a/n: It's been a while, but I'm back! Yippy skippy! I'm trying to write faster, honest, but school and life keeps getting in the way. At least this chapter is fairly long! Plus, I had to finish chapters of my other two fics first. *Ahem* Anyway, enough about me. What is about to happen may seem sudden. It is. Vegeta always struck me as a sudden kind of guy. I apologize if my fight descriptions seem.sucky. I don't write them very often. On with the fic!

Disclaimer: I own everything in the world. Didn't you see my name on your television when you flipped it on this morning? Unfortunately, Dragonball Z is the exception. Go figure. *Walks away muttering*

Returning Home

Two days after the incident with the girl in the cave, Bulma awoke to find Vegeta stealthily pulling on his skin-tight leggings in the grey morning light. She sat up immediately.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, even as her heart gave an odd sink at the conclusion she rapidly reached. It was obvious what he was doing; he had been preparing for this moment for days.

"I'm going home, angel," he grunted, refusing to look at her as he pulled on his boots. "Don't try to stop me."

Bulma accurately translated this remark, came to a decision, and spoke. "All right then. I won't."

Vegeta glanced up at her in surprise. "You won't? What." he stopped, shook himself briskly, and snorted. "Good."

There was silence. Vegeta had finished dressing, but was making no move to go. Bulma had gotten out of bed, but was making no move to stop him. Tension was pulsing in the air, but why or what it was building to, neither of them knew. At least, not consciously. All right, so Vegeta knew, as his heart banged against his ribcage in a way it hadn't done since he was fourteen and infatuated with Chi-Chi ( that was one of his more embarrassing memories), but he was definitely not going to show it. Not even if this was the last time they ever saw each other. Not even if she sometimes seemed to understand him better than any demon he'd ever known. Not even if she made him feel. . .no. She was an angel, dammit! He was just moving towards her to deliver some parting shot, that was all. He was only grasping her shoulder and leaning in towards her to. . . aw, screw it. With Bulma this close to him, her scent driving him nearly mad with desire, Vegeta gave up the ghost and followed his instincts.

Bulma stiffened with surprise as Vegeta pressed his lips against hers roughly, pulling her into him. Then she melted, pressing into him as if this was what she had intended since she first laid eyes on him, opening her lips and teeth as his tongue sought access and pushing her own into his mouth, and if this was sin, then demons had the better end of the deal by far. And then. . .he pulled away, leaving her gasping.

"I'll see you again, angel," he growled, before turning and stalking out of the cave. Bulma, wondering if that was a threat or a promise, watched as he disappeared into the half-light of dawn, hand rising unconsciously to brush her lips. Then it began to register. 'Vegeta kissed me. Vegeta kissed me. Vegeta kissed me!' Her world spinning around her, Bulma tried to react. She knew this shouldn't involve thinking (reaction was supposed to come from her guts, dammit!) but, somehow, it did. A small part of her was screaming, "Demon! Demon! Evil demon! Bad!" Most of the rest of her shut it up quickly with; "Hot, sexy demon prince. Besides, he's Vegeta." This seemed to satisfy the other bits fairly well, but Bulma still couldn't seem to find a reaction other than emphatically *not* melting into a puddle of angelic goo.

"Well," she finally said to the empty dawn. "That was. . .sudden."

* * *

Chi-Chi and Goku circled one another on the sands of the arena, each gauging the other's strengths and weaknesses, neither willing to make the first move. They seemed ready to continue in this pattern all day, and Raditz was just leaning back on the sidelines when Bardock's eyes narrowed.

"Here it comes. . ." he whispered, and Raditz shot upright again hastily as Chi-Chi dove for his younger brother's throat. Goku dodged, and both fighters vanished into a blur of motion. After a few minutes of this, they flew apart, panting, and began to circle one another once again.

"You've been training, Kakarott," Chi-Chi said, warily. Although her eyes met Goku's squarely, they were shuttered, giving away nothing of what she was thinking no matter how hard Goku tried to read her.

"So have you," he answered. He tried to think of something else to say, but the brief conversation seemed to have died a sudden death. Chi-Chi came in again, but flipped over his head at the last minute and tossed a ki blast at him as he turned. The attack caught him slightly off balance, but he managed to dodge the worst of it and bounce back up- straight into Chi- Chi's snap kick. He yielded to the force of the blow, flipping backwards with its momentum and coming back in for an attack of his own which landed solidly and threw Chi-Chi back a little, off balance. Goku didn't feel guilty; he gave his all in every fight, especially when fighting people he respected and/or liked. It would have been dishonorable to do otherwise. He tried to press his advantage, but Chi-Chi recovered quickly and ducked away. They resumed circling.

On the sidelines, Bardock leaned back against the wall of the arena. "This is definitely going to take a while. They're well matched." He eyed his oldest son, who was leaning forward towards the fighters on the sand, almost vibrating with the intensity of his concentration on the battle. "Relax, Raditz. You're going to make me tense if you keep that up, not to mention giving yourself muscle cramps."

Raditz took a deep breath and forced himself to lean back, only to bolt up again as Goku and Chi-Chi once again blurred into motion. Bardock heaved a sigh of resignation; so much for getting Raditz to relax. The blur once again resolved itself into two distinct shapes, but this time Chi-Chi had gained a slash on one arm. She didn't wipe the blood away, merely narrowed her eyes and crouched. Goku seemed to pay it no mind at all, his eyes flickering only briefly to the wound before returning to his opponent's face and torso. They continued.

* * *

In Heaven, Kuririn was having a very frustrating day. The paperwork was piling up, people were coming to him with complaints about everything from the temperature of their quarters to the lax security (the latter was actually a valid concern, but Kuririn was too busy to do anything about it and doubted the demons would attack again so soon after the recent battle, anyway), and he was developing a migraine. His current petitioner was an old friend, but Kuririn was still seriously contemplating throwing him out. The beleaguered angel pinched his skull where the bridge of his nose would have been if he'd had one, and sighed.

"Ask me that again, Yamcha, just so I'll be sure that you are actually being this stupid."

"I want to take a search party out and look for Bulma," his scarred friend replied, leaning forward earnestly and pushing a stray bit of his long black hair out of his face. "Please, Kuririn. She could be hurt! She could be in danger! I have to find her, I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to her!"

"Yamcha," Kuririn stated patiently. "You can't." He held up a hand to forestall Yamcha's protest, and continued. "One, you have no clue where to look for her. Two, she could very well have been captured, and in that case it would do nada if you went looking for her." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Three, I can't really spare the angels right now, and four, much as I hate to even think about it, she could be. . ."

"Hi, guys! What's going on?"

"Never mind, I see she isn't," Kuririn sighed, leaning back as Bulma entered nonchalantly, as though she hadn't been missing for nearly a month, and smiled brightly at them. If the smile was a bit forced, Yamcha was too overjoyed and Kuririn too stressed out to notice.

"Bulma! You're back! You're safe! I missed you so much!" Yamcha swept her up in an exuberant hug, which she returned, smiling.

"Of course I'm safe, you big dope. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"So where were you for a whole month?" Yamcha asked, curiously. "You had me really worried, Bulma."

"I was. . .in a cave." Bulma silently cursed her angelic honesty. "I'll tell you later, okay? It's a really long story."

"Welcome back, Bulma. Please tell me you brought Goku." Kuririn's eyes were full of pleading, but Bulma only looked troubled.

"He's missing? No one told me that."

"Well, crap," Kuririn sighed frankly, rubbing his temples.

"They made you take over, didn't they?" Bulma's eyes sparked with just a bit of humor. "Poor baby."

"I develop new respect for Goku every day. I always thought he was a bit thick when he wasn't fighting, but this," Kuririn gestured around himself at his paper-covered desk, "It's incredible! How did he possibly get through it all?"

Bulma stifled a chuckle. "You want to know his secret?" Kuririn nodded desperately, and the blue-haired angel grinned wickedly before continuing. "He didn't."

Kuririn blinked twice, and his eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. "What do you mean, he didn't?"

"Goku followed a very practical managerial approach; throw everything away. Anything that someone has time to write down can't be that important, and if it becomes that important then he'd deal with it then, when there was no paper involved." Bulma allowed herself a smug grin. "I taught him myself. Makes things a lot simpler."

Kuririn blinked for a moment, then grinned suddenly. "Well, that makes sense. Thanks, Bulma. You've just saved my sanity and my image of Goku."

"Speaking of which, you really have no idea where he is?"

"None whatsoever," Yamcha replied. "The last anybody saw of him was during the battle, and then. . .poof. Utterly disappeared."

Bulma frowned. "That's weird. Vegeta. . .I mean, I don't think he was injured that badly when he was fighting Vegeta."

Kuririn shrugged. "Well, wherever he is, I hope he comes back soon. This job is going to kill me!"

* * *

The fight progressed into midday, with both combatants tiring at approximately the same rate. It was obvious that the fight would be a close one, and Bardock, who was settled on the sidelines with a very jumpy Raditz, knew that when the end came it would be sudden. Goku and Chi-Chi were circling again, both panting, both bloodied, their clothes burned and ripped although not indecently so. As they sprang towards one another again and Raditz tensed, Bardock was struck by a sudden foreboding; this would be the last engagement. Although his relaxed posture didn't change, his eyes narrowed as he followed the two blurred figures with rapt attention.

Goku barely saw the attack coming. Chi-Chi had fallen into a pattern; a fast, powerful, difficult pattern, to be sure, but a pattern nonetheless, and he prepared to counter the next move. However, he should not have relied on this pattern; the next attack was sudden, unexpected, and very erratic. As Goku braced to receive her next kick, the demon girl suddenly broke away and flew almost faster than the eye could follow up and over his head in a ki-assisted trajectory, flipping so that she landed facing him and flinging her blast while he was still turning. Almost too late, Goku reacted on pure instinct, rocketing up and out of the path of the attack instead of trying a last-minute block which would have been doomed to failure. However, he stayed barely ahead of the beam as Chi-Chi turned rapidly to keep him in her sights. His trajectory brought him closer to her, though, and he lashed out in passing before he hit the sand in a barely controlled roll of a landing. It was enough; Chi-Chi lost her concentration, the beam spluttered, and Goku twisted and shot forward, hitting her squarely and sending them both to the sand with Chi-Chi on the bottom.

The pair simply lay for a moment, recovering, although Goku's grip on Chi-Chi allowed no possibility of escape. As they lay panting, however, Chi- Chi's furious glare gradually faded until she was staring up at him with an expression of. . . sadness? Almost, although there was still a hint of anger in those eyes as well.

"Why?" she whispered, so quietly that even Goku, directly on top of her, had to strain his keen ears to understand. "Why did you leave? You idiot! Why?"

Goku blinked, taken aback. "Chi. . . I. . .for what it's worth," he was speaking softly now, as well, almost as softly as her. This was private. "I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to?!" she half-laughed, half-sobbed.

"It. . .it all happened so fast," he confessed. "I didn't think of the damage until it was far too late to turn back. I. . . Chi, I'm sorry."

His grip had slackened during his speech, but Chi-Chi didn't try to escape. She smiled at the use of her old nickname, very faintly, although her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Kakarott. . . I missed you." She drew him down and kissed him before he knew what was happening.

On the sidelines, Raditz's jaw dropped, Bardock blinked and then began to smirk, and the entire crowd rose to their feet with a collective gasp. Even King Vegeta lost his composure for an instant, rising to his feet with a shout.

"Enough! The match is finished!" Goku and Chi-Chi moved apart guiltily but with reluctance at the King's exclamation and stood like children who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, looking at the sand and shuffling their feet. Before anyone had recovered, however, a familiar figure burst through the main gates of the stadium.

"How dare you! Kakarotto is my opponent! How dare you send others against him?!"

"P-prince Vegeta!" The voice of the guard at the gate seemed to shake the gathered demons out of their shock, and a hush fell as the entire audience, as well as Bardock and Raditz, bowed. Goku blinked, and then a huge grin spread across his face.

"I knew it!" he hissed to Chi-Chi, who was still standing beside him. "I knew he couldn't be dead!"

The demon girl shook her head slightly in astonishment as Goku looked back at Vegeta. 'He's insane,' she thought fondly. 'To be so happy that his enemy wasn't killed. . .well, I suppose it shows either great spirit, or an unwillingness to finally betray us. Either way. . .he's still insane, but I love him.' She shook her head again as the implications of that private admission sunk in. 'I must be insane!'

While she was occupied with these thoughts, Vegeta stalked across the arena and halted in front of Goku. A familiar sneer twisted the demon prince's lips.

"So, Kakarott. You've gotten careless."

"Er. . .sorry, Vegeta." Goku placed a hand behind his head, sheepishly.

Meanwhile, King Vegeta had recovered from his shock. "Vegeta, give an account of yourself. Where have you been?"

"Recovering, father," The prince answered smoothly, turning away from Goku and giving a quick bow to Vegeta Sr. "I was injured in my last fight and could not return until now."

He was a good liar. Out of all the assembled demons, Goku was the only one who guessed that Vegeta was not telling the entire truth about his whereabouts over the past month, and only because he had inflicted the wound that Vegeta had mentioned. He knew that Vegeta would have died without help. . .but whose?

As he pondered this, Vegeta straightened up and began a strident tirade. "Father, I demand that Kakarott be set free at once!" He took no notice of the gasps this engendered among the watching crowd, and continued. "I made a pact with him to fight none but me until his death. He is my opponent only! Release him immediately!"

King Vegeta took a deep breath. . .and sighed. "Very well. As my son demands it, and as the accused can no longer be tried for even the suspicion of murder, this trial is declared void. You may go, Kakarotto."

Goku bowed respectfully. "Thank you, your majesty." He turned to the younger Vegeta. "Now?"

Vegeta had no need to ask what that question meant. "No. You're tired, bruised, and bloody. It would be a waste of my time. Be grateful, Kakarott. For now, your life is spared."

"Bardock, Raditz." The two demons snapped to attention as King Vegeta spoke their names. "Accompany Kakarotto until he is beyond our boundaries. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," they answered in crisp unison, and flew across the arena sand with a few wingbeats to land lightly beside Goku. Raditz smirked knowingly at him, but Goku only looked innocently bemused in response. Bardock nodded at his younger son in satisfaction, and Chi-Chi stepped up to Goku's side.

"I will go with you," she announced, quietly but firmly. Vegeta shot her a puzzled glance at this, and cocked an eyebrow, wordlessly inviting an explanation. She only gave him a look which was plainly 'I'll explain later' and followed Goku into the air. Both of the prince's eyebrows went up when he saw how her hand sought Goku's but he had more to worry about at the moment. He turned back to the king, his father, and ignored the little nagging voice which was asking him if he would have spared Kakarotto quite so easily if he hadn't known how upset Bulma would have been at the angel- cum-demon's death.
* * *

At the border between Heaven and Hell, Bardock motioned for his two sons and Chi-Chi to descend. They nodded in acknowledgement, and a moment later four soft thumps announced their landing in the otherwise silent landscape.

"This is where we leave you," Bardock announced without preamble. "Goodbye and good luck, son. We'll meet again soon."

"I hope so," Goku replied, smiling and accepting his father's proffered hand. They exchanged a firm shake, and Bardock leapt into the air.

"It's been fun, especially seeing you beat the crap out of that big lug, Nappa," Raditz grinned, slapping his brother on the back. "See ya around, little bro."

"Bye for now, big bro," Goku replied, grinning in return. As a final farewell, Raditz jerked his head at Chi-Chi and winked suggestively at his brother before leaping into the air after Bardock. Chi-Chi blushed faintly; Goku only looked clueless, as usual when in non-fighting circumstances. The beating of wings slowly faded away into the sky, and there was a rather awkward silence.

Goku broke it at last. "I guess. . .you should be heading back now, huh?"

"I should," Chi-Chi agreed, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. "I. . ." slowly, but resolutely, she met his gaze. "I will wait for you, Kakarott. Goku." Before he could formulate a reply, she was gone, disappearing into the sky over the realm of Hell. He gazed after her for a long moment, black eyes reflecting none of his thoughts, and then turned on his heel and rose, with a leap and a fierce beating of angelic wings, into the air of Heaven.