The Bond

It was obvious that Android 20 did not want to fight Katima. He gazed on with horror in his eyes, his teeth gritted.

"This is impossible!" he declared, taking a step back as Katima slowly advanced, "This Super Saiyan business- how was it that I didn't know?"

"You should have followed everyone to Namek," said Katima, "That's where Goku turned. Vegeta and I did it some time later. It appears you missed the most crucial part of our adventures!"

Android 20 spat on the ground, shaking with either fear or rage, Rilan couldn't tell.

"No, I refuse to be bested by this," he snarled, "I will not let you win! My revenge will be completed if it's the last thing I do! I will activate 17 and 18, and they will destroy you all!"

"More androids?" hissed Rilan, "Impossible- that boy only said that there would be two!"

20 leapt into the air, and began to fly away from their battlefield. Anger pulsated through Katima and she gave chase, screaming, "NO WAY! I DIDN'T EVEN GET MY TURN!"

Rilan sighed, "Her turn? I didn't even get to take a crack at it…"

"You," Vegeta was approaching them, no longer in Super Saiyan form. Rilan only just noticed that Vegeta's power level had decreased quite a bit.

"Vegeta, are you okay?" asked Lercron, cocking an eyebrow.

"That android drained more of my energy than I thought," said Vegeta, then returned his attention to Krillin, "You still have some of those beans? Give me one."

Krillin pulled out a sensu bean and handed it to him. Vegeta quickly popped it in his mouth and turned to look at Katima and 20 disappearing in the distance, "As well as Katima can handle herself," he said, "She still has not contracted the virus that Kakarot just got. I want you all to keep an eye on her, understand?"

"No need to be so bossy," said Rilan, "You know we'll help her."

Vegeta snorted, "I don't even like that she's still out here. She got too close to Kakarot when that other human went to take him away. Once we're finished with that android, I will be taking her to take the antidote, whether she's showing symptoms or not."

"You might need back up for that," said Krillin with a smirk.

Vegeta grunted in agreement, and powered up to Super Saiyan again before taking off into the sky. The rest of the group followed suit. Rilan quickened his pace to match Vegeta.

"You and Katima have gotten much more powerful," he said, "It seems you train well when it's just the two of you," he smirked.

Vegeta glanced at Rilan with narrowed eyes, "We're Saiyan warriors. Training with weak Earthlings simply isn't good enough, and that includes her idiot brother."

"But wasn't Katima raised on Earth too?" asked Rilan, cocking an eyebrow.

"She wasn't dropped on her head as a child," Vegeta retorted.

Rilan chuckled, "No need to get so defensive…"

Katima appeared to have caught up with 20 ahead, and Rilan could hear the cries of battle. It was obvious who was winning.

Katima slammed a kick into the side of 20, sending him crashing into the nearby mountains. She gave chase, quickly overcoming him and landing a punch that sent the android up into the air.

"No one messes with Earth!" Katima howled, rushing up and beginning to deliver a series of rapid hits, the power radiating off of her.

However, 20 managed to grab her wrist in the process. Katima twisted to slam her other hand down on his arm, but he grabbed that arm too. They began to wrestle through the air, but Katima, no matter how hard she thrashed, could not get free, and energy was leaving her fast, fueling the android.

"No!" Vegeta cried, rushing forward.

Rilan went with him, an angry roar of battle on his lips. 20 looked at them coming and released Katima who shot backwards so fast, she and Vegeta collided and crashed to the ground. 20 laughed, and looked at his hands. Rilan hated that he couldn't feel the freak's power level. How much had he absorbed from Katima? No matter. It couldn't have been enough to make him a match for Rilan and Vegeta, even if Katima was out of the game.

"Okay, bub," Rilan crowed, readying himself, "Let's see how you fair against a race you know nothing about!"

*scene change*

In all the confusion, for a moment, Katima was rather happy with being in a tangled pile with Vegeta in a ravine. But everything was quickly business when he jumped to his feet and roughly hauled her to her own.

"OW, hey, I don't need your help!" Katima snapped.

Vegeta eyed her entire body with worried eyes, but his mouth remained in a tight scowl.

"How could you let him grab you like that?" he demanded.

"Oh, I don't know, the same way you let the other grab you?" Katima retorted.

Vegeta grunted and looked up to see 20 was now brawling with Rilan. It was obvious that the energy that the android stole from Katima had increased his strength, but Rilan was dealing out cards that the Saiyan girl had never seen.

He had ascended, his blue hair in long locks and the lines that usually just ran on his face tattooing his entire body. He was dodging nearly every hit, and landing almost all that he dealt out.

"Wow, look at him go," breathed Katima, "He must have been training just as hard as us!"

"If he managed to get himself grabbed like you, we'll be in some trouble," growled Vegeta, "Let's just hope his agility is as good as his strength."

Katima scratched her chest, squinting to look up at them, the sun glaring down, "I think he's got this pretty much handled," she said, "He's a beast! You know, maybe Bulma was right, she told me that his purposes make him stronger, so when Trunks was born, maybe that increased it!"

"How ridiculous," snarled Vegeta, "Something as petty as that can't possibly increase someone's power like that."

Katima glared at him, rubbing her collarbone, "You don't know that."

"Relationships are meaningless, they have nothing to do with strength," Vegeta replied coldly.

Katima felt her heart throb painfully at his words. How could he think that after all they had been through? After she had even said that she loved him- and that proving her love was the reason she had become a Super Saiyan. She suddenly felt like crying- and not tears of anger this time. She looked away, and the fool didn't even see that she was upset by his words. He just kept looking up at the battle with a critical glint in his black eyes.

He had never said that he loved her back that day. In fact, once she became Super Saiyan, it had been training non stop since they were equal in strength once again. Part of her forgot about it, which was probably his plan- to keep her so busy that she didn't notice that he couldn't say it back. But another part of her, which was blooming right now, had not forgotten… it made her heart twist in pain, made her entire body feel weak with sorrow…

Or… was that what was making her feel this way? Katima pressed the hallow above her left breast, where her heart lay, and felt the steady beat of her heart, but with each beat, there was a small stab of pain, which was growing more and more intense.

"Ah…" Katima fell to one knee, her legs feeling like jelly. What was happening?

"Katima?" Vegeta was at her side, his hand on her shoulder.

Katima could still hear the battle taking place above, but her heart… it was beginning to throb even more painfully now, as if each beat was a huge effort. Her body felt weak, like she had been running for days, and her forehead was blossoming specks of sweat.

"Katima!" Vegeta shook her, "What's wrong? He didn't drain that much of your energy did he?"

Katima shook her head, beginning to pant, unable to catch her breath. She clutched his wrist and looked up at his face, "Virus…" she whispered before the world blacked out.

*scene change*

The Prince of Saiyans had only felt panic a few select times in his life, and it seemed all of them had happened since he met Katima. When her body went limp and he had to catch her by the shoulders, his heart began to go into overdrive. Whether it was from hers being attacked by the virus, or the fear in his chest, he didn't know.

All he knew was that Katima was dying.

And that couldn't happen.

Vegeta felt the heat rising from her body from her fever as he scooped her into his arms. He looked up to see that Rilan still had 20 busy, and the rest of their group was a few hundred yards away, watching the battle, cheering the Tygrian on.

Vegeta launched into the air toward them, fear slowly making his veins like ice.

"Vegeta?" the one called Tien said when he got close, "What happened? What's wrong with her?"

"What do you think?" snapped Vegeta, "It's the virus, and I need to get her to Kakarot's home NOW. Which of you know the way?"

"I'll take you," said Krillin, "Come on!"

Vegeta followed the short man across the mountains, leaving the others behind without a second thought. At this point the didn't even care if Rilan managed to win or lose against 20. All that mattered was the failing life force in his arms.

Six months ago, when Katima had finally gone Super Saiyan, when she had said those three fatal words, her importance in his life had multiplied several times over. The fact that such a precious life force could feel love toward him… it was almost maddening. Love had been an emotion that had been severed from his mind at a young age, when his father and entire planet was destroyed.

He had thought himself to be hardened, to have avoided all those petty emotions since, but ever since he had awakened back on Namek to see Katima huddled in the middle of the ship, how she clung to him when he revived her from her strange shut down brought on by his death, how she cried… Everything had changed. Vegeta found that not only did he succumb to those once "petty" emotions, he lived in them.

Katima had become his everything. No longer was he driven by pride alone, (but that still held a lot of ground in all that he did) but everything he did had Katima in his mind. When they had lived in the forest for the past year, even while he preformed his vigorous training, he constantly contemplated on ways to bring her up to his level, to make her become a Super Saiyan, and then, once she accomplished that, every new strategy he thought of to train had her in the equation. Would Katima be better indoors or outdoors? Would she be mad at him if he went to train alone today? How tickled would she be if he actually hunted today, bringing home a nice supple buck for her rather than the other way around?

Vegeta was slowly finding himself… settling. No longer did he have the urge to go out and conquer all of the galaxy like he used to, to prove to all living things that he was the strongest warrior in the universe. Now, all his concerns were keeping Katima, and what she considered home safe. He even found himself wanting to keep her friends safe- her brother- just for her.

A small part of him, a very quiet and brooding part, hated her. Hated her for making him like this- hated that he no longer was driven by pride alone, hated that a great Saiyan Prince had been reduced to a low class warrior girl's… what was the Earthling's term? Boyfriend.

But the part that obsessed over Katima was far stronger than that, and these angry little thoughts were often left forgotten in the deep crevices of his now emotion riddled brain. At the moment, with Katima's life dwindling away, they weren't even in existence.

"Can't you fly any faster?" he demanded of the short Earthling ahead of him.

Krillin looked back at him with an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, Vegeta, we can't all go Super Saiyan!" there was no distain or sarcasm in his voice, and Vegeta saw genuine concern and fear in the human's eyes. He too worried for Katima.

Vegeta tried to settle his anger, but it was impossible. Katima's life was at stake and this little fool was flying along like a slug!

"Get on my back," Vegeta ordered.

"Wh-what?" Krillin stuttered as they came to a halt.

"Stop wasting time and get on my back! You can give me directions instead of lead, we'll get there faster!" Vegeta bellowed.

Krillin flinched but quickly obeyed. He flew over and latched onto Vegeta's back like a monkey.

"Hold on," warned Vegeta before taking off, flying as fast as he could in his Super Saiyan form.

It wasn't as fast as he would have liked it, being bogged down by two beings, but it was still faster than following the human. They flew on at rocket speed for several hundred miles before Krillin pointed down over Vegeta's shoulder.

"There!"

Vegeta soared downward, making Krillin nearly loose his grip. He could see the little cottage now, and feel Kakarot's familiar power source, though it was very faint. He landed, and Krillin jumped off his back as Vegeta ran toward the door. He kicked it in and ducked inside, careful not to hit Katima's head.

"Where is it?" he demanded, looking wildly around the living room he had intruded.

It was empty, but it didn't take long for the human called Yamcha to appear from the hallway.

"Vegeta! Did you really have to kick the door in?" he moaned.

"Listen, you little insect," Vegeta snarled, "If you don't find me Katima's vial of antidote in the next ten seconds, the door being broken will be the LAST thing you'd have to worry about!"

Yamcha flinched and moved his eyes to Katima's limp body in the prince's arms.

"Right," he said, rushing back into the hall, "Bring her in here!"

Vegeta ran after him, hugging Katima tightly to his chest. Yamcha led him into a room that obviously belonged to a child. The bed was small, and it was lucky that Katima was so tiny that she could fit on it. Vegeta gently set her down on it and pressed his wrist to her forehead, feeling the sick heat of fever making him grit his teeth. Why did it have to be a virus taking Katima? He couldn't fight that with his fists or energy blasts, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Where's that antidote?" he cried.

Kakarot's son, Gohan, came running into the room, holding a vile in his hand.

"Here," he said.

Vegeta snatched it and carefully poured some into Katima's mouth. She automatically swallowed, like her body knew that it was going to help.

"Don't give her all of it," Yamcha warned.

"Why the hell not?" Vegeta demanded, though he stopped anyway- was there a chance of overdose?

"You need to take some too," said Yamcha, "The virus is contagious."

Vegeta opened his mouth to argue- like how a stupid virus could possibly do him, the Prince of all Saiyans, any harm at all. However, it had reduced Katima- even her brother, Kakarot- to what appeared to be comas. He grunted in irritation and took the rest of the medicine for himself. He tossed the vial to the ground and turned his attention back to Katima, letting his hair shift back to black as he powered down.

"How long is this going to take?" he barked.

"We don't know," said Gohan sadly, "My dad's still unconscious."

"I see," Vegeta muttered, "Bring me a chair."

"What are we your servants?" Yamcha said indignantly, however when Vegeta whirled to face him, going Super Saiyan again, he yelped like an injured dog and ran from the room, quickly returning with a chair.

Vegeta did not thank him, merely snatching the furniture from the human's grasp and setting it down beside Katima's bed and settled in. It was just a waiting game from here, as much as the proud Saiyan warrior hated to admit. There was nothing he could do but pray that the medicine would bring his Katima back.