Chains of Affection

by Syldana

part 10a

He stared at him. For a time, that was all he could do. Stare at the man who now bore his mark, still freshly broken and oozing that erotically sweet glaze of sheer crimson delight. Stare into his fair, angelic visage and his entreating eyes of thick, warm velvet. Those dark, spellbinding eyes had never lied to him. Not once. And now they gazed down at him, begging, pleading, concealing nothing of the alarmed apprehension that lay moiling within the large, muscular frame before him, and shining luminously, as always, with the bright, flawless veracity of his soul.

But, Kami… he just had to be lying…

Because the alternative was an absolute impossibility—it just could not be.

He became aware of his erratically-beating pulse, pounding like a jackhammer in his chest, drumming painfully against a dull pressure that was slowly rising within, slowly coiling its way around his heart, around his lungs, crushing, squeezing, strangling, until he found he could hardly breathe. What was… oh, Kami…

Why?

This is not… this is not…

Kakarotto…?

But… he said… he told me… his eyes…

I thought… I felt…

…oh, Kami…

…oh, Kami…

…kuso…

…kuso…

…kusottare!!

Gleaming chips of rock-hard obsidian began to blaze with all the fires of hell. The rage—white-hot, searing—ignited so quickly, and engulfed so completely, that the unfortunate figure before him had no forewarning whatsoever. A brutal uppercut to the jaw was Goku's first clue that he and the prince were no longer anywhere near the same wavelength. The taller Saiyan's head snapped back with the resounding crack of his fist.

As Goku reeled away from the impact of the unexpected blow, he was abruptly flooded with an overwhelming deluge of shock and surprise. His eyes lifted to widely question his prince, only to wince shut again with agony as Vejiita's mighty fist hammered into his stomach, instantly doubling him over. He was face down on the ground a moment later, his ears ringing with a blaring symphony of pain, after a third blow slammed into the back of his skull.

Goku gasped and wheezed, struggling piteously for breath and shaking his head in a futile attempt to clear his befuddled mind. His hands weakly clutched at the blades of grass beneath him.

"Damn you!!" Vejiita's voice sounded harsh and guttural as it thundered down on him, so full of hate, so full of hot, dark, blistering fury. "Damn you to the deepest pit of hell, you lying, low-class bastard!!!"

Another jolt of pain stabbed agonizingly into his side as the enraged Saiyajin savagely rammed it with his foot.

"I am the Prince of the Saiyajin!! Your prince!!" The pain vibrated once more through his body, augmenting in intensity, as the powerful leg struck again in the exact same place. "I will kill you for this, kisama!! I will rip you open and gut you like the worthless carcass that you are!!"

Hands clenched tightly into his shirt and hauled him upward, as a growl of fierce, bestial rage rumbled painfully against his eardrum. "I will not be your whore!!!" Vejiita spat out with a low, venomous hiss. And then Goku was down again, nothing more than a coiled ball of agony writhing and moaning on the grass-covered hill.

His trembling fingers dug deeply into the earth as he gritted his teeth, swiftly biting off the pitiful sounds of distress churning in his throat, and then, with the strength and stamina he was famous for, Goku slowly pushed himself to his feet. His round, ebony gaze rose to meet that of cold, withering teal, wholly enshrouded by a long golden curtain of sizzling spikes. Power radiated off the Saiyajin prince in ominous, vindictive waves, flashes of bright, bristling electricity surging around his wiry form in arbitrary menace. Vejiita's arm was bent and raised to the side, palm up, fingers splayed, and slowly, balefully, a swirling sphere of horrendous ki began to sparkle and shimmer in the air above it. A roiling mixture of chaos, shock and confusion blanketed Goku's mind as he gaped with wide, soulful eyes at the third-level Super Saiyajin. His hand slowly stretched toward him, half in wanting and half in warding.

"Vejiita…"

The prince's head jerked violently backward. "No, kisama!!" he raged through the advancing power storm. "Your sniveling puppy-dog antics will not save you this time!!" The tumultuous energy gathering in his palm mounted with every scathing word. "And you will fight me, Kakarotto! You will fight me with everything you have… or I will destroy everything you hold dear…"

The threat trailed off into a dark and malicious snarl as the focused ki grew more and more menacing. Enough power to destroy the earth. Enough power to destroy the solar system. Vejiita's eyes appeared crazed, seething, deadly—and without a blessed shred of falsehood or pretense.

His head shook back and forth of its own accord, unable to acknowledge the dreadful reality before his eyes, unwilling to accept the fatal challenge the Saiyan prince had laid out so horrifically before him.

A fight to the death.

They had already fought two such battles in the past, and Vejiita had always impended a third… but Goku had never believed that battle would ever take place. Vejiita had changed too much; he had not been able to truly finish it even when ensorcelled by Babidi's magic. And now, after all they had shared…

He could still feel the afterglow of the man's warmth, Vejiita's wondrous scent clinging covetously to every pore of his body, the soft moans and perfervid screams of passion ringing gloriously between his ears.

Oh, Kami… what had happened?

Goku did not know. He was at a complete loss as to why the man he so desperately loved now stood before him, in all his terrible glory, wielding a dark, monstrous ki of unprecedented fury. Compelling him to fight. Coercing him to kill him.

His whole being rebelled against that horrifying thought. Kami-sama! He could not kill Vejiita! He would rather die again himself! Which was precisely why the prince was threatening more than his own life, just as he had done once before. Goku's head shook again.

Vejiita's eyes narrowed to two keen slits of molten steel. "Then die," he hissed, "and take this miserable planet with you!"

The glowering Saiyajin rose into the air, his pace slow and measured as he floated steadily upward, taunting, giving Goku plenty of time to power up, attack—anything—yet all he could do was gape up at him in horrified disbelief, his body frozen numb with indecision. He watched Vejiita's lip curl into a snarl of rage, watched, as if time had slowed, the prince cock his arm back and then deliberately thrust the huge, glowing mass down, directly toward himself.

Death… or destruction.

The blast would kill millions more than just himself… and perhaps he could stop Vejiita without killing him…? Oh, Kami…

His scream echoed deafeningly across the deserted lake as he sent his ki skyrocketing, his hands cupping together to form a counterattack of his own. But there was so little time…

He made it to level one just as the attack reached him, barely managing to dispatch his own in order to block it. The more powerful beam was barely halted in time, just a few feet away from his head, the force of it painfully radiating down upon him as his own beam pushed and strained against it. His defiant howl rumbled again in his throat, his energy responding, rapidly increasing…

He reached level two and jumped immediately beyond. He needed level three to be able to face Vejiita in his current form—to be able to stop him—yet Goku did not know if even that would be enough. Trying to stop Vejiita, without seriously harming him, was going to be far more difficult than fighting to kill… especially with the prince gauging the strength of his attacks.

You will fight me with everything you have… or I will destroy everything you hold dear…

He felt his body reach the barrier; his despair carried him over the edge without any difficulty whatsoever. Golden spikes burst out long and jagged behind him, and the immense power was again his to command. Goku immediately shot it forth into the rippling beam of his ki to batter violently against the wave of death ceaselessly raining down upon him. The taxing strain instantly abated to a level he could now easily handle. Vejiita had not put his all into the blast. It was a ruse, the lure to goad him into fighting at full strength… and yet Goku was agonizingly aware that it was no bluff.

The tall Saiyan pushed it steadily back toward the prince until he felt the beam's rapid decline, and then the two streams of energy dissipated into a slow halt. Vejiita was finished with the ploy—now that he had accomplished his objective—and now the real battle would begin.

Goku gazed up at him, saw the dark, unholy wrath blazing down at him with implacable vehemence, saw the fixed snarl distorting his elegant features, jaw tight and rigid without any hint of vacillation. He felt his heart constrict once more with a deep, soul-smiting pain that threatened to devour him whole. Oh, Kami… how could he do this…?

How could Vejiita do this? Again? After all this time?

How can he do this… to me?

The pain was excruciating… was too great to bear. Another moment and he knew his heart would burst under the terrible pressure. He couldn't take it… he couldn't… oh, Kami…

HOW CAN HE DO THIS?!!

An intense rage bubbled up from somewhere deep within—or the pain had been somehow transmuted. Whatever the source, it was strong and it was furious, and was directed solely toward the Saiyajin prince.

How could Vejiita still want to kill him? After he had given the man everything he had? Everything he was? He had acknowledged him as his prince! Yet it had not been enough… not enough to melt the cold, callous heart that lay indomitable within him. Kami, he had thought… he had felt his despair after Bulma's death… but no. Perhaps everyone had been right all along. Perhaps Vejiita was incapable of true caring. Perhaps his grief over his wife's death had been a selfish one… or perhaps she was the only one he would ever truly love…

Goku gave his head an angry toss. The reasons would have to wait. The prince demanded his whole attention now. He wanted a fight—a real one. Well, he was going to get it. The tall warrior's eyes narrowed beneath a heavily-ridged brow as his body rose determinedly into the air. Vejiita sneered down at him in wicked triumph. There were but seconds left… yet there was no stopping it now.

Vejiita abruptly phased out and appeared at his side, powerful arms already in deadly motion. Goku turned to block and immediately thrust a knee into the smaller Saiyan's midsection. A soft grunt was the only sound the prince made as his body absorbed the blow and twisted to deliver a vicious right to his jaw. Pivoting in the air, the larger Saiyan countered with a violent kick to his ribs.

It continued on like that, blow for blow, for an ostensibly endless eternity, each one sending a sharp-edged blade of blistering pain slashing across his soul, whether dealt by him or the Saiyan prince—it didn't seem to matter which. As the fight wore on, it became sheer agony just to raise a fist in preparation. Yet Vejiita did not stop—not for pain, not for friendship, not for anything—and so neither did Goku. He could not. Though his entire being rebelled against every hit and every kick, there was more at stake than his own wholly enraptured spirit.

Steeling his anguished, withering soul, he hammered his fists furiously into Vejiita's hard, muscular body, determined to stop him, determined to knock some sense back into his stubborn head. Maybe then he would listen. Maybe then he could win him over…

Vejiita's foot slammed brutally into his chest, sending him instantly reeling backward across the sky. With a burst of ki, he managed to halt the chaotic tumble and right himself just in time to block the prince's incoming punch. Then they traded several more punishing blows before Goku took notice of the steady decline of his ki. Vejiita's, as well. Super Saiyajin level three was tremendously powerful; yet the power burned fast and brilliant, and they had both been expending it without restraint.

Goku smiled grimly to himself, for there lay his only advantage over the prince—his experience with the form. He was used to the peculiar power drain, and had learned the best ways of conserving energy long ago. Vejiita would not have had the time to ascertain how to make the appropriate adjustments. The larger Saiyajin could already sense that the prince's power was dwindling away more readily than his own, and the blows he delivered were starting to truly affect him. Vejiita's recovery time was slowing, his body recoiling tighter around each hit, growing continually weaker…

Another smile curved his mouth, this time with the knowledge of certain victory. He would win this battle. Then they would talk. Vejiita would listen. Then he would finally realize how much Goku loved him. Yes… he would make everything right again.

The prince rushed him once more, whirling hands an invisible blur to any but himself. Goku's own arms flew to block them, to clash against the prince's hard muscled flesh and then sink brutally into his torso. The larger warrior watched his reaction in a strangely detached fashion, a sharp, calculating portion of his mind noting Vejiita's small gasp of pain as the wind whooshed out of his lungs, lightly dappled with a bright spattering of blood. He was going down. Now.

Fingers lacing quickly together, Goku lifted his arms and sent them slamming into the back of the smaller man's skull. A low grunt was the only sound the prince made as the powerful blow struck, shooting his body straight as a missile into to the ground, to land hard and deep with a booming crack of finality.

Panting heavily, sweat beading his skin and dripping down his back, Goku stared with keen eyes, waiting for the dust to settle. Nevertheless, he knew already what he would see, and, thankfully, he was not mistaken.

Vejiita lay unmoving within a small crater formed under the devastating impact of his tumultuous landing, the jagged spikes of his hair once more short and ruddy black. His half-donned shirt had vanished sometime during the exchange, and his pants were ripped and tattered in several places over his muscular legs and thighs. Blood trickled slowly through soft, parted lips, and oozed from a myriad of wounds covering the man's beautiful body. His ki signature was low, but not severely. Not fatally.

A great, quivering sigh of relief eased out of his lungs, power drained from his being, and taut muscles abruptly relaxed. By the time Goku's feet touched down before his prince, his form had returned to normal, as well. Another trembling sigh and he was kneeling beside him, gathering the smaller man's ragged, motionless body gently into his arms. A hand lifted to tenderly brush the dirt off his bruised and blood-flecked features, carefully avoiding any injuries.

"Vejiita…" he released with a near-breathless whisper—with hope and a fervent prayer. His palm cupped the man's handsome visage, thumb gliding lovingly over the delicate curve of his cheekbone.

Thick, black lashes began to lightly flutter as the prince gradually stirred, a small moan vibrating soft and low in his throat. A warm smile touched the taller warrior's features when, a moment later, Vejiita's eyes blinked sluggishly open, their dark onyx depths looking unfocused and bleary as he gazed up at him in dazed confusion; then a soft sigh escaped the man's lips, and his eyelids drooped closed once again. His head turned slightly, his cheek pressing into the palm Goku still held to his face, gently rubbing against it with a small, weary nuzzle of affection. A shiver of assuaging delight shimmied gloriously down Goku's spine. His smile grew significantly brighter, beaming down on the battered prince with all the love in his heart.

Vejiita's lashes drifted open once more, and Goku watched joyfully as his eyes finally focused in on him, slowly blinking away the cloudy confusion. He watched as they widened, growing large and dark with a sudden deluge of emotion. He watched as their fathomless depths rapidly filled with the sting of sharp pain, a pain that was harrowing, naked and excruciatingly raw, whose haunting severity grew and expanded until it devoured them whole. Goku's smile vanished immediately into those glistening voids of infinite pain, the terrible hurt and anguish swirling within sucking in all joy and instantly snuffing out the bright candle of hope. Kami, it was so shockingly deep…

Too deep. Too horrendously severe. Goku could feel the agony shredding Vejiita's spirit into small, bloody ribbons, could feel it slashing against his own soul through the bond, attempting to sever it out of sheer frenzied desperation. He watched helplessly as the rage surged once more to the forefront, warping the prince's features, yet failing horribly this time to mask the ravaging pain it strove so vehemently to conceal.

Goku felt his arms tighten around the beloved, pain-racked figure, even as it struck him numb that it was too late—he was too late. The wall between them had slammed violently back into place, and was fashioned stronger than ever—fashioned not only of fierce Saiyajin pride, but of a monstrously powerful hurt. And now, compounded by the crushing humiliation of defeat… oh, Kami, he would never be able to soothe it. He may as well be holding air for all that Vejiita was now his. He had lost him…

Oh, Kami… how?

The numbness seeped slowly, agonizingly, through his being as the question ricocheted unanswered through his mind. He felt Vejiita squirm and struggle against him, against the hold he had on his body and soul, yet he could not find the strength, nor the will, to try to stop him. Kami… what would be the point? And then all he was holding was air. Vejiita was gone. Gone from his arms and yet still burning a deep, searing hole in his heart.

His eyes squeezed shut at the sudden bitter chill and the grievous enormity of his loss, closing over the hot well of tears that abruptly pooled within them. His body trembled under the strain of holding them back, yet he could not face them now. He could not face this. Oh, Kami… Vejiita…

The touch on his shoulder was tentative, gentle and familiar, and it proved to be his ultimate undoing. With eyes still clenched tightly shut, Goku sank his face into the soft midsection of his eldest son and began to weep.

"Dad?" he heard him query in a soft, concerned tone, the boy's hand weaving a snug, comforting hold around his head. "Dad, are you all right? We felt…" There was a slight pause. "…we felt the two of you fighting."

Goku could not answer but for a fresh wellspring of tears soaking into Gohan's shirt.

"Yes," he heard Goten say from somewhere behind him. "We've been sensing your recent spars…"

"How could we not?" Kuririn's voice broke in with a wry, quiet mutter.

"…but this was the first time…"

"This was the first time it felt serious, Dad," Gohan finished softly, his fingers lightly brushing through his hair. "I haven't felt Vejiita's ki that angry—that dark—in a very long time. Not since… not since Buu."

"What happened?" a fourth voice chimed in, much louder, full of tension, full of worry. "What's wrong with my father?"

Trunks' anxious concern was enough to draw him back to the edge of cavernous despair he had just leapt off. The pain was still closing in all around him, crushing his spirit, yet the boy's concern warranted an answer. Unfortunately, it was answer he didn't possess… yet maybe Trunks might be able to shed some light…

His head turned away from the solacing warmth of his son, to look at the lavender-haired youth whose handsome features were so similar to his Saiyajin father's. Yet it was the bright blue hue of his mother's eyes that shone down on him through the shadow of fretful concern.

"I don't know," he told the boy softly, his voice thick with the tears still wetting his cheeks. "I mean, I'm not really sure. We were just…" A tiny shiver ran through his body like an electric current at the recollection of the prince, his eyes burning with deep emotion, his lithe form completely entwined around his own as he glided in and out of his luscious heat. Kami-sama…

He shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it. "I thought everything was going well, and then…" A small shrug. "I don't know. I must have said something wrong, because he got so angry. He wanted to fight for real…"

"And he lost," Trunks finished crisply, a troubled frown creasing his brow.

Goku released a heavy sigh, and nodded. "Yeah… I'm sorry, Trunks. I didn't want to fight him, but he forced my hand. He said he would destroy the earth if I didn't try my best."

The boy's complexion visibly paled, and it seemed to take him a moment to find his voice again. "Why? Why would he do that? What could you possibly have said to set him off like that?"

The large Saiyajin lowered his gaze and shook his head. "I don't know," he murmured.

"Well, what did you say?" the boy pressed. "What happened?"

Goku tilted his chin. "Well… everything seemed to be going great. He came to the party to get me, like he really missed me or something. I could see it in his eyes as we made love… it looked like he was really beginning to trust me. Even afterward things seemed fine. I asked him if he wanted to go back to the barbecue and eat with me, but he refused again. And then, well, he asked if I wanted things to change between us. Kami, that really scared me and I said no right away." He paused, frowning slightly. "Do you think that might be it? He got really, really mad after that." He paused again, eyebrows lifting as he waited for a reply. One never came. "Uh… guys?"

They still said nothing; they all merely stared at him as if he'd grown an extra head or something. It was an expression he was rather familiar with, which meant he had just said something wrong again.

"What?" he asked, blinking rapidly in wide-eyed bewilderment.

His two sons were curiously mute, their faces fluctuating arbitrarily from bright scarlet to ghostly white, and back again. Trunks' was just plain bloodless. Yamcha simply stood there agape, mouth hanging open, the same as Kuririn. Juuhachigou stood by her husband's side, lovely pale eyes blinking several times—and then she laughed, richly and heartily.

The sound seemed to break whatever spell had been cast, and everyone exchanged quick, uncomfortable glances. Kuririn loudly cleared his throat and smiled weakly.

"Uh… that was a mistake, right, Goku? You didn't mean that you and Vejiita were… um…" Crimson blush, voice lowering. "…having sex. You really meant to say you were sparring or something… right?"

"No," he replied matter-of-factly, "we were having sex."

The silence descended again, ki auras twitching and rippling with varying levels of stunned shock.

"What?" he asked again, wide, puzzled eyes flitting over each of their astonished faces.

"…"

It was Gohan who finally made a noise, sort of a strangled one at the back of his throat, and then, "Um… uh… Dad… you and Vegeta-san…?"

"You're sleeping with my father?" Trunks burst out suddenly, his voice uncommonly shrill. The loud, angry shout took Goku momentarily aback.

"Um… yeah…"

"Since when?" he went on bluntly, blue eyes flashing with rage.

"Oh… well…" Goku looked to the sky a moment. "…a couple of weeks now, I guess."

"A couple of weeks!" he practically shrieked, as the large Saiyan winced. "What the hell is wrong with you two? My mother is barely in her grave, and my father is out screwing anything in a skirt—and now you?! I thought you cared about her, Goku! I thought she was your friend! Were you just waiting for her to die so you could nail my father? Don't you have any respect for her at all?!"

By the time the boy's ireful tirade climaxed, Goku was on his feet, face ashen, fists clenched tight, body trembling uncontrollably with surprise and a burgeoning spark of anger. He struggled to keep it under control, to try to understand Trunks' point of view—and saw the pain roiling ferociously behind the rage. The boy was right to question him from what he knew of the situation—which was next to nothing. The tall Saiyajin took a deep, calming breath.

"Of course I respected your mother, Trunks," he said with a sigh. "This thing just sort of happened…" A twinge of guilt shot up his spine and scurried through his soul. "I… it was an accident… sort of. Don't blame your father, Trunks, it was really all my fault."

Eyes of blue steel narrowed sharply. "What do you mean?"

"When Bulma died, Vejiita went crazy… you remember?" At the boy's curt nod, he continued. "His ki skyrocketed to level three, and burned out fast and furious. I could barely keep it contained; if I hadn't, he would have blindly destroyed the planet. He used up all his energy in that single, blazing moment—and then he crashed. His ki dropped to nothing in mere seconds. He… he was gone, just like that…" His voice trailed off into a realm of horror as his mind relived that terrifying moment. Trunks' visage appeared to have paled even further, his gaze wide with a terrible near-loss he hadn't known about before.

"I couldn't let him die, too," Goku went on softly. "So I… I reached out and grabbed a hold of his spirit. He fought me at first. He wanted to die—didn't want to live without Bulma—but I wouldn't let him go. I… I didn't find out until later that I had inadvertently bonded with him that day. So, you see—"

"You bonded with him?" the youth repeated, lashes blinking in astonishment.

"What does that mean?" Goten questioned in rapid-fire succession.

"It's a Saiyan thing," Trunks replied abstractedly, eyes still boring into Goku, suffused with shock. "A mental bond, forged between a mated couple. Mama and Papa had one…" Goku nodded as his voice faded away. Then the boy was shaking his lavender head.

"But you couldn't have bonded him accidentally, Goku," he said, mouth turning down. "You can't force something like that on anyone. My father told me it has to be mutually agreed upon—it has to be accepted by both individuals."

Round, black eyes blinked several times as the ramifications of that statement slowly sank in. "But… that would mean Vejiita…"

"He had to have accepted the bond, to have helped in the joining, even, or it never would have formed."

"But he didn't want it!" Goku protested. "When he found out he was so angry… he refused to see me!"

Trunks abruptly sighed and rubbed his temples. "Things are beginning to make so much more sense now…"

"I'm glad they are to somebody," Kuririn grumbled.

"So then… you're like together now? You and Vejiita?" Yamcha asked.

Goku slowly shook his head, hot tears once more pricking his eyes. "No," he murmured softly.

"What do you mean you're not together?" Trunks questioned, wearing a puzzled frown. "You said you were bonded, and I can see my father's mark on you right there," he said, gesturing with his chin, indicating the fresh bite on his neck.

"Ah," he acknowledged with a nod, "but that was before the fight. Afterward…" His eyes fell painfully closed. "I could see it on his face. There was too much anger, too much hurt in his eyes… too much for us to ever overcome."

However, the lavender-haired youth was already shaking his head. "That doesn't really matter… at least, it won't in the end. My parents argued all the time—and I'm talking huge, all-out wars here—but Papa never left her, nor she him. Saiyajin mate for life. If you share a bond like the one they had… Hn, and you've shared blood, as well. Whatever the circumstances of your bonding, Goku, the blood ritual was quite deliberate. You bear his mark, and he yours. You're definitely together. You are mated."

A strange numbness was slowly inching through Goku's body, seeping into his bones, as the boy finished speaking. His awareness abruptly sharpened, his mind dancing around a few short words.

You bear his mark… You are mated.

His hand rose to lightly finger the raw, oozing mark, to feel the small, bloody indentations caused by Vejiita's razor-sharp teeth sinking deeply into his flesh as their bodies had raced toward the edge of euphoria.

You are mated. You bear his mark…

…and he yours.

Goku stopped breathing, the words swelling into a huge, inundating barrage of staggering comprehension.

Kakarotto… you did not bite me.

You do know what just happened here, don't you? What I have offered you?

You don't think I'm just going to continue on like this, do you?

Oh, Kami… oh, Kami… when Vejiita had said that, he had assumed the prince was saying he wanted their relationship to end, to go back to what it had been before. His response had been one of sheer panic that Vejiita was leaving him. But Vejiita had not been leaving him…

You bear his mark…

Oh, Kami… Vejiita…

…and he yours.

Kami, what have I done?

Kakarotto… you did not bite me.

Kuso!

You do know what just happened here, don't you? What I have offered you?

Kakarotto no baka!

I will not be your whore!!!

"Shimatta!!" he cried aloud, hands digging into the unruly spikes of his hair, fisting white-knuckled in anguish.

Vejiita had offered him everything! And idiot that he was, he'd rejected him!

"Oh, Kami, I didn't know! I didn't know!"

"What didn't you know, Dad?" Gohan's concerned voice quietly intruded, a comforting palm landing warmly on his shoulder.

Meeting his son's gentle, worried gaze, Goku could only shake his head in reply. He didn't have time to elucidate; he needed to find Vejiita. Kami, he had to fix this! He had to make Vejiita understand…

"I have to talk to him," he said anxiously, desperation pitching his voice high.

The prince's ki was low, yet quickly and easily pinpointed. Kami… he just had to listen, to forgive him—to take him back! He prayed silently that Trunks was right.

Saiyajin mate for life.

His fingers rose to his troubled brow, the prayer echoing soulfully in his mind as he winked expeditiously out of sight.