Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Swarm Saga ❯ Of Things Best Left Unspoken ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am nothing. I am writing this simply for my own pleasure and am not making any money from it. Dragonball Z and its characters are the property of Akira Toriyama and other various and associated peoples.

Chapter 4

Goku hated fighting. Not the friendly match. He loved that; the feel of flesh hitting bone, the adrenaline rush achieved when both fighters gave all but stopped just short of trying to kill each other. Not the innocent spar where you trained your body to improve and where you tried out that new technique you had been working on. But he hated fights to the death. Fights where emotions got involved and pride was pushed to the edge. Fights that were fought in and ruled by anger. Fights where innocent people got hurt because at least one of the combatants stopped caring about anything but destroying the other. Goku had just been involved in too many of those. A person had no choice in that type of fight. You either joined in or you lost everything. It was the type of fight that Vegeta was heading for.

Goku watched as Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest and smirked that annoying smirk that was meant solely to taunt his adversary. He really hated it when he did that. He watched Aspa struggle with the only options left to her. If she was pushed much further by them she would react violently. Her annoyance made itself apparent in the set of her jaw and the rigid muscles. If pushed to far, the others would join in and they would lose. Goku simply did not want to hurt anyone today. They hadn't really done anything dangerous. The girl had only entered the tournament and, except for that final blast which she had pulled back on, hadn't even used any excessive force. The others were just here to make sure they avoided detection by Freeza. Why was it that everything always boiled back down to the Ice-jin anyway?

He didn't really want to, considering, but when Aspa asked Vegeta to move he found himself placing his hand on Vegeta's shoulder. "Raditz," the name sounded so odd. Goku still didn't understand what would ever possess Vegeta to use his brother's name. He knew there had to be a reasonable explanation just as he knew that Vegeta would tell him in his own time. "Let them go. If the girl tries anything you or I will stop it." Perhaps they were both mellowing as the years passed in peace.

There was an "hmph" from Seloli as she stood in the corner. She continued to hold her arm close to her body. Goku still could not tell whether she was simply mad that they had interrupted or embarrassed that she was caught. He would feel a lot better about his decision if he knew what she was thinking. Then again he'd feel better about it if he knew her Ki level. It just wasn't natural to keep it that low. Aspa just glared at him. He chose to ignore her. Let Vegeta handle her, he wanted to.

"Fine," Vegeta growled. He stepped out of the way and Goku found himself letting out a little mental Thank You.

As she left, Aspa shot out to Vegeta. "When we get back to Kudaka your existence and your actions will be reported. I'm sure someone will be out to deal with you." The taller Saiyan finally looked at Aspa. He really did not know what Kudaka was but he suspected that the second half of that statement was meant to be a threat. Just once, he'd like to have a decision to let someone go not come back to haunt him.

As they left, he felt Gohan and Piccolo take to the sky after them. Trust Gohan to be the most suspicious of a group of Saiyans. Trunks and Goten stayed close to their mothers. But then, after the scare Vegeta gave Trunks earlier he couldn't really expect anything else.

"You two can get out now." Goku looked at the girl who remained in the room, snapping out of his personal thoughts.

"I still have questions for you girl." Goku just closed his eyes in pain. Now was not the time to be doing this. They both had questions that he was sure needed answers. The primary one in his mind was why was the girl here in the first place. Although, he was sure that Vegeta's were a little bit more specific and of a slightly different nature.

"I do not feel like answering your questions. Get Out!"

"If you think I'm just going to let you stay on this planet without you answering questions…" Goku wanted to just shake Vegeta until the other part of his brain started working again. The other Saiyan wasn't stupid. So why was he pushing the issue? The girl had just received a reprimand and dismissal in front of two people she had never met before. Her pride was probably bruised. Surely Vegeta, of all people, realized that. Did he really just want to fight that badly?

"You do not want me here? Fine, give me a ship and I will leave." She paused as if giving the smaller man time to consider the option. "Not willing to do that are you Raditz? Just get out. You've already caused enough problems."

"I tried to get you sent home." The control in his voice was thin. Goku was going to have to get him out of this room soon.

"Really? And letting Aspa and the idiots leave was your way of accomplishing that? You would have done a better job had you stayed in the hallway and kept your mouth shut. Gi-tdor."

Vegeta growled and grabbed the girl around the throat. Goku actually had to wonder at the wisdom of calling Vegeta the Saiyan equivalent to asshole. "You will not use that language in my presence again. Do you understand?" The girl used her good hand to try to pry away the clutching fingers. When she couldn't, she nodded her head in affirmation. Vegeta let her drop and she hit the floor trying to catch her breath and rubbing her neck. She looked at Vegeta with something akin to fear as she tried to explain herself, her voice raspy.

"She wouldn't have been allowed to just dump me here. At the end of my leave they would have come and gotten me and you'd never see me again. Now, however, she has you to report, and you'll be a lot more interesting than me." Yep, Goku thought, this was going to come back and haunt him. And Vegeta was going to rub it in. He could already hear the entire "I'm the Prince of all Saiyans and therefore know more than you do" speech.

With a forced smile Seloli slowly regained her feet, turned her back to them, dismissing them, and began rummaging through her bag. She pulled out some clothing and a small box. She then carefully removed the black top she was left wearing after the fight, easing it over the cast on her right arm. Goku blinked as he felt blood rush to his cheeks changing his normal hue to bright red. What was she doing? She was just getting undressed right in front of them? "What is that thing on your back?" Vegeta's roar brought Goku back to reality. Vegeta rarely yelled, rarely allowed himself to loose that much control outside of a fight. Seloli went perfectly still. For the first time Goku actually noticed the large tattoo that covered most of her back. It was symmetrical across her spine. The diamond pattern was filed in with sweeping curves and geometric patterns. At the top of the diamond was a single spike.

"That …is none of your business." Her voice was quiet and defeated. She still had yet to move. Suddenly, she turned around and faced them. Just turned around as if the room still had a door and there were not two men standing in front of her and as if she was not shirtless. "Look, I'm in pain, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I stink. I'm going to bathe now. I suppose that if you insist, you can watch." She delivered the last line looking directly at the flame faced, taller of the two men opposite her.

Goku grabbed Vegeta's arm and pulled him out of the room.

When they reached the hall, Vegeta yanked his arm out of Goku's grasp and began walking back towards the room. The taller Saiyan once again found himself stopping his friend and pulled him the rest of the way out of the building. He did not like to use his strength against the prince, especially when he saw the munitious look on the others face. As they stepped out into the sunlight Goku once again released his old on the other warrior. He received a punch in the gut for his trouble. `Did you really have to hit so hard, Vegeta?' Drawing his breath back into his depleted lungs he quickly tried to convince Vegeta to leave the girl in peace for a while. "Vegeta, she's not going anywhere. She's injured. She has no ship, no friends, no communicator, no money. She'll still be here later and you're more likely to get answers from her after she's calmed down."

Vegeta just stopped and looked at him. He was still pissed. He gave a short shout as he turned away. "She had better not get away Kakarrot."

Goku thought about asking the stubborn prince his own questions, now that there was an opportunity, but decided to take his own advice. Vegeta wasn't going to tell him anything while he was still in the mood he was in. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around. People were still milling around the vendors that had set up food and gift shops around the arena. To tell the truth, there were a lot of people. What were they all still doing here? Goku breathed a heavy sigh and pulled Vegeta along to go find Hercule. The prince fumed, all the while, at the indignity of being dragged along.

They found the balding yet still afroed man still inside the empty arena, near the destroyed fighting surface, arguing with Bulma and ChiChi about the best way to get the people off the island now that the arena was cleared and whether they even needed to, now that the four "dangerous people" had left. Yeah. Island. Goku couldn't believe that he had forgotten about that part, not after he'd had to swim here for his second tournament. And since most people couldn't fly, it would have made getting all of the people off the island a challenge.

The tournament organizers and announcer stood nearby wide eyed listening to the three go at it. Their heads moving back and forth to look at each face as words were loudly exchanged. Goten and Trunks stood on opposite sides of the little crowd with their backs to them keeping a constant lookout on their surroundings. Nearby Marron and Eighteen were reviewing Marron's fights. It looked as if someone had given the girl a sensu. Kuririn stood guard with a rather haunted look in his eyes, a look that was not the sole responsibility of the planet's latest alien guests. It seemed that Roshi had tracked down Rentz and was now regaling the boy with stories. The poor kid presently sat ashen faced with his jaw hanging open while Yamcha threw him apologetic looks. He felt around for the various other ki's. Tien, Uub, and Buu were all among the crowd outside the arena. The four Saiyans were leaving the planet and Gohan and Piccolo were heading back. Walking up to the arguing trio, he told them, "It's OK, the crisis has been averted."

Smiles broke out over the faces of the monks who hosted the tournament every year and they began to wander off with the announcer speaking about staging and getting the audience back into the arena for the awards ceremony. Behind him there was a loud sigh and a "Thank Kami." He looked over his shoulder to see Trunks looking nervously at his father who was in turn staring intently at his woman, though Bulma always objected to being called that. It still amazed him how his oldest friend had caused such a transformation in the hardened warrior. He figured that most of Vegeta's odd behavior could be attributed to the need to protect Bulma but he still would like to hear the entire story, but not now.

ChiChi rushed over and latched on to his arm, pulling his shoulder downward with some force. Sometimes it was easy to forget just how strong she was, though she was still very weak in comparison to his own ever growing strength. He had never really gotten used to the position. It really did make it hard to walk. Instead, he detached his wife and pulled her into a hug against his chest where she mumbled about how frightened she was, and how Gohan and Goten knew something, but would not tell her, and then how they would not let her leave to find out what, and how he was never allowed to leave her like that again.

He stared down at her ebony locks, and, not for the first time, wondered what he ever did to earn the affection of this strong, fierce, woman in his arms. The woman who was not afraid to yell at him despite his strength, and had what was likely an unhealthy obsession with weaponry, especially very sharp blades.

Kami knew he wasn't the perfect husband. He had spent most of the beginning of his marriage either dead or away and it never seemed to bother him. When he had come back it amazed him how much had changed, not only at home but with himself as well. He couldn't stay away from them. Even when he trained Uub, he had only lasted a month before the boy found himself living on Mount Pauzo. He did not want to think about how many times he had broken things or accidentally knocked her through a wall. So now he just held her and allowed her to mumble into his chest while he traced soft circles onto her back.

He looked up as Goten approached with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the ground. "Is everything really OK, Dad?"

"Yeah son, it is. For now."

"Then why was"

"I'll tell you later." Later being after he had his chat with Vegeta. Of course their chats were usually done in the desert where conversation was only had between punches.

Gohan and Piccolo landed nearby. "Four of them left, but the fifth one was not in her pod when it took off."

"That's because your father let them leave her here." Goku felt all eyes turn to him with questioning glances. `Oh boy, here it comes.'

TBC

A/N: Yes. Look I have 10 people who have read all three chapters so far. Thank you to all my readers. You are much appreciated. I also wish that all my chapters would be as long as the first. But sadly, that is not likely to happen. I'm trying to make everything at least 2000 words, by MS word's counter. Chapter 5 and I are arguing right now. So far it is short, annoying, and bad. I would skip it just so I could get to Chapter 6, which is turning out really good, but I need certain things to happen. When we stop arguing, and once Cleighm fixes it, it will be up. But, it may take a week or two… or three. Now, on to the review responses.

Satans Widdle Hellper - Just for me? Awww Shucks. *blushes shyly* I bet you say that to all your reviewers. A drug huh? I'm honored. Not that I advocate that type of thing. I say go for it. Let me know when you start to post.

majin sue - I'm really glad you are enjoying this. I love yours so much its nice to return the favor. Yes, I like inserted characters as well. As long as they are not Mary Sues who take over the story. If that starts to happen here, hit me.

Bardockgurl - I got a review from you!!!! I've been doing the happy dance for the last ten minutes and am now out of breath. That thing you were wondering about. I haven't gotten there yet. Things do get explained eventually. But… no. Your hunny bunny is not alive. I'm sorry. Sporks huh? *holds up chapter 5 as a shield. Realizes that chapter 5 stinks. Holds up chapter 6 instead.*