Onwards

G

All the distance, the stars and planets that would've made it impossible for them to meet…, my take on the start of the infamous three years time gap. B/V

How many star systems away was he from his last mission?

Vegeta snorted.

It's always like this after each mission ended. But it was the worst here, because he had nothing else to distract him. Sure, training day in and out helped, but these …things were occurring more and more frequently the longer he stayed on this stupid planet. He personally blamed it on the peaceful, ignorant weak natives.

First, the wonderful rush of adrenaline, next came the obligatory binging (on anything, really, that rush to feel so, so alive, and like he ruled everything and everyone in the universe) and last, and definitely least was the inevitable crash. The little voices at the back of his head would viciously circle in on him, asking him, preying on him. Amongst every inhabitants that he burned, killed and maimed questions floated, time, and time again. Was it like that for his father, for his people when their planet was burned?

He scoffed.

Good thing he didn't know about the destruction of Vegeta-sei by Frieza until so much later. Who knew what would have happened to him, if those reedy, whispering voices would attack more viciously, stronger and in the end engulfing him completely during his time of service with Frieza.

What the hell would he have done? Try to kill Frieza, right then and there, basically committing suicide? Or would he have carried on silently, each day growing more and more bitter until one day his emotion would consume him and drive him to insanity.

Below him he could see people milling about, vehicles going to and fro, and the night lights blinking constantly. He'd seen more sumptuous planets, better technology and far smarter inhabitants than the earthlings. He'd experienced so many things on his lifespan, seen so many sights, heard a lot more than even that idiot Kakarot ever heard about the universe, an infinite number of planets, a million-billion of native inhabitants, all of time and space…

And he was stuck in a pathetic little mudball, way away from civilization as he knew it.

He let out a loud sigh. What did all of that come to anyway? His planet is dead, his people gone, Kakarot for all intents and purposes is an earthling there was no one to—

"Oh, hey."

Vegeta did a double take.

The woman has just settled herself down in the roof as well. She was wearing those flimsy –looking clothes that swishes everywhere whenever her body would sway and move with a huge, thick jacket on top of it.

He knitted his eyebrows.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's my house," she said, sticking her tongue out. She took a can of drink from one of her jacket pockets and proffered one for him. He caught it purely by reflex. She raised the hand that was holding her own can.

He grumbled. Might as well…

"Were you looking at the stars?" she asked. Some of the soda dripped off when she opened the can.

He just shrugged.

"I've always gone up here since I was a kid," she volunteered. She took another sip. "It's kind of nice to be reminded that you're just a speck of dust in this huge universe, sometimes."

He eyed her curiously. What an odd thing to say…

"Why?" he asked.

Bulma blinked before she can answer. "Well, whenever I ran into problems, and I'm stuck in that head space, I guess I look up there and it just…kinda clears my head, you know?"

He prodded on. "That still doesn't explain anything."

Bulma hesitated.

"Go on."

"Naw, it sounds so cheesy and stupid."

Vegeta made a "get on with it" motion with his head.

Bulma's face changed into a worried sort of expression, suspicious but eventually settled on resigned.

"I guess…whenever I feel like everything is too much, I look up to the skies and think, somewhere out there, there are galaxies collapsing, supernovas burning the night skies, millions of stars going out and being born, billions of planets I've never seen or visited…and suddenly my existence, my problems is just a tinier than a microscopic thing in the whole universe and obviously, the universe doesn't revolve around me. It really helps me put things back in perspective whenever I get too cocky, too depressed, or whatever…you know?"

Her voice sounded so soft.

"But maybe you wouldn't understand, since you destroyed planets for a living," she quickly added, her voice quickly resuming its normal timbre.

He smirked.

"Sadly, I am not personally responsible in destroying every single stars, planets and galaxies that makes you feel your life is insignificant like you should," he commented.

Bulma had to blink. Did he just make a joke? Her face must've changed because now he was looking at her impatiently.

"What."

"You just made a joke."

"What of it?"

"Nothing, I just thought, you know, the whole space pirate, murder, pillaging thing…that you know, you wouldn't have one?"

His voice sounded oddly distant and practiced, "There's a lot that you don't know, woman."

"Try me."

"You."

"You heard me."

"You and your puny strength, with that ridiculous hair, and your impractically built body?"

"Yes." (why did he pounce on her hair though? Of all things for him to insult. )

He didn't look the slightest bit impressed.

"Woman, you just told me that you think you're basically an insignificant little dust in the grand scheme of things. Why the hell would that make me want to talk to you about anything?" He quickly added, "You wouldn't understand anything I said anyway."

"That's half the fun, isn't it?"

He was struck by her audacity, her naïveté? (No, can't be), perhaps her hubris? Arrogance…and maybe pride. And for the first time, he finally looked at her, really looked. This was a girl with zero fighting skills, no strength, no training and not even a speck of latent strength inside. Yet time and time again, she doesn't hesitate jumping into fights, gets in there with the rest of the Z fighter, helping them, scolding them, cheering them on and tending to them when they needed her to. He'd heard second-hand from Kakarot or that ridiculously scarred pathetic fighter about their adventures prior to his arrival on earth. All the places they went, all the people they met and everything else inbetween.

And then it hit him, without her, the group of fighters wouldn't have been formed or even survived. Heck, if it weren't for her, would Kakarot had become as strong as he is now?

For once he was at a loss.

All that time and space between them, all the distance, the stars and planets that would've made it impossible for them to meet, of all the places Kakarot could've ended up in, it all boiled down to right then and there, in front of the blue haired woman who had unknowingly changed this world in a big way, and maybe a small one in the universe. And here he was, prince of a dead planet, with the strength to destroy stars and galaxies, barely able to do anything to ignite anything significant. The irony wasn't lost on him. The contrast between them was evident.

He maintained an impassive mask.

"Come on, I'll give you cookies!"

He snorted and shook his head.

"You think, a tiny chip of processed glucose, oils and lactose could persuade me to open up to you?"

"Well, not just one, obviously…"

Ridiculous. Utterly mad. What exactly was she proposing?

But he couldn't help the growing smirk on his face.

He started to walk downstairs.

"Hey, where are you going?" she asked, her voice screeching.

"Back. You make my head hurt."

"Aw, come on, Vegeta! I could use the company!"

"Not now, woman!" he yelled back impatiently.

"But…"

"I'll see you tomorrow anyway…," he said with a resigned sigh as he climbed downstairs.

She smiled.

"See you tomorrow!"

He rolled his eyes but his lips quirked into a tiny smile.

The End.