Chapter Eleven
Son Goku

A/n: sigh I gave in and put in everyone's favorite moron. Have fun with him. Heprobably won't be around long...I don't have much patience for writing him XD

De jabuu meita deai
Watashi dake no hito hosoi ito de tsuyoku
Musubarete taguri-yoserareta

An encounter like déjà vu
That person who belongs to me
Is strongly linked with a slender thread

-"Mystery Sagashi", Gaiden! Dark Kindgom wa Fukkatsu Hen

"Hey! Get outta my Grandpa's house!"

Tares snorted in his sleep.

"I said, get outta here!"

He scowled as he felt something pokin him, and reached behind him to swat at it.

"Hey!"

Grumbling, he sat up and looked behind him, only to blink in surprise. "Dad?" He stopped himself. No, however similar this man did look to Bardock, he had no scar, and his skin was as pale as Naoko's. Besides, Tares reminded himself, Bardock was dead.

"Who are you?" asked the lookalike, brandishing an orange pole at Tares.

"We're just leaving," he answered, shaking Naoko and Vejita awake.

Vejita's tail twitched as he opened his eyes, and the strange man's surprise grew more obvious.

"Wait a minute," he said. "You all have tails."

"We're Saiya-jin, of course we have tails," Tares replied, helping the groggy Naoko to her feet.

"I used to have a tail like that."

Tares raised an eyebrow at him, and glanced over him once more. There was a definite resemblance, and the man was certainly built like a Saiya-jin. A vague, long-buried memory surfaced for Tares. "Are you...Kakkarot?"

The man blinked. "I've never heard that name before. I'm Son Gokuu."

"Hn." Tares picked up Vejita, who yawned.

"Who's Kakkarot?"

"My little brother. He never came back from the planet he was sent to."

"Do you mean you guys are aliens?"

Naoko snorted derisively.

"Here, at least." Tares rolled his eyes.

"Well...what're your names?"

"I'm Tares, this is my wife, Naoko, our son Vejita." Naoko started to say something, likely along the lines of not being his wife, but he silenced her with a look.

"That name, Vegeta, sounds familiar..." Gokuu mused for a moment.

"He's named after Naoko's father. It's also the name of the planet we come from." Tares paused. "Have you ever had a concussion?"

"Huh?"

"Hit your head hard? Probably when you were little."

Gokuu thought on this. "I think so. When I was...two, maybe."

"And you used to have a tail?"

"Yeah."

"Come outside a minute." Tares handed Vejita to Naoko and went outside with the man following him. He motioned to one of the space pods. "Ever seen anything like that?"

"Oh, yeah, there's one in the woods around here!"

"You're a Saiya-jin."

"Huh?"

Tares sighed. "It's common practice to send low-class babies to planets to demolish them when they're older. You must have just forgotten it when you hit your head."

"Wow...I guess it makes sense."

Tares face-faulted. Woe be it that any sibling of his have half a fucntioning brain. "Moreover, you're likely my brother."

"Really? You should come stay in the big house instead of out here in Grandpa Gohan's house, then! In fact, Chichi should be finished making breakfast by now. Come eat with us!"

"Yeah...let me get Naoko."

"Are you sure he's your brother?" Naoko hissed to Tares.

"Fairly sure. He looks just like Dad, doesn't he?" Tares whispered back.

Between them, Vejita squirmed, and made a face. "Quit talking over me!"

Naoko patted his head and turned back to her breakfast, a Saiya-jin sized meal of rice and miso. Across the table, Gokuu's wife, Chichi, watched her disapprovingly. Gokuu paid no attention whatsover; it was all focused on the food he was shovelling into his mouth.

"Acts like your brother, too," Naoko muttered under her breath before beginning to eat.

When breakfast was finished, Gokuu offered to show them around a bit. Chichi tried to convince Vejita to stay and study with her and Gokuu's son, Gohan (assumedly naming after the grandfather Gokuu had mentioned), but Vejita wouldn't be parted from his mother, and Chichi gave up after a while.

Gokuu, Tares, Naoko and Vejita began to walk around Gokuu's seemingly expansive mountain property (whether or not it was actually his, or he just lived on it, they weren't exactly sure). An hour or more passed with semi-interesting scenery, and far less interesting small talk, before Naoko noticed something.

"Where's Vejita?"

Tares looked over his shoulder back to her. "What? Weren't you watching him?"

"Of course I was," she snapped. "Obviously, he ran off!"

"Mama!"

Naoko let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and turned to look for the source of the call.

"He's down here!" Gokuu called, snickering as he reached down to pull the boy up. He blinked at a round, orange something Vejita was holding.

"Look what I found, mama!"

Naoko gently took it from him. "What...?"

"Oh, looks like the kid found a Dragonball," Gokuu filled in.

A/n: I'd like to really thank everyone who's gotten this far, and offer a bit of a prize for actually reading through all my angsty Dragonball mush (wow, bet you never thought you'd hear that in a sentence). I need another character for something in the next couple chapters, and unfortunately, none of mine will do. The character I'm looking for will, unfortunately, be evil, and eventually be killed, but is going to look really damn good while they're doing it. Anyone who e-mails me (my e-mail is on my profile here) with a profile for a character they'd like to see could have a chance to have that character be the one put in the story! Just a little incentive to read on...and don't forget to review, and flamers will be executed! waves