Chapter 10- Forgiveness

Vegeta flexed his muscles in a calm and seemingly harmless motion as he zapped into the cold form of the golden warrior. He eyed Xiea with his haunting gaze as his mocking exited his mouth. His words echoed faintly in his memory.

"Kakarot may not have been able to beat you. But I will not be as easily defeated."

Goku looked up from the ground in which he his body had fallen. His clothes were in rags about his bloody and beaten body. Vegeta knew he still had some spunk left. Goku smiled at seeing the man alive. Vegeta did not return to friendly gesture. He wasn't doing this for him anyway. He was doing it for that idiot woman who couldn't get out of capsule corporations in time.

"Sure. You aliens are all alike. I don't care," Xiea sighed.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried in his raspy voice. "I want you to take care of Gohan. Please."

"Your brat?" Vegeta snapped. "Sure. Whatever, Kakarot. Stop saying things like that. I'm here to bring you back, not to kill you, fool."

The movements of the battle danced over through his memory once more as he retraced his bloody fight with Xiea. It all slowed down at the point which her defenses lowered. He couldn't take the hit. She was so young. And something was holding him back… Bulma.

He was thrown to the ground with one simple kick. Before Vegeta could react, Xiea had thrown her last blast to finish him. The burning heat of the ki blast rocketed towards him preparing to rip him apart. When something that neither Vegeta or Xiea expected happened...

Goku hurled himself in front of Vegeta, back to the blast, relieving him from the harm of the explosion. The blinding light cascaded over Vegeta's eyes as he felt Kakarot's body fall limply into his arms.

Bewildered, Vegeta gazed down at the low class sayian that had just spared his life. Goku smiled lightly as blood slipped down his chin, "Take care of Gohan…"

The last breath exited out of Goku's body leaving his empty shell behind.Vegeta found himself trembling. Vegeta gave Goku's wilted body a couple of futile shakes. But to no avail, Goku remain motionless.

Vegeta's eyes remained on Goku's peaceful face. His ears rung with an ugly guilt that had buried its head into his frozen heart. And for the first time, he felt something seeping from his eyes. The guilt was so overbearing he could only watch like a helpless fool as Xiea hushed Kakarot's wailing mate with one ki blast. Blood filled his hands, as he slowly lowered Goku's empty body to the ground. He didn't even look at Xiea as he turned and walked down his lonely way away from the pain. Away from the memories. Away from the guilt…

Vegeta sat up abruptly to the battle cry of his apprentice outside the wooden cabin walls. Still training. Still trying. Vegeta tried desperately not to think of the past as he got up from the chair he had been resting in and crept to the foggy glass window. Through its dismal vision, Vegeta could see the youthful boy pulling his body to the max as he struggled against his own agony.

Inside, Vegeta fought against his own mind. Battling his own conscience over whether or not to tell the boy what had truly occurred when his parents had fallen victim to Xiea. That he had been there. That he had watched them die, and simply walked away.

As he stared at his own reflection he could feel the guilt surface back to him with the memories of what happened next…

Rain bellowed down its pain upon the fighter as he walked through the deserted town. And in the middle of the empty place, there stood that bald friend of Kakarot. He stood there glaring at Vegeta as he sulked over to him. Leaning against Krillen under the shelter of a woolen blanket was the sleeping form of Kakarot's son.

"I came to talk to you Vegeta."

"I don't want to be talked to."

"You should take care of him," Krillen interrupted. "It's the least you could do."

Vegeta stared emotionlessly at the quiet form of the boy resting there. The adolescent was oblivious to the disaster he stood in, oblivious the conversation that would determine his future.

"Where is his tail?" Vegeta asked coldly breaking the uneasy silence between the two foes.

"He wanted it removed," Krillen muttered softly gripping Gohan's shoulder with a gentle squeeze.

"Typical," said Vegeta.

With that he turned ready to continue his endless journey within his mind when Krillen cried, "I know what happened in that battle, Vegeta. I know that you turned tail and let everyone down."

Vegeta stopped. After a pause he said in a low voice, "That's a lie."

"I talked to King Kai," Krillen hissed his brow frowned. "You made a promise to Goku. Between the two of you, you could defeat Xiea."

"I do not need help to kill a witch like her," Vegeta said. "Besides… I have no intention to stop her. This isn't my planet."

"But how could you say that after what happened to Vegeta-sei?"

"You and your pet can do what you want. But I will not care for the boy. He is not my responsibility."

"At least train him," said Krillen. "He needs some sort of way to defend himself."

"He would be better off if I handed him to Xiea," Vegeta muttered. "He would die much quicker that way."

"Then I will train him." Krillen snapped defiantly.

Vegeta chuckled, "I'd like to see you try."

With a backhand wave, Vegeta added, "Until we meet again, baldy." and then continued on his way.

"I hope we never do, Vegeta," Krillen said underneath a curtain of falling rain. "For Gohan's sake."

"Master?" Gohan's small voice filled the cabin warming it with its innocence. "Is something wrong?"

Vegeta eyed the boy with his vague stare. Gohan's training gi was once again needing serious repair, Vegeta concluded noting the child now had shorts instead of pants and the other various holes and rips.

"I guess we need to go to the market tomorrow," Vegeta said bitterly. "We were running out of food anyway."

Vegeta got a look of elation from those few words. He hadn't fully realized that the young boy had gone a whole 6 months without contact with any other person. Vegeta could tell it was getting slightly on Gohan's sanity with only one person to talk to when hundreds of questions were on his amazing mind constantly.

"Yes, Master."

Vegeta sat quietly staring at the empty skies that night from his usual spot. It startled him slightly when he heard the light crushing of snow under his apprentice's feet as the boy rested his tired body beside that of his Master's. Vegeta tried to ignore the nagging inside him as the boy stared at the stars with him.

"They can see us, you know," Gohan smiled.

"Who?" Vegeta asked curiously.

"My dad. My mom," Gohan said softly, turning to face his master. "Your parents."

"My parents didn't care for me," Vegeta said coldly. "I was just a successor."

"I'm pretty sure your mom didn't think that way," Gohan smiled innocently. "That's where you get your good side."

"You're wrong, Gohan," Vegeta said harshly.

Gohan looked abashed. He looked down at the soft snow at the steep mountain side, and then gazed at Vegeta again.

"You're the closest thing to a second father I've ever had," Gohan whispered. "I just wanted to thank you."

There was a cold silence between the two of them when Vegeta finally replied, "Why don't you go inside, Gohan."

Gohan lowered his gaze once more and hugged his arms about himself to warm his cold body. He pulled his knees up to his chest and embraced their warmth.

After a few minutes, Vegeta found himself combating against his own thoughts again. At last Vegeta spoke, "Gohan… There is something I haven't told you."

There was no reply but Vegeta knew Gohan was listening, "I fought beside your father… against Xiea."

"I know," Gohan muttered. "Krillen told me. A long time ago."

"Did he also tell you how I survived?" Vegeta muttered darkly.

"No," Gohan replied with a slight yawn.

"Your father died… protecting me," Vegeta stuttered finding the words hard to come. "And in the end I left… Without avenging him. Without saving your mother."

Vegeta didn't wait for Gohan to reply to his story afraid of what he might say.

"I was given the chance to take you in. But I couldn't… because... something... held me back," Vegeta said darkly. "And I let my promise to your father fall before it had even become possible."

There was no words emitted in the silence for a long time. Finally a small sigh exited the lips of the quiescent boy.

"It doesn't matter. We forgive you."

Gohan's head leaned against Vegeta's shoulder in his slumber. Before Vegeta could brush the child off of him, he began to like the feeling of Gohan against him. Vegeta wrapped an hesitant arm about the child and rubbed Gohan's back soothingly.

"If I ever had a son, Gohan. I would hope that he would turn out just like you."

To Be Continued…