Author's Note: Surprise! I actually had plenty of time to finish this chapter today!

Thank you so much for the reviews! Just to tease you, I'm not going to tell who is going to be Trunks's lover until he appears in the story… which is in the next chapter! Enjoy reading! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z and Lion King. I also don't own the lyrics. I'm only doing this for fun.

WARNINGS: Strong language and Shonen-Ai (male x male love)

Pairing: Vegeta x Kakarot, ? x Trunks

Cast:

Kiara – Trunks
Nala – Kakarot
Rafiki – Korin / Kami / King Kai
Simba – Vegeta
Pumbaa & Timon – Humans

Chapter 23

EIGHT YEARS LATER

"Have you seen Trunks lately?" Kakarot asked. He had been searching for his only one child everywhere in the castle, including every hidden passages and secret dungeons.

"Aren't the bodyguards supposed to watch over him?" Vegeta raised an eyebrow at his mate. He turned to a couple of Saiyans, "Excuse me. I'll be right back."

"Nappa-san was so good at catching us. How did he do that?" Kakarot pouted, as he crossed his arms across his chest. They were walking through the long hallway.

"That was because we weren't Super Saiyans back then. And, he was trained to watch over us. Besides, you always gave him trouble," Vegeta smirked.

"Me? You did too!" Kakarot laughed.

"Oh, look at time," Vegeta looked at his watch on his wrist. "Let's see... three... two... one!"

They quickly jumped away from each other when a wild lavender-haired child flew past them. "Ow!" He cried when his bottom landed hard on the floor. "That isn't fair!"

"Found you, Trunks-chan!" Kakarot exclaimed and took Trunks in his big hug. "You're so cute!"

"Papa! Let me go!" Trunks tried to push him away. He did not need hugs and kisses! He was not a child anymore! "I'm not Trunks-chan! And not cute! I'm Trunks! Trunks!"

"Where did you go?" Vegeta asked. "I hope you aren't trying to sneak out of the palace again... are you?"

"Uhhh..."

"Vegeta, why don't you show him what the kingdom looks like?" Kakarot asked. "He's old enough to get out of the palace, isn't he?"

"Yes! It's so boring here! The bodyguards suck!" Trunks crossed his arms with a scowl on his face.

"But, I'm busy with..." Vegeta stopped when Kakarot gave him a stern look. "Oh, fine. Kakarot, can you please take care of the business with the couple in the throne room? They are having the problem with their crops that were recently getting stolen. Trunks, you get ready."

"Yes!" Trunks cheered, as he took off faster than you can say 'Saiyan King.'

Kakarot chuckled softly. "Vegeta, who does he remind you of? Eh?"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow in confusion at the sudden question. "What? Who?"

"He's just like you when you were young," Kakarot wrapped his arms around Vegeta's neck.

"Exactly! Do you realize how much danger we put ourselves in? That's why I'm going with him!"

Kakarot laughed lightly at the Saiyan King. "You mean the dangers you put us in."

"But—" Vegeta was interrupted when Kakarot kissed him deeply. Kami, he did not realize how much he missed him so much. They had barely seen each other for the last few days. Vegeta had been so busy with the council meetings, and meeting important people for the sake of peace treaties, and everything else. Kakarot was not exactly the quiet mate who just hid behind the Saiyan King but rather, he was loud. He was the one who organized free educational and training schools for the children, so that the Saiyan families could have all of the wonderful opportunities that they could not afford at all. It was important to him that the knowledge of science, literature, culture, history, language, and training was passed from a generation to next. All of those ideas came from Earth.

Vegeta wrapped his arms around Kakarot's narrow waist. He lightly caressed his mate's monkey tail, receiving a deep purr. Tongues were fighting for dominance, but of course, as always, Vegeta won the battle and began exploring Kakarot's hot mouth.

Frozen time started once again when the kiss was finally broken. Kakarot sighed lightly. "He'll be fine," He let go of Vegeta and was heading for the throne room where a Saiyan couple was waiting.

~WE ARE ONE~

"Wow!" Trunks exclaimed. He was standing on the top of the stonewall that protected the castle for centuries. He did not expect to see hundreds of Saiyans in one place at once! Shops, houses, schools, training areas, and other several places were all crowded as well.

He was so excited that he wanted to absorb every single sight he caught. As soon as he leaped off the stonewall, his monkey tail was quickly grabbed.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" Vegeta asked. "We have all day anyway."

Trunks pouted angrily at his father. "Father, there's so much stuff to see! You never let me out of the palace."

"That's because I don't want you to get hurt. I just want you to be careful."

"Father," Trunks said firmly, as his monkey tail was let go of. "I know. I heard you all the time. Kidnapping, murder, stealing, stabbing... all of the dangers you told me about. I know, but... Papa told me great things too! Like the fifth annual martial arts tournament today!"

Kakarot! Vegeta almost felt an annoyed twitch on his face. As much as he wanted to go Super Saiyan out of rage, this was not the place to lose temper in the public. "Trunks, accidents can still happen. Even though it's not entirely intentional. You can't trust anybody at all. And so—"

He was interrupted by a loud beep from his scouter. He was mumbling a few cursing words. As soon as he pressed on a button, "What the hell do you want?"

Trunks rolled his blue eyes. Even when Vegeta was taking a break just for one hour, he was still working because he was supposed to. After all, that was the Saiyan King's job. Trunks frowned at the thought of becoming the next Saiyan King. He was not sure if that was what he wanted at all.

"What? Now?" Vegeta asked angrily. "Can't you just take care...? Oh, fine! I'm coming back to the palace in a few minutes."

"Father, I can explore on my own. The palace isn't hard to find, as..." Trunks glanced at the rather large castle, "It's big!"

Vegeta knew that Kakarot would get mad if he brought their child back without even showing him around the kingdom. Besides, his son was smart enough to go off on his own. "Trunks, you can go, but I want you to stay in sight of the palace at all—"

"At all times. Thank you, Father!" Trunks exclaimed excitedly. "I promise I will go straight home after I'm finished. Can I please go now?"

"Yes, you may go... wait, Trunks!"

"What?" At this point, Trunks was starting to get irritated by his overprotective father.

"Make sure you stay away from the Outsiders. Sometimes they sneak into the kingdom without my permission. You can't turn your back on them," Vegeta warned.

"Who are the Outsiders?" Trunks blinked his bright blue eyes. He was really curious.

"Let's just say that everybody also calls them the traitors. They used to be Frieza's followers... and..." Vegeta sighed in annoyance when he heard another loud beep from his scouter. "Just stay away from them no matter what."

"But—"

"You'll understand someday. Go on."

Trunks was watching as his proud father took off for the Vegeta Palace. He could not help but wonder what the Outsiders were like. Were they mean-looking... or maybe scary? What did they do to get banished? Did they do something wrong... something other than just following Frieza?

He recalled the fight between his parents about a guy named Raditz. His father banished him from the kingdom so... Was he an Outsider too?

Thanks to the short attention span, he shrugged it off and went to explore the city on his own. By bowing their heads, people welcomed him openly when they easily recognized him as the Saiyan Prince because of his unusual hair and eyes colors.

The Saiyan Prince wanted to make sure that he had seen everything, so he went to every street in the city. That meant seeing thousands of streets in the city only.

There was a kind Saiyan woman who gave Trunks a free vanilla ice cream. Trunks never had one before. So, when he took a lick, he could not help but take a big bite, which led to brain freeze. It might hurt, but it tasted so good!

"I just wanted to thank your father for giving us another chance to set up our ice cream business," the Saiyan woman smiled sweetly at Trunks. "It's now growing faster!"

"I will let him know," Trunks returned the smile. The more he looked, the more he realized that his father was very well liked. The current Saiyan King rarely showed any emotion to the people, but it was obvious that he knew what exactly to do with the Saiyans. His Papa often told him the bedtime stories about how much afraid Vegeta was to face after the first war against Frieza and his allies. Even after leaving them for almost ten years, the Saiyans still welcomed him back. That was how powerful their loyalty to the Vegeta Kingdom could be.

"Whoa," Trunks said in amazement. Eventually, he finally got to the entrance gate of the Vegeta City. He decided to leap on the top of the fence for the closer look. Outside the city, there was just... a wasteland. No creature was in sight at all. "I wonder what's out there...?"

He sensed a sudden raise of power levels, so he quickly turned to two odd-looking people. Because their faces were like one inch away from each other, they both screamed in fear. Trunks made a back step, but because he was on the top the fence, he fell over it and landed roughly on the ground just outside the city.

"Oh, shit!" one of the strangers cried, as he flew over the gate. "My Prince! Are you ok?!"

"Oww..." Trunks whined, rubbing his throbbing bottom.

"Are you hurt? Oh no! Are you bleeding?! If you are, then the King is going to kill us!" the second stranger cried in panic. This time, it was a short bald man. Then, as if he were to talk to Vegeta, "Uh, Vegeta-sama. The good news is, we found your son. The bad news is, we scared him so bad that he started bleeding to death!"

"We are so sorry, Prince!" The first stranger with long black hair cried. "Prince Trunks, uh... I think you shouldn't go too far. You could have gotten attacked by the Outsiders!"

"The Outsiders live outside the city?" Trunks asked excitedly. This was making him want to meet one of them even more.

"Oh god! You're not getting up! You didn't break your back, did you?"

"No," Trunks got up easily, as he was wiping his dirty blue spandex shorts. "Hey, who are you? Do I know you?"

"We are good friends of Vegeta-sama and Carrot-sama! We are visiting today from Earth! I'm Krillin, and this is Yamcha! Your father sent us to find you."

Trunks raised an eyebrow at the strangers. "Uh... you don't have tails like ours...?"

Ignoring the question, Yamcha pulled a large umbrella out of nowhere and was holding it over Trunks's head, shading him from the hot sun.

"Do you need anything? Drinks? Band-aids?" Krillin took out his large box out of nowhere once again. Where the heck did that stuff come from?!

At this point, Trunks was annoyed with the so-called service Yamcha and Krillin were offering. He already had maids and butlers back at the palace, so he did not need one more outside the palace! He swapped the umbrella away and crossed his arms angrily.

"Hey! You should stay out of the sun. Do you wanna wrinkle?" Yamcha gasped lightly at the thought of the terrible danger Trunks's skin could get in.

"Look, listen to me," Trunks said firmly. "Please call me Trunks. I hate it when someone calls me Prince."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. Did you say something, Prince?" Krillin asked.

"Ugh!" Trunks threw up his hands in the air. "I'm not just a prince, you know. That's just... it's half of who I am."

"Oh. Who is the other half?" Yamcha asked.

Trunks frowned at the question. To be honest, he had no idea. For his whole life, he was training to be the next Saiyan King and never got out of the palace once until today. "Um, well, I... uhh..."

"While you're figuring it out, you need to return to the palace!" Krillin said cheerfully. "Vegeta-sama was very worried about you because you were out here too long!"

"You know how violent he can get when he is angry and impatient!" Yamcha laughed nervously.

Trunks just gave them a glare. "I told my father that I would come home after I'm finished. And, I'm not finished yet."

"But, Prince Trunks," Krillin walked toward the Saiyan Prince. "You need to go back or else Vegeta-sama will destroy everything just to find you!"

"Sorry! I just want to explore a little longer!" Trunks placed two of his fingers on his forehead, posing as if he was performing Instant Transmission... Wait! He actually vanished into the air!

"Hey! He's gone completely!" Yamcha cried. "How in the world did he do that?!"

"Oh kami no! Vegeta-sama will definitely kill us!" Krillin started running around Yamcha in panic. "What do we do? What do we do?"

"We have to tell him! Prince Trunks is in trouble!"

~TO BE CONTINUED~