Disclaimer: I don't own DB/Z/GT.
'He's not so bad,' thought Goku, unaware of the dreamy gaze she had locked on Vegeta. 'I wonder why everyone thinks he's so unpleasant.' Goku paused, a silent snicker of amusement escaping her lips. She placed her index finger on her lower lip quizzically, 'Maybe – ' she thought, ' – it's because he's so conceited and hot-headed. He's also really confrontational. Maybe they don't like him because they think he's still evil?'
"Vegeta – "
"What, Kakarrot?" Vegeta asked impatiently, although there was no reason to be hasty, after all, he had nowhere to be.
" – well, I was just wondering," she continued, fidgeting a little. "Does it bother you that everyone hates you?"
Vegeta appeared taken aback for a moment, but he speedily masked his astonished reaction. "What?"
"Well, hate's a strong word," Goku contemplated aloud. "They just strongly dislike you," she amended with a sheepish grin.
"You can say whatever you like, Kakarrot," replied Vegeta, controlling the tone of his voice. "I don't care if you and your little friends hate – "
"Dislike!" Goku interjected.
"Whatever," continued Vegeta, "I don't care what you and your little friends think of me!"
Goku pouted, "I never said I disliked you, Vegeta."
"What does it matter? You're practically mentally impaired. Your opinion is of no consequence!" Vegeta replied harshly.
Goku's frown quickly morphed into a scowl. "Everyone's opinion matters no-matter what! Besides, I know you don't really think that way of me. I think I know you better than anyone now. I know that you throw insulting jabs at people when you're upset. I know that you don't mean it!"
Vegeta merely harrumphed in response, stubbornly crossing his arms in annoyance.
Regardless of Vegeta's foul mood, Goku had the feeling that today was going to be a good day the moment she had woken up that morning. She'd had a smile on her face for hours, and she was starting to feel like her 'old' cheerful self. As of this moment, she and Vegeta had just finished another intense training session.
Goku could feel it too! She was definitely beat up big time, but she could tell that she was catching up to Vegeta. She was beginning to really be able to hold her own. 'Someday soon, I'm gonna beat you, and then you're not gonna like me anymore, if you even do like me,' Goku thought, laughing at her inside joke. 'Well, I definitely have to prove that a girl can be just as tough as the guys. I have a reputation to uphold!'
Goku traced a long bloody gash with her index finger. 'Wow, am I glad that Saiyans like myself heal so darn fast! I don't even want to imagine how many band-aids I'd need to use if I didn't!'
The temperature in the Room of Spirit and Time was beginning to become really hot. The heat was making Goku drowsy. 'I'm tired…' she thought, yawning.
Goku tossed her head around, trying her best to shake off the exhaustion, if that were even possible. She didn't want to go to sleep yet. Today was turning out to be such a great day. She didn't want to miss a minute of it.
Goku watched attentively as Vegeta began to take off the remains of what had been the top piece of his 're-created Bulma-style' Saiyan armor. It was torn to shreds now. 'Pretty soon he's gonna run out of armor and he's gonna have to fight me naked!' Goku thought, giggling.
Vegeta heard her quiet laughter, and turned his attention to her with an inquisitive look, "What?"
Goku's face turned beet red, "N – nothing!" 'Oh no! I need to stop hanging around Master Roshi so often! I'm turning into a lech!" she inwardly berated herself.
Goku tried to divert her attention, but it kept wandering back to Vegeta's half-naked body. His chest was so lean and muscular. He looked like a model. His mass of muscular build was glistening in sweat. 'Vegeta looks so… se…'
"Just what are you staring at, Kakarrot?" Vegeta demanded in an irritated voice.
Goku blushed once again, 'Darn it! I did it again!'
"What's wrong with you? You've been acting weird all day long!" continued Vegeta.
'What is wrong with me?' Goku agreed inwardly with a frown. "I'm sorry Vegeta. I don't know what's the matter with me. I'll try my best to stop bugging you."
Vegeta suddenly had an awkward sort of shocked expression on his face. It almost seemed as if he were panicked. "I didn't say you had to do that, Kakarrot! It's just, you've been grinning like an idiot all day. It's kind of weird."
Goku suddenly felt herself smile, "I guess I'm just in a good mood because… I'm happy, Vegeta."
Vegeta didn't seem to have a response to that, so he just left it as is.
"Well I'm gonna go take a bath in the tub. Where did you move the firewood again?" Goku asked.
Vegeta frowned, "I've told you twice already. The stack is right next to that bathing bucket contraption."
"Oh great, easier for me!" chimed Goku happily.
"Just do me a favor, Kakarrot?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Don't catch anything else on fire with your ki this time," replied Vegeta.
Flashback:
"Woah!" announced Goku as she walked into the kitchen. She could smell a musty noxious scent wafting up her sensitive Saiyan nostrils. "Geeze Vegeta!" she said pointedly, "You smell awful!"
She could see Vegeta's facial muscles twitch in annoyance. "Well, what do you expect? I've been training like a man," he replied. "Men are strong. We train until we're drop dead exhausted. We don't care about what we look or smell like. You can play little pretty flowery-smelling girl all you want, Kakarrot, but a true warrior exhibits his labors in many ways."
Goku rolled her eyes at Vegeta whilst waving her hand in front of her face as if swatting the rotten stench away from her olfactory nerves. "Whatever you say, Vegeta, but you really should consider taking a bath."
Goku tried her best to ignore the fowl stench as she prepared herself a snack. Vegeta went to grab something out of a cupboard. He approached a storage cabinet closest to Goku, and lifted up an arm to reach for something he wanted.
Goku whipped around in an instant, and pulled his arm down to rest at his waist. Her face was pallid. She said nothing, just stepped back a little. Vegeta figured out why she'd pulled his arm down almost immediately.
Vegeta snickered in response, a sly smirk forming on his face. He slowly began to lift both of his arms yet again, moving in on Goku.
"Don't!" she demanded/pleaded.
He grabbed a hold of her, and encircled her in a headlock, her face stuck in his armpit. She struggled to push him away. All the while Vegeta cackled triumphantly, proud of his superior strength, and amused at her detest.
Finally he let go of her, she stumbled a step backward, her face turning a sickly shade of ashen-green. She began to gag slightly. Then suddenly, she heaved vomit all over Vegeta's chest.
The room was dead silent for a moment. The tension truly could be cut like a knife through butter. Vegeta's facial muscles were twitching in repugnance. Goku seemed to still be sick to her stomach, but she had an apologetic expression on her face as well.
"Kakarrot…" Vegeta hissed in irritation.
"Yes?" she replied timidly.
"I demand that you show me how to use the bathing machine this instant," he demanded.
"Well, Vegeta, if you didn't know how to use an old-fashioned bath tub, why didn't ya' just say so?" Goku replied cheerfully.
… Approximately ten minutes later:
Vegeta tossed aside his bile-covered top in disgust, silently wondering why he hadn't chose to do that ten minutes earlier. He watched Kakarrot toss a bucketful of water into the odd looking washtub. He trailed behind her with another bucket of crisp cold water sitting at his feet. He was beginning to grow impatient of this tedious technique of getting water into the bathtub. He almost wished he were back at Capsule Corp. using one of the many bathtubs/showers that actually did all the work for you.
Vegeta glowered at the archaic bathtub in the utmost of annoyance, thinking, 'I am the Prince of all Saiyans! I should not be brought this low as to use this inefficient bathing apparatus!'
He picked up his bucket of water and tossed the contents into the tub.
"Now…!" announced Goku with a grin, "We need to heat up the tub with logs and some fire. That way the water will be nice and toasty!"
Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Where are the logs, Kakarrot?"
"Around the other side of the house in the firewood holder thingy, silly!" she replied, skipping off to go lug some firewood over to the bathtub.
Vegeta sat, awaiting Goku's return with the firewood. His face displayed his irritation in full-force. Goku arrived with the logs of wood piled high in her arms. She artfully spread in them in the empty area beneath the large bathtub, and motioned for Vegeta to come closer.
She smiled at him coyly, "ChiChi always used to make me use a match to light the wood because it's 'safer', but we can use our ki instead," she announced excitedly, almost as if she were a child who was stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.
She awaited a response from Vegeta, but he seemed uninterested so she moved on with the demonstration. "Hold up a log please."
Vegeta complied, and held up a log.
"Now move it over to your side a little," instructed Goku.
Vegeta moved it to his side, wishing he could cross his arms in frustration. Goku held up her right arm and spread out her fingers to reveal the palm of her hand. Vegeta watched as a small spark of her ki appeared in the center of her palm. She shot the small amount of ki at the wood. It burned a hole in the wood, and the heat caused it to splinter, and spit off little sparks of fire as it ignited.
One of the little sparks just happened to land in Vegeta's hair…
Vegeta scrunched his nose and sniffed the air, "Is something burning?" he asked absentmindedly.
Goku was busy blowing lightly on the wood, trying to get it to fully catch fire. "Um… yeah? That was the whole point Vegeta!"
"No… not the wood… something else?" he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.
Goku finally managed to get the wood ablaze, and tossed it into the pile of wood below the bathtub. She glanced up at Vegeta in confusion. She was about to say he was crazy when she suddenly noticed what the problem was.
"V- Vegeta!" she shouted in astonishment, "Your hair is on fire!"
Vegeta glared at her in irritation. "Stop joking around, Kakarrot. I've only heard that a thousand times before. Don't you think I've realized that my hair is flame-shaped by now or do you think I'm an idiot?"
"N- no!" she replied, "It's really on fire!"
Vegeta glanced upward and saw a plume of billowing smoke rising from the crown of his head, "GAH!" he shouted in horror.
Goku didn't waste any more time, she shoved Vegeta into the bathtub. She watched silently in trepidation as Vegeta's soaked head rose up and out of the water. He had a glint of murder in his onyx-colored eyes, "Kakarrot..." he hissed.
End Flashback
"Okay, Vegeta, I'll use a match instead of my ki to be safe," replied Goku sheepishly. "Oh, and sorry about your hair again!"
Vegeta merely grunted and walked off toward the the house area.
After preparing a fire underneath the large bathing tub, Goku slowly lowered herself into the hot and steamy water.
"Ahhh…" she sighed, smiling to herself in relaxation.
She imagined herself melting into the water and becoming one with it. She wanted the steamy water to boil her worries and frustrations away. She quickly submerged herself into the water and resurfaced, shaking away the dizziness that was threatening to overtake her. She leaned against an edge of the tub, gazing up at the roofless abyss of the Room of Spirit and Time. Suddenly, she felt very small, and alone. Regardless of the fact that she was roasting in a hot bathtub, she felt a shiver flutter throughout her body.
There was a silent itch at the back of her mind. It was gnawing at her thoughts and she couldn't ignore it any longer. She'd not thought of it before, but her life was going to be way different from this point on. Before, she'd focused only on the big changes: losing ChiChi, seeing Gohan less often… Now that she thought of it, the small changes really hurt also.
She sank lower into the water and blew bubbles on the surface as she seriously mulled things over in her mind. She fidgeted restlessly in the water and lifted her head out of the water yet again, gazing at the still surface in longing. She pictured Gohan taking a bath with her. She imagined herself splashing him and tickling him. She reminisced on all of their bath-time memories. She missed Gohan. She missed their bath-times spent together. She knew that she'd never experience them ever again.
She frowned slightly. She even missed ChiChi's constant nagging at the side of the tub as she refueled the fire: "Gohan, don't forget to clean behind your ears this time!" she chided, seriously, but with a slightly playful air to her voice and manner.
This was just one of the many joys Goku knew she would never have again. It was of her own choice to stay a woman. She knew she didn't really have anything to back up her decision, other than her love for Vegeta. 'Am I being selfish?' she thought dejectedly. 'Sure I've lost a lot of things because of my choice, but so has ChiChi and Gohan…'
"But I can make up for all of the losses," she reassured herself in a whisper. "I can make new memories with Gohan, and I can show ChiChi that I can still be a good father."
Still, Goku couldn't shake the sheer sense of loneliness that had suddenly enveloped her. 'This isn't a suitable ending for a good day.'
Goku sat in pure silence for a moment. Then suddenly, as if a light bulb had just lit above her head, she stood up in the tub with a purposeful look on her face. She smiled happily, thinking, 'Son Goku, you're a genius!'
She hopped out of the tub, stark-naked and soaked to the bone. She determinedly strode up to the entrance of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber's little abode.
Goku smiled as she encircled the doorknob in the palm of her hand. 'I don't have to be alone,' she thought with a sort of confidence she hadn't felt for a long time.