I'm sorry this took me so long to update. I think I'm finally past my writers block (knock on wood).


I wake up warm and happy.

The spot next to me is empty, but the comforter covering me is tucked all around tight, and the musky smell of Kakarot lingers on the pillow my head rests on. I sigh happily.

Kakarot pokes his head in, smiling.

"Let's skip training today."

I turn over to him, scowling, "You always want to slack off, don't you?"

He shrugs and fully enters to canopy, holding a steaming mug in his hands, "I guess so. Training isn't really as fun as hanging out with you is. Besides, we're not in here to train. We're in here to get to know each other."

I shrug and eye him, "Coffee is awful for you, you know that, right?"

He shakes his head and sips on it, bringing the mug back into his curled hands.

"It's really cold out in the training area, so I made cocoa," He takes another drink, "Do you want some? I just made it, it's still hot."

I nod slowly as he laughs, sliding out of bed and fetching a cup. I plop my head back down onto the pillow beneath me, letting the smell of him puff everywhere and surround me. I close my eyes and try to push my body further into it. Kakarot pokes his head back in and smiles at me.

I feel my face heat up as I take the mug from him, letting the warm liquid fill my mouth and warm me further.

Kakarot sits down next to me, the both of us silently drinking.

At this moment, I feel more content than I ever have. Free from judgement and expectations. Just Kakarot and myself, I know that I don't have to act anymore. I smile into my cocoa and close my eyes.

"I knew it."

My eyes open, "Hmm?"

Kakarot held his cup between his crossed legs, his hands cupping the top, "I knew you didn't hate me. I just knew it."

"And how is that, Kakarot?" I set my own cup down.

"I just had a feeling, deep in my gut that it was all an act. That every mean thing you said to me you didn't mean, and that you didn't mind being around me. Or, even at times, you wanted to be around me. That you saw me as an equal, a friend."

He takes a sip.

"I don't know, Vegeta, I don't know how I knew."

He leaves with his mug in his hand.

I shake my head and lay back down, staring at the fabric above my head. I imagine him coming back and laying down with me, talking about something dumb, like how sometimes, on the ground, you can kind of see how far a cloud is from the ground.

If it's low enough.


A few minutes later I heard water run. It was a heavy sound, so I knew he was taking a shower or bath.

Suddenly I feel dirty. It's been a full day since my last cleaning, and even that was incomplete.

I long to intrude and go bathe myself, but I decide to wait my turn. The possibility of making the situation awkward is petrifying.

I wait and wait, listening for the sound of the shower to cease. Once it does, I stand and make my way to the bathroom, stopping along the way by the kitchen for a drink of water. I'm uncharacteristically nervous. I sigh and set the wet glass down for another use before washing it.

Kakarot strolls out of the bathroom, holding his towel up in his large fist. He smiles at me as he passes, heading straight for his canopy and dressing. I go into the bathroom and set aside a towel for myself and draw a bath.

While it's filling, I strip down out of my soiled clothes and toss them in the hamper in the corner of the room by the sink.

I ease into the scalding water, hoping to burn the first few layers of tainted skin off of my body. I usually take baths instead of showers because I don't like taking my gloves off, but, gazing at my covered hands, I decide to unsheathe them this time. My conversation about hand lines last night with Kakarot made my hands feel less foreign to me. I do not dip them in the water for a long time, though. The water is too hot, and I'm afraid of washing off any remnants of skin-to-skin contact. I sigh, enjoying the steaming heat until a knock at the door sounds.

"Come in."

I am impressed with his thoughtfulness. The door cracks open and Kakarot waves a hand to get my attention.

"Is it safe?"

"Yes, Kakarot, you can come in."

He steps through he door and sits on the toilet seat, about eight feet away from the tub.

"What is it?" I ask, closing my eyes and sinking deeper into the tub.

"I was thinking that instead of beating each other up for training today we could do some yoga. I know you don't like to do nothing, so maybe doing something relaxing would be a good break."

I open my eyes and peer at him, noticing that he's eyeing my gloves on the floor. I nod, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. But I've never done anything more advanced than mountain pose. You'll have to teach me."

"Vegeta, mountain pose is just standing up straight."

"Exactly."

"Oh, okay. Uhm, I have some music to play if you want some, and I think there's spare workout gear in the closet next to the pantry."

"That sounds just fine, Kakarot. I'm almost done here, so why don't you go set that up while I get dried off." I close my eyes again.

"Okay, It should be ready when you're out." I hear him stand and make his way to the door. He pauses there, turning, but says nothing and leaves.

I sigh, the lukewarm water dripping off my body as I stand. I reach for my towel and wrap it around my waist. I use a bit of internal energy to dry myself off for the most part. I stroll out of the bathroom, gloves in my hand.

I glace out to the oblivion and see Kakarot with a small touch screen player and two grey mats sitting in the floor. He's in sweatpants and nothing else, so I decide it's probably a smart idea to do the same. Dressing, I notice that the oblivion is back to it's normal temperature. I grin, setting my gloves on my bed and going back outside in bear feet and hands.

I sit on the mat opposite Kakarot's and he opens his eyes, smiling at me before hitting the play button, filling the empty space with soft piano music.

"Tadasana." He says. I stand with my heels together and my palms open at my sides. Kakarot smiles.

"So you know the technical terms, too?"

I nod halfheartedly, "Only the one." He laughs.

"Let's start with Bālāsana. It's also called Childs Pose. It's not hard. Just go into fetal position, but on your face."

I chuckle at his description as he lowers into the position, with his legs tucked underneath him as he's facing the ground with his arms stretched way out.

As I copy him he breaths deeply, and I hear a few pops and cracks come from his back.

"It's important to stretch out your back and shoulder muscles before doing yoga, because lots of it is core strength and you don't wanna cramp up."

"Where did you learn all this stuff?"

"I told you yesterday. Fortuneteller Baba."

"I doubt that old hag does yoga."

He laughs, letting out a few more pops, "She doesn't. She spent most of my lessons yelling at me and telling to move my feet this or that way. She was a terrible teacher, looking back on it. But it was easy enough to get into because it's so relaxing. And then I borrowed a few of Gohan's books on it and we kind of worked on it together. It made Chi happy to see that I wasn't putting him in dangers way, so she let it go."

"So you taught yourself?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You're smarter than I gave you credit for." My back cracks one by one down my spine.

"I don't get that a lot, thank you. Also, try not to cross your arms as much anymore, it curves your back inward and it's bad for overhead lifting. That's why you're cracking so much."

"Huh." My tailbone pops deep in my back and I wince. Maybe I should take his advice.

"Okay, now slowly lift up. Keep your back straight, that's it, and push your fingers as high as you can get them."

I come up a few seconds after him, processing his instructions. We are a few feet apart, my eyes level with his chest. I feel my face redden as I gaze at the smooth muscled skin, and I close my eyes.

He gets up and kneels behind me, running a single finger up my spine.

"Don't overextend the posture of your back, okay? That's just as bad as slouching. Just straighten up, that's it. There you go. Doesn't that feel better?"

His voice so close to me, it makes me half uncomfortable and half euphoric. I sigh and relax a small bit.

"Yeah, it does."

He pats my shoulder and squats deep over his mat. "Let's do Mālāsana now. Squat, just like me."

"Okay..." I examine his legs and the position of his feet and symmetrically across from him.

"Okay, put your hands together and push your legs apart with your elbows. Feel that stretch? It shouldn't hurt."

I nod again, unable to tear my eyes away from the happy bulge between his legs.

"If you need to loosen the stretch a little you can put your arms at a bit of an angle so you don't overextend your adductor longis and magnus muscles."

He demonstrates, closing his legs slightly, making me lose my wonderful view.

"You really are a lot smarter than I thought."

"No, I just know things that you don't. Just like you know things that I don't."

I nod, "I guess so. What's the other name for this one?"

"Garland pose."

I nod again, unsure of how to react to his bountiful knowledge of strange and obscure things.

"So, Kakarot. Why did you do yoga with the hag anyway?"

He smiled and chuckled to himself, looking back on memories, "Roshi always had pilates videos playing and I was less interested in the girls and more interested in the 'training', and I asked him about it. He told me that Baba could teach me something similar, and as a kid I would take whatever I could get. So I went and I wasn't really into her teaching methods, so to speak. But she did teach me other things too."

"Like what?"

He stood and stretched his arms way above his head. I did the same.

"Acupuncture, massage therapy, aromatherapy, spiritual cleansing stuff like that. And a few other little odds and ends. I didn't spend much time there so I ended up teaching myself most of this stuff, but she did give me a wonderful start." He chuckled to himself, "She can be abrasive at times, but she is very smart."

"What odds and ends?" I bend to touch my toes.

"The arts, mostly. Painting, drawing, sculpting. They are actually considered spiritual to an extent also. That may be why I'm so calm within myself, because I practice all these things and it's relaxing."

I shoot up, "You can draw?"

He shifts his other arm above his head and pouts, "Don't move so quick, you'll cramp up. But yes, I can. Not too well, though."

I roll up my mat and prop it against the marble stairs.

He shouts after me, "Where are you going?"

"Come in here!"

He follows me in, putting his mat in the same spot I did. I dig under my bed for my bag, and pull out the leather bound notebook I hopelessly use to sketch in. I hand it to him, along with a pen.

"Can you show me?"

He takes it from me, skeptical. "My drawing?"

I nod fervently.

"I dunno, Veg. The things I draw sometimes are kind of..." He searches for a word, "Strange."

I shake my head, "It doesn't matter, I'm sure yours are better than mine."

"Vegeta, I mean, my art is pretty good, but I don't really think it's something you want to see. That and I've never drawn without a model."

"A model?" I shove my bag back deep under my bed.

He nods, flipping through the used pages, "Yeah, someone that sits still for an hour or two while I sketch or draw them," He fiddles with the pen. "Do you have any art pencils?"

I shrug. "There's regular pencils in the bedside tables."

"That'll probably be better."

I go to fetch the pencil, "So what, you draw people?"

He nods. "Typically, yes. I find people to be fun to draw, even though it's hard and frustrating. They're more fluid than fruit or pottery."

"I can model for you." I hand him the pencil and sit down next to him.

"You'd do that?" Kakarot flips to an unused page.

I shrug. "Yeah, I just wanna see real art."

He chuckles. "I wouldn't call it 'real art', but I know what you mean. I'm guessing you want me to show you the steps and everything, right?"

I nod again.

"Okay, so I'm just gonna draw you up close, like your chest and stuff, so you can look over the edge and see what I'm doing, okay?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay," He rips out a page and rests it on the front of the notebook, looking at me. "So, when drawing male torsos you need to think about how the bod is structured. You have more of a slender waist, see?" He pokes my lower abs with the eraser of the pencil. "So the rectangle usually used for the entire torso is moved up to make room for the smaller midsection."

I peek over the edge of the notebook and see a few vague shapes and lines that only very slightly look like a human form.

He sets the book down and tries to explain muscle movement to me, "Okay, look at my pecs."

No problem.

"When I stretch my arms over my head like this- see? the muscles move from a square shape to more of an ellipse."

I watch as his chest does just that, the upper corner of them moving up with the shoulder muscles. I lose myself in thought as he draws the rest of me.

We sit on my bed for a few hours, going over all sorts of rules for anatomy and scars and eyes and hands. I don't mind that we use up almost the rest of my book. We can always go outside for a minute and get some more supplies from Dende. The scraps of paper are riddled with blunt sketches and at the corner of every single one he scratched his Saiyan name out nice and dark.

Kakarot

I smile.