Authors Note: This chapter contains a scene of aggression and violence, which while not overly graphic, might be disturbing to some.

"I wanted to be like I used to be.

I wanted to fight you as a cold-hearted, single-minded Saiyan*.

Vegeta

Goku had surprised everyone by arriving completely unannounced the afternoon before the upcoming Martial Arts Tournament. The Grand Kai wanted to give him the gift of time because of his heroic achievements. So, Goku was granted the privilege of returning to the land of the living to visit with family and friends for the afternoon. And then he would have to return to the other world for the night, only to return the next day to fight in the tournament.

After everyone had arrived at his little country house, including Vegeta and Bulma, Goku simply could not stand Vegeta's grumpy seriousness any longer and attempted to poke some fun at him to get the warrior to loosen up a little bit.

"Hey Vegeta" Goku chided, "I think married life agrees with you. You're getting those soft little love handles Bulma likes so much!"

And Vegeta stopped trying to stare the paint off the walls, which he determined to be more stimulating than the ridiculous party going on around him, and looked up at Goku with his onyx black eyes flashing as though he had heard the epitome of stupidity itself give utterance to the spoken word. Then he glanced at his hands, then at his feet and legs, then at that part of himself that belonged to Bulma, then his abdomen and finally his shoulders. And confused, he looked over at Bulma.

"What? Love handles! Woman, just what the hell are love handles! And why would mine, whatever they are, be soft and little?" And he had asked her with all seriousness. Because if something about his body had changed do to his marriage to her to the point of becoming obvious to the likes of Kakarrot, he was determined to discover what that change was since it seemed to be becoming a source of amusement.

And finding Vegeta's responses to his teasing to be absolutely hilarious, Goku got a serious case of the giggles, which, when he thought about how silly Vegeta looked searching his body for his love handles soon developed into full blown laughter, and with that, Goku's laughter quickly escalated to the bending over, holding the gut, and rolling on the floor, type of hysterics. And soon everyone was laughing, even Bulma, and they were complete unaware of what was transpiring in the heart and mind of the proud Prince.

"Stop laughing!"

Goku was about to hyperventilate he was laughing so hard, and he suddenly threw his arms around Bulma and they laughed together like they had in the old days.

And everyone was so busy laughing and having a good time at Vegeta's expense that no one even noticed that Vegeta was no longer in the kitchen. But the sound of a front door slamming so violently that it promptly shattered right off of it's hinges gave the merry mob at least some indication that the proud Prince was not very happy. So, still in a teasing mood, they all went outside in a group to see if they could tickle his fancy and get him to lighten up some and come back inside.

"Oh come on Vegeta, we were only teasing you. You're in great shape. Look" Goku said flexing his left arm because the right one was still around Bulma, "I bet you could almost beat me at arm wrestling, come on, Vegeta, even Bulma here could beat me at arm wrestling. I'll let you beat me at arm wrestling if you come back inside. What do say? Pleeaase? I'll put sugar on it for you!"

And with that, gleeful giggles broke out among the slaphappy little horde of hellions once again.

But Vegeta continued to stand with his back turned to all of them. And he was deeply humiliated by their ridicule of him, which seemed to escalate whenever Kakarrot was around. He had simply had enough and would no longer tolerate it. He stood there waiting only to see if his wife would do the honorable thing and come stand at his side, defiantly displaying her sense of pride in him, and indicating to the others that she would not allow her mate to be made a fool of. But yet, he doubted that she would join him, as her loyalties had always been torn between him and Kakarrot. And so he lingered there a short while longer, standing with the full pride of the Saiyan Prince that he was, head held high, shoulders back and arms crossed over his chest. And it became obvious to him that the mere presence of Kakarrot in her life caused him to become second, even to her.

"Shut up, Kakarrot! The very sound of your voice sickens me! You have made me an object of ridicule in the eyes of my wife and you will not get away with it!" and the sound of the rage in his voice was chilling.

And at first he thought he might leave without Bulma, but he hesitated for moment, and as he turned to tell her he was taking her home immediately, he was shocked to see his wife openly defying him by allowing Kakarrot to place his hands upon her. And it was on display for everyone to see!

"It is clear to me now, Bulma, that you spoke what was truly in your heart when you said I was a joke to you. So stay here with him and continue to laugh at me as long as you like. I no longer care what you do".

And with that, Vegeta took to flight, Bulma began to cry, everyone looked at each other trying to figure out what just happened, and Goku decided to take off after Vegeta to try to talk some sense into him.

As he followed Vegeta, it became obvious that Vegeta was leading him out to the very spot where they had first fought all those years ago. And Vegeta's rising power levels indicated to Goku that the warrior was preparing for battle and the only two remaining, full-blooded Saiyan males in the universe were completely unaware of the ancient and primal dance that they had already set in motion by the symbolism of their actions that afternoon.

He truly wanted Vegeta to regain his sense of pride and no longer feel second to him as a fighter, and so Goku decided to fight Vegeta with his power levels suppressed at just that point where Vegeta could overtake him without realizing he was being toyed with. And with that, Goku landed in front of the warrior and attempted to mentally prepare himself to endure the beating of a lifetime.

"Kakarrot, do you know the depth of the hatred I carry for you? And do you know how long I have carried it?"

And with that, Goku's entire posture changed, and he found something inside of himself growing uncharacteristically angry and agitated, and he was stunned at how quickly and intensely it was escalating. And he attempted to blow it off, thinking he was just picking up on Vegeta's negative energy. But it was clear to both warriors as their battle began, that there was something different about the energy that was rising up in both of them.

Almost immediately with the first attack, the two Saiyan males were locked into a brutal and violent assault on each other, and both found that they were being driven by urges that were foreign to them, urges that literally pulsated through them, blinding them to their sense of reason.

The Saiyan dance that that the two remaining full-blooded warriors had begun was as old as time itself, but they were unaware of it, as there was no one left from their culture who could tell them about it, and it was specific only to ascended warriors and beyond. In the ancient days when the Saiyan race was still in it's infancy, males transformed to Super Saiyan with ease, and during those early times, dire circumstances would sometimes threaten the Saiyan people with extinction, and the need for dominant males had emerged to produce strong offspring and to protect the females and children. In time, the strongest of the males developed the ability to transform into a heightened form of themselves and they would use that transformed state to maintain or even achieve the position as dominant male, and the defeated challenger would forced to into a humiliating submission. In time, as the society advanced, while sometimes those instinctive drives would surface between certain warriors, they were taught how to control them and redirect them, and after a while, when Super Saiyans stopped appearing altogether due to Frieza's tampering, the need to address this ancient issue disappeared altogether.

But now, the only two Saiyans males left in universe, both of whom could transform even beyond that of Super Saiyan, one of whom had started the humiliation process on the other and then challenged him by openly touching his mate, and then pursued him to the battlefield, had both launched themselves into this ancient and brutal Saiyan dance, one in which their reason would soon be lost to a raging insanity. And in a manner that would prove to be truly tragic, there was no one around from the ancient days to warn them to turn around now, and stop before it was too late. And the reason the dance began at all was because Bulma, who was clearly the dominant female in the group, was now openly Vegeta's mate. And while Goku remained devoted to ChiChi, a part of him was very attached to Bulma due to their long history together, and in a way that wasn't even sexual really, he had always considered her to be his as well.

And as they continued to battle, and in spite of the intense sensations surging through his body and his mind, Goku struggled to maintain his resolve not to overpower Vegeta. He had told no one yet that while training in the other world, he had transcended yet another barrier and could now transform to SSJ3, and he knew that at that level, he could overpower Vegeta in an instant, and he knew that he should stop this insanity right now before it truly got out of hand but he did not, because he found himself becoming increasingly seduced by the intensity of the experience. And the fact that Vegeta was now fighting with a heightened level of intensity and was becoming increasingly dangerous made it clear to Goku that Vegeta was experiencing the very same thing. And the unfamiliar intensity of the urges that were surging through his body were beginning to drive him to completely overpower Vegeta, and dominate him and humiliate him in accord with the primal instincts that were drowning out his sense of reason.

When Goku increased his power level to the fullest extent while struggling to stay contained in level 2, he attacked Vegeta viciously and he found that the stunned look in the warrior's eyes only heightened his growing sense of arousal.

And their dance was not about passion or desire, not as a human male would think about it, rather, both were fighting a deadly battle for dominance. And one in which Vegeta was certain to lose if Goku stayed at full power in SSJ2, because Vegeta had yet to achieve that level. It was only when Vegeta attacked, biting viciously and tearing a chunk of flesh from his arm, that Goku fully embraced the madness, and transformed, in accord with that ancient Saiyan dance, into that raging beast within himself.

Goku had now completely allowed sanity and reason to slip and he grasped Vegeta and violently threw him to ground and using instant transmission, pounced on the warrior before he could fire off his energy blast. And when it became apparent to the proud Prince that the battleground was now limited to his very own body, the look in his eyes as he was being mauled while his garments were being shredded was a combination of horror and rage, and Goku found that it only intensified his arousal.

Vegeta was now powerless to stop him and he was powerless to stop himself as the man that he truly was became lost inside of sea of swirling madness, and even though Vegeta fought and raged against him in the fullness of his power, his efforts were futile, and Goku decided to toy with him for a while, each time letting Vegeta get within a inch of freeing himself only to find that he was still hopelessly trapped. And Goku, like a cat toying with mouse, decided to let the little game continue until Vegeta was not only without hope, but was exhausted as well, and when Goku felt the warrior's strength begin to drain, it was only then he stared into Vegeta's eyes and watched the warrior watch him as he suddenly flipped the proud Prince around to get him into position with such violent intensity that he nearly knocked Vegeta unconscious.

And the fact that the proud prince was now weeping as still he continued to struggle with everything in him to free himself, was like a supreme victory to the beast that used to be Goku, who was savoring the sight of Vegeta, with his face being forced into the dirt, with his arms trapped high up behind his back, and his body on display for the world to see. And as Goku began to ready himself to bring the dance to it's conclusion, Vegeta suddenly stopped struggling and the absolute change in his energy startled him, as Vegeta, using the shear force of his will was almost seeming to make his body untouchable, unreachable somehow, and it jolted Goku's madness just long enough for the man within the monster to hear Vegeta whisper 'please, Kakarrot, don't do this to me'.

There was something about the sound of an anguish that was all too familiar in Vegeta's voice that continued to reach the man who Goku really was. And when he felt Vegeta's body begin to shake within his arms, he looked down at the Prince once again, not realizing that it was even possible to sob with such intensity and not make a sound, and all he could think as he was coming out of that ancient haze of insanity was that someone, somewhere, had violated Vegeta this way before, and Goku was filled with a sense of horror and he too began to weep.

"Kakarrot! What the fuck are you doing!"

And the only thing Goku could think to do at that instant, was to tell Vegeta how sorry he was.

"Kakarrot! For your sake, you had better kill me before you take your bloody fucking hands off me!"

"Vegeta, I'm so sorry, it was this, thing….I don't know what happened. I'm going to let you go now, okay?" And deciding to take the easy way out of a very difficult situation, Goku used instant transmission the very second he released Vegeta, leaving him alone, to try yet one more time, to pick up the pieces of a shattered body.

When Goku appeared back at his country home, he told everyone what had just happened and he begged Bulma to forgive him, which she did. But she wept for Vegeta and knowing where he would be, decided to go to him, first making a stop at home to pick up a change of clothes and some of those things he might need to clean himself up with, yet halfway to the quiet place, as she finally began to understand her husband's sense of pride, she decided that if he realized that she knew what had happened to him, it would only add to his sense of humiliation. So she decided instead to go back to Goku and ChiChi's little country house and she told everyone there to never let Vegeta know that they knew what had just happened to him.

And with a certain amount of distain in her voice, Bulma turned to Goku and told him that he never should have said anything at all, rather, he should have resolved the issue with a silent sense of pride like her husband was doing right now. And as she was getting ready to leave, she told Goku that she would hold him responsible if any harm were to Vegeta now, because even if he didn't mean to hurt her husband, he did, and he did it in one of the worst possible ways one being could harm another, and then she decided that it might not be so easy after all to forgive him for that. And with that, she went back home to Capsule Corporation to wait for Vegeta. And in finally confronting Goku with her clear and open choice for Vegeta, she closed the door on that ancient Saiyan dance between Goku and her husband forever.

And after almost eight years of marriage, Bulma was becoming Vegeta's wife as he needed her to be, yet, unfortunately for both of them and unknown to both of them, it would a long time before they would be able to be together again.

While in route to the quiet place, Vegeta determined that no matter what it took, he would find the power necessary to kill Kakarrot at the upcoming Marshall Arts Tournament the very next day.

And when he landed, and the wild and warm summer mountain breeze began to blow over him, gently caressing him, he stood angrily and defiantly against it. He no longer wanted any part of it, and Vegeta suddenly found that he no longer wanted any part of anyone anymore. And his tears, which should have been flowing freely by now, were once again locked up inside of him.

Even though Vegeta had not eaten since morning, he determined to feed only on his hatred until he found a way to kill Kakarrot. It had been years since anyone had handled him that way, and even though he had not been entered, violent hands had once again touched the most intimate part of his body, and he had been forced into that position of humiliation and submission, and he found it simply ironic, almost laughable, that this was one time he wished he could weep bitterly over it and cleanse himself from it, but his tears had run dry. And Vegeta found himself slipping back into that state of numbing hatred and he didn't even hear the sound of his hope shattering as he slipped into that earlier state of being. And in addition to finding the power to kill Kakarrot, he also determined to find a way to kill all of the feelings he carried in his heart for anyone, because in his rage, he now believed his feelings had made him weak.

"What a joke you truly are, Vegeta!" he said as his hatred spilled over even onto himself.

And at the Marshall Arts Tournament when Babibi promised Vegeta enough power to kill Kakarrot plus the destruction of his feelings for Bulma and Trunks, Vegeta jumped at the chance, even if it meant giving up his very soul, he didn't care anymore. All that mattered to him was killing Kakarrot for the pain and humiliation he had been put through.

And when Kakarrot didn't want to fight at first, the warrior didn't hesitate to fire several blasts into the crowd, killing hundreds of innocent people. As their second titanic battle began, Vegeta fought Kakarrot with every ounce of strength in him, and with each attack he knew that as an enhanced version of SSJ2, he was now stronger than his adversary. And he didn't just want to kill Kakarrot; he wanted to kill him slowly and torturously. But then Majin Buu woke up and the pure evil of his power reached even Vegeta, while at the same time, Kakarrot was trying to reach Vegeta as well.

And when he became convinced that Bulma and Trunks were in grave danger, the power of the love in his heart surged forward, refusing to have ever been so easily destroyed, for it was as defiant and resilient as Vegeta himself. And all that hatred and humiliation simply could not stand against the love he carried in his heart for his family. And it was one little lavender haired boy named Trunks, who saw his father as the light of his life, who saw his father with honor and who saw the honor in the man, whose light was brilliant when he smiled, who had laid tightly beside him and taught him how to find dragons in the clouds, who had become Vegeta's lifeline.

And when Vegeta saw his son standing there bravely as a Super Saiyan warrior, ready to fight along side his father, convinced that together they could defeat Majin Buu, Vegeta had already put a plan in place to destroy the monster, and with that, he simply walked up and openly hugged his son, openly and lovingly smiling at him, even though he knew Piccolo and Krillen where watching.

And knowing now that his death was imminent and that the only thing that mattered to him was his wife and his son, the sound of the shattering of Vegeta's hatred and humiliation reverberated through his being as the power of love in the form of a lavender haired little boy refused to allow it to continue. And he looked down at the little warrior in his arms and smiled as the love in his heart reintroduced itself to him. Then, in an act of mercy so his son wouldn't see what was about to happen, Vegeta knocked him unconscious and did the same to the youngest son of Kakarrot.

And when Piccolo came to pick up the young warriors, Vegeta asked him what would happen to him upon his death this time, and even after discovering he would be erased and cease to be because he had harmed so many innocent people, Vegeta stayed true to his resolve to sacrifice his life for the two people he loved more than life itself.

"I wanted to be like I used to be.

I wanted to fight you as a cold-hearted, single-minded Saiyan..

I had a family, Kakarotto,

and I liked it"*.

Vegeta

* Episode 231 - The Ultimate Evil Majin Buu Appears

Note: Episode 237 - For the sake of my Loved Ones - Vejita Falls: I have referenced this episode even though I took no direct quotes from it, because Vegeta's sacrifice to destroy Majin Buu is an actual part of this episode, and I in no way claim it as my original idea. The story of Vegeta's heart that centers around the sacrifice is however, my original concept, and one to which I proudly stake claim.

Author's Note: Vegeta hasn't forgotten about his ultimate plan for revenge on Yamcha, actually it already happened! But he's just kinda busy right now and will tell you about it a little later.