Sorry for the late update! I have been pretty busy, but I've been writing all day and have a few more chapters banged out.
The next few days were like a never ending nightmare. Tensions were high, not only between Vegeta and his mother, but between everyone else, it seemed. One afternoon, Goku was woken up from his mid-afternoon nap by the sound of arguing. The two guards who stood outside his door were in a full-blown discussion which was about to turn physical. The two men were normally so quiet that Goku often forgot they were there at all.
Goku had tried to intercede until the two agitated men turned on him. He raised his hands in defeat before retreating back into his room to wait for Vegeta. Vegeta was coasting on auto-pilot it seemed. Every morning he easily slipped into his routine without a word. He lips were set in a thin line and his brows were furrowed in concentration. Every time Goku tried to poke gently at what was going on in the teen's mind, he was met with a cold shoulder or an icy retort.
It was becoming abundantly clear that Vegeta was still mad at him for keeping secrets. Despite Vegeta being angry, he didn't question Goku any further. Instead, he basically ignored the man. The teen had basically become a mute around either Goku or Chiara. Goku honestly didn't think he had heard four words out of the kid in as many days. It was beginning to freak him out.
Just like clockwork, every afternoon Vegeta would come to his room with a sour expression on his face. Goku had tried to make light of the situation the first couple of days, making jokes about hormonal teenagers and his need for a handy sock or some acne cream. Vegeta had not found it funny.
Their training had been fairly lax since his transformation. Vegeta wouldn't admit to it, of course, but Goku knew that he was pretty sore from all of the bones and muscles in his body growing.
Today, Vegeta showed up wearing his normal training clothes, but he had a strange look on his face. Something was troubling him.
"What's up?" Goku asked in a light-hearted manner. He had decided on the tactic of faux-ignorance.
Vegeta walked past him and looked around the room, as if someone else might be there. Before Vegeta had his growth spurt, he never had waited for Goku to allow him entrance into his room. Like an impatient child, he had always rushed in and usually landed himself on the bed.
Now, Vegeta seemed hyper-aware of his body space and never entered the room without permission. Similarly, Vegeta never got close to Goku unless they were sparring.
After a long pause, Vegeta cleared his throat and mumbled something under his breath.
"What was that?" Goku asked and leaned forward.
"I need you to show me how to shave." Vegeta blurted, his face turning red.
Goku blinked a few times, looking over the teenaged Saiyan. Goku hadn't started growing facial hair until he was almost twenty, but he could see the beginnings of five o'clock shadow starting to appear. Huh.
"Yeah, okay Vegeta." He said and turned to go into the bathroom. He could feel Vegeta following him. In the bathroom, Goku grabbed two razors and handed one to Vegeta, who eyed it suspiciously.
Goku had luckily had this dad moment once before and was well prepared to explain. As he showed Vegeta the ropes of shaving, his thoughts were drawn back to Gohan's 18th birthday. An almost identical moment had taken place with his own son. It was indescribably weird to now be experiencing the same thing with his old friend.
Vegeta's sharp cry of pain brought him from his nostalgia. "Oh, yeah. Be careful around your jaw and nose." Vegeta nodded and continued on, moving slowly and more carefully. Soon he was finished and washing his freshly shaved face. He smiled a little in relief as he looked in the mirror, clearly preferring this look.
"Thank you." He said, looking up at Goku in a way that made his stomach twist. Goku was once again overcome with deja vu. 14-year-old Vegeta and 14-year-old Gohan had no similar physical traits besides the dark, wild hair, but the look his eyes was identical to the one Gohan had given him. Vegeta was looking at him like a son looks at his father. Goku knew, without looking at the mirror, that he was returning the look with that of a father to his son. He felt a swell of pride too and started to grin and laugh happily.
"Of course!"
Vegeta set the razor down and frowned, before shaking his head. He laughed bitterly. "A week ago I didn't even know how to bathe, now I'm learning how to shave."
Goku grimaced and put his hand on the young teen's shoulder. "Listen, I know you kind of hate me and your mother right now because of everything that we've been keeping from you, but we both have our reasons. Your mom loves you a lot and I made a promise to her. Despite all of that, I hope you know that I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you." Goku hoped that that was a promise he could keep.
While Goku was talking, Vegeta's face had taken on a weird look. Goku had not thought about his wording.
"You are not my father!" Vegeta roared, slamming his fist into the counter. "Do not ever think that you are anything more to me than my trainer." He pushed past Goku and walked quickly towards the door. He was radiating anger and hurt.
Goku watched him leave, completely confused. "Was it something I said?" Goku asked the empty room. He hadn't meant to upset the hormonal teenager. He scratched his head as he thought over their entire conversation.
Vegeta stormed down the dark hallway, ignoring everyone that hastily stood at attention as he walked past them. His mind was churning rapidly. Just who did Kakarot think he was?! That third class Saiyan was getting way too casual with him. He was the prince of all Saiyans! He was going to be king soon enough.
He didn't know why the comment 'me and your mother' had made him so angry, but it did. He understood what Kakarot had meant, but the phrase drove him crazy. He wondered if it was because up until the point, he had viewed his mother and Kakarot on opposing sides. He had often felt like they were pulling him in one direction or another. He had, up until now, been willing to follow Kakarot's guidance, somehow trusting him more than his mother. But now Kakarot was on his mother's side? Ever since he had had his growth spurt, nothing seemed certain anymore. He let out a low growl at the thought of how foolish he had been.
Maybe his trust in his trainer was misplaced and Kakarot was just using him to get to his mother? Vegeta had a hard time convincing himself that Kakarot had any devious ulterior intentions. He was so happy and carefree, but he was hiding something. Up until now, Vegeta had thought it had something to do with his sudden growth spurt, or the uncertainties surrounding the injury he had suffered shortly before Kakarot had shown up.
Vegeta found himself in the courtyard that was opposite the palace training grounds. He had walked the length of the massive palace as he fumed. Shaking his head, Vegeta headed towards the fountain that was the main focus of the courtyard.
He looked at his reflection and tentatively rubbed his hand over his smooth cheeks, feeling stupid. He was the prince of all Saiyans and he was acting like a little girl. In frustration, he slapped the water and turned around. With a blast of energy he took off and flew over the palace walls. He didn't care if he was being a hormonal teen, as Kakarot had jokingly told him he was, he needed to get away from the palace, away from his mother, and away from Kakarot. A few days in the wilderness, alone, would help him.
It was what he had always done back on… back with. The thought that had come so naturally to him stopped suddenly and left him feeling even more confused and vulnerable than before.
Queen Chiara had been running around for the past few days, trying to prepare the palace. Her headache was growing by the minute. It seemed like more and more, the timing could not be worse. She wanted to find her son, to hold him tight and make him understand that she loved him and only had his best interests in mind, but there was no time for that. Not yet.
Between all of the fights that had been breaking out due to the agitated Saiyans, and all of the surrounding villages needing things, Chiara hadn't even seen her son. She had a feeling that he was also trying to avoid her, but normally she would seek him out to at least say goodnight. She sighed, taking comfort in the fact that it would only be a few more tense days before everything went back to normal.
"Queen." Came an annoyingly familiar voice. She looked up to see Kakarot standing at the entrance to her throne room.
"What is it?" She snapped, a bit more sharply than she meant. She sighed again and tried to calm herself down. There was no point in taking her failures out on him.
Kakarot grimaced and walked closer to her. Something was seriously the matter and Chiara's curiosity was growing. She knew that he didn't have a tail and his emotions were therefore unaffected, but that didn't mean that something couldn't have happened with another Saiyan, or with Vegeta.
"Where is Vegeta?" She demanded, her heart beating rapidly. Vegeta didn't know that the full moon was upon them, if something had happened… she didn't want to think about it.
"I don't know. He came into my room and asked me how to shave, then just freaked out at something I said and ran away. His emotions have been all over the place. I think growing up so quick has done a lot more damage than we had originally thought. Listen, I know you're busy being the Queen of the entire planet and all, but remember that he's your son. He needs you."
Shaving? Chiara blinked a few times, trying to wrap her mind around that. Of course; the moon. She shook her head and looked at Kakarot, "I'm sure you've noticed how tense everyone is getting. It's not just me and my hormonal son. The moon will be full in just two days. Not only does the full moon make us as a people more aggressive, but the preparations also cause a great deal of stress."
Goku blinked a few times, absorbing the information she was telling him. A full moon? Was this something they had to deal with every month?
Sensing his confusion, Chiara shook her head. "Planet Vegeta's moon only becomes full once every ten years. The power that we celebrate during wartime or when taking over a planet is somewhat of a nightmare on ours."
Goku's mind began to put all the pieces together as he thought of what it really might mean for an entire planet of Saiyans to be affected by the full moon. "I think nightmare might be a little bit of an understatement."
Chiara gave a short, humorless laugh. "As you can imagine, I've been fairly busy dealing with all of this. I shouldn't have spent so much time at my friend Stana's home." She said, feeling stupid for procrastinating on such important preparations. "Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to sit down with my son and deal with our problems. I want to; I know I need to, but as Queen, there are just some times that I must put the needs of my people before my own."
Goku nodded, finally understanding. Suddenly a spike of panic when up his spine. Vegeta was all alone, confused and angry, and there was a full moon in two days. Goku swallowed, hard. "We need to find Vegeta!"
Uh ooooh! Hopefully Goku will find Vegeta before it hits the fan!
Also, I wanted to let all of my faithful reviewers know that I am in love with the supportive comments that I'm getting and all of the advice and observations have been really helpful as well. I wish I could reply to each and everyone of you, but that would take an entire chapter in and of itself. So instead, I want to let you know that I am listening and reading all of them. I have gone back through a few of the chapters and tried to add to them. I also don't want to give anything away, but you're right... things will get messy if Vegeta ever remembers. ;)
Washu II: Actually, I was planning on writing a sequel of sorts to this story about what was happening on Earth. I did originally want to add some Earth scenes, but there is a pretty epic twist at the end of this story which will be super anti-climactic if I added Earth scenes.
