part 2! Hope you enjoy it^^
warnings: some physical violence and badmouthing of... people. I should probably raise the rating a bit, but fails at maintaining their site properly, so they can't blame me for mistakes I made and can't fix.
last time: Vegeta figured out what happened to make him such an arse, and he runs off. Goku flies after him because Bulma told him to. (And because he has this hero-thing going on. Probably.)
Goku finally catches up to Vegeta when he stops at the clearing. Vegeta's just standing there, looking at the trees. When Goku stops next to him, Vegeta glances in his direction, but he doesn't say anything. After some time of the heavy silence, Goku speaks up.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"It'll make you feel better?" Vegeta huffs at that.
"No it won't." Goku sighs and sits down next to their dying fire from before.
"How do you know? Maybe it'll be relieving to get it off your chest?" With another huff, Vegeta sits down next to Goku.
"I don't even remember it happening, I can only imagine what it was like. Talking about 'might be's' won't amount to anything."
Goku's trying to think of something to say that will make Vegeta talk, but he can't think of anything, so he keeps quiet. Eventually, Vegeta stands up.
"I'm going to bed. Let's train tomorrow, if you're up for it?" Goku nods, and decides to go to sleep too.
Training the next day is horrendous, because Vegeta fails to attain his super saiyan state. He's getting really pissed off when lunch is drawing near, and when they call it quits for the morning, Vegeta curses magnificently.
"How did I ever get past that stupid block? It's freaking impossible!"
Goku runs a hand through his hair, thinking about what to say. He knows Vegeta went into outer space to become super saiyan, but he doesn't know exactly what triggered it.
"Maybe we should focus on getting your other skills back first, because that might trigger your memories or something." Vegeta drops on a tree stump with a groan.
"Nothing triggered a memory so far, and I don't know if I want to remember anything, any way."
Goku sits down next to Vegeta, on a patch of grass. After a while, Goku suddenly looks up at the sky, expecting something. Vegeta notices, and scans the sky.
"What are you looking at?"
"Piccolo is coming, I can feel him." That makes Vegeta look at him in surprise.
"How do you mean, you can feel him?"
Goku explains how he can sense ki-signatures, and how Vegeta used to be able to. Vegeta's face lights up with happiness.
"Teach me! That is such a handy skill to have!" Goku grins and gets up.
"Close your eyes, and just feel the environment." Vegeta does what he tells him to, and in a couple of minutes, he grunts.
"I don't get it. I don't feel anything." He still hasn't opened his eyes, so when Piccolo speaks up, he literally jumps a metre in the air.
"You're doing it wrong. You're sending out your ki, and that interferes with the sensing." Vegeta looks at Piccolo distrustfully.
"A Namek? What's he doing on this planet?" Goku rolls his eyes, saying that he told him about Piccolo already.
"Oh, the ex-evil-god-wannabe?" Vegeta grins wickedly at Piccolo, making the man frown at him. The grin fades, and they simply stare each other down until Goku breaks the mood.
"Maybe if I power up, it'll be easier to sense me?" Vegeta grunts in reply, and closes his eyes again. Goku powers up to a bit below super saiyan, and surely, Vegeta can sense him moving around now.
"This is so awesome! But how are you able to do it all the time? I need to really focus on it." Goku grins at Vegeta's happiness.
"Training! Eventually it just becomes second nature."
Now that Vegeta understands the basics, they have a small lunch break with Piccolo, and he decides to join their training today. Piccolo even has the great idea of blindfolding Vegeta so he can learn the sensing faster. When he suggests the idea to Vegeta though, the man in question freezes up.
"No way." Goku slaps him lightly on the shoulder.
"Ah, come on Vegeta, you'll learn so much faster this way!"
Vegeta looks a bit betrayed when he takes a step back, but Goku doesn't realise it. Piccolo does, although he doesn't care enough to comment.
"I don't want to. I'm perfectly capable of learning this thing without some special measures in place." Goku is ready to give in, but Piccolo feels like being an arse.
"Just put the blindfold on."
"No!"
Piccolo starts to close in on Vegeta, making the man drop into fighting stance. Piccolo shares a look with Goku, and for once, Goku isn't too thick to understand the look. He nods at Piccolo and disappears in the forest. Vegeta sees him go, and he understands their plan: Piccolo is going to keep him busy, so that Goku can sneak up on him and force the freaking thing on him.
"We'll go easy on you if you put it on yourself, Vegeta."
With a feral growl, Vegeta flies at Piccolo. They exchange a couple of blows, with Vegeta being just a tad bit faster, making him seem to be winning. He didn't expect Goku to fire a ki-blast at his back though, and he flies off of Piccolo by the sheer force Goku put in it.
Vegeta can hear a loud eep from the forest, giving away Goku's location. He twists around in the air, so he can fire a volley at Goku. Having already perfected the sensing-skill, Goku can easily evade it, and he's lost within the forest once again.
This sequence of events keeps happening until Vegeta runs out of energy, and just stays down after one of Goku's blasts. He's lying there, panting, and after a while both Goku and Piccolo come to stand over him.
They're looking incredibly smug about Vegeta being down, so Vegeta tries to swipe them down with his leg. Piccolo saw it coming of course, but Goku falls flat on his face with a yelp. Vegeta laughs at him, until Piccolo pulls out the blindfold again, then he just goes cranky again.
"I don't want to wear the damn blindfold!" With Goku right next to him on the ground, Vegeta can't go anywhere when Piccolo closes in.
"We tried it your way, and it failed. Now we'll do it my way."
Goku has to physically restrain Vegeta, because he starts fighting again. The good thing about their previous training session, is that Vegeta simply can't hold out long enough to keep from being blindfolded. He doesn't stop struggling though, so Goku keeps holding him down.
"Calm down, Vegeta, what are you so afraid of?" Vegeta stops struggling at that, but he yells at Goku.
"Nothing at all!" Piccolo humphs, and Vegeta can hear him walking away.
"Then act like it. First training: defend against ki blasts."
Without waiting for Goku to release Vegeta so he can actually defend himself, Piccolo fires a blast at him. Goku jumps out of the way, pulling Vegeta with him.
"Hey! You could at least have told me you were starting!" When the coast is clear, Goku moves away from Vegeta, whose hands immediately go up to the blindfold. He's stopped by a blast to the head though.
"Don't take it off, defend!" With a grunt, Vegeta complies.
After an hour or two, Vegeta can finally deflect every singly blast either Goku or Piccolo send at him. Piccolo gives Vegeta the okay for taking of his blindfold, and he immediately rips it off. The surly glare Vegeta shoots at Piccolo, makes Goku want to rumple his hair. He wisely refrains of doing it, because who knows what Vegeta would do to him afterwards. With a goofy grin, Goku turns to Piccolo.
"Why are you here, Piccolo? I forgot to ask."
"Your wife sent me. She wants you home for dinner." Goku looks up at the setting sun, and groans.
"You couldn't have told me that earlier? She's going to kill me!" Hurriedly, Goku starts grabbing his stuff, telling Vegeta to do the same. Vegeta does it in a more leisurely way, complaining about having to clean up.
"She's married to a saiyan, isn't she used to you coming in late from training? It's in your blood to keep training till you drop, why does she want you to be different?" Goku completely ignores his comment, struggling with his boots. It's Piccolo that answers his question.
"She's human, and humans tend to be selfish."
Vegeta gives him a look that says 'isn't everyone selfish?', but he can't say anything any more, because Goku is ready. Without saying goodbye, the man takes off in flight, going fast enough for Vegeta to lose him before he even starts to follow. Piccolo speaks with a wry grin.
"Second training: follow Goku's ki-signature." Without further ado, Piccolo leaves too, in a completely different direction. Groaning, Vegeta starts of in the general direction of Goku's home.
"I don't even know which ki is Goku's, how am I supposed to find him?"
Eventually, Vegeta finds Goku. It was more by luck than actual skill though, since Vegeta heard a woman yelling and decided to check it out. The woman appears to be Goku's wife, and when Vegeta looks in through a window, he can see her throwing things at a subdued Goku. He doesn't even try to evade the flying plates. Not that Goku really feels them any way, but it's the thought that counts.
It takes Vegeta some time to get over the initial shock of seeing Goku this way, but when he does, it's like hell burst open in the Son Goku household. If the house hadn't been saiyan-proofed ever since Goten was born, it would have collapsed around the hole Vegeta blasts in the wall by flying in.
"What the fuck do you think your doing!"
Vegeta stands in front of Goku, facing off a stunned Chichi. Goku has neglected to tell her about Vegeta's 'situation', and since she hadn't wanted to come to the birthday party, she didn't know about him yet. Chichi's flabbergasted for at least 3 seconds before she gets over her surprise.
"This doesn't concern you, Vegeta, it's between me and my husband!" Vegeta's anger makes his ki whirl around him.
"Like hell this doesn't concern me, I'm the prince of all saiyans! If you want to abuse a saiyan, you'll have to go through me."
Chichi seems to find that a good rule, if her changing targets is anything to go by. She grabs another plate, and throws it at Vegeta while yelling.
"You come into my house, you tell me what to do, and you think I'll just listen to you! You, the epitome of the word asocial, are lecturing me on how to treat people? You fucking hypocrite!"
Vegeta doesn't move a muscle, except for blasting apart the flying plate. Chichi keeps yelling obscenities, all the while throwing stuff at Vegeta to no avail. Eventually, she runs out of things to throw, so she believes attacking Vegeta barehanded will make a good alternative.
That act is all the proof Vegeta needs to know the woman's insane. Who in their right mind, would attack an enraged saiyan without backup? He doesn't even have to use any power to intercept her first swing, and twist her arm around painfully.
"You seriously need some help."
The woman starts insulting the entire saiyan race now, and Vegeta gets fed up with it all. He only needs to pull her arm up to break it in 3 different places, and he would have done just that, if it wasn't for Goku interfering.
"Vegeta, let her go."
He speaks softly to Vegeta, and his voice is almost lost in all the noise Chichi is making. Unbelievingly, Vegeta looks at Goku. The man isn't looking back at him, his eyes cast down to the floor in shame.
"When I let her go, I'm leaving. And you're coming with me."
The way Vegeta bears himself, makes it almost impossible to ignore his command. Doesn't stop Goku from trying, even though he actually wants to leave.
"I can't just up and leave her, Vegeta..." The prince snorts at him.
"Why not?" With an indignant sigh, Goku looks up. It takes him a moment to answer, which makes Vegeta smirk.
"Because..." Vegeta interrupts him with a short laugh.
"Yeah, as I thought, you can't think of a single reason why you shouldn't walk out right now."
Frowning, Goku looks down again. He really can't think of a reason to stay, except for the fact that they've been married for so long. But when you think about it, that's not a very good reason to stay. All Goku knows, is that he simply doesn't want to leave Chichi all alone.
But she won't be all alone, Goten will still be here, and Goku is certain that Chichi loves the boy with all her heart. He'll keep her safe, that's for sure. With Goten here, Goku really doesn't need to stay.
The time it took for Goku to come to that realisation, is the time Goten needed enter the room and process the situation. He runs in, and pulls Vegeta away from Chichi with a growl.
"What are you doing to my mother!" With a surprised look, Vegeta easily lets go. His surprise turns into indignation soon though.
"You were here? And you didn't do anything?"
Completely furious, Vegeta pushes Goten of him. He wants to yell and rant at the boy, but words cannot describe the full betrayal Vegeta feels at this. It's not even about him, it's all about how Goku must have felt, being so thoroughly forsaken by his own flesh and blood. The silence seems to last an eternity, before Goten speaks up.
"It's always been like this, and it worked just fine! Nobody got hurt anyway, so it's not a big deal!"
Vegeta goes frigid at the sound of Goten's voice when he says that. It reminds him of someone else, but he can't put his finger on who it is. All he knows, it that Goten doesn't have the right to say something like that person did.
"You have no idea what you are talking about, brat." Vegeta turns around, with a look in Goku's direction.
"Kakarot, we're leaving."
Again, Vegeta uses that regal tone of voice that doesn't allow disobedience, so Goku listens to him this time. When they're outside, Chichi starts yelling at Goku to come back, and Goku falters. Vegeta stops him with a soft hand on his arm. When he speaks now, he sounds like a sad teenager, all trace of the royal prince practically gone.
"Just leave, Goku, it's the only thing that will ever change anything." With a sorrowful feeling in his stomach, Goku nods and flies off. Vegeta follows after him with one last glare at the house.
Goku doesn't seem to know where to go, because he is just flying in a random direction. Vegeta knows he's not going to their clearing, because that's more to the south. He doesn't think Goku has another one of those randomly placed houses somewhere, so he is starting to wonder where they are going.
Just when Vegeta decides to speed up to ask Goku about it, Goku slows down and finally stops. They're at a city with an abundant night-life, judging from all the people outside in the middle of the night. Goku starts walking somewhere in a brisk pace, and Vegeta almost has to jog to keep up with him.
"Where are we going?" Goku answers without a look in his direction.
"Getting a late night dinner at the club. It's the only one I know that still serves food at this hour."
Vegeta's stomach agrees with that plan, so he lets Goku lead the way. After 5 minutes, they arrive at a dance club, and Goku walks up to the doorman, completely ignoring the waiting queue. The doorman greets Goku with a grin and a wave, letting him in without a fuss. He does stop Vegeta though.
"Aren't you a bit young to go in, kid?" Goku puts an arm around him, laughing.
"We're just here for the food, Mike, don't mind his age." The doorman, who's apparently named Mike, shrugs it off, and let's them go through.
"Make sure he doesn't drink anything, okay?"
Goku's armis the only thing that prevents Vegeta from lashing out the man. When they're out of hearing range, Vegeta speaks his thoughts to Goku.
"He called me a kid! I cant just let that slide!" Normally, Goku would have laughed at that comment, but now he just smiles sadly.
"Don't bother, you really look like a kid now, you know." Vegeta humphs and pushes Goku's arm off.
"Then go get me a beer, to spite the guy."
3 hours later, they have finished of a table full of food and beer. Being a saiyan gives them a high tolerance of alcohol, but having a high tolerance doesn't mean you can't get drunk if you try. Goku certainly is trying.
By the time all the plates are cleaned of the table, Goku is getting quite intoxicated. He's drunk enough to tell Vegeta he's going to dance. Vegeta responds wiht a frown.
"You're in no condition to dance, idiot."
Goku starts whining about how he wants to have some fun, and how Vegeta should come dance too, since he's such a spoilsport. That makes Vegeta glare at him, telling him with a look how he wouldn't be caught dead on a dance floor.
"We're going home." With a surly look, Goku keeps whining.
"What's home any way..." With a fed up grumble, Vegeta grabs Goku by the shirt and pulls him out of the club.
"Home is wherever you want it to be, so suck it up and come along."