DD/N: Well, hello again! I never thought I would update so fast, you? Hee-hee… well… I love this chapter, it has such a nice touch (I don't intend to be proud of myself… it's not MY nice touch, I wrote it, yes, but that's not the nice touch. You'll see for yourself.). Have fun!

Chapter III: The ownership of Vegeta-O

Shareton Hotel, Papaya Island, Evening

The rain splashed against the windows, it hadn't stopped, but it didn't cease the mood of the reunited friends sitting inside the hotel room.

Muten Roshi grumbled over his deck and looked into the group. They were caught in a game of poker and he was sure that he was loosing. He looked over to Bulma, who was concentrating the best she could, then to Launch, who was trying to keep a poker face, but kept failing. His gaze drifted to Tenshinhan and Chao-zu, who still didn't understand the rules, then to Yamcha, who was grinning ear-to-ear and then to Krillin, who was frowning. He seemed to have luck this time. He had a Flush and in the mirror behind Yamcha he could clearly see that his former student only had a three-of-a-kind, against the others he surely wouldn't have a problem. But then his gaze wandered towards his youngest student and he tried to read the facial expressions of the young man, but just couldn't place a thing. Gokou kept his face hard and concentrated, when he looked upwards with a hawk-like gaze and right into his masters eyes. Without even blinking the teen looked back at his cards, only moving his eyes and Muten Roshi grumbled: "Damn your poker face, Gokou."

The teen looked upwards again, clearly surprised: "It's not my fault if you are grinning like an idiot, sensei."

Bulma frowned: "I'm out.", she threw her cards in front of her, the others except for Gokou and Muten Roshi followed.

The old martial-artist frowned too and looked at Gokous' unreadable face, when his student looked up again with such intensity in his eyes, that the old man shuddered.

Tenshinhan laughed: "Hey Gokou!! This is poker, not battle! Keep your battle look for tomorrow!"

Gokou couldn't help but grin, but then he gazed at his former master again, forcing the elder to shudder unwillingly yet again: "Will you cut that out!! It's scaring the daylights out of me! Geez!! I give up!", he threw down his cards and Launch blinked: "You could've dished out that Flush you know."

"No… I think Gokou would've won anyway. Most probably the kid's got a Royal flush and I don't want to risk that!", the master grumbled and looked angrily at his former student.

Gokou broke out into a grin and burst out laughing: "I won!"

"Don't rub it in…", Muten Roshi murmured.

"I don't intend on doing that, sensei… but… look with WHAT I won…", Gokou threw down his deck and Muten Roshis' eyes bulged: "DAMN YOU! You have nothing but a Straight!"

Yamcha blinked and looked at his youngest friend unbelievingly, while Chao-zu gathered up the cards with his telekinetical talents. Muten Roshi was angry to no end and he let it out: "Let's go to bed. You all need sleep for tomorrow!"

Bulma, Oolong, Pool and Launch bid their goodnights and left the room to the boys. Muten Roshi stomped towards the bathroom: "I'll shower first."

The door slammed and Gokou furrowed a brow: "Well, loosing sure got him up the roof."

"Guess he didn't expect to loose against the youngest of all.", Krillin guessed: "Maybe he thought he could win against you because you lacked the experience."

His best friend sniggered: "Heh… I guess the great master yet has to learn an important lesson of martial-arts: NEVER underestimate your enemy."

"I HEARD THAT!!!"

Gokou turned around in surprise and just could move his head to the side; so that the bunny-plush-shoes wouldn't hit him square in the face. There stood Muten Roshi, without sunglasses and a puny towel covering what was needed. On one of his feet he wore a bunny-plush-shoe, but the other was bare and his face was beet-red from anger: "Unthankful brat!"

The boys blinked, then Krillin burst out laughing, followed closely by Gokou and Yamcha. Even Tenshinhan had trouble keeping his composure, while Chao-zu grinned. Muten Roshi grumbled: "WHAT?!"

Yamcha wiped away a tear from his eye, stifling a laugh: "Nothing… we're… just laughing… over your outfit, master."

"Your incredibly cute outfit to that.", Gokou laughed, then he faked a high-pitched girlish voice: "Oh my, darling! Pink looks soooooo adorable, it fits wonderfully to your taint!"

That's when even Tenshinhan and Chao-zu burst out laughing and Yamcha and Krillin were sent into another fit of laughter, while Gokou was enjoying the face of his former master, who had now gone even redder than before: "ARGH!! Ever since you came back, you only humiliated me!!"

"Just getting the favor back at you for embarrassing Krillin and me in public by grabbing girls butts.", Gokou grinned, trying hard not to laugh.

Just a second later, Gokou would regret saying that sentence, because Muten Roshi had a smart comeback up his sleeve… erm… where his sleeve should be I mean: "Well sorry for living out your teenage hormones!!"

That shut all boys up and Gokou sulked and their master quickly added: "Come to think of it, Gokou… you never really had a interest in girls. Maybe you're gay, since you like my bunny-shoes…"

Krillin sweat dropped, while Gokou was boiling and his best friend had to actually calm him down: "Maa, maa, Gokou… don't you dare take that seriously…", suddenly he noticed an evil twinkle in the taller teens eyes and grinned. Revenge was theirs!

"My, my, master, I never thought you felt that way!", Gokou stalked towards their master,  planted his hands on his hips and bent down to the height of the old man, so that their noses were barely touching: "I thought you dreamt of ravishing the bodies of girls and not the bodies of your students."

Yamcha leapt and hissed: "Gokou?! That from your mouth?!"

"Come to think of it… there's one thing you didn't teach us yet…", Gokous' voice was deeper again, but this time it didn't sound aggressive, but very seductive.

To Muten Roshis' bad luck, he had a blossoming imagination and the pictures he was having at the moment in his head almost made him sick. With his mind swirling, his stomach lurching and Gokous' teasing voice, he couldn't even see straight anymore… so… he fainted. Yamcha, Krillin, Tenshinhan and Chao-zu stared, while Gokou held up a peace sign: "Three to one!", he turned to them and grinned: "Well, I think one of you should help me get him into bed before he catches a cold… anyway… he doesn't fit to the coloring, does he?"

Yamcha chuckled and went over to the younger: "Nope.", he grabbed his former master under the armpits, while Gokou grabbed his legs: "Geez!! He's only bones and still weighs like a ton!"

They laid their master onto his bed and tucked him in, when Krillin piped up: "How about another game of poker."

Yamcha grabbed himself a towel: "Sorry guys, but I'm taking a shower."

Krillin turned his gaze to his best friend, who smiled and answered: "Nah, I'll pass. I think I'll take a grab for fresh air."

"Oh, okay then. More winning chances for us!", Krillin cheered and sat down.

Yamcha shook his head and closed the bathroom door. He hung his towel onto a rack, threw his clothes onto the counter and jumped into the shower, turning the water on. The water spray hit his face and he pulled out the hair band out of his mane. Water droplets ran down his body, while he thought about the past hours: "Somehow the mood in the whole group has gotten a little cheerier. Maybe because we're all getting older and more mature, but somehow everybody still kept their role. Lunch is still the one taking care of us all, Master Roshi gives us advice wherever he can, Bulma is… well Bulma, Krillin is cheery as always, Chao-zu silent and Tenshinhan… well, he loosened up a little. Oolong, still is the same old pervert and Pool still a good friend. But Gokou? He's changed a lot. I hardly recognize the small kid I learnt to appreciate all those years ago. He's smarter and less naïve as I remember and he sure has got one hell of a mouth. I never thought he would actually bring it so far that even Master Roshi faints. I guess he's finally grown up.", while thinking he had finished his shower and now he dried himself off: "Seems like Kami-sama didn't only give him physical training, but mental too."

Yamcha wore his clothes and stepped out of the bathroom, his towel hanging around his neck and he saw Chao-zu, Tenshinhan and Krillin deeply engrossed in their poker game. He walked over to them: "Don't tell me Gokou is still sitting out in the cold with no sleeves!"

Krillin looked up, then over to the balcony: "He is. I called him in, but he said it's quite warm even. He's changed a lot in the past three years… and to be true, I feel slightly disturbed by it."

Tenshinhan looked up too: "Maybe he knows something we don't…"

"I'll go and check. Not that he catches himself a cold. We all know how bad a cold can be when you have to fight.", Yamcha suggested and the three approved. The scarred man stepped onto the balcony and found Gokou sitting on the floor, his arm propped on his knee and his head resting his palm, staring off into the city with a far away and sad gaze.

Yamcha sat down on the chair opposite the younger: "Gokou?"

Gokou reacted quickly by turning his head and faking a smile: "Yea?"

Yamcha was surprised by the sudden change, but decided not to question: "You'll catch a cold if you sit on the cold floor out here any longer you know."

"Aw no. I've been raised in the wild, remember? I'm born to resist!", Gokou joked, grinning, but Yamcha still could see a hint of sadness behind the entire mask: "What are you doing out here anyway?"

Gokou returned his gaze to the city, then he looked upwards: "Hm…"

Patiently the older waited for an answer, but it wasn't what he expected: "Pulling off the lone warrior stunt, I guess…", he had expected everything. Everything but that. The voice of his friend had no emotion, not even a hint of sadness, it was just monotone… totally unlike the Gokou he knew.

Gokou felt the stare of his friend and lifted his hand to trace the scratches in the metal bars of the balcony: "Sure, I have you guys as friends and all, but… I feel like I never belonged here. Somehow I'm out of place, different, with nobody else who is different too. Yes, the others are also a little different in their own way, but at least… at least they can say that they were born live, born to be themselves… just to be there to fill a gap. Other people can see them and walk on, knowing that they are normal people without anything totally out of place. You see many people without noses, some people with one eye or with three, guys that look like small kids or a guy who has got a few scars. But I bet you, you will never see a black-eyed, spiky-haired teenager with a furry tail and so much power that it's scary!"

Yamcha nodded sadly: "True… but exactly that makes you to something special, Gokou."

Gokou leaned his forehead onto the bars: "I'm not special. I'm just one survivor of five from a nearly extinct race.", his left hand wandered to his right shoulder and gripped it: "I'm just the leftover property of a dead king."

The former bandit nearly fell out of his seat: "Property?!"

The younger looked at him with a dark gaze, took off his shirt and turned his back to him. Yamcha stood up and kneeled to take a look. A small piece of skin was peeling and Gokou spoke up: "Under my right shoulder there should be some skin peeling… tear it off."

Not knowing what this should become, Yamcha pulled it off and Gokou didn't even flinch a bit. Yamcha found out why. The piece of skin was nothing more than a skin colored gum-like sticker to cover up a tattoo and a scar. The scar was nothing more but a sun within a circle, under which stood in small letters, cut into the skin: 'Fortitudo et vis'. Underneath the scar was written in bold letters, in form of a tattoo: 'Shoyuken wa no Saiyajin Vegeta-O'.

"What the…", Yamcha only brought out in shock: "What does all this mean?"

"The sun within the circle is the crest of the royal house, 'Fortitudo et vis' is the motto: 'Bravery and power' and the last sentence means: Ownership of the Saiyajin King Vegeta. I'm so glad that damn patriarch died, at least I'm disowned and can go wherever I want to, but as soon as the prince, who sadly survived, finds out where I am… I don't even want to think of the consequences.", Gokou growled: "He's just a stuck up as his arrogant ass of a father. They rule you, they own you, they whip you.", he slid his shirt over his head again.

Now Yamcha knew why Gokou felt different. Compared to others who never ever have been enslaved and owned and are free, he was still 'ownership' of a prince who was still out there, somewhere. He had to live with the fear to be found and that he couldn't be free.

Yamcha grabbed Gokous' shoulder and turned him around to look into his eyes: "Gokou, I know I won't be able to feel what you do, but I do know that you saved the others, the world and me countless times. I owe so much to you, but I know I could never repay you for all the things you did. I honor you for everything you have done. No matter what, you never lost faith in your friends and you never stabbed us into the back. And even now. Every other person would have broken down, would want to die, but not you. In the whole time I knew you… I only saw you once cry and even then… you didn't cry out of grief. You are stubborn… but that is your strength.", Gokou looked rather surprised, but was even more surprised when Yamcha pulled him close and hugged him: "Thank you, Gokou… thank you for everything. I hate to see you suffer. Don't stuff it all inside you… let it out… you can let it all out."

Yamcha didn't know what made Gokou loose it, if he was listening or if his words had gotten through, but he knew that it was good to have a friend when he was needed. The former bandit was also relieved. Relieved that he could finally show how much he appreciated his friend. Soothingly he stroked the back of the younger, whose sniffing started to cease. Yamcha looked down and had to stifle a laugh. Gokou hadn't stopped crying, but he had fallen asleep! The only thing he could think of was: "That's typical Gokou alright." Slowly he stood, careful not to wake the teen up and held him almost protectively. While sleeping, Gokou looked as if he could only lift as much as a girl who never even touched a weight and also looked as fragile as one. This sparked the protectiveness of the former bandit and he wondered angrily how someone could even dare to burn his mark into the soft skin of the young warrior.

Yamcha was thrown out of his thoughts when Gokou suddenly shivered, obviously feeling cold outside in the brisk night air. He carried the sleeping form inside, where the other three looked up in surprise.

Krillin pulled up his brows: "Gee, what did you do to him? Knock him out, because he didn't want to come in?"

The elder chuckled: "No, he fell asleep and we better not wake him up until tomorrow."

"Right.", quickly, but silently, Krillin leaped to Gokous' bed and put the covers aside, so that Yamcha could put him to bed.

Slowly Yamcha lowered Gokou into the mattress, when he noticed that the younger had gripped the fabric of his gi. Yamcha tried to pry off his fingers, but failed miserably: "What is this? Even in his sleep he's got a death grip!"

The others laughed and Gokou reacted to the sound by letting go his friend and turning onto his side to sleep on.

Yamcha and Krillin shook their heads: "He'll never change."

For once, I didn't have trouble cutting the chapter. Thank you for reviewing:

Ichigo: I love smart-ass Gokou too… especially when he embarrasses Muten Roshi. What Chao-zu knows will be revealed a bit later around the tournament. I always thought he seemed a little 'all-knowing', so he get's to know about Saiyajins. Böblingen is near Stuttgart and well… it's puny to say the least. And greetings back!

Well, since Ichigo asked me about MCcH's hp, I'll give ya the link. It's still under BIG construction though… but she says she'll be working on it today. Here we go:

Love ya all,

Melli