A/N: I didn't remember writing this chapter and I could have posted this a week ago... but I've been distracted by my PS3 so all the blame should go to the inventor of that console, eh? Have a happy reading and don't flame me after this chapter just because I decided to m---- Ooops... almost slipped, that one! Hehehee... I'm evil, yes!
Disclaimer: Kinohas are a rare breed of author and don't own the Dragonball in any way...
Warnings: Violence and cursing as always.
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Childhood: Part IV – The wind picks up
For weeks the little prince's escapades and defiance continued and Vegeta couldn't be happier with his life. Bardock was a magnificent teacher and Vegeta had grudgingly come to respect Kakarotto's father's experience as a better fighter. King Vegeta had yelled and screamed and yelled some more and finally slapped him couple of times for skipping his duties. This surprisingly didn't faze Vegeta at all. Vegeta was even more shocked to realize that his father's punches hurt much less than Bardock's did. He knew the king was holding back a good fraction of his strength but still it had installed a doubt into his young heart for he knew so was Bardock doing. The King was supposed to be strongest of all and there was a third class who was at least par to the king in skill and power. He wondered just how many other ignored persons' powers were as strong.
Rubbing the bruise he had received from Nappa as a punishment for skipping his training, he shrugged indifferently. It was yet another day to live in the east side and he was giddy with excitement. Lately Bardock had began to teach them some other things than just plain combat. Sneaking around, seeing everything around you with one glance, creativity and improvisation in most ridiculous of situations, hiding in shadows and masking yourself into the crowd. But above all he seemed to be teaching him and Kakarotto to unite their styles and work together without forgetting their individual abilities.
Vegeta had come to respect the extremely weak boy like he thought he never would. Kakarotto's endurance and acrobatic capabilities were unbelievable and the way he fought definitely unique and intimidating. He only in lacked power and chi and his punches felt like tickling... for now. Vegeta shuddered. He wouldn't want grown Kakarotto to be his enemy no matter how much weaker. His friend wasn't much of plan maker or the sharpest tool in the shed occasionally but the way he improvised made-up, questionable, but well-working emergency plans out of nothing in seconds was impressive.
He checked the time absently. Five in the morning. He was forced to wake up even more earlier than usually because his father had put guards on his ass to watch his every move. Oh screw it, like they'd be able catch him anyways with his new skills.
Wearing his street clothes he had gotten quite accustomed to and realized them quite comfy. He didn't wear shoes anymore for walking bare feet was excellent training for hardening his feet. You never knew when as an adult he'd be a target of assassination of foreign planet and caught in his bed in royal pajamas...
Vegeta slipped past the guards and headed for the south gate. Crossing over the wall everyday with the help of Kakarotto wasn't that good idea in the long run and it was causing damage to his pride: needing help from a third class to get out of his own friggin' palace was just too embarrassing.
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The day progressed as normal for Kakarotto and Vegeta. They trained and had fun. Playing games against each other which challenged them and developed their abilities. Later Bardock approached Vegeta and pulled him aside and left Kakarotto shadow sparring and pouting for being left out.
" Ve, you need to balance out," Bradock said straightforwardly, looking Vegeta in the eyes seriously.
" Whatta heck are ya talking about?" Vegeta asked, honestly nonplussed.
" I think ya're spending way too much time here instead of your home and duties. Ya're a servant in the palace and you have responsibilities, ey? I'd rather have you fill them and then play. Responsibility is your next goal, understood?! If you can't handle your responsibilities how can you keep things from fucking falling apart in the future? Think if you were a king of this damned planet and you completely neglected the ruling, this planet would be conquered via in the hands of a raw civil war or some other disaster should hit faster than you can say shit! Now that's bye bye Saiyajin race..." Bardock explained metaphorically and Vegeta paled considerably. Bardock just didn't knew how close he had hit with that remark and he really had a valid point.
...if you were the king of this planet...
" Hehee... king of this planet...?" His voice slightly high-pitched and nervous, his cool exterior failing him for the first time in his life.
" Just think about it," Bardock said seriously and turned to walk away, leaving Vegeta staring at his broad back, shaken of the information received from the man. Bardock was right; so very right... He couldn't neglect his royal ancestry and studying like that. He was to be the future King of this rock, for fuck's sake! But he wasn't about to let go of his freedom, either. What he needed was... balance, as Bardock had put it. Well, from tomorrow he'd repair things concerning that issue! He surely didn't want to be remembered as the king of who killed the Saiyajin race to extinction with foolishness.
Bardock smirked at the young prince as he side glanced at his determined expression. Absolute, perfect touchè! Little pushes to the right direction with coincidental little words... He explained Kakarotto the duty Vegeta had and the duties he'd have and Kakarotto understood that Ve couldn't come so often anymore and the importance of the duty. ( Kakarotto thinks Ve has to keep up his servant duties and the moral of the duty and all, ok?)
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Few months had past and things were going great. Vegeta and Kakarotto had grown to be close friends through the trial and error spent under Bardock surveillance. They fought and insulted each other like no other but that was because of Vegeta's royal upbringing and the above-everybody-else complex it brought with it and Kakarotto's mischievous wit and unsubdued personality clashed together. Part was Bardock's tough and stern attitude with cockiness that affected their ways of growing up attitude-wise.
It was late night and the mid summer was about to reach it's peak. Winds were getting restless and the flowers beginning to give away to the heat so the tougher plants could take their place. Bardock and Kakarotto were getting ready to go sleep chatting and snapping at each other when Bardock's scouter, spent last few months on their low table, bleeped as a mark of an incoming message. Frowning Kakarotto's father reached for the gadget and placed it on his ear. He quickly read the message displayed on the green lens covering his left eyes his expression going sour.
" Dad, what is it?" Kakrotto asked curiously. Maybe it was a message from some of his teammates and friends. His father had not seen them and gone out with them in a long time and that made Kakarotto worry just a bit. Of course in Saiyajin society family was considered as nothing special or important; just people you lived with and hopefully trained and fed you until you could provide for yourself.
Kakarotto and Bardock were different in that sense. Kakarotto only had his father to take care of him and he was so weak he would have died long ago. Bardock surprisingly had kept the weak brat and even called him a son when everybody else would have just gotten rid of such weakling offspring immediately.
" Another mission. Tomorrow. I 'll leave right in the morning. Were almost out of money anyways," Bardock said calmly, though his inside were twisting and quivering. This was it. No use in trying to outrun fate. It always caught up with you in a way or another. Usually even with more unpleasant ways if you ran. He wasn't expecting his death this soon and could only hope his son and Vegeta would keep the planet standing and well.
"Oh..." Kakarotto nodded thoughtfully and he suddenly looked very small and frail to Bardock. The boy was only seven and yet so much more mature than many other children of his age. He needed to talk with his son, a serious one. In the morning it would be too late.
" Kakarotto," he said quietly and the boy looked like he had been slapped to the face and Bardock grimaced. The brat was far more perceptive than anticipated. " Don't interrupt me and just listen, ey? This is important and I hope you remember this as long as is needed to learn."
Kakarotto's brow fuzzled at these cryptic words but Bardock glare kept him quiet.
" I will be solely disappointed if you fail this, so listen closely. It might prove crucial later on so I really hope you will remember these words by heart. Never waver, even when life shocks and throws a curve ball unexpectedly. You find out more about life and other things... you must not waver, understand, Kakarotto?" The pleading look in his black eyes took the Saiyajin child aback and he sensed something deeper underneath the words, something that he couldn't say straight. He was all ears.
" The time will come when you must fight like never before, no hesitation involved. It's your life on the line and more. You must protect it, but remember you're not alone as long as you don't waver. I know I must say this now but don't heed it like before: she will find you." Bardock talked now in a trance-like state, the words pouring out of his mouth and he himself barely could understand the veiled meanings behind them. The power had gotten a hold of him in the rare moment. As quickly as it came, he snapped out of his state.
" Here." He searched for his armour and dug out something from the breast pocket and hid it in his fist. He opened his hand to reveal a royal two royal blue bandannas. " For you and Ve. Keep them always with you so you won't forget. Anything, everything, nothing."
Bardock then tied the bandana around Kakarotto's head, resembling his own blood red one. Kakarotto touched the texture tied around his head and the question glistened in his black and fiery eyes.
" From the Silver Alley," Bardock smirked evilly as Kakarotto gasped and snatched his hand away like it burned. " For luck."
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Days passed and Kakarotto didn't see Vegeta for a whole days and he guessed the other boy was busy with filling his duty instead of shirking it aside like in the beginning. Kakarotto palmed the coins left of the last paycheck which had been larger than normally and they really had stretched their budget for it to last over two months. Usually Bardock was home only a day in a week and spent rest of the days off world so they could pay their rent and other finances.
" 24 zeni left..." Kakarotto grimaced. He could buy one bread and maybe meat if the shop keeper gave discount. His father better come home soon...! He fingered the blue head band and his other hand clenched tightly the one meant for Vegeta. The ominous feeling didn't leave him. Hadn't left since the night Bardock let him hear the cryptic message and gave him the bandannas bought from Silver Alley.
No use dwelling on it, he decided, and got up from their floor bed. He was just about to go outside as he was flung backwards onto his back as the door was kicked in suddenly. Two guards stood on the door was, menacing and stone-faced.
" Hey busters! What's the big fucking idea!? Ya can't just barge into people's homes like hell spat you...!" Kakarotto yelled angrily and got on his feet quickly, fists clenching. Faster than he was able to comprehend he was painfully hit to the floor. Dazed, he stifled his yell of pain and held his throbbing cheek. He could feel a warm liquid filling his hand and from the coppery scent knew it was blood.
" Silence, brat and show respect to your betters!" Barked the bigger and meaner of the guards and Kakarotto noted glaring that they were first classes. He suddenly had a feeling he could be very badly totally screwed.
" Wh- what do ya want?" Kakarotto asked shakily. His jaw and left side of his face hurt like a bitch making talking a painful experience. The guards smirked, malevolently making sure the kid knew it wasn't good tidings they were bringing. Wordlessly, the smaller guard picked something from his armour and threw it on the floor in front of Kakarotto, whose eyes fixated on it blankly, color draining from his tanned face.
It was a green-lensed scouter, stained in blood and cracked all around, barely holding together. Mouth dry and feeling panic creeping into his mind, Kakarotto gently turned it over and saw the word inscribed inside.
G.O.H.A.N.
His blood ran cold, his black eyes going blank, recognizing the acronym. Go On Here And Now. Words his mother, Tanipu, always said for encouragement and it was an adage from her side of the planet, his father had explained to him, and Bardock had inscribed them to his scouter as a memory of his deceased mate..
" That's it, brat! Poor luck for the poor! Fitting, isn't it? Your old worthless man's dead..." The guards taunted and snickered at the boy's anger. Kakarotto's emotion driven temper took fire and he lunged at the guards, tears brimming in his eyes.
" HE WAS NOT WORTHLESS, YOU FUCKTARDS! HE WAS MORE OF A FUCKING WARRIOR THAN YOU TWO COULD EVER BE! AND I---"
" Shut your pointless whining, brat!" The other guard caught him by his collar in the air and slapped him cruelly to the right side of his face and then delivered a hard uppercut to his stomach. Kakarotto's head was turned sideways and the blow made him cough up blood. With pained gasp he thudded on the bed.
" Oh, by the way... you're out of house and we need our payment... you have a day to get this junk out of here. Have a good day!" The guards marched out of the broken door and took the measly 24 zeni with them, laughing how they'd spend it all on beer.
" Damnit..." the Saiyajin child gasped, coughing up more blood as he tried to sit up. It was really a luck those blows hadn't killed him. His throat was feeling tight and his chest hurt in a way it had never before. It wasn't physical pain; more like a lump of air he couldn't get out. His eyes were stinging and feeling hot and his emotions were running rampant, sadness, fury, hate, desperation. All mixed up.
" Kakarotto?" A familiar voice asked, sounding weak and incredulous and Kakarotto felt shocked at how different the owner of the voice sounded compared to the normal one.
" V-ve... I..."
" I heard it all... it just can't be..." Ve answered quietly, his face belying his shock and hints of sadness.
" I...just..." Kakarotto's voice cracked as he squeezed his eyes shut. It hurt and he was suddenly filled with shame. Shame of being so weak and no help to anybody. Shame he really couldn't even land a punch on the guards. Shame Ve saw him like this: beaten to a pulp, showing weak emotions and as a homeless loser.
" Holy shit..." Ve cursed and came inside to see the damage done to his friend and grimaced immediately. Kakarotto's expression was pained, his hands holding his stomach tightly and the younger boy's usually fiery black eyes were distant and dull, like he wasn't feeling any physical pain but suffering in other ways. Huge violent purple bruises decorated both sides of his face, the skin scraped and bleeding slowly. His nose was heavily bleeding and probably broken and he had a split lip. The corner of his eyes had a deep welt; he had obviously hit the table corner. Adding to that all he was coughing up blood.
" Damn... it..." Kakarotto coughed, refusing to meet his eyes Vegeta helped him up to sit against some old pillows. He spat some blood out vehemently.
" Fucking bastards... Just because they were born with power and wealth... fucking loathsome lot, hell!"
Vegeta listened to his friend's bitter mumble, feeling slightest tinge of guilt in his soul for being royalty at the moment but quickly shook it off. It was not his fault how he was brought up and taught to treat lower classes. Many first classes were in reality honestly ignorant about third classes and knew nothing of how they lived. All they were taught about lower ranks was that they were the scum of the society, thieves and useless, weak drunks and whores, in need of purifying beating.
A feeling of revulsion rose in Vegeta's gut; he had not so long ago thought like that too. Nowadays he considered himself a third class more than a royalty. It was funny since he had everything he could ever wish and yet he was here, dressed in rags, in a hovel going through a trauma he shouldn't even know about in any condition.
The bitter shame in Kakarotto's eyes for being what he was made him angrier than he had never been before and he silently vowed to change it all when he'd be the King of the planet! A curious thought occurred to him at the same time, hadn't Bardock said the same thing? That man had always talked in riddles; something about a wind picking up and standing tall... Nah... it couldn't be. The man was, or had been Vegeta corrected himself sadly, a weather freak and complaining about his and Kakarotto's bad way of standing.
First all he had to do was to learn all the things necessary about third class world. Downsides, upsides; the lower world of crime and upper world of hard working purgers. Also, he couldn't ignore the upper class either... he was the prince and thus could do the heck he wanted in the court, find out what he needed.
" Kakarotto... I demand you to stand up right now!" He bellowed and took him by the shoulders, forcing their black eyes to meet. Kakarotto looked startled and confused.
"Someday... someday we're gonna show it to those jerks! You, you should stand up and make your father proud to have sired you in the first place and not wallow in the self-pity! Well manage it! If we didn't it would shame all the training he gave us. He... he was a great warrior and we should let his soul rest in peace; not to make him worry if we made it or not, understood?! It hurts me too, but gotta keep moving on! For his sake, for our sake, for our world's sake!" His eyes blazing with drive and fire, usually tightly hidden under his cool and regal exterior. He watched unblinkingly as Kakarotto's face set into a determined scowl. Angrily the boy wiped his mouth clean of blood.
He smirked despite the pain.
" Whatcha got planned, ey, Ve?"
Vegeta smirked in response. " I dunno, but I think we can manage to come up with sumthin'... don't we, Kakarotto?"
" Side by side... whatever you do Ve, I'll stand by your side!" Kakarotto declared hotly and sprung on his feet energetically, only to wince in pain as his abused intestines protested of the movement.
" You sure you can take it?" Vegeta asked impishly and received a withering, 'what the hell do ya think' -glare in return, so familiar that it almost made him cringe. Whether Kakarotto realized it or not, Bardock still lived through his son, strongly, never quite forgotten.
Suddenly smiling the younger boy dug his pocket. " Here." He stuck his hand out to Vegeta and a blue bandanna was bunched in his palm.
" What's this?" Vegeta asked, baffled, their minds going totally off-topic to their previous and serious one.
" A bandanna, like mine!" Kakarotto pointed grinningly to his own head. " This one's yours. Dad bought them for us the night before he left," He explained.
" A bandanna... what for?" Vegeta was secretly pleased with the royal blue color of the accessory. Kakarotto smirked mysteriously.
" It's for luck."
" How can a bandanna be for luck?"
Kakarotto shook his head slightly. " You really don't know much in that palace... It's a good luck charm recognized by few but it's damnit the most powerful protection one can grant in the east side of the city. Blue bandanna of the Silver Alley."
" Silver Alley?" Vegeta repeated and took the piece of cloth hesitantly. " What is this Silver Alley exactly?"
" Sorry can't tell ya... at least not yet, anyways... nope, can't do... you have to ask around first. Your folks should know; it's practically a legend around the planet, a hushed one at that, though...!" Kakarotto grinned wildly, his depression ebbing away momentarily and he touched his own bandanna to make his point. " Put it on, Ve! Lessee which one is more handsome!"
Glaring he tied it tightly around his forehead; the same style Kakarotto wore his and how Bardock had kept his blood-red one. It certainly made the two look kind of tough. Silver Alley. He'd had to consult his father about the subject soon. But first to deal with Kakarotto and his predicament.
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A/N: Okay, not so much about the Silver Alley but it all will be in the next chapter, I promise! ...and don't kill me, please? (Ducks bullets, fists, projectiles, swords and chairs thrown her way) I think I'll be issuing a retreat command right now... Kinoha off now! Review, please? JA NE!