LEAPING MOUNTAINS
written by State Hopper

CHAPTER THREE
( Flash backs written in Italics)


I tried to discount the slump in his shoulders, taciturn like a thought. "When I said I didn't know where my strength came from, I wasn't lying. I dunno what I am, what I should be classed as, Vegeta I'm not a Saiya-jin." He turned, and I watched as his jaw clenched. I could see his face reflected over the glass, there was enough detail for me to tell that this meant far more to him than he could hope to articulate. More than I would ever really understand. "I didn't tell you because, well I thought it'd be easier if you kept believing it. I'd a stupid reason for doing it, but it seemed to make you happy." A pang of regret swam over me, the force of him still throbbing through out my ribs.

"I am a fool for ever placing trust in your filthy words. It makes me wonder what else is untrue. Typically I wouldn't give a damn, in most respects I never gave enough of a damn to really feel deceived...but you betrayed me."

"Hah!" I shot back "That's rich. You get angry at this, yet see no validation in me getting angry at you... what, to the way you've been behaving? Oh Vegeta please, get off your sanctimonious horse... I've put up with a damn sight more."

"How dare you!"

"How dare I what!"

"How dare you attempt to justify this. Have you no pride?"

"It shouldn't matter!"

"It mattered to me!"

"Look I never wanted to lie to you, but you'd never believe the truth Vegeta, no one would... but Christ, I'm not stupid alright. It was just... easier."

"Things aren't meant to be easy!" he shouted "I'd be where I'd want otherwise."

"Most people are."

"Stop acting like you belong here!"

"I'm not! But I don't hate them all..." throwing down his hand, Vegeta turned for the door. As a reflex I couldn't tell you why, but I grabbed his wrist, ... I guess I just wanted him to know, I was unhappy too. "Yes I wanna' go home, I'd give anything to see my family again, but I can't, so why wreck what I've got? What bloody good would it do?"

"Let go."

"Sorry." he took back his arm "But Vegeta, if you ever treat me the way again, I'll make sure there's a consequence... more than this." I longed for the touch for someone who wanted to be there, and yet I couldn't help but wonder if they'd buried me, if I'd run into my Grandfather down town, hobbled and wide eyed. Vegeta looked larger than he had before or perhaps I only now just saw him that way; emotion adding tangability. He had become real to me, not in the way I thought, but as living person; because I guess that in his own mind, he was. Reaching for the loose side of his shirt, the material moved with the shading of an HB pencil.

"Stay." I spread my fingers out across his lower back, where for the first time I wondered if anyone ever had, or to be more specific, touched him because they wanted to. If I'd closed my eyes I wouldn't have imagined Home. Their bodies didn't move that way, there was very little give to the flesh in Vegeta's back. He stopped the moment I asked, stopped in a way that made me wonder if he felt sorry.

It proceeded to rain almost constantly the following week, and today was no different. I often wondered if my mood affected the weather, or something equally narcissistic and perhaps... even a little melancholy. Capsule corp had quickly become a home for regret and circumstance. Bulma had found out about my and Vegeta's affections a week earlier. It was all still so fresh in my head. "How could you! And to lie right at my face, I knew it, I even asked!"

"We were only talking, it's Vegeta for Christ sake..."

"I saw you! You don't hold a person's hand while just talking! Especially his. What'd I ever do to you!"

"It's just a… just a thing. I didn't want this to happen, honest. I tired to stop it... just ask Goku he'll tell you, please just ask him..."

"Leave me alone, just... leave me alone." I tried my best to avoid her popular routes and hot spots, I was petrified of catching her eye. She had become so terrifyingly real to me; in some respects I feared her more because of it, she'd added abilities. I knew that I was in someway temporary. It hindered me and I hated myself for getting so the tea dregs about my mug, I sat on the back porch, where rain cascaded down from the over hang. The whites of their eyes, were starting to retain the stain of me. Leaning against the archway to his bedroom, I watched as he concentrated upon a small alarm clock by the window. He looked exhausted, his eyes shaded and movements slow. Studying the pale pencil lines, which formed him, a pain tugged at my chest. He appeared so gratefully dead inside. Glad to be rid of it all. I questioned my presence... how close I could allow myself to get. I'd not touched him since that night and I constantly wondered if he noticed.

"Wha'd you want?" He questioned absently.

"Sorry, I just..."

"Stop apologizing." He methodically placed down the clock.

"... when do you leave?" I'd been told three days earlier, that a craft was being prepared. Until now I had never considered the idea of him leaving. I'd never really seen much past 'Trunks Arrival'. "When will you be back?"

He ignored the question "To many things hinder me here. I'll get a darn sight more training done away from this blasted mud ball... and these idiotic humans."

"I know, but can't you stay just another week." Approaching me from the dresser he stopped, slowly shifting the hair from my neck.

"I won't dismiss my goal, not now, not for anyone... not for you." It was an unexpected tender act, that said a lot more than words. Pressing my brow to his, I closed my eyes. He pulled away first, and I felt the heat of his breath slip away.

TO BE CONTINUED...