Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Crossed Paths ❯ Preparations ( Chapter 7 )

PAIRING: Hints of Bulma/Vegeta, and....  ???
RATING: G so far. But that will change.
WARNINGS: None yet
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters, but we both wish we owned Vegeta. (We do own Vegeta action figures. Does that count?) These characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation, even though the last one is a crying shame. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball itself. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic.
SUMMARY: What might have happened if Nappa had been the one sent to Chikyuu to destroy it, rather than Radditz? What might have changed? And how might Vegeta and Radditz have reacted afterwards?
CHAPTER SUMMARY: The Saiyajin discover a new enemy - Mrs. Briefs! ^_^ They begin preparations for the journey to Namek. This isn't the most exciting chapter in this story, but unfortunately it's a bit necessary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I have to thank Selenity Jade, Zabjade (VegetaPet), Lady Macbeth, and W-chan for their betas. I hope you enjoy reading this fic as much as we're enjoying writing it.
NOTES: Yes, I know this title sucks, and the lead-in for the next chapter sucks, but I'm feeling pretty brain dead at the moment, so... that's what you're gonna get. ^_~

Flying might not have been a good idea, Vegeta mused, as he shifted her more securely against his chest. Though he had convinced himself that time was of the essence, and flying was indeed faster than her 'car', he was beginning to think he might have subconsciously had another reason. Maybe he just wanted to have her warm form pressed into his.

He took a deep breath to clear his head, and was assaulted by the smell of wildflowers - most likely her perfume - and something indefinable that was distinctly Bulma. It was intoxicating, erotic, and he wanted.....

Vegeta scowled, not liking the way his thoughts were heading, and he viciously pushed them aside. ::There is no way I am attracted to this pale-skinned, scrawny, loud-mouthed, human female,:: he insisted to himself. ::It has been too long since I have had a lover. I must be getting desperate if I am thinking about how I want...::

"Kuso!" he cursed under his breath, not even aware that he had spoken aloud until she looked up to meet his eyes. He snorted, and looked away, not knowing how to interpret the questioning gaze she fixed on him, but was saved from explaining himself as the buildings came into view.

"Is that it?" he asked gruffly to cover up his embarrassment.

Bulma glanced down at the sprawling Capsule Corporation compound and nodded. It had been a while since her family had moved out of the city confines. They had gotten complaints from their neighbors too many times about strange lights and noises, so her father had decided that they needed more privacy and moved to a location directly outside the city limits. They had left the bulk of the corporate offices in the original location, but their residence and their personal and high-level research facilities had been moved here. Over the years, the new area had become just as impressive as the main compound, but there weren't as many people or visitors crowding the area.

"You can land there," she said, pointing to the area near the main house. Vegeta landed gracefully and Bulma's blonde and rather pretty mother greeted them. Her mother began babbling the moment they landed without giving Bulma a chance to get on the ground.

"Bulma! Your father said you were bringing guests, but he didn't mention that one of them would be such a handsome young man! Oh, Bulma dear! Where have you been hiding him? Have you two been dating long?"

Bulma's eyes widened at her mother's suggestion. She allowed Vegeta to set her down, then glanced in his direction. She blanched at the way his eyes narrowed and his scowl deepened; it was obvious that her mother's words were not pleasing to him in any manner. Bulma knew she would have to do something to stave off a disaster.

"Mother, you know that I was meeting with Son-kun and the others today, didn't you? Well, Vegeta is a... friend of Goku's. He's got a... um... colleague with him as well, and they're going to need rooms. Kuririn and Yamcha may need a place to stay, too, and I'm not sure if they're going to bring Roshi along. Although I hope not," she muttered the last part under her breath. She knew that although she had mentioned the aliens she and her friends had been preparing to fight, her mother was so flighty she would never remember it.

"Oh, my! Oh, I'm sure Vegeta's friend will be just as handsome, won't he? Well, let's not keep your young man waiting! I'll show him to his room!" She blushed and looked flirtatiously at Vegeta.

Bulma decided that it had become an emergency, so grabbed Vegeta's hand and began dragging him towards the main research area. "Vegeta, I'll show you the spaceship. You can look it over if you like."

Normally Vegeta would have objected to being touched without his permission, but it was the lesser of two evils in his opinion as he let Bulma dragged him away. He could not logically conceive how the blonde female who babbled could possibly be connected to the beauty who was pulling him along.

Vegeta hid a smirk when he saw how embarrassed she seemed to be. He was not sure what a 'boyfriend' was but apparently its implications unnerved the human female to the point of panic. "You can let go of me now." Amusement leaked into his voice. "I think the enemy is not pursuing."

Bulma dropped his hand as though it had burned her and turned to glare at him without slowing down her strides. She realized her mother's hints and innuendoes had slid right past Vegeta; apparently Earth terms didn't mean anything to him. She couldn't help feeling relieved about that; she had been terrified that he might try to kill her mother.

"Hmph!" She gave a sniff of irritation, lifting her nose into the air, and continued towards her father's lab. They had built a special hangar for the spaceship to keep it from becoming public knowledge and very few people had worked on it besides her father and herself. They hadn't really wanted either a worldwide panic nor speculation about why they were building a spaceship so had kept it as secret as possible.

"It's in here!" she shouted over the sudden noise that exploded around them when she opened the door. "Follow me! It's right this way!" She headed through the main room, and towards a doorway to their left. The room was filled with the sounds of blowtorches, hammers, saws, and just the general loud sounds of machinery, drowning out all chance of normal conversation.

It wasn't until they exited that room and had entered the actual hangar that the noise suddenly dropped to a minimum. There were only a few people in this room - Bulma's father and two technicians who were working on a small engine off to one side. Dr. Briefs was suspended from a strange-looking harness to the enormous ship that took up the majority of the hangar, which commanded the immediate attention of anyone who entered the room by sheer size.

Bulma smiled proudly as she indicated the ship. "Here, this is what we built based on your technology! It should go at least as fast as one of your smaller ships, but I'm not sure how fast is its maximum. We haven't had a chance to test it yet."

He hated to admit it, even to himself, but this particular human should not be underestimated. Bulma was much more than she seemed. If she and the other Chikyuu scientists had come up with this in only a year's time, simply based on the plans in Nappa's scouter as well as his space-pod, then he had no intention of Freeza getting hold of either scientist. Kami only knew what he would have the two of them invent. Vegeta would rather kill both of them before letting either of them fall into the Ice-jin's hands.

The fierce protectiveness that washed over him concerning the blue-haired female should have sent off warning bells, but something in him simply would not accept Bulma being enslaved to Freeza.

"You did this?" he asked, when it appeared that Bulma was waiting on some sort of comment.

"My father and I did," she qualified. "Along with a few other top researchers for our company. Those two," she pointed to the two people working on the engine, "and a few others. Half a dozen, not including my father and myself. We wanted to keep our work secret, so we only allowed the top in the field to work on this with us, and only after signing non-disclosure waivers and passing security screenings."

She pressed a button on the side of the ship and a ramp opened up, allowing them to enter the ship. "I might as well show you the layout of the ship since you're going to be coming with us." She led him to the back of the ship and showed him the layout of the various rooms, including the galley and 'sickbay' as she termed it. The sleeping quarters seemed small but adequate, better than he was used to on Freeza's ships.

There was also a strange, empty area in the ship. He had assumed at first that this was a cargo hold, but she then explained that their supplies were all encapsulated. Then she showed him a supply of capsules in shelves along the walls, most designed to create various rooms or vehicles on the fly, to be de-capsulated in this larger room. It was, he realized, an incredibly efficient way to have multiple-use rooms without making a much larger ship. She showed him where the capsules were stored. There were a variety; everything from various entertainment facilities, to training rooms, to additional sleeping quarters, to mess halls, even to small fighter ships. There were also a number that he had no idea what they were, including something called a 'mini theater'.

She also showed him the actual 'storage' area, which was jarringly only the size of a large cupboard. There were capsules that contained water, food, fuel, clothing, smaller vehicles, and anything else she thought they might be able to use for trade or barter. Much of that cupboard was filled, but there were many empty shelves. Bulma told him they were for further supplies of food and such.

After she was done with her tour she took him back to the bridge, and explained the way the air, fuel, and water were recycled in the ship. She also showed him the controls, including the navigation system and repair charts, explaining how if there were a malfunction the ship would be able to inform them of this.

"Now," she said, looking up at him, "we only need to get more food supplies to be able to handle at least six months with three Saiyajin - just in case, you know - before we leave for Namek. It should take only a day or two, and then we'll be on our way. I'll have to teach you and your friend how to fly this ship. I think we're going to have to rely on the three of us, since I don't know that I would want Goku, Kuririn, or Yamcha piloting this ship." She smiled wryly at him. She might like her friends, but she wasn't sure if she would trust them to have the ability to pilot any ship she was in. Possibly Yamcha - although he was a bit of a grandstander - but certainly not Goku.

Vegeta had remained quiet throughout the tour and Bulma's explanation of the ship's workings. Though Saiyajin were generally regarded as scientifically inept, Vegeta was more than intelligent enough to realize what a handful of humans had managed to put together. It was still mind-boggling to think that Freeza's top scientists would never be able to match what a chosen few humans had accomplished in such a short span of time.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement of her offer to teach Radditz and himself the workings of the ship. But he didn't answer her directly as he looked away, apparently lost in thought.

"It is easy to see why Freeza was interested in your planet," he said after a moment. "You and your father would be extremely valuable commodities."

Bulma blinked in surprise at his implied compliment. It wasn't something she had been expecting from the churlish Prince. She wasn't going to contradict him, however, as she knew that he was stating the truth, and she had no false modesty about her intelligence.

"You can see why it's as important to you as it is to me that we stop him," she simply replied. "We need to work together on this. If we don't, I think neither of us will succeed. You will fail because you will be unable to get there, and we will fail because we do not have your... muscle." She smiled mischievously at him, her eyes twinkling. "And of course, if you don't treat me with respect, I can make your journey to the planet extremely unpleasant!"

"I am sure you will talk me to death. Do you humans ever shut up?" he asked, trying to ignore the sudden heat that seemed to spread through his abdomen to his groin when she smiled at him.

He stalked past her, not even glancing at her as he made his way down a corridor, angry with himself for his unexplained loss of control. ::Kuso!:: he swore to himself as he exited the ship. ::What the hell is THIS?::

Bulma frowned, confused by his sudden mood swing. He hadn't objected to her explanations when she had taken him around the ship, so why the sudden rudeness? Was that just the way he was? She decided not to let it bother her. She couldn't do anything about the fact that he was a rude bastard. It seemed to be at least somewhat standard for their race, at least from her experience with them, and she wondered if Goku had only managed to escape it because of that apparent blow to his head when he was an infant. If that were the case she was glad it had happened. He might not be as intelligent as most, but if the little boy she had met all those years ago had been as nasty and rude as these Saiyajin, then she would probably have been killed a long time ago.

She shut down the ships controls, other than the ones they needed to continue working on the ship, then headed out and closed the hatch. She saw Vegeta standing off to the side, glowering accusingly at everyone around him. ::What bee got up his ass?:: she wondered irritably. She decided not to pursue it, but instead walked over to where her father was dangling on the side of the ship, a panel open and a small toolbox hanging on a scaffold next to him.

"Dad!" she called up to him, getting his attention.

He looked down at her in surprise, so absorbed in his work he had not noticed her arrival earlier. "Bulma? I thought you were with your friends today!"

"I just got back!" she replied, her voice still raised. "Dad, can you come down so I can talk to you like a normal human being? I don't want to keep shouting up at you!"

"Oh." He pushed his glasses up on his nose, and lowered himself to the ground. "Yes, Bulma? What did you want to talk about?"

"Dad, Goku and I are going to need the ship in a day or two. I'm going to stock it with some more supplies, and then we need to leave. Will it be ready? Or are you doing something critical?"

"Well... all the ship's systems are in place. We were just working on some modifications. We can have them finished by tonight. But we haven't finished installing the stereo system!" He absently scratched the small black kitten, perched upon his shoulder, behind the ears.

Bulma fell over in shock but recovered quickly. "Dad!" she shouted at him in exasperation. "I think we'll survive in space without a stupid stereo system! Just finish up what you're doing to the engine and don't start anything else! All right?"

"Okay, okay." Dr. Briefs sighed, knowing that when his daughter was so determined about something there was no arguing with her. Not that he ever argued well with her in the first place. She had been able to walk all over him ever since she was a little girl, and he didn't know what to do about it.

Bulma strode towards the door leading to the main room, pausing when she saw Vegeta still standing there scowling at everyone.

"Well?" she demanded irritably. "If you're not going to stand around here all day, come on!" She turned back towards the door, expecting him to follow her.

Vegeta glared at her back but didn't say anything. He couldn't help but feel a grudging admiration for her. Even though she seemed weak on the outside she was by no means weak on the inside. She was apparently the one in charge of everything; her friends, this place, her family... he wondered how extensive it was. The compound they had landed in was the size and quality of any palace he had ever visited. He wouldn't doubt it if this human woman were the equivalent of this world's royalty. She certainly acted like it.

He followed her out of the hangar, the noise of the next room once again assaulting his sensitive Saiyajin hearing. He only managed to keep his features schooled into its typically aloof expression with a judicial use of control, but he couldn't help feeling relieved when they finally exited the lab.

The relief was short-lived, as they were immediately greeted by the human woman's irritating mother. She was carrying a tray filled with several glasses and a pitcher of some yellow substance, and had a vacuous expression on her face.

"Bulma honey!" she cooed at them in her shrill voice. "Would this gorgeous friend of yours like some lemonade? Oh dear! He must be so upset at your manners, you haven't even offered him anything to eat!"

Vegeta silently cursed his misfortune. The worst part of the whole situation was that he had to spend the next several months with these people. ::I am going to go insane,:: he decided. But he knew that he really didn't have a choice in the matter. As much as it irritated him to admit it, Vegeta needed their assistance. But the minute it was over - once Freeza was defeated - he would never have to set eyes on any of them again.

The relief he felt was somewhat dimmed by the thought of not seeing a certain blue-haired scientist. That thought left him even more irritable than he already had been. He did NOT need a female to distract him. He had bigger plans ahead of him and they did not involve giving in to lust, as pleasurable as the experience might be.

He caught the woman's mother staring at him with the most vacuous smile he had ever seen, and recalled that she was probably awaiting a response from him. He winced inwardly, not really wanting to deal with her, then smirked as an idea formed to get rid of the elder of the two women.

"No, she did not," he replied. "Apparently she needs to relearn her manners." He assumed the other woman would go flitting off in search of food for him and leave him alone with Bulma. He tried to ignore, rather unsuccessfully, the tightening of his stomach muscles at the thought of having Bulma to himself. He wondered if getting rid of the other woman, however annoying she might be, was really a good idea.

Bulma glared at the Saiyajin Prince in annoyance. How dare he? She had not only offered him something to eat earlier, but he had seemed to enjoy it. How dare he tell her mother that she had been rude to him earlier, when he had been continuously rude to her all day no matter how polite she had been to him?

"Oh my! I forgot!" Mrs. Briefs exclaimed, suddenly looking flustered. "Bulma-chan, your friends are already here, waiting for you and your handsome young man by the gazebo! Oh! And that other new young man of yours is so handsome, almost as handsome as this one!" Mrs. Briefs giggled again, making both of them wonder if she had any brains at all. "My, my, Bulma-chan! When did you meet these handsome young men? Why haven't you introduced any of them to me before? Oh, your father will be so happy to know that you've finally met some boyfriends again after all this time! We were so afraid that you would end up alone for the rest of your life after you and that gorgeous Yamcha broke up! We thought it was so sad that he had broken your heart so you never wanted to date anyone else again, since you and Yamcha had been together for so long, after all!"

Bulma thought she was going to faint from mortification. She could feel her face growing red with embarrassment at her mother's tirade. She knew her mother's statements made her look like she was firmly on the shelf and that she was completely and thoroughly unwanted by any and all men. Bulma didn't allow her eyes to meet Vegeta's; there was no way she would let him see how hurt she was feeling by her mother's implied insults. So what if she hadn't dated anyone after she and Yamcha had split up? She knew men had wanted to ask her out before that, but she had always been with Yamcha and hadn't wanted to date anyone else.

This past year she had been too busy nursing a broken heart to want to try seeing other men. Until Yamcha had stopped by nine months ago, she had even been secretly nursing the hope that the two of them would get back together again. She dreamed that somehow Yamcha would have changed his mind and would have realized he was still desperately in love with her. But the complete lack of desire and love in his eyes - and the presence of what was so obviously simply brotherly affection - had dashed all of her hopes again. She had never let anyone know - not even her parents - that right after he had left she had gone up to her room and allowed herself to cry for hours at the loss of the dream she had been nurturing for ten years.

It was only then that she had finally been able to let him go, but even then she still hadn't been ready to begin again with anyone else. She had decided from that day forward that she wouldn't need anyone else; she would just live alone for the rest of her life and let her work and research fill her days. But she hadn't been aware that a tiny part of her was still clinging to her feelings for Yamcha and wasn't letting her truly move on. It wasn't, in fact, until this very morning when she had seen Yamcha again at Master Roshi's that she had finally let the last bits of that dream fade away. She still felt empty from the loss of that dream and didn't know what she could use to fill its place. She didn't know if work would ever truly be enough for her. She had always wanted to have a family - children and love - but now she thought that dream might be beyond her forever.

Without looking at Vegeta - and feeling her face burning with shame - Bulma turned towards the back of the house. "We should go see them," she mumbled, trying to distract the two of them from her mother's babbling. "They'll have caught Goku up on what's going on. I need to contact some vendors and have supplies brought in for the trip."

"Oh, Bulma-chan! You're going on a trip?" her mother gushed. "Why didn't you tell me? Oh, is it with this handsome young man?" she giggled flirtatiously at Vegeta.

"Mother, don't you have to get Vegeta something to eat?" Bulma asked in a strained voice.

"Oh my! How could I forget? But I promised those young men I would bring them this lemonade!" Mrs. Briefs looked, if possible, even more flustered, torn in two directions by her desire to be a good hostess.

Without missing a beat, Bulma took the tray from her mother's hands. "I'll take this to them," she said, feeling relieved at having something to do. She started towards the back yard.

Bulma's mother wiggled her fingers at them. "I'll go fix your friends up a nice meal!" she gushed, and scurried off into the house.

Yamcha and Kuririn spent most of the trip to Capsule Corp bantering back and forth. Part of it, the handsome scarred warrior admitted only to himself, was an attempt to ignore Piccolo. The Namek was being way too quiet for Yamcha's peace of mind, as he flew behind the human and Saiyajin warriors. Yamcha couldn't help but worry that the green-skinned warrior was planning how to defeat them after they finished off Freeza.

The other reason was the Saiyajin.

Yamcha sighed inwardly, trying to fight the feeling of unease that was beginning to tug at him. He thought Goku was far too trusting of these aliens, but he knew that was just how Goku was. The young man - Saiyajin, it now seemed - in question was flying next to his older sibling, chattering away about this and that, Radditz merely grunting in reply. Yamcha wasn't sure what the two men were discussing, but at least Radditz was not ignoring Goku. The larger warrior looked uncomfortable with the steady stream of conversation that was coming his way, making Yamcha smile to himself. ::Don't know how to handle him, do you?:: he thought smugly. ::He doesn't act how you expected him to.::

They touched down on the grounds of Capsule Corporation moments later, startling Bulma's mother who was watering flowers in the garden.

"Good morning, Mrs. Briefs!" Yamcha greeted Bulma's mother cheerfully. "So, how is the most charming and beautiful woman in West City feeling today?" he teased, enjoying her girlish blush when he flirted with her. Yamcha did not even give a second thought to flirting with his ex-girlfriend's mother.

Radditz was beyond thinking about how insane humans were. It was obvious to him that this species was beyond hope. From the vacuous giggle by the woman that the handsome human seemed to like, to the rather inane banter of the two human male warriors, Radditz was convinced this species had a bare minimum of intelligence. How could they have survived for so long? How could his brother have mated with one of them?

Then he shot a glance at Kakarotto, considering. There was something odd about his brother, something disturbing. Kakarotto was very un-Saiyajin; it was as though the blow to his head as a child had removed not only his programming but had made him so unlike a Saiyajin that it was jarringly disconcerting. As Radditz studied his younger brother he finally allowed himself to become aware of the little mannerisms which he had subconsciously been ignoring, all those little things that told him that his brother - despite the race he was born - was not truly a Saiyajin in temper or personality.

Radditz wondered if Kakarotto had any of the Saiyajin instincts he had been born with. He had become a warrior - that much at least was normal - but he seemed so trusting, so childlike... even Saiyajin children weren't as innocent and open as he was. Saiyajin instincts for combat and conflict required they have an outlet, and combat training fulfilled that. Most of them began their warrior training from infancy and were in the military by the time they were twelve years old. Although Radditz suspected that Kakarotto had also been training since he had been a young child, he didn't know if it had been with the brutal intensity of a Saiyajin's training. He suspected that would have beaten out even the most innocent of souls.

Radditz felt a pang of disappointment when he realized his brother might not be what he had expected to find. But there was still a part of him that wanted Kakarotto to be his little brother again, so attempted to convince himself he could change him back to what he should have been.

With an almost violent movement, Radditz strode towards where he could sense his monarch's ki - the lab where the spaceship hangar lay. Mrs. Briefs, however - oblivious as she tended to be - noticed his movement and called out to him. "Oh my dear! You mustn't go there! My daughter would be so angry if you go there without her authorization!"

Radditz froze, and then turned back towards the ditzy blonde woman, his face a mask of rage. "And why should I care what your daughter thinks?" he snarled at her.

Mrs. Briefs appeared oblivious to the fury directed at her, although the other three warriors gaped at Radditz in shock. "Oh, she went in there with that handsome young man, and I think they wanted to be alone! Oh, you are such a handsome young man as well! Are you one of her friends? Oh dear! Bulma has met two such handsome young men! Why didn't she ever tell me about any of you?"

She giggled inanely, and Radditz' fury dissipated as he stared at her completely astounded. No one could be that stupid, could they? No, after studying her for a few seconds he realized she really was that stupid, although he would never have thought anyone could survive with so little intelligence. Perhaps that was why these humans were so odd and positively idiotic on occasion. He glanced at his brother and wondered if that explained his brother's apparent lack of intelligence as well. Was it something about this planet? He was suddenly worried for himself and his prince. What if whatever it was started to affect them as well and they became as stupid as these humans? They needed their wits about them if they wanted to defeat Freeza - they didn't dare allow themselves to become simpering morons as well!

"Oh, my dears, you must come with me! I'll make you some fresh lemonade and you can rest outside while you wait!" Mrs. Briefs beamed at them, grabbing Radditz' arm and tugging at him. He followed unresisting, too shocked to fight her even though there was no way with her strength that she could have moved him if he had not wanted to be moved. The other warriors shared surprised looks with each other at Mrs. Briefs' casual attitude towards the intimidating Saiyajin, but when Radditz didn't appear to be on the verge of blasting the human woman they followed quietly behind.

Vegeta blinked as he watched Bulma's mother trot off to one of the buildings, a little surprised she could move that fast. ::Apparently the woman's intelligence comes from her father.:: He shook his head as he turned to follow Bulma, lost in thought, and took the opportunity to study the human female.

Her face was still a little pink; whether it was from embarrassment or shame at her mother's earlier remarks he couldn't say, but she still refused to meet his gaze. He couldn't help watching the gentle sway of her hips as she moved. ::Curious. For someone for who will scream at a Saiyajin warrior without any fear, she flinches from the subject of 'boyfriends'.::

One of Vegeta's better qualities was his innate curiosity. The more something seemed out of place, the more he took it as a challenge. And the pale woman in front of him certainly presented a puzzle, one he would try to make some sense out of. At the very least it would relieve his boredom on the ship while they traveled. And maybe he would figure out why she was so uneasy when the term 'boyfriend' was uttered.

If someone asked him why any of this mattered, he would have shrugged it off as mild curiosity, something to occupy his mind from these humans and their incessant chatter. Which brought him back to the present. He couldn't help scowling as Yamcha's voice greeted Bulma as they made their appearance.

"Hey, you brought the lemonade!" Yamcha practically pounced on Bulma and the tray, for it was well known in the neighborhood that Bulma's mother made the best lemonade. "Thanks!"

"Um... yeah." Bulma shrugged, causing the tray to jiggle slightly. She put it down quickly before the lemonade could spill, setting it down on the table in the garden. She glanced at the others, noting the incongruity of the enormous Radditz trying to look comfortable in one of the garden chairs. He looked like he wasn't sure what to do there.

Radditz stood up in relief when he saw Bulma and Vegeta approach, then bowed slightly towards the smaller Saiyajin. "Your Majesty," he murmured. He arched an eyebrow at Vegeta, deferentially waiting for Vegeta to offer information rather than demanding it of his prince.

Gohan was looking a little overwhelmed at everything around him. He had never been anywhere other than his grandfather's village, his parents' home, and later the deserted area where Piccolo had dumped him. All these buildings were too intimidating to him, making him feel small and insignificant. Without realizing it he found himself moving towards his father, automatically wrapping an arm around his leg the way he used to do when he was little.

Goku looked down when he felt Gohan's small warm body against his side. He smiled reassuringly when Gohan returned his gaze, looking so much younger than his five years. The large man ruffled his son's hair in an affectionate gesture to reassure the young demi-Saiyajin. "It will be alright, Gohan. You'll see."

Vegeta frowned, watching the exchange. The interaction between father and son confused him. Back on Vegeta-sei, such open affection was uncommon although it wasn't entirely unheard of. Yet the gentleness of Kakarotto's action made him wonder how many of his Saiyajin traits had been forgotten. ::If he ever had them to begin with. But he did help defeat Nappa, so perhaps there is hope for him yet.::

"We will be leaving tomorrow," Vegeta informed Radditz. "But we will be staying here for the night."

Bulma's brows knit in a frown. There was something about Vegeta's commanding tone that annoyed her a little, but she decided to ignore it. He wasn't, after all, making any demands of her, and she had told him he was staying the night there. She had even arranged rooms for all of them... even Roshi, who she was glad hadn't come with them. She had been assuming that Goku would head home for the night, but now that she considered it, she thought maybe she should invite Chi-Chi over here instead.

Bulma shrugged dismissively. "I think my mother has arranged bedrooms for all of you. But if we're going to leave tomorrow I'll need to make sure all the supplies get here in time. We are not leaving unless we have sufficient food for all of us for six months. I am going to assume that the two of you," she glanced at Vegeta and Radditz, "eat as much as Goku, maybe even more. I'll have to make sure there's enough for all of us, and that means ordering a lot of food. It's not going to be easy, and I'm going to have to start now."

Radditz nodded in acknowledgement of his prince, then gave Vegeta a surprised look when he didn't admonish the human woman for her impudence. Radditz began to wonder if Vegeta in some manner even enjoyed the way she didn't seem to cower before him. She was probably one of the first individuals he had ever encountered who treated Vegeta with neither contempt nor obsequiousness.

Bulma decided that the two Saiyajin didn't need to be shown to their guest rooms at the moment; she would show them later. Excusing herself with a barely concealed impatience the blue-haired woman left to arrange supplies for their trip. She was annoyed at the way Vegeta kept indicating that they would leave 'tomorrow', yet found herself growing impatient to leave as well so didn't feel like arguing with him over it. She didn't realize that by choosing not to argue she was already showing her long-time friends how much she had changed over the past year. Seven pairs of eyes followed her as she left the warriors to their devices, each with entirely different thoughts.

Kuririn and Goku watched her leave with mostly curiosity on their minds. Goku wondered why Bulma was so different somehow, but couldn't put his finger on what was different about her. Kuririn was slightly worried; Bulma's harshness in the past had often been aimed at him, so it was almost a relief that her temper wasn't quite so volatile. On the other hand, he knew it had been her strength and determination that had seen them through many difficult spots; he couldn't help worry they might be gone from her now.

Yamcha couldn't help a niggling feeling of guilt. He suspected that the change in her had much to do with him; if he hadn't hurt her she would be the same old Bulma. He couldn't decide if the change was good or bad yet. In a strange sort of way he missed the old Bulma and wondered if she would ever be the same again.

Gohan watched her curiously, still unsure about the woman he had met only briefly a year earlier, then had met again just a few hours ago. His thoughts were more on his father and his new friend Piccolo.

Piccolo's thoughts were inscrutable, and he only briefly glanced at Bulma before returning his gaze to the three Saiyajin. He was suspicious of all of them but for different reasons. Goku he simply hated; he would kill him someday no matter what. He didn't allow that tiny part of his consciousness that expressed concern for how Gohan might feel to make itself heard; he convinced himself he didn't care what happened to Gohan or how the tiny demi-Saiyajin might feel if his 'friend' killed his father.

He was suspicious of the two strange aliens as well, but mostly it was simply that he didn't trust their motivations. They had said they had come here to find a way to defeat some being named Freeza, but Piccolo had his doubts about that. He wasn't even entirely sure that Freeza wasn't more than an invention by them to frighten the others and make them fall in line. He didn't know what they had in mind but his innate suspiciousness kept him on edge as he focused his attention on them.

The two Saiyajin had different thoughts. Vegeta couldn't tear his eyes away from Bulma as she walked away. His gaze drifted from the top of her fine blue hair that blew gently in the breeze, to the gentle curve of her waist, to her hips, down to her shapely legs. It was a warm summer day on Chikyuu so Bulma was wearing nothing more than a halter top and shorts, and Vegeta couldn't help but enjoy the view of her soft, bare skin on her shapely legs and back. He was unaware of another pair of eyes noticing his distraction as the intensity in his expression deepened.

The heat in Vegeta's gaze as he watched Bulma's hips sway gently from side to side didn't go unnoticed by his larger companion. Radditz shifted his attention from Vegeta to the human woman and then back to the warrior prince, and couldn't hide the concern in his own expression. It hadn't occurred to him earlier that Vegeta might have a sexual interest in the woman, but now it was quite apparent.

The fact that Vegeta was actually showing it in his expression positively alarmed Radditz. The longhaired Saiyajin knew Vegeta had taken women to his bed, but never before had he outwardly shown any interest in any of them and Radditz knew that other than as a temporary bedmate he had no interest in them. It couldn't help but make the larger warrior worry that Vegeta could be feeling something more long-term for the human female. Even if it wasn't permanent, if he began to feel emotional ties to her it might be used against them when they had to confront Freeza on Namek.

It wasn't that Radditz begrudged his prince his pleasure. But he suspected this might be more than pleasure. He couldn't help feeling the conflict that tore at him. It was taboo in their culture for Saiyajin to mate with other species. Often enough the males would take a female of another species for a single hour or even a night, but it would never go beyond that. The scarcity of females on their own planet made their culture very different from many, but permanent matings with another species was still forbidden, and instinctively anathema to a Saiyajin.

It probably wouldn't be so bad if Saiyajin could successfully interbreed with any other species, but their scientists had determined long ago, by comparing the DNA of every other known sentient species, that Saiyajin were sufficiently distinct from all other races to be able to interbreed. Many of the elites had used this in their argument that Saiyajin were superior to all other species. Radditz and Vegeta - the end result of millennia of that prevailing ideal - both believed all other species were insects, unimportant and irrelevant compared to any Saiyajin and worthy only of extermination and contempt. Radditz would have no qualms about killing Bulma if he suspected she might become a weakness to his monarch.

After Bulma had disappeared into the house, and the group - other than Piccolo - ate the meal Mrs. Briefs so happily supplied, Goku brightly asked the others if they wanted to train together for a while. More out of curiosity than anything else the two Saiyajin agreed; they would like to see the powers these human warriors had, to see if they were worthy of being their allies or not.

So for the rest of the afternoon the seven warriors - human and Saiyajin and Namek, adult and child - trained and tested each other's powers and skills. By the end of the day, they were each satisfied they had some measure of their friends' - or allies, in a few cases - new skills and powers. And although the two new Saiyajin were well aware that none of them were even close to the level of the enemy they had chosen to take on, the humans were confident that the group of them could work together and defeat anything.

When they eventually returned to Capsule Corp - with their clothing torn, and bruises and cuts all over their bodies - they saw dozens of trucks parked around the area as Bulma signed some forms. As they watched, the trucks pulled away and Bulma smiled wearily at them as she brushed a strand of hair from her face and headed towards them.

"Most of the supplies are encapsulated and aboard the ship now. My father is finishing the rest up for me. I think mother is preparing dinner for us if you want to join us. I'm going to freshen up a little." She wrinkled her nose at them. "You need to do the same. You all stink. I am not going to let you sit at my dinner table and make me lose my appetite because you smell bad. Come on."

She crooked a finger and to their surprise the warriors - all except Piccolo - followed her without argument. The Namek decided that since he didn't have to eat anyway he wasn't going to obey her orders, but simply remained outside in the fading sunlight to meditate.

Bulma showed the men to their individual rooms, each of which had a personal bathroom complete with tub and shower connected to it. She showed the two aliens how to use the shower; both of them agreed that they weren't much different from some they had seen on various alien worlds they had visited. Then she went to her own room to clean up.