Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Wish ❯ Chapter Ten ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ...I'm just borrowing, but I promise to give it back when I'm finished.

A/N: Okay, I know I said this was on hold...but I just couldn't leave it! It's been bugging me everytime I try to work on something else! So yeah...here's Chapter 10!

Chapter 10:

Things had been going very well for the two saiyans in the past month. Vegeta had been especially happy that they had no more visitors and as for Gokou, he was just happy the other man had not tried picking up their unfinished conversation.

But ever since his confrontation of sorts with his son, Gokou couldn't help but feel guilty now and then, Gohan had been disappointed in him...and that hurt even more then if the young saiyan had out right attacked him. Vegeta had been...supportive in those moments, keeping more of a distance...it was nice of him. The Prince hadn't shown his 'real' self lately, but that didn't mean it wasn't there; though Gokou had found himself missing him more and more as time went by.

Staring at nothing in particular, Gokou loaded his plate with food and started shovelling large amounts into his mouth...things were really starting to get boring around here.

-

Bulma sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes as she stood from her desk for the first time in the past four hours and begun to pace. It just wasn't making any sense! If Trunks and Goten were telling to truth, which she could tell they were, then there was just no logical reasoning behind Vegeta's sudden change, at least no reason as to why his affections had changed so drastically. In the beginning his affection was all over the place, he was professing his love to anyone he happened to come across and now...now it had...changed. The saiyan prince no longer chased after people asking them to 'make love to him', he didn't pounce on the first person he happened to spot and he didn't even look at anyone else the way he looked at...

"Argh!" The aqua haired women threw her hands up in defeat. This.Wasn't.Working.

I need a break. Nodding in agreement with herself, Bulma walked briskly to the door and reached for the handle, jumping in surprise when it opened seemingly of it's own accord.

"Yamcha..." Bulma breathed out, "What brings you here?" She was surprised to see him, of all people, walking through the door.

The black haired man smiled sheepishly, a faint blush raising in his cheeks. " I just thought I'd come down and see how you were doing."

Laughing lightly, Bulma moved aside to let the blushing man in, offering him a seat before sitting herself back down in her not-so-comfortable chair.

"Er...so how are you doing?" Yamcha asked after a moment.

"Horrible." Bulma replied without thinking, regretting it as the man in front of her glanced quickly at the only exit.

He's still the same. Bulma chuckled. Glad to see some things around here don't change. She thought as he glanced at the door a second time.

"Can't be that bad, can it?" He ventured, hesitating only slightly.

Bulma eyed him sceptically, was he actually going to try having this conversation with her? After all, it evolved a girls feelings. Her feelings.

Smiling lightly, the aqua-haired women decided to give it a go.

"It's just the wish, Vegeta...everything has got me so frustrated lately, I can't figure out why his feelings have changed, why he reacts so much to...to Gokou of all people!" And before she knew it, she was in full rant mode.

" Vegeta hates, hates him! He's always on about how Gokou's 'a poor excuse for a saiyan', they had been getting along a little better but why him, why Gokou!" She was up and pacing again now. " Is it because he's also a saiyan? I don't think so, the wish had nothing to do with race. Is it because of something Gokou did? I don't know. Does Vegeta find me repulsive? Is it something I did or did not do?!"

Yamcha stared wide eyed as Bulma collapsed into the chair, sobbing into her hands.

WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo!

Taking a deep breath the dark-haired man stood up, cautiously moving towards the sobbing women.

"Bulma?" He said as evenly as him could, crying girls was something he just couldn't handle...but this was Bulma, he had to do something.

Reaching out a shaky hand, Yamcha awkwardly lay it on her back. " B-Bulma, it's o-okay, yo-OOMPH!"

Landing hard on his ass, he stared wide eyed once again at the sobbing women who was now in his arms. She really wasn't doing so good. Putting his arms lightly around her, he begun to trace small patterns on her back in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

He would thank Krillin later for insisting he come down here today.

-

"Kakarotto?"

Gokou blinked a few times until Vegeta's face came into his vision, he had spaced out again.

"Huh?" Was all the saiyan could manage. He kept going over what had happened, what Piccilo had said..."This situation could very easily get out of hand" Gokou remembered. What did he mean?

The pair were now sitting outside the house, having just come back from their daily walk, Vegeta sat leaning against the house while Gokou sat a little to his left.

"We could go down to the steam if you like?" Vegeta tried, no matter what he'd said this morning the other man seemed to be lost in his own little world and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"Yeah..." The taller saiyan answered absently, his eyes now focused on the ground in front of him.

How would it get out of hand? Well, more then it already had.

Gokou pulled at the grass in front of him, his mind working slowly as he thought of all possible answers to his own question.

Worst case scenario would be the wish lifting early and the 'real' Vegeta waking up cuddled beside him, he decided after a moment, but for one - that wouldn't happen and two - how does that fit under the 'getting out of hand' category?

Was Piccilo saying he couldn't handle it? "Maybe..." He mutter aloud, totally unaware of the now-empty spot beside him.

But if Piccilo thought he couldn't handle it, wouldn't he just come right out and say so? The Namekian never cared for pleasantries. So no, that couldn't be it. And Vegeta had clamed down a lot since the beginning so there was nothing to worry about there, right? Well, maybe after the wish was gone, but in the near future? No.

Then, the others maybe? Gokou was pretty sure that things had gotten as bad as they could go on the Chi Chi and Bulma front.

But maybe that's what Piccilo meant, if anything was going to 'get out of hand' then it would surely have something to do with either of the two women.

Yes, Gokou concluded, it wasn't anything he was doing at all. He sighed in relief, his mind at ease for the time being, and stood slowly, stretching as he straightened up. "How about a few rounds of sparring?" He asked the thin air to his right and started heading towards the clearing.

When he didn't get a reply, the raven-haired man finally turned towards the area Vegeta had been sitting in earlier and blinked.

"Vegeta?"

-

Piccilo stood slowly as he felt the air around him shift with a new energy; someone was near. Closing his eyes the Namekian begun to sense around his general area and found an all too familiar 'ki' not to far from him.

Vegeta. What in the world was he doing out here?

And without his babysitter, too. He noted when he did not sense the taller saiyan anywhere.

"How dare he ignore me!" And before Piccilo could register the yelled words, he was forced to move as a hail of rocks came tumbling down, falling into the stream below.

After a moment the Namekian landed on the newly formed island in the middle of the stream, his right eyebrow twitching slightly.

"Bad day?" He said mildly, looking up towards the saiyan prince who was slowly making his way down.

The low rumble of the waterfall was his only answer.

-

"Vegeta?"

Gokou stared at the empty space for a moment before starting back towards his house, stoping at the door way and yelled "Vegeta? You in there?" He waited a moment. No answer.

Where did he go? The saiyan wondered as he turned to look outside again.

"He didn't say anything about going anywhere...did he?" Gokou cast his mind back but he didn't remember Vegeta saying anything about anything today.

"Hehehe..." He laughed nervously, he'd been too far gone in his own world to notice the other saiyan had even left, this was not a good thing. Vegeta loathed being ignored.

-

Landing softly on the ground, Vegeta dusted himself off before turning towards the Namekian. "Piccilo." He stated, eyeing the mass of rocks the other man was standing on.

"Vegeta." Piccilo was now a few feet in front of him, arms crossed over his chest.

They stared at each other a moment before Vegeta broke their silence. "Would you like to walk with me?" And without waiting for an answer the saiyan linked his arm with Piccilo's and lead them down the path, heading back towards the house.

Piccilo could do nothing but splutter indignity as he was lead away from his peaceful waterfall, Vegeta had one hell of an iron grip.

And so, the two walked leisurely through the tree's, arms linked, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Well, unless you looked closely, then you would see the look of absolutely terror on the Namekian's face, as if he were being lead to his death. Which, he had decided, would be fine by him right about now.

"You know," Vegeta finally spoke, "we could have been good together."

Piccilo stopped walking. And breathing for that matter. What?! "What?!"

"Well," The saiyan started, urging the Namekian to continue walking,"you're strong, independent and I respect you." He said, not aware of the blush rising in his companions cheeks.

Piccilo opened his mouth to say...something, but didn't get the chance, Vegeta was already talking.

"But I have Kakarotto," a smile, "and no matter what he does I really can't seem to stay angry at him."

Piccilo was going to throw up, he just knew it.

"He's been ignoring me all morning, I just can't seem to get through to him lately." Vegeta sighed and looked up, his eyes meeting Piccilo's."What should I do?"

Piccilo stared at him, stunned. Was Vegeta, Prince of all saiyans, asking him for relationship advice?

He looked into Vegeta's eyes. Yup, he was.

Piccilo laughed. Long and loud. This was ridiculous, almost surreal...and incredibly amusing. Vegeta looked away, maybe hurt by his laughter? He didn't know.

After a long silence, the Namekian sighed...fine!

What should he do? Piccilo asked himself. Smack Gokou up side the head? Isn't that what Chi Chi did?

"It's alright, you don't have to answer." Vegeta said.

Thank kami!

"I just wish I knew what was bothering him!" Ah, sweet anger, finally, something Piccilo knew how to deal with.

"If he'd just open up to me! How am I supposed to help him when he won't let me in! Am I doing something wrong here!!" Vegeta had let go off his arm by now and was busy blowing up the rock piles surrounding the path.

"He properly doesn't even know I'm gone, damn it!" Vegeta turned slightly, having destroyed all the nearest rocks, and looked Piccilo straight in the eye before looking at the ground. "What do I have to do?" He asked softly."To get him to...to love me?" Damn! Piccilo couldn't take much more of this, Vegeta looked pathetic. It was horrible.

"He - " Piccilo stopped and cleared his throat."He does care about you." He stated and continued on towards the Son house.

-

Bracing himself, Gokou put two fingers to his forehead and started the search for Vegeta's 'ki'.

-

"Really?" The short saiyan asked, catching up with Piccilo and linking their arms together again.

"How do you know?" He added suspiciously, causing the Namekian to snort.

"It's a bit hard to miss." Piccilo said trying, unsuccessfully, to pull his arm free. "But I don't know if it's love." He finished.

And was it just him, or did Vegeta have more than a little skip in his step now?

"Thank you!" Vegeta said and, without warning, launched himself at the Namekian causing them both to fall to the ground, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop.

-

Gokou appeared just in time to see Piccilo and Vegeta roll to a stop, Piccilo laying on top of Vegeta.

At first he could only blink in confusion, the scene in front of him slowly sinking in...Then he saw red, his body seemingly taken over by an unknown force and in the blink of an eye he was beside the pair, picking Piccilo up by his cape before throwing him to the side, discarding him as you would a used wrapper.

"Kakarotto?" Vegeta asked uncertainly, before he was roughly pulled up by the other saiyan. The taller saiyan's glare was like ice as he stared at Vegeta, his Vegeta.

And just like that; Gokou let go of Vegeta, staring at his hands in horror. What? His...his what?! Gokou's eyes meet Vegeta's as the taller man took a step back, trying to put his thoughts together.

Oh kami, what had he just done? What had he been thinking? Had he been thinking?

Gokou turned his head sharply as movement out of the corner caught his attention. "Piccilo..." He murmured, guilt filling him instantly. He took a few more steps backwards until his back meet the hard bark of a tree and buried his head in his hands; wishing the tree would sallow him whole.

What do I do? What did I do? How do I fix this? Can I fix this?

He wanted to yell, wanted to scream at the top of his lungs... And suddenly he got it. It was him, not Bulma or Chi Chi, it was him.

Piccilo...he knew something like this was coming? How??

Gokou started when he felt a warm hand rest lightly on his arm. Vegeta.

He couldn't bare to look at him, what he had just done was inexcusable.

Vegeta's hand moved to his shoulder and began to massage it slowly, trying to get him to relax.

What was he doing? Vegeta should be disgusted with him, acting the way he had, as if he owned the saiyan prince.

Without warning Gokou pushed Vegeta away from him and stepped away from the tree, everything was so screwed up, he couldn't even think straight. The taller saiyan staggered slightly before finally locking eyes with Vegeta, a mess of emotions going through him at once: Pain, regret, anger, guilt and something akin to love.

"Kami." Gokou all but sobbed, this wasn't happening! This wasn't real, it couldn't be real! He-he didn't care for the other saiyan like that! How could he?! Vegeta was...was Vegeta!!!

But now, and for the past few months, he hasn't been Vegeta.

The emotional saiyan turned away from Vegeta, only to be faced with an all-to-calm Namekian. He saw Piccilo's lips moving but couldn't hear anything above the loud buzzing in his ears, he felt so confused, so lost...

Gokou took a step back, he had to get away, but once again his back met the hard bark of the tree.

He was trapped.

Vegeta's face suddenly swam into his line of vision, his brows furrowed in worry. He was talking, but Gokou couldn't hear him either, the buzzing noise now an over powering roar.

Gokou squeezed his eyes shut, his left hand balled into a fist as if he were in physical pain, while the fingers of his right hand went to his forehead. He concentrated as much as he could on the 'ki' he had found and opening his eyes, found Vegeta staring at him with eyes he hadn't seen in a long time. The eyes of the real Vegeta.

Then he was gone.

-

Vegeta staggered backwards and, fighting a moment of disorientation, took in his surroundings.

He was outside, probably somewhere in the forests around Mt Paozu, and he was with Piccilo and Kakorotto. The latter was what drew his immediate and undivided attention.

"K-Kakorotto?" He took a hesitant step forward towards the obviously anguished man, "Kakorotto, what's...?" he suddenly turned a piercing gaze to Piccilo, "What's going on?!" he demanded, taking another step towards the other Saiyan.

Piccilo turned his gaze to Vegeta and stared at him in shock and, making a noise of disgust low in his throat, Vegeta took another step towards Kakorotto.

"Kakorotto...what are you...?" he began but suddenly where Kakorotto had been, he now was not. Vegeta glared at the empty space venomously, "Instant Transmission." he stated and turned back to Piccilo. "Explain!"

Piccilo stared at Vegeta for a moment, then comprehension dawned in his expression and he nodded slightly to himself.

"He's...learning some things about himself that he doesn't exactly agree with. He just needs some time to think."

Vegeta eyed the Namiekian suspiciously, "What does this have to do with me? And don't say nothing," he added, "I'm not that naive."

"It's...complicated." Piccilo said slowly.

"Then uncomplicate it." Vegeta said, "You don't think I'll stay like this forever do you?"

"Hn..." Piccilo eyed Vegeta speculatively, "No, I guess not. How much do you know already?"

"Nothing." Vegeta growled.

Piccilo blinked at him in surprise, "Nothing? Don't you remember anything?"

"No." Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest. "Hurry it up."

"You've been under the influence of a wish granted by the Eternal Dragon."

"Obviously."

"You haven't been...yourself lately."

"Stop stating the obvious and get on with it." Vegeta began to tap his foot with impatience.

"Gokou's been with you since it happened."

Vegeta's eyebrow twitched, " 'With' me? What do you mean, 'with' me?" he demanded.

"Well he's..." Piccilo began but stopped as he noticed the expression on Vegeta's face change, melting from one of intense and slightly dangerous scrutiny, into one of mild confusion.

"P-Piccilo? Where's Kakorotto?" Vegeta questioned, looking around quickly.

Piccilo sighed, "He's taking a break."

"A break? A break from what? A break from us? What did I do wrong? When he showed up before I thought... W-where did he go? Maybe he went home!" In two strides, Vegeta had crossed the distance between himself and Piccilo and once again linked his arm with the other man. "We'll look." he stated and began to drag Piccilo back along the trail up the mountain.

---

End A/N: So glad to finally update, this chapter was really hard for me to write...well parts of it. The next chapter won't be to far away...no really, it won't!

And just a little note that e-mailing me to update and everything is fine but e-mailing my sister and telling/demanding her to update my fik, isn't. She isn't typing out my chapters anymore, so please, leave her the hell alone. (Her words, not mine.)

Thank-you to everyone who has put up with my late (understatement) updates!!

Please R&R!

Justice-hime