Chapter Eight: He's Gone

Eight hours later, Goku woke up to find himself inside his bedroom. No one else was around, so he tried to get up. But his body was exhausted, and his head throbbed, so he lay back on his pillows. There was a soft knock at the door, and Claudia came in. Goku smiled when he saw her.

"Hey."

She sat next to him on the bed, and kissed his forehead.

"How are you feeling?"

She took his huge hand, and held it inbetween her petite ones. Goku had a sudden flashback…

"You really overdid it this time, baka."

We were in the medical bay of Capsule Corp, Vegeta sitting next to me on my hospital bed, smiling gently and mixing some painkillers into my chicken soup. I grinned back at him.

" I guess you're right. But it was a great sparring session, hey?"

Vegeta passed me the huge bowl of piping hot soup, and he smiled at me as I slurped down all six liters greedily.

'Slow down! You'll burn your tongue, and you've already got enough injuries to contend with."

I just chuckled.

"I'm not injured, Geta, just exhausted. Sometimes I get carried away, that's all."

I put my empty bowl on the side table, then put my hand on Vegeta's knee.

"Don't worry about me, Ouji. I'll be just fine."

He just put his hand on top of mine, and squeezed gently.

"You always are, Kakarot. Just get some sleep, I'll come check on you later."

I remember pulling him into a hug, and he hugged back. He always gave me such great hugs, as rare as they were. He always poured so much love into them. In retrospect, he probably would have hugged me a lot more, if he'd known that I would have liked him to. Strangely though, he told me everything about himself, yet I held so much back. Well, he told me everything except that he loved me. I wish I'd known sooner.

Things would have been different.

Maybe things would have been better…

"Hey, you okay?"

Goku blinked, then realized that he'd zoned out for a few seconds. He shook his head to clear it.

"I'm fine. What happened?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know. But we can ask the two young men that found you and brought you home. They might know. I'll call them."

She got up and left the room. A few moments later, Goten and Trunks walked in, their tails bristling and shaking slightly. They nodded curtly at Claudia, and took two chairs about a metre away from Goku's bed. Trunks had the same cold stare that his father had given Goku when he last saw him. Goten looked equally angry. He had that horrible, cold, calculating anger that is worse than any other. Goku looked from one demi saiyan to the other, and started feeling a little nervous, and sick in his stomach. Trunks was the first to speak.

"I see that you're okay."

A simple statement, nothing more.

Goku couldn't tell if this fact disappointed Trunks. He just nodded.

"What happened?"

Goten crossed his arms.

"Vegeta simply wanted to scare you, that's all. His two energy beams completely missed you and crashed into each other instead. All you felt was the shockwave that resulted. Trunks and I were watching the whole thing from a distance. Vegeta's transformation was mind blowing, I'm glad I got to see it."

Trunks scowled.

"But what we didn't like were your last few words to him. Selfish bastard, you called him, wasn't it? And what about 'You possessive asshole?' I could have sworn I heard you call him that too."

"Well, I –"

"Spare me, Goku." snapped Goten. Goku's mouth hung open.

'What!?"

"You're not my real father any more. Remember, you told Claudia that you have no family. Her friends are your new friends. Vegeta cared for me as though I were his own blood, but because you're so desperate to fit in, you denied me, Gohan, all our friends, Vegeta, and yourself. Some father you are."

Goku looked down, fighting back the tears. All he wanted was to be happy, to do what he wanted for a change, instead of being everyone's doormat. But why was it all falling apart?
Maybe he was in the wrong. He'd gone from being utterly selfless, to being totally selfish. He'd screwed over his family and friends. He'd hurt Vegeta enough to cause him to ascend to another level. He'd made Vegeta cry, and that is a sickening thing.

"I'm sorry, Goten." Goten snorted.

"It's too late. Vegeta's left the planet. He blasted off about two hours ago. He's been preparing to leave for a while. Except, in his planning stages, he was hoping that you'd join him. He's totally devastated, do you realize that? Of course you don't. Vegeta isn't Claudia, so he means nothing to you anymore. We mean nothing. Maybe if we were Claudia's kids, or her friends, it would be different."

Goten looked at his father with a mixture of sadness and anger on his face. Goku felt so hurt. It was all true. Where had he gone so horribly wrong?

"We're going now. We just wanted to make sure that the Earth's saviour wasn't too badly scratched. My father would never have done anything to hurt you. He left the planet because he felt he was getting in the way of your happiness. He's not the selfish one here, Goku.

It's you.'

Trunks smirked.

"And seeing as you'll live to save the planet again" - Trunks was heavily sarcastic on the last line - "We're going to Roshi's island. My dad told us that we should spend time together as a group, and we're taking his advice. You're invited, of course, but Claudia probably doesn't want to meet your freak family and friends."

Trunks and Goten stood up, and without a further word or a backward glance, they walked out the room.

Goku put his head in his hands and cried.

An- Goku is starting to get it into his thick head that he was wrong. I'm hoping that I haven't twisted his character too far out, but it's for good reason.

Ps: since there is no way to remove chapters, I am killing off my Whatever, Kakarot, whatever story! I've screwed it up beyond all help! So I'm going to start again. There goes 30 reviews…grr. But, I have reached the 175 review mark, and 75 of those reviews are just for this story!!!

Jay girl – Goku's an idiot. Let's face it. A sweet idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.

Veggies boo- keep that box nearby for the death of Clodia! That clone will have a go, don't worry. 

Musaka14 – I think a mallet is a far better weapon! Keep your shonen safe.

TheTrueSilver – yes, Vegeta has finally spoken up.

Ozumas girl – glad you like the ssj4! I won't kill Goku, don't worry. I'll let him torture himself!

A Paler Shade of Blue – once again, you have summed up what I'm trying to say. Goku does think its too late, and he's too scared to try.

Kawaii- yes, new transformations are always unexpected!

dc-sais – good, glad you liked it.

Goleta – that's true, Vegeta should have said something before Claudia ruined everything…

Layann – I think many readers are feeling the same. But feel free to abuse Claudia!

Hudine – perhaps he does, but he will suffer soon, and it's self-induced!

LadyLupin – hey! Great idea! But maybe not Goku.

Midnight-flame-princess = in my opinon, I think Goku was a little jealous of Vegeta's transformation! Haha!