As the morning sun crept up over the hills, he watched them.

He watched them unseen and unnoticed, not by staring into windows or looking through camera monitors, but watched them with his heart and his mind. Vejiita was only a short distance away, hidden in the grounds just outside of Capsule Corporation, standing in the shadow of an overgrown oak tree. As the lights in the house begin to turn on one by one, he stepped further into the retreating darkness, not wanting anyone to be able to see him here. It wasn’t necessary for them to see him just yet. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to any of them yet. He didn’t know if he could just walk in through the door and pretend as if nothing had happened, as if he weren’t confused by everything that had taken place recently. For now, Vejiita was content to merely watch with his heart and his mind, hidden within the shadows of the oak tree in the early morning. Light was just beginning to move over the landscape, its gentle fingers casting a light yellow glow across the grass in front of the house. He watched idly as the drops of dew from the night before sparkled in this new sunlight and dripped off of the bright green leaves hanging over his head.

He was unshakable this way. If he did not watch them with his eyes and only concentrated on them with his mind, he would not fall into the traps that he knew he was very susceptible of falling into right now. This way, he was unable to see how beautiful she looked as she opened her sleepy eyes and leaned over to slap a hand over the alarm clock. He couldn’t watch her wrap a robe around herself and pad into the bathroom, couldn’t see her turn on the water until the bathroom grew thick with steam. And through the dense walls of Capsule Corporation, there was no chance of him catching a glance of her as she slid out of the robe and into the hot water. That would be almost too much for him. He may be strong and proud, but he knew his limits as well. Being faced with this new, strange version of Bulma would surely be a temptation for him. After all, much of he and Bulma’s relationship had been physical. In his state of grief, he knew that it would take a lot for him to be able to resist the lure of someone who looked and felt exactly like his wife.

It had been hard for him to resist last night as he watched her sleeping in the moonlight. Staring at her, he knew that she was not the Bulma that he had been with. She was not the same and there was nothing that would ever change that in his mind. But the fact that they looked so much alike….so perfectly the same….It was almost enough to make him want to forget everything that his mind was telling him and let his body simply take control. He would never have admitted it, but he was devastatingly lonely. He never could have realized how much he would have missed just simply feeling her hand on his shoulder. They had never been affectionate with each other in that way, but the little pieces of affection that Bulma had given him had all been a necessary part of his life. He just didn’t realize it until he discovered that he would never be able to feel her warm hand on his again.

Mirai Bulma had lost her mate. He had died at the hands of the jinzouningen. Mirai Trunks had been sure to let him know this during their time of training together. Vejiita wasn’t being conceited when he assumed that the woman missed him. It was just common sense. They had been together and he had died. Much like what had happened to him just recently, Mirai Bulma had felt the same kind of loss and devastation. They were both two wounded souls; both needing the affection and comfort that they had lost during the pain of battle and death. Although he wasn’t ready for it and although he felt in his heart that it was wrong, he couldn’t help but let his mind rest on this subject. He wanted to be true to his mate and honor her memory, but it was hard, especially now that he had seen Mirai Bulma….touched her. He was now faced with someone who could quite possibly give him that affection and love again, just as his own Bulma once had.

And he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

He let his eyes rest on the hills once more, where the sun was beginning to glow brighter and brighter in the distance. His dark eyes narrowed, squinting at the sun’s insistence. On all of the planets that he had ever visited, this sun was by far the most persistent and dangerously bright sun. It was always burning brightly; its beams had the power of a thousand warriors. It almost made it difficult for him to see and he found his eyes watering with the force of its radiance. He squinted through the leaves of the oak once more and watched Capsule Corporation as the kitchen light flicked on and someone began clattering around in the kitchen. Determined to leave the subject of Mirai Bulma alone for at least a moment’s time, he let his mind wander.

As his senses relaxed and began to search the world to see what was happening on the planet this morning, he caught an inkling of something wrong:

Kakarroto’s ki was unusually high.

For this hour of the morning, it was terribly strange to find Kakarroto powering up in such a way. As much as it pained him to admit it, he and Kakarroto shared a close bond. After the amount of time that they had spent fighting and sparring together, it would be impossible for him not to connect with that idiotic slouch. Also, given the close ties of their Saiya-jin blood and the spirit of fighting that ran through them both, it made their connection even stronger --- which was why he was so alert and curious now. He was able to sense that Kakarroto’s heart was beating faster than usual and his ki was fluctuating as if he were preparing himself for battle. Briefly, he let his mind run over the number or warriors that he had met during his time here on Earth. Piccolo and the Saiya-jin woman --- Kakarroto’s mother, were also powered up. Piccolo especially seemed to be exuding an unusual amount of ki, almost as if he were engaged in a furious fight. It was possible that they were all engaged in a very early morning spar, but for some reason that theory seemed to be misguided. There was no actual evidence as to why, but Vejiita felt as though there were something amiss.

Trouble seems to follow these people around like the plague. Vejiita thought with a scowl. Just as soon as one mess was taken care of, another one developed. It was enough to want to make him grab his brats and move to a new planet.

He waited around for another moment, casting a weary glance at the barely lit Capsule Corporation building. He supposed whatever thoughts he might be having about his family and this new Bulma would have to wait until some other time. It seemed as though there were something more important going on at the moment. If the others were fighting some new, dangerous enemy, he wasn’t about to let them get all the enjoyment. He deserved to be in a fight too, especially one that appeared to be making Kakarroto so nervous.

He couldn’t believe that she had left him again.

Well, technically Juuhachi-gou hadn’t left him, but she had definitely run off and that was disturbing enough. She was usually very cool and rational, but her behavior last night had been completely panicked and strange. True, she had been acting unusual the past few days, but he had never expected anything like this. If she was sick, she could have at least stayed around so that he could have helped her. But for some reason, she had chosen to run off and completely abandon him, wanting to be on her own. It hurt him deeply that she didn’t trust him enough to confide in him or let him take care of her. He would do anything for his wife, anything at all. And when it came to taking care of her and protecting her, he would gladly give up his own life in order for her to live. He thought that she had understood that, but he guessed that he was wrong. Obviously she did not trust him. If she trusted him, she would still be here and he would be taking care of her right at this moment.

Kuririn scowled, jammed his feet into his shoes, and tugged the belt of his gi around his waist, knotting it tightly. That was just a silly and childish thing of her to do. She should have known that he would follow her. He had never let anything come between them before and he wasn’t about to let something like this come between them either. No matter what problem she was dealing with, he would stay by her side and help her through it. That was his job as a husband, and if she couldn’t understand that, then….

Tough.

He was tired of the way that she kept trying to push him away and resist any and all efforts he made to help her. If she wouldn’t get her act together and help herself, then he was going to force her too. He had been frightened of his own wife for far too long now and it just had to stop. Sure, he feared Juuhachi-gou’s wrath and her icy glare, but he feared losing her even more. And the way that she had been acting lately led him to believe that he could quite possibly lose her. He had always thought that he might lose her; the idea had always been hanging around in the back of his mind. After all, Juuhachi-gou was far too gorgeous and special to stay with a guy like him. Now all of those thoughts didn’t seem quite so far-fetched anymore.

It wasn’t completely light outside yet, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He was going to go out and find her, no matter what. He paused momentarily in his hurry to scribble a quick note of explanation to Marron in case she came home while he was gone. For once, he didn’t even want to think about how scared his daughter might be if she returned home and found them both missing.

Marron was a sweet girl that cared a great deal about her mother. She was certain to be worried about her, but he couldn’t think about that right now. He needed to take care of the issue at hand, which was most definitely Juuhachi-gou. She had taken off quite awhile ago now and he needed to catch up with her before she got too far away. If she flew off too far, he might not be able to find her again. The thought of that made his blood run cold. He slapped Marron’s note down on the kitchen counter and yanked open a drawer that was directly below. His shaking hands sifted through the junk there in a panicked manner before locating the capsule that he was looking for. The Capsule Corporation air car would work just fine. He could fly it for practically forever until it ran out of fuel and it would be best it he could travel about on city roads and in rural areas in the air.

He didn’t even know where to start searching for her. There were many places that Juuhachi-gou went to in order to seek solace and alone time, though. He reasoned that those would be the best places to start. Because she was jinzouningen, Juuhachi-gou had no ki, which made it hard for him to go out and blindly try to follow her. Again, though, he wasn’t going to let that stop him. Nothing was going to stop him from finding his wife today and bringing her home.

Strong green hands slammed into the android’s stomach again and again. They were furious hits, the kind of hits that had more than just physical strength behind them. Piccolo was pouring every ounce of his soul into this fight, which was something that didn’t happen very often. Usually during a fight or a sparring match, he remained on the outside, disconnected with the action. He detached himself from the fight and the emotions that came with it because those things had a tendency to cloud one’s mind over and cause one to lose control. Those things could help at times, especially when protecting someone that you cared about, but angry and fury in a fight like this only dimmed the senses and made it impossible to concentrate on issues at hand. And the issue at hand, though Piccolo chose not to think about it, was that he could not kill Juunana-gou. As much as he wanted to see the arrogant jinzouningen die right here and now in this burning grave of pine and ashes, it couldn’t happen. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t sensible, and Piccolo would never be able to look at himself the same way if it happened. But he couldn’t stop himself. Knowing that Juunana-gou was down and knowing that he had the power to kill him was exhilarating. His fists kept flying, kept connecting with bone and soft flesh, trying to cause as much damage as possible. He wanted to see that perfect, flawless face obliterated, bruised, bloody. He wanted this arrogant and self-righteous jinzouningen to know what it felt like to taste defeat and death.

It was the look on Marron’s face that had done it. Piccolo didn’t know the girl well; Kuririn and the female jinzouningen kept a tight watch on her. And when she was around, the girl was unbelievably quiet and well-mannered. She didn’t run about and cause mischief or destruction like Goten and Trunks had when they were younger. She wasn’t a fighter with a courageous and kind-hearted spirit like Gohan used to be. Marron merely sat with her parents, a smile frozen on her pretty face and her eyes wide and innocent. She was different, and he didn’t know if that was because she was just a girl or because of how her parents had raised her. But because she was so different and so innocent, it was horrible to see her frightened and hurt as she had been when he burst into the cabin and found Juunana-gou about to kill her. She wasn’t a fighter; she couldn’t defend herself. She was young and innocent and completely delicate, and anyone who attacked her deserved to die.

Piccolo paused in his assault for a moment and brought back his fist, baring his teeth at the android that lay crumpled beneath him. “You deserve to die.”

Juunana-gou looked up at him with an eye that was already turning black and purple around the edges and blood running down from his perfectly carved nose. Ice blue eyes locked and narrowed into a malevolent glare. Smoke floated in front of their eyes for a moment, hiding everything but the shadows of his face and the glow of burning orange embers in his hair and on his clothing. Slowly, though the haze of smoke, Piccolo watched as the android lifted a hand and brushed away a strand of raven black hair from his face. They watched each other with identically narrowed eyes and furious glares. Then the jinzouningen’s tense snarl drew back up into a deep smirk, looking unnatural and strange as it mixed in with the blood that was running down his cheek.

“But you can’t kill me, can you?” Juunana-gou challenged. “You can’t even touch me. You have to let me live, just because you know that I am part of your world now.”

“You will never be part of my world.” Piccolo spat out. He whipped back his arm even further, then slammed it into the jinzouningen’s jaw.

Juunana-gou’s head snapped back quickly and there was a sickening crack as bone was smashed and shattered. Then his head slumped down to the side, unconscious. His hands relaxed from their tightened fists and fell to the ash covered ground, scattering embers and sending up a new plume of smoke.

Piccolo watched with emotionless eyes, straightening up and towering over the unconscious body of the jinzouningen. His fingers began to tingle with the desire to kill him. Anyone that was that arrogant and smug, anyone that would try to hurt an innocent child, deserved to die. He took a step back away from Juunana-gou and reached behind him to rip the burning cape off and toss it into the fire. His turban was thrown aside as well and his eyes traveled back to the unconscious jinzouningen, clouded over with hatred. He himself had once been an enemy to this world. He had meant to kill and destroy and hurt others. But he had changed. He was different now, different and determined to protect the Earth from anyone who sought to destroy it, as he had tried to do so many years ago. It made him angry when anyone tried to hurt this precious planet or its inhabitants, but for some reason it made him even more furious to know that Juunana-gou was trying it now. He had thought all along that their troubles with the jinzouningen were not over with, but a big part of him had hoped against hope that they would prove him wrong. He thought that perhaps they had redeemed themselves, just as he had done, so many years ago. But they hadn’t changed. They were still the same today as they had been the day that the fighters discovered them in Gero’s lab. They were still cold-blooded killers and they were still a threat to Earth.

Piccolo wanted Juunana-gou to die. Not just for his own benefit, but for the safety of the planet. He was well aware of the destruction and horror that the jinzouningen could cause. In the future world, they had annihilated everything in their path and killed off almost the entire population. He didn’t want that to happen in this world as well. Whatever destruction they jinzouningen had caused in the future world, he wasn’t about to let it happen here. But he couldn’t kill Juunana-gou either. He wanted him to die, but not by his hand. He couldn’t be responsible for taking away someone’s family member, for taking away an uncle and a brother. Years ago, he might have been able to do it, but things were different now. His heart had changed.