The first night was the hardest. He was cold, but he had not the skill to build a fire and hungry, but he could not hunt or gather food. He was thinking that he had to go to bed without dinner when suddenly he noticed a pile of fruits. He had no idea where they came from, there certainly no fruit trees were near-by but his hunger stifled his thought processes and all he could think about was stuffing his face. He had not gone hungry to bed but he had been cold, very, very cold. For the most part Vegitasei was a desert planet and the night of Vegitasei was very, very cold. The first night Gohan had seen frost form on the grass upon which he lay right before his eyes in matter of seconds. Frost, he was half convinced would form all over him and make it so that he could not wake up in the morning. But as the night wore on and the cold began to worsen his survival instincts kicked in.

Without knowing preciously how he did it he found himself generating a Ki shield around himself to keep warm. Sleep came quickly then. Perhaps, he thought just as sleep took complete hold of him, it was to combat the cold that the Saiyain's had developed Ki in the very beginning. Using it in battles had come later, much later. At first, he was convinced, it was meant for nothing more than to keep themselves warm when building a fire was impossible. The idea penetrated into Gohan's dreams and he found himself gazing at really big Saiyains finding themselves in the middle of a really big uncharted desert with no firewood in sight. With the Saiyain indifference to death but unyielding will to survive they laid themselves down on the cold, cold desert soil, forced to rely on the heat generated by their own body to keep warm. They must have done this often. Died like that often enough, frozen during the night when the day would bring more heat than they cared for, before nature decided to step in and give them a way to keep themselves warm without fire. Fire, tomorrow Gohan will have to find a way to make a fire. Perhaps he could use his Ki. Perhaps…perhaps… sleep burnt away the rest of his thoughts and he slipped into a peaceful slumber. After awhile his stay at the forest wasn’t so bad, in fact after awhile he began to enjoy himself.

Her daily routine altered surprisingly little due to her new relationship with Vegeta. Vegeta went out of his way to make sure that things appeared normal, well normal according to his definition. He still dropped by every morning to infuriate Bulma to the point that she would start hauling things at him. It was the closest thing to sparing Vegeta could do with her and he wouldn't give that up for anything. Cumba had finally told her that sparing with their mates was the Saiyain version of couple bonding. Since the Prince couldn't spar with her physically he did it verbally. It made Bulma again sit down and think what the hell she was getting herself into. But than Quish walked in the Bulma was back to trying to explain capsule technology to him without letting him know too much too soon. She would be busy with him till the end of day. When Quish would get up leave with as little ceremony he came.

It was than that she would start to make her way to her quarters. But she would not make it there till early the next morning. No matter how alert she remained Vegeta would still somehow manage to appear out of nowhere and startle her out of her wits. He would be lurking in the shadows around her lab or near here room. Waiting in anticipation for her, careful not to let anyone, including her no where he was till suddenly he would take her into his arms, carry her to his room through a maze of hidden passages that did not have gravity tiles, protecting her carefully with his aura.

When in his arms, listening to his words most of which were spoken with his eyes she would have no doubt as to with whom her future lay. She would have no doubt that the universe would come to a crashing halt for her if she was every taken from him. She would have no doubt that she was in the right path. It was only when she was away from him, teaching things she knew his people… he would use to exterminate or imprison more worlds like they had done her own that she felt that everything, everything was wrong except what she had with Vegeta. But at the same time she found that she could no longer think of the Saiyains as cruel, heart less monsters as she was inclined to do back on earth. Her feelings for the whole race was now just… pity. Pity at the waste of it all. Pity at the thought that everyday of their life they lived with the knowledge that if they did not fall in battle they would die at the hands of their children. Pity that goodness that she saw deep in the core of Vegeta, Cumba and even Quish would never find an outlet, would always be masked by evil deeds that they committed without a second thought. But perhaps, perhaps she could find a way to channel Vegeta's goodness out of him in a way that whole of Vegitasei could benefit. Perhaps… Vegeta's lips touched her neck and all thoughts vanished from her mind as she fell into a void of sear pleasure.

'I did it.' screamed Kakarott, jarring Cado awake from his day time nap, 'I caught bubbles.'

'Good.' Cado yelled to him, 'Now keep it down. Some of us are trying to sleep. I mean you try staying awake at night listen to you snore.' He sat back down on his bed after shutting the window, 'Well, maybe now he will stop chasing invisible things around the place.' He mumbled as he stretched himself on the bed and promptly fell asleep.

Avo watched Kakarott's eyes unfocused, as he seemed slip into another world. His eyebrows knitted, the thought hadn't crossed his mind before but could it be possible that Kakarott was actually talking to some otherworldly entity that was giving him training or something. He shook his head. The idea bordered on the absurd but, he turned his gaze back to Kakarott, somehow he could not shake the feeling that more was going on with Kakarott and these invisible things then what he could discern

'Well, done.' Said King Kai. 'Took you long enough.' He joked. 'For your next exercise you will have to hit Gregory.'

'Gregory?' wondered Goku.

'Yes. Just wait a minute.' King Kai turned away from him and took in a deep breath, 'Gregory.' He scream so loud that Goku clapped his hands over his ears, 'Yes,' said King Kai with a small smile, 'I can get a tad loud.'

It was then that Goku as small ball of light streaming towards them. As it approached closer Goku started to make out the form of a large cricket looking creature. 'You called King Kai?' asked Gregory as he came to a halt.

'Yes I did.' Said King Kai, 'Goku this is Gregory. Gregory this is Goku.' Than he turned to Goku, 'Now Goku take this mallet,' suddenly a mallet magically appeared in Goku's hand, 'and hit Gregory with it. Don't worry Gregory's skin is specially conditioned he won't feel a thing.'

Goku stared at the mallet for a moment before demanding, 'Is that all?'

'O don't think it's going to be that easy.' Said Gregory, 'Whenever you are ready.' He said as he began to charge up.'

Goku gripped the handle of the mallet tightly as he swung to land a blow on Gregory's head. But Gregory simply was no longer there to receive it. Mystified Goku began to look around him, 'Where did he go?' he turned around to find Gregory behind him.

'See I told you it was not going to be so easy.' Chimed Gregory just before taking off followed by Goku with the rather heavy mallet in hand.

He had not gone far when a hand suddenly appeared before him bring him to a crashing halt, 'What are you chasing now Kakarott?' demanded Avo in irritation.

'O a large cricket called Gregory.' Answered Kakarott simply.

After a minute, 'I see.' Said Avo, 'Well care on. If you need me I'll be by the wall bashing my head into a bloody pulp.' So saying he went to the wall and began to hit his head against it asking, 'Why? Why? Why me?'

Goku looked after Avo for a minute, gently wondered, 'Are you going to be alright?'

Avo looked at Goku and said, 'Yes, yes, I'll be fine.' And went back to hitting his head. After a moment Goku shrugged and began chasing Gregory again. Avo too stopped after a moment, his head aching enough for him to want to lie down and not think it entirely unbecoming a Saiyain warrior. Which was good enough excuse to kick Cado out of bed couple of hours early.

Gohan would never have dreamed that the basic survival techniques his father taught him during their many, many camping trips were going to come to any practical use other than in those same camping trips. But here he was, in an unknown wilderness, fending for himself using the techniques his father taught him. It was not something his mother would approve of but Gohan didn't feel bad about it. At least he had company. He giggled as the tiger like creature jumped him from behind and tackled him to the ground. A brief wrestling match ensured but Gohan was soon able to pine it to the ground on its back and declared, 'I win, again.' He got off the tiger and sat down next to it. The tiger righted itself and placed its head on Gohan's lap, 'I am getting worried.' Owned Gohan after some minutes of silence while he stroked the fur on the tiger's head. 'My grandfather was suppose to come and pick me up two weeks ago, but he's still not here.' said Gohan with a slight pout, 'I think something might have happened to him…'

'Or I could have just decided to prolong your stay in the forest.' Came Bardock's voice. Gohan jumped up and turned to face his grandfather. Bardock stood scrutinising Gohan intensely, 'You have impro…'

'Grandpa.' Yelped Gohan as he ran and hugged Bardock by putting his hands around one of his big, thick thighs. 'I missed you so much.'

'You only spent one night with me before I brought you here.' said Bardock as he placed a hand on Gohan's head lightly, his tone peevish but soft and laced with something too close to affection for his liking, 'You could not possibly have missed me.' He said sternly but found that the under-current of softness remained, totally undermining the effect he was trying to create.

'But I did.' Protested Gohan, 'I missed you and dad. But I missed mom most of all. I was even willing to do nothing but homework for the rest of my life if got to be with her.' he sniffed slightly.

'Don't start wailing.' Warned Bardock damn the softness of his voice, 'It's unbecoming a Saiyain warrior.'

'I wasn't going to cry.' protested Gohan as he pulled away from Bardock and stomped a little foot on the ground. 'I am not a baby.' He said. Than he looked up into his Bardock's ebony eyes with his onyx black ones and asked, 'Can I please keep Fluffy?' he put on his best innocent, puppy-dog begging face.

'Fluffy?' asked Bardock his brows slightly arched.

'Yes Fluffy my pet Tiger.' So saying he danced over to the tiger and hugged him, 'Can we keep, can we keep him, please.' He began to plead.

'Fluffy.' Repeated Bardock, 'Feh, what a stupid name for a Saiyain's pet.' He said with his lips disdainfully curled, 'Fine you can keep the beast but be warned it has to hunt for itself. We won't be on planet most of the time so we can't get it dependent on us. It'll die of starvation when we go on our next purging mission.'

'Purging mission?' repeated Gohan, 'It that were we have to kill people?' he wondered as fear and unwillingness crept up on his face. Bardock nodded without much thinking, 'But Grandpa I don't want to kill anyone, let alone innocent people who never did anything to me.'

Bardock's eyes narrowed. Here was a problem he hadn't encountered before. What do you do when someone refused to kill? What do you do specially if they have a more than valid point to it? He was no saint he loved fighting, killing and destruction as much as the next Saiyain but even he thought that their were limits to how much destruction even a Saiyain could stomach. He had not yet reached it but what could he say to someone who was obviously not programmed from birth to do things like that, 'It's a kill of be killed universe Gohan. If we don't kill ourselves someone will come and kill us.' He said matter-of-factly, 'Besides to me and the rest of the off-world troop a purging mission is just another fight. We Saiyain's live to fight, we would go insane if we couldn't fight. Good and evil, right and wrong, don't factor into it. We fight who we are told to fight. The moral questions of our actions rest with our King and,' Bardock snarled with obvious hatred, 'his ally Freeza.'

'Who is Freeza?' asked Gohan softly.

'A planet trader far worse than us that the king decided to join with several years ago. We were not as active as planet-traders till the alliance. Now we can't work fast enough.' Said Bardock with a hint of something that was beyond Gohan's years of comprehension. 'Pray you live your life without ever having to cross paths with him.' He said.

Gohan let that pass, 'But Grandpa,' he insisted, 'I really don't want to kill anyone. A fight may just be a fight to you but to me a difference exists between a good fight and a bad fight. I won't fight a bad fight.' Said Gohan that stubborn look crept into his eyes.

Bardock stared into those eyes for a long time. But they held a determination that Bardock could not see wavering or given way. So he shrugged and said, 'You still have to come on the purging mission.' But he added in a tone of disgust, 'But you don't have to go down on the planet. You can just stay on the ship with the medics. Meanwhile we have a month or so to train.' So saying he grabbed Gohan with one hand and Fluffy with the other and began to fly towards his house.

'I did it.' cried out Goku as he was began to do a victory dance, 'I hit Gregory.'

'Yes Kakarott and we are all proud of you.' Said Avo, sarcasm dripping from his every-word as he sat in a corner trying to figure out what to say to his mate so that she didn't get too upset when he called her for their daily chat in about five minutes.

But Avo's sarcasm was not shared by all. King Kai looked at Goku and said, 'It's him… he is the one who can learn things I have thought up but was never able to transfer into practice. He is the one who can learn the Kaioken technique.' He said as turned gaze fully on Goku, 'That combined with the spirit bomb would make him as good as Vegeta, if not better.'

Bulma sat gazing up at the sky through the window in Vegeta's room. She was trying to find earth. A futile exercise she knew but she was bored. Vegeta had been called away just as he was telling her about some interesting places he was going to show her around Vegitasei just as soon as Bulma perfected a gravity bubble she was working on. Once complete the bubble would allow her constant freedom of movement. She cursed whatever had called him away. He swore to kill the communication officer if this did not prove worthy of his time. Bulma begged him not to do anything so drastic. He simply ignored her entreaty.

Turning her gaze away from the stars Bulma scowled. Vegeta still confused her. He seemed to care and not care about her. He fought with her, belittled her, ignored her but than turned around and pulled her into an embrace that was so tender her heart just melted. One night Bulma had forced herself to stay awake but pretend to sleep just to see what Vegeta would do. He did things that surprised her. He pulled her close to him and whispered three words in her ears that she knew he would never in a million years tell her in the light of day, when he thought she was awake.

Bulma lay down and stretched upon the bed. She had once uncharacteristically woken up before Vegeta and had since him still deep in the land dreams. She had been amazed at how cute he looked while asleep. He didn't scowled at all and that gave a touch of softness to his features that almost amazed Bulma. She touched him softly on the cheek that had been enough to wake him up. As soon as he woke the scowling mask went back on his face and the moment was destroyed. The next time Bulma awoke before him she just lay there watching him, fearful to even shift slightly lest the he woke and started to think that the whole world was his enemy.

She stretched again. It was than that she heard the door slide open. About bloody time he came back. She sat up ready to smile her sweet smile when she started, 'What are you doing here?' she asked on a stammer.

'My being here is not surprising.' Said the deep male voice, 'What the hell are you doing on my Prince's bed, slave?'

* * * * *

Author's note: To the answer to the question is no Toma and Goma are not related. Toma is a character from DBZ special move the Bardock special and Goma is a character I created. To find out more about who some of the Saiyain characters that crop up in my fics are go to my site at http://student.uq.edu.au/~s354033/ and go to the information center and click on Saiyain names. It will tell you who the Saiyains are both of my creation and from DBZ and of course what they are named after.