Chapter 16

"Absolutely not Kakarot" Vegeta scowled. He had explained the difference between what Goten smelled and what he thought was happening to Gohan once they had him ki restrained and back to CC. He was asleep in a guest room as they argued outside the door.

"We have to make sure! He's my son Vegeta!" Goku was pissed.

"Look, Kakarot, I didn't say we should just leave him to his fate without trying to help – I'm trying to get you to understand that going into Gohan's mind while he's like this would be worse than suicide."

"What?"

"He's completely unstable, anyone can see that baka! If you try to share in his thoughts you could be driven mad yourself, or even get sucked into his head and be lost in the chaos forever." Goku's face began to crumble, but he quickly steeled himself, being strong for his son.

"There is a way to check if he is under outside influence without going into his thoughts, but that is all we can do for him right now. If it turns out he is being controlled or manipulated, we will deal with it Kakarot, mark my words, but we cannot force him from the brink, he must find his own way back" Vegeta said while squeezing his hand tightly... Goku refused to cry yet. Later, once they had checked over Gohan and helped him with everything they could, he would curl up in Vegeta's arms and bawl like a stupid baka, he was sure... but right now he gave into the anger instead, let the heat of it dry the tears that had started to form, and straightened his shoulders.

"Ok, let's do what we can then" he nodded. Vegeta looked into his eyes for a moment, his tail swishing like he was deep in thought, then he nodded his head and they went into Gohan's temporary room. Bulma had brought in a pitcher of cold water, and was applying a towel soaked with it onto Gohan's forehead as he slept.

"He's getting a fever" she said quietly. They both just stared at her, everyone knowing that wasn't good.

"We're going to try and do what we can for him; you should leave the room now, this will take us a little while" Vegeta instructed her. Once she was gone, he took off his gloves, and placed them on the nightstand. Goku watched him intently as he closed his eyes and focused, then held his hands out over top of the sleeping figure. Goku could see Vegeta's power tracing out over Gohan, never actually touching him, but just hovering a few inches above his skin in a yellow web. Once the web finished spreading, the strands began to get thicker and stronger, until the web formed into a solid blanket of energy that wrapped him from head to toe. It hummed and vibrated as Vegeta concentrated, then began to thin and dissipate into the air as he opened his eyes a few minutes later.

"Nothing is trying to control him or invade his mind Kakarot" he said with a sigh, "But there is one more thing that I want to check, help me get his shirt off."

Vegeta didn't find what he was looking for after thoroughly examining Gohan's entire upper body. He didn't understand it... Nothing was trying to control the boy, but if it was just Kakarot's baka of a son having some sort of personal mental break down – why the fever? He had no marks on him in any of the usual places, but the seriousness of the situation dictated that he check everywhere... He sighed again.

"Damn it – there's nothing there, help me take off the rest of his clothes too" he muttered, pulling on a shoe.
"Um, Vegeta, what exactly are you looking for?" Goku said with his arms crossed over his chest.

"A scar" he replied tersely.

"A scar? What do you mean? How could a scar drive him crazy and give him a fever?" Goku wondered aloud.

"If he had been mated once, or tried to, then yes, theoretically, it could." he responded.

"We all know he's not mated Vegeta, you can smell it – but what to you mean by 'tried to'?"

"There aren't any other beings with Saiyan blood left Kakarot, but the 'losing it' and the fever can be some of the signs that a Saiyan's mate has died... so, I don't know, maybe he tried to mark a human and something went wrong, or it didn't work right, I have no idea, I'm just trying to eliminate all possibilities" Vegeta was always annoyed by Kakarot's lack of knowledge when it came to their heritage.

"What are the other signs?" Goku asked him as he moved to help strip his sons' pants.

"Instant death" Vegeta said sarcastically in his annoyance, "and I'm pretty sure if he'd had that one we would have noticed."

They didn't find anything, Gohan's skin was smooth and immaculate – Goku was pretty sure he'd never had to heal a serious injury without the help of a senzu, so his body was practically flawless. Nothing could even be considered questionable, he didn't have a single mark on him. They dressed him again in just his boxers, as his fever was starting to rise, and pulled the sheet back over him. Vegeta was sitting in a chair off to the side, rubbing the line of his brow as he tried to think, while Goku replaced the cool towel on his son's forehead.

On the 12th day, Gohan's fever broke. He had slept the entire time, was still asleep. Goku would have thought a Saiyan would starve to death if they didn't eat for 12 days, though Bulma had put him on an IV drip (shudder) after he didn't wake up on the second one. Maybe it was his ki being suppressed so low that helped too... He wasn't sure, no one was sure of anything. Now they were the ones all going crazy (with worry and fear), even the feeling of relief that his fever breaking had brought was soon drowned out again by the thought of his endless sleep. Why wouldn't he wake up?!...

Gohan was on cloud nine. He had defeated the greatest evil the world had ever faced, and reached a height of power that was unrivaled in the universe – he could feel the Saiyan blood singing in his veins. His dad was gone, which brought a hint of sadness, but he had explained his reasoning in wanting to stay dead, and had been so cheerful about it, that he just couldn't seem to let it get him down. He had thought that he would pass out from exhaustion immediately that night, but apparently Dende's healing had done a thorough job, because he had been tossing and turning for hours now. His body thrummed with new found power. Screw it, there was no way he could sleep like this – especially with his mom's sobbing still echoing from down the hall... He needed to get out of here. He could at least go fly around the planet a bit until he got tired enough to sleep. He grinned as he wondered how quickly he could make it all the way around the earth with his new strength...

Trunks and Vegeta both felt Gohan power up, even from miles away at CC, but Vegeta didn't seem concerned.

"We should at least go check on him" Trunks said.

"Do whatever you want boy, but I'm going to bed" Vegeta growled, "he's the strongest being in existence, he can deal with it." Then he slammed the door to his room in Trunks' face. He wasn't sure he would ever figure out how his father could still be such an arrogant bastard even while admitting that someone else was stronger than him...

On Gohan's third lap around the planet, he found Trunks waiting in the middle of his flight path, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

"Hey Trunks! Couldn't sleep too?" he said cheerfully.

"Actually I was just about to when I felt you power up – you seem to be perfectly ok though..." he said with a knowing grin. Gohan realized he should probably feel a little guilty about making him worry, but found that he was really just excited to have company.

"You wanna spar?" he said, his Saiyan blood singing to him again. Trunks chuckled, finding himself getting caught up in his chibi Gohan's enthusiasm.

"Ok, just for a little while – I've got a big day tomorrow"

They traded a few 'practice' blows, warming up, until Trunks pinned him face down in the dirt with a knee on his neck, taking the aggression up several levels without warning. He released him and laughed at Gohan's strange expression.

"Oh, come on Gohan, we both know you're the best – that's probably the only good pin I'll get in on you" Trunks chuckled. As they continued to spar, Gohan's blood was no longer singing, it was more like chanting to him now... urging him on... He kicked Trunks so hard that he fell out of the sky, making only a small to medium sized crater though – it wasn't like he was really trying to hurt him. Gohan shot down like an arrow, curling at the last moment and slamming into Trunks' chest with his knees before he could get up. That would teach him, Gohan thought smugly as his blood sang his praises from within his veins... He could see Trunks was having a hard time breathing, having just got the wind knocked out of him twice in rapid succession. He paused to let him catch his breath, not attacking him anymore, but still staring him down while perched on his chest.

"Fuck" Trunks spat out once he could breath again, "I thought this was just a spar, you didn't say we were going to be playing for keeps." Something went very still inside Gohan when he heard Trunks say "playing for keeps." That was a concept his blood liked really well... Really, really, well... Trunks froze when he saw Gohan's eyes cloud over and felt his power spike. Somehow he thought his brains' advice of "no sudden movements" wasn't going to be adequate. Gohan leaned over and put his hand on the ground next to Trunks' arm, pinning it to his side, while spreading his knees to straddle him as he did it, getting a lower profile over his body. "Maybe I should-" was the last thing that Trunks thought before Gohan drove his teeth into the top of his shoulder.

Blood squirted into Gohan's mouth, hot and full of Trunks' power, and his own blood welcomed it warmly into his body.

Trunks let out a startled gasp as he was bitten, but it turned into more of a moan as Gohan began sucking on the wound. Trunks didn't realize he had closed his eyes until they flew open when Gohan's mouth drew away from him. He thought that Gohan's face would be covered in blood after what he'd just done, but there was only a little drop of it on his lips that was licked away cleanly as he leaned over him again. Trunks put his free hand up to stop him from leaning in again, but Gohan's chest pushed back against the pressure, continuing forward as he spoke.

"It's ok, I'm not going to bite you this time" he said almost in a purr, which confused Trunks because that feral look was still in his eyes. Everything came together and made sense though when Gohan kissed him. "Oh shit, this is not happening..." Trunks thought in desperation. Gohans' tongue probed him gently, and the taste of blood, even though it was his own, was threatening to bring him to attention beneath the eleven year old. Trunks pushed him off of him as hard as he could, and Gohan ended up on his butt below him as Trunks quickly stood. He looked a little shocked, his eyes not as clouded as they had been a moment ago now that he was sitting there blinking up at him... Maybe if he could shock him badly enough, it would break the hold his instincts had on him right now... So Trunks leaned over and grabbed Gohan's jaw forcefully, looking him dead in the eye as he spoke with no emotion in his voice:

"Do you want my dick up your ass?"

Gohan had froze, as if he wasn't sure what to do when Trunks grabbed his face, but now his eyes went wide, and he paled considerably.

"W-what?" he squeaked. Confusion rolled off him in waves, and Trunks breathed an internal sigh of relief; releasing Gohan's jaw with a push, so that he ended up sprawled backward on his elbows.

"Then don't ever kiss me like that again" he said sternly, and flew away.

Gohan laid back on the ground once he was gone, and stared up at the stars from the bottom of the crater for a long time... After a few hours, he finally picked himself up and flew home as well, but it would never be the same again.