Between The Raindrops

Chapter 5

On Earth~

The earthlings were an exciting bunch, in a way they resembled any other warriors race -his own included-, they had social standing, honor and a will to survive. They stood without fear and trust in one another; it was a fantastic thing to witness.

Their fighting had been similar to a contest of sorts, Vegeta liked the thought but didn't care that to win meant the other had to die. Battle was an art-form, win or lose there would be an honor to each and a lesson to be learned with each new opponent. But each Earthling, even the child who couldn't be older than five, stepped up to the challenge willing to give his life for the planet he called home. He felt honored to see such passion; it had been a long time since he's witnessed it outside of the act of killing.

Each went up against a single Saibamen, small green humanoids grown from seeds, that his people had created to subservient while still being strong enough to use as pawns in battle. But mostly they were used to train some of the weaker warriors.

This gave Nappa, and himself, the opportunity to see the extent of these earthlings abilities while also studying their moves in case they had to fight them. The larger saiyan, although doubtful they could defeat the saibamen, desired to take part in the battling if not to feel their bones crushing and the feel of their blood against his skin.

The three-eyed human, he'd been called Tein by the others, went first and defeated the saibamen with ease yet reframed from making the killing blow. The saibamen was quickly killed for his failures as it was deemed reasonable to do. If you were no use in battle, there was no use for you at all.

Second to go was a man with long black hair with a scar on his cheek, this one had been called Yamcha. Vegeta momentarily marveled at the slight similarities between the human's appearance and Bardock; Kagome's guard. This resemblance was small but still at the thought of anything remotely connected to Kagome a burning ache flared within his heart causing the organ to constrict painfully at the emotional turned physical pain.

The male, Yamcha, and saibamen both died as the saibamen had blown (both himself and the human) up. It was frustrating to watch and then left Vegeta awed to watch the small bald man's power grow in his rage. His anger brought forth the death of three saibamen with a single attack.

Vegeta was almost impressed. Keyword being almost.

The last saibamen was killed by the misplaced Namekian after it had gone after the child, an apparently quickly target.

The beauty in the fighting quickly grew irritating with how obnoxious Nappa acted. He was undoubtedly far too murderous for Vegeta's tastes and was rapidly growing on his nerves.

He attacks Tien and cut off his arm in painful ki fueled punch. The smallest of the fighters, Chiaotzu he believed if the cries of panic were anything to go by, launch onto Nappa and tries to kill him as the little white man exploded. With Nappa unharmed, the three-eyed man became unhinged and even with the rest coming together he dies trying to defeat Nappa.

Vegeta grew tired of the senseless deaths and called Nappa to a halt, even with the saiyan male being much older than him, he was surprised at the fit he threw. But as the obedient subordinate that he'd been trained as the male begrudgingly took a seat.

They were to wait for this 'Goku' but only for three hours and not a moment longer.

When he didn't show, Nappa was free to take out his aggression on the human Warriors, this left him to watch as his oldest comrade tortured the earthlings that stood against him. He forced himself to listen, to play the sadistic prince that he had been groomed to be, but inside he cringed fighting to keep himself from calling out to the large man to stop. He couldn't stand to kill children, never could and probably never would. On missions alone he only killed those he had to, the rest he let escape.

And then, finally, "Goku"/"Kakarot" showed up. Vegeta was amazed to see such a low-level saiyan to have so much honor and strength. The saiyan danced around Nappa causing Vegeta to mentally laugh at the massive Saiyan's growing irritation. They fought for several long minutes with the smaller saiyan being the clear victor yet the rules they set would not let him be the winner until one had been killed. He knew Nappa could never take defeat gracefully but was also somewhat cowardice and would go so far as to beg for his life.

Nappa lay at his feet unable to stand just barely able to reach his hand out to him. His massive body bore the marks of his fight that could have killed him yet the smaller, but taller than himself, saiyan could not take a life, even that of a monster that had to undoubtedly killed millions.

"V-Vegeta.." the large man pleaded.

"He won't be fighting anymore. Take him home and stay there!" Kakarot growled from where he stood across from Vegeta, his orange-clad body unmarked from his "fight."

He listened intrigued by how the saiyan had manipulated his power to become stronger and fast in an instant. But his attention was pulled down to Nappa.

"I-it...h-hur-hurts..." he struggled. "Vegeta... h-help me..." he pleaded with an outstretched hand.

Vegeta took his hand.

"Th-thank you...my prince.." he breathed.

"No problem," he took pleasure in seeing the fear that spread across the man's bloodied face. Effortlessly he throws the man, who could easily twice his size and weight, straight into the air. Victory or death were the rules the saiyan had set, and he would be forced to follow such rules.

"VEGETA! NO!"

"What use are you if you can't even fight? None!" And like that he killed the saiyan with a single energy beam. He did not mourn for him, in fact, it may have been one of the few times that this killing was honorable seeing as Nappa had killed so many without mercy.

Vegeta genuinely looked forward to fighting this "Goku." It might be the first time in a long time since he had fought against a worthy opponent. But he felt he had something to prove to the younger saiyan, that he had to show that he was superior in every way. If he couldn't defeat this low-level saiyan how was he ever going to beat Frieza?

And he tried. It nearly killed him as he fought against not only Kakarot but those of his surviving friends that would disrupt the fighting for a couple of seconds or minutes. It nearly killed him to fight the saiyan, but it was his will for revenge for Kagome that pushed him to stay alive.

"T-Th-This isn't o-over," Vegeta said as he struggled to get out the remote that would call his space pod to his location.

"Curse it all," he groaned while crawling to his ship. He needed to survive to avenge Kagome. He had to endure if not for that reason alone.

Just before he could fall into the pod, he felt the presence of a threat. Turning, he stared wide-eyed at the small bald man that held a sword; no doubt aiming to pierce his heart with the metal to avenge his friends. He didn't blame him, he had caused the human pain, in a way he related to him. Was he not aiming to do the same to Frieza?

He couldn't face Kagome in the afterlife just yet. He hadn't brought their race justice; he couldn't fail her as he had in protecting her.

He didn't know what stopped the man as he talked to the other saiyan; in what looked to be -verbally- a one-sided conversation. Vegeta took the opportunity to fall into his ship. And like that he's ship took off to planet Frieza where he'd be able to get medical attention for the many wounds he had sustained.

Vegeta would join Kagome in the afterlife another day.