A/N: Wow, thanks for all the reviews! This explains Goku's behavior and sets up for even more drama. Woo!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

Neglected

12: The Parasite

All I could feel was blinding, excruciating pain gnawing on my nerves. It started on one side of my body and seemed to have a ripple effect that burdened the rest of me with its agony; my throat constricted instead of releasing a scream. All of the sharp stabs just drove me further into unconsciousness instead of pulling me into awareness, but I could hear a distant voice calling my name. It was the only thing that kept me rooted in my sanity so I didn't float away.

There was silence after my semi-conscious ordeal. I knew I was in a comatose state and had no perception of time to tell me how long I was in it. It left me alone with my thoughts of Gohan and his father, wondering if they had believed the latter's excuse for my appearance. I hadn't been able to ask my husband to take me as his mate and Goku's influence was increasing. The free will he was talking about wouldn't matter anymore after a few more days of his meddling.

What would happen when I finally woke up and faced the world again? Would I completely forget Gohan and only concern myself with Goku? It was terrifying to think that the seemingly naïve man who had saved the planet countless times was capable of being so selfish. His behavior was worse than that, though. I wasn't entirely sure how to describe it. Cruel, perhaps? Trying to destroy your son's marriage was indescribably evil at its core.

"Videl, can you hear me?"

Gohan. His voice was the first thing I had heard in a long time. There was no way I would let the opportunity to see him lip through my grasp. I mustered as much energy as I could and forced my way through the suffocating coma until I finally regained the ability to open my eyes. Slowly, my eyelids fluttered open and I looked around aimlessly until my recovered vision fell upon the person sitting beside me.

My husband's hair was an absolute mess. He looked haggard and tired, as if he hadn't slept in a few days. The moment I laid eyes upon him he grabbed my hand to stroke my fingers and make sure it wasn't a trick of the light. I smiled vaguely at him and rubbed my eyes to see the damage done to my body. To my surprise, my legs were wrapped up in white tape. Had I broken them without noticing? All I remembered was Goku hurling me into the ground.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Bulma's. You've been out for a few days. Goku found you lying in a field unconscious after you were hit by the plane. Kami, this is all my fault." Gohan leaned back and hid his face in his hands. "I should've said goodbye to you instead of leaving like that. I'm so sorry, Videl."

"No, no, you don't understand. I wasn't hit by anything other than—"

"Relax. You're safe now and you don't need to explain anything to me. Are you hungry? Chichi brought over some soup for when you woke up." He turned to the table beside my bed and offered me a plate of crackers, which I politely refused. If he wouldn't listen to the real reason behind my injuries, I had to convince him to take me as his mate.

I swallowed and prepared for the strange request I'd be asking my husband. We had never really talked about it before, but I knew it existed. He'd told his father it was inhumane and unnecessary when the two discussed it a few months ago. Only Vegeta had taken Bulma as his mate, permanently marking her and keeping them bonded together for life. If it meant I would forget about Goku it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice on my part.

When I raised my head to look at Gohan, I lost my resolve to ask. Unlike his father and Vegeta, my husband prided himself on acting the most human and fitting in society well. He looked like a normal guy who was worried about his wife, not the descendant of half-monkey space pirates. Was it selfish to ask him to mark me? It was to avoid something much worse, but was it the right thing to do?

"I've been thinking," I said, "and maybe you should do the thing Vegeta did to Bulma."

Gohan furrowed his brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know, the whole mating thing. I know you don't really like it but believe me, we need to do it. I've been trying to talk to you for a while about things."

"I'm not doing that." He looked offended that I had even asked him. "You're my wife. We're equals and I won't treat you like property. Now please calm down and eat something."

"Gohan, please listen to me."

The door suddenly burst open, slamming against the wall and startling us out of our conversation. A group of familiar faces walked in: Chichi, Bulma, Vegeta, and of course, Goku. Chichi hurried over to hug me and stroked my hair away from my face while the rest of the group sat down in chairs around the bed. I deliberately averted my eyes from Goku and focused on Gohan. Their entry hadn't been coincidence. Goku knew what I was planning and intended to stop it.

Our discussion went on the backburner and I was stuck explaining things to the group of people sitting around me. The sooner they understood, the quicker I could convince Gohan to take me. I still hadn't glanced in Goku's direction but I could feel the immense pressure of his gaze watching my every move to make sure I didn't spill the beans. Vegeta was glaring at my legs and twitching angrily.

"A plane didn't hit me," I said, summoning my courage. "I was on my way to ask Gohan something and Goku grabbed my leg and threw me down. When I tried to leave, he wouldn't let me. Then he knocked me unconscious and I woke up here. And my legs weren't broken, so I don't know—"

"Videl!" Gohan said sharply. "You can't accuse dad of something like that!"

"She's delirious," Bulma said.

Vegeta closed his eyes and scowled. "Yes, she must have quite the imagination. Right, Kakorot?"

I risked peeking over at my assailant to see him with his arms behind his head like he didn't have a care in the world. Goku blinked in surprise at his name being spoken and shrugged sheepishly. It irked me that everyone besides Vegeta and I fell for his innocent façade. Gohan knew his father had been actively pursuing me and put his foot down, but now it was like none of that had ever happened in his mind. The control he had over his friends was astounding.

"Well if I really did throw Videl how did her legs break?" Goku asked, lowering his eyes to mine. He smiled.

Before I could react to his insinuations that he had deliberately snapped the bones in my legs, Vegeta furiously swung around and threw his chair at Goku. The seat was destroyed in an instant and Goku's childish expression was within the thick cloud of smoke that followed the small explosion. He scratched the side of his head like he had no idea what was happening. My hands clenched into fists and I nearly flew out of bed, but Gohan caught me and held me down.

Bulma grabbed her husband's arm and demanded he stop before she threw him out of the house. The Saiyan prince looked beyond angry: veins in his head were visibly throbbing as he watched Goku being fawned over by Chichi. I screamed and fought my own husband's grasp to cross the room and strangle my father-in-law. He was lying right to all of their faces and they were too blinded by his looks to notice the pieces of the puzzle weren't fitting together. Even Vegeta knew the instant he saw my legs.

When I refused to stop writhing around in bed, Gohan called to his father who was more than happy to help subdue me. Chichi and Bulma worked on calming Vegeta down, who was now powering up into a Super Saiyan with his fists prepared for battle. My husband restrained my arms while Goku pressed down on my legs too hard, sending more horrible pain through my body. My shrieking escalated until I thought I might explode in fury. Through my wincing eyes, I could see Goku staring at me. He grinned and deliberately pushed down harder, shattering the bones even further.

All hell broke loose after that. Vegeta shoved the women aside and tackled Goku onto the floor, releasing me from his death grip. Gohan was fully panicking, unsure of what was going on. He hovered over me protectively and begged me to calm down, but I wasn't having it. They were all stupid. How could they not understand what their own friend was doing? I had a hard time grasping it at first until our encounter a few days ago. A moment of weakness had led to this brutal conflict.

"Please take me," I sobbed to Gohan. "He's never going to stop!"

"You need to see Dende. Human medicine isn't enough." My husband was trembling now as he scooped me up out of bed. "Goku, will you bring us to Kami's Lookout?"

Vegeta had Goku in a full nelson by this point and didn't look like he was playing around. The prince scowled at Gohan's intrusion but was overpowered by Goku during the moment he lost his concentration. Goku grabbed my hand and put his fingertips to his forehead, vanishing just before Vegeta tackled him down to the floor again.

We appeared on Kami's Lookout several seconds later. Gohan cradled me close to his chest and began walking toward the shelter when Goku put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He turned to face his father and I shot him a hide-melting glare. What was he up to now? Vegeta would be at the Lookout in a few minutes to keep beating him senseless. My legs hurt so much that I didn't want to risk opening my mouth in case a scream came out instead of words.

"Go back to Bulma's," Goku said. "I think she'll calm down if we leave her alone for a while. Videl has had a very trying experience and she might not be ready to talk yet. I'm sure Dende can heal her and she'll be ready to come back home in no time at all. Go finish your trip and don't worry. I'll take good care of her, Gohan."

To my shock, Gohan handed me over to his father without questioning it. He bent down to kiss my forehead and smiled sadly. "Feel better. I'm so sorry. I'll be back soon and we can talk about the mating thing, okay? For now, I just want you to relax and recover."

There was nothing I could do besides nod and try to keep my lower lip from quivering. If I could hold on until my husband came back we'd be home free. Vegeta was on my side in all this so he could help me convince Goku that what he was doing was wrong and the nightmare would be over. From what I had gathered, you couldn't be mated with against your will, which meant I needed to resist the urges Goku had planted in my mind. Being married to a Saiyan gave me copious amounts of emotional strength.

When Gohan vanished over the horizon in a speck of light, we began walking toward the place Dende now resided. Goku said nothing until we were inside a small room and he laid me gently on the bed. I grimaced in pain; my legs weren't going to set right from all the moving around they made me do. He took a seat next to me just as Dende and Mr. Popo entered the room, both smiling. The times of peace had made everyone go soft. None of them knew where to look for danger.

Another familiar Namekian walked in behind the two and remained standing at the door while Dende knelt next to my legs and placed his hands over them. Piccolo was the strong, silent type, a trait that he had in common with Vegeta. His eyes roamed over the small group and fell upon Goku, who visibly stiffened when he felt the Namek's penetrating gaze. When Dende finished healing me and left with Mr. Popo, Piccolo remained behind and continued to glare daggers into Goku's back.

"Hey Piccolo, do you mind?" Goku asked politely. "I just need to talk to Videl—"

"A small portion of Baby is living inside you. It isn't strong enough to overpower you, but you've been feeling the violent urges. My only question is why you haven't purged it with Sacred Water?"

"Don't you remember me throwing Baby into the sun?" Goku turned and locked eyes with Piccolo. "He's gone. There's no way any part of him could have survived. Videl just got into an unfortunate accident yesterday and luckily I could sense her ki decreasing rapidly."

Piccolo scowled. "Harboring a parasite won't change your personality for the better. Your childish nature is part of who you are, Goku. It gave you the resolve to spare both me and Vegeta, something a Saiyan wouldn't normally do. All Baby does is expose your worst characteristics and amplify them. The Goku I know would never have attacked an innocent woman. Especially one he was related to."

Of course! I had set to rubbing the sensation back into my legs after Dende healed them and listened in on Piccolo and Goku's conversation. That was it. Goku was acting so oddly because he secretly carried a small portion of Baby within him. It was just enough to give him a more Saiyan-like personality, but why would he want to act like a barbarian? It would be easy to flush out the parasite.

"It just gives me the push I need to stand up to people," Goku finally said. "It isn't hard when I'm fighting evil, but I can never tell others what I want. I'm tired of Chichi always yelling. And Videl deserves better than being ignored by Gohan all the time."

"It isn't your place." Piccolo turned to walk out the door. "You should know that by now, Goku. I think all your victories are starting to go to your head."

The door closed behind him, leaving me sitting alone with the technically infected Goku. There must have been remnants of Baby somewhere on the planet that he ingested recently, because he had been fine being around me the day we trained at the lake. After he found out Gohan was so disturbed by his behavior he kicked it into overdrive, blatantly challenging his son. But he had backed down and gone into remission, which told me he'd found the parasite recently.

Even the savior of the Earth had dark desires in his heart. Goku would normally act like they didn't exist, but something had convinced him to deliberately harbor Baby so he had the will to take what he wanted. I was relieved that my father-in-law wasn't really a monster, just possessed by one. He had control over it, at least. We could find a way to slip him Sacred Water. When he realized what had happened, he'd free me from the thoughts in my head and go back to Chichi.

I cleared my throat to catch Goku's attention. "Since we're already here, why don't you go get some Sacred Water from Dende? We can act like nothing—"

"Be quiet," he snapped, forcefully covering my mouth to make sure I did so. "There's no way I'm giving up the power Baby has granted me. Gohan will be gone for a week. You won't be able to hold out until then." Goku leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "You're almost mine, Videl."


Reviews/comments/questions

super saiyan 4 chichi- I'll be getting into the bond and rivalry even more in the next chapter. Muahaha! Once again, thanks for the awesome review.

WithoutWingsX- Yeah haha, Vegeta's kind of good guy in this, actually. I thought he deserved some positive screen time.

PianoxForte- I've read that fanfiction and I loved it. I wished it was longer. ): Thanks for the reviews, I don't mind you spamming the section!