Rock Your World

Part 15 – To Get You To Smile

The new Capsule house wasn't bigger than ChiChi's place, but it seemed bigger for some reason. Maybe that was just because it was new. Just as Vegeta promised; there were three bedrooms, a large kitchen and bathroom, plenty of general space and whatever was needed to make a house a home.

Vegeta still seemed rather listless, however. He was quieter than usual; even for Vegeta, and he spent a lot of his time alone; or alone with me. I tried my best to make him happy, just to see him smile or get him to laugh, but my efforts usually failed. He would just look at me like I was speaking a foreign language and force an unenthusiastic response.

I don't think of myself as a violent person; despite being Saiyan and having killed before many times; but I wanted to at least slap some sense into Trunks for doing this to his father. At least make him see what a beautiful person the prince was and make him apologize and fix his mistake. But I could do no such thing.

I think Goten was trying to help too. He seemed like he was trying to fill in for Trunks; to be a son for Vegeta when his real son wasn't there. I let the child know how much I appreciated his actions almost every day; and I was rewarded almost every time with a smile and a hug.

One of those days; days when not much was going on, Goten followed me outside – it was warmer now and the snow had melted – and sat with me as I tuned up Ongaku and started to play. Mostly he just watched, but sometimes he would chip in with a comment like "I liked that one", or "You got off-beat a little bit there". I felt myself relaxing, just enjoying my son's company and the mild weather; and in the back of my mind I wished I could make Vegeta relax as easily as I could myself.

No matter how many times I attempt to; no matter how hard I try and how much I try to learn…. I cannot, in any way, shape, or form, perform the simple task of cooking a meal. No way in hell. But I was willing to try in order to please Vegeta.

The consequence of my miscalculation revealed itself in the form of almost burning the new house down and failing miserably at cooking a dish as simple as noodles. Screw it. I had to try something else to get His Highness to smile. So while Goten cleaned up the mess – I'd insisted that I should fix my own mistakes but he said with a teasing shake of his head that with my luck I'd just make it worse – I paced obsessively, biting my nails – which I never do – and stressing about how I could make the prince happy again. I hated, hated, it when he was so down; the depressed aura he was giving off was smothering, and it almost made me feel depressed even if I had nothing to be upset about right then.

Sure, I could go down the same road as him and mope about how Gohan all but hated me; but I didn't think that was true. I thought he was confused; he didn't know what to think and he didn't trust Vegeta…. yet. I had to believe there was hope to turn his opinion around; otherwise I'd end up just as depressed as Vegeta and we'd never get anywhere.

Goten was a huge help. And if you didn't detect the sarcasm there; I assure you it was supposed to be detected. He paused halfway through his self-assigned cleaning duty to watch me as I brooded; chewing my fingernails down to the quick. He said gently I was being a nuisance and that I'd almost smashed a coffee mug with my thrashing tail. So he shooed me outside, saying that if I wanted to help Vegeta, I should go talk to him. He added with a smirk that he betted a kiss would cheer up His Royal Highness and I stopped suddenly; staring at him.

"Goten, I think you might accidentally be a genius," I said sincerely. So maybe Goten did help me after all.

I found Vegeta in the gravity chamber, which had been moved from Capsule Corp. to the new house for easier training use. Big shocker that I'd find the prince there, I thought. Vegeta would be pleased to know that I'd been working on my sarcasm.

Vegeta was training with some of those weird attack drones that Bulma invented. But the robots were wearing his patience thin and he eventually gave up and flattened the lot of them with a burst of white energy. Then he noticed I was standing there. I had been leaning against the door; studying the effortless push and pull of satin-copper skin over lithe iron muscle, trying my best not to drool. Hell, even the scars that marred the prince's hide were flawless; each one told a story and painted a picture. It was art; the prince was art. I'm becoming a mush; I thought with a self-aware shake of my head, if I haven't always been one, I certainly am one now.

"Kakarot," Vegeta greeted me in the usual way, shutting off the gravity machine with a flick of his tail over the buttons.

"Hey Vegeta," I nodded, blushing to realize I had still been staring like a schoolgirl for four seconds before responding.

"What do you want?" How come he always assumes I want something from him? I wondered, Can't I just be around him without having some ulterior motive?

"Nothing," I said quickly, "I just wanted to…." I couldn't lie to save my life, "I want to help you,"

"With what? Training?" Vegeta's tail flicked, he knew that wasn't why I was here.

"No, I want to help you… be happy…. at least for a little while…." I took a few steps closer to him, struggling to keep the desire from ringing in my voice.

"Why?" he genuinely looked like he was confused by this. Like he couldn't believe anyone would willingly help him without him demanding it of them. I sighed. He's still so unsure, so down on himself…

Well, I'd have to fix that.

"Why not?" I smiled, "I just don't like to see you unhappy, Vegeta. I love you," that was only the second or third time I'd said that out loud. Instantly those three little words captured the prince's attention and he blinked, waiting for me to continue.

I walked a half-circle around the prince, making him turn his head to the side in order to keep me in his sight. I took the unintended invitation and brushed my lips against the exposed side of his bared throat. He shivered a little, still watching me. Goten had just been kidding, but he'd had a point; maybe I just needed to wash away a painful memory with a better one.

And I think we both knew what that entailed.

TBC