Krillen lay in his bed, his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. There was no way he was going to be able to fall asleep. After months of worry, he had finally found out where Vegeta was. He was alive, and that was good to know, but that was about all the news that was at all good. Everything else had Krillen scared.

Vegeta seemed to have barely been surviving. He had wasted away so dramatically in the past few months. Krillen honestly thought that his old friend had looked like he had been on the verge of starving to death. The only thing that had convinced him that Vegeta was not going to suddenly drop from malnutrition was the fact that the runaway had managed to stay ahead of Goku, of all people, in a foot chase. Of course, Vegeta had shown more than once, particularly over the past year, that he was willing to push himself to insane, body breaking levels in order to pull something off.

And his face, the bruising and breaks, could never mean anything good. Those marks were not from an accident. No, they were marks of a beat down. Some were older, some were newer. What the hell had Vegeta been getting himself into that got him thrashed on a regular basis?

Worst, in Krillen's mind at least, was his friend's adamant refusal to even discuss returning to the group. Yeah, he had picked a weird time to leave. After all, who stays through the bad, then abandons ship in the good? Was that not worth at least a little talking? At least a reason for leaving would have given him some sort of closure. But leaving and refusing to discuss the mere idea of coming back? What the hell was Vegeta thinking?

Krillen looked to his nightstand and stared at the digital clock. It was well after midnight. He really needed to get some sleep. It had been a very long day for him, and he had a long day ahead of him. The rest was necessary. There was no way that he could fall asleep, though. All that worrying was forbidding him from even hoping for it.

He made a decision and slid out of his bed. Ensuring that his steps were silent, he went down the stairs and slid his coat and shoes on. His lower half was still clad in new pajama bottoms, but he had no intention of changing. He had to get out immediately. Quietly he slid out of the front door, making sure no noise at all was made as he closed the door behind him.

The streets were far darker at night than they had been in their old neighborhood. Fewer streetlights certainly gave the street a cute feeling during the twilight hours, but made it creepy as hell in the middle of the night. It also made it difficult to navigate. It was still a new area to him, and trying to backtrack in an unknown area was not going to be a simple task.

He had to do it, though. Vegeta was out there, and come hell or high water Krillen was determined to find him and get an explanation. If he wanted to stay away from the rest of the group, fine. Even if he had wanted to force him back, Krillen knew that it would be impossible. But damn it, he had been there enough to have at least earned one final conversation.

It took quite a while for him to move. It was one in the morning when he arrived at his destination. It was first building, the one that Goku had noticed Vegeta ducking into. Goku had told him on the walk home about the neatly folded blanket, hidden in the corner. If he was a gambling man, Krillen would have laced good money on that being the place Vegeta spent his nights.

That neighborhood was not nearly as nice as the one the teenager lived in. The building that he was aiming for was hardly the only condemned one on the street. His short amount of time in the suburbs had certainly spoiled him, but Krillen still felt oddly familiar in the broken area. After all, he had spent most of his life seeking sanctuary in places most people would not have dared to enter.

There it was. Krillen recognized the broken down facade that they had seen the previous afternoon. He felt his heart pick up as he noticed the second floor window. Ever so slightly, that window was propped open. It was something Vegeta always did. Never open enough to be obvious, but just a hint. It gave him a way to get out quickly. Vegeta used to love pointing out that the odds were far higher of needing to desperately get out of a place than keeping anyone else from getting in. There was always an exit strategy.

Krillen frowned. The exit strategy. Had all of this been an exit strategy from the group? Had he planned to bail in advance? No, he would never do that...would he?

Quietly the small teenager made his way to the fire escape, remembering that the second floor landing was directly outside the room with the blanket. For once, Krillen planned to use Vegeta's own strategies against him. Silently he slid the window open and dropped a foot inside.

It was as far as he made it before he felt something connect solidly with his torso, nearly throwing him out of the window completely. Krillen had never really been much of a fighter. In fact, he relied heavily on his wit and humor to keep himself out of confrontations. Those were not his only tools in his avoidance arsenal, though. In fact, one of his greatest strengths happened to be one of his most commonly seen 'flaws': his tiny size.

Tucking himself in, Krillen bounced in through the window frame again. Most would have taken up the entire opening, even if they had compacted themselves as he had, but his smaller stature gave him ample leeway. His attacker moved again, but keeping himself as small as he could, Krillen managed to duck behind a small group of broken cinder blocks. Carefully he listened, aware that his attacker had stopped moving to figure out where he was.

Dangerous as things were, Krillen could not help but grin. It had to be Vegeta. It had to be! He must have only been lashing out because hey, someone had just broken into his room in the middle of the night. Anyone would be ready to attack in that situation. Convinced that he had enough shelter to buy him time for introductions, Krillen called out, "Chill out, it's just me!"

Krillen had expected a string of swear words headed in his direction. He had not anticipated being tackled and struck repeatedly. Completely caught off guard, Krillen was left defenseless against the wild assault.

Suddenly his attacker was yanked off of him. Krillen was having a hard time focusing, desperately trying to simply make sense of his surroundings. He had no idea how long he was there, dazed on the floor. Vaguely in tune with his senses, he could have sworn that there was a scuffle going on nearby. But in the wake of his beat down, he found himself struggling to fully pull anything together.

"You are such an idiot."

In spite of the pain, Krillen managed a small smile. "Not the first time you've called me that, buddy." He began to sit up, and was a little surprised to find himself being aided into the position. "I take it the phantom that attacked me at the window wasn't you?"

Vegeta snorted. "I'm insulted that you think I would have been that close to the window."

"In my defense," Krillen weakly laughed, "I recognized both your go-to exit strategy and the fact that you immediately started swinging for the fences." He winced before adding, "At least, I thought it was you. Who was that?"

"No one."

"Really?" the beaten boy said, cringing slightly in pain. "I get the smack down, but I don't even get to know who did it?"

Vegeta frowned. "You're better off not knowing. Trust me."

Krillen shifted a little bit in an attempt to make himself more comfortable. "I know odds aren't in my favor, but is there any chance you have…" A packet of bandages landed in his lap. "Thank you, sir."

"Just shut up and patch yourself."

The smaller teenager nodded and got to work. "Is there a candle or something I could use for light? I kind of want to check out some of these."

Vegeta grumbled and disappeared before returning with a flashlight. "This good enough for you?"

"You bet." Carefully, both of them ran inspection over the worst of the injuries. "So what's the verdict, doc?"

"You'll live long enough to get back to the house," Vegeta snipped. "Then the harpy and the bitch are going to murder you for coming here in the first place and getting the crap beaten out of yourself."

Krillen could not stop the chuckle from bubbling up. "You always did know how to sugar coat things, you big softie." Once more he adjusted, sitting himself up a little further. Unsurprisingly, Vegeta had taken over the bandaging. It was almost tradition with them. Any time Krillen got hurt, even when they were kids, Vegeta would demand Krillen fix it himself, then get frustrated with Krillen's methods and commandeer the operation. "So, how are you?"

"Drop it," Vegeta warned.

"Oh, and here I thought you knew me," Krillen went on, wincing again. "Come on, just humor me and give me a little chit-chat until I'm all mummified."

Vegeta quietly worked for a while before offering a question. "How is the child?"

Krillen smiled. "Gohan's doing well," he answered. "He got to go home with Bulma after a couple of months, and he's been doing really well. They took out the feeding tube a little while ago. Kid's got a hell of an inner strength to him."

Raising an eyebrow, Vegeta asked, "Gohan?"

It dawned on Krillen that Vegeta had left before the child had been named. "They named him after Goku's grandfather," he explained. "Apparently he and Goku were pretty close when he was a kid, and he's the one that taught Goku all of that 'follow your heart' stuff that Goku has lived every moment of his life by."

"Hn." The flashlight had to be balanced on one of the blocks to free up both of Vegeta's hands for some of the more open wounds. "How's class?"

There was no hiding the shock on Krillen's face. "How did you know I went back to school?"

Vegeta shrugged. "That was always the plan, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, there were a lot of plans," Krillen countered. "Not all of them panned out. You know, like you and me always sticking through everything together." It was a low shot, but other than scowling, Vegeta did not react. "Be straight with me, Vegeta. How did you know I went back to school?" Again, no verbal response. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Krillen took a shot. "You've been keeping eyes on us, haven't you?"

With a sneer, Vegeta replied, "Do I really need to answer that?"

"You just did."

Finishing up his work, Vegeta sat back and crossed his arms. "You must have known I would."

Angrily, Krillen actually yelled, "I didn't even know if you were alive!" Before his friend could say anything, Krillen exploded. "Ten damn years we were together. We went through hell together, Vegeta, and we got through it because we were a team! And what did you do? You stormed out, you grabbed your stuff, and you fucking disappeared! You walked out on me, Vegeta! You abandoned me! I didn't even get a God damned note from you! No explanation, no reason, no nothing! You just took it upon yourself to vanish from our lives! And when we finally found you again, you ran away! You actually ran away, with running and everything! Goku and I had to chase you for blocks just to confirm that it was you! And do you know why we do that? Do you know why we were willing to hunt down a shadow that kinda looked like you? It's because you're our friend, Vegeta, and we were worried about you! That is what friends do, they take care of each other!"

They sat in silence for a moment, neither quite sure what the appropriate reaction would be. The eerie room cast shadows all around them, the dim flashlight their only source for visibility. The dust that had flown through the air during the fight was slowly finding its way down, settling in a gentle layer on every person and object in the vicinity. They were surrounded by broken bits of building, all evidence of the miserable state of their surroundings.

Krillen was the first to grow tired of the silence, as he usually was. "Why did you leave?"

Vegeta shifted his gaze, picking a random spot on a wall to focus on. "Because I had to."

"That's bullshit and you know it," Krillen returned. "You and I both know that there was an actual reason, and I want to know what it is. Seriously, tell me what this almighty reason was that made you walk out on us. On me. I think I've at least earned that."

"Just because you've earned something doesn't mean you'll actually get it," Vegeta snidely pointed out.

"Just because you're cynical doesn't mean I'll let this go," Krillen fought back. "Now that I know you're out here, I'll keep coming. I will come looking for you, every single night if I have to, until I get my explanation. And if your friends who beat the crap out of me are also out there, fine. I will take a few beatings if I have to. I won't stop, Vegeta, and nothing you say is going to make me." Again they lapsed into silence, so Krillen kept swinging. "You look like crap, by the way."

"And people say I have no tact."

Krillen smirked. "You do have no tact," he honestly pointed out. "But you really do look like crap, and I'm not letting this go. You haven't been taking care of yourself, Vegeta."

"I'm getting by just fine," came the quick answer.

"No, you're not," Krillen contradicted. "You're not getting by, and I want you to at least talk to me about this. I want to know, Vegeta. I want to know what the hell you were thinking when you left. I want to know how you've been getting by. And I want to know why you're refusing to come home."

Vegeta's naturally slender eyes narrowed further. "I don't have a home to return to."

"Yes, you do," Krillen pushed. "You have a home with us. Anywhere we are, any home we have, that's your home to. If you're not living there, it's because of your own choice."

"It is not my home," Vegeta countered. "It belongs to the shrew."

Krillen sat up a little straighter. "Is that what all of this is about?" he asked. "Bulma owning the place we live in? Why the hell would that even be an issue?" The flashlight flickered slightly, and Krillen kept talking. "Or is it not the ownership that bothers you about her?"

Teeth clenched hard, Vegeta ground out, "Let it go."

"Vegeta…"

"Let. It. Go."

Krillen threw his arms up in frustration. "Look, you had the hots for her. We both already knew that. Was it really that big an issue that you couldn't stay?"

"Yes!"

Neither one of them had expected the answer to come out, and Vegeta looked almost horrified that it had. Krillen stared, eyes wide, as he wrapped his mind around what he had just heard. "It was that bad?"

Once again, Vegeta put his eyes on the wall. He refused to say another word.

Krillen rested an arm across his knee. "You're serious? You were so hot for her that you thought you couldn't even be near her?"

Silence.

Eyes wide, Krillen softly asked, "Do you love her?"

"No!" came the aggressive reply.

Krillen struggled to make sense of what was going on. "What did you mean when you said you left because you had to? Why did you have to go?"

Vegeta's eyes stayed locked on the wall. "I am not returning. You can stop trying now."

"I'm not trying to make you come back," Krillen gently said. "I'm trying to really understand why you left. Because I've got to be honest with you, buddy, right now I can only think of one thing that it might have been."

"Stop it."

But Krillen did not stop. "You care about her," Krillen stated, no uncertainty at all in his voice. "You really care about her, and you wanted to do something about it. But you knew you couldn't, not if we were going to keep the kid around."

"Stop it!"

"You took yourself out of the equation," the wounded one went on. "You were worried that something would happen between the two of you, so you left, making it impossible!"

"STOP IT!" he bellowed.

Krillen flinched at the tone. He knew he was digging a screwdriver into a sensitive topic, but it had to be done. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There is nothing to tell!" he defensively insisted.

"Don't lie to me," Krillen chastised. "Why didn't you say anything? Why did you just disappear?"

Vegeta glared furiously at his friend. "What would you have done, had you known my location?"

"I would have made sure you were okay!" Krillen insisted.

"Hardly," Vegeta sneered. "You would have been trying to force my return. You would have done exactly what you have told me tonight. You would have hunted me down. You would have risked yourself, repeatedly if necessary, to try to bring me back. And you would have told the big idiot, and he would have come too! Tell me, how would that have played out?"

Krillen returned the glare. "Well, I guess we'll never know, since you didn't trust me enough to tell me you were leaving in the first place."

"It was necessary."

"Whether it was or wasn't," Krillen bit out, "you should have told me. Damn it, what would you have done if I had been the one who walked out of the group?"

Finally Vegeta looked his friend in the eye. "I would have hunted you down, dragged your sorry ass back, and made sure you never left again."

"See?"

"But I'm psychotic."

"Well, there is that." With a soft smirk, he started to get to his feet. "Vegeta, who was the guy who attacked me when I first got here?"

Vegeta scowled. "I told you…"

"That I'm better off not knowing, yeah, I know," Krillen interrupted. "But just answer this: is he on your side or not?" When no answer came, Krillen sighed. "I still want to know what the hell you've been doing, but I really should get back it I'm going to get a shower in before anyone wakes up. Can we talk again? Tomorrow night?"

"No one can know…"

"Where you are, yeah, I get that," Krillen interrupted again. "Just a heads up, Goku knows where this place is, and he's not known for shutting up. If you don't want him coming, you may need to move."

Vegeta nodded, thankful for the information. "You know the arcade on Bleaker Street?"

"The one that looks like it's going to fall apart any second now?" Krillen responded. "Yeah."

"I'll be in the back."

Krillen smiled as he dusted himself off. He winced again. "Okay, whoever that was, try to stay away from him. He's mean!"

Vegeta said nothing more as Krillen said his farewell and left back into the cool night. When he was sure that his friend was far enough away, he turned back toward the shadows and glared.