"Woman"

Age 763, one month after the defeat of Garlic Jr.

Bulma awakened with a start for the fourth night in a row. She glanced to her side, the sleepiness in her eyes blurring the red digits on her alarm clock. It was 3-something in the morning, yet SOMEONE was downstairs in the kitchen; it sounded like the Saiyan was trying to cook enough food for an army. "Uggggggggh, Vegeta!" Her sleepy voice was low-pitched and irritated. "I am way too tired to deal with this." She collapsed backwards onto the bed with a sigh and grabbed another pillow, wrapping it around her ears to block out the sound of pots and pans banging around below. It wasn't as loud anymore, but she was no longer comfortable. After a few more minutes, she decided that this time she would get up and let the unthoughtful Saiyan know just how angry she was. If she didn't deal with it now, it certainly wasn't going to go away any time soon.

She stomped down the stairs with all her weight, hoping that the thumps would give him a hint of her arrival. As she made her way down the hall to the kitchen, she began to smell something burning and heard Vegeta's frustrated grumbling.

"Hey there, 'buddy', you listen here. I don't know if people sleep or not on your planet, but here in my house we show a little respect for people who actually need rest in order to function!"

The prince stuck his head out from behind the refrigerator door. His mouth was currently stuffed with a piece of frozen smoked salmon, his left hand juggled three raw potatoes, and his right hand had a gallon jug of milk dangling from two fingers and a pitcher of Sunny Delight grasped between his thumb and index finger. Bulma giggled, trying her best to hide her grin by putting her right hand over her mouth. It was an image she would now have forever etched on her brain, but she didn't want Vegeta to know how silly he looked.

"Ooaan I oud eee ooore uiet iih i ihin ave oo oo ehhin yself," mumbled the Prince through his teeth.

Bulma lost it. She had been terrified of Vegeta back on planet Namek, but here he was talking to her with his mouth full, mumbling barely intelligible complaints in the middle of the night. What's more, she now realized that he was completely naked.

"HAHAHA! Ha ha, what?" Bulma exclaimed, unable to contain her laughter any longer.

"Pfftt." The prince spat a mouthful of food, including his salmon, into the sink. "What I said was that I would be more quiet if I didn't have to do everything myself. And what's so funny? Few have laughed at a Saiyan prince and lived to tell about it."

Ignoring the empty threat, Bulma pulled up a barstool and sat at the counter. The laughter had released a lot of pent-up frustration, and she was suddenly in a much better mood. "Do you not get enough food during the daytime, Vegeta? I know you Saiyans have enormous appetites, but hasn't your chef been working this place nonstop?"

Bulma glanced around the kitchen in amazement; it was completely destroyed from top to bottom. On the stove were a pair of four-gallon pots, each which overflowed with a dark brown substance that now covered the floor in lumps. Looking closer, she realized that the slurry consisted of partially cooked, utterly inedible brown rice. The prince had poured multiple sacks of rice into the boiling water, unaware of how it would expand in size.

"I was too busy training today to eat. I've only just finished my workout, and I am famished. If you hadn't forced my cook to shut down his activities at night, I would be peacefully eating a gourmet meal right now. Really, woman, it's as if the whole world revolves around your schedule!"

Bulma chuckled. 'I doubt Vegeta has EVER eaten a meal peacefully,' she thought. He was right on one point; she DID like to have everything her way. She just wanted him to realize he was acting the exact same way.

"Oh, so I'm a control freak for wanting everyone to be quiet at night, but it's ok for you to demand whatever you need whenever you need it? Really, Vegeta?" Bulma wasn't really trying to pick a fight. To her surprise, she realized that she was flirting; she blushed, hoping that he hadn't caught on.

"I'm the prince of all Saiyans, 'Bulma'. It is not my responsibility to worry about such trifles as what and when I will eat. That duty falls to those who do not carry the burden of being the strongest warrior in the universe – literally." The prince lifted the milk jug to his mouth and began chugging, draining the entire gallon and tossing the empty container over his shoulder.

Bulma snickered once again. Once, back in college, she had been dared to try the 'milk-challenge', drinking a gallon of milk in one sitting just like Vegeta. It had been exciting until she puked her guts out for the next hour and came away with a nasty stomach ache. Her memory quickened as she anticipated the regurgitation the prince was about to experience.

"Well, Vegeta, I guess I understand that you are used to being treated that way." She paused, wondering whether the prince was feeling the effects of the rapidly expanding milk yet. "Anyway, my point is that I just want you to try and think about other people besides yourself, at least while you're staying here with me."

Vegeta swallowed the chunk of potato he was chewing on and started to answer, then suddenly froze. He gulped, his facial muscles tensing up; it was obvious that he was trying very hard to contain something.

"Is everything all right, Vegeta?" Bulma asked, almost too nicely. She didn't want to reveal that she knew he was about to void all the contents of his stomach.

The prince's cheeks suddenly began to redden as he reached for the counter to brace himself. "BUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRPPPP!" The rawest, most manly belch Bulma had ever heard ripped out through Vegeta's mouth, echoing down the hall and lingering far longer than it should have. It was so deafening that Bulma was sure everyone in the entire complex had been awakened from their sleep.

"Wow, my dear prince. Most impressive," she giggled. 'I guess that Saiyans have more active metabolisms than we do!' she thought to herself. 'I wonder what he's going to say now.'

"Uhhm. Pfffth. Thhhh." Vegeta was utterly speechless. Being a prince, he understood the importance of manners and cross-species cultural sensitivity. However, he didn't ordinarily pay attention to manners at three in the morning, so he was mortified as he remembered being lectured by his mother about how rude it is to burp in front of women. His embarrassment was compounded by the sudden realization that he was naked. While it was normal for Saiyans to sleep in the nude, his observations indicated that earthlings typically wore sleeping garments. Normally, he wouldn't care, but for some reason he felt very uncomfortable in front of the blue-haired woman.

"Uhhm? Pffth? Thhhh? How about 'Excuse me, please'?" Bulma laughed again. She never would have imagined she was going to have so much fun a few moments before, but now she was really enjoying this late night kitchen conversation.

"Just leave me be, woman."

"All right, Vegeta. Well, good night." Normally she wouldn't let him get away with calling her 'woman', but after all her victories it just seemed like a non-issue. In fact, she was starting to get used to the way he said it. "Woman, haha," she said to herself as she crawled back in bed, smiling. Her last conscious thought before falling asleep was, 'Gosh, Vegeta sure does have a lot more muscle than Yamcha.'

Age 763, six weeks after the defeat of Garlic Jr.

Vegeta's training progressed significantly. Dr. Briefs had repaired Goku's old ship and modified the gravity chamber's settings; it now went up to 450 times Earth's normal gravity. Vegeta wouldn't have used more than that, anyway; training above that level really wasn't useful in his base form. He still felt cramped inside, but he was more careful. Maintaining control at the limits of his strength was a necessary aspect of his training, after all.

Although the Bringer of Death was still out of commission, repairs and upgrades were well under way. Bulma had learned a considerable amount, not only from the ship's advanced designs but also from talking to C47. The android, whose programming directed him to fulfill the needs of his master, tried to be heavily involved in every aspect of the vessel's repair. As an unexpected bonus, his memory banks contained tremendous knowledge on the specifications of the various systems. As long as they continued working, they got along fine, as long as Bulma's brilliance didn't overawe the robot.

After a few weeks, C47 requested a series of personal upgrades, particularly with regard to his weaponry. However, Bulma had declined, claiming she didn't know much about androids and that Vegeta's ship was a higher priority. The machine wasn't pleased.

"Statement: As you wish, meatbag." The droid's red eyes began to glow with a haughty intensity.

"Thinly veiled threat: I must inform you that if you ever betray my master, my current weapon system is quite sufficient to annihilate you. As always, I am most eager to engage in unadulterated violence."

At first, Bulma had been unnerved by the droid's repetitive boasts about violence. After a few weeks, though, she began to see them as humorous. She doubted that the android was actually capable of everything he claimed. He reminded her a lot of Vegeta, really. With the help of the rest of his crew, they were well on their way to building the ship back better than ever.

Age 763, two months after the defeat of Garlic Jr.

Vegeta turned over in his bed for the hundredth time, frustrated. He trained without any thought of time, so he often slept during the day. He would awake repeatedly in bed, bandaged by his medic and by Bulma; they still hadn't fixed the rejuvenation chamber. The combination of bright sunlight streaming in through the window and the loud voices of people crowding the streets outside made it impossible to rest. He had trained for 24 hours without stopping and was completely exhausted, but couldn't sleep at all.

"Bulmaaaa…" he groaned, but there was no response.

"BUUUULMAAAA!" He was certain he had shouted loudly enough for the woman to hear, but she obviously wasn't in the house. She always came running whenever he shouted, quickly getting him what he needed while insistently repeating that she wasn't his servant.

Mumbling a string of unintelligible, frustrated curses, he swung out of bed and walked across the room. He could always move one of the bookshelves against the window to block out the light, but the noise was unbearable. It was as if all the busy earthlings had conspired to deny him peace. Now he understand why the blue-haired woman had been unable to sleep a few weeks before.

"I've got to do something about this," Vegeta grumbled.

Bulma rolled out from under the ship, glad that they had finally built an air-conditioned warehouse around it. Working in the shade and in the cool was much easier than when the ship had been outside. The morning had passed with no incidents, so far, and she hoped it would remain that way. After all, Vegeta had trained the entire day before and had to be exhausted. Everyone was more relaxed when he was sleeping.

But now, out from under the ship, she heard growing shouts and screams outside. A few moments later, her mother walked in. "Mr. Vegeta sure is strong. I didn't know he could move the whole neighborhood around." Her voice, cheerful as always, was so high-pitched that it sounded like a series of squeaks. "Now, who wants cake?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, MOM?" Bulma dashed out the door, not waiting for an answer.

Mrs. Briefs was left alone, holding a tray of sweets and goodies. "Well, if you're leaving I guess I'll save these for later, dear."

The people in the streets were panicking, huddling together and pointing at the sky. Bulma could tell something was different, but at least there wasn't any visible damage. As she ran out into the open and cupped her hand over her eyes to block out the sun's glare, she finally saw the source of the disturbance.

Although all the streets were still intact, there wasn't a single building apart from Capsule Corporation for a hundred yards in any direction. Gaping holes, some several stories deep, littered the landscape where buildings had been. Looking further, she saw that each building had been carefully arranged side by side, fully intact, forming a wall around the empty perimeter.

Vegeta was flying carefully across the horizon, carrying a four-story apartment building from underneath with one hand. His other hand fired tiny ki blasts every few moments, carefully vaporizing each chunk of pavement that fell toward the people huddled on the streets below. It took a lot of concentration to balance a structure of this size from a single point; telekinesis had never been the prince's strength.

"VEGETA!" The tone in Bulma's voice was all-too-familiar to the prince. She used it whenever he was about to get yelled at. He was in no mood for her shrill rebukes; he just wanted peace and quiet and sleep. Clearing a space below him with a small energy blast and lowering the apartment building carefully to the ground, he climbed out through the rubble and flew back to where the furious woman was standing.

"Yes, I hear you, woman. Spare me the lecture. I couldn't sleep because of all the noisy people outside, so I relocated. Don't worry; I didn't kill any of them, but if I don't get some peace and quiet soon I certainly might!"

Bulma's jaw dropped. A third of West City had just been uprooted and moved, and Vegeta didn't see a single thing wrong with it. In fact, he actually believed he had acted according to her desires by not killing anyone.

"Vegeta, you can't just move a city block because it's too loud! What were you thinking?"

"I told you, woman! They were interrupting my sleep. It wasn't my first choice either, but it should be effective all the same. I fail to see how you have any grounds to be upset with me." Bulma had repeatedly threatened to kick him out if he hurt anyone intentionally, but her threat wasn't really necessary. He had no interest in killing earthlings. Though he had slaughtered billions under Frieza's orders, he had never felt any glory or honor in murdering defenseless masses. After all his years under Frieza, gratuitous slaughter felt beneath him. As long as the humans stayed out of his way, the prince was content to allow them to remain.

"Typical!" Bulma shouted. "Listen here, Mr. Super Saiyan. You go to your room right now and get some sleep. Tomorrow you can put all these buildings back exactly like they were."

"I WILL DO NO SUCH TH-"

Bulma interrupted. "Don't worry, I'll install soundproof walls in your room, and you won't know the difference. Sheesh. Next time, just come to me and ask when you have a problem, okay?"

"Well, I did call, but you didn't answer." Vegeta couldn't believe that he was actually arguing with this puny Earth woman. She couldn't let anything go, but he couldn't keep himself from egging her on.

"Oh, you mean you were in bed and cried out my name like you always do and I didn't come running? I wonder why...oh, wait! Maybe it's because I was too busy out working on your stinking starship to notice! Or is it impossible for me to do anything right? Gah, Vegeta. What am I going to do with you?"

The crowd, which had gathered to watch the unfolding events, was utterly terrified of Vegeta. His threatening appearance and speech, not to mention his unbelievable feat of strength in uprooting buildings, petrified them. But now, after seeing this conversation, the mass of spectators was even more afraid of Bulma than they were Vegeta. How she could control someone so powerful was beyond belief.

Age 763, ten weeks after the defeat of Garlic Jr.

"I do NOT like to blindfolded, woman!" Vegeta protested this new indignity loudly.

"Oh, come on, don't be a spoil-sport, Vegeta," Bulma replied, pushing him forward. "You're going to love what I've done with the ship."

Grudgingly, the prince entered Bulma's massive lab. The blindfold really didn't do any good – his senses were completely capable of discerning the general layout of the room – but he went along with it anyway. Proudly, Bulma pulled the blindfold away. "Check it out!"

The ship's hull was completely spotless, without a single sign of the damage done by Yamcha's blast. The glass had been replaced and tinted with a shimmery mirrored coating that reflected the interior of the lab.

"Don't just stand there gawking, Vegeta; take a look inside! I made some upgrades." The prince was getting used to Bulma's commanding tone now; he mostly ignored it.

"These engines are really powerful - some really advanced stuff. But they were horribly inefficient." The excitement in Bulma'a voice was evident. "They were set up to simply rip through the spacetime matrix by force, and it induced horrible, horrible relativistic frame-dragging. Most of the power was being sucked up just to counteract boson-fermion drag."

Vegeta was completely lost, but the woman continued, oblivious. "I added a set of harmonic stabilizers that match pulse phase with the surrounding quantum gravitational field, almost completely negating drag. If I could solve the gauge field problem, I could remove matrix drag altogether, effectively creating a wormho-"

She paused, embarrassed, as she realized that Vegeta had no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, well, I upgraded your ship, and I now expect a 5,000% increase in efficiency." Still nothing. "A journey that would have taken you more than a month will now take just under a day."

Vegeta nodded, still skeptical. "Hmm. Very well." He didn't want her to see how pleased he was. She had simply done as he had expected; this was nothing out of the ordinary. Still he didn't want her to think he was displeased. "I find your improvements...satisfactory."

Bulma knew it was as much of a compliment as she would ever receive from Vegeta. She smiled to herself; the prince was never one for idle words. When he said something, it was purposeful and precise. She was actually quite happy with being 'satisfactory'.

Age 764, three months after the defeat of Garlic Jr.

Vegeta's internal clock was always accurate. He had now spent enough time on Earth to become used to the planet's night-and-day cycle, and with the rejuvenation chamber fixed he no longer had any reason to keep an irregular schedule. Under his new routine, he rose the instant after sunrise, showered quickly, and trained for as long as he could before lunch.

This particular morning, just as he had every morning for a week, the prince woke up next to Bulma at the first light of dawn. He had known from the beginning that it would only be a matter of time; it was a sort of second sense he had about her. The blue-haired woman wanted to be with him just like many other women he had encountered. But he couldn't figure out why.

Others had hoped to gain power by association, or simply sought the thrill of danger. This was different, and he couldn't understand why; it bothered him that he hadn't yet discovered the woman's play. Still, she was…acceptable. Even so, he wasn't about to let himself make a connection with her, not after what happened with Oniya. This, he told himself, was purely for enjoyment.

The prince twisted the left chrome nob in the shower, unleashing a hot stream of water on his head. He contemplated the events of the last few months as he stared up into the watery haze. 'What am I doing here?' Steam now surrounded his body as the hot fog rose to the ceiling. 'I mean, I know I am here to regain my honor from Kakarott. But what am I doing here, with...with that woman?'

She had really infected him; he even found himself distracted while he trained. It just didn't seem right. It was infuriating that someone so weak could make him feel so helpless. She treated him normally, and so when he was around her he felt almost, well, normal. "Pah," he audibly groaned, shutting off the water.

Abruptly, he felt the familiar thrilling rush of a large energy signature. It was nearing the planet; whoever it belonged to had a high enough power level to be felt from space. "That's definitely not Kakarott's energy; he isn't due for another month, anyway. Who could it be?" Clearing his mind quickly, the prince teleported from the shower back into his room, stunning Bulma. She never could get used to how rapidly he moved; it was like he appeared out of thin air. She immediately pulled the sheets up around her shoulders.

"What's the deal, Vegeta? You forget something?"

"It seems as if I've been followed here by someone. I don't know who, but my guess is it's someone from Friez—ehem...MY empire." A knock sounded at the door, followed a split second later by the bronze-bodied android bursting into the room.

"Exclamation: Master, I have urgent news."

Vegeta frowned. "If it has something to do with that power I'm sensing, I'll forgive your abrupt intrusion. You know better than to disturb us."

"Apologetic statement: Thank you, master. I've been scanning the incoming vessel and I just received a transmission."

"Go on."

"Playback: 'Greetings, Vegeta. Allow me to introduce myself: I am King Cold, supreme lord of the Arcos Empire. I'm here on rather personal business regarding my sons, whom I believe you murdered.'"

The prince smirked as the android continued.

"Continued playback: 'I would just destroy this planet, but I suspect you'd somehow survive and I'd prefer to meet you face to face. That's not asking too much, is it? Surely you will indulge me just this once; after all, I'm very eager to see what a Super Saiyan is really capable of.' Transmission terminated." The droid looked expectantly at his master, his circuits sparking with excitement. He loved it when people challenged the master, especially because those people usually ended up as piles of gore.

"So, the whelps have a sire who has come to challenge me." He turned to the android. "Machine, bring me the royal armor I was saving for my fight with Kakarott. This should be very interesting."

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We'd like to thank all of our dedicated readers for helping us to pass the 20,000-view milestone! We're glad that everyone has enjoyed our story, and we hope that the readership continues to grow. Thanks to your support, we've been able to expand our chapters; this is the first chapter to break 5,000 words.

This chapter didn't have as much action, but hopefully it still was a lot of fun. We wanted to do justice to the Bulma/Vegeta relationship; it's something that wasn't explored in canon and is potentially more interesting with Vegeta having become a Super Saiyan on Namek.

Next week we'll see the start of the long-anticipated battle between King Cold, Lord of the Arcosians, and Super Saiyan Vegeta, Lord of the Saiyans. This is something we've really been looking forward to almost as much as the Trunks revelation. We've been really impressed with all the theories and discussion people have been putting forward on this!

Questions and answers below.

Q: Another great chapter! Trunks' motives seem a lot more mysterious than I had thought they'd be, but the goal I had thought he had probably remains the same. Anyway, I look forward to the next chapter with all the VegetaxBulma-ness. Hoping the way they end up together plays out a lot more in character for the two of them than a lot of the VegetaxBulma romance novel-esque fanfics out there.

A: This Trunks certainly has a more tenuous plan than the Mirai Trunks we know from canon. Super Saiyan Vegeta tends to complicate things. Hopefully you liked the way Vegeta/Bulma played out!

Q:i love reading this way more than I enjoyed dbz series/manga. I just want to know if your doing the entire series up to the buu series.

A: Wow, that's a huge compliment! It wouldn't be possible without Toriyama's work and DBM, that's for sure. We currently have a rough outline planned through the Cell Games saga, but we hope we can go all the way through the Buu Saga!

Q: Tapion's sword? How does it make any sense for him to have that? Do you perhaps have a version of those events that fit into BoD?

A: Sure do. Although Tapion isn't canon, Wrath of the Dragon implied that his sword was given to Trunks in U12 as well as U18. We never really find out how Mirai Trunks got the sword from the Tapion of his universe; that's definitely something we want to explore in a special chapter of Bringer of Death since it is probably not that different from what happened in U12.

Q: Will this mean that cell besides looking different will also have an extra transformation form, like coolers 5th form? and an extra question about king cold. what power levels will his 2nd, 3rd and final form have? compared to vegeta's.

Q: I believe that cooler's DNA would not alter cells appearance, but would it affect his powers?

A: The differences in Cell will probably be more related to strength than to appearance or transformation, but that's still up in the air. DBM commenter Kakarotto Ka etc (I-Am-So-Original here) may be working on some designs for this. We consider canon King Cold to be slightly stronger than Mecha Frieza at 140 million units, but giving away his third and fourth form strength would be too much of a spoiler!

Q: Wow this was interesting, why would Cold giving Vegeta a good fight change the future? I hope you give more answers.

A: We promise that this will be answered soon!

Q: Would king colds fight against vegeta prepare him for a bigger fight, like the androids or even cell?

A: Future Trunks certainly seems to think that a one-on-one fight between Cold and Vegeta will make a huge difference!

Q: This recent chapter is your best one yet! I am pretty shocked that Trunks is allowing King Cold to live, or that he knows that Cold is hiding a lot of power. It is in Trunks nature to destroy any threat with his own hands.

A: You're absolutely right; Trunks really must have a good reason to pass up this opportunity to kill Cold. He must have a backup plan of some kind.

Q: Will this change the uploading schedule of chapters?

A: We both have a lot of responsibilities, but we will try to maintain the Tuesday-Thursday release schedule. It's sometimes difficult to find the best place to put chapter breaks. New chapters always go up between midnight and nine am, central time.

Q: Do you think that if a Saiyan still had his tail and went Super, would it's fur also go golden?

A: No one really knows whether a Saiyan with a tail even can go Super Saiyan. In DBM's Universe 13, Kakarott and Vegeta both lost their tails but have the ability to go Super Saiyan; Nappa and Vegeta have their tails and cannot. The idea of a single form that unifies Super Saiyan and the primal Oozaru form is cool, but it's not something we've explored yet.

Q: It seems kind of logical to believe vegeta would try to make one of the last saiyans alive a true warrior and not an overpowered baby human.

A: The fact that Vegeta was the first to transform in this universe certainly gives Gohan increased motivation to train, especially with the threat hanging over his father's head.

Q: Brilliant fan-fic! Going to recommend to friends! As fan request, could you please go deeper what kills Vegeta. When reading I noted that BoD Trunks didn't seem to know what his father was like, implying that Vegeta dies/abandons Bulma.

A: Thanks for spreading the word! The world that our Future Trunks knows is very similar to the world of canon Future Trunks; it came about in a different way, but the end result was much the same. This will all become clear soon!