14A/N:My first fanfic so please be generous. Please R&R. Constructive criticism is most welcome. Rating is T for language and subsequent complex emotions. Genre is little bit of everything, so it's officially General, but mainly Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Family, Drama and Romance. No official leading characters. Though it now looks just BV, others are all there, and I'll give away that Goku will have a huge part later. I don't agree completely to GT. My version has a happier and earlier ending. So this takes place after my GT. Quite long note; now read on and please bear with me.
Disclaimer: If I'd have owned DBZGT, the last two letters would have meant something less irritating.
It was a usual Saturday morning at Capsule Corp. Bulma had just finished a major upgrade on the company's life-giving product—the hoi-hoi capsule, which was also, of course, its namesake. She had worked overnight, but the thought of her parents, especially her father watching her from above, their hearts bursting with pride, had gained a way upper hand on her exhaustion. She sat at the window of the kitchen with her mug of coffee, looking out at her late father's pets and remembering how her mother tended to them and the garden. They were a great comfort to her after his death, till she herself left them the next year. The garden never looked as lively since they left the living world and the bots took over. All was quiet except for the din of bots cleaning up the Lab, the 'hah-hoos' of Vegeta's training, the slightly different din of his training bots and of course the softened-by-the-GR's-padding-but-actually-jarring thuds of them, and much more, breaking. The only building on that side capable of being visible above the boundary wall in spite of the half-mile peripheral on that side was ZZTV's West City office. It was six in the morning, so the huge TV screen on its side was still turned off, and the morning mist made the skyscraper look like a cloud castle's tower to Bulma's imaginative mind. Though she was no more the surreal-minded sixteen-year-old, she still loved castles. And why wouldn't she? She was married to a Prince, only he wasn't human, and where from he came, it was more princely to go about being cocky and ordering one and all, than to be a caring, loving, friend-cum-saviour of the people... well, etc. etc. Still, she loved that idiot of a Saiyan Prince. She knew the caring, big-hearted man under the tough shell, and was the only one in the whole gang who really, completely understood why Goku gave the man chance after chance to 'be one of the good guys' and Vegeta had, actually done so, though he wouldn't admit it. When she went to search for the Dragonballs, little did she know that it would change her life forever. An alien for a friend, another for a husband, extraordinary humans for more friends, half-aliens for her friend's and her own children, several alien species to know, kais and wish-granting dragons—the whole lot was added to her then-realising-and-now-realised dream of being a huge success as a genius scientist and a gorgeous beauty.
Though Vegeta as always had risen early to train, the kids were sleeping in as it was a weekend, and the blue-haired genius decided to chalk out plans of shopping with Chi-chi during the weekend and unveiling the new capsules come Monday. She set her mug down in the sink and came back to her seat. She stared out of the window making her plans and soon was engrossed in them, when an ear-shattering but familiar boom, followed by a huge shout-groan-snort-grumble sequence deserving similar adjectives shook her out of her thoughts. Bulma knew what she would hear next. There go my plans, she thought. Well, I'm not getting up until I wish to. If he thinks…
— "What are you dreaming of, woman? The GR's busted and I want you to fix it."
— "Want won't do. Say you need me to. And don't forget the P-L-E-A-S-E. Do. You. Get. Me. Your. Stupid. Majes-ty?"
—"Woman do you know whom you're speaking to? Get up and do it!"
—"Yeah I do. The GREAT GRIFFIN PRINCE of three-and-one-fourth alien primates. (makes a face). AND I'm not responsible for the GR busting so I wooooooon't fixit."
—"Woman it's not my fault that these Earthly materials and your stupid designs are made out for puny humans and can't take Royal Saiyan strength!"
—"If my designs are stupid then why do you want them?"
—"Hmph…They are the best I get on this mud ball AND I NEED TO TRAIN!"
—"So you admit you need it. Now say please and maybe, the world's greatest scientist will consider about helping you."
—"I don't need the fucking help of anyone, understand?"
—"Then why do you ask?"
—"I told you once."
—"I won't fix it then. Go train in the lawn."
…
—"Hmph."
Bulma watched the towel slung back recede for a while and then made her way towards her lab. As much as she grumbled about it, making the GR stronger for Vegeta's regime, and the occasional spars among Trunks, Goku, Gohan and Goten and him was a pleasant challenge for Bulma. Whenever it 'busted', Bulma, in addition to re-building it always tried to upgrade it. And Vegeta wasn't really that ungrateful. He just had his own ways of being nice and through these ways he made sure that he never had to admit that he was being nice.
Bulma was finished with the upgraded blueprints in ten minutes and was steadily building the units. She occasionally looked out of the window, smirking at Vegeta's exasperated face as he did his katas in the lawn. Of course, she didn't see him every time she looked, for the lawn was huge, and Vegeta's slowest speed even was tremendous. At a point of time, she heard Trunks and Bulla walk down the hall towards their own mini-lab. Must be the going to work on the secret invention for 18's birthday, she thought. They both helped with her research, and Trunks, 25, was one vice-president of CC already. Bulla was all set, at 19, to become another once she finished college. Trunks was also an impressive fighter, and their parents were proud of them, though one parent didn't often admit it.
Bulma was done with the un-upgraded parts in half-an-hour, and then she stopped looking out when she began on the upgrades.
Meanwhile in the lawn, a sinister-looking redhead landed behind a bush. Yes, landed. She could fly, and had thus jumped the security to land in the lawn. The sophisticated ki-sensors hadn't sensed her. She had a high-tech suppressor. And she had a mission—to take a step to ruin the Briefs family that no other rival had thought of. The plan to ruin them not only financially, but also to take away all their happiness, was quite foolproof, for the one who assigned the mission had a deep grudge against the family, especially Bulma, and also a full knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses. The plan was, after all, directed at Bulma, but it included the others for they were her happiness. The only thing the girl's 'owners' regretted was that they couldn't do it while their own father was alive, and not even while the 'old man', Dr. Briefs was alive. It all had begun with them, and they had wanted them both to watch, but at least the company was still there and still theirs, and the revenge was ready.
The redhead saw Vegeta in the lawn and sparked her senses to find Bulma in the lab. Perfect, she thought. She knew the campus, and the lab window, as she found was quite unchanged from when her bosses had last seen it. Yeah, she preferred 'boss', but they loved to 'own' her and wouldn't let her forget it. And also, she was theirs for just ten hours till then. They wouldn't tolerate any disobedience from such a 'youngster'.
Vegeta was training as intently as possible for him in the open air. Punch, punch, kick, elbow, spin, kick. Run, jump, fly up, flip, punch, punch, kick, dip, fling, dip, land, elbow, kick, stance. Vegeta finished the combo, left his stance and paused for a while, not of course to rest, but with the intention to go and hurry up the woman.
He was about to move closer and shout, when a shrill, seductive voice cut through the air, though it was not loud.
—"Hi handsome! In a bad mood, are you?"
Vegeta turned to see a brown-eyed redhead standing beside the bush. She had soft-curled hair, left loose, and looked like a perfect femme fatale with her brown headband with pink flowers, red scarf, white full-sleeve shirt, purple jeans jacket and peach-coloured jeans trousers.
—"You are Vegeta right! And your wife's a bitch. What a waste of a handsome, macho hottie…"
—"You have NO business here! Get it? Stop being a whore and get out!"
Vegeta used a cold tone, but did not shout, so that his wife wouldn't get disturbed and could work peacefully in the lab 40 metres away. (Of course, he only cared for his GR, not for her. ;-P)
The girl came closer and put a hand on his shoulder, breathing on his face. Vegeta winced. No one could force him to even think of cheating on his Queen. Though he didn't admit it, he loved his genius wife. He drew back and growled.
—"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME YOU CHEAP FUCKING FOOLISH WHORE! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN TO YOUR KIND! And if the woman sees you…"
The girl winked at him;—"Ooh, don't worry hottie…"
Vegeta was about to snap at her again, but Bulma finished the GR's units just then, and decided to ask Vegeta to carry the units to the room so that she and the bots could assemble them. Of course, the bots could carry them, but she felt that it was high time Vegeta contributed to the building of his too-often-busting training equipment. Unfortunately for both the scientist and the Prince, though out of earshot, the open lawn did not hinder Bulma's vision. She turned towards the window and… she froze.
She couldn't believe it. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Her Vegeta surely wasn't… but the girl was almost kissing him! As soon as she found her voice, she screamed. Vegeta had just sensed her ki rise and was looking at her, stone-eyed; the scream made him skip a heartbeat.
—"You… you… girl… how dare you…and Vegeta…YOU ARE …! HOW COULD YOU? YOU…"
Bulma's face turned red. She was very upset, and totally enraged. Beads of sweat ran down her forehead and merged with her hot tears. She ran out through the lab's door, down the corridors, through the hall, to the living room and out through the front door to the lawn. By the time she reached Vegeta, the seductress had taken off and gone far beyond the boundary walls. Bulma reached there and Vegeta looked at her, his stoic defensive expression giving way to a rare pleading look.
Bulma was slightly wrong in guessing what her kids were about to do. They had to get some parts from their shed, so they hadn't immediately begun working on 18's present. When they came back, they found the Android and its blueprints missing. Yes, they were making an Android with the ability to spar with 18(Krillin was a poor sparring partner for her). They had found a way of modifying Dr. Gero's designs in order to eliminate the need for real human beings. Also, though they could, they weren't going to make it have a complete personality. It wouldn't be human like 18. Thus it would remain a utility. It only would fight and get hurt like a person, but wouldn't live or feel, and it would remain ethical to turn it off and on as per requirements (that's why, though looking human, they called Android #21 just 'it', not 'she' or 'he'.).
When the kids came to their lab, they were in for a shock—the thing wasn't there! Without speaking a word, they exchanged glances, and Trunks quickly sensed their parents and broke into a run, with Bulla following on cue. They reached there mere seconds after Bulma reached Vegeta, and the redhead was a distant speck invisible even to Saiyan eyes, unless the person knew she was there.
What Trunks and Bulla saw, they assumed to be a usual quarrel. They had approached from behind Bulma, and hadn't seen her face; Vegeta too had straightened himself after sensing them. Before even stopping, the two began to speak at once.
—"…"
—"…Mom? Hey Moooooooooom!"
—"…shh sis…"
—"eh?"
Trunks went up and looked at Bulma's tearful face, with a puzzled expression on his face. He knew his daddy never said anything to hurt his mommy proper, but she did look proper hurt. Bulla too came up behind Trunks, and she was as clueless. They looked at Vegeta for an explanation, but he was just staring stone-eyed at Bulma—staring and counting the seconds as they ticked away on her watch.
The siblings looked at each other and back at their parents…
—Mom?..." — "Anything…wrong?"
—"EVERYTHING'S WRONG! DO YOU KNOW? YOUR FATHER…(sobs…) HE WAS… CHEATING… VEGETA!… OUT… OF MY HOUSE!…"
—"I didn't cheat on you. "
…
All he received was a cold stare.
…
"You know I didn't! "
…
"You brats— you know …right? TELL HER!"
…
An uncomfortable silence filled the lawn. Bulma's sobs suddenly fell silent. When she spoke again after a few seconds , she was still out of breath, and her tears had stopped; her voice was strangely calm, and it was so cold and hate-filled that their children didn't dare to speak, and as for Vegeta, it virtually cut him in two.
—"Out of my house… You can take your last allowance and the little you earned in tournaments. Take every capsule that's yours… and take your necessities. I'll settle the divorce later…GO.
For once, the Prince couldn't serve his wife a fitting answer. He simply lost the words.
—"…I…"
—"Lame effort. I said GO. I mean GO. Now G-O GO."
Everything stood still around them. Vegeta took a moment to digest the gravity in the last word his soul-mate spoke. And when he got it, he felt his insides go numb. His throat was dry, his eyes were bleary, he sweated profusely, and his heart was thumping like crazy. He quickly ran, his children's bewildered eyes following him, and using his speed came back soon with a four-capsule case strung to his belt. He had changed his gi for a blue t-shirt and black jeans. He landed. He didn't even meet his wife's cold stare. He looked at his children. They stared back. Vegeta gave them a momentary pleading look they had never seen on him, and then looked away. After a pause, he abruptly turned, took off and left as fast as his shock-struck body and mind allowed him to. Trunks and Bulla noticed a watery reflection of the mid-morning sun in his eyes, which he tried to hide in vain. They couldn't stop their tears. Neither could they believe what their mother said, nor could they make out anything substantial of what they witnessed. Suddenly Trunks got back his senses, and looked at Bulla, breaking her trance too.
"DAAAAAAAAAADYYYYYYY!"…
COME BACK DAAAAAAAAD!...
They called after him repeatedly, …but he didn't answer. When enough out of sight, he turned his head slightly, and then turned back, let out his tears, increased his speed and bolted off. As he was reduced to a speck, Bulma's tears returned, and she fainted. The siblings, still in a trance-like state, somehow carried her to bed and left her to the bots. Bulla was plain crying, and Trunks, after rubbing his eyes, was barely controlling himself.
—"Trunks", Bulla sobbed, "what do we…"
—"…The Son family."
—"Trunks…you call them…and Marron-chan's people…I'll try something about our droid…"
—"Forget the droid. We gotta handle this first. You try to bring Mom about and get something out of her. GO!"
Bulla wiped her tears. She was her daddy's princess and a genius like her mom. She knew this wasn't true. She had something to know and prove. Bulla Briefs was on a mission.
—"Roger that. I'll go."
Little did they know that two certain occurrences were connected.
Somewhere above West City's AKD Street Kid's Mall, our redhead sensed spiking Briefs kis, and then sensed an unbalanced Vegeta leaving the others and the compound. The kis of the children were still disturbed, and Bulma's one was subdued.
She turned on a comm. link in her modified Fastrack watch.
—"Bradman siblings, S1 reporting. Mission accomplished."
—"Good job. Now I order…"
—"Not fair! I go to get a manicure and you take my turn to order her!"
—"Shut up you two will ya"
—"You don't talk to…"
—"Hey, I'll say that! S1, you don't talk to…"
S1 sweat-dropped and turned the comm. link off. "…Bah, and they say the Briefses are stupid."
*End of Chapter 1—'The Girl' of the DBZGT fanfic 'A Whatever In Need' By FanficMogul*
A/N:Hope I didn't bore you. I'd love feedback. Please forgive and mention any mistakes and tell me how to improve.