Bardock was tired. He'd searched throughout the night, taking initiative from the information given to him by elites of a nearby town. Apparently Prince Vegeta could very well have been kidnapped from the stories and the bruised faces of his best men. Rubbing his eyes, Bardock took to the air and searched for any sign of Vegeta or his captor. All of the people he had talked to in the town were of no help. The best description of the man they got was from a tacky waitress in a mom and pop restaurant who claimed he was, "Tall, dark and handsome. And he smelled good too." Bardock had eyed her carefully and shivered when she smiled at him. No help.
A flicker of light caught his eye and he landed some feet away from the spot careful to catch a glint again. When the morning sun had struck it again, Bardock had nearly stepped on it. Crouching he picked up a chunck of metal in his fingers. It was a medal from the Royal Guard, for a veteran warrior. Bardock looked at the medal with an appreciation, it took long hard work to earn one of these medals. He looked carefully at it, turning it over in his hands and sniffed the scrap of material still clung to the back. Another scent caught his attention however, and he turned toward the trees and breathed in deeply. The smell of ash and fire were in front of him and he quickly picked his way through to a clearing. It was deserted, a small charred pit where small fire had been lit and two beds of branches were the only signs that anyone had been there. Bardock walked to the small pit and kicked at the ash with his foot, there were still a few tiny embers flickering at the very bottom. It seemed that the campers hadn't left too long ago.
A sharp snap to his left caught his attention and he quirked his ear to it before moving toward, checking for more noise. Another lighter pop from the same area came and in a blur he had the culpret by the cuff and grinned down on him. As Bardock realized who he was manhandling he let go and quickly appologized. Vegeta brushed off his chest with a sharp stroke and glared up at the elite.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Bardock?" Vegeta growled, crossing his arms and glancing now and then at the meadow.
"What I was sent to do, Ouji. Your father is pissed." Bardock leaned against the tree, he had been guard of Vegeta for years and the two acted like old friends when they weren't meant to be professional.
Vegeta grunted and turned toward the glen. "I was planning on going back today. I've done what I wanted."
Bardock cocked an eyebrow, "And what was that?"
"I wanted some time to gather a rebutle for his insane attitude. The man won't listen to a word I say, hell he still treats me like I'm a child...refuses to let me help with any issues." Vegeta fumed and punched a nearby tree, blowing it some fifty feet into the clearing.
"And just what exactly ideas are you destroying trees for?" Bardock grinned.
Vegeta frowned, "There doesn't need to be so much war. Or death. And I despise the idea that I have to stand by and watch my people suffer and die!"
Bardock stepped forward and frowned with the Ouji, "What do you mean?"
"I was forced to stand outside of the last battle, and watch them die. I could do nothing."
Bardock's eyes brimmed and he looked away. With a gravely whisper he asked the one question that burned his mind, "You watched them all die?"
Vegeta nodded then faced his friend, "At least I thought I had. But it appears that one of them is alive."
Bardock grasped Vegeta by the shoulders and shook him lightly. "Who? Who is alive?"
Vegeta pushed Bardocks hands from his shoulders and looked at him oddly. _If I tell him who it is, then he'll want to know how I know...then Radditz will get into trouble._ Vegeta puzzeled a few moments then looked directly at Bardock's face. "I don't know his name. I only met him in passing." Bardock's face fell and he nodded. Vegeta looked at him for a moment, unsure of what was wrong. "Come on then. Father will only wait so long." Bardock grinned slightly and the two took to the air, headed for the castle.
*~*~*~*~*
Radditz walked at a steady pace, the road home never felt so long. He had a mix of emotion coursing through his mind. Excitement of returning home, happiness and joy at seeing his family; and of course an ebbing point of dissappointment. After he had gathered his few things and began his treck earlier that morning, he had turned expecting to see Vegeta pop from behind a tree. Once he had seen a man asleep in a ditch under a tree and had a feeling of joy creep up his back but it faded when he saw it wasn't that Vegeta had eaten the wrong fruit again.
A wagon, deeply loaded with barrels of grog and bloodwine roared past him with a thunder of hooves. Radditz had thrown himself at a nearby tree to escape a trampling. A high pitched voice cried out and the horses reared, coming to a sharp stop. A woman hopped down from the wagon seat and ran toward Radditz with a worried look on her face. Her hair was wiry and gray, tied in a loose bun at the nape of her neck. "Are you alright?" The woman's eyes were wide as she searched Radditz' face carefully.
Grunting as he leapt down from the tree, Radditz gripped his whining ribs. "Yes I'm fine." The woman breathed a sigh of relief and hooked a thumb at his ribs with a questioning look. With a deep laugh Radditz shook his head, "That wasn't you. I'm just now healing up."
"What are you doing on this road then?" She cocked her head to the left and looked up at him, small fists resting on her hips.
"I'm headed to the city." Radditz' eyes took on a far away look. "I've been gone too long."
With a high pitched giggle the woman nodded her head and slapped Radditz on the back. "Come on then. You might as well catch a ride with me."
Radditz shook his head. "No, I wouldn't impose."
"Nonsense." The woman motioned him to the wagon. "If you walk it'll take you the rest of the day to get to the city limits. If you hop on you can be home in bed long before the sun goes down." Radditz looked skeptical and the woman punched him playfully in the shoulder, "Come on. It's not like I could take advantage of a mammoth like you anyway." Nodding, Radditz smiled and half hopped half pulled himself into the seat next to the frail woman. "Alrighty, hang on now." WIth another sharp yelp from the woman, the horses whinied and took off like a bolt. Radditz gripped the side of the cart for a moment until he got steady in the seat. "You just relax, you'll be home in no time." The woman winked and Radditz grinned, wind pulling his thick hair out straight behind him.
*~*~*~*~*
"I thought maybe you would finally listen to me!" Vegeta's face was crimson.
"By running off like a brat? What good does that do? Make you look more mature?!" King Vegeta snorted. "What makes you think that your oppinions are more valid now that you've acted like a child? Where and the hell have you been? Don't you know you can't just run off like that? What if someone had known who you were right off and used you as a weakness to get to me?" King Vegeta had been raving for a straight ten minutes. Vegeta was sitting, scowling as hard as his face would let him.
"How would I be a weakness to you?" Vegeta shouted. Bardock flinched inwardly, Vegeta was playing with fire and right now wasn't the time.
Suprisingly King Vegeta's face softened and he came to sit in front of his son. "Because you are my son. And whether you are willing to believe me or not, your well being is worth more to me than this kingdom ever could."
Vegeta snorted, "Being your only heir, I can see your point." Bardock smacked himself in the forehead and looked at Vegeta from between his fingers.
King Vegeta stood and shook with anger. "No, not because you're my only heir!" King Vegeta mumbled to himself and threw his hands around in inner fury. Finally he turned back and looked wearily at Bardock. "Thank you, Bardock, you can go home and rest now." Bardock nodded and walked quickly to the door. "Oh and Bardock," Bardock turned and looked at the king, "Let me know when your son's funeral will be, I would like to be there." Bardock's eyes welled but he blinked them away.
"Of course, sire. We had planned on this evening though we have no body." King Vegeta nodded and gave Bardock a consoling smile.
Vegeta turned to look at his father after Bardock had left, "Bardock's son is dead?" Kind Vegeta sighed and sat beside his son.
"Aye, died in battle a few days ago. He cannot find his body." King Vegeta added, "Shame really."
"I didn't know." Vegeta looked at his feet. Now he felt a great shame for leaving so suddenly and having Bardock torn from his mourning family.
King Vegeta grunted. "I'm going to prepare an arrangement for this evening, we'll talk about this later." Vegeta stood.
"I'd like to go."
King Vegeta gave his son a funny look, "You've just returned from a joy leave, and now you want me to trust you to leave the castle?" Vegeta grasped his father by the shoulder and looked up at him. King Vegeta looked at his son a moment and nodded his head with a small sigh. "Very well."
Vegeta sat in his chambers, leaning his head into one hand and looked at the city below him. _How could I be so selfish? To run off with my petty problems...God I probably watched Bardock's son die! And I didn't even know..._ Vegeta squeezed his hand into a tight fist and stood tall. He walked to a heavy oak desk and picked up an item and clenched it in his hand. He opened his fist and looked at it, it was a medal that had fallen from Radditz' tattered uniform as it was drapped across his shivering body. When he was about to leave he had noticed it in the grass and picked it up while looking at the man sleeping. He had decided to keep it to remind him of his plight with his father, when Radditz would return to the city he would give it back.
Vegeta slammed the medal back onto the oak, embedding the small piece of metal some inches into the solid wood. "I've got to stop this insanity. Fix the flaws in this kingdom..." Vegeta threw himself over the arm of a large comfy chair, his tail twitching beside him. Vegeta grinned, realizing how alike he was acting before his flight. He looked over to the desk and saw the edge of the medal poking through the top. "I wonder where that baka is right now? I don't know why I didn't just take him back with me...it's not like he didn't make decent enough company. Hell, when he was quite it was rather enjoyable..." Vegeta trailed off, remembering watching Radditz as he had cleaned himself and shivering slightly as he heard those little gasps and sighs again.
Shaking his head, Vegeta stood and walked to the bathroom. It was starting to dim outside and he needed to finish getting himself ready. _There is no time for this foolishness._ Vegeta started a steamy shower, hot enough to scald a normal saiyajin. He had taken to slowly increasing his resistance to the heat over some time, he always felt better after literally boiling away his problems.
Stepping into the steams of intense heat; he sucked in a sharp breath, let it out slowly and looked at his arms as they turned a bright red. Nodding in approval he sudsed up his hair and dug his fingers roughly through the thick mess and stepped backward into the sizzling jet of water. He ran his fingers more slowly through it this time, rinsing away the suds and began to have flashback memories of the previous night. He had stroked Radditz' hair, ran his fingers through it much like he was his own hair now. If could turn any more red, Vegeta would have. He jerkingly stopped what he was doing and blinked several times, trying to clear away the thoughts. Finally they dwindled away and Vegeta quickly lathered himself and stepped face first into the stream. Leaning into the wall he let the hot water roll down his back and across the back of his thighs. Swishing his tail lazily through the stream he pressed his warm face to the cool marble and began to imagine Radditz' hands roaming as the water did. Vegeta grinned as he felt imaginary hands rub his shoulders and back, working their was down slowly and crossing to grate his stomach. Vegeta snapped away from the wall and shook his head violently. "Enough." Quickly turning off the water, Vegeta grasped a towel and stepped from the shower. It was the first time he'd ever left the bath feeling more dirty than when he'd entered.
A flicker of light caught his eye and he landed some feet away from the spot careful to catch a glint again. When the morning sun had struck it again, Bardock had nearly stepped on it. Crouching he picked up a chunck of metal in his fingers. It was a medal from the Royal Guard, for a veteran warrior. Bardock looked at the medal with an appreciation, it took long hard work to earn one of these medals. He looked carefully at it, turning it over in his hands and sniffed the scrap of material still clung to the back. Another scent caught his attention however, and he turned toward the trees and breathed in deeply. The smell of ash and fire were in front of him and he quickly picked his way through to a clearing. It was deserted, a small charred pit where small fire had been lit and two beds of branches were the only signs that anyone had been there. Bardock walked to the small pit and kicked at the ash with his foot, there were still a few tiny embers flickering at the very bottom. It seemed that the campers hadn't left too long ago.
A sharp snap to his left caught his attention and he quirked his ear to it before moving toward, checking for more noise. Another lighter pop from the same area came and in a blur he had the culpret by the cuff and grinned down on him. As Bardock realized who he was manhandling he let go and quickly appologized. Vegeta brushed off his chest with a sharp stroke and glared up at the elite.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Bardock?" Vegeta growled, crossing his arms and glancing now and then at the meadow.
"What I was sent to do, Ouji. Your father is pissed." Bardock leaned against the tree, he had been guard of Vegeta for years and the two acted like old friends when they weren't meant to be professional.
Vegeta grunted and turned toward the glen. "I was planning on going back today. I've done what I wanted."
Bardock cocked an eyebrow, "And what was that?"
"I wanted some time to gather a rebutle for his insane attitude. The man won't listen to a word I say, hell he still treats me like I'm a child...refuses to let me help with any issues." Vegeta fumed and punched a nearby tree, blowing it some fifty feet into the clearing.
"And just what exactly ideas are you destroying trees for?" Bardock grinned.
Vegeta frowned, "There doesn't need to be so much war. Or death. And I despise the idea that I have to stand by and watch my people suffer and die!"
Bardock stepped forward and frowned with the Ouji, "What do you mean?"
"I was forced to stand outside of the last battle, and watch them die. I could do nothing."
Bardock's eyes brimmed and he looked away. With a gravely whisper he asked the one question that burned his mind, "You watched them all die?"
Vegeta nodded then faced his friend, "At least I thought I had. But it appears that one of them is alive."
Bardock grasped Vegeta by the shoulders and shook him lightly. "Who? Who is alive?"
Vegeta pushed Bardocks hands from his shoulders and looked at him oddly. _If I tell him who it is, then he'll want to know how I know...then Radditz will get into trouble._ Vegeta puzzeled a few moments then looked directly at Bardock's face. "I don't know his name. I only met him in passing." Bardock's face fell and he nodded. Vegeta looked at him for a moment, unsure of what was wrong. "Come on then. Father will only wait so long." Bardock grinned slightly and the two took to the air, headed for the castle.
*~*~*~*~*
Radditz walked at a steady pace, the road home never felt so long. He had a mix of emotion coursing through his mind. Excitement of returning home, happiness and joy at seeing his family; and of course an ebbing point of dissappointment. After he had gathered his few things and began his treck earlier that morning, he had turned expecting to see Vegeta pop from behind a tree. Once he had seen a man asleep in a ditch under a tree and had a feeling of joy creep up his back but it faded when he saw it wasn't that Vegeta had eaten the wrong fruit again.
A wagon, deeply loaded with barrels of grog and bloodwine roared past him with a thunder of hooves. Radditz had thrown himself at a nearby tree to escape a trampling. A high pitched voice cried out and the horses reared, coming to a sharp stop. A woman hopped down from the wagon seat and ran toward Radditz with a worried look on her face. Her hair was wiry and gray, tied in a loose bun at the nape of her neck. "Are you alright?" The woman's eyes were wide as she searched Radditz' face carefully.
Grunting as he leapt down from the tree, Radditz gripped his whining ribs. "Yes I'm fine." The woman breathed a sigh of relief and hooked a thumb at his ribs with a questioning look. With a deep laugh Radditz shook his head, "That wasn't you. I'm just now healing up."
"What are you doing on this road then?" She cocked her head to the left and looked up at him, small fists resting on her hips.
"I'm headed to the city." Radditz' eyes took on a far away look. "I've been gone too long."
With a high pitched giggle the woman nodded her head and slapped Radditz on the back. "Come on then. You might as well catch a ride with me."
Radditz shook his head. "No, I wouldn't impose."
"Nonsense." The woman motioned him to the wagon. "If you walk it'll take you the rest of the day to get to the city limits. If you hop on you can be home in bed long before the sun goes down." Radditz looked skeptical and the woman punched him playfully in the shoulder, "Come on. It's not like I could take advantage of a mammoth like you anyway." Nodding, Radditz smiled and half hopped half pulled himself into the seat next to the frail woman. "Alrighty, hang on now." WIth another sharp yelp from the woman, the horses whinied and took off like a bolt. Radditz gripped the side of the cart for a moment until he got steady in the seat. "You just relax, you'll be home in no time." The woman winked and Radditz grinned, wind pulling his thick hair out straight behind him.
*~*~*~*~*
"I thought maybe you would finally listen to me!" Vegeta's face was crimson.
"By running off like a brat? What good does that do? Make you look more mature?!" King Vegeta snorted. "What makes you think that your oppinions are more valid now that you've acted like a child? Where and the hell have you been? Don't you know you can't just run off like that? What if someone had known who you were right off and used you as a weakness to get to me?" King Vegeta had been raving for a straight ten minutes. Vegeta was sitting, scowling as hard as his face would let him.
"How would I be a weakness to you?" Vegeta shouted. Bardock flinched inwardly, Vegeta was playing with fire and right now wasn't the time.
Suprisingly King Vegeta's face softened and he came to sit in front of his son. "Because you are my son. And whether you are willing to believe me or not, your well being is worth more to me than this kingdom ever could."
Vegeta snorted, "Being your only heir, I can see your point." Bardock smacked himself in the forehead and looked at Vegeta from between his fingers.
King Vegeta stood and shook with anger. "No, not because you're my only heir!" King Vegeta mumbled to himself and threw his hands around in inner fury. Finally he turned back and looked wearily at Bardock. "Thank you, Bardock, you can go home and rest now." Bardock nodded and walked quickly to the door. "Oh and Bardock," Bardock turned and looked at the king, "Let me know when your son's funeral will be, I would like to be there." Bardock's eyes welled but he blinked them away.
"Of course, sire. We had planned on this evening though we have no body." King Vegeta nodded and gave Bardock a consoling smile.
Vegeta turned to look at his father after Bardock had left, "Bardock's son is dead?" Kind Vegeta sighed and sat beside his son.
"Aye, died in battle a few days ago. He cannot find his body." King Vegeta added, "Shame really."
"I didn't know." Vegeta looked at his feet. Now he felt a great shame for leaving so suddenly and having Bardock torn from his mourning family.
King Vegeta grunted. "I'm going to prepare an arrangement for this evening, we'll talk about this later." Vegeta stood.
"I'd like to go."
King Vegeta gave his son a funny look, "You've just returned from a joy leave, and now you want me to trust you to leave the castle?" Vegeta grasped his father by the shoulder and looked up at him. King Vegeta looked at his son a moment and nodded his head with a small sigh. "Very well."
Vegeta sat in his chambers, leaning his head into one hand and looked at the city below him. _How could I be so selfish? To run off with my petty problems...God I probably watched Bardock's son die! And I didn't even know..._ Vegeta squeezed his hand into a tight fist and stood tall. He walked to a heavy oak desk and picked up an item and clenched it in his hand. He opened his fist and looked at it, it was a medal that had fallen from Radditz' tattered uniform as it was drapped across his shivering body. When he was about to leave he had noticed it in the grass and picked it up while looking at the man sleeping. He had decided to keep it to remind him of his plight with his father, when Radditz would return to the city he would give it back.
Vegeta slammed the medal back onto the oak, embedding the small piece of metal some inches into the solid wood. "I've got to stop this insanity. Fix the flaws in this kingdom..." Vegeta threw himself over the arm of a large comfy chair, his tail twitching beside him. Vegeta grinned, realizing how alike he was acting before his flight. He looked over to the desk and saw the edge of the medal poking through the top. "I wonder where that baka is right now? I don't know why I didn't just take him back with me...it's not like he didn't make decent enough company. Hell, when he was quite it was rather enjoyable..." Vegeta trailed off, remembering watching Radditz as he had cleaned himself and shivering slightly as he heard those little gasps and sighs again.
Shaking his head, Vegeta stood and walked to the bathroom. It was starting to dim outside and he needed to finish getting himself ready. _There is no time for this foolishness._ Vegeta started a steamy shower, hot enough to scald a normal saiyajin. He had taken to slowly increasing his resistance to the heat over some time, he always felt better after literally boiling away his problems.
Stepping into the steams of intense heat; he sucked in a sharp breath, let it out slowly and looked at his arms as they turned a bright red. Nodding in approval he sudsed up his hair and dug his fingers roughly through the thick mess and stepped backward into the sizzling jet of water. He ran his fingers more slowly through it this time, rinsing away the suds and began to have flashback memories of the previous night. He had stroked Radditz' hair, ran his fingers through it much like he was his own hair now. If could turn any more red, Vegeta would have. He jerkingly stopped what he was doing and blinked several times, trying to clear away the thoughts. Finally they dwindled away and Vegeta quickly lathered himself and stepped face first into the stream. Leaning into the wall he let the hot water roll down his back and across the back of his thighs. Swishing his tail lazily through the stream he pressed his warm face to the cool marble and began to imagine Radditz' hands roaming as the water did. Vegeta grinned as he felt imaginary hands rub his shoulders and back, working their was down slowly and crossing to grate his stomach. Vegeta snapped away from the wall and shook his head violently. "Enough." Quickly turning off the water, Vegeta grasped a towel and stepped from the shower. It was the first time he'd ever left the bath feeling more dirty than when he'd entered.