Chapter 4: Learning

"Raditz...Raditz...Raditz...Raditz...Raditz...ummm...Raditz..."

"Hmm?" The older Saiyan finally grunted. He rolled forward slightly, then back and blinked a few times to try and wake up. Kakarot was standing over him and immediately he sat up and asked what was wrong.

Kakarot began talking in his weird language and the look on his face was practically begging Raditz to understand, though of course he couldn't. His older sibling hushed him by placing three fingers on his mouth and saying nothing. Once quieted, Raditz held up the pillow his head had been resting on.

"Raditz," he said pointing to himself. "Kakarot." He pointed to his brother. Then he tapped his lips twice and said "pillow," before pointing to the object in his hands and waiting for Kakarot to catch on.

It took the younger sibling a while to make it click; he sat with his head cocked to the side looking from the squishy mass of fabric to his big brother and back again. A light went on upstairs when he got it and he sat up straighter. "Pah," he said pointing to the pillow.

"Pah..Pah...ummm..."

"Pillow," Raditz restated.

"Pelloh...Peeloh..."

"Pillow."

"Pilllloowwa! Pillow!"

Raditz nodded ecstatically to show his approval. He set the pillow aside, held up his blanket and repeated the process over. This time Kakarot was quicker and recited the words almost as fast as Raditz gave them to him. Raditz showed him Bed, and Floor, and Wall, and Door. They reviewed and moved on to different parts of the body and then to certain verbs like Walk and Hide. Kakarot relearned his colors and numbers and they had just started in on the Saiyan Alphabet when Fasha entered the room.

"Well, you guys are up early," she stated, looking in on the two brothers.

"He couldn't sleep," Raditz replied. "So I got started on his schooling. Someone else is going to have to take over soon though, cuz I could've used a few more hours..."

Kakarot hid behind his older sibling. Things didn't end too well after the whole "Pat-Pat" incident last night and the little Sayian learned quickly to stay out of her reaching distance. Of course that would prove to be difficult now as the room wasn't more then a couple of feet wide either way.

"Vegeta said Frieza wanted him dressed today," Fasha said. "So someone has to take him down to get fitted and everything."

Raditz stretched and fell back into the pillows and blankets of his bed, Kakarot scooting to the side to avoid being squished. "You do it then, I'm tired," he said. Kakarot tightened with worry. "Just remember to play nice. Hehee."

"I'm not gonna do it, he's your brother! You should take care of him," Fasha shot back.

"But it's my day off," Raditz replied. "Besides, this gives you a chance to make up."

"It's everyone's day off today," Fasha seethed, but marched into the room and grabbed Kakarot by collar of his shirt to be dragged out of the room and down the hall. The younger gave one cry of protest before silencing himself with a death glare from the older. Kakarot walked on in silence. Eventually Fasha let go of Kakarot's shirt, allowing him to walk upright again with some dignity in the halls.

She stopped their walk at a room and herded Kakarot into it. There were some other people waiting for them, not Saiyans or Humans like Kakarot was now accustomed too but a different species of people, looking much like a big ugly crocodile or an oddly shaped and colored mushroom. The Saiyan stared with wide eyes.

Fasha said something to them and one stepped up carrying something that could only be a measuring tape of some sort, but of course Kakarot couldn't read any of the symbols on it. The being, about half the size of the Saiyan, made Kakarot hold his arms out to the side and, sure enough, began to measure every inch of him, calling out what he got to his partner who was standing at a keyboard-like machine, punching in the information he was given. When the first was done measuring, the second went off to find something. Kakarot was too busy watching him that he didn't hear the command to get undressed, and was throughly confused when he found the measuring dude pulling his pants down. This scenario didn't end to well either.

"Kakarot, come down from there!" Fasha called to the younger Saiyan as he took up a defensive position in one of the high ceiling corners. "We're just gonna give you some new clothes!"

"No clothes!" Kakarot replied. "Kakarot's clothes stay on! No clothes!"

"You have too, it's the law. Now come down."

Kakarot shook his head defiantly and gave a short but firm, "no."

"Oh, you just wait then; you'll be in big trouble when Prince Vegeta finds out what you've done," Fasha said and began to help the Measurer sit up as he started to come around. The other guy returned carrying three sets of clothes, acting oblivious to what had taken place. He set them on the floor next to Fasha, gave her a piece of paper and went back to his keyboard thingy, pulling out some type of book from behind it and buried his nose in that.

"Vehjetah," Kakarot said slowly allowing a slight drop in his fierce guard. "Vehjetah?"

"Prince Vegeta, you know him," Fasha said. "Remember? Last night, he was the first one to come in? He'll be very mad with you if you don't do what you're told."

"Veegeetah be mad with Kakarot?" The guilt trip was doing exactly what Fasha wanted it to do. Kakarot had already slid down from his perch and looked troubled by this news. "Raditz will be mad?" he asked.

"Yes, everyone will be mad. Raditz will be mad, I'll be mad, Frieza will be mad. Everyone."

"Don't be mad!" Kakarot cried throwing his arms around Fasha's legs. "Kakarot don't want...be mad no more. Kakarot will be good. Kakarot will take new clothes. Kakarot will make Raditz and Vegetah and...and..." He pulled away to look up at her with big, worried, confused, glistering eyes.

"Fasha," the woman replied.

"Fushha. Kakarot make Fhasha happy."

She smiled at him, her anger of the misunderstand last night melting away. Really, he was just like a little kid and all he needed was to be loved and comforted. "Good. You getting dressed is just what everyone wanted." She helped him to his feet and began to pick up the spandex bodysuit on top.

Kakarot gave a quick look at the others in the room to make sure they weren't watching before beginning to strip down to his underwear. When he stopped there, Fasha instructed him to keep going.

"You have to wear the clothes that Frieza provides, there's no exception," Fasha explained. She held up the new set of underwear that Kakarot would put on and waited for him to continue, which he did after heaving a huge sigh and pulling his orange shirt over his lap to keep her from seeing what only a few females had the privilege to see in his life.

Once Kakarot was dressed, Fasha began collecting his old clothes while he picked up the new ones. "What happens to Kakarot's old clothes?" he asked as he saw she wasn't treating them with much care.

"They'll be thrown away, there's no use for them now."

"Can Kakarot keep them?" he asked with pleading eyes. Fasha sighed and shook her head making Kakarot's heart drop a few notches. He watched her finish picking up the last pieces of his comfortable Earth clothes and fought back the tears he could feel building up within him. Before the flood was about to break loose though, Fasha announced that it was time to go and began leading him out, at which point she very sneakily slipped the crumbled bundle of his clothes between the two new sets he now carried. When he turned to give her a puzzled look, she just pushed him to keep walking forward.

Fasha lead Kakarot next door where she handed the paper given to her by the guy in the previous room to one waiting at a desk by the door. He looked at it and then turned around, laid his hand on the wall and ran it along was he walked farther into the room. After taking a few steps, he stopped and pushed a button which made a door open in the wall. From the hole, he pulled out a set of armor much like the one Fasha was wearing and then closed the door again. He returned and handed it to Fasha who turned and gave it to Kakarot to put on. The two Saiyans then returned to the bedroom Kakarot shared with his brother.

"Raditz!" the sibling cried as he pounced his older brother who had been asleep on his bed. "Raditz! Raditz, look!"

The older gave a low growl and rolled over rubbing his eyes. "You're dressed," he stated the obvious. "And on better terms with each other, now I see."

"Yeah, I guess," Fasha said laying Kakarot's new clothes on his bed. She pulled out the old ones and began folding them up neatly and setting them aside.

"What are those?" Raditz asked as he sat up when he saw what Fasha was doing. "Are those his old clothes?"

"Don't tell anyone okay?" she replied as she slipped them into the pillow case. "He just looked so sad when I told him he couldn't keep them."

"But if anyone finds out, you know how strict Frieza is about the dress code..."

"Please don't tell," Kakarot piped up meekly. He gave his brother big, sad, puppy begging eyes and even a trembling lip, which made him feel just slightly ackward as he usually only did this with Chichi, but hey! Now was as good a time as ever to see if it would work on other people. Which it did; to some degree.

Raditz sighed and pushed Kakarot's face into the pillow to get rid of it. "You have to keep it hidden then, and I mean it. You'll be screwed in the ass if anyone finds it, got that Kakarot?"

"Yes," the younger sibling replied as he popped back up and hugged his brother. "Thank you Raditz!"

"Don't thank me, I'm but mearly pretending this is all a dream. If you get caught I won't do anything to save you from punishment. It'll be all on you two."

"We can handle it," Fasha replied confidently. "Right Kakarot?"

"Right!"

"Riiiight..." Raditz added and snuggled back into the mattress.

"C'mon Kakarot, your brother doesn't believe us so we'll have to show him we're made of stronger stuff. Let's go get you tested," Fasha said.

"Tested?" the young Saiyan asked.

"Yes, to see how strong you are."

"I thought Frieza said he'd already done that," Raditz said from his invaded nest.

"Since when are we, the Saiyans, ever satisfied with what Frieza tells us?" Fasha shot back. "He didn't test to see how strong Kakarot was, he tested to see how weak he was. And Prince Vegeta wants to know what he's working with on Kakarot."

"Not much seeing as Kakarot was born as a 3rd class warrior. But I guess it's better to have him then to not have him, huh? Fine, go ahead."

"Aren't you gonna come see?"

"No, he's my brother. I've got a good feeling about what he can and can't do."

"No you don't, up until two days ago the both of you hadn't even met. And don't try to tell me that you have, 'cuz I was an old friend of your father's and I know for sure that's not the case. Besides, I hear there are a lot of people turning out for this, they wanna see what this new Saiyan can do. Don't you wanna be there to be like the proud parent and all?"

Raditz rolled over and sat up. "Those people aren't coming to 'see what he can do.' They'll be there for one reason and one reason only: to hope that he get's his tailless butt kicked so bad that they can use it to ridicule him for the rest of his miserable life under Frieza's kami forsaken rule. To hell with all of them."

"So are you coming?"

"Yes, I'm coming," Raditz replied as he pushed his covers off.

Kakarot, who'd been sitting quietly in the corner of Raditz's bed, got up after him and followed behind. The words that had been said, although in a carefree way, seemed heavy and weighed down to him, but he wasn't sure if that was actually the case or if it was just him.

End Chapter 4!