Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z nor did I create it, the rightful owners of the series are Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation. I'm just writing a story in the world Toriyama created with the characters he created. The story I make up is my own.

Chapter 1: First Day of a Namekian Year

Gosh, it had been such a strange day! First, she had hung in the arms of the six-year-old son of her alien friend Goku, while he was flying them to his father's spaceship. They had been on the planet Namek, where the grass was blue and the sky green. At that moment, that hadn't been a sight she could enjoy, though. The planet had been shaking and fountains of lava and crumbling mountains had surrounded Gohan and herself. The sky had darkened and the planet had been minutes from explosion.

After they'd reached the spaceship, instead of getting the hell off that planet, Gohan had flown off because he felt his father needed assistance in his battle on the vanishing planet. Just when she finally couldn't take another second of waiting for the boy and pushed the buttons for take-off, she'd suddenly found herself in a green tree watching a blue sky. Back on earth!

The Nameks had been transported there too, while they'd all died in the various battles on their home planet before. They seemed very much alive now, though! So did Vegeta, the evil saiyan that had come to empty planet earth and sell it, and use their dragonballs to wish for immortality. Gohan and Krillin had flown off with him when they were all on Namek though, and at that moment, Bulma, beautiful heiress and technical genius of Capsule Corporation, wasn't aware of what had happened there yet.

Krillin hadn't come back to life on earth and Goku was nowhere to be found, either. The oldest of the Nameks, their leader and their father (literally), had suddenly died of old age, and they'd gotten a telepathic call from King Kai telling them Goku killed the monster that had terrorised the universe for so long, but died in Namek's explosion. Thanks to a sudden idea from Vegeta, of all people, they figured out a way to wish their friends back to life.

After that, she'd invited all Nameks and Vegeta to stay on her father's compound, and spent the rest of the day entertaining Nameks.

She'd gotten to Gohan, questioning him about what had happened when he and Krillin had suddenly run off with Vegeta, but the child was dragged away by his mother to catch up on his studies. Piccolo, a Namek that was born on earth and that had decided to stay with his people on the compound for now, overheard her question to Gohan. He gave her a brief summary of the events on Namek and briskly left before she could comment.

Playing hostess all night had been a real drag; she was used to being waited on herself, not constantly smiling to the Nameks, reassuring them, showing them where to sleep, making them a water tank in the garden where they could tap water, which was all they ever consumed, whenever they pleased without having to enter the kitchen.

Still, when night came, she couldn't get to sleep. She'd had a decent bath for the first time in months; she thought she'd be out in no time.

But her mind kept replaying events on Namek, and kept fasting forward to how life would be like when they'd wished all of their comrades back and life returned to normal.
Would she get back together with Yamcha? Had his death in some way closed the gap between them, both realising what it meant to lose each other? Or would that just be for a little while, and would it be on-again off-again in no time? She sighed and got out of bed, muttering something along the lines of 'screw you then, beauty-sleep' beneath her breath.

The legend had become reality. After a thousand years, even without tail or Oozaru state, a true super saiyan was born. And the tyrant that had held the saiyan race in his palm until he evaporated it almost completely, was gone.

It had supposed to be him. An empty thought, now. There was nothing left, there were no anchors keeping him steady, no desperate goals to chase… there weren't any lines whatsoever clinging him to life.

On this strange world everything was unfamiliar to him. He didn't know what to do and how to act. He could push the inferior inhabitants around; destroy them and their home if he wanted to… but then what? There would be no point to it whatsoever. Where would he go? Even with the tyrant gone, the universe was traced with the memory of Frieza.
Sure, he could go out there and kill all past followers of Frieza; it would be a great work-out, he'd make a point, blow off some steam… But there, just there, was his problem. There was no steam. No fire, no spirit, no resolution… nothing.

After being revived from his death at the hands of his tormentor, Vegeta, prince of all saiyans, had been stumped. Like a lost boy, he'd boasted and been angry at first, but after that first urge of emotion, he'd fallen silent.

He felt like he was recuperating from a long illness, without knowing what it was. But it felt just like he was fifteen again; left for dead on a planet unfamiliar to him after a mission with Frieza's two faithful minions Zarbon and Dodoria.

Just Frieza's idea of playing a little joke on his pet-monkey.

Sullen and humiliated, he had lain there for weeks. His temperature had dropped severely, even on a planet with a temperature over 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and he'd been fighting for breath constantly.

Somehow he'd managed to find some food and get it in his system, but he'd hardly known why he went through the trouble. Everything had been pointless and the feeling of helplessness crushing on him like an avalanche trying to devour him was the same, just now.

All that kept him here was just one, faint goal. In 130 days, the earthlings would summon the Namekian dragon together with the green creatures that were given a place to stay here, like him.
They would revive Kakarot, a low-class saiyan warrior, born with a power level of just 2 and sent to earth as an infant, from death.

Kakarot… the saiyan that didn't know of his heritage, nor cared for it.

Kakarot… that used an earthling's name.

Kakarot… the super saiyan of legend.

Kakarot… the one who let him go, "spared" him, after he could have killed him.

Kakarot… the one who avenged the people he didn't know.

The one who took away the birthright from a royal crown prince of Vegeta.

Despite the pain and bitterness, that man was the last saiyan alive beside him. And that man held the secret of legend, of the super saiyans, locked inside him.

He must have it… Maybe then… there'll be a point to it all.

But for now, the saiyan prince can't help but feel…

He should have ended at the hands of Frieza.

It was three o'clock in the morning. The television screen was flickering inside the Briefs' living room, but the couch in front of it had recently been vacated. Bulma Briefs was in the kitchen, her blue, shoulder-length hair tied in a short ponytail. She was wearing slacks and a fleece sweater, a comfortable home-outfit complemented by sneakers, for some reason.

With a glass of water in hand, the restless young woman walked out into the garden. The air was chilly, but she found it somewhat refreshing. She saw a small dinosaur crawl into her mother's magnolias when she approached and shook her head.
'Why mom keeps those things only Kami knows', she muttered.

Still, the image of that ditzy woman in her mind always tugged her lips into a smile.

Her mood uplifted, she moved in the direction of the spaceship her father built.
It was the same model as the one in which Goku had travelled to Namek, and in which she had almost left it. It was amazing that her father had managed to make all this from the pod in which Goku once came to earth.
If she was smart in playing him, she might manage to get some information out of Vegeta regarding saiyan technology, or other advanced alien technologies. They could learn so much from it, and she might be able to make more high-tech things for the Z-fighters that way! They'd never dare calling her useless again, hah! Not that they could manage without her, now… Besides, it would be good for the company. Satisfied with her brilliant train of thought, she traced the smooth sides of the ship with her fingers as she moved around it.

Then she stopped dead in her tracks. She was sure her heart skipped a beat and her breath got stuck in her throat. Vegeta sat there, leaning against the ship, gazing upwards at the stars ahead of them.

'Oh shit,' she suddenly thought to herself, 'I completely forgot to show him where he can sleep!' Her heart was beating rapidly now, and she was starting to sweat.

Had he sensed she was there, or not? He'd needed a scouter to sense power-levels when he first came to earth, right?
But then again, from what she'd seen on Namek when Vegeta came to her and Krillin to fetch their dragonball, he'd found them without a scouter because Krillin hadn't suppressed his ki in his enthusiasm about finding the dragonball. And he'd known that that pretty, but later-on, not-so-pretty Zarbon was following him.
But maybe she was lucky this time, she just had a teeny tiny ki, right?

Just when she wanted to sneak away, something hit her. Because she is Bulma Briefs, and brilliance just hits her every now and then!

'Why the hell am I going to let this man intimidate me? He is a GUEST at my house, I don't have to sneak around him and I have just as much right to be near this spaceship as he has! I'm not going to cower away from him like some scared little girl! Yuck! No sir, no can do, not around this magnificent radiating woman in the prime of life!'

Yes, Bulma Briefs' most wonderful energetic smug spark had hit her, and she decided not to shy away from the man at the spaceship with black, flame-like, gravity-defying hair.

Bulma put on an innocent smile, walked up to Vegeta, ticked him on the shoulder and asked:

"What'cha doing?"

Vegeta stiffened and his eyes became wide, startled. He didn't respond nor did he turn to her, he didn't move at all, but he kept looking at the sky with an incredulous look on his face. It looked like all thought had just left him, having been caught off-guard.

Bulma fidgeted, not knowing what her next move should be. She decided to just go on the improvising-tour.

"I'm sorry; I forgot to show you where you could sleep."

Besides tensing his knuckles and twitching his eyes, Vegeta still wasn't responding.

"Nice weather, huh?"

And now Bulma was getting annoyed. Was she talking into empty space or something?

"Look, do you want me to show you to your room, or not?" she demanded, her voice rising.

It seemed like Vegeta had just calmed down from the shock, because he responded.

"That will be sufficient."

But Bulma, already agitated, was not one to take a tone like that.

"Ohhh, it will be 'sufficient'… Geese, your communication skills really ARE getting better with the second!" she reprimanded harshly.

But the saiyan prince just gave her a small, gruff "Hn"-sound at that, and she, deciding to drop it, gestured him to follow her inside. She wasn't sure whether he was going to follow her or not at first, but when she looked back, she saw him following. He still had that incredulous look on his face though, and he was staring at her. Gosh was he annoying! In the end, she couldn't take it anymore. That man's eyes on her back were just plain creepy!

"You're staring at me as if I were a different species," she stated.

At this, though, she somehow broke through the baffled state Vegeta had been in since she'd surprised him with her presence. His onyx eyes got a glint to them and he started smirking.

"You ARE a different species."

Whatever Bulma had expected him to respond with, this hadn't been it.

"Argh! Well it's still impolite to stare!" she reiterated, quickly losing her temper, like she always does when things don't go the way she expects or wants them to go.

Vegeta just snickered and kept looking at her as they walked inside the building, heading towards the stairs.
Sure, he wasn't looking at her all incredulous and shocked anymore, but him looking at her with that… that amused look wasn't ANY better!

"You're still staring," she said, gritting her teeth.

Vegeta purposely yawned, as if he were bored, and casually crossed his arms behind his head while he kept on staring as he walked behind her.

Then Bulma stopped walking and turned around to him.

"Vegeta, I'll tell you one, last, time… STOP IT!!!!!!!"

The haughty man seemed to consider her for a moment, tilting his head sideways. It was as if he were evaluating her and if that would lead to an important decision. Bulma tapped her foot impatiently. Then he turned his head again and smiled, in an actual innocent fashion.

"No, I don't think I will."

At first, Bulma's jaw dropped open. She just couldn't, couldn't, believe this man. Then she gave up and started stomping up the stairs while shouting at him.

"You monkey pain in the ass, FINE then, stare all you want! Argh, why am I even bothering to show you to your room?"

Again he followed her casually, still in good spirits, and he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Not a clue," he informed her.

By now, they'd reached second floor and were walking along the circular hallway. But again, at Vegeta's last comment, Bulma had lost her temper. And again, she stopped walking, turned to him and started shouting.

"Would you stop that already?!!"

God, this man infuriated her.

"You really shouldn't scream, it distorts your features."

And again, Vegeta surprised her with his jab. He was glowing with glee like some little kid, playing some smart-ass game in looking where his opponents' weaknesses lay.

Bulma shivered with fury, but then put a smile on her face and regained her composure.

"A low-life, like you, shouldn't dare to speak of my features," she started with venom in every syllable she uttered. "But it's probably just ignorance, as you don't know yet how absolutely perfect I am. My features are highly eligible, and that in combination with my over-the-trop brilliancy, well, you'd wish you'd be so lucky, mister."

With that, she gave a haughty huff and put her hands on her hips. But at that precise moment, the door of her parents' bedroom opened, showing her blond-haired mother in a robe and with slippers on.

"Sweetie, is everything going okay out here? We heard yelling."

Bulma whitened but before she could say anything, Vegeta took his opportunity.

"Oh no, everything is fine out here, but someone forgot to appoint her guest a bedroom so she had to fetch her guest at night while he was still, ahh, outside."

Vegeta snickered and made sure he went to the background as Bulma sent him a death-glare.

"What?! Sweetie is that true? You can't just let that poor man that risked his neck for all of you on that horrible dangerous planet and that saved my little girl from death sleep outside in the cold; that just can't happen!! Oh, poor man, Bulma that's really disappointing of you."

"Mo-hom!!", Bulma yelled, panicking and waving her arms around wildly, "It's not like that, at all, and okay I did forget to show him to his room, but he wasn't even sleeping outside anyway, he was just sitting there, and I'm going to show him now okay?"

And before her mom could respond, she grabbed Vegeta's hand and dragged him along the hallway until they reached the room Vegeta could stay in.
When she saw his face, she quickly let go of him, opened the door to show a bed, a cupboard and a closet in an otherwise empty room, rubbed her eyes and told him that this was his room from now on and that he could do with it as he pleased.

Vegeta stalked in and stopped at the cupboard.

"As I please?"

Bulma looked at him, not understanding what he meant. Vegeta let a ball of ki form in his hand above the cupboard and sent her an explanatory smile.

"Ugh… You can't break or destroy or damage it, but you can use it and stay in it however you please." She rolled her eyes, thinking to herself that this man was like an overgrown child.

Vegeta snickered and then lay down on the bed, boots and armor and everything still on. Bulma suddenly felt insecure. She knew she was being dismissed, she had entertained him on their way to his room and now her presence was no longer necessary.
But she couldn't help but feel that his whole demeanor changed again as he lay down; he became that closed off man with far-off thoughts again that she'd seen gazing up at the stars. And somehow, that saddened her. He had fought her with words the whole way up here, and although she'd felt like she could drink his blood, it had actually made her feel quite exhilarated, more than she'd be able to feel in eons. But now he was away again, in a world she could not reach. And, wondering what was wrong with her to think these strange thoughts, she didn't trust the world his thoughts dragged him into.

She sighed. She'd better try to catch some sleep; it'll be months until the compound will no longer be crowded by green people with antennae and until life will be normal again.

"Good night, Vegeta," she said quietly while closing the door behind her.

Just before she closed the door, she saw Vegeta look in her direction and give her a curt nod.

She sent him a warm smile and closed the door.