I'm back! I'm sorry you had to wait – I hope you will still follow A Desperate Wish! I haven't been able to finish the challenge I talked about in last chapter… I've had too many hours at work and too much to do at home to finish it. I have written 4692 words in the challengefic, and I haven't even introduced Vegeta by person, only by name… I don't know how long it will be before I finish it, but right now I want to focus on this fic whenever I have the time to write.

Enjoy!

There was only the faint sound of chatter from the saiyans on the street; all of them had just arrived at home after several months in space. Vegeta and Gohan ignored the laughter and happy outburst from mates who met after being separated for so long and kept starring at each other. Vegeta didn't know what to do about the brat – every possible emotion and reason to kill or let Kakarrot's kid live were swarming his mind, making him unable to make a quick decision as he would have done just a few years ago.

He had promised the damned, blue-haired woman to not harm the tailless saiyan and his family. A part of him wanted to keep the promise, to honor whatever there had been between himself and the beautiful earthling. Another part of him wanted to kill the brat to show her how easy he could break the promise..! But then she would, in some way, also win, because that letter was written to agitate him, which would make him act like that…

Gohan felt his heart start to beat faster when he heard a snarl escape the otherwise completely silent king. He had been told by his father to never cross Vegeta's path, to do anything possible to not fell his wrath, and yet here he was. But even if the grown-up saiyan chose to kill him, Gohan would feel like he at least had done his last heroic deed by flying to Daisia's side and stop her former friends from killing her. She had been a mess of broken limps and bruises and merely a second after he had made eyecontact with her, she had fainted. It seemed like the saiyan boys had felt like she had made a fool of them – they had believed she was much stronger than them, and that was why she never trained with them and always gave them orders. The seven 16 year old boys had been enraged by the thought of a weak woman ordering them around and lost all senses when they started to beat her up, much like they had tried to beat up Gohan. He was so lost in thoughts he didn't see Vegeta starting to move before he felt it.

The first blow was right in Gohan's stomach and made the young man bend over, exposing his back for the kick Vegeta delivered. The opposite wall started to crackle when the hybrid-boy hit it and soon small fragments of it started to fall down in rhythm with the furious king's ongoing punches at the already weakened Gohan. The loud sound of his bones being broken made Gohan's vision even more unstable and everything began to darken as his consciousness started slipping. Just as abruptly as the beating had started it ended and he tried to open his least swollen eyes. Vegeta was looking at someone who had just entered the training facility but Gohan was too beaten up to feel or smell who it was.

Daisia tried to comprehend what was going on. She had just left the regenerationtank Gohan obviously had put her in and was now standing in his bedroom, looking at her almost unrecognizable friend. Hushed talk and sobs could be heard from the room next door where Gohan's mother and a man she had seen at the stadium a couple of times – wasn't his name Raditz? – were.

Just as she had been about to knock two doctors had left and let her in. Apparently Gohan had been denied the use of a regenerationtank, even though they were free for everyone to use. But for him to even need a tank was something she had never expected to see. And yet she was now looking at a Gohan, who almost looked mummified by all the bandages, which should help his broken bones keep in place while healing as well as making sure his wounds wouldn't be infected. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get out of her shocked daze and leave the room. It helped a bit and she only looked at the sleeping figure once before silently closing the door.

Chi-Chi dried her eyes as she had done a hundred times the last two hours and looked in the direction her brother-in-law did. A young woman was standing in the doorway with a look on her face like she felt she was at the wrong place. "You must be Daisia," Chi-Chi said and sent the nodding girl a sad smile. "I'm sorry we have to meet under such circumstances, but it seems my Gohan angered Vegeta."

Even though she knew Gohan's father was the strongest saiyan except the king, Daisia was surprised to hear the weak, earth-woman call the monarch only by name. "What did he do to make our king angry?" she asked, shocked to hear it was King Vegeta, who had hurt Gohan like that.

Chi-Chi was about to answer when Raditz put his hand in front of her and said: "We can't tell you."

"Why? He's my friend, why can't I know what happened?" Daisia fought the urge to unfold her tail and start brushing her knuckles when she saw the long-haired man's tail started to sway behind him, showing his annoyance. Even though she had gained a lot of strength through her training with Gohan, she knew it would be no match to her mentor's uncle.

"If the king came to know we have told you, my family won't be safe." Raditz looked briefly at the red-eyed earthling. Yes, his family… When he had said it, he had not only thought of his own mate, son and father – the wellbeing of Kakarrot's son, mate and unborn son had started to be something he cared about and thought of. "And neither will your!" Small blushes had been coloring the young saiyan woman's cheeks, but at his last remark Raditz could see the blood leave her face.

"I don't have a family or any friends except Gohan."

"But I do, and I won't risk their wellbeing for a brat like you. Leave before I…"

"RADITZ!" The two saiyans both looked at Chi-Chi in surprise. None of them had expected a human-woman could yell with such strength – if they had seen just a single argument in the Son-household they would have known. "This is my home, and she is my son's friend. Don't you dare throw her out." She took in a deep breath and continued in a lower tone. "Thank you for bringing Gohan back, and for consulting me. But I want to tell Daisia the truth. If you don't agree with my decision I will have to ask you to leave. If something happens I will take the blame."

Raditz looked at his sister-in-law for a moment before he decided to agree with her decision and leave the two women alone. He looked at the closed door in the hallway and thought about how long it would be before he would see his nephew out of bed again. His own son wouldn't be happy when he was told his cousin was severely injured.

Back in the living room Daisia was feeling a bit uncomfortable. She was sitting in a chair opposite Chi-Chi and tried to look anywhere else than at the sobbing woman. Perhaps it would have been better to just have done as the man had said and leave, but now it was too late.

"You know my husband, Goku, right?" Daisia looked at Chi-Chi and was surprised to see the determined look at the woman's face. She nodded and the no longer sobbing Chi-Chi continued. "He became a supersaiyan not long after the episode at Namek, which turned out to be of such great importance that no-one could have foreseen it. Through training Gohan also acquired that skill."

"So, they can both become a supersaiyan? Just like our king?" She couldn't believe her own ears. According to the legend, only a special saiyan could turn super, and it happened so rarely hundreds, even thousands of years could separate two supersaiyans.

"With ease," Chi-Chi said and hoped she didn't boasted too much. "They had promised not to turn super while any other saiyans were nearby, but according to Raditz, Gohan did just that in order to get to you." She could see surprise and disbelief in the young woman's eyes. It seemed like she had never had anyone come to her rescue before. "He is in the state he is in now because Vegeta wanted to give him a lesson."

Daisia looked at her hands and tried to ignore the sob, which escaped her friend's mother. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Son."

"Don't say that," Chi-Chi said and smiled even though a single tear rolled down her cheek. "Gohan is clearly his father's son, and Goku has been hospitalized or even killed more than once because he was trying to save everyone. It will never be your fault."

She looked at Chi-Chi and suddenly felt a deprivation she had never felt before: she had never had a mother to care so much for her that she would cry if she was hurt. What she didn't know was the beast waiting just below the surface in Chi-Chi – as soon as Gohan was feeling just a little better, he would be put through his mother's typical wrath whenever he or Goku was hurt…

A desperate yell resonated in the canyon. Goku pulled yet another root out of the earth and destroyed it with a minor ki-blast. He sighed and plopped down on the ground. "How am I ever going to get done!?" It had been more than a week since he had arrived at the planet and he was only halfway done – if not less – with the task he had been given by Kibito.

The saiyans had tried to grow a plant, which was like a carrot combined with a potato. Unfortunately it had turned poisonous when being grown on this planet and it had been abandoned. Now the root was slowly spreading on the planet, and was thereby threatening its very fragile ecosystem. Goku had been assigned to remove all of the plant – and it was way easier said than done… If it was just pulled out of the earth and tossed aside, it would instantly start to spread and there would be about five times more of it than there was to begin with. Therefore he had to destroy every tiny bit of it.

Goku felt the well-known buzzing and tension in all his muscles as he was about to turn supersaiyan by pure irritation and the feeling of not being able to do much. As he had done for the last seven days he fought back the urge but as soon as the tingling feeling disappeared a thought popped into his head.

'I'm not on Planet Vegeta… There's no one to watch me turn super!'

In pure joy Goku yelled and laughed as the fantastic feeling of pure power flowed through him, followed by the golden aura, blonde hair and blue eyes. He jumped up and started to pull up roots with new enthusiasm. The thick atmosphere didn't bother him anymore and the heat was no longer draining his willpower as well as energy – turning super was something he should have done as soon as he arrived!

What had taken him seven days only took him three days in super; on the tenth day after his arrival he had pulled out the last root and pulverized it with ki. In the same instance he could feel a beacon of his own ki erupt far away.

"Finally!" He said and put two fingers at his forehead. Completely unaware of what was going on back at Planet Vegeta, Goku moved on to the next planet.

Daisia tried to keep her eyes open but it was just too hard. She hadn't slept properly the last four days after moving in with Gohan and Chi-Chi. It had simply been impossible for her to calm down enough to fall properly asleep – she had ended up just dozing off for a few minutes before waking up again. But now her body finally overruled her anxious mind and she fell asleep.

Only a few minutes after Daisia had fallen asleep in the chair in the corner of the room Gohan woke up. He opened up his eyes slowly and looked at the ceiling for a bit while taking in a few deep breaths. His ribcage hurt like hell – and so did the rest of his body. He could feel a familiar ki, but the pain and his still sleepy mind wouldn't let him recognize the person. Inch by inch he moved his head and looked in the direction of the ki. As he recognized Daisia a smile manifested itself on his face. Gohan let his head return to its original position but did it so fast a groan of pain escaped him. Daisia's eyes shot wide open and she jumped out of the chair and rushed to his side.

"Gohan?" He sent her a tiny smile and tried not to show how much in pain he was. It became impossible when two saiyan arms wrapped themselves around his neck while a relieved laughter filled his ears.

"Daisia, you're hurting me!"

"Oh, sorry!" She jumped backwards and ran towards the door. She pulled it open and yelled: "Chi-Chi…"

"No, Daisia!" Gohan said desperately, trying to get some time to wake properly before his mother would start yelling at him. But it was too late.

"…he's awake!"

A few seconds went by and Gohan tried to sit up, but had to give up because of the pain. Then she stood in the doorway; his mother. "Gohan, what were you thinking?"

"Mother, I…"

"Don't you mother, I me young man! Do you know how worried I was? Why do you and your father always have to get yourself half killed and then let me nurse you back to health?" Chi-Chi was about to get into one of her fits and Daisia was surprised to see the otherwise kind and smiling woman become so angry. "Goku was only away for a week and you try to get yourself killed! You just have to be thankful for the fact that Vegeta chose to give you a lesson instead of killing you for going super even though you know it was forbidden! And what if Raditz hadn't been at the palace? Perhaps you would have been thrown somewhere to die of your injuries!"

"Mom, listen…"

"No, you have to listen Gohan! I won't hear any excuses; not even saving Daisia is an excuse! She is a tough girl, and if you had showed up a minute later, it wouldn't have been too late – you just wanted to be hero like your father. Aaaarh! Why did I have to marry such a thick headed saiyan and give birth to a son, who is just as thick headed?" Chi-Chi turned around on her heels and stormed out of the rooms, leaving the two teenagers in silence.

Daisia was almost feeling hurt on Gohan's behalf by the angry Chi-Chi's words. If she had just talked a bit with him before calling out to Chi-Chi, maybe he wouldn't have been scolded like that and called thick headed. "Gohan, I'm sorry I…"

"Shh!"

Daisia shut her mouth and a few seconds later she could hear low sobs from the other side of the apartment.

"My mother always gets angry at me and my father whenever we get hurt. I'm sorry you had to see it, but I'm glad to see you're alright." Gohan sent her a small smile and tried to ignore how every single bone and muscle in his body screamed in pain.

"Don't think about me. I had to be in the regenerationtank for an hour and a half but you have been asleep for four days! King Vegeta won't let you get into a tank, and I know it's partly my fault you're hurt… so your mother has let me stay with the two of you to help her nurse you as a form of atonement." Daisia looked at her hands, unable to look at Gohan's face. She felt like it was some kind of confession… She had never had a real friend, but instinctively she knew that Gohan was one – a real friend. A friend, who would be there for her, even though she had been some kind of a bitch the first couple of times they had met.

"Well," Gohan said and tried to laugh but couldn't because of the pain. "I'm looking forward to be living with you. Please take care of me!"

He couldn't believe his own ears! A purging mission after such a long time… And the only purgers would be himself and his nephew? "King Vegeta, Gohan is far from healed. He won't be able to leave the planet before at least a month has passed."

"I know he is far from healed, Raditz. I was the one injuring him. But as soon as he is healed enough to travel, the two of you will take on the mission I have assigned for you. Failure is as usual not an option."

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He had given up on figuring out what was going on in his former comrade's head. After the blue-haired earthling had taken her own life King Vegeta had turned bipolar, making it completely impossible for anyone to figure the king out. He even doubted the king knew what was going on in his own mind all the time…

I hope you liked the chapter. Please tell me what you think! And this time I will try to make the next chapter quicker than this time, I promise!