Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Darkness Within ❯ Fury released ( Chapter 1 )

Author: DarkSerapha

Email: Mononokehime@gmx.net

Genre: Dragonball Z - Yaoi

Pairing: Son Goku x Vejita

Warning: for this chapter mainly angst and violence, later on there's lime, lemon and rape to follow. This is epic. Veeeery long story. Thou hast been warned…

This is a story about Yaoi. This means male to male intimacy. Yes, you heard right, two guys making love. So don't like, don't read. Don't flame! If you like it, enjoy!

Disclaimer:

As always I am trying to think up something incredibly funny and clever to say here, but since I want to save all my cleverness for the story, I am just being plain here: I don't own DBZ. Never have. Probably never will, though that might rapidly change, when I get my hands on that beautiful seven orange balls..

-----------------------------------------------~oO Honors Oo~--------------------------------------------------

This story is dedicated to the memory of

Alithiel (†Decembre 2002),

author of "Shadows of the Past".

Alithiel, I will never forget you. May the heavens smile upon you. You have changed my life with your art. You were taken from us much too soon. May your beautiful soul fly with the angels in all eternity.

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

Note: This story takes place about 10 years after the incidents of the Boo-Saga. But the last tournament has never happened. Bra has not been born. Dragonball GT has no importance whatsoever to this story.

I translated this story from german, english is not my native language, so please be patient with me.

Und für die deutschen Leser: Diese Geschichte ist dieselbe wie "Schattenseele".

Thanks to Azurite, my faithful beta-reader and dear friend, who helps me with translating. *big hug!

The Darkness within

Part1: Fury released

From narrowed eyes, Son Goku stared at the big pink blob which had been Boo up to now. He knew the demon just wanted to ridicule them with regenerating that slowly. Impatiently his eyes darted towards Vejita. The older saiyajin stood about twenty feet away from him, holding the potara in his right hand, visibly unsure of what to do. It was clear that he couldn't bring himself to take the last step and fuse with Son Goku. Son Goku saw the contradicting emotions on the face of his former enemy and now battle fellow. Disgust changed into hatred, which changed again into disgust, and under all that lay the knowledge that there was no other way.

"Vejita…!" Son Goku called out urgently, always keeping an eye on Boo who slowly regained his old shape. There was not much time anymore, for the demon would soon be fully regenerated, and their last chance would perish. Vejita shot one of his trademark icy glances to Son Goku, but it had no effect whatsoever on the earth-raised saiyajin. He saw the urge and the pleading expression in the other's face and grumbled. This was the last thing he wanted to do, fusing with this failure, this low class baka, which, were they still on Vejita-sei, would never even have been allowed to raise his eyes to the prince of all saiyajin. But Vejita had felt Boo's power and knew he was inferior to him - and he hated it. He hated it more than anything in the world. He hated it as much as he hated being inferior to Kakarott, that naïve baka which was ranked so very low beneath him. Vejita's proud saiyan heart cramped at the very thought of being inferior to goddamn anyone! He remembered an old saiyan saying his father, Vejiita-no-Ou, had once told him:

Your enemy's enemy is your friend until this enemy of both of you is defeated.
Afterwards kill them all without mercy.

He grumbled again, knowing he had no choice. His left glove clasped around the potara. Boo had almost fully regenerated. He hesitated, then slowly raised his hand to his ear and was rewarded with a stunning grin on Kakarott's face, which didn't seem to fit the seriousness of the moment at all. That naïve baka… After Boo was defeated, Vejita would surely have to finally take care of him… and this time he would end it for good. Before he could decide against it, he quickly began to fix the potara on his right ear.

Son Goku smiled as he noticed that Vejita had finally come to a decision - just in time. Pondering, he touched the potara dangling on his left ear…Boo was now completely healed and had taken notice of their actions. He sped towards them with bloodlust glistening in his mad black eyes, clearly wanting to end this annoying battle once and for all.

We can do it! Together we can beat him!

,the thought shot through Goku's brain. Suddenly he remembered what the old kaioshin had told him:

This fusion can not be undone - it is permanent…

"Vejita! I gotta tell you something… it's important! This fusion is irreversible…!"

Goku saw the older saiyajin's face darken in surprise and imagined hearing him shout something like "And now you tell me, baka…!?", but the same second the potara finally caught hold on Vejita's ear and both of them were suddenly blinded by a brilliant blue light radiating from their bodies, which made Boo retreat instinctively. Weird. Goku spotted Vejita's face through the blue radiance and saw the surprised expression on it - and it also seemed to bear another expression… Fear…? No, that was impossible, never within Vejita, it had to be a hallucination… Vejita's lips moved and Goku managed to hear the words "Is this allright?" He smiled at his former arch-fiend.

"Thank you, Vejita. It's wonderful."

And then the light closed in, permeated them, pulled them together and the world ceased to exist…

Drenched in sweat, Goku awoke with a start. It took him some time until he realized that it all had just been a dream, a memory of a fight that had happened long years ago, true, but still - nothing but a dream. He drew a deep breath and sank back into the fluffy pillow on top of his bed. It was totally unintelligible to him why this memory kept coming back uninvited after so many years. He closed his eyes. In his mind he saw an image of Vejito, fusion-form of himself and Vejita, as he had been described to him by others. He himself had no memories of this, just a blank space where there should be a memory of the time he had spent fused with Vejita. This was always the case with fusions. All he did remember was the feeling of great power, as the potaras sprang into action and pulled them together, and the bright light that had surrounded them. It had been an indescribable feeling. Maybe this had been the first time in his life he had truly felt whole, complete.. but this was nonsense, of course. He decided not to trail along this path of thought any more, not to waste any more time in idle dreaming.

Goku shook his head and decided that since he was already awake, he could very well start the day with an early breakfast. Looking on the clock beside his bed he saw that breakfast-time was not quite as far away as he had presumed after his sudden wake. It was already half past four in the morning. Still, saiyajin were always hungry, so it did not really make any difference which time of the day it really was. Outside the birds had not yet awoken to their usual morning sing-along, but Son Goku was quite used to get up early and to greet the rising sun while taking a first early-morning-training-session. On his way to the kitchen he passed by Son Goten's bedroom. He stopped and listened until he heard the deep regular breathing of his youngest son. Goku smiled slightly as he imagined his son lying on the bed, cuddled into his sleets like a hedgehog, a big breathing pile of softness. Still smiling he continued to make his way to the kitchen.

Goku was, to be true, more than just a little concerned about his younger son. The death of his mother had shocked him most of all three Sons. Goten never had been an easy child, his whole childhood being shadowed by fights. Though he was good-hearted and open, he had gotten himself in quite some trouble over the years - mostly with the aid of Trunks, his best friend. Goten's older brother Son Gohan had found his peace, finally accepting his still unmatched power, but burying it deep within him, and vowing never ever to use it again. He had turned away from fighting, finally having the time to devote himself to quiet studying, as he had always wanted to. Goku smiled again, thinking of Gohan's and Videl's marriage - this had been such a happy day, full of laughter… Chichi had been so very pleased - so happy… It still hurt Son Goku to think of his wife, who had passed away so very recently. Much too early, it seemed to him. And even so Goku and his wife had not agreed in opinion for years, even if she had been touchy to the limit, a demanding mother to her sons, and not an easy match for her husband, he had loved her in his own way. And he knew, that she had deeply loved him and their two sons, maybe more than life itself. Deep down inside she had been a very passionate yet kind woman, even if she had not been able to show this at all times. Goku knew perfectly well that he was not completely irresponsible for her change of attitude. He had left her alone - so very often - and he had gotten her into danger. When returning from the dead after seven years, the young, pugnacious girl who had once literally talked him into marrying her, had turned into a crestfallen woman, who was filled with bitterness upon the task of bringing up two children all on her own. And even after that... he had not been able to save her from the horrors of Boos reign and that had not been the last of the fights. For some blessed years earth had enjoyed peace now, and Chichi had started to open up again, starting to resemble the girl he once had known. She had not been so very panicky about her sons anymore, giving them more space to breathe, and he had been able to sometimes peer at the strong passionate young girl with the big humour and the romantic dreams, that was still locked deep down inside, trying to come out… And then, just about half a year ago…

An accident, so very common, so trivial, so unbelievably unpredictable, that nobody would ever have thought that it might happen to one of their little group. Goten had begged, had wanted to look for the dragonballs to resurrect his mother, but Dende had intervened and, unbelievably, Son Gohan had supported him. It had not been an unnatural death, it just had been her time to go, King Enma, the master of the netherworld, had told them. She was awaited on the elysian fields of the afterlife. It was how it should be. Goten had cried and screamed in rage and finally given in to the Namekian god and his own brother. Goku had been standing aside, not able to take part in this, just trying to comfort his son, but not even shedding a tear. It had just felt... right, as if Chichi was happier where she was now, finally redeemed of all bitterness.

Son Goku was not to concede that he felt utterly heartbroken and lonely. Chichi had been his only love so far, and he missed her a great deal, though she had never been the completion of his soul, the soul-mate he had always hoped she would turn out to be. But without her, he felt even more broken and shattered than ever before. Son Gohan and Videl had their own little family, happily living their own lives and caring for his sweet granddaughter Pan, whom he loved very much. Goku was very relieved that at least he still got Goten. If only the boy had not been so very melancholic these days. Chichi's death was still gnawing on his insides and also was the simple truth that he did not really make any progress in his training. In total opposition to Son Gohan, who had avoided fighting whenever possible and turned away from the lust of the battle so very unlike his saiyan ancestors, Goten had fully inherited the absolute will to succeed, which was so much trademark of the saiyajin. But being as it was, he undoubtedly could neither compete with his father nor brother when ki was involved and he knew. The final edge was that Goten even was hopelessly inferior to Trunks, his best friend and son of Vejita. That was very hard for him. Goku sighed heavily. Then he opened up the refrigerator, shoving half of its content onto the kitchen table and starting to eat, while still being deeply buried in thoughts.

Outside it was already dawning and afterwards Goku had devoured everything within his reach, he went upstairs to change from his normal sleeping clothes, which consisted of a slack dark blue pair of trousers, into his normal training outfit, the orange gi with blue shirt and wristbands, and then leaving the house for his daily morning warm-up. He quickly flew to the big round clearing in the forest not far from his home which he used for his lonely training-sessions and instantly started to go through some of his easier katas to warm up his muscles. An hour later he had started to sweat very lightly, the upper part of the gi already having been removed and carelessly thrown over the branch of a nearby tree, and the rising morning-sun trailing kisses along the naked skin of his muscular torso, as his movements got faster and faster. Punches and kicks followed successively and by now the pressure of the moving air already was enough to make all the surrounding tree's leaves whisper excitedly and to let smaller branches crack. Son Goku honestly enjoyed the effortlessness with which his muscles responded to the light training by expanding and stretching. Tiny beads of sweat glistened on his naked skin and added to the outlining of every single powerful muscle. The morning-sun cast delicate shadows on his naked skin, and small reflexes shone on every movement as Son Goku intensified the speed of his kata. If the clearing had not been as big as it was (the forest had already had to surrender to earlier training-sessions), from the sheer power of Goku's movements most of the trees would have been chopped down by now. Goku decided that it was enough of idle playing and without any delay his ki powered up, his hair growing upwards, taking the colour of ripe corn, his eyes turning the colour of light aquamarine.

He continued his training as SSJ at extraordinary speed, which the normal human eye was doomed to fail in following. This would have had the strange effect to appear to an unexpecting wanderer walking the woods, as if there was a very local tornado rampaging in this special clearing, sometimes revealing a flash of orange or gold.

Suddenly the vortex on the clearing stopped and Son Goku reappeared, arms folded over his slightly heaving chest and looking thoughtfully. He wasn't even really out of breath. Training was just too easy like this. Without any opponent nor challenge its just wasn't any fun to him.

Son Goku was thinking about flying to Capsule Corporation and asking Bulma's parents if they would let him use the Gravitation Chamber. He needed… aggravated conditions.. the only other possibility was to find himself a suiting sparring partner. The greatest challenge was of course Vejita. Unintentionally the dream from this night came into his mind. It had been quite a while since they had sparred… Suddenly Son Goku realized that he was actually missing Vejita. When Chichi was still alive, they had been sparring almost every day, the older saiyajin being as sniffy, stubborn and tight-lipped as ever, but still... Son Goku had had the feeling that the prince somehow... cared about this spars, as if he... liked them or even needed them in a way. Son Goku had been isolating himself from the world after Chichi had passed away… probably because he felt a little bit guilty. He had not been able to prevent her death and he had caused her sorrow and grief in her life. Nevertheless Vejita had been the only one he had still met after her death - he tended to avoid the other Z-senshis, he had to admit - probably, because Vejita was the only one who would not condolence or want him to speak about his misery, but who just wanted him to plain fight.

Vejita... he had lost someone too... they all had. Bulma had died during a fire in her laboratory four years ago, when one of her inventions had accidentally backfired and exploded. Vejita had always dissembled about if her death had touched his heart, and he had sardonically and rigorously refused to tolerate any condolence addressed to him, instead deferring them to Trunks who had suffered a lot because of his mothers death. Since then he had been living with Trunks in Capsule Corporation, along with Bulma's parents, who had asked him to stay and bring up his son.

Son Goku made a decision. He snatched his top and put it on and then took off into the sky, leaving behind a trail of pure energy. Quickly he reached Capsule Corp. He hit the ground in front of the front door, and had just stepped over to knock, when he heard loud voices yelling inside.

The door was slammed open and Trunks stood in front of him, his bright red head turned around to face his father, who was leaning on the backside wall, arms folded over his muscular chest and wearing his usual disgusted stoic kiss-my-ass-expression.

"You're such an egoistic bastard, father, and you know it! It was not a big deal, all I asked for was for you to show up, but you never want to do anything with me besides training! That was the last time I'll ever ask you to come to school! I hate you!" Trunks screamed in rage, then turned and stomped out of the door, not even noticing a very dazzled Son Goku, who quickly stepped aside, one hand still upraised to knock as the furious teenager took off into the sky, visibly squirming as he heard the words of his father trailing behind him: "Ungrateful brat!". Trunks nearly exploded gaining up speed and was out of sight within seconds.

Son Goku put his hand behind his head and scratched in confusion. He did not understand what had just happened here, but as he felt Vejita's ice-cold glare now settling upon him he put on his usual naive smile and entered the room. He decided that it might be healthier not to mention what just had happened.

"What do you want." Vejita's voice was completely drained of emotions.

"Uh.. err.. I just wanted to ask.. if you.. umm.. feel like having a little spar?"

The chill in Vejita's glare momentarily paralyzed Son Goku until he was very relieved to see the prince stepping away from the wall and without a word passing him stepping outside.

With a enormous rebound of energy he took of, one hand being outstretched and slightly writhed fingers ordering Goku to follow the prince. A short flight later they arrived at a grand square of unoccupied space deep within the gardens of Capsule Corp. The floor had been completely levelled and no plants had been able to survive within a range of some hundred feet. Huge walls were shielding the place from the surroundings and trees were keeping of unwanted curious looks. This was Vejita's private sparring place.

They hadn't even touched the ground when Vejita suddenly turned, instantly transforming into a super-saiyajin and attacking a very surprised Son Goku. He dodged the first punch, using the opportunity to transform into level one too and shortly afterwards both saiyajin were entangled in a ruthless fight. Son Goku was very surprised by the harshness of Vejita's attacks. Either he had made an impressive progress within the last half of a year or he was for some reason really pissed off. Much too soon to be convenient Goku had to advance to level two to avoid the lot of Vejita's assaults. Now being much more agile than his opponent he used the chance to throw a hard uppercut towards Vejita's chin, which threw the other against one of the boundary walls. Somewhat exhausted, Son Goku waited for Vejita to recover, since this was supposed to be a friendly spar, and was totally caught off guard when the prince burst into SSJ2 with a roar and, suddenly appearing in Goku's back, dashed him double-fisted into the ground. Goku narrowly escaped by flipping sideways, while fractions of a second later Vejita's elbow crashed into the very space where his head had been, creating a crater of impressive size. Son Goku quickly got to his feet as fast as possible and dodged a dastardly kick that was flung at him sideways. Vejita bent down and threw some sand of the ground straight into Goku's eyes, using this dirty little trick to blind his opponent momentarily so that he could place a punch with brutal force into the guts making Goku fly backwards at least a hundred feet. Much faster than the human eye he reappeared behind his stunned rival and before Goku was able to recover he was thrown into the air by a vicious kick that made his ribs give off a sickening sound. Son Goku tried to stop his flight mid-air, but was already welcomed by Vejita, who threw him towards earth once again with a double-fisted slamming punch. Son Goku impacted into the ground which caused lots of dust to rise and pieces of stone and earth to fly around as if a bomb had exploded. Goku was nearly out of breath. He could not understand why Vejita was so overaggressive today. Just as he struggled to get up he was hit by a ki-blast aiming for him and another and another. Vejita was nonstop firing ki-blasts at his former - and, by the looks of it, probably still - arch-fiend. Son Goku screamed in rage and transformed to SSJ 3. In the blink of an eye he had vanished and turned up again closely behind Vejita, who did not turn fast enough to dodge the powerful kick that sent him crashing into the ground. This time Son Goku did not allow him to recover, having made this mistake already, but followed in hot pursuit and launched punch upon punch at the prince. Just when he thought that he was ready for the final one, he was hit by an enormous wave of energy which took him off his feet and sent him tumbling for some hundred feet. Breathing heavily he got up and searched for the prince.

Vejita did not know why he was fighting with such a fierce force against Kakarott today. All he knew was that he did not want to think, that his head was empty only when he fought at top speed and with full force and that this was the best he could hope for at the moment. That had always been the best he could expect. Merely in the pure energy of the fight would he find his freedom. Trunks words kept echoing around his head. Bastard.. bastard.. egoistic bastard… how dare he say that to me! And how dare HE walk in when my son humiliates me like that!

With a scream of raw rage he threw himself in Kakarotts direction, using all he had, trying to erase everything that kept bothering him. So what if Trunks hates me.. I can cope with that! I don't need anybody! I NEVER needed anybody. An he chose to ignore the tiny sibilant voice inside his head that spoke from the deepest and darkest parts of his soul, maliciously whispering: "Of course you never needed anybody, little princeling..!", he just threw all his power into one huge assault and blasted the younger saiyajin a fair hundred feet away. He started to follow but had gravely underestimated the third level super-saiyajin. Son Goku caught himself in mid-air, lightning fast turning to the attacking prince, ducking beneath him and coming up behind him, catching his body in a vice-grip. Vejita's ki nearly exploded, but he was not able to free himself, not with all his effort. He detested it, loathed it, HATED it… not being free, not being superior, I can't loose to him again, I can't, I have to win, he HATED Kakarott for always being stronger. He clenched his fists and pumped every ounce of power into his veins until he nearly burst but he could not break his captors steel-grip. And then he heard Kakarott ask him in a very calm voice:

"Why are you so mad, Vejita?"

Vejita laughed a very strange staccato laughter, releasing the tension into a scary chuckle and pretended to stop trying to escape. He felt Kakarotts relax his grip for the faintest part.

"What's wrong with you, Vejita? I sense this strange darkness in your ki... something is eating away at you. Tell me what it is. We are companions in arms at least, aren't we…?"

Vegeta viciously growled. No, we're not! Carefully he locked the door to his emotions. He always had shared a strangely powerful emotional link to Kakarott, the only left pure-blooded saiyajin in the damn whole universe except himself, and it had gotten even stronger after they had fused. It had sometimes gotten so strong that he had been able to sense the other's feelings over a distance of many miles. He had found that extremely annoying at times, but since Kakarott had never learned how to correctly block his telepathic broadcasts, and Vejita was the last to teach him, he was literally screaming his emotions into the telepathic ether to any trained telepath like the prince was. Vejita could only guess how much passed through the link in the other direction, but he would rather not take any risks. His thoughts barely touched the memory of the dream he had had the night before.. no, nothing of this was to ooze out through the link, never, under no circumstances.

"Let me go, you third class baka, or I'll burn a hole right through your non-existent brain, do you understand me?", he hissed furiously.

"I will, if you promise not to attack me again."

Unwillingly Vejita nodded. Son Goku's grip loosened and with a sharp hiss the prince pushed away and quickly put as much distance between them as he could. Son Goku's golden hair dropped down and he returned to his normal level, only to find himself opposed to an enraged Vejita, murderous fury in his eyes, who was still powered up to level two and radiating unbelievable strength. Goku brought his hands up pacifying.

"What is the matter with you? First this horrible argument with Trunks and now this. You are so... cold towards the boy, Vejita... how did you ever get this way? I know that you must have had feelings somewhere in the past! What happened?"

"Damn idiot, what do you think you know about me? Just shut up, and don't you dare to speak of things that are beyond you simpleminded brain. I am what I am, nothing made me what I am now!. I have always been this way! I am fine being like this! I am.. safe…"

Vejita's voice trailed off as if he suddenly had realized that he had said something wrong. His expression went carefully blank and as opaquely as stone. Sighing Goku shook his head.

Vejita. Arrogant, dead-hearted Vejita.

Who did not give a damn about anyone else. Who solemnly lived for his own benefits.

Vejita, fighting in Freezers services, ruthlessly eliminating millions of lives.

Vejita, allying himself to the sorcerer Babidi, for the sole purpose of being be able to give in to his desire to fight against Goku.

Vejita, who never ever let anyone come near him, not even his own son.

Vejita, always being rigorous and ice-cold, never emitting any sympathy.

Who would never demand understanding, friendship, nor, laughable thought, love, and was neither willing to give any of this.

But... but still...

Vejita, who had been acting unselfish.

Who had died to protect the earth.

Who was, every inch, every ounce, pure pride.

Who had tried to save his little family.

Who had screamed in rage and pain when his future son had been killed.

Who had time after time offered his life to defeat the opponents of the Z-senshi. Whose intelligence and cunning mind had saved them from more than one defeat. Who had very rarely, when he had felt unobserved, smiled down at his baby-son. Who - so very seldom - wore this strangely vulnerable look in his eyes, as if he had been touched by a painful memory. And he had loved Bulma. And he loved Trunks, Goku was absolute certain about that. Vejita was not bad. Goku fully believed that he had to have a good core after all. What had happened in the past to make Vejita the person he was now? Son Goku could clearly see it, a dark shadow lurking inside Vejita, and from time to time completely assimilating him to make him the ruthless mass-murderer he was still feared as. Something was eating away at the smaller saiyajin, had been doing so for many years and as he thought about it, it occurred to him, that whatever it was, had maybe been tamed over the years but had also grown in some way. It was slowly destroying Vejita, and… Son Goku cared. He felt pity. He wanted to.. no, he had to know what it was that kept Vejita from showing his love to his son who so desperately needed it. What made him be the maverick everywhere he went and made him push himself forward without any break, burning with the will to be the strongest, to be better than everyone else. Deep down Goku felt respect for the fiery prince, for his pride and his self-determination and his neverending struggle to move on, despite whatever might get into his way.

Son Goku was brutally ripped out of his thoughts when a vicious punch hit his ribs. In Vejita's eyes there was still a burning rage and the unprepared Goku was thrown into a furious whirl of raging punches. Red fury upon this cowardly assault arose in his mind and with a roar of sheer rage he instantly powered up to SSJ 3. In his head memories whirled and swirled as he launched a counter-attack.

Vejita, maliciously laughing as he towers over him, having him caught off guard and thrown down to the floor.

Bulma, sitting at the kitchen table, silently crying because Vejita has hurt her feelings with one or another of his tactless insults.

The hurt expression on Trunks childish face as he realizes, that yet again his father won't show up for the play the kid has been chosen to act the leading role in.

Vejita, releasing an enormous ki-blast and destroying an entire half of the tournament-grounds alongside with thousands of innocent people.

Vejita, death-cold eyes, folded arms, a cruel smirk on his face…

With a scream of utter fury Goku launched himself upon the other saiyajin, surprising him completely and crushing his knee into the prince's lower body half. All air was pressed from the lungs of the smaller one as he rose into the air. Son Goku did not even flinch when he appeared behind Vejita, slamming him down to earth. With eyes like blue ice Son Goku collected all his energy in his hands and then released it within a tremendous kamehameha. The great sphere of sizzling energy engulfed Vejita's fragile form, until it completely vanished from sight.

When the smoke cleared and the debris settled, all walls encircling the area had been completely blown to dust. On the ground in the middle of a gigantic crater lay the lithe form of the prince. Son Goku breathed hard. As his fury was slowly ebbing away his gaze moved down to the small motionless figure. He started to wonder whether he could actually have hurt Vejita. It had been quite a long time since he had released a comparable amount of energy. He had totally let his anger take the lead. Son Goku's heart gave a yelp. Oh kami... please... he has to be alive… Guilt washed over him like a wave rolling over the beach. He had lost control, had allowed the prince to provoke him once again. He should have considered that Vejita could not compete with the third level - having never reached it so far.

Son Goku knew, that he would never forgive himself if Vejita…

In an instant he knelt at Vejita's side. Thoroughly relieved he saw the chest of the smaller saiyajin rise and fall in long, but painful and shuddering breaths. The prince was badly injured. One arm seemed to be broken, he had bruises and wounds all over his body and a small dripple of fresh red blood ran down his delicate chin. His eyes were shut, but his lashes seemed to somewhat flutter and he had a hard time inhaling each agonizing breath. Son Goku didn't really know what to do. He knew that Vejita would hate anybody to see him in this condition. But he of course could not just leave the prince to himself. The face of the older saiyajin grimaced in pain, which he would have never shown while fully conscious. Tortured words slowly escaped those blood-stained lips:

"Inferior… again… please… don't…"

Son Goku was surprised. He sensed somehow, that the prince did not solemnly refer to their recent fight with this words. His thoughts raced. This might be the one and only chance to find out about Vejita's past. To find out what had made him this dead-hearted bastard. Son Goku did not feel too confident with the thought, though. He knew that there was some kind of link between two saiyajin who were comrades in battle, and that there was a deep emotional... bond between the both of them, which intensified the more time they spent together. He had known Vejita for many years now and he had felt many times what was going on inside the fiery prince. This was exactly why he knew about the shadow lurking inside the prince and this was why he knew that Vejita wasn't all bad.

But he had a strong suspicion that this intense bond was something very... intimate, and that it would never be granted lightheartedly. To force it... was probably connected with great risks. He did not have the slightest knowledge if, and if yes, how good he would be able to follow along Vejita's's troubled and unconscious mind. But this is the chance! Thoughtfully he gazed down at the still unconscious prince, letting his eyes take in the blood-stained and dusty yet finely chiselled features of his body. Even now, writhed in pain and agony, lying in the dust, the prince remained a picture of unbroken pride, every inch of him announcing that he would rather die than give up. His long flaming hair was dishevelled, blood covered a great part of his skin, his face was a grimace, but still…

He is beautiful…

Son Goku voiced to himself without really thinking. When he got aware of where his thoughts were trailing along, he blushed deeply.

Now, why do I… Vejita is badly hurt and all I do… I do… err..

Son Goku shook his head. If he wanted to find out about Vejita's past, then this was the time and place. Slowly he knelt down. He did not know how to start, only had a vague idea of what he wanted to do now. He sat down cross-legged beside Vejita. Carefully, so he would not inflict unnecessary pain on the unconscious prince, he lifted Vejita's upper body onto his lap, letting his head rest upon one thigh. Tenderly one hand touched the face of the smaller saiyajin. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated on the link connecting them both. He had anticipated to find vague emotions and a random image maybe, shatters of memories. So he was totally caught unprepared and reacted almost panicky when he felt a dark urge drawing his mind into Vejita's.

End Part 1
tbc…

Saaa. Hmmm? How was it? Did you like it? If yes, why haven't you left a review yet?
*tapps her foot impatiently
Weeell.. IF you like it you might be glad to hear, that there are already 8 chapters in existence. I only have to translate them. So, IF you leave lots and lots of reviews, this might convince me to do so… faster… But if you DON'T review I won't know that you liked it and I probably will decide that it's not worth it to translate more.. Cause translating sure is dull work and it takes lots of time and patience, I tell ya…!

*falls to her knees* Pleaaaase! Review! I am living of comments! Please? Pleaaase? *Son-Goten-Puppy-dog-eyes™ :o))

Dark Serapha