Goku knew something was wrong with him. He wasn't really sure what it was, but he knew there was something wrong. There had to be. All the grown-ups were looking at him funny, and giving him not-there smiles when they realized he had seen them. He looked down at himself. He was clean, and his clothes were on right. Ditzu had made sure he'd gotten all his buttons done right.

He still had that funny feeling in his head, like it was empty. Bun… no. Bur? Bam? The meanie with blue hair and needles had laughed and told him he was always empty-headed. Goku hadn't thought it was very funny, but he hadn't told Ditzu. If Ditzu laughed at him too…..

Goku brushed tears furiously off his cheeks. He wasn't gonna cry just 'cause some mean old woman told him he didn't have a brain! He did so have a brain! It was leaking out his ears, but he still had one. His hands pushed over his ears as he hunkered down, whimpering as quietly as he could when his brain started leaking again. He knew it was leaking; the voice told him so. And the voice was in his head, where it could see what was going on, so it knew his brains were leaking out.

He pushed harder, trying to keep what brains he had left in his head where brains were supposed to be. When his hands fell away from his ears, Son Goku was no more.

Kakarot raged helplessly from his prison. He still existed. He still remembered. And he wanted out! Out to live his life, out to get his revenge, out to get laid! Raditz hadn't screwed his body once since Vegeta's meddling had turned his outer mind to mush. He beat against the wall that surrounded and caged him, howling his anger and misery for no one except himself to hear.

Kakarot was insane. Quite insane, having been trapped inside Goku for so long. Alive, but as good as dead. Knowing, and unable to show it. Feeling, but unable to react. Bonded, yet unbound. Horny, unable to sate himself. He screamed his frustrations, beating the wall that kept him from showing that little runt just who really was the true alpha in their mating.

Snarling, frothing, he beat and beat on the walls until all he could do was feebly scratch the unmoving, impenetrable barrier. Weak sobs shook his body as he leaned against the wall; tears of frustration pooling in his eyes before escaping to run down his cheeks. Goku had no mind, now; no will to keep him imprisoned. Why couldn't he break free? Why?

Raditz found Goku curled in a little ball. His brother's thumb was stuck in his mouth, and he'd fouled his pants. "Hey, Goku? Come on, Goku. You're gonna need a bath. Goku?" Raditz crouched when his brother didn't answer him, and shook the man lightly.

Wide black eyes flew open. To Raditz' utter horror, his younger brother began wailing. "Goku! Goku! What's wrong? Are you hurt? Did you fall?" No answer.

Raditz gathered his brother in a hug, nose wrinkling at the scent. "Come on, I'll help you get cleaned up." He tried to get the younger Saiyan to stand, but Goku wouldn't stand for him. Finally, he just scooped his brother up and headed for the nearest of CC's many bathrooms Once there, it didn't take him long to realize that what little reasoning and memories his brother had had were gone. His brother had, to all intents and purposes, been reduced to infancy.

Vegeta had done it. He was the only one who could have done it. Oh, he'd destroyed their mating bond, but he had kept the one he'd had with Kakarot. And he'd systematically destroyed his brother's mind, taking his memories and his abilities until now there was nothing but the mindless body left.

Raditz washed him, grateful that the water Kakarot splashed hid the tears that insisted on leaking from his eyes. He drained the tub and dried his brother before wrapping him in the bathrobe hanging on the door. Then he carried him back to the rooms Bulma had given them. Very gently, he laid Kakarot out on their shared bed, and slumped disconsolately beside him.

"What am I to do?" he murmured helplessly. "Do I hope that having removed everything, that he will allow you to grow and learn, and raise you as I would have our son? Or do I conclude that there is no hope that you will ever recover, and grant you mercy?"

Kakarot greeted the question with renewed rage. He hadn't been able to live, and this insignificant prick was going to kill him? The rage abandoned him as quickly as it had risen. Kakarot was tired… and if he were dead…. Memories assaulted him, and he howled. Death might be mercy for Goku, but it was no mercy to him! He would still be trapped, caught inside this prison, while Goku lived eternally in Other World, just as has happened the last couple times he'd died.

Vegeta had already killed Goku! There was nothing left of him but others' memories! Kakarot screamed, smashing joined fists against the wall, "I want to live!"

Raditz twisted, staring. Black eyes stared up at him, blinking in shock. "Go.. Goku?"

Kakarot stared at him. Felt the novelty of licking his own lips. Lips that twisted up into a snarling grin as he reached out and grabbed Raditz' hair to drag him in. First things first… he was getting laid.

*happy stars* *happy stars*

Eh, asterisks don't work on some sites. Deal with the happy stars. I realized, when I was reading through this, that Raditz answered his own question about what was wrong with their bond back around chapter 18.