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As Loyalty Can Be	By : Kimmy Category: Dragon Ball Z > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 6353 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
(10)

Goku stepped up on the broken pavement. This was the place where that boy had sat, the boy with the missing legs. He wasn’t there anymore. Goku looked at the people on the street, half expecting someone he recognized to show up at any moment. That boy. Or Vegeta.

He hadn’t seen Vegeta for awhile. He’d been waiting for an invitation to spar, but never gotten one. He guessed he might have gone looking for Vegeta himself, but he hadn’t. Had been staying away, really, for longer than a week.

The wall that the boy had sat next to looked as dull as he remembered. He stuck his fingers into one of the cracks, and crumbs fell down to the pavement. Crumbling walls, he thought. Chichi would have disapproved. Goku wiped the dust off his fingers. He wondered where that boy had gone, wondered where he slept during the night. Maybe he was one of those people Vegeta had talked about, the ones who slept on the street.

“Kakarott.”

Eh?Goku turned around, his mouth open. Vegeta stood there, his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

“W-when did you get here?” He stuttered a bit. In surprise, he thought.

“W-why, I’ve been here for awhile,” Vegeta said, imitating his stutter. Somehow, the mockery didn’t bother Goku. It was light, teasing… private.

“I was looking for you,” Goku said, and he smiled. A big grin. Couldn’t have stopped it if he’d wanted to.

“And?” Vegeta didn’t return the smile, but there was something about his face, something about the way he leaned his head back against the wall. He was in an unusually good mood.

“And what?”

“And what else were you doing?”

“I…” Goku looked down the street. He paused, frowning slightly. “I was remembering the boy who was sitting here before.”

“The one you gave the money?” A sardonic tone in Vegeta’s voice, as if he was reminding him of something embarrassing.

“Yes, the one I gave the money.” He had forgotten about the money. It was the touch he remembered, the boy’s callused hands holding on to his own. “I hope he’s alright.”

“Heh.” Vegeta looked away, as if to demonstrate his lack of interest.

“But what are you doing here?” Goku said. It had occurred to him to wonder. “Since when did the gravity room stop being your favourite place?”

“Well…” Vegeta looked at him, looked straight at him with an calm, unguarded expression that made Goku realize just how much things had changed between them if Vegeta could look at him like that. “This place makes me think. I’ve been thinking lately…” His voice tapered off and he gave a minuscule shrug. “It’s hard to explain.”

“No matter.” Goku grinned, feeling like he had gotten some of the answer already. “Let’s go beat the crap out of each other.”

“Fine by me.”

---

There was a fine line, Goku thought, between pain and injury. They hadn’t discussed it beforehand, but he knew that Vegeta saw this line too, and had decided not to cross it. His attacks hurt, sure, but they lacked that special element of grimness that accompanied a real fight. And while a real fight had its charms, it was also quite limited. If he and Vegeta had been fighting for real right now, he couldn’t have laughed like he did now when he managed to get a perfect hit or when both his feet collided with Vegeta’s chest and knocked him into the ground. If they had been fighting for real, he would have had to harden himself to be ready to injure. No, he thought, a real fight was something better had with a stranger.

Wham! Crack!That’s what he got for being distracted. Vegeta’s fist slammed into his chin, the kind of hit that stunned the body and made it impossible to think for awhile. The back of his head knocked down something hard – a tree – and he landed among the branches, leaves falling everywhere.

“Pitiful,” Vegeta said, standing by his shoulder, mocking him by coming within his reach. Goku’s hands shoot out, but the other man was already in the air. Not flying, but jumping, turning over and over to land several metres away. Goku was ready. He was there when Vegeta landed, grabbing his throat and throwing him off balance. Before Vegeta’s back hit the ground, Goku moved them. The grass disappeared, replaced by the waves of the ocean. Ocean air rushed in, intruding upon his senses, and Goku laughed. One hand on Vegeta’s throat, he pressed him under the water.

Whoosh!Vegeta ascended, his golden aura pushing the water away. Goku struck, his fist connected, and they circled, parried, both ascended. The water roared, white foaming walls surrounding them. The blows were lightening fast, and Goku’s heart pounded. He lost track of everything except for the fight and the roaring of the waves.

Goku didn’t know how much time had passed, but he was getting tired, finally. His arms was heavy, he was sweating, burning, as the water rained down around them. Vegeta’s boot hit him, struck him down and pushed the air from his lungs. He let go of the power and closed his eyes, enjoying the freefall. He sank below the surface of the water, and was tossed and turned by the waves and the currents. Reaching the surface again, he saw no trace of Vegeta, but searching for nearby kis, he found him far above, hidden by the clouds.

Goku entered the clouds, where everything was white and muted. The air was cool, and he stood still for awhile, feeling his heart slow down to its normal rhythm. Catching a movement at the edge of his vision, he blinked and turned around. Vegeta had sneaked up on him – again, he thought. The other man smiled, harsh and tight-lipped. Goku saw a hint of elation in that smile, an elation that was similar to his own. And he flew in close and wrapped his arms around Vegeta’s shoulders – not a fighting hold, but something along those lines. A punch to his ribs was his reward, and Goku spun 360 degrees before he let go, laughing and holding his side.

“Ouch, Vegeta. You might have cracked something with that one.” Punches always hurt so much more when he wasn’t ready for them. “Truce, alright?”

“Alright.” Vegeta slammed his fist in Goku’s jaw. Hard.

Ow!He backed away, frowning at Vegeta.

“Truce,” Vegeta smirked. “Starting now.”

---

It became a routine, a routine less and less hard to follow. They met, they fought, and they rested. It was the way it was. Vegeta didn’t question it anymore.

Except this morning he didn’t feel like sparring straight away. He watched Trunks leave for school, and he exchanged a nod with Bulma as she disappeared down to her lab. He went outside and found Kakarott waiting, like he sometimes did, outside the door. Kakarott smiled, and turned to walk away, clearly expecting Vegeta to follow. On his way to the sparring ground, Vegeta thought. In his mind he was probably there already. Vegeta felt a spark of annoyance.

Training alone had its advantages.

Next to the entrance stood a low bench. Wines grew up the slim iron legs and the wooden seat still showed traces of dampness from the night before. Vegeta sat down, stretched his legs in front of him and leaned his back against the white, curved wall of the Capsule building.

Kakarott glanced back at Vegeta with a bewildered look on his face. Vegeta shrugged, seeing no need to explain himself. He didn’t feel like going straight away, that was all. Kakarott walked up to the bench and sat down next to Vegeta, and Vegeta waited for him to say something, but the other man seemed content to sit in silence.

Well, points for Kakarott.

Vegeta folded his arms behind his head. He watched a vapour trail from an airplane, I thin line in the empty sky. The only sounds he could hear was the wind and the birds in the trees.

Bulma had said something this morning while they were eating breakfast, something about Trunks. She… was glad that the boy was spending so much time with Goten – he had seemed so much happier lately, she had said. Vegeta had just shrugged. Sure, whatever. Trunks was happier, you say? Good.

Thinking about it, though, Vegeta wasn’t sure anymore. What about all the times he and Trunks had trained together in the Gravity Room? What about all those hours of effort and restraint? What about it? Did it count for nothing?

Huh, Bulma? Did it count for nothing?

Goku cleared his throat. “Are you meditating?”

“No.” Never had, never would.

“Then what are you thinking about?”

Vegeta straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. He let the silence linger – let it stretch out – before he decided to answer. “Trunks.”

“Ah.” Kakarott moved closer, causing Vegeta to move away, annoyed by the invasion on his personal space. “Are you mad at Trunks?”

“No.”

Kakarott paused. “Um… is Trunks mad at you?”

“No, but I will be mad at you if you don’t shut up right now. Just so you know.” His voice was calm.

“Okay. Thanks, Vegeta.”

Thanks?Everything was a bloody mystery lately. And it was all Bulma’s fault – no wait…

Funny, this now habit of his, of caching himself whenever his thought turned to anger. But then again, it would be so easy – too easy – to look at everything as if it had been a battle. Like this morning. Why should it bother him that Trunks was… happier? Why? Did a happy Trunks give Bulma right in everything she had said and done?

Give me a fucking break.

But why couldn’t he just dismiss it? He thought about Bulma, how she took a bite of her corn bread sandwich, a sip from her glass of milk, saying: Trunks seems so much happier lately. Bulma had seemed happy too, as she said it. No anger or challenge in her tone or in her face. She had seemed… soft.

No, Vegeta though. There hadn’t been any accusations from her, not this morning. And yet he heard them, unspoken, reminding him of all those school meetings he’d never attended, all those birthday parties and dinner appointments. Bulma had wanted him to go shopping, he remembered, buying toys and clothes for Trunks. He never had.

Vegeta frowned, wondering exactly how much of Bulma’s thinking that had rubbed off on him over the years.

‘I’m a Saiyan,’ he had said to her. Whatever that meant.

“Kakarott,” Vegeta said, some accusation in his voice. “Did you ever go to a store to buy a birthday present for your son?”

“Which one? I have two sons,” Kakarott explained, as if Vegeta wouldn’t know.

“The older one. Gohan.” Patience was something good, Vegeta reminded himself.

“Oh. No, Chichi took care of the presents. She made a cake and everything – that’s how I knew it was his birthday.”

Vegeta laughed, for some reason caught completely off guard. “Isn’t a father supposed to remember his son’s birthday?” he said. “Or so Bulma always told me.”

“Yes.” Kakarott scratched his head. “It doesn’t matter, Vegeta,” he said quietly. “Things were good that way.”

“Were they now?” The sarcastic response left Vegeta’s mouth on its own volition. He didn’t know what to think. He was a bit taken aback by the wistfulness he heard in Kakarott’s voice, as if the other man was remembering something from the far past. It made sense though, it didn’t seem like something Kakarott would do, caring about any particular date. He’d never seemed of have offered much regard for such human considerations.

Ok. Exactly when had he started turning to Kakarott to confirm his ideas about what it meant to be a Saiyan?

“You ever killed anyone, Kakarott?” Sharp and sudden.

“It’s happened.”

“Really?” Vegeta was surprised. He looked at Kakarott, but the other man was staring straight ahead and his profile revealed nothing.

A slight shrug “I was a kid, and I was fighting. I didn’t think much about it then.”

“Who did you kill? Humans?”

“Yes, soldiers. And Piccolo’s father.”

Vegeta felt a slow smile graze his lips. “Were you angry?”

“Yes.”

“Were you having fun?” Vegeta’s smile grew wider.

“Yes.” The answer came without hesitation.

Vegeta rose to his feet. He felt lighter, like something within him had lifted, allowing him to move about more freely. He took a deep breath of the damp morning air, making a mental note to talk to Trunks sometime soon. Nothing wrong about playing with Kakarott’s brat, but the kid should also make the time to train with his father.

However, first things first… Vegeta rolled his shoulders, anticipating the punches he were about to deal out.

“Enough sitting around. Let’s get that spar going.” He started walking, no doubt in his mind that Kakarott would get up and follow.

And of course he did.
- 9
- 10
- 11
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As Loyalty Can Be