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"I wish my dad was okay," Gohan wished.

The dragon huffed lightly, his whiskers waving in a storm of his own making.

"SO BE IT," the dragon intoned. Back on the bridge, Goku stirred and opened his eyes. Piccalo gave a tight, approving smile, and crossed his arms over his chest. Vegeta's only outward reaction was a quick exhalation of air, but inside it felt like something had been repaired and a hurt had been scraped open at the same time. Relief... and also something acute and painful.

"Ow," Goku commented, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Hello, everyone. What did I miss?"

In the sky overhead, the dragon disappeared, and the clouds began to dissipate.

"The end of the show," Vegeta sniffed, contemptuously, "-nothing that I needed your help to wrap up."

"Oh good," Goku stood up. Gohan walked up to his father, and then abruptly hugged him. Goku smiled, and hugged him back. Vegeta looked away in a random direction.

...Goku noticed this.

Several days later, Goku was sparring with Gohan in the woods behind his house. Goku was celebrating the fact that his tail had grown back, and he was fighting particularly well. Around lunchtime they called a break, and Gohan was about to head back to the house to raid the refrigerator, when he heard an energy blast behind him. When he turned to see what had happened, he saw Goku walking calmly towards the smoking carcass of what might have been a deer a few seconds ago.

"Gah!" Gohan blinked.

"Good trick, huh?" Goku grinned back at him, pulling a drumstick off the animal in question.

"Uh, yeah. I've never seen anybody do that before," agreed Gohan.

"Want one? -I think I saw another one back that way," Goku took a bite of the drumstick he held in his right hand, and pointed out a thicket with his left.

"I think I'll see what mom made for us," Gohan decided.

"Suit yourself," Goku shrugged.

The next day, Vegeta heard about Goku's strange behavior from Bulma. He flew off to find Goku immediately. Goku was out training.

To be specific, Goku was in the process of leveling a hill with ki blasts. A great deal of the hill was already gone, and the remaining half looked lopsided and unstable. As Vegeta watched, Goku summoned another ki shot and aimed it carefully at the base of the missing area. When he fired, the hillside fell sideways, taking half the remaining volume of the hill down with it.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and then he smiled.

"Hey Kakarot! Want to get some real training in today?" Vegeta called over.

Goku looked back at his one-time enemy happily.

"Sure!"

"Excellent," Vegeta slid into a fighting stance, and-

"I just want to ask you one question first," Goku interrupted, holding up a finger in a 'one minute' gesture.

"What did you want to ask me?" Vegeta asked, annoyed.

"I noticed that you stopped trying to kill me right after I beat Freeza. Is that because the only reason you were trying to kill me was to avoid showing weakness before Freeza, or was it because by beating Freeza I basically bought out your contract to him?"

Vegeta made a small choking noise, and clenched his fists at his sides, staring at Goku wild-eyed.

"Of course it could also be that since you couldn't beat Freeza and I could, you figured that my power level was too far above yours to even try to kill me. Knowing you though, I'm betting that it was one of the first two. You don't give up easily."

"Who are you, and what have you done with Kakarot?" Vegeta demanded.

"Huh?" Goku blinked. "Oh, well... I'm Goku, but I've just been noticing things lately. It's like I've been walking around in a fog all my life, and right after you guys wished me back last time, the fog lifted. It's weird.

"Ah..." Vegeta thought for a moment. "That son of yours wished you 'okay' not just 'alive'. I think the dragon took that literally and repaired your brain damage."

"Brain damage?"

"Yeah, from where you hit your head when you were a baby," Vegeta reminded him, patiently.

"Hmm..." Goku felt under his hair curiously. "I think you're right. My scar is gone. ...That would also explain why my tail grew back."

"I noticed that," said Vegeta, looking down at Goku's tail appreciatively.

"So which was it?" Goku asked. "Freeza or the contract thing?"

"By killing Freeza you freed me from my contract to him, that much is true."

"But what about the rest? By Sajin law, would you belong to me now?"

"Certainly not!" snapped Vegeta.

"Thought so," Goku smiled.

"Did you hear what I just said?" snarled Vegeta.

Goku walked up to Vegeta until he was nose to nose with the prince.

"Yes." Goku's smile didn't waver. "I heard."

Vegeta sweat-dropped.

"Damn you, Kakarot. I always knew you'd abuse your power the moment could comprehend it," Vegeta spat.

"I've got an order for you, prince," Goku told him, unfazed. "Stand still."

Vegeta wasn't sure what to do. His mind rebelled at the very thought of taking orders from Kakarot, but he wasn't sure how far this new side of Goku would go if he defied him. Vegeta settled for standing still and glaring at Goku murderously.

"Yeah, that's good," Goku said, approvingly. He reached over and cupped Vegeta's face with both hands. Vegeta's eyes widened, the agile mind behind them racing to keep up with what Goku was about to do.

What Goku did, was hold Vegeta's face in his hands for a long moment, and then drop his hands back down to his sides, never breaking eye contact. Vegeta's blood was pounding in his ears, and the air around him suddenly seemed thin and hot. Goku gazed back at him steadily.

"Next order. Act the same way as you would as if I had no authority to give you orders. Never stop."

Vegeta stared at him. Kakarot finally understood the power that he held, and he had simply given it back. No Sajin would do that. ...Would they?

"I think I'm going to like you this way," Vegeta decided.

"Heh, heh," Goku smiled back at him.

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