Hi alls. Someone, I forget who, doesn't like the Kakarot gets his memory back scenario. I figure if he got conked enough, he'd remember what he was taught on the trip before he conked his head so hard that first time. I also tried to make it seem as if his memory kinda lost a bit at a time (notice that Bulma became the little blue-haired girl?), so that now all he remembers is what he was taught. Guess I didn't do it quite right, but that was the plan. Eh, oh well.
---------------------------
"Ka-Kakarot?"
"Highness?"
It took Vegeta a moment to realize what was so completely wrong. "You're speaking Saiyan!"
"Yes, Highness," Kakarot replied. "I learned from the teaching tapes in the pod."
"From the… Kakarot, how old are you?"
"I… I'm not sure. I seem to have failed in my duty?" He made it a question, not even sure he was in the right place, completely uncertain as to what was happening. "Is this the planet I was to purge?"
"It is."
"You… have come to punish me for my failure?"
Vegeta approached him, lightly touching the blood-soaked spikes. "No, Kakarot. This planet is our home now." He sensed the other relax. "What I came to punish you for was taking my mate."
"NO!" Wide, frightened black eyes looked up. "No, I would not… I would not do that!"
Vegeta frowned. "Do not lie. I saw you."
Kakarot seemed to gather himself, standing slowly. He swayed unsteadily, his hand creeping once again to press against the side of his head. "I… do not remember. I came here. I was… picked up. An old man. He took care of me. And then… you hit me." Again, he swayed unsteadily. His free hand moved behind him. "My tail! What's happened to my tail!"
The panic in the other's tone convinced Vegeta that it was not an act. That, and the bright blood that seeped through his fingers to run down his arm. "Come. Your wound needs attention." He turned and lead the way to Kakarot's home.
Kakarot followed him, stumbling over roots and getting smacked by branches his blurred eyesight didn't register. The shorter Saiyan soon made an exasperated noise and hefted him, dangling him as they flew over the trees to the small cabin. Vegeta was forced to carry him inside and lay him on the couch before going to see if the unconscious Saiyan had any senzu in his house. And some clothes. Kakarot had left his laundered gi by the stream.
"How do you feel?"
He blinked at the spiky-haired man, taking stock of himself carefully. Vegeta wouldn't have asked without a reason. "Fine, I think. Why?"
Vegeta answered, he blinked in confusion. "What? I don't understand. Vegeta? Did something happen?"
"I have some questions." Vegeta rattled off several, all dealing with recent events, Goku answering each one promptly. Then he turned to other things, going further back. At last he asked about things Kakarot would have learned on his journey. His eyes dimmed a bit with each question the other couldn't answer. "I see you're back to normal," he said at last. "The senzu must have healed the more recent damage."
"What do you mean?"
"Your wound was severe enough to restore the lessons you were taught in your pod." Vegeta rose from his seat next to the couch and went to the window. "But just now, you were unable to answer anything related to them."
Goku studied the smaller Saiyan. Vegeta's hands were linked together at the small of his back, his face slightly in profile as he gazed out at the trees. He seemed somehow smaller, more fragile, in spite of the latent strength easily seen in toned muscles revealed by skin-tight clothing. Sad? Goku nodded.
"You weren't the only one anymore. Kakarot… he was really here. A true Saiyan, not just by blood, but in history and knowledge, thought and deed," he said quietly. "But the senzu repaired the damage, locked him away again, and left you with me. A brain-damaged Saiyan with no memory of his people, and no real interest in them."
The figure at the window stiffened. "I came to tell you that Bulma is pregnant. She doesn't know if the child is yours or mine."
"WHAT!!!!!"
-----------------------------
Jewel: *examines muse*
Muse: *hides*
Jewel: Anyone have a muse for sale? Mine appears to be defective.