Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Encounter ❯ Ask Vegeta ( Chapter 8 )

Forbidden Encounter

Chapter 8

" Vegeta! " Bulma screeched at her mate through the gravity room's thick door. The Saiyan prince glanced at the clock on the wall and then again at the door, pausing in his workout to see why the little minx was angry with him this time. He hadn't blown up any major buildings, terrorized the mall or frightened any journalists for almost a month… it wasn't her birthday, or Trunk's either… not the anniversary thing…

" Vegeta! There's someone here to see you! " He relaxed almost instantly, but he growled knowing that was her way of saying his visitor was someone he probably didn't want to see, but that he had better be nice. Since few people were stupid enough to bother him at all, he already knew it was one of the earth's Special Forces members. No one else that would want to see him would dare disturb him while he was training. So, that meant it was Gohan, Goten or Kakarrot himself, since the earth's other fighters were afraid of him, and didn't really trust him, which was just as well, since the others were all weaklings anyway.

" Go away, woman. " He smirked, knowing she wouldn't, but he loved the way her eyes lit with fire when she was angry.

" Gohan came all the way here to talk to your stubborn ass Vegeta, bring it out here. "

He hid his amusement behind his darkest scowl, and came prowling out of his gravity room like a leopard. The older son of his rival was there, and for the first time in years, the boy actually met the sharp glare Vegeta was giving him without flinching. The Saiyan Prince glanced at his mate and saw her sigh and tussle the boys hair softly as she walked away.

" Well? " Vegeta asked casually taking a sip of his water.

" Nice to see you too, Vegeta. " Gohan grunted sarcastically.

Vegeta snorted and shrugged. " Yes, you should be feel honored just to be in the presence of your prince. "

Gohan growled audibly, but forced himself not to tell him to get off his high horse, or say something that would really piss him off. " Vegeta… I wanted to talk to you. "

" Obviously, now what is it? I have training to do. "

" I thought you said Saiyans can't cheat on their mates! " The boy blurted out, blinking back tears.

Vegeta snorted again. " Kid… " Vegeta paused for a moment, and sighed, there was no good way to say this. " Gohan… your father isn't bonded to your mother. "

" You liar, he is too! " The boy blurred into motion, flying straight at Vegeta, but the three-year break he had taken from training was time that Vegeta had used well, and the prince caught him in a half nelson and simply held on until the boy's rage began to subside. " He has to be…doesn't he? "

" In some ways your father is more earthling than you are. " Vegeta growled finally, ashamed that the only other Saiyan alive was an idiot that wanted to be human.

" What do you mean? " Gohan asked, as Vegeta put him down, and moved toward the window.

" Your father shouldn't have mated with your mother, Gohan. He wasn't bonded to her, and he stayed with her only because he cared for her and for you. I have known since the moment I met your mother that she wasn't his bond mate. I couldn't smell his blood on her, nor did he ever smell like hers. "

" Blood? But wha-? Wait a minute! You mean you hurt Bulma when you… " Gohan's Ki was rising again but this time Vegeta stopped the attack with a smirk.

" Calm down, brat. The bond is forged in blood, but it is quite pleasurable, and most Saiyans renewed it every few days. It is a connection that is deeper and more powerful than the one humans call love. A bond is a joining of two people until they share thoughts, feelings and occasionally pain or pleasure, the link exists beyond life and death and has been known to start even before the two people have ever met. " Vegeta sighed. " The lure of one's bond mate is a powerful thing, and your father can't help what he feels. Or, in your mother's case, what he doesn't feel. He should never have married her. Saiyans who chose to formally mate with out bonding were considered dishonorable, because the connection to ones destined mate has a way of surfacing without warning, just as it has here. I don't think it's fair for me to have to tell you this, but your father honestly didn't know. Your father has now met his mate, and he will choose her over your mother. Since you are here… I am certain he has already made his choice. I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, Gohan. "

" But how could you know? I don't understand. Did he tell you? "

" He didn't have to. I have tried to warn your father and mother several times that it wasn't going to be permanent between them, but neither of them took subtlety very well. "

" What do you mean? "

" It wasn't really my place to interfere. But since we are the last of two pure blooded Saiyans, it reflects poorly on both of us when he breaks his vows to care for and protect your mother in favor of another. After all, you did get mad at me when you first arrived. I was hoping to avoid all of this. I didn't want to see what was left of my race dishonor itself by forming attachments that were never meant to last in the first place. Frieza made the Saiyans feared and hated for the work he put us to; I know of less than a handful of races who would've dared to trust the word of any Saiyan and then your father, the legendary Super Saiyan himself destroys his own family? Honestly, I don't know if I should kill him or congratulate him myself. "

Gohan looked down and away, and stayed quiet long enough that Vegeta turned to leave. " You mean he's really not coming home? What are we supposed to do now? "

" Gohan. " Vegeta sighed. " You'll have to decide that with him. Just remember that no one can make him take responsibility for what he has done. And there's one more thing I might as well tell you... Stay away from your father and his mate, at least for a while. A Saiyan will destroy anything he thinks is a threat to his bond mate. A Saiyan with a new mate is very protective, and extremely dangerous. Your father will return to his normal trusting, brainless self eventually, but I warn you now; he will stay with his new mate and child. "

" Child? "

" Yes. Bonding always results in pregnancy. " Vegeta growled. " Are we done yet? I have a feeling I'm going to be the one that has to explain all this crap to your father too, and I am not looking forward to it. "

" But you still haven't told me how you knew this would happen. You weren't surprised at all, and this wasn't exactly the way I was hoping to spend my Saturday either. "

" Whatever. But I am very serious, Gohan. Stay away from him until he seeks you out. As stupid as he is, he has always been devoted to you and your brother; he's not going to forget about you. He just needs time to adjust. "

" You think he needs time to adjust? " Gohan snapped, then he looked down and shrugged sadly. " I thought my father was a hero… but heroes don't abandon people who need them. Do they? "

Vegeta gave him a half-hearted smirk. " I wouldn't know, kid. I've never met one. You're talking to the wrong warrior. I fight to get stronger, to test myself and because there is an enemy. I don't believe in good or evil, because life isn't that simple. There is only the choices we make and various shades of gray. Right now, your father's choices may seem wrong, but if he is separated from his mate now, he will die. That's why you can't interfere, this is his destiny, and he has to choose it for himself. "

" He'll die? "

" His spirit is strong, so it may take months, but bonding is forever. Remember that when you choose your own mate, in a few years. It can't be undone, and you will die if they are killed or worse, if they do not return the desire to join their heart and soul with yours. That is bonding withdrawal, and it drives even the strongest to their knees eventually. I fought it for almost a year. "

" But why would you even want it if it's so dangerous and permanent? "

" To bond is instinctive. A warrior just knows when the time and his mate are right. Bonded pairs each sense when the other is in danger. It bestows telepathy, empathic knowledge of the other's health and feelings. Bonding also results in the birth of the strongest possible warriors. Bonded parents sense when their offspring are in danger, but when the brat chooses their own mate, the link is severed, for the new bond to be formed between the new mates. Saiyans are creatures of passion and strength, bonding protects us from harming our mates and offspring in anger. Sometimes the link is there even before the two are born. They are drawn together without knowing why, and then… "

" But how would it kill my father? "

" The bond is formed only when you give every part of your heart and soul to another being, Gohan. Only the strongest pairs can even make such an offering. How could you live if they choose not to return it? How could you go on if you somehow fail to protect the mate who has the other part of your spirit? If you are angry with your father or his mate, do NOT go near them for a while. He needs her, and while I don't think humans can completely return the bond, she will try. They met almost a year ago, Gohan. He managed to stay away a lot longer than I thought he would. Now that they are together again, nothing but death will separate them. "

" That party. At Master Roshi's island. " It was a statement, not a question and Vegeta answered with a silent nod.