Chapter 15 – Conflict
Vegeta's training in the GR, trying to take his mind off of a certain Saiyan.
'This is ridiculous! There's no excuse whatsoever! He's only a low class warrior! I know Radditz was also inferior to me, but that happened under totally different circumstances. I should be stronger than that now… How come my skin is crawling with need?'
Vegeta powers up to level 3 and sets the gravity at 1500. (No one knows how Bulma keeps improving that machine, but thank Kami that's irrelevant to this story.) He fires a blast at the bots hovering over him and starts to dodge his own attack.
'I have to control myself,' he thinks bitterly. 'With Radditz, I was always able to maintain control. Blasted Chikyuu moon! I never knew it could get to me this much.'
Vegeta gets hit by the blast and falls down to the floor. He sits up and reacts instinctively when he suddenly sees Kakarot appear from out of nowhere. Right before the gravity forces Goku to hit the ground, Vegeta surrounds him with an energy shield and commands the computer to restore normal gravity.
"Kami damn it!" Vegeta roars. "What are you, suicidal? I thought one suicidal Saiyan was enough on Chikyuu."
"I'm sorry Vegeta," Goku says, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't think."
"You never do, do you?" Vegeta says with biting sarcasm. "Stupid baka."
"Well, thanks for saving me." Goku looks at him intently. "I see your tail's grown back as well."
Vegeta studies the ground as he blushes. 'Could I make my weakness any clearer? He may act stupid, he's not blind.'
"So what if it did?" he asks aggressively.
"I was just wondering what it meant," Goku grins, waving his tail behind his back, seeming overconfident. "Tails don't grow back without a reason, Vegeta, I learnt that much when I changed."
"This has nothing to do with you, Kakarot!" Vegeta clenches his fists and gets into a defensive stance. He feels threatened by Goku's teasing.
"Why the hell did you come here anyway? Were you hoping your dreams would come true?"
Goku steps back shocked. A triumphant smirk flashes across Vegeta's face.
"How do you know about that?" Goku stutters.
"I'm not an idiot, Kakarot. I know what you want from me, I know what's on your perverted mind. You changed so you could finally have your way with me. Well, forget it! You're a low class soldier, there's no way you're worthy!"
Goku's face falls when he hears Vegeta's contempt.
"But you told me… you were attracted to me…"
"That's no excuse."
"But I'm as strong as you are… I don't understand!" Tears well up in Goku's eyes as he looks at his Prince, who coldly rejects him.
Silence falls between the two warriors. Vegeta stares at Goku coldly, not intending to explain himself.
Then Goku slowly steps forward. "You're still scared of me, aren't you, Vegeta?"
Vegeta clenches his jaws and remains silent.
"How can I prove to you that I'm not like Frieza? How can I make you trust me?"
"It's very simple, Kakarot," Vegeta hisses. "You can't." Goku's mouth falls open when he watches how Vegeta puts two fingers to his forehead and ITs out of the GR.
Goku feels restless that night. Why the hell does Vegeta keep rejecting him? It must be his fear to be overpowered again, he reasons. What Frieza did to him in the past can't be undone. He'll have to live with it for the rest of his long life.
Goku lets his mind drift back to when he was still a boy. How carefree has his childhood been compared to Vegeta's! He shivers when the memories of Vegeta invade his mind and cast a shadow over the present situation. Never in his whole life has Goku felt this powerless. He wants to help Vegeta to be happy so desperately…
The next morning, Goku wakes up and senses something immediately. Vegeta is gone. Away from Chikyuu, away from him.
'Why?' Goku thinks, ignoring the fact that he damn well knows the answer to the question.
'He's run away from me to try and get over his unwanted feelings for me. Well I don't intend to let you get away that easily, Vegeta.'
Kakarot smirks and transmits to Capsule Corp. Maybe Bulma can locate Vegeta with a little help from her gadgets.
"Off the planet? Why do you think that?" Bulma asks surprised.
"I can't sense his ki. He must be somewhere in space."
"The space ships are still here, I don't think I can locate him from here…"
She sees how Goku's face falls. Then she says: "Wait a minute… You can sense his ki pattern if it's close enough, right?"
"Of course, you know I can."
"Maybe there's a way to expand that ability… Capsule Corp. owns a couple of satellites that can broadcast a so-called tracer signal into space."
"What good would that do?"
"It mirrors Vegeta's ki signal. As soon as it finds its mirror in Vegeta's ki signal, it gets back to us with his location."
"What are you waiting for? Let's do it!"
"Follow me to the lab."
Bulma hooks Goku up to a machine.
"Right. Now I need you to imitate Vegeta's ki signal, but be gentle! Don't feed too much ki into the machine 'cause it might break. Just imitate Vegeta's ki at a baseline level."
Goku closes his eyes and searches for the memories Vegeta has shared with him. He waits until he can form a perfect image of Vegeta's ki and then slowly starts to radiate it outwards. The machine translates the image to a signal and Bulma clicks on the 'save' button.
"Got it! I'll prepare for broadcasting."
"How long will it take?"
"Depends on how far away he is. Don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as I learn something."
"I'll search on nearby planets. I'll be back in a few hours."
"Alright. Oh, Goku?"
Goku turns around, already on his way to the door.
"Yeah?"
"Why do you need to find him so badly?"
"Let's say I'm worried about his health. See ya!"
Bulma shakes her head and gets to work. "Saiyans…" she mutters under her breath.
"So no one knows you're here?" Toorah asks.
"No one. I needed a break from everything." Vegeta looks at his son warningly. "You'd better not mock me, brat. I don't care whether you're stronger than I am, I'll still kick your butt if I see the need to."
Toorah smiles. "Mock you, father? Why would I? I can see why you're running away. Kakarot can be quite… persistent if he wants to."
Vegeta clenches his fists. "Are you calling me a coward?"
"No. But you're making this way too hard on yourself."
"I will not give in to this baka!"
"Why can't you just admit to yourself that you're attracted to him? You saved each other's lives dozens of times, you shared memories, you even fused bodies! Why not have sex? I don't see what the big deal is." Toorah leans back into the grass and sighs.
"You are not just being stubborn here, father. You're acting stupid."
"Not stupid, son. I'm scared."
Toorah's eyes grow wide as he hears his father admitting this. "Scared? Why?"
"Your father was the only one I was ever close to. He got killed. I'm not ready to get myself involved again… I'm too afraid I'll lose Kakarot as well."
"That's completely irrational. Even if Kakarot dies, you can wish him back with the Dragon Balls."
"Still I don't trust him."
"Did he ever betray you in any way?"
"No." Vegeta sighs. "Maybe I am a coward."
"You're not. You're just… shy." Toorah starts laughing like a madman.
Vegeta can't help himself and blushes. "Thanks a lot, brat."
Goku curses when he gets home. Nothing. Not a trace. Vegeta has totally vanished.
Then, out of the blue, it dawns on him. Otherworld. The only place that he cannot go since he's been banished for good.
'Damn that bastard!' he thinks. 'He must be thinking he's safe there. Well, I'll show him safe.'
Goku puts his fingers to his forehead and vanishes.
