Dragonball Extreme

Bulma watched Vegeta as he ate. He\'d never been a super-polite eater, but he usually at least paused between bites to chew his food. Tonight it seemed like there wasn\'t a single second that his mouth wasn\'t completely full. She had hoped to talk to him more over dinner, but instead she found she couldn\'t get a word out of him. She wondered if perhaps that was intention; if his mouth was constantly full, he wouldn\'t be expected to talk to anyone.
She sighed and wondered briefly if the campfire dinner had been the best idea. She had thought it a practical solution to feeding a lot of people, most of them saiya-jin, all at once, but now she was reconsidering. Vegeta had given her a pale, baleful glare when she had initially suggested the idea, but at the time she thought it was just his stubborn streak getting the better of him. Now she wondered if he truly did want to be alone to eat.

Vegeta nearly choked as someone put their hand on his shoulder. He quickly swallowed the food in his mouth. \"Shimatta!\" he shouted. \"He jumped to his feet. \"What the hell do you want!\" He froze when he saw who had approached him. \"O-otousan...\" he stuttered. \"G-gomenasai!\"

\"Vegeta,\" the elder saiya-jin said, \"you need to calm down.\"

\"Gomenasai, Otousan,\" Vegeta mumbled. \"I...\" He let the thought trail off. Suddenly, he whirled around and fled, blasting off into the night sky.

His father started to go after him, but Gokou stepped forward. \"Gomen, Your Highness,\" he said. \"But I should go after Vegeta. If he\'s really upset, I\'m the only one ths gos going to be able to take a serious punch from him.\"

The elder Vegeta stepped back. \"What do you mean?\" he asked.

\"No offense,\" Gokou said, \"but all he\'d have to do is go super saiya-jin and he could knock you on your ass with a flick of his wrist. I\'ll be able to match him blow-for-blow.\" He powered up and blasted off after Vegeta.

*

Vegeta cursed himself with a long string of profanity as he flew into the mountains outside their valley. He shouldn\'t have let himself get so distracted by his emotions; he should have been able to tell that it was his father standing behind him. He reprimanded himself over the stupid mistake. If he were five years old, his father would have knocked him flat on his back for a disrespectful outburst like that. He dove into a forested area of the mountains; at least his father didn\'t know how to detect ki yet, so he wouldn\'t be able to find him right away. Vegeta knew he needed time to calm down and think.

Unfortunately, Vegeta\'s thoughts were interrupted when he felt a familiar ki spike nearby and fly toward him. He groaned and ran his hand over his face. \"Damned Kakarott,\" he muttered. \"What does that idiot want now?\"

Gokou flew up in front of him. \"Hey, Vegeta!\" he called. \"What\'s going on?\"

\"It\'s none of your business, Kakarott!\" Vegeta snapped. \"And frankly, I don\'t care for the casual mode of address either!\"

\"Oh, come on, Vegeta,\" Gokou said. \"It wouldn\'t have been a problem if you weren\'t already upset, and you know that. Now, why did you take off all of a sudden?\"

Vegeta sighed. \"I shouldn\'t have snapped at my father like that,\" he said. \"He snuck up on me; I let my guard down way too much.\"

Gokou put a hand on Vegeta\'s shoulder. \"You have a lot on your mind, Vegeta,\" he said quietly.

Vegeta brushed his hand away. \"What would you know about it?\" he snapped. \"You grew up without a care in the world on this weak, pathetic planet.\" He pushed Gokou away from him and started to move past. \"Just stay out of my way.\"

Gokou grabbed Vegeta\'s arm. \"Vegeta, wait-\"

Vegeta came around on him, his eyes blazing with anger and his hair flaring golden yellow. Sparks jumped in his aqua eyes as he swung at Gokou. \"I said, stay out of my business!\" he shouted.

Gokou raised both his arms to block the punch. He thought that it was done, and started to lower his arms, but rather than backing off, Vegeta increased his attack. He began to throw a flurry of punches in Gokou\'s direction. Gokou tried desperately to block the attacks and his arms began to bruise severely from the pummeling. He flared up into super saiya-jin to match Vegeta\'s strength.

Vegeta grew angrier when he saw that and fired a ki blast right into Gokou\'s face. He sneered as Gokou flew backward, sneezing and blinking from the attack.

Gokou growled and flew at Vegeta, his own fists flying in attack. He swung around in a round-house kick, sending the smaller saiya-jin tumbling to the ground. He didn\'t have time to worry about the small victory, though, because Vegeta recovered nearly instantly and flew back at him in a fury.

As Vegeta launched another volley of punches, and Gokou cried out to him, trying to abate his anger. \"Vegeta!\" he said. \"Come on, calm down! I just wanted to talk to you!\"

\"There\'s nothing to talk about!\" Vegeta snapped, his fists never slowing. \"I told you to stay out of my way and you directly disobeyed me!\"

Gokou could feel the tension that Vegeta was under and desperately wanted to help him. He didn\'t know how to get through to his king while he was so angry, though. He reached out for Vegeta again. \"Vegeta...\" he started to say. Suddenly, his whole body stiffened, and he felt like he\'d gone numb. His power shot downward, and he fell out of super saiya-jin.

Vegeta\'s fist connected with Gokou\'s jaw just as he realized the change. He watched in fascinated horror as Gokou spiraled toward the ground. \"There\'s no way...\" he thought. \"I couldn\'t have beaten him that easily...\" He dove to the ground where Gokou was lying sprawled. \"Kakarott!\" he shouted. \"What the hell is wrong with you?\"

Gokou winced and looked up toward Vegeta\'s voice. \"I\'m not sure...\" he said slowly. \"I put my hand on your shoulder...then I was suddenly overwhelmed by something...some feeling...it was like my whole body went numb...\"

Vegeta flexed his own hand to be sure he wasn\'t affected by anything. \"Well, whatever it is, it\'s not affecting me. I feel fine - great, in fact, now that I\'ve had a little spar.\"

Gokou slowly flexed his own hand. \"I don\'t know what it was...it\'s gone now. But I sure feel weak.\"

Vegeta reached toward him. \"Well get on your feet,\" he demanded. \"Take my hand if you have to. The sooner you leave, the better.\"

Gokou reached for Vegeta\'s hand. As he touched it, a spark of energy raced between them. Both of them jumped back.

\"What the hell was that?\" they shouted in unison.

Vegeta looked warily at Gokou. \"You mean yodn\'dn\'t do that intentionally?\" he asked.

Gokou shook his head. \"No,\" he said. \"I\'ve never felt anything like that before...give me your hand again.\"

Vegeta hesitantly stretched his hand out to Gokou. Gokou firmly grasped it in his own hand. There was a slight tingling sensation, but nothing else. He pulled himself to his feet and stood in front of Vegeta. Vegeta made as if to walk away, but Gokou was unwillingdropdrop his hand. \"Do you feel that, Vegeta?\" he asked quietly.

\"Yes, I feel it!\" Vegeta snapped. \"Now let go of my hand!\"

Gokou dropped his hand and Vegeta turned away from him. For some reason, the smaller saiya-jin couldn\'t walk away. He sighed, then turned back to Gokou to demand if he had done something to him. He ran smack into Gokou\'s chest.

Vegeta looked up. \"Kakarott...\" he growled.

Gokou didn\'t answer right away. He looked away for a moment, not even understanding his own feelings. Then he looked back at Vegeta and quickly captured the smaller saiya-jin\'s mouth in his own.

Vegeta\'s eyes widened in shock, but he didn\'t fight it or try to break away. For some reason, it seemed strangely right. \"What is going on?\" he wondered. \"I\'m not in season any more...both of our mates are pregnant. Why don\'t I want to fight this?\"

Gokou suddenly felt his strength leave him again, and he sagged to his knees. \"Ah, Vegeta-sama,\" he sighed. He clutched Vegeta\'s knees. \"Please, Vegeta-sama,\" he whispered. \"Let me worship you.\"

Vegeta swallowed hard. His head swam, and it only got worse as he tried to fight it. He took a deep breath and sighed. \"All right,\" he thought. \"I\'m going to let this go wherever it\oingoing to go.\" He moved closer to Gokou.

Gokou eagerly grasped the waist of Vegeta\'s pants and tugged them down. He wasted no time in foreplay and ardently encompassed Vegeta\'s member with his lips. He twirled his tongue around the smooth flesh and sucked lovingly, feeling it grow stiffer in his mouth.

Vegeta bit back a gasp and gripped Gokou\'s scalp. He panted and pulled Gokou closer to him.

Gokou sighed around Vegeta\'s hardening length, sending shivers down the smaller man\'s spine. He heard Vegeta start to gasp audibly and pulled back.

Vegeta looked down at Gokou. \"Kakarott...wha...\" His vision was hazy, and his erection was throbbing with pleasure.

Gokou leaned back onto his elbows. He looked up at Vegeta through half-lidded eyes, then kicked off his own gi and spread his legs. He angled his hips upward slightly and let his head hang back loosely. \"Vegeta...I\'m...please...\"

Vegeta shook his head, trying to make some sense out of what was going on. Gokou was acting possessed, and he...well, he certainly wasn\'t trying to avoid the situation himself. \"I know,\" he thought, \"Kakarott hit me and I\'m unconscious...this is all some kind of weird dream...\" But even as he thought it, he knew it wasn\'t the truth.

He knelt down near Gokou. \"Kakarott...what\'s going on?\" he whispered.

Gokou sighed heavily. \"I...I don\'t know,\" he admitted. \"I felt something from you...I feel like I need you to complete me somehow. I felt whole when I was holding onto your hand.\"

Vegeta slid up against Gokou. His erection was straining hard against the taller sajin\jin\'s pale flesh. \"Completion...\" he whispered. \"Yes, that\'s what I\'m lacking.\" He thrust hard against Gokou, entering the saiya-jin in one smooth motion. The sensation soared up his spine and exploded near the base of his skull. He had the odd sensation of seeing stars and sparks before his eyes, then everything grew black.

When Vegeta opened his eyes, he found himself on a wide, black expanse. There was no ground, no sky, nothing but blackness. A voice behind him made him spin around.

Gowas was standing behind him. He wrapped his arms around Vegeta.

Vegeta struggled out of his arms and looked him over critically. He realized with a bit of surprise that Gokou was nude; upon further inspection he discovered that they both were. \"What\'s going on here?\" he demanded.

\"I don\'t know,\" Gokou said. \"One minute we were in the woods having sex, the next minute we\'re here. But it\'s not that bad - I feel great! In fact, I feel-\"

\"Complete,\" Vegeta finished. He stared off into the distance. \"Yes, I feel that way too. It feels familiar, but...\"

\"You know what it reminds me of?\" Gokou suddenly broke in. \"Fusion.\" He closed his eyes and got a semi-blissful look on his face. \"Do you remember how it felt, Vegeta? When we were one being?\"

Vegeta sighed. \"Yes, I remember how it felt. And this feels similar, but it\'s a little different too. Right now I feel like I still have an identity of my own, that I\'m my own person. This almost feels like...my bond with Bulma...\" His voice trailed of. Suddenly his head snapped up. \"No! I refuse to think that way! It\'s not the same, I don\'t have the mating urges with you, I don\'t feel the need to defend you...\"

Gokou watched Vegeta\'s vocal self uatiuation for a moment in silence. When Vegeta\'s voice trailed off the second time, he spoke up. \"Is it possible we\'re forming a different kind of bond? Like, one that only affects saiya-jin or something?\"

Vegeta looked at his feet and considered it carefully. \"I don\'t know,\" he admitted. \"I\'m not completely familiar with all of the adult traditions. Radditz was barely an adult, and Nappa...well, Nappa was an idiot, when our home world was destroyed. I never had time to learn everything there is to know about our traditions.\"

Vegeta sighed again. \"I don\'t know I\'mI\'m being so open to you,\" he said. \"It\'s really none of your concern, as long as we can shake this off and get back before anyone s los looking.\"

Gokou looked around. \"Well, maybe that\'s why this place is so...open,\" he said. \"Maybe it\'s for us to be open with each other.\"

Vegeta stared curiously at Gokou. \"You know, that\'s about the most intelligent thing I\'ve heard you say.\"

Gokou stopped and thought about it. Then he shrugged. \"It just came to me,\" he said. \"I\'m thinking a lot of things right now.\"

Vegeta snorted. \"I find that hard to believe,\" he said. \"But more importantly, we need to figure out a way out of here.\" He thought for a moment, but his thoughts were cut off as he was suddenly encircled from behind by long, strong arms. Gokou pulled him close and whispered in his ear. \"The easiest way out is the way we came in,\" he said. He pulled Vegeta\'s body up tight against his own and Vegeta could feel a very hard member pressing against his flesh. \"My turn?\" Gokou asked teasingly.

\"Only if it gets us out of here,\" Vegeta snarled.

Gokou eased Vegeta into a prone position. They weren\'t sure if there even was a floor, but they found that they were able to lie face down as if there were. Gokou pulled Vegeta\'s hips upward slightly toward himself, and positioned himself to enter. He hesitated. \"Are you sure you want this, Vegeta?\" he asked.

\"Just do it already,\" Vegeta grumbled.

\"But you\'re so tense,\" Gokou protested. He gently massaged Vegeta\'s firm rear end as if to relax the muscles manually. \"I don\'t want to hurt you, Vegeta.\"

Vegeta sighed and t to to relax more. \"You\'re not going to hurt me, Kakarott,\" he said. \"So far you\'ve managed to say fairly intelligent things; let\'s just hope this theory of yours works to get us out of here.\"

Gokou nodded. \"Ok,\" he said. He slowly slid his length into Vegeta\'s entrance.

Vegeta unwittingly cried out. It was painful, but he expected that. He took a deep breath and forced himself to accommodate to Gokou\'s hardness. As he relaxed his muscles, the fit became more comfortable and he urged Gokou to continue.

Gokou\'s eyes were closed in ecstasy as he gently moved inside Vegeta\'s body. He heard Vegeta below him making small cries of pleasure, and he reangled himself to give his king as much pleasure as he was feeling himself.

Vegeta gasped at the new sensations and thrust backwards instinctively, silently begging for more. Gokou picked up the pace and Vegeta cried out as his prostate was roughly jabbed. Suddenly, he felt as if he were on a roller coaster; his vision fogged, then became clear, then went black all together.

Vegeta blinked to clear his vision, and found himself gripping blades of grass and dead leaves on a forest floor. He sighed in relief; at least it worked. He looked around, then froze in shock. That was himself lying below him! He pulled back and sat down, confused. What was going on now? Was he dead? He ran his hands over his body. He felt alive enough, he had a pulse...but those hands were way too big and unfamiliar. He tried to think back to figure out what happened. The last memories in his head were of him having sex with...Vegeta? That couldn\'t be right. He probed further. All the memories seem to have him as a second person in the scene, not from his point of view.

Gokou looked up from the ground and was startled to see himself staring back. \"That\'s strange,\" Gokou thought. \"I\'ve never seen myself like that before.\" He tried to probe his recent memories, but got confused and gave up. They seemed to be someone else\'s memories, not his. As he dug backwards through the memories, he started to see more familiar faces, but in unfamiliar surroundings. Trunks, Bra and Bulma in Capsule Corp, but in the privacy of a family dinner. A young-looking Radditz and Nappa on some space ship...it didn\'t make any sense, what did they all have in common? Then it suddenly clicked in his head...was he seeing...Vegeta\'s memories?

Vegeta made the same realization as he probed \"his\" memories. He saw ChiChi and a very young Gohan playing outside the Son\'s mountain home. A very young looking Piccolo attacking on a Tenkaichi Budoukai ring. Bulma...wait, Bulma? Yes, but very young. And...nude? Vegeta instinctively grew red. Had this moron had relations with Bulma? No, she seemed angry about him seeing her nude, which was a small relief.

Vegeta and Gokou looked at each other at the same moment. They eyed each other warily, and each considered what to say. Finally Gokou broke the silence. \"Well, now what?\"

Vegeta sat back and crossed his arms. \"Well I am certainly not going to have sex with you again just to get out of this predicament,\" he said. \"But I\'m not going back home like this either.\"

\"So we just wait it out?\" Gokou asked.

\"Hn.\"

They sat there in silence for a minute, each consumed with their own thoughts. Suddenly, Gokou spoke up. \"Vegeta, I didn\'t know you were the one who bought Trunks\' birthday cake for him that time.\"

\"I didn\'t have much of a choice,\" Vegeta snapped. \"Bulma was too busy to pick it up, and I didn\'t want the boy making a fuss over it.\"

They sat in silence for a moment after that. Vegeta was the one to break the quiet.

\"You didn\'t tell me you saw Bulma nude.\"

Gokou blushed. Vegeta thought it odd to see the crimson color spill across his own face, but he didn\'t waver in his own expression. \"I was twelve years old, Vegeta,\" Gokou said. \"I didn\'t even know what a girl was at the time.\"

\"Hn.\"

As the hours wore on, Gokou and Vegeta had time to explore each others\' minds in depth. Vegeta was surprised at how much Gokou had been through for being on such a mundane little planet. Gokou, on the other hand, was horrified at some of the things Vegeta had been through at the same ages.

After a while, the two of them grew tired of the introspection, and they nodded off to sleep.

*

ChiChi paced worriedly, wringing her hands as she walked. \"Oh, this is just like him to up and disappear,\" she fumed. \"He doesn\'t care the least bit how much I worry.\"

Ninjin looked idly over at her. \"Why are you worried?\" she asked. \"Kakarott seems strong enough to take care of himself. He certainly is so, if he truly is a super saiya-jin.\"

\"Gokou gets himself into trouble without thinking,\" ChiChi fumed. \"He doesn\'t worry in the least about what\'ll happen to his family if he up and dies on us.\"

Ninjin scratched her head in confusion. \"Should he?\" she asked. \"I mean, Bardock didn\'t worry himself useless over me, he knew I was strong enough to take care of most things. Being as I was the one to see to the child rearing, it\'s only natural that I be strong enough to defend the children until they can fight on their own.\"

ChiChi sighed. \"Gokou didn\'t have these problems until he started hanging out with Vegeta. The first time he met any saiya-jin he up and dies on us! And let that namek-jin steal our baby no less! What was he thinking? Oh, and don\'t get me started on his behavior after he fought with Vegeta the first time...\"

Gohan shook his head in disgust as he listened to his mother carry on. He knew she was only worried about her family, but his grandmother and Vegeta\'s mother were no where near worried about Gokou and Vegeta. And frankly, he wasn\'t either. He would have sensed it if something bad had happened to them.

He let his thoughts wander idly to his own problems. He didn\'t want to be arguing with Videl right now. He wanted to be with her more than anything, especially with Piccolo deciding to take leave from his life. But, she was cold and distant, not wanting to involve herself with the saiya-jin in any way. And then there was the problem at the school the other night...

Gohan ran his hand through his thick black hair. He noticed vaguely that it was getting long again, but it didn\'t really bother him any more. His cell phone rang, shocking him out of his reverie. He answered it, \"Hello?\"

Gohan looked a bit confused as the person on the other end spoke. \"Well, yes, I\'m not at the house right now, this phone is the only way to reach me at the moment...but why are you...\" he listened some more. \"Oh, that\'s too bad, I didn\'t realize the area was damaged enoug clo close the school...a week? Ok...\" He thought the conversation was done, but the person on the other end continued. Gohan\'s eyes widened and he listened numbly. \"I...yes, sir, but I...\" His expression became downcast as he listened. \"Yes, sir, I understand...how long until the meeting?...Ok...You say you\'lll mel me with the result?...Ok...Yes...Yes, thank you. Good bye.\" He clicked off the phone with a dazed expression on his face.

ChiChi had fallen silent and was watching Gohan. \"Gohan, who was that?\" she asked.

Gohan looked numbly at her. \"The dean at the school I work for,\" he said quietly. \"I...I\'ve been suspended from teaching because of last night...\"

ChiChi started to walk up to him. \"Oh, Gohan...\" she started.

Gohan shook his head and walked past her. \"I need to talk to Videl,\" he said, his voice strained. \"She\'ll probably just scream at me...but she needs to know...\"

Gohan disappeared into his house. He was only inside a few minutes, however, when the whole valley shook with a scream of outrage and defeat. Goten, Trunks, Pan and Bra were the first to pile in the door of Gohan\'s house, followed closely by the others. Gohan was kneeling on the floor in the living room, clutching a piece of paper in his fist. He screamed the longest string of profanities any of them had ever heard; soon he was choking on the words, and then was unable to continue at all.

Goten rushed to his side. \"Gohan!\" he cried, \"What\'s wrong?\"

Gohan choked back a sob and thrust the piece of paper at Goten. \"Videl left,\" he said simply, before passing out from exhaustion.

*

Videl paused in the family room of their home. Their former home, a nagging voice reminded her. She sighed and picked up a photo of her family. \"I\'m sorry, Gohan,\" she said. \"I just...I can\'t do it any more. I can\'t pretend that your ways don\'t bother me.\" She turned the photo face down and put it back. She didn\'t want to think about the family she was leaving behind; this was hard enough as it was.

She had come back here with the intent to pick up her belongings, but as she walked through the house, she realized how much Gohan\'s persona permeated the structure. Nothing was his or hers there. It was theirs. Their family\'s. Videl swallowed hard and tried to keep her eyes from watering.

\"Maybe if I didn\'t remember him as a human,\" she said idly to herself. But she did. She remembered just how human he was once. Right down to the suit and tie. Ready to conform to society. Letting himself be the butt of jokes and taking guff he didn\'t have to just to fit in. She frowned. Why was she wasting time on these thoughts? They wouldn\'t get her anywhere. Gohan was obviously never going to adopt his human ways again; he was becoming more saiya-jin by the day. No one could change that. And no one could change her memories of their life together.

Or could they? She thought back as she remembered things that she\'d been surprised by, things that she never knew could happen as Gohan\'s \"secret\" life was gradually revealed to her.

That namek-jin that watched over the earth. Kami-sama. He had the ability. But would he be willing to help her? Just one person out of the millions he watched after? It was worth a shot; she was out of Gohan\'s life now, and if she didn\'t have to live with the pain of losing him...it was definitely worth it. She ran out the door and launched into the sky, then she turned and headed toward Kami\'s Lookout.

She landed on the marbled tiles of the Lookout, and a tall, trim namek-jin came out of the palace to greet her. \"Videl,\" he said. \"I\'m surprised you came. I got word that you and Gohan are having troubles?\"

Videl nodded. \"I left him,\" she said simply. \"And that\'s part of the reason I came here. I want you to erase all my memories of him.\"

Dende looked at her in shock. \"Erase your memories?\" he exclaimed.

\"Can you do it?\" Videl asked. \"I figured if anyone could, you would be able to.\"

Dende considered it for a moment. \"I suppose it could be done,\" he mused, \"but why? Why would you want to forget about him?\"

\"I\'ve already left, but it\'s going to be hard on both of us,\" Videl said. \"Part of that pain will be eased if there\'s no chance of us crossing paths again. If I don\'t remember him, then there will be nothing to point me in his direction,\" she said.

\"I suppose there\'s no changing your mind about this matter?\" Dende asked hesitantly.

Videl shook her head no. \"I\'m not turning back. Please, if you can do it, I want it done.\"

Dende thought it over again. \"All right,\" he sighed. \"This may not be the best thing I ever do, but if that is your true wish, then I will help you. I want you to know, though, that if this works, you might never be able to recover those memories again. This could very easily be permanent.\"

\"Good,\" Videl said. \"That\'s the way it should be.\"

Dende closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He had a feeling this wasn\'t the right decision for her to be making...but, if he said no, the woman would probably seek out the dragonballs next. She was determined to see this through.

\"Very well,\" Dende said. \"Follow me.\"

*

Darkness had fallen when Gohan woke up. He found himself lying on his bed with a cold cloth on his forehead. Pan\'s worried eyes looked him over.

\"Thank goodness,\" she whispered. \"I was afraid for a while you weren\'t going to wake up; you\'re ki signature was the only thing that told me you were alive.\"

\"The way this day\'s gone,\" Gohan said, \"I almost wish I weren\'t.\"

\"Don\'t say that \'Tousan,\" Pan begged. \"I don\'t want to lose you too. I wanted both you and \'Kassan to see my baby.\" Her eyes were filling with tears.

Gohan smiled slightly and placed his hand gently on her abdomen. \"We have a while, darling,\" he said. \"And your mother loves you. I\'m sure she\'ll be around to see this baby born, even if weren\'t not together.\" He sat up and warily looked around. \"Have \'Tousan and Vegeta returned yet?\"

Pan frowned. \"No, they haven\'t. And Grandma is pitching a fit; she said that Grandpa should have been here when you needed him.\"

Gohan stood up and brushed himself off. \"She means well, but \'Tousan wouldn\'t have been able to do anything more for me. I\'d rather talk to him now that I\'m better composed, anyway.\" He walked into the kitchen of his house and opened the refrigerator. \"Want a late snack?\" he asked. \"I\'m not up to listening to \'Kassan\'s harping quite yet.\"

*

Early rays of sun were peering through the trees when Vegeta opened his eyes again. \"Kuso,\" he swore quietly. \"We were out all damn night.\" He glanced down at himself and saw in relief that he was back in his own body. He looked around and saw Gokou sleeping nearby, snoring gently into the dew-covered leaves.

Vegeta stood up and stretched. He tried to smooth his clothing into some semblance of being presentable, but it wasn\'t working. He walked over and lightly kicked Gokou in the head.

\"Get up, Kakarott, it looks like things are finally back to normal.\"

Gokou yawned and blinked in the sun. \"Oh, good,\" he said. \"I\'m hungry, I hope ChiChi has breakfast ready when we get back.\"

Vegeta just shook his head. \"Whatever semblance of intelligence you had yesterday seems to have disappeared as well,\" he said. He blasted into the sky without waiting for a response.

\"Hey, Vegeta!\" Gokou protested. He followed the royal saiya-jin home.

The two of them landed outside Vegeta\'s cave. Their arrival didn\'t go unnoticed; several pair of eyes turned to them, and ChiChi\'s voice ground out an unpleasant greeting. \"Well it\'s about time you got back!\" she started. \"Do you have any idea what-\" She was cut off as the elder Vegeta and Bardock stepped between them.

\"Gomen,\" the elder Vegeta said shortly, \"but we need to talk to our sons for a few moments.\" They escorted Vegeta and Gokou into the privacy of the house.

Bardock closed the door behind them, and the elder Vegeta turned to his son. \"I\'m not going to bother scolding you for your behavior last night,\" he said. \"You\'re far to old for that kind of nonsense, and it wouldn\'t help matters at all. But I do want to know where you were.\"

Vegeta looked at the floor in silence.

Bardock looked them over carefully. He closed his eyes and felt through his paternal link to his son. \"You were right,\" he told the elder Vegeta. \"They bonded last night.\"

Vegeta\'s eyes snapped up in alarm. \"Bonded? What do you mean? We both have mates already.\"

\"Not a mating bond,\" the elder Vegeta soothed. \"A life bonith ith a partner, a soulmate. Someone who knows you inside and out.\"

\"What\'s the difference?\" Gokou asked. He scratched his head, not sure he understood what was going on.

\"A bond with your mate and a bond with your soulmate are very similar,\" Bardock explained. \"But your mate is usually of the opposite sex, and is there to produce children for you, along with the companionship. A soulmate doesn\'t have to be of the opposite sex, and knows you more in-depth. They provide companionship and someone to fall back on at any time.\"

\"And a saiya-jin harbors both bonds?\" Vegeta asked.

\"Usually,\" the elder Vegeta replied. \"A saiya-jin needs both bonds to live a complete life; but when and how those bonds are established is up to the individual.\"

Bardock started to elaborate, but a pounding on the door interrupted him. \"Gokou!\" ChiChi\'s voice echoed through the door. \"You better be out here in five minutes. You have some explaining to do, and then you can go up and comfort your son!\"

Bardock looked at the door in irritation. \"That shrew you have for a mate is a real pain sometimes,\" he muttered to Gokou.

Gokou sighed. \"I better go see what she wants,\" he said. \"But I\'ll be back then. I\'m sure whatever the problem is it can be handled later.\"