Going Gold

Chapter 7

Tesserot

I was going to be in so much trouble. Today started out fine; I went to school like usual and got an "A" on a test, which is rare for me, and I could barely keep my tail still in class as I thought about the sparring session Goten had promised for the afternoon. Goten was the best sparring partner out of all of my siblings; he was really competitive and had a unique strategy that made him a challenge to beat. Sure, it was a great time to spar with my other brothers and my parents, but they always seemed to either go easy on me or avoid hitting me altogether. Goten wasn't like that, he'd even gone Super Saiyan against me in a spar once.

Anyhow, I was in a good mood, and my worries about my strength and someone coming to take me away had vanished for now. I was barely listening as my Biology teacher lectured on about mitosis of cells or something, and I'd completely forgotten to keep my tail guarded around my waist like I usually did.

I paid for this carelessness dearly. I was just daydreaming about what techniques I would use against Goten today when something wicked pinched the very end of my tail. Immediately, a bolt of agony so intense it was like lightning shot up my spine, and I cried out. I whirled around and snarled at the cruel enemy who had dared to hurt me so, baring my teeth and hissing though I wanted to break into tears at the pain. It didn't stop either, even as my startled classmate fell backwards in his chair, his hands nowhere near me, the agony just kept lancing up the length of my tail all the way into my skull. I ignored the teacher's frantic shouting and brought my tail around to my face to see what exactly had happened.

I don't know if it was a prank or just curiosity, but the person I had just frightened – his name was Jonathan, by the way – had actually clipped a binder clip to the end of my tail. A binder clip. What would possess someone to do something like that? I tried to pry the instrument of my torment from my injured tail, but it was tangled in the dark fur and I think in my attempts to loosen it I actually made it worse. I was aware that people were staring and asking questions, but I disregarded them in favor of freeing my tail, which felt like it was going to fall off with the pain it was resonating. Sucking a breath between my teeth, I at last unhooked the binder clip and threw it, disgusted, as far away from me as possible.

"Why the hell would you do that?" I shouted at the paling Jonathan, who was getting to his feet, his saucer-like eyes never leaving me. Usually I'd be reprimanded for swearing, but I didn't care right now. I cradled my sore tail gingerly and inspected it to make sure it wasn't bleeding or anything.

"Well?" I demanded, staring the terrified student down. I was conscious that my power was rising sharply, buffeting the papers on my desk, and I knew I was scaring the stupid human senseless. I had inherited the infamous death-glare from my mother, and I'm pretty sure Jonathan was on the verge of wetting his pants as I used it flawlessly against him.

"Tesserot, what is the problem?" the teacher asked from the front of the class. I turned my back pointedly on the idiot Jonathan and wrapped my tail carefully around my waist, refusing to let it fall into danger again. I didn't answer the teacher though. I remembered Gohan telling me not to give information about Saiyans to any of the humans at school – he'd gone to a human university, so he would know – and explaining that my tail was very sensitive, especially to gripping and pinching, would be doing just that. So I kept my mouth shut. I was given a detention for disrupting class and scaring the ever-loving shit out of Jonathan (though the teacher didn't necessarily use those words) and the idiot who started this and caused the actual physical harm got off scott free. Oh, the justice system of the public middle school is something to laugh at, that much is for sure.

X

"Hey Tess, I know I promised you a spar, want to get started?" Goten said as I came home that day. I had gotten unnerved looks the entire bus ride home, as if the humans thought I was going to suddenly snap and attack them. It had been a rather frustrated flight from the bus stop at which I had been dropped off at to my home... which is quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

"No," I sighed, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table and making sure not to sit on my dully aching tail.

My older brother raised an eyebrow, "Why not? Something happen?"

He knew I didn't usually refuse a spar, especially not with him of all people. Trust him to read me like a book.

"Just an idiot at school doing something stupid," I muttered, tracing an abstract design on the dusky wood of the table in front of me.

Goten sat down next to me and tried to meet my gaze, his black eyes shadowed by the thick bangs he'd inherited from our shared father.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" he asked carefully, keeping the offer loose so as not to scratch my pride. He was one of the few people who did this.

"Not really," I said honestly, "I just don't really feel up to a spar right now."

"Well... okay," the demi said eventually, leaning back in his chair slightly and fixing his gaze on the ceiling.

He and Trunks weren't around here as much as they used to be. Since they'd gotten their own apartment in the city, they only came to visit when they saw fit or when there was some kind of family gathering. I think Goten was more drawn to this place though, since he'd grown up here and still probably considered Mt. Paozu his home.

"Why aren't Mom and Dad home?" I asked after a moment. I could tell they weren't by their ki signatures – or lack thereof - and though Kísta was here – probably taking her nap, I assumed Goten was assigned babysitter today – Veito wasn't.

He shrugged, "Dunno. They didn't say, but I don't think it was too urgent or they would have told me."

I wished I could be so aloof about it. It wasn't rare for both of them to be gone at the same time, but it was for Veito to be missing as well.

"So how was school today?" Goten asked after a while, "Besides the idiot who did something stupid, I mean."

"Same old, same old." I muttered, "I got a detention for disrupting class."

"Again?" Goten sighed, "That's the third time this month, are you trying to get into trouble?"

"No. I guess I'm just cursed," I said tonelessly, flicking my tail in irritation and wincing as it throbbed slightly.

"Better the curse of repeated detention than something worse," Goten pointed out.

"Like what?"

He smirked, "I could list a ton of scenarios. You could have your dad's curse where your life suddenly turns upside-down and you end up with six kids, or you could have Veito's where you're never allowed to leave the house, or you could have your mom's where you're cursed with the ability to get preg-" he cut himself off before he touched that subject, but I knew what he was going to say.

"Or," he went on with a laugh, "You could have mine."

"What's your curse?" I asked.

"The curse of never getting a girlfriend." he said with a teasing note of woe in his voice.

I smiled. It was nice to know I wasn't the worst off, and the fact that Goten could be so cheerful about something that had utterly ruined my day made the incident with the binder clip and the detention seem less important.

"Wanna spar?" I asked, getting up from the table, glad my good mood was returning and my tail didn't hurt as much anymore.

He looked at me and grinned, "Wouldn't miss it."

X

I touched down lightly on a rocky plateau, my breath coming in gasps. The November air had a slight sting to it, but it only made me feel that much more alive as I sparred with my older brother relentlessly. I was bleeding from a cut on my lower lip and the blossoming bruise on my arm would be ugly tomorrow, but I felt rejuvenated.

"Hey guys!" a cheerful voice interrupted my thoughts, and I glanced up as my father dropped out of the sky and landed not far away, jogging over to meet us as Goten raised a hand in welcome.

"Hi Dad," I said, my tail flicking with relief as I put my mind to rest. I'd been worried over nothing it seemed, if Dad was happy then Mom and Veito must be fine.

"Where's Vegeta?" Goten asked, wiping sweat from his forehead, "Where've you been all day, Dad?"

Dad tilted his head a little, "Veito needed a new textbook for his studies, so Vegeta took him to the bookstore. I went to see Bulma because she says I've apparently become 'an antisocial recluse'... Which is ridiculous."

I laughed along with Goten, though I wasn't entirely sure what was supposed to be funny.

XXX

Vegeta

Kakarot owed me big for this. I felt like a fool as I stood there in the bookstore with my youngest son, perusing the wide selection of textbooks for the one he required for his schoolwork. Gods, if anyone I knew caught me essentially shopping... I was going to have to blow their heads off.

I was scanning over the humans meandering around looking at romance novels and other such crap when my eyes landed on a familiar head of black hair, up in a tight bun.

I must be the most unlucky person this side of the universe, I thought ruefully. Just my luck the bitch ChiChi was here today at the exact same time and place that I was; I hoped I had enough luck that she wouldn't notice me.

But of course, the universe just loves to test my nerve, doesn't it?

"Vegeta?" the woman asked as I attempted to turn my back and ignore her.

I tensed and let out a breath slowly, "What do you want, woman." I kept my tone monotonous so that the question was more like a statement.

"Nothing, I just haven't seen you or Goku in over ten years," she said. I didn't buy it, that woman always had some kind of ulterior motive.

Veito scrutinized the human woman for a moment from next to me, "Tӫtka, who is that? Do you two know each other?"

His voice was quiet, like usual, but ChiChi flinched as if the child had shouted. Her black gaze lowered and landed on his, and he met her stare audaciously; as if daring her to judge him, though he couldn't possibly know what for. I laid my tail on his shoulder protectively, drawing the woman's gaze back up to mine.

"Another?" though the word wasn't spoken aloud, her mouth clearly outlined it. I glared at her and nodded shortly.

"Veito, this is your father's ex-wife ChiChi," I said slowly, putting particular emphasis on the word 'ex-wife', reminding the woman of her place here. I couldn't guess what she was after, but I could make my position clear.

Veito's sharp black gaze roved over her, and he wrinkled his nose slightly in distaste. The boy was especially sensitive to smell and aura, and I can't say the woman was particularly appealing for either, at least to a Saiyan. I wondered how Kakarot had been able to stand it for the two decades in which they'd been married.

"Wh... what are you doing here?" ChiChi asked me eventually; sounding just slightly accusing, as if I was stalking her or something. As if!

"Buying a schoolbook for my son," I stated coolly, wishing I could just walk away, but not wanting to leave without Veito's book. Wishing I could tell the woman to go away, but not wanting to start up drama in a public place or influence Veito to be any more antisocial than he already was.

"School...?" she trailed off, sounding beyond confused and a little too judgemental for my taste.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, woman. Whatever assumptions you have about Kakarot's disregard for education, he was the one who made sure his sons were properly schooled."

"But - " the woman began, seeming about to argue.

I turned to my son, "Veito, see if you can find that book, I feel I have to speak to this woman alone. Raise your ki if there's trouble, I won't go far."

Veito looked at me for a moment and nodded, swishing his short black tail once. I loathed leaving him alone, even for a moment, and even just to move a few feet away; but ChiChi seriously needed a tongue-lashing, and I didn't want to give it to her in front of a child.

I all but dragged the woman away and fixed her with a steely glare once in solitude, on the other side of a tall bookshelf where no other people were wandering.

"Look, woman," I growled, "I know what you think of me, and what you think of Kakarot; but I really don't need your accusations right now, especially not in front of my son."

She stood there haughtily, looking down her nose at me. I was pretty sure she was taller than me, if only by a little, and that didn't help my battered pride any.

"How many?" she asked eventually. I blinked and forced the fur on my tail to lie flat and not show my annoyance.

"How many what?" I muttered.

She set her teeth, black eyes flashing, "How many of them did you and Goku have?"

I noticed she didn't even have the decency to call them children.

"Three," I said shortly, refusing to fall for any of her crap.

"How old?"

I clenched my hands into fists. She was sounding just like that damn social worker, why was it so hard to accept that Kakarot and I had had a couple of kids?

"Thirteen, eleven and a half, and one," I grit out, wishing with all my heart that I could just blast her head off. The woman had caused more than enough misery on the people I cared about and myself, and it would be damn easy to just remove her from the equation. But I had a feeling Kakarot wouldn't be happy with that. For some reason, he still cared what happened to her, even if he wanted to strangle her as much as I did.

The woman was silent for a long time, and I contemplated just leaving. I didn't owe her anything, and her ideas of logic were seriously flawed.

"And Goku hasn't mentioned me at all?" she asked.

Case in point.

"Occasionally, woman." I muttered, "But don't get your hopes up or anything, he's not coming back to you."

Why on Earth she thought he'd want to was beyond me, but the woman still seemed to think she belonged with her original partner, and he with her. Naivety at work, wasn't she getting a little old for fairy tales and perfect husbands?

ChiChi looked thoughtful.

"You haven't aged," she said after a moment.

"What are you prattling about, woman?" I growled.

"It's been ten years and you don't look like you've aged a day," she said.

"Obviously. I'm Saiyan. We retain our youth so that we may fight longer."

An almost sad glint came into her eyes.

"It's better this way," she said softly.

I stared at her, unsure whether I'd heard right.

"It's better..." she broke off and looked away, "You can do things for him that I'll never be able to do."

Was she pulling some kind of joke? Or was she actually... admitting Kakarot was better off with me than with her? No, she was too haughty for that, right? Her pride wouldn't allow it. She'd fought too hard to try and win her husband back, why would she just give that fight up?

The utter confusion and disbelief must have shown on my face because she almost smiled, in a resigned kind of way.

"I'm getting old, Vegeta," she said slowly, "But Goku's not. He deserves someone who can make him happy and keep up with him, and I can't do that anymore. Maybe I never could. If you haven't grown tired of him after thirteen years, I think it's clear you won't leave him."

"I'll never tire of him, woman." I said boldly.

"I would have liked to see him," she muttered, "Just to tell him he's free. I give up, Vegeta. He's yours."

I could scarcely believe my own ears. Was this some new method of deception? But no, she seemed sincere. I never thought I'd see the day.

I tried to think of some reply, but nothing came to mind. It seemed the woman was attempting to make peace of an old grudge, and I wasn't sure if I should be elated or suspicious.

Suddenly I tensed as I felt a stark drop in Veito's ki, not far away. It felt strange, wavering and saturated, and I knew in that instant that my son was having an attack.

TBC

((Sorry if i broke the whole ChiChi thing off too quickly, but she's been hounding Goku for like twenty chapters in the past and i think it would be kind of creepy for her to be an old woman and STILL stalking her ex-husband even though he has four kids that arent even hers. Also im sorry if this chapter was awkward. Fillers. Meh. No worries, i have a plan for this story... oh, yes i have a plan.

Side-note. Have you ever clipped a binder clip to the tip of your finger? It hurts like HELL. Now imagine how sensitive a Saiyan's tail is if even grabbing it hurts, and you have a pretty good idea what it felt like for Tesserot. Poor kid.

Thanks, as always, for your patience and support, and im sorry this chapter wasn't as engaging as the previous one.

-Shinsun))