “Yes Kakarot, I should have died on the battle field that day with my men, that would have been the honourable way, to die a warriors death! But my father and Freezer robbed me of that right, and for that I will never forgive! Never.” Vegeta looked away as he tried to avert his eyes away from the dumbstruck Saiyan behind him worried that he would see the emotions that were running through them.

“ But what about now? You have a son and Bulma? You wish you were dead instead of being with them?” Goku said hoping that he had misunderstood.

“Kakarot all I have done since I arrived on this mud-ball is cause pain! I have hurt the woman and…I have failed my son!”

“What?” Goku couldn’t understand why Vegeta was blaming himself.

Vegeta tuned and pointed angrily at the direction of the lab, “My son is in there right now strapped to a bed with his life force draining away because I, his father, couldn’t protect him from Cooler! Just like my father couldn’t protect me from Freezer!”

“No Vegeta…”

“Enough…I have already told you more than I should Kakarot!” Vegeta began to walk away only to stop suddenly and turn to Goku. “Oh and Kakarot…if you tell anyone about this I’ll pound you so hard you won’t be able to speak again!”

“I won’t tell a soul Vegeta…you have my word.” Goku said looking a lot more serious compared to how he did when the conversation first began. He watched as Vegeta nodded and turned to walk out of the room.

Goku sat back in his seat slowly and glanced over to where Vegeta had been sitting earlier. His eyes rested onto the dent in the table that Vegeta had created in his anger. ‘ So that is why you are so bitter, I never realised before, even when you poured out your heart on Namek I never knew the whole story. But now I see.’ Goku’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard a creak at the Kitchen door from behind him. He spun around quickly in a state of panic when he spotted a pair of sparkling blue eyes staring back at him through the crack.

“Is he gone?” Bulma whispered.

Goku nodded and watched as she quickly opened the door holding a coffee cup. He then noticed that the rims of her eyes were tinged with red and he knew instantly that she had been crying.

“You heard didn’t you?” Goku said quietly as he watched Bulma walk over and lean against the kitchen unit. She nodded and a tear slipped from her eye. Goku stood up and slowly walked over to her he held his arms open knowing that she needed a friend. Bulma didn’t even hesitate as she ran into Goku’s arms sobbing her heart out. Goku knotted his eyebrows in sadness for her. How Vegeta’s words must have hurt her he couldn’t imagine.

“Oh Goku…why did he say that, how could he say it, or even think it!”

Goku patted her back lightly to try and comfort her, “He’s just upset about Trunks that’s all Bulma, I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” Goku knew that was a lie, Vegeta never wasted his breath on words that he didn’t mean.

Bulma gave out a long sigh as she heard baby Trunks begin to cry from the next room. She looked up at Goku and he glanced back at her. He wiped her tears from her face and smiled. “Bulma, I’ve known you since we were kids and I could never understand how you came to love Vegeta. But what Vegeta has just confessed to me has made me realize that he isn’t angry with anyone but himself. He blames himself for everything that has happened in his life and that’s why he is so harsh and angry all the time. But now I know that he cares for you and Trunks, it’s just that he feels that he has failed you. That’s why he said those hurtful words you were never meant to hear!

“But what am I supposed to think Goku? He just said he would rather be dead than with me and Trunks!” Bulma protested.

“That’s something that you and I probably won’t ever understand, but I don’t think he meant dead rather than with you, I just think he feels so out of place here. Just imagine Bulma how it would feel to have your whole world destroyed, your family and friends! Everything you have ever known gone in few seconds, then left to live out the rest of your life serving the very creature that destroyed it.”

Goku’s words stung Bulma’s heart as she imagined the Earth and all her friends and family being wiped out within the blink of an eye. Suddenly she wanted to run to Vegeta and tell him that she understood and how much she loved him. But she couldn’t, he would laugh at her, how could she understand. She had never had to suffer such things. Just the thought of loosing all she had right now made her shudder. Then all of a sudden she realised that Trunks had stopped crying. Bulma thought how weird this was, as he never stopped crying unless someone had gone to him. She looked towards the door in a panic and ran for the door. Goku looked surprised to see her in such a worry and decided to follow her. He quickly caught up to her to see her peering through the crack of Trunks’s bedroom door. Bulma quickly turned and put a finger to her lips to make sure Goku didn’t say a word. He nodded and sneaked up to see what she was looking at. To his total surprise he saw Vegeta standing at Trunks’s Crib side with his back to them. He made sure he kept his Ki low so Vegeta couldn’t sense him and smiled as he noticed Trunks clinging to the rails looking up at his father with adoring eyes.

Bulma held her breath, she would rather eat hot coals than miss this moment let alone disturb it. She bit her lip nervously as she waited for Vegeta to do something. Was he going to hold Trunks? Cuddle him? Or just stare at him? She looked at Goku to see if he was watching too. A little murmur from Trunks made Bulma quickly snap her head back as she saw her son holding out his little arms towards his father. Finally Vegeta put his hand into the crib and let out a small gruff chuckle as Trunks wrapped his tiny fingers around Vegeta’s thumb. Then Bulma watched with concern as Vegeta lifted Trunks up still clinging to his opposable digit with strength that no normal baby could possibly possess. Trunks giggled as his father dangled him closer to his face, as if to have a better look at him. Vegeta twitched slightly as Trunks reached out a grabbed his nose; Goku almost let out a small giggle but clamped a hand around his own mouth to stop himself.

Vegeta smirked as he poked Trunks playfully in his little belly with his free hand making him giggle uncontrollably. Bulma felt the biggest smile spread across her face as she witnessed how gentle Vegeta was with their son. She couldn’t believe how proud he looked down on their child. Trunks cooed and chuckled as his father finally put his gentle hands around his body and lifted him up to look at him. Vegeta stood like this for a while just staring at his son as if it were the first time he had looked at him. Bulma was amazed that their son wasn’t protesting in the slightest, he was bound to be hungry by now, maybe he could sense that his father never normally spent time with him and that this was a special moment not to be disturbed by senseless crying. Bulma smiled, she was so proud of her son.

Vegeta sighed and brought Trunks toward his chest and arranged his son so he was lying facing up toward him. Trunks squinted up at his father and yawned quietly as he put a small chubby hand onto his father’s chest. He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off into the land of dreams whilst in his father’s protective embrace. Bulma and Goku stood like frozen statues at the door waiting to see what he would do next. He stood there a while longer holding his son and slowly lifted up his head and looked towards a chair in the corner of the nursery. Vegeta quietly made his way over to the chair and carefully sat down with his son still soundly asleep in his arms. This was the longest amount of time he had ever spent anytime with the boy and felt surprised that it actually felt good to hold his son like this. He looked down and couldn’t help the soft smile that drifted across his lips.

Bulma put a hand to her mouth as she saw a pure, genuine smile come from Vegeta, one without sarcasm or a scowl. She could feel her throat tighten as she saw how happy and comfortable he actually looked. She never in a million years thought she would witness this heartwarming scene before her. She realised that for once Vegeta didn’t look like the dangerous bad boy Prince of all Saiyans right at this moment, to look at him now you would think he were just any other normal proud father, looking down at his son with the same caring eyes as her fathers or even Goku’s. After a while Bulma thought that he Vegeta was going to fall asleep with their son in his arms but instead she heard him murmuring something to the sleeping child. Bulma pressed her ear closer to try and make out the words.

“ I promise I will make them pay for taking away your birth right my son. I will never let you forget where you came from. You will never get to know the strong proud race you belong to and for that I will make that heinous lizard pay, if it is the last thing I do!” Vegeta felt his anger creeping up again as he thought on how fate had been so cruel to him, taking away his birth right of sitting on a throne ruling the strongest warrior race that ever lived. Now as he looked down on his son he realised that because of freezer’s family Trunks would have the same destiny snatched away from him. He ground his teeth as an image of Freezer smirking evilly watching them from below in the depths of Hell. Laughing at him for he had taken everything from Vegeta and now his brother planned to bring him back to wreak yet more destruction and pain in his world. Vegeta griped the arm of the chair.

“I won’t let him do it! Freezer will never have the pleasure of breathing life again! I will make sure that this time, it will be his family that suffer! He looked down at Trunks who was now fully awake and tugging at his shirt as if to calm him down. His big blue eyes shimmered in the darkness of the nursery. How he looked so much like his mother. Vegeta smiled and traced his finger down his son’s forehead to the tip of his small button nose making him coo and gurgle as if trying to talk to his father in his own baby language.

“ I won’t let them hurt you my son, I would see myself destroyed before I let that freak touch you! You have my word.” Trunks stopped wriggling and glance up to his father again as if to say he understood. Vegeta stood up again and walked back over to the crib. He turned Trunks around in his arms to face him again, “ You are strong little one, even now I can sense you’re amazing Ki level. I know one day you will be a strong warrior, one that will make me very proud my son.” Vegeta’s words were barely audible to Bulma but Goku caught every single word with his sensitive saiyan hearing and smiled to himself. He knew that Vegeta wasn’t the evil alien he led everyone to believe. They watched as Vegeta gently lowered his son back into his crib and proudly patted him on the head.

Bulma and Goku looked at each other and panicked as they realised Vegeta was about to turn to the door. Suddenly Goku noticed Vegeta looking over his shoulder to the crack in the door from where they were spying and he quickly put his finger to his forehead and put his other hand on Bulma’s shoulder. Just as Vegeta reached the door they had phased out. They re-appeared in Bulma’s kitchen and she gasped as she tried to find her bearings. “What in the world was that?” She said almost out of breath.

“Instant-translocation!” Goku stated proudly. Bulma smiled, she should have known Goku had a trick up his sleeve. “That was a close one!” She said as she headed for the coffee machine. “Yeah! I know what you mean!” Goku said sitting back down at the table, trying to make it look as if he hadn’t moved since his earlier conversation with the proud Prince.

Bulma turned to say something to him but noticed that he was signalling to keep quiet, she pressed her lips together subconsciously and heard the kitchen door open wide to reveal a stubborn flame haired man standing at the doorway. Vegeta walked into the room but wouldn’t look at Bulma as if to avoid making any conversation with her. Instead he walked towards Goku, “Kakarot, care to spar with me? I could do with a better punching bag than those incompetent robots the woman keeps coming up with.” Bulma grit her teeth she knew he was baiting her, as he always did. For some sick reason she knew one of his favourite hobbies was to pick a verbal fight with her almost every time they were in the same room. Vegeta smirked over his shoulder at her as he waited for her to say something, but before she had even opened her mouth for her comeback Goku and jumped out of his seat in excitement. “Sure Vegeta I’ll spar with you, when do we start?”

“How about now?”

“Great! Where?”

“Meet me in the gravity room in five minuets, maybe we can teach that small brain of yours some new moves.”

Goku blinked rapidly, if he didn’t know better he would think Vegeta was actually offering to teach him the sacred moves he was talking about earlier. “You mean…”

“Stop blathering and just get your lazy ass to the Gravity room, if you aren’t there in five I will be starting without you!” Vegeta said no more and exited the room with his arms folded proudly as he went. Goku smiled in anticipation and before he set off for the gravity room he turned to Bulma. “ Hey are you gonna’ be ok?”

Bulma smiled sweetly, “Of course Goku, after what I have just seen I’ll be fine! You go have fun! But don’t beat each other up too badly ok? I want you both back here for supper around seven!” Goku quickly nodded and waved a quick farewell as he left to meet up with Vegeta, excitement at the thought of the tough sparring match he had coming up with his fellow saiyan pumped through his veins, the thrill of battle as Vegeta would put it ran through his veins just as it had through the veins of his brother’s and sister’s that were slain by freezer all those years ago. Goku reached the Gravity room and knocked a couple of times. The door opened and Vegeta was already standing at the control panel in a fresh new set of amour.

Vegeta turned to face his eager opponent and smirked, “So…are you ready for your lesson Kakarot?” Goku nodded quickly and walked in. Vegeta typed away at the control panel and pressed the activate button. Goku felt the strain on his muscles as the gravity machine whirred into life. He hadn’t been in a gravity room since the trip to Namek. It was almost unbearable for him. He glanced up at the Gravity panel to see that Vegeta had typed in 650G’s. He swallowed hard and straightened his spine; wincing at the pain it caused but tried his hardest to look totally unaffected. He knew that he was failing miserably as he heard a gruff laughter come from the Prince to the side of him. Goku looked around to see Vegeta standing proud with his arms folded like normal. How could this not affect him? Maybe Vegeta had been training more than he had thought. Goku smiled, he knew this was going to be a good workout.