Disclaimer:<Insert amusing piece of writing about how I don't own DBZ here>

Author's Notes: Hullo Minna-san!! Well, I'm glad everyone liked Deejay so much ^_^. And wow, I didn't realise there were so many people out there who disliked Yamucha… Well, the Yamucha side of the plot develops a little in the start of this chapter and we have some advancement in the whole Deejay misunderstanding.

And I want to apologise for this chapter taking me so long -_-; I know it's been about 2 months but I got stuck about 5 pages into this chapter and nothing I did could seem to fix what was happening. But then last night I had a brainwave and miraculously the chapter that's been stuck since last year became unstuck and *poses* here it is!

Look out for the end of this chapter! It's a cliffhanger… but don't kill me! *Hides*

Oh, and thanks for all the supporting e-mails ^_^. They help a lot in the way of getting me motivated and I love to hear intelligent feedback on my stories.

// "Blah" // = Phone Call's

~: Blah. : ~ = Mind Speech

Bound

Chapter Four:

"Aaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Yamucha sat bolt upright, his eyes wide with horror and his hands clutching at the soft material he lay on as if it were a lifeline.

Soft, bright early-morning sunshine filtered in through the window opposite him and cast light patches across the floor and walls. The room, his bedroom, was silent; Yamucha's own harsh breathing and the sounds of nature out his window were the only things to be heard. Nothing moved.

Where…? What…? Yamucha stared around at his peaceful surroundings and struggled to get his breathing under control. A… Dream? But it had been so real. He could still feel Domino's hand pressed against his lower back, could still feel the chains that had bound him biting into his wrists.

As he remembered, he jerked his arms up and stared at his wrists. No injuries, no marks, nothing. It had only been a dream. But it was so vivid. So…

"Aaaahhhhh!!!" For the second time that morning, Yamucha yelled in surprise, this time jumping to his feet and staring across the room to his bedside table, at the phone.

After a few seconds it rang again loudly and Yamucha realised that it's ringing was what had woken him up in the first place. After the third ring he staggered across the room and grabbed it off the receiver and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" He ventured.

// "Yamucha?!" // He recognised the worried voice on the other end immediately.

"Celli?"

// "Yamucha?! Where were you?! I was waiting half the night for you to pick me up! I was so worried!" //

"What? Pick you up…? Why would I…" He trailed off slowly. Of course! He was supposed to pick her up for their date last night, but instead of actually doing it, he'd passed out on his bed and had a warped nightmare about it instead. Guiltily he glanced down at his clothes and realised he must have fallen asleep partway through changing after he'd visited Krillin.

"Ahhh… Celli. I'm sorry, I… I think I fell asleep."

// "What?! You went to sleep?! And left me standing alone in the middle of town for two hours!!?" //

"Celli, I'm really sorry. It was an accident. I guess I was just to tired after I got home yesterday."

// "Too tired?! You were too tired to come pick me up?!" // Celli's voice was raising to dangerous level's and Yamucha held the phone away from his ear.

"Celli… Celli, I said I was sorry! I'll make it up to you. Really!"

// "Really, really?" //

"Yes!"

// "Fine then! You can take me to lunch tomorrow. An expensive lunch!" //

Yamucha stared at the phone in disbelief then realised the futility of resisting. "Okay, Celli. I'll pick you up at eleven."

// "Good. And don't forget!" //

"I won't. See you then."

// "Humph." // Celli snorted and then hung up.

With a sigh, Yamucha hung up too and then nearly jumped out of his skin as it immediately began to ring again.

Yamucha picked it up again, "Err… Hello?"

// "Yamucha! Hey, it's Krillin. Feeling up to a little travelling today? Gokou thought it might be a good idea to take a look around some of the smaller cities and see if we can find anything out about Domino. Well actually it was Vegeta who suggested it but Gokou thought it was a good idea and asked me to do it so I suppose it's all right." //

"Ahhh…" Yamucha blinked at the typical Krillin onslaught and then nodded, ignoring the fact that Krillin couldn't see it, "Sure, Krillin. Just let me have a shower and change."

// "Great! I'll fly over to your place. That should give you enough time. Seeya!" // The line went dead.

Yamucha hung the phone up for the second time and waited a moment before crossing his bedroom and going into his bathroom.

After a quick shower, a change of clothes and, thankfully, something to eat, Yamucha was ready to go by the time Krillin arrived. And by the time they had set off on their 'mission' he had completely forgotten about the odd dream he'd had the night before.

*=+=*

"What do you mean 'everywhere'?"

Gokou sat sprawled across one of Bulma's couches, his feet up on a coffee table. Across from him, Krillin was perched uneasily on an armchair with a serious expression on his face.

"I took Yamucha and we went around all the cities within a days distance of here like you said, and people are going missing in all of them. Anyone who knew the missing people says that they began to act strangely before disappearing completely."

"And you think Domino is the one doing it." Gokou began to chew on his thumbnail and stared into space.

"It makes sense, Kakorotto." Vegeta was leaning on the wall behind Gokou, his attention appearing to be wholly fixed on the view outside of the window beside him. "If he can use his little possession trick on such a large scale then he's probably raising an army."

"An army of innocents." Gokou muttered sourly. We can't touch them. Innocents - he'll get us all killed.

Gokou blinked slightly at the last and turned around on the couch slightly to look back at Vegeta. The man was glaring at him but turned back to stare out the window when Gokou turned.

"No I won't, Vegeta."

Vegeta's head snapped back to glare venomously at Gokou. ~: Stay. Out. Of. My. Head!! : ~

Gokou's eyes grew wide. His lips hadn't moved. Gokou had clearly heard Vegeta speak, but the Saiyan's lips hadn't moved.

"Hey, earth to Gokou!"

Gokou turned back on the couch and stared at Krillin who was watching the two Saiyan's with an odd expression.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Do?" Vegeta turned a contemptuous sneer in Krillin's direction, "Well we're certainly not going to get together with the bastard and bake cookies."

Krillin countered Vegeta's sneer with a venomous glare, "We can't let Domino keep stealing all those people. We have to stop it."

"Oh, so you know where he's been hiding all this time? You know where he's going to strike next? Really Kakorotto, I think your 'friends' have been holding out on you."

Krillin's scowl deepened, "We can't just sit around and do nothing! Who knows how his powers work. While we're sitting around growing catatonic, Domino will turn the entire earth against us!"

"We don't have a choice." Gokou cut in sharply and Krillin stared at him in shock. "Krillin," Gokou went on gently, "Vegeta's right. We don't know where he is, or where he's going to be. I haven't even felt his Ki since the fight and I have been searching for it. Right now he doesn't exist so all we can do is wait and see if he decides to show himself."

"But…"

"Krillin." Gokou leaned forward, putting his feet flat on the ground and resting his hands on his knees. "I know how you feel, so does Vegeta. If we could think of a way to draw Domino out into the open, we would do it. All we can do is wait, watch and train as much as possible."

Krillin slumped. "I guess you're right. I just feel sorry for the people it's happening too and who are losing family members. I sure wouldn't want it happening to me…"

Gokou's expression went from serious to playful in an instant. "Talking about families… How's Juuhachi-gou?"

Krillin's cheeks went red in a sudden blush and all previous arguing was forgotten, "She's fine. Great even. She's already two months along - but she's not showing yet."

Gokou grinned, "You'll make a great Dad!"

Krillin blushed again and rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks, Gokou." He stood. "Anyway, I better go. I have to get back home, Juuhachi-gou is expecting me back soon."

Gokou waved as Krillin left the room and then flopped bonelessly back against the couch, his head tilted so he could see Vegeta out of the corner of his eye. "Your lips didn't move."

Vegeta pulled his eyes away from the window at Gokou's words. "What?"

Gokou remained still, "Before, when you told me to stay out of your head, your lips didn't move. You…" he paused, "You were thinking it?"

Vegeta lifted a sardonic eyebrow, "It took you long enough to figure it out."

Gokou finally twisted around in his seat and, folding his arms over the back of it, met Vegeta's eyes. "I've been in your mind? Hearing your thoughts?"

Vegeta didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow. ~: Yes. : ~

Gokou's mouth fell open and he sat up straight. "Can… Can you hear my thoughts?"

Vegeta shook his head, "No. As if I would want too." He hesitated and then added grudgingly, "I can feel your emotions though."

Vegeta looked as if the admittance was somehow worse than the ability itself.

Gokou was astounded, "That's amazing! This is amazing! Do you suppose the Bond is causing it? Think of the possibilities! We'll work flawlessly together in battle!"

Vegeta looked like he'd far sooner carve out his heart with a rusty teaspoon.

"What will make you work flawlessly together in battle?" The voice came from the doorway.

Gokou twisted back around in his seat and grinned at Bulma, "He can feel my emotions and…"

~: Moron! Be quiet! : ~

Gokou stopped, blinking in confusion at the command.

"You can feel each others emotions?" Bulma said slowly, as if tasting the idea. "It's the Bond that's causing it? Duh, of course it is. Fascinating, I wonder why…" she trailed off for a moment, staring into space; and then, suddenly, she stepped forward and slapped Gokou across the cheek as hard as she could.

"Bulma!" Gokou protested, putting his hand to his stinging face, "What was that for?!"

"I thought so!" Bulma beamed at Gokou's hurt expression for a moment, "Oh! I'm sorry, Gokou." She was still grinning, "I wanted to test a theory." She gestured at Vegeta who was absently rubbing his cheek.

"Vegeta felt that?"

Vegeta glared suddenly and yanked his hand away from his face, "What's that supposed to prove, woman? He was so shocked that you'd dare hit him that of course I'd feel it."

"Exactly!" Bulma crowed, "And that's why you were acting so strangely when Gokou got hit by Domino's Ki-blast. You could feel Gokou's pain trough his emotional response to it."

Vegeta glared.

Gokou looked confused.

Bulma smirked and put her hands firmly on her hips. "I want to test this. It's definitely a big clue to solving this Bond puzzle."

Gokou suddenly looked suspicious, "Will there be any needles?"

"Oh Gokou, of course not!"

"This is ridiculous, woman!" It's just another form of the Binding - like the distance limit. There is no point in testing it, even if you could."

"What's so ridiculous?" Bulma demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, "We tested the distance limit didn't we? So we can test this!"

"No, stupid woman, you can't. About all you could do is poke him," Vegeta jerked his chin in Gokou's direction, "to see if I felt it, which I wouldn't unless he had some kind of emotional response to it. You can't measure it."

Bulma stared at Vegeta for a long moment, then dismissed him and looked at Gokou seriously, "I really need to research this, Gokou. I recall reading something that sounded like this a long time ago."

"But Vegeta just said…"

"Oh, what does he know." Bulma waved her hand in Vegeta's direction dismissively then turned and headed for the door. "I want to do some reading on it first, but don't go anywhere. I'll need you later."

As the door slammed shut, Gokou turned and glared at Vegeta reproachfully, "That wasn't a nice thing to think."

Vegeta snorted and turned to stare out the window again.

"Really! She may seem bossy and arrogant at times, but she means well."

"Be quiet, Kakorotto."

"But…"

~: Be quiet. : ~

Gokou shut his mouth and glared at Vegeta who, after a few moments of uncomfortable silent, lifted his hand and rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

"You don't need to pout about it."

"I'm not pouting." Gokou said, petulantly.

"You're sulking."

"Am not."

Vegeta turned from the window and glare at Gokou, ready to speak.

"Why did you cut me off?" Gokou demanded, suddenly.

Vegeta's glare deepened, "There is nothing that woman can find out that I haven't already, and she has more important things to do." Vegeta's attention moved back out the window again, scanning the view. "And we don't know who's listening."

"Listening? You mean someone might be spying on us?!"

"Domino can possess anybody." Vegeta explained slowly, "When he possesses them he can give them enough power to be irritating, but they still have human power levels. We can't tell a human from a Servant, unless they are attacking us. I couldn't see anything in their Ki to distinguish them from normal people. Did you?"

Gokou blinked, "I… No, no I didn't. I hadn't thought of that."

~: Obviously. : ~

"Don't you think knowing would help Bulma find a way to break the Bond, though?"

"No."

"But it might."

"It wouldn't."

"How do you know?"

"It has no relevance."

"But how do you know?"

"Kakorotto! Can you see how it could possibly do anything more than inspire us to kill each other?"

"Vegeta!" Gokou protested. "It wouldn't do that."

Vegeta remained silent.

Gokou suddenly looked guilty, "I said I was sorry for snapping at you the other day. I really don't know what came over me."

"I said stay out of my head!" Vegeta said sharply.

"I'm sorry."

There was a lengthy silence.

"So… Do you think this part of the Bond is a weapon against us?" Gokou ventured at length.

Vegeta shrugged, "We should treat it as such."

"Can't we…use it?"

"No, we can't use it!" Vegeta answered forcefully.

"But…" Gokou protested, his eyes wide.

Vegeta's jaw tensed and he dug his fingers into his arm. "We will not use it," he was trying to keep his voice level, "because it's such a convenient ability that Domino most likely set it into us himself. I will not get used to using it to the point where we need it to fight and find out that Domino can read it, and us, perfectly."

"Oh."

Silence.

"So… What should we do while Bulma…"

"We should leave. It's pointless to be here."

"Bulma said to stay."

"We need to train!"

"This is important too."

Vegeta set his jaw and glared out the window. Everything was important to that third class moron!

"Waiting for Bulma won't kill us, Vegeta." Gokou said.

Vegeta grunted.

----

"She could have told us she didn't need us," Vegeta growled under his breath later that day as he and Gokou flew back towards Gokou's home, "instead of making us waste time we could have been using to train!"

"She didn't do it on purpose, Vegeta." Gokou said and slowed to fly level with the other man, "She just got busy."

Vegeta grunted.

"So, we can train now." Gokou went on cheerfully and then frowned, "If you want too. I mean; it is getting late."

Vegeta stopped flying abruptly and glared at Gokou, "We'll train here. Now."

"Here?"

Vegeta nodded shortly. The area was relatively empty of human habitation, open enough to provide ease of movement but closed off enough to add some challenge. Not as good as his gravity chamber - but it would do.

The two men dropped out of the sky, landing lightly in a roughly circular patch of grass surrounded by sporadic boulders.

"Are you sure…?" Gokou began hesitantly, "I mean we really should tell Chichi we're going to be late."

"That woman is not your keeper, Kakorotto!" Vegeta growled, "You don't need to tell her where you're going to be every moment of the day."

"Yeah…" Gokou ran his hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his head, "But she worries a lot and I really don't want to upset her…"

"She has nothing to worry about! You are Saiyan; you shouldn't concern yourself with the frivolous feelings of earthlings."

"But I'm an earthling!"

Vegeta snarled. How easily Kakorotto threw off his Saiyan heritage! Did the man have no pride in his own race? No sense of respect for those who had come before him - his ancestors? How could he just blithely disassociate himself from all the history that had conspired to create him? And how, how could he turn his back on it to declare himself a human?

"Ve…Vegeta?"

Vegeta could feel the uncertainty that was suddenly coursing through the other man. How could he keep that man out of his head? Glaring, he pushed Kakorotto's emotions into the farthest parts of his brain to ignore and dropped into a fighting stance, "Shut up, Kakorotto."

"R…right."

---

It was pitch black out, but Vegeta wasn't letting them stop. 'It's never to late for training, an enemy won't stop fighting just because it gets dark.' Gokou recalled Vegeta once saying, and he agreed…except he was getting really hungry now. And he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Repeatedly.

Dropping his fighting stance, Gokou gave Vegeta his best 'I'm hungry and I want to go home' look. "Vege~~ta!"

"Stop whining, Kakorotto!"

"But Vege~~ta, I'm really hungry."

"Yes. You're always hungry."

Raising his arms quickly, Gokou blocked a flurry of punches that were nowhere near as powerful as they had been a few hours before hand. So he's tired too, he just refuses to admit it and give up for the night.

"Aren't you hungry too? I bet Chichi has dinner waiting for us."

Vegeta growled. ~: Can't he think of anything other than his dependence on that earthling?! : ~

Gokou blurted a response before even thinking, "I'm not dependent on Chichi! Ahhh… Sorry. I didn't mean to listen… I mean I know I heard but… It was just there…I…"

"Fine!" Vegeta snapped abruptly, cutting Gokou off. "I don't care. If you want to stop then let's just go back."

"Ahhh… yeah. Yeah! But uhmm… I'm not dependant on Chichi."

*=+=*

"Isn't it getting late? Shouldn't they be home soon?" Deejay was anxiously leaning on the kitchen counter, her worried eyes pinned to Chichi's expressionless face.

"They'll come home when they feel like it, I'm sure!" The woman snapped and slammed the ladle she'd been using to stir a pot of soup down next to the sink.

"But Chichi…"

"We'll eat without them." Chichi stated flatly and began pulling plates out of the cupboards. "Could you fetch Gohan and Goten for me, please."

Gohan and Goten; but no Trunks. Deejay had been burning to ask about that all afternoon, but she couldn't bring herself to. She guessed that the boy was with his mother, so it really would be impolite to ask.

Nodding to herself, Deejay walked the short distance to the hallway and peered around the frame of the single open doorway, where Gohan and Goten were studying.

"Hey, guys?"

Goten looked up, blinking at her.

"Chichi said to come for dinner."

"Alright! Food!" Goten leapt up excitedly and had raced past Deejay and down the hallway before his pencil had even hit the desk.

Gohan got up a little more leisurely.

"Exuberant." Deejay commented to the 14-year-old and he offered her a half smile.

"It's a family trait. Mum says Goten is just like dad was at the same age."

Deejay stopped walking, her pausing leaving her in the kitchen doorway. "Mother?" she asked, confused.

Gohan nodded and gestured to Chichi before seating himself next to Goten at the table.

Deejay blinked, "Chichi is your mother?!"

Now both Gohan and Chichi were staring at their guest in confused shock. Goten however was focused on the bowl of rice Chichi held an inch above the tabletop.

"Well of course I'm his mother." Chichi said after a moment, "Goten's too." She added.

"But…but I thought…" A thought occurred to her, "Were you a surrogate?"

Chichi bristled, "I most certainly was not! Where did you get such a silly idea from?"

"Well I…I mean I… I just thought… 'Cause, Gokou and Vegeta…" she stared at the two confused faces, "Hold on! So which one is your dad? Gokou, or Vegeta?"

"Well Gokou, of course." Chichi said, finally putting the bowl of rice down on the table, "I'm surprised Vegeta even has a child, the way he acts. Whatever possessed Bulma, I'll never know."

"Oh…"

Chichi continued serving up food but Gohan was still staring.

"What made you think dad and Vegeta were our parents?"

Deejay blushed; "Well they seem really close, to me…" she trailed off at the look on Gohan's face.

"They seem close? You mean they hang around each other a lot, right?"

Deejay suddenly realised she was still standing in the doorway, and walked the rest of the way into the room slowly and took a seat at the table, biting her lip as she thought.

"No… No, it's more than that. They compliment each other. Like they're part of each other. Like lovers."

A cup suddenly slammed down in front of her and Deejay jumped.

"Well that's completely ridiculous. They're both men to begin with. And not only is my Gokou, my husband, but he and Vegeta are also long time rivals." Chichi's tone set the conversation as closed and in a lighter pitch she added, "Could you help me with this soup, please?"

Deejay blushed miserably and leapt to her feet to help the woman dish out dinner. Still - if they were long time rivals, why were they always together?

*=+=*

They were walking.

Walking at a leisurely pace up a grass and brush covered hill while Kakorotto gawked up at the night's sky like a four-year-old earthling brat.

The moron had already tripped up twice from not paying attention to where he put his feet, and Vegeta could feel the wonderment at what the man was watching tingle through him. It spread under his skin like a pervasive itch, spreading outwards along his arms and to his fingers - it was all he could do to stop himself from ripping his arms off in an attempt to make it stop.

Vegeta was chaffing at the bit. If they were going back to Kakorotto's house then why couldn't they simply hurry up and get there?

But no. Kakorotto wanted to walk up Mt Paozu, stare up at the night's sky, and do his best impression of a guppy-fish.

A light breeze picked up and ruffled Vegeta's hair then passed him to send the nearby trees to swaying.

"If you're quite finished, could we hurry up!?" he snapped finally and the other man jumped slightly.

"What? Oh, sorry. I hadn't realised I'd stopped walking…" Gokou trailed off, then took a long, deep breath; breathing in the scents that made him love this place he had grown up in. "Isn't it gorgeous?"

Vegeta snorted, "Foliage. Dirt. Wind. Can we go now?!"

Gokou blinked and stared at the other man who was glaring up the hillside, his posture stiff and his arms crossed over his chest.

"You don't like being outside?"

"I like being outside just fine…"

Gokou was suddenly assaulted by smells, textures, feelings.

A warm, light breeze that felt fresh, as if blowing in from over some vast lake. Something soft and plush under his fingers that was obviously grass but was somehow more velvety to touch than he knew grass should be. The light breeze wrapped around him again, nestling him in a cocoon of warmth and smells that seemed familiar, yet not.

Sight. The nighttime visage of Mt Paozu faded around him and he was amerced in sunshine - so much sunshine! It washed over him, drenched him in its light, its brightness.

It blinded him briefly - but then he could see. The sky. Bathed in brightness, it was red and orange - scattered about were fluffy white clouds that did nothing to disguise from him the fact that this place had two suns.

"…but I detest standing around dithering pointlessly!"

Gokou blinked, and as suddenly as it had gripped him, the vision was gone.

He let out an explosive breath he hadn't realised had caught in his throat and waited for his eyes to readjust to the darkness around him. Somehow the night seemed suddenly cold, the light breeze causing more chill than it should have been.

"Was that…" he hesitated, then ploughed onwards, "Was that, Planet Vegeta?"

Vegeta froze. His entire being seeming to become completely immobile. "What?"

"That place, that planet with two suns. Was it… was it Vegeta-sei?"

"I thought I told you to stay out of my head." Vegeta's voice sounded thin, as if he were speaking from a great distance, his form still completely still.

Gokou didn't notice; his eyes closed as he tried to capture the image again. "The plants looked a little like the ones we saw on Namek, but not the same. I guess there wasn't as much water as Namek had. And two suns…the sunsets there must have been amazing. It was beautiful…"

"Yes."

Gokou's eyes snapped open at the faint sound from Vegeta. The man was staring up the hillside still, his face completely in shadow so Gokou couldn't see his expression. Gokou didn't need to see it though, to guess what it was. Vegeta's voice had sounded so lost all-of-a-sudden. Lost, alone and homesick.

"Vegeta…"

The Prince was silent and Gokou thought maybe he hadn't been heard, and then Vegeta shrugged. "Let's go!"

Gokou caught the man's arm before he'd managed to take more than a few steps and Vegeta hissed, trying to snatch his arm away. Gokou held on tighter.

"I'm sorry, you know; about Vegeta-sei. I wish I could have seen it…"

"Seen it?!" Vegeta shot a dark glare over his shoulder at his rival and sneered, something inside him he'd kept bottled up for far too long flaring to life. "Yes, that's typical of you, Kakorotto. You were born there. Your ancestors were born there. Your entire damned race existed there striving for survival, for life, for valour and you wish you could have seen it!" he wrenched his arm out of Gokou's grip and his hands balled into fists. "How can you be sorry for the loss of my Planet? How could you possibly be sorry?! No matter how much you wish you could have seen it; you never saw it! You ignore your people, your heritage, yet you flagrantly display the power it gave you with not a single thought to where it came from!"

Vegeta realised he'd been slowly advancing on the other man and stopped himself, reining in his anger. "Don't tell me you're sorry, Kakorotto. Don't tell me you wish you could have seen my Planet. They are empty words. You are not Sayian, you have no right to them." He whispered quietly.

"Ve…Vegeta… But I am sorry. I… Vegeta!" Hurrying after the other man, Gokou grabbed onto his arm again, ignoring the stinging slap Vegeta immediately dealt to his hand in an effort to get him to let go, and pulled him around so they were face-to-face. "Vegeta…"

Gokou trailed off at the look in the other mans eyes. There was anger, yes, but not as much as he had been expecting. More so there was pain. Hurt, loneliness and betrayal. A combination Gokou had never thought to see in the eyes of the proud prince of all Saiyans. It had never occurred to Gokou that Vegeta was anything other than the prideful, arrogant man he always projected himself to be. There had never been any slips in his careful mask of sneering contempt, prideful arrogance. Always he was the Saiyan Prince, showing nothing but hate and frustration.

But there it was. Before him, Vegeta was showing emotions he'd never even hinted at. Not because he wanted too, not willingly, but from having bottled up so much of what frustrated and galled him. For having to suffer daily through what he viewed as brazen disrespect. And it was all Gokou's fault.

Vegeta's eyes were wide with the emotion that swirled within them. This emotion, this pain was Gokou's fault. Gokou had caused it all.

What could he say? What could he possibly say to ease the hurt he saw, that he had inflicted? Gokou's own thoughts began to swirl around in turmoil as he gazed into the black depths of Vegeta's eyes. They pulled him in, begged him to say anything, everything to make it better, to heal the wounds he'd unwittingly inflicted. The eyes pulled him in further and he'd barely registered he was leaning forward before his lips encountered Vegeta's in a firm, startling kiss.

Warmth. Warmth spread through him from where his lips touched against Vegeta's and he dimly felt the telltale tingle that always seemed to accompany any kind of touching between the two men. The warmth permeated his body, sending the tingling sensation along every vein, into every limb. Everything felt so right suddenly; as if he'd unexpectedly, and gloriously, found a piece of himself that had been missing for a long, long time.

Then suddenly that warmth was gone. Chill air streamed into the spot where a warm body had been a moment before and then abruptly there was pain.

Blinking in confusion, Gokou pushed himself up from where he was suddenly sprawled on the ground and lifted a hand to his bleeding lip. Slowly his eyes lifted to Vegeta; the man was beside himself with rage.

Taking deep breaths, Vegeta pulled himself together enough to grate out a single sentence through gritted teeth, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

----------------

End Chapter Four

Yes, it's a cliffhanger. Yes, it's a cliffhanger at a really exciting bit. Yes, my amazingly brilliant dear proofer Ians_K told me I should write more because she really wanted to see how Gokou reacted, but I planned out the beginning of chapter 5 last night and, after much consideration, I think ending this chapter like this works much better *Evil smirk of Doom*

Remember to Read and Review!! I accept brainless Encouragement! I accept Brainless Flaming! More so I highly encourage thoughtful and/or helpful feed back!! Send it all, review long. E-mail me if you're shy about reviewing. All feedback is most welcome.

~Vanyel-san