Simple Curiosity

I've gotten into this one-shot business. I'm gonna keep up these simple pet projects while I'm in the last several chapters of HNL before a decision has to be made. I'll tell you about the decision later down the line, Capital Punks.

I got this from a similar one shot between Kid Gohan and Raditz. Gohan began calling Vegeta "Vegeta-san" while fighting the Ginyu Force and Frieza and has referred to him as such, since. So…after wondering what Gohan would ask Vegeta if he was more curious about his Saiyan ancestry, I decided to put it into writing.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a…never mind, this joke's been done to death.

A 5 year old boy with a black bowl-cut of hair wearing battle armor walked out and walked over to a small lake nearby. This boy, Son Gohan, had just received this armor from an unlikely ally earlier on. He couldn't help but feel a lot stronger because of this new armor. He crouched low and looked at himself using the water's reflection.

"I wonder if this new armor will come in handy…" Gohan surmised. "If Mom, or even Mr. Piccolo were to see me in a Saiyan uniform, they'd surely be surprised."

He wasn't wrong. His beautiful mother, Chi-Chi, absolutely hated the idea of her little boy fighting extraterrestrial villians. Back in the hospital, she vehemently disagreed with the idea of Gohan going to Namek to help Krillin and Bulma bringing Piccolo, and everyone who was lost fighting the Saiyans, back to life. But Goku and Gohan both talked her into letting Gohan go with them, with Goku's recovery from his fight with Vegeta not too far behind with the new crop of Senzu on the way.

Piccolo, his first teacher, had given his life to save Gohan. No one would've imagined that after all the training Piccolo put himself through in order to kill Goku, he would die protecting his arch-nemesis' child. It wasn't too shocking, considering that in the year that Gohan spent training with Piccolo, they seemed to have something akin to a father-son relationship.

He looked at his reflection with a cocky smile.

"It may be because I'm wearing this armor, but I feel much stronger now!"

With that, Gohan launched himself into a few katas, punching and kicking the air in his new, flexible armor. They seemed so constraining upon first glance, but now that he was moving in it, he felt lighter than air. Of course, the gravity on Namek made the gravity on Earth seem like nothing in comparison, so feeling lighter than air wasn't anything new.

He performed a backflip, launched a few more kicks before giving the air one last good punch. Putting himself into a stance, he looked out to the horizon determinedly.

"I am Son Gohan, the strongest Saiyan hero in the universe!"

"What do you think you're doing, 'strongest Saiyan hero'?" A haughty, amused voice oiled. This made Gohan flush in embarrassment as he felt a strong ki befitting of a Saiyan emerge from the ship. This ki, of course, didn't belong to his father. This came from the prince of Saiyans, Vegeta.

"At any rate, your bald-headed buddy said he'd take 2 hours to come back, right?"

Gohan tensed up. He had knowledge of what letting your guard down around Vegeta would get, and he wasn't ready to repeat that mistake.

"Y-Yeah."

"Fine, then."

With that, Vegeta turned back to the ship. Gohan looked at Vegeta's back. He didn't understand how anyone could be so evil, so cruel, so…heartless. Those poor, unsuspecting villagers that died at Vegeta's hand, as well as everyone else who died because of Frieza and his men…what did they ever do to deserve such chaos, such death?

Gohan, in his studies, had come across the debate between realism and liberalism, the belief of man being inherently evil vs inherently good. He liked to believe that all beings had to potential to be good, and he had proof as well! Piccolo was a shining example, as well as Mr. Yamcha, Mr. Tien, and even Chiaotzu. All of them had done evil, big or small, at some point and turned their lives around. Maybe Vegeta…just didn't have that chance.

Gohan was so caught in his musing that he didn't notice Vegeta had seen him staring at him.

"Do you have something to say?"

Gohan immediately turned around. He groaned, frustrated at this entire situation. If only he could find some way to get through to Vegeta so that there wouldn't be any need for another near-death match. He didn't see the appeal of being the Prince of All Saiyans other than the huge sense of entitlement.

Entitlement…Saiyans…that's it!

"Actually, Vegeta-san…"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

'Vegeta-san? Where the hell did that come from?'

"I'm not like my father…I don't live for the fight like any pure-blooded Saiyan you knew…but I'm not going to ignore the fact that Saiyan blood runs through my veins." Gohan sighed, looking at his hands. He clenched and unclenched them.

"A race of warriors who live for the fight…I don't like to believe that we were anything like what that man described us as. I certainly don't like to believe that a race like Saiyans could've been wiped out by a giant meteor! If that meteor really was that big, you could've just destroyed it yourself, right?!"

Vegeta smirked.

"You're overestimating me. You're right, you're nothing like Kakarot…you've acknowledged that you're a Saiyan, and you've certainly shown that you have potential to grow even stronger than him. Of course, once you've gone past him, you've still much to learn before you can beat me in a fight."

Vegeta looked to the sky.

"You're also correct in not believing that our home, Planet Vegeta, was destroyed by a giant meteor. You've no doubt ran into Frieza during your stay on this rock."

"Frieza…that enormous power I sensed close by the Grand Elder's place…yeah, I've certainly seen him before. He may look puny, but there's a lot of power behind him, isn't there?"

Vegeta looked at Gohan inquisitively.

"You're not as foolish as I thought, child. Then again, it's amateur knowledge not to judge your opponent's strength by how they look."

"Was he the one? Did Frieza destroy Planet Vegeta?" Gohan asked.

"Effortlessly, I might add. He need lift only one finger and in an instant, the Saiyan race was near-extinct. Kakarot's parents, my father, King Vegeta, all dead because of Frieza."

Gohan fought to control his anger in order to avoid giving away their location to Frieza, but it proved difficult. All those people, even if they weren't innocent, destroyed on a simple whim?!

"How dare he…!" Gohan growled, clenching his fists.

"There's no use getting angry over it now. Back then, your father was just an infant. I don't know how he survived the explosion, but you, me, your father, we're the last of our race. Then again, I told you that already."

"Why…why would he do that? What could the Saiyans ever have done to Frieza to warrant total annihilation?!" Gohan closed his eyes, desperately trying to concentrate on reining in his anger.

"Fear."

Gohan turned to see nothing. He looked next to him and saw that Vegeta had walked up to him, looking at the horizon like he did.

"You see, brat, Frieza believes himself to be the strongest being in the entire universe, bar none. He can't stand the possibility of there being a fighter superior to him in strength, especially a Saiyan. In fact, there's a legendary warrior among us Saiyans, the Super Saiyan of legend, a warrior of immense power who loves combat and craves destruction. Frieza couldn't stand the thought of such a warrior rising through the ranks and obliterating him. It terrifies him! It prevents him from sleeping, knowing that somewhere out there, there's a warrior capably of not only matching Frieza, but utterly dwarfing him."

Gohan looked at Vegeta. It would make sense for someone to eliminate a threat before it becomes one, but if he hated the idea of a Super Saiyan defeating him in combat…

"Then, Vegeta-san…why did you work for Frieza for so long?"

Vegeta scowled.

"It's demeaning, isn't it? I, Prince of Saiyans, deigning to serve the very monster responsible for the destruction of my birthright, and my race's near extinction."

He turned to Gohan.

"Not a day goes by where I don't feel disgusted with myself for having to act cordial to that bastard. I had to keep him from growing suspicious for as long as I could. I didn't see any escape…until I heard about these…"

Vegeta looked around, indicating to the seven Namekian Dragon Balls Krillin and Gohan had dug up.

"I told Nappa, if we gained immortality, then sooner or later, after fighting enough battles, we'd be able to fight Frieza and finally destroy him, gaining revenge for the loss of my race."

"My grandparents…do you know anything about them, Vegeta-san?"

Vegeta thought for a bit, then sighed.

"I don't know much about your paternal grandmother, other than the fact that her name was Gine. She was low-class, like your father and paternal grandfather. As for him, his name was Bardock, and although he was an average fighter, his scientific contributions would've been remembered for decades to come. He was the first person to create the Power Ball; an Artificial Moon, if you will."

"Wow…my grandfather did that? Wait, so that means…!"

"Indeed." Vegeta grinned. "Your grandfather gave us the tools that resulted in practically half of our terrestrial conquests! Who else but him could create a technique that perfectly simulated full moonlight?!"

Gohan looked down at his feet, the silence giving him time to think. Apparently, his intelligence did come from both sides of the family. If his dad had retained his smarts, but refused to destroy the planet, what would his life be like now?

"I think I'm starting to see the picture…" Gohan said, before he let out a chuckle.

"What's so amusing about this picture of yours?"

"It's ludicrous to imagine, but…if not for Frieza…I probably wouldn't exist right now, would I? I mean, if my dad hadn't hit his head when he was a baby and forgot about his mission as a consequence, all life on Earth would've been vanquished, my father wouldn't have married my mother, and thus, I'd never come to be…"

Gohan turned back to Vegeta.

"I'd like to think you wouldn't be the way you are now because of Frieza, Vegeta-san. Who knows, you might've even turned out to be a good person, at least, better than you are now."

Vegeta scoffed and turned away.

"I mean, think about it, you could've easily just done away with us when you first came to Earth. After you decided Mr. Piccolo was obsolete, you could've just gotten back into your ships, and destroyed the Earth. I mean, we certainly would've tried to stop you, but we wouldn't have done much, right?"

Vegeta refused to respond.

"Then you spared Krillin, saved our lives against that Guldo creep, spared us again, put my Dad in a healing tank, and even gave us new armor! Gee, Dad was right; everyone has the potential to be a good person, all they need to do is try!" Gohan chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"ENOUGH OF YOUR SENTIMENTAL CRAP!" Vegeta roared, causing Gohan to recoil. "DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND THAT THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS IS SOME BRAVE-HEARTED GOODY-GOODY TWO SHOES!"

Gohan looked at Vegeta, but he knew that he had gotten through in a way.

"LET ME MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR; THIS PARTNERSHIP IS ONLY TEMPORARY! ONCE WE'RE DONE WITH FRIEZA, WE'RE RIGHT BACK FROM WHERE LEFT OFF ON EARTH, GOT IT?!"

"Understood, Vegeta-san!" Gohan replied, smiling wide. Vegeta just scoffed and walked back to the ship. "Wait, where are you going?"

"All this asinine conversation has made me weary. I'm heading inside to nap. Keep an eye on those Dragon Balls and wake me when your bald friend returns."

Gohan watched the Prince return to the ship, before taking a seat on one of the Namekian Dragon Balls. He smiled as he thought of how proud his father would be if he had heard him talking to Vegeta.

'Well, all that's left is to wait for Krillin to get back or Vegeta to wake up…or Frieza to find us.'

Meanwhile, Vegeta just walked through the halls of the ship towards the healing room Goku was inside. He ground his teeth as he thought of Gohan's words.

'I'd like to think you wouldn't be the way you are now because of Frieza, Vegeta-san. Who knows, you might've even turned out to be a good person, at least, better than you are now.'

Vegeta sucked his teeth at the thought of changing his ways. He was a Saiyan warrior, cold and ruthless, uninhibited by foolish emotion. He liked it that way, so why would he change?

"Tch. Impudent little brat."

Something small before the idea didn't make sense anymore. I'm working on the next chapter of HNL as you read, Capital Punks, so stay patient!