Going Gold

Chapter 11

Tesserot

You know, I complained about it a lot, but having a little sister was pretty nice. Kísta might be irritating when she cried and she got far more attention than she deserved, but she was sweet and she looked up to me as much as – if not more than – her other brothers. We were stuck in the house with Gohan today, and he tried to keep us all entertained, but we ended up arguing rather than cooperating; and it was too cold to spar. So in short, I was bored, and so was everyone else.

Kísta was curled up in Gohan's lap, but she was in the middle of a conversation with me – about as elaborate a conversation as a one-year-old could have. She was asking if I'd gotten any stronger with my "tough training", and though I'd told her honestly that I hadn't improved much, she just smiled trustingly and said she knew her big strong brother would get there soon. I noticed that Veito didn't seem much up to talking, and I wondered distantly if this talk of strength was uncomfortable for him, considering his level of power was still higher than mine even if he'd never set foot in the gravity room or done any rigorous training in his life.

There was a stretch of silence that lasted a few minutes once Kísta got tired and fell asleep in Gohan's lap.

"How come you're always the one who watches us when Mom and Dad take off, Gohan?" I asked after a while. After all Goten and Trunks were both capable of babysitting and there was always Bulma...

He glanced at me and shrugged slightly, "Dad said it was because I was 'the oldest offspring', but I think it's because he trusts me to make sure you guys don't get in trouble... I don't really mind that much..."

He trailed off as Kísta started coughing in her sleep, her tiny chest rising and falling sharply. She sat up after a while, stifling further coughs against the back of her hand and sniffling.

Gohan's eyebrows furrowed with concern and he laid a hand gently on her forehead.

"She's got a fever," he said quietly, "Must be coming down with something. It is flu season."

Kísta shivered visibly, rubbing her nose with her sleeve, "It's cold," she murmured, shifting uncomfortably.

I blinked at her perplexedly. It wasn't that cold today.

"What's the matter, Kísta?" I asked her, my tail swishing slightly.

She looked at me blearily, her black bangs unkempt with lingering sleep, "...Don't feel good..." she mumbled.

"You should go to bed," Gohan said swiftly, scooping the toddler up in his arms and carrying her to her room.

I sighed. Having a little sister was nice, I guess, but she sure got babied by everyone else. I doubted I'd get the same level of concern Kísta was getting if I complained about not feeling good.

XXX

Vegeta

I slipped a shirt on over my shoulders; it covered nearly all the thin pink scratches Kakarot's nails had left along my back.

"Let's head home," Kakarot said, pulling on his own shirt and opening the door to the room we'd stayed in.

I nodded and followed him, taking to the sunset-painted sky after thanking Dende most graciously upon exiting the room, heading unhurriedly for home.

The sun was down when we landed, and after stealing a quick kiss, Kakarot stepped inside with me following in his wake.

Gohan was sitting on the sofa, a book lying open in his lap. His gaze wasn't on the pages however, but somewhere in the distance. He blinked as we entered and looked at us gratefully.

"Oh good, you're back. I'd almost dozed off..." he muttered, yawning as he stood and closed the book he'd been holding.

"It's so quiet," Kakarot said, "Where'd everyone go?"

"Tess and Veito are in their room," he said, "I sent them there since Kísta's not feeling well. Just so they won't bother her while she rests."

"Kísta isn't feeling well?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

"She had a fever and she was coughing, and sneezing a little." Gohan explained, "I think she might have caught a cold or the flu or something."

I shook my head slightly, confused, "Saiyans don't usually get human illnesses like that..."

"Well I figured if she slept she'd feel better," Gohan shrugged, "If you want, you can check in on her, but I'd try not to wake her up."

"Alright," I nodded distractedly, thinking, "You should get some sleep too, Gohan. Why don't you stay here tonight? You look tired."

The demi agreed easily and lay down on the couch, shifting to get comfortable.

"I'm going to check up on Kísta," I said to my mate, "Want to head upstairs and get some sleep?"

Kakarot blinked, "You don't want me to go with you?"

"I've got it, I'm sure Kísta wouldn't want the disturbance."

Kakarot shrugged noncommittally, but I could tell he was worried about his daughter too.

X

I awoke in the middle of the night, and at first I wasn't sure what had woke me. I swallowed and my throat was dry, and as I tried to clear it, it was wracked with coughing. No relief from the dryness was forthcoming, and I shivered and lay back down once the coughing subsided.

I felt Kakarot's gaze on me.

"Not you too," he said softly.

"I'm fine," I muttered, "It's just the weather, it's really dry this time of year."

I could tell he wasn't convinced, but he said nothing of it and soon fell back asleep.

X

I opened my eyes again the next morning, and my vision was blurred slightly. Every inch of my body ached and I was shivering from cold.

I started to get up and my mate held me down lightly.

"Stay in bed, Vegeta," he commanded gently, "You don't look so good."

I growled in irritation, but the sound was broken off as I started coughing again. Rougher, more wrenching coughs than before.

"I'll call Bulma," Kakarot said shortly, getting up, "This could be serious."

.

I wasn't sure how long I stayed there after he left, but I drifted in and out of sleep, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be worried. This kind of thing didn't usually happen to Saiyans. It just wasn't normal for them to succumb to human afflictions like the cold or the flu. That just wasn't how they were designed.

I remembered I'd gotten sick when I was pregnant with Tess, but that was different. That was a pregnancy issue; and right now Kísta was sick too. I wasn't sure what could have happened, but I wasn't accustomed to feeling so vulnerable. I doubted I could even stand up straight with the way my head was reeling.

X

Kakarot eased the door to our bedroom open, with Bulma standing next to him.

"Vegeta too?" the woman asked in an undertone, as if she assumed I was asleep.

"Yeah," Kakarot said quietly, "All three of them are just out of it."

"Kísta's the worst right now," Bulma murmured, "but if Gohan's throwing up like you said... it might be getting worse."

I tensed slightly as I overheard this, cursing the slight movement as it brought on another bout of coughing. Gohan was sick too? How long before it spread to the others? My immediate thought was of Veito. With his lowered immune system, he wouldn't be able to fight off an illness – whatever it was – easily... or at all.

Apparently Kakarot was thinking along the same lines as me.

"What if Veito catches it? He seems the most susceptible to something like this," he muttered.

Bulma did not respond as I expected her to, and when she replied, her voice was calculating as well as worried.

"You know you're a pretty likely candidate too, Goku."

I could feel the slight swing in my mate's ki as his anxiety spiked, "What? Why?"

"Veito's immune system is weakened by his genetic disorder, but you're system's not entirely stable either,"

"What do you mean?" Kakarot asked. I was confused as well, and I forced my currently sluggish mind to figure out what the woman was suggesting. Kakarot was a powerful fighter, a Saiyan warrior in his prime; why would he be more vulnerable to an illness than anyone else? He'd always been healthy as a horse as long as I'd known him...

The thought trailed off as I realized what the woman was getting at quite suddenly.

"Remember when you caught a heart virus years ago when the androids came?" Bulma asked.

Kakarot blinked in confusion, I could see it through the ajar door.

"Yeah... but I thought I recovered from that completely, and I fought Cell and Buu without any problems..."

The woman looked him in the eye steadily, "You might not have noticed, but it's still had an effect on you. Not so much since you came back after Cell, but there's been a slight change in your endurance."

I thought about it. It didn't make a lot of sense that a virus from years ago would still affect my mate today, but it was true that he hadn't lasted as long as his son against Cell, and whenever he'd gone Super Saiyan Three, he hadn't been able to hold it for very long. He still fought like always, but I remembered in the heat of battle and even in some of our sparring sessions, he ran out of breath rather quickly; even if it didn't impair his fighting abilities... at least not visibly. What if it really was a struggle for him to keep up with his usual standard? And was that drop in endurance getting worse as the years passed?

It made me wonder... when I'd reached level three, even though it was only one time... was I briefly even stronger than my mate had ever been?

I caught a glimpse of Kakarot gripping the front of his shirt, right where his heart was, as if to reassure himself it was still beating at the same tempo that it was supposed to.

"Don't stress out over it too much, Goku," Bulma soothed, "But just... don't get too close to them while they're sick, okay? None of us want to lose you again... And make sure Veito stays clear as well."

X

A few days passed. Bulma stayed to make sure Kísta, Gohan and I weren't in any dire condition, and eventually Videl came to pick up Gohan, saying she'd take him to Capsule Corp where she and Bulma could both look after him as the blue-haired woman traveled back and forth from her laboratory on a daily. I knew she was really trying to essentially quarantine her husband, and with Capsule Corp's state-of-the-art medical lab, she could keep him in a sterile environment while he recovered.

Kakarot stayed with Veito - and Pan, who'd been sent by her mother to visit in order to give Gohan some peace – at the Kame house with that old man Roshi. Goten and Trunks joined him there after a while,and they waited for the sickness to run its course with us. I could feel my mate's emotions, and how reluctant he was to leave my side – even for both of our own good – but I also knew he'd tear out his own slightly-damaged heart to protect his children, and he couldn't protect them if he stayed here.

Luckily for everyone; whatever this sickness was, it didn't affect humans... Unluckily for those of us who had caught it; it progressively got worse as it went on. What started as just coughing and fever turned into a fit of vomiting and shaking and violent sneezing before long. I saw it happen to Kísta and got reports that Gohan had endured the same... all the while dreading when it would catch up with me.

Three days went by before I hit the worst part. I can remember only a few instances where I'd felt more miserable than that. The only thing that kept me from pitying myself too much was that Kísta had gone through the same thing. If a one-year-old child could handle throwing up every few minutes and feeling as though her head would explode from the pressure to her sinuses... so could I.

Something hit me on the fourth day, when I'd woken up feeling as though I was boiling alive from the inside... In the midst of all the confusion and fretting of everyone... we'd completely lost track of Tesserot.

TBC

((Haha, you think my entire plot revolves around this sickness thing don't you? Hell, if that's how simplistic my plot was, I'd just write another Love Has No Cure... Oh, but I have a cunning plan. *snicker snicker*

I dunno where the bit about Goku's heart came from. I just recently had a head-canon about that... No one considered that he nearly died from a heart attack and it never affected him throughout the series?

Wondering where Tesserot ran off to? You'll just have to wait and see.

Sorry there wasn't a lot of dialogue and this chapter was mostly filler and various descriptions of nothing. I promise it'll get more exciting very shortly.

Also, side-note! Not In A Million Years only needs one more review before it reaches 300 reviews, and then I'll write you guys a mirror-fic for it. I've even got a title all planned out. I await that final review with utmost anticipation...

Thank you, as always, for your kind reviews, and for putting up with me and my dismally short chapters.

-Shinsun))