Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will.
A/N: How did I ever let myself get swamped by so many writing projects? Oh well! I have vacation coming up soon! Hopefully I can get a lot of creative work done then! Anyway, enjoy! Kind of a mush chapter though. *sweatdrop*
****
Just peeking over horizon, the golden sun seeps into the cabin's window, casting a shining glow on Goku's sleeping face. He moans and covers his face with his blanket. Then a shadow covers the entire pillow and a hand roughly shakes him from his sleep, "Hey, wake up. You need to start training today."
Goku blinks through blurry eyes and sees Vegeta standing over him. He watches him for a minute, before he turns over and falls back asleep.
Vegeta's eye twitches.
The next thing Goku knows, his whole body is flung into ice cold water, and he wakes up completely submerged. He thrashes around, nearly drowning, until he lets himself float up in the right direction, and kicks upwards breaking the surface of the water. Seeing Vegeta at the edge of the river, smirking at him, Goku yells angrily, "What the heck was that for?!"
"It's good for training."
The young saiyajin paddles over to the side of the river and looks up at his parent/guardian, "But father! I just recovered a month ago!"
The ouji huffs, "Then you should've started training a month ago! I won't have anyone slacking off under my care like some sickling!" He heads back towards the cabin, leaving Goku behind him. "I don't expect you to come back until after breakfast, so don't you dare show up while I'm eating!"
Goku demands, "Well what am I supposed to do until then?!"
"Exercise! Swim! Run around a bit, I don't know! But I won't be happy unless you show up dog tired." With that he leaves Goku on his own, to fend for himself for a few hours.
Groaning, Goku hoists himself out of the water, sopping wet. He starts wringing his clothes dry, looking around at the intimidating forest and back at the path that leads to the cabin on his right. With a sigh, he heads in the opposite direction to his left.
Only to become lost about half an hour later.
Goku stares around the dense forest with worry. He wishes that his father could have at least shown him around a little bit before letting himself get lost in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly he trips on something and lands smack down on his face. Jumping up he immediately looks for the offending object. He finds a bamboo rod, recently cut down just lying there in the middle of his path. Frowning, he picks it up and holds it in both hands.
Suddenly, he has flashes of something red, almost like the bamboo rod he's holding now. He shakes the visions away, and his hands start itching to do something. Curious he lets his mind go, his body takes the position of a spearman in high stance. He imagines an invisible target, a bear that he saw wander under the tree house one day, and his body starts going through intensive and complicated techniques of a master of the staff. After three fishermen stabs and a low blow to trip the imaginary bear, he finishes by jumping high up in the air and smacking the staff right down the middle of the bears head.
Dust collects up around him after that attack and Goku through the small particles. Only when the dust settles does he realize the damage that he's done. Nearly the whole area is decimated, tree trunks slashed down, merely by the momentum of the bamboo. Rods of cut bamboo strewn across the path. Even boulders are smashed into bits of rubble.
Goku drops the flimsy bamboo stick and stares at the scene in horror. He had absolutely no idea. Shivering in fear, he looks at his shaking hands. Hands that hold even the power to kill. Instantly he bolts into the forest, not caring where he's going or how far. All he knows is he has to get away from there. And stay away.
****
Vegeta squints up at the high noon sun, and then checks his watch. It's just five minutes past one o'clock. He paces the camp zone under the tree house, always glancing up at the path into the forest, half-expecting Goku to come running. He mutters to himself, "What am I so worried about? He knows how to hunt. He can take care of himself well enough."
But he continues to pace anyway.
****
Half past four.
Vegeta yells up at the sky, "Where the hell is he?!"
****
A quarter before seven. The sun is starting to set.
Finally fed up with just pacing, Vegeta heads out into the dense forest in search of the young saiyajin. Possibilities of the worst swarm his mind and he hastily speeds through the tree tops, anxiety getting the better of him. Every so often, he yells out into the black jungle, "PRINCE GOKU!!!" "PRINCE GOKU!!!" "COME OUT RIGHT NOW!!!" "YOU BETTER NOT BE HIDING! OR I'LL KILL YOU!!" "PRINCE GOKU!!!"
He starts cursing the day he ever decided to go with Dende's plan to come here in the first place. {How could I have been so stupid as to agree to come into a ki-less jungle?! Maybe it's harder for Blade to find us, but at least I can tell where Prince Goku is at all times! Now he could be anywhere! What if he knocked himself out! What if he got sucked into quicksand! Oh god, he can't even die if that happens!} He screams out once more, "PRINCE GOKU!!!" adrenaline and fear heightening all his senses and making him move faster.
He comes over to the small stone cave that he killed his first bear in and pauses outside of it, listening to it's echoing chasm carefully. Someone is in there. Crying. Without another hesitation, he jumps down from the trees and runs into the cave yelling, "Prince Goku!"
At once the crying stops and the cave grows deathly quiet. Vegeta summons a small ball of ki to light his way and the orb casts a bluish glow on everything in the cave. Suddenly the light shines on the furthest part of the cave and the ouji can see a small child huddled up against the back of the stony cavern. He lets out a huge sigh of relief and feels all his anxiety drain away from him, {Thank Kami.} He puts out the ball of ki and walks up to Goku, ducking his head down because of the sheer lowness of the ceiling. He says calmly, "Prince Goku?"
A startled sob answers him and a tired voice cries, "No, no. Stay away from me."
Vegeta frowns, "What? Are you hurt?"
Goku looks up at the ouji through tear streaked eyes. "Please. Don't come near me! You'll get hurt!"
His guardian merely huffs, "Now you're just being ridiculous!" He comes up next to Goku, who just cringes away from him. He demands, "Prince Goku, what's the matter!"
The young saiyajin yells, "WHAT'S THE MATTER?! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME! I DID THINGS THAT CAN'T BE HUMANLY POSSIBLE!!"
Vegeta's eyes widen, "Okay, Prince Goku, just calm down."
"CALM DOWN?! HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?!"
"Will you listen to me, you brat!" the ouji yells, grabbing Goku's hand.
However, Goku thrashes Vegeta's hand away, "DON'T TOUCH ME!!" Then he continues to scream, going into hysterics, "I WRECKED BOULDERS WITH A ROTTEN STICK! I'M SCREWED UP!! A FREAK OF NATURE!!"
On sudden impulse, Vegeta slaps Goku across the face and before the young saiyajin can even react, he pulls Goku into his chest, holding him tightly. The little boy shivers in his strong arms, the shock suddenly gone and he breaks down into tears, pressing his face into Vegeta's chest, seeking comfort there.
Vegeta looks down at him awkwardly, not exactly in this position often. He says in a strained comforting tone, "Look, Prince Goku, there's nothing WRONG with you. You're just stronger than the rest of the miserable ningen on this planet. It's perfectly normal for us saiyajin. And you're NOT going to kill me." He ruffles Goku's hair with a gloved hand and says firmly, "But I swear to god, if you ever do anything this stupid again, you're the one who's going to get hurt!"
Goku calms down taking small hiccuping breaths and he looks up at the ouji with a weak smile, "So, you were worried about me?"
Looking somewhat abashed, Vegeta answers, "Uh... Well, I suppose so..."
The young saiyajin grins, "You're a great father you know. I don't think that you know it, but you are. Even if you are a bit rough around the edges," burrowing his face deeper against the ouji's chest.
Vegeta just blinks at that one. He's not so used to getting compliments like that. He coughs into his fist to hide it, and says, "Ah, well, um... How about we get out of this cave now?" He sits up keeping Goku wrapped against chest. Once they're out in the open, the sky overhung with billions of stars and a crescent moon, Vegeta suddenly smirks and says, "How about a midnight spar?"
Goku frowns, "Spar?"
****
Nearly a month after the whole incident, Goku becomes more trained to his own strength, and learns how to control ki and fly. Although, Vegeta had pointed out to him, he must never fly unless he accidentally gets stuck in the quicksand pits, which he isn't allowed around, or falls down Death Gorge, which he also isn't allowed around. All in all, Goku just doesn't get why his father taught him how to do that stuff in the first place.
He also gave the young saiyajin a whole set of rules of what he can't do, some of them including going around at night without an adult, Vegeta being the only adult there is, and not venturing outside of the forest for any reason whatsoever, explaining to Goku several times over that his life is in constant peril, because he's being hunted down by a shapeshifter named Blade. It's not exactly the kind of speech that a kid hears everyday, causing Goku to be excessively paranoid for the next two weeks until Vegeta explained that they were relatively safe in the forest because Blade can't sense their ki.
At which point, Goku asked what ki is.
****
A couple months pass and Vegeta starts building an extension to the small tree house cabin so that they don't have to have a bedroom, kitchen and storage room in the same room. However, during a very wet two months, both saiyajin spend most of their days stuck inside the cabin, needing to halt all their activities outside.
On a particularly wet day, the young saiyajin is nearly bored to death as he paces around the cabin.
Goku flops onto the bed, completely soaked to the bone from coming in out of the rain. He says outloud, staring at the wooden ceiling, "I really hate the rainy season, we always get stuck inside this dinky room for weeks on end."
The ouji says halfheartedly, "Prince Goku, don't stay on the bed like that." He doesn't even look at Goku, too occupied with just looking outside at the rain.
The young saiyajin blinks, looking up from his position. Normally, his father would try thrashing him or tossing him outside into the rain. He sits up and asks, "Father? Are you okay?"
Vegeta just sighs, looking very melancholy. "She always liked rainy days," he finally mutters.
At that point, Goku becomes silent. He's talking about whoever that woman is again. The little saiyajin can only assume that whoever she is, she's dead or she left him. Either way it always gets the ouji into a sort of mild mood, one that never ceases to fail creeping Goku out.
Then the little boy starts wondering if he's talking about his mother.
Uneasy, Goku gets up and points out the door with his thumb, "I'm gonna go outside and make a clay slate, maybe I can do some work inside." By work he means his education, which the ouji felt obligated to encourage along with tutoring sessions.
He steps towards the door, but suddenly Vegeta holds out an arm and calls out, "Wait, come back here."
Cautiously, the young saiyajin turns around and sits next to the ouji on his bed, the mattress lowering slightly with the increased weight. Vegeta puts an arm around Goku, leaning him close into his chest. Comfortably, they sit together like that watching the rain from the open door. However, Goku is still nervous. This is the first time that the ouji ever asked for comfort of any kind and he's not used to it.
Suddenly, Vegeta says, "I want to tell you a little bit about her." Goku blinks, staring up at the ouji. Another first.
Taking in a deep breath, the ouji says, "Her name was Bulma."
The little saiyajin frowns, thinking that there's something familiar about that name.
However, Vegeta continues with his narration, not noticing Goku's expression. "She was very beautiful, you know. And strong too. Well not like strong like we are, but she could get anything she wanted to if she was determined enough." He gives a small laugh, "Kami knows, she got me. But she was a ningen too. That's one thing I don't want you to pick up from me. Ningen may be much weaker than we are, and most of them more stupid too. But they deserve to live just as much as we do, no matter how many times a day that I curse them.
"Anyway, we she was a wonderful woman. I didn't really deserve her. I was the most awful mate anyone could ask for. But she stuck by me anyway. And just now I'm starting to realize I will never see her again." Once again they fall into a gloomy silence.
But then Vegeta smiles, "She bore me a son, too. Well two actually... sort of... In any case I cared for them both dearly."
Goku's heart wrenches when the ouji said that, knowing that it isn't him he's talking about. He asks in a shaky voice, "Where are they now?"
"Most likely enjoying the comforts of Heaven. And they're also probably watching me right now and laughing," he mutters the end grudgingly.
The young saiyajin bites his lip and pleads, "Can you tell me about my mom? Please?"
This takes the ouji by surprise and his eyes widen, "YOUR mom? Ah, I didn't really know her that well. You becoming my son was sort of an accident. A very long accident." That's when Vegeta notices the distressed look on the little boy's face {Jeez! Stupid!} and he amends quickly, "But that doesn't mean I don't care about you any less than my other sons, all right? And Bulma cared about you, too. And so did a hell of a lot of other people who're up there now," he casts an annoyed glance at the sky.
Goku looks up at the overclouded sky as well, only in wonder. Traces of visions flock to his mind, all of them of smiling people. Then his expression turns blank and he barely breathes out, "How did they die?"
Vegeta frowns, "It's a long story. I don't want-"
Then Goku blurts out, "I had something to do with it, didn't I?"
The ouji freezes and stares at the young saiyajin with astonishment and even a little apprehension, "What? Why do you say that?"
"I remember someone screaming at me. Someone in pain, screaming that everything was my fault. That everyone was dead because of me."
Vegeta's face flushes with embarrassment, as he remembers the day that the hospital blew. He was screaming loud enough to wake the dead and he even went so far as to hurt Goku in his unconscious state.
Now here he has the same CHILD as before, looking up at him with tear filled eyes, demanding to know the truth.
His guardian takes a deep breath and sighs, before saying, "Prince Goku, you have absolutely nothing at fault with their deaths. It all started with a long and complicated mess and that eventually led up to their demise. And- that person... That person was just very hurt that day."
Goku blinks, "It wasn't you was it?"
"What? No! Not me!" Vegeta thinks morosely, {At least not anymore,} knowing how much he changed in merely four months. "Anyway, you can't take anything he said to heart. All right?"
The little boy wipes his eyes with the back of his fist and smiles, "Thanks Daddy. I love you."
Vegeta stares at him, not believing that just came out of his formal rivals mouth, but he knows he has to respond quickly or else the young saiyajin may never forgive him. So he does what he thinks is natural and what he would do with Trunks.
He gives Goku a smile and ruffles his unruly mop of hair. Then he grabs him by the scruff of the neck and tosses him out of the tree house out into the rain, yelling down at him, "You better go make ten clay slates! I have a lot to teach you today!"
Then he bursts into laughter at the genuinely shocked expression on the mud soaked Goku's face.
****
A/N: Eck. I've had too much drama for one night. G'night everybody!
A/N: How did I ever let myself get swamped by so many writing projects? Oh well! I have vacation coming up soon! Hopefully I can get a lot of creative work done then! Anyway, enjoy! Kind of a mush chapter though. *sweatdrop*
****
Just peeking over horizon, the golden sun seeps into the cabin's window, casting a shining glow on Goku's sleeping face. He moans and covers his face with his blanket. Then a shadow covers the entire pillow and a hand roughly shakes him from his sleep, "Hey, wake up. You need to start training today."
Goku blinks through blurry eyes and sees Vegeta standing over him. He watches him for a minute, before he turns over and falls back asleep.
Vegeta's eye twitches.
The next thing Goku knows, his whole body is flung into ice cold water, and he wakes up completely submerged. He thrashes around, nearly drowning, until he lets himself float up in the right direction, and kicks upwards breaking the surface of the water. Seeing Vegeta at the edge of the river, smirking at him, Goku yells angrily, "What the heck was that for?!"
"It's good for training."
The young saiyajin paddles over to the side of the river and looks up at his parent/guardian, "But father! I just recovered a month ago!"
The ouji huffs, "Then you should've started training a month ago! I won't have anyone slacking off under my care like some sickling!" He heads back towards the cabin, leaving Goku behind him. "I don't expect you to come back until after breakfast, so don't you dare show up while I'm eating!"
Goku demands, "Well what am I supposed to do until then?!"
"Exercise! Swim! Run around a bit, I don't know! But I won't be happy unless you show up dog tired." With that he leaves Goku on his own, to fend for himself for a few hours.
Groaning, Goku hoists himself out of the water, sopping wet. He starts wringing his clothes dry, looking around at the intimidating forest and back at the path that leads to the cabin on his right. With a sigh, he heads in the opposite direction to his left.
Only to become lost about half an hour later.
Goku stares around the dense forest with worry. He wishes that his father could have at least shown him around a little bit before letting himself get lost in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly he trips on something and lands smack down on his face. Jumping up he immediately looks for the offending object. He finds a bamboo rod, recently cut down just lying there in the middle of his path. Frowning, he picks it up and holds it in both hands.
Suddenly, he has flashes of something red, almost like the bamboo rod he's holding now. He shakes the visions away, and his hands start itching to do something. Curious he lets his mind go, his body takes the position of a spearman in high stance. He imagines an invisible target, a bear that he saw wander under the tree house one day, and his body starts going through intensive and complicated techniques of a master of the staff. After three fishermen stabs and a low blow to trip the imaginary bear, he finishes by jumping high up in the air and smacking the staff right down the middle of the bears head.
Dust collects up around him after that attack and Goku through the small particles. Only when the dust settles does he realize the damage that he's done. Nearly the whole area is decimated, tree trunks slashed down, merely by the momentum of the bamboo. Rods of cut bamboo strewn across the path. Even boulders are smashed into bits of rubble.
Goku drops the flimsy bamboo stick and stares at the scene in horror. He had absolutely no idea. Shivering in fear, he looks at his shaking hands. Hands that hold even the power to kill. Instantly he bolts into the forest, not caring where he's going or how far. All he knows is he has to get away from there. And stay away.
****
Vegeta squints up at the high noon sun, and then checks his watch. It's just five minutes past one o'clock. He paces the camp zone under the tree house, always glancing up at the path into the forest, half-expecting Goku to come running. He mutters to himself, "What am I so worried about? He knows how to hunt. He can take care of himself well enough."
But he continues to pace anyway.
****
Half past four.
Vegeta yells up at the sky, "Where the hell is he?!"
****
A quarter before seven. The sun is starting to set.
Finally fed up with just pacing, Vegeta heads out into the dense forest in search of the young saiyajin. Possibilities of the worst swarm his mind and he hastily speeds through the tree tops, anxiety getting the better of him. Every so often, he yells out into the black jungle, "PRINCE GOKU!!!" "PRINCE GOKU!!!" "COME OUT RIGHT NOW!!!" "YOU BETTER NOT BE HIDING! OR I'LL KILL YOU!!" "PRINCE GOKU!!!"
He starts cursing the day he ever decided to go with Dende's plan to come here in the first place. {How could I have been so stupid as to agree to come into a ki-less jungle?! Maybe it's harder for Blade to find us, but at least I can tell where Prince Goku is at all times! Now he could be anywhere! What if he knocked himself out! What if he got sucked into quicksand! Oh god, he can't even die if that happens!} He screams out once more, "PRINCE GOKU!!!" adrenaline and fear heightening all his senses and making him move faster.
He comes over to the small stone cave that he killed his first bear in and pauses outside of it, listening to it's echoing chasm carefully. Someone is in there. Crying. Without another hesitation, he jumps down from the trees and runs into the cave yelling, "Prince Goku!"
At once the crying stops and the cave grows deathly quiet. Vegeta summons a small ball of ki to light his way and the orb casts a bluish glow on everything in the cave. Suddenly the light shines on the furthest part of the cave and the ouji can see a small child huddled up against the back of the stony cavern. He lets out a huge sigh of relief and feels all his anxiety drain away from him, {Thank Kami.} He puts out the ball of ki and walks up to Goku, ducking his head down because of the sheer lowness of the ceiling. He says calmly, "Prince Goku?"
A startled sob answers him and a tired voice cries, "No, no. Stay away from me."
Vegeta frowns, "What? Are you hurt?"
Goku looks up at the ouji through tear streaked eyes. "Please. Don't come near me! You'll get hurt!"
His guardian merely huffs, "Now you're just being ridiculous!" He comes up next to Goku, who just cringes away from him. He demands, "Prince Goku, what's the matter!"
The young saiyajin yells, "WHAT'S THE MATTER?! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME! I DID THINGS THAT CAN'T BE HUMANLY POSSIBLE!!"
Vegeta's eyes widen, "Okay, Prince Goku, just calm down."
"CALM DOWN?! HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?!"
"Will you listen to me, you brat!" the ouji yells, grabbing Goku's hand.
However, Goku thrashes Vegeta's hand away, "DON'T TOUCH ME!!" Then he continues to scream, going into hysterics, "I WRECKED BOULDERS WITH A ROTTEN STICK! I'M SCREWED UP!! A FREAK OF NATURE!!"
On sudden impulse, Vegeta slaps Goku across the face and before the young saiyajin can even react, he pulls Goku into his chest, holding him tightly. The little boy shivers in his strong arms, the shock suddenly gone and he breaks down into tears, pressing his face into Vegeta's chest, seeking comfort there.
Vegeta looks down at him awkwardly, not exactly in this position often. He says in a strained comforting tone, "Look, Prince Goku, there's nothing WRONG with you. You're just stronger than the rest of the miserable ningen on this planet. It's perfectly normal for us saiyajin. And you're NOT going to kill me." He ruffles Goku's hair with a gloved hand and says firmly, "But I swear to god, if you ever do anything this stupid again, you're the one who's going to get hurt!"
Goku calms down taking small hiccuping breaths and he looks up at the ouji with a weak smile, "So, you were worried about me?"
Looking somewhat abashed, Vegeta answers, "Uh... Well, I suppose so..."
The young saiyajin grins, "You're a great father you know. I don't think that you know it, but you are. Even if you are a bit rough around the edges," burrowing his face deeper against the ouji's chest.
Vegeta just blinks at that one. He's not so used to getting compliments like that. He coughs into his fist to hide it, and says, "Ah, well, um... How about we get out of this cave now?" He sits up keeping Goku wrapped against chest. Once they're out in the open, the sky overhung with billions of stars and a crescent moon, Vegeta suddenly smirks and says, "How about a midnight spar?"
Goku frowns, "Spar?"
****
Nearly a month after the whole incident, Goku becomes more trained to his own strength, and learns how to control ki and fly. Although, Vegeta had pointed out to him, he must never fly unless he accidentally gets stuck in the quicksand pits, which he isn't allowed around, or falls down Death Gorge, which he also isn't allowed around. All in all, Goku just doesn't get why his father taught him how to do that stuff in the first place.
He also gave the young saiyajin a whole set of rules of what he can't do, some of them including going around at night without an adult, Vegeta being the only adult there is, and not venturing outside of the forest for any reason whatsoever, explaining to Goku several times over that his life is in constant peril, because he's being hunted down by a shapeshifter named Blade. It's not exactly the kind of speech that a kid hears everyday, causing Goku to be excessively paranoid for the next two weeks until Vegeta explained that they were relatively safe in the forest because Blade can't sense their ki.
At which point, Goku asked what ki is.
****
A couple months pass and Vegeta starts building an extension to the small tree house cabin so that they don't have to have a bedroom, kitchen and storage room in the same room. However, during a very wet two months, both saiyajin spend most of their days stuck inside the cabin, needing to halt all their activities outside.
On a particularly wet day, the young saiyajin is nearly bored to death as he paces around the cabin.
Goku flops onto the bed, completely soaked to the bone from coming in out of the rain. He says outloud, staring at the wooden ceiling, "I really hate the rainy season, we always get stuck inside this dinky room for weeks on end."
The ouji says halfheartedly, "Prince Goku, don't stay on the bed like that." He doesn't even look at Goku, too occupied with just looking outside at the rain.
The young saiyajin blinks, looking up from his position. Normally, his father would try thrashing him or tossing him outside into the rain. He sits up and asks, "Father? Are you okay?"
Vegeta just sighs, looking very melancholy. "She always liked rainy days," he finally mutters.
At that point, Goku becomes silent. He's talking about whoever that woman is again. The little saiyajin can only assume that whoever she is, she's dead or she left him. Either way it always gets the ouji into a sort of mild mood, one that never ceases to fail creeping Goku out.
Then the little boy starts wondering if he's talking about his mother.
Uneasy, Goku gets up and points out the door with his thumb, "I'm gonna go outside and make a clay slate, maybe I can do some work inside." By work he means his education, which the ouji felt obligated to encourage along with tutoring sessions.
He steps towards the door, but suddenly Vegeta holds out an arm and calls out, "Wait, come back here."
Cautiously, the young saiyajin turns around and sits next to the ouji on his bed, the mattress lowering slightly with the increased weight. Vegeta puts an arm around Goku, leaning him close into his chest. Comfortably, they sit together like that watching the rain from the open door. However, Goku is still nervous. This is the first time that the ouji ever asked for comfort of any kind and he's not used to it.
Suddenly, Vegeta says, "I want to tell you a little bit about her." Goku blinks, staring up at the ouji. Another first.
Taking in a deep breath, the ouji says, "Her name was Bulma."
The little saiyajin frowns, thinking that there's something familiar about that name.
However, Vegeta continues with his narration, not noticing Goku's expression. "She was very beautiful, you know. And strong too. Well not like strong like we are, but she could get anything she wanted to if she was determined enough." He gives a small laugh, "Kami knows, she got me. But she was a ningen too. That's one thing I don't want you to pick up from me. Ningen may be much weaker than we are, and most of them more stupid too. But they deserve to live just as much as we do, no matter how many times a day that I curse them.
"Anyway, we she was a wonderful woman. I didn't really deserve her. I was the most awful mate anyone could ask for. But she stuck by me anyway. And just now I'm starting to realize I will never see her again." Once again they fall into a gloomy silence.
But then Vegeta smiles, "She bore me a son, too. Well two actually... sort of... In any case I cared for them both dearly."
Goku's heart wrenches when the ouji said that, knowing that it isn't him he's talking about. He asks in a shaky voice, "Where are they now?"
"Most likely enjoying the comforts of Heaven. And they're also probably watching me right now and laughing," he mutters the end grudgingly.
The young saiyajin bites his lip and pleads, "Can you tell me about my mom? Please?"
This takes the ouji by surprise and his eyes widen, "YOUR mom? Ah, I didn't really know her that well. You becoming my son was sort of an accident. A very long accident." That's when Vegeta notices the distressed look on the little boy's face {Jeez! Stupid!} and he amends quickly, "But that doesn't mean I don't care about you any less than my other sons, all right? And Bulma cared about you, too. And so did a hell of a lot of other people who're up there now," he casts an annoyed glance at the sky.
Goku looks up at the overclouded sky as well, only in wonder. Traces of visions flock to his mind, all of them of smiling people. Then his expression turns blank and he barely breathes out, "How did they die?"
Vegeta frowns, "It's a long story. I don't want-"
Then Goku blurts out, "I had something to do with it, didn't I?"
The ouji freezes and stares at the young saiyajin with astonishment and even a little apprehension, "What? Why do you say that?"
"I remember someone screaming at me. Someone in pain, screaming that everything was my fault. That everyone was dead because of me."
Vegeta's face flushes with embarrassment, as he remembers the day that the hospital blew. He was screaming loud enough to wake the dead and he even went so far as to hurt Goku in his unconscious state.
Now here he has the same CHILD as before, looking up at him with tear filled eyes, demanding to know the truth.
His guardian takes a deep breath and sighs, before saying, "Prince Goku, you have absolutely nothing at fault with their deaths. It all started with a long and complicated mess and that eventually led up to their demise. And- that person... That person was just very hurt that day."
Goku blinks, "It wasn't you was it?"
"What? No! Not me!" Vegeta thinks morosely, {At least not anymore,} knowing how much he changed in merely four months. "Anyway, you can't take anything he said to heart. All right?"
The little boy wipes his eyes with the back of his fist and smiles, "Thanks Daddy. I love you."
Vegeta stares at him, not believing that just came out of his formal rivals mouth, but he knows he has to respond quickly or else the young saiyajin may never forgive him. So he does what he thinks is natural and what he would do with Trunks.
He gives Goku a smile and ruffles his unruly mop of hair. Then he grabs him by the scruff of the neck and tosses him out of the tree house out into the rain, yelling down at him, "You better go make ten clay slates! I have a lot to teach you today!"
Then he bursts into laughter at the genuinely shocked expression on the mud soaked Goku's face.
****
A/N: Eck. I've had too much drama for one night. G'night everybody!
