Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

Chapter eight

That Vegeta! What a jerk! Bulma scowled. She was already outside, stopped in the middle as she realized that she stood on an island all this time; water surrounded the piece of ground, so she could not walk any further than that. Great, my airbike needs fuel, and I left fuel back where I was when I last saw Krillin and Gohan! She sighed. "Man, talk about temper." All she wanted was to hide in there. She was there first! It did not make sense to her that she had to be the one to leave instead of him. Of course, Vegeta was not the moral type to begin with anyways.

"Huh?" She looked up in the sky in question as she saw two small dots in the distance, which became larger by the second. "Oh, no! Please no more!" She hated to deal with other psychopaths; she already dealt, according to her, with the most wicked one, Vegeta, that she even gained the experience to write a whole book about this and name it: Interview With The Mass Murderer.

"Bulma?" A recognizable voice spoke up.

"Gohan! Krillin! What are you doing here?"

"We could ask the same thing. We're looking for Vegeta, remember? We need to know for sure if he's dead or not. Preferably dead," Krillin replied, frowned seriously at his childhood friend.

These idiots don't know what they're missing. Bulma snickered, but showed her facial gestures sly like a fox. "Krillin, I've met this Vegeta guy."

"WHAT?! He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Krillin and Gohan looked shocked. It was a miracle enough that she was standing there, alive.

"Well, maybe if he wasn't weak enough to defend himself, he would have. But he couldn't kill me." Bulma was not so sure about that; if that was the case, then he would not even be able to kill that insect-like warrior. Either he did not care about killing her, or he just did not think it was necessary to kill her, as she was a weak girl.

"Where is he now, Bulma?" Gohan asked. He too, was curious about it.

"You don't think he's already near here, right guys?" Krillin whimpered as he realized that Vegeta would not hesitate to finish him off. Not after his attempt to kill him with Yajirobe's katana a few days ago on Earth before Vegeta's departure.

"Actually," Bulma started, hesitated to continue her sentence. "He's here…" Krillin and Gohan blinked. "In that cave."

"WHAT!" Gohan and Krillin cried out at the same time, immediately on their guard on instinct, as if they waited for him to come out and do his worst with them.

"But, why can't we sense him?"

"You don't think he's already…?"

"What? Is he dead?" Bulma asked. Somehow, it did not feel right for her. Even though she had to be happy about his death, but strangely she was not; she had played a role in this.

"I don't know. I have to see him up close to sense him. His life-force may be so weak that we barely are able to tell about his existence." Krillin answered.

"Let's go, Krillin. I've got your back," Gohan assured his bald-headed friend as he received a nod from his partners.

To the Earthlings' greatest shock, Vegeta was not breathing; he seemed dead. His body curled with his back to the cold wall of the dark cave. He lay in a puddle of his own blood, mainly his injured throat.

This… is my doing? Bulma looked in awe. She could not believe it, she was officially Earth's biggest hero now that she killed the Earth's greatest threat. But oddly, it did not even satisfy her. She thought that his death would be something she would daydream about. How come did not she like that idea anymore, ever since her encounter with the royal Saiyan? Did it had to do with the fact that he showed her mercy, eventually? As crazy as it may sounded, even in his previous state, he still would have been able to kill her by snapping her fragile neck. It was as simple as drinking water for the Saiyan prince.

Suddenly, Vegeta breathed short once instantly before he stopped.

"He's alive!" Bulma reacted, quickly hid herself behind Krillin and Gohan, as all three of them jumped back by Vegeta's sudden short breathing.

Krillin relaxed his face. "Not for long, he won't."

"Oh," Gohan sighed.

"He… he won't?" Bulma asked.

"Nope. What we're sensing right now proves it; he's rapidly losing his energy. It won't take him more than five minutes. Man, talk about being thankful to Kami for this; I should have done that on Earth. I don't know how many people he killed here on Namek, just because Goku told me to be merciful," Krillin spoke up. "I'd say, good riddance."

"But Krillin," Gohan started. As much as he hated Vegeta, he was still a child after all. Not to mention Goku's son, the man who allowed Vegeta to leave Earth alive. "We can't just…" He quickly stopped. It was best to leave Vegeta just as he was now. No need to kill him.

Krillin sighed deeply. "Maybe we could end his suffering?"He was not the monster to begin with, either.

"No," Bulma finally protested. "This was my doing, so I have to fix it."

Her doing? What in the world?! How can that be?! Krillin looked dumbfounded. "Are you nuts, Bulma? This guy isn't the type to be thankful after he heals!" He almost yelled. "He'd kill us all!"

Gohan stood silent. He did not know what to do about Vegeta either.

"But he already had the chance to kill me, yet he didn't!"

Vegeta? He could have killed her but didn't? Where is she leading to? It's impossible for Vegeta to change this much in just a few days! Krillin's mind raced, unable to understand Bulma at all about tending Vegeta's wounds.

"I'm with Bulma on this one, Krillin. Just enough so he won't die, not to heal him completely." Gohan frowned, looked seriously at Krillin's black eyes. "Besides, maybe he won't kill us if he sees that we've helped him."