A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I'm kind of running low on steam with this story. I've been working a lot and my boyfriend has been really sick. Bleh.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

Cherished

4: A Warrior's Heart

The wish I made was so precise that I appeared right in front of my husband, who was carrying one of the massive Namekian Dragon Balls out of a house. We didn't say anything for a few seconds and stared blankly at each other, unwilling to believe we were reunited sooner than we thought. Gohan dropped the Dragon Ball and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug I had grown to miss. I nuzzled my head into his chest and inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of his cologne instead of smelling his musky father. He kissed the top of my head and sighed heavily.

There was an obnoxious retching sound and we separated to see Pan a few feet off with a disgusted look on her face. She was carrying two Dragon Balls under her arms and the rest were carried out by a few Nameks who greeted me politely. I couldn't help but tear up at the sight of her and Gohan working together to get me home again and I gestured for her to join our hug. She stood still for a few moments before giving in to the pressure and we all squeezed one another until we could barely breathe.

"Okay, okay, so can we go home now?" Pan asked, squirming away from her father and me.

Gohan shook his head and picked up with dropped Dragon Ball, gazing at the shimmering four stars within its orange shell. "No, we still need to make sure grandpa doesn't do anything funny. If I know my father, he won't give up that easily. Pan, why don't you wait on the ship? Your mother and I need to talk for a little while about some things. We'll be down in an hour or so after the wishes are granted."

Our daughter looked less than pleased with the prognosis but she left without another word and flew off in the opposite direction of the gathered Dragon Balls. They began to glow brightly, pulsating like they had a heartbeat and darkening the sky. I took Gohan's hand and bit my lower lip; this was the first time I would meet Porunga because we normally used the Balls on Earth for our wishes. He rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand and smiled.

"I knew you'd find a way to get to New Namek," Gohan said. "So we wish for your mark to disappear, Goku to return to normal, and what else?"

"Make it impossible for me to be mated with again. That should drive him off for good."

"Well… that was something I wanted to talk to you about. Maybe I can mark you instead. You'll be able to keep the youth you have now for as long as I do, so we'll age the same way. And after everything that's happened, I think it's a good way for us to solidify our relationship."

I smiled as a Namek began uttering the incantation to summon Porunga. "Sounds good to me. I guess we won't need the third with, then."

The heavens turned dark as the Dragon Balls began to hum in unison, announcing the arrival of the legendary Namekian Dragon. I pulled Gohan a little closer when a beam of light shot into the sky and a massive, barrel-chested dragon burst forth from it, quickly coiling himself into a resting position and folding his massive arms. Porunga was twice the size of Shenron, at least, and had a body much like my husband's and all the other Saiyans. The Namekians bowed respectfully and I followed suit with Gohan.

Porunga cut right to the chase, much like his Earthly counterpart. "What are your three wishes?"

My heart pounded with excitement as Gohan stepped forward to communicate the first wish to the translator, who would relay it to Porunga. Soon I would be free from Goku for all eternity. The mark would disappear from my skin and I could be mated to Gohan. Finally, after so many months of torture, we could be a normal family again. No more Bulla or Goku; just me, my husband, and Pan. It was unfortunate that we had hit such hard times later in life but we were even closer as a result.

I thought of Goku and what he would do when our bond was broken and Porunga returned him to normal. He'd be confused and probably humiliated by his actions. We could all learn to forgive his mistakes as he forgot the vices of others. All I wanted was to be a normal family again, quirks and all. Our huge dinners fit to feed Saiyans would become commonplace and eventually we would all joke about my brief affair with Goku, treating it like nothing more than a silly mistake. That was all it was.

The Namek translated Gohan's request to Porunga and there was a breathless silence. The bite marks on my neck would disappear into thin air like they had never existed. Goku couldn't haunt my dreams anymore the way he did on a nightly basis. Kami, I couldn't wait for—

"That wish is beyond my power."

No one said a word. They didn't know what to say.

Gohan tried double-checking the wording with the Namek and took off his glasses to rub his face when he realized there was truly nothing Porunga could do. I heard the words "mark" and "Goku", so I assumed it was the wish that would free me from my mating with Goku. Why couldn't the damn dragon lift the mark? Was this the same beast that restored on entire planet from nothing and brought people back from the dead? It couldn't be that hard to remove a mating mark.

"Hey!" I shouted to Porunga. "What's the big idea? You can't take bite marks off my skin?"

The gargantuan dragon turned his glowing red eyes on me. "The one named Goku is fused with the Earthly dragon, Shenron. Together, their power is beyond my own."

"Which means he can't return Goku to normal," Gohan said miserably. "Anything involving my father won't work."

"Then gear the wish towards Porunga instead. What if someone powerful fuses with him so together, they're stronger than Goku and Shenron? We could wish for someone here to become the most powerful being in the universe and become a host for the Namekian Dragon Balls. Then Porunga will be stronger and he can make any wish possible, regardless of Goku."

"That's too complicated." My husband ran a hand through his thick hair, thinking. "We're in trouble if we can't make any wishes towards my father. Porunga can't alter anything about him and even if we do succeed in making someone more powerful, it just makes everything worse in the end."

Porunga was beginning to look irritated and his red eyes focused on Gohan who he saw as the reason behind his rude awakening. We'd kept the dragon out longer than normal and he wanted to return to his realm, not stick around in ours waiting for us to think of a new wish. It looked like he had something to say, but he wasn't permitted to alter a wish or suggest ways around their restrictions. I personally liked my idea and was about to demand the Nameks translate it to Porunga when a blinding flash of light distracted all of us from the Dragon Balls.

Goku was standing in the middle of our crowd, fully transformed to a Super Saiyan 4 and carrying a mean scowl that didn't fit him at all. I only caught a glimpse before a few Nameks covered me with a robe to obscure most of my body and led me away from the fray. Gohan planted his feet apart and clenched his hands into fists until blood seeped from his palms, dripping crimson of the grass. Porunga looked relieved when the Nameks sent him back to the Balls. We'd use the wishes another day.

It seemed like we had successfully slunk away from Goku when he raised his head and grinned. "Where are you taking my Videl? A robe isn't going to hide her from me."

"My Videl?" Gohan echoed. "Did you hit your head again?"

There wasn't any more playful banter. Goku lunged at his son, who narrowly avoided the attack, and I saw Gohan's hair turn gold before they both vanished into the sky. The only hint of their fight was an occasional flash of light where they connected in battle, trying to destroy the other. I had seen them spar a few times before and this was completely unlike it. They were fighting for keeps. I peeked out from under my hood, praying that Gohan would at least knock some sense into his father.

A red whir flew from the sky and collided into the earth some distance away; Goku actually seemed to be losing this fight. But was he even trying? I watched the Saiyan pull himself from the massive hole and wipe blood from his mouth, which seemed to surprise him. He grinned up at Gohan, who had his arms folded and was scowling deeply. It had been so long since my husband last fought that I half expected him to attempt talking things out with Goku. But the Saiyan blood in him wouldn't let his father get away unscathed. They had a thirst for bloodshed.

Goku vanished from his spot on the ground and reappeared behind Gohan, easily striking him down with a blow to the back of the neck. My feet were running before I knew exactly where my husband would land. It wasn't very far off, but I had to get there to make sure he was okay. The Nameks hung back away from the fray, maybe out of shock that the savior of their planet had taken a dark turn.

When I arrived, Gohan was trying to push himself off the grass and fly back into the air. His entire body was noticeably shaking and he spat out some blood just as I knelt beside him. He had looked worse in the past, but I knew he couldn't fight his father for very long. Goku trained nearly every day and had surpassed his son in most respects. I turned to glare at Goku, still hovering in the air with a cocky smirk on his face. He looked… different. Sort of like Vegeta when he was controlled by Majin Buu.

"Now that isn't possible," I said to myself, thinking of how the pink blob had merged with Uub.

Gohan lay on his back and grimaced. "I can't keep this up for much longer. Leave on the spaceship, Videl. It's the only hope we have right now. The Dragon Balls can't help us."

"I'm not leaving without you."

"You have to." Gohan fixed his deep obsidian eyes on me and gently touched my face. "If you're with Pan, he won't do anything. She is his Achilles heel. Bulma can send another ship over when you two are safe and sound on Earth and if I'm still alive, the Namekians can help me return home."

I took his hand and closed my eyes, enjoying the contact. We were going to be separated. Again. Why were Gohan and I always driven apart? My husband winced in pain and got to his feet, pulling me along with him. His chest was heaving from the effort, but he managed to give me a soft push in the direction of Pan. He smiled sadly and reached back to tear off his shirt, exposing the perfectly defined muscles of his abdomen and the wounds he had received. Then, he was gone.

Of all the monsters we had faced together, the new Goku was by far the worst. It seemed fitting for the two to have a showdown but I was hoping to see it under friendlier circumstances as more of a test than a true battle. The Namekians had returned to their homes to wait out the fight and random beams of energy were coming dangerously close to the inhabited parts of the planet. I turned to look up at Goku, balancing a bundled ball of energy in his palm. He gripped it like a baseball and hurled it toward the earth, completely ignoring Gohan. Destruction for the fun of it.

Pan was waiting outside when I finally arrived at the ship. She stared in shock at the battle overhead and I was forced to drag her inside, quickly booting up the machine before Goku noticed what was happening. It was true that he had something of a weak spot for my daughter, but I had a feeling this wasn't the same Goku we all knew and loved. He'd been left alone on the Kai's planet to make a wish on the other set of Dragon Balls, which may have involved something to release his Saiyan side.

The spaceship whirred to life and began to lift off the ground as the battle outside raged without end. I entered the coordinates for Earth and tried not to worry about Gohan. He knew how to carry himself in a fight and Goku would give up in a short time. We could send a spaceship from Earth to pick him up in a few days. By then they would both be exhausted and too worn down to keep beating each other up. My chest felt tight as New Namek shrank below us. Would Gohan be okay?

Reviews/comments/questions

thebluebunny- Thanks very much! :D

TruthWinters- Twists are my specialty, mwahaha.

super saiyan 4 chichi- Yeah sorry, I worded that wrong; I know you were agreeing with me, but the keyboard can't express my thoughts very well... lol. Videl is sneakier in this! She's gotta start standing up for herself.

Chimera prime- Of course we do! Hence why Vegeta is so popular in fanfics, hehe.

WithoutXWings- Yes! Goku is completely OOC and dark in this.