Would his pride interfere? Would he deny what had happened between them? Would he spurn him, yet again?
"I will not let you push me away again," Goku whispered in fervent promise, a finger rising to steal across the exquisite curvature of the prince's cheek. A sigh escaped him, heavy and tremulous, and then he swept his entire hand over those breathtaking features in a more deliberate manner. He had put it off long enough, and the daunting unknown was fast becoming agonizing torture.
Vejiita's eyes drifted open at the firm contact, and then immediately melted into his own, coal black embers kindling and fusing with an instantaneous heat that sent shivers of remembered pleasure tingling down Goku's spine. The tall Saiyajin could only stare mutely into those burning voids, his tongue having failed him utterly the moment their deep, blazing fire had ensnared him. The Prince of the Saiyans merely returned his silent, unwavering stare.
What was he thinking? Goku could tell nothing from that dark, fathomless gaze.
Then the man gave a quiet grunt and moved to rise. Goku's arm was wreathed around his slender waist in a millisecond, his eyes anxiously searching the prince's face. The disturbance was just enough to release his frozen tongue.
"Where are you going?" he asked him, just as he had the night before. His anxiety was no less for their passionate lovemaking; in fact, it was more.
The prince frowned and his eyes narrowed sharply, not liking his seeming captivity even one tiny bit. "I do not answer to you, Kakarotto," he stated crisply. "I thought we established that already." He sought to remove the offending arm, but Goku instinctively held him tighter.
"Please," he murmured to the smaller Saiyajin, and earned his dark gaze once again. "Please." The prince stared at him for a long, considering while, and Goku thought he saw his angry scowl soften just a little.
"Hn. If you must know, I was going to take a shower. Is that okay with you?" he finished, sarcasm dripping heavily.
"Of course," Goku replied readily, though his tone implied hesitancy.
"But�" Vejiita filled in with a long drawl of irritation.
"Will you� you want to spar with me later?" he asked, his nerves jumping with a taut, uneasy tension.
The prince regarded him wordlessly once again. Then, "Why not? It has been quite a while since I've had the chance to pound you into the ground. You had better intend to fight me, though, Kakarotto. I expect a real challenge from you; not some half-assed scuffle you might reserve for one of your pathetic friends. Anything less than your best, I will consider a grave insult."
Goku nodded eagerly, accepting whatever terms the man had to offer, his face warmly aglow with unbounded joy. "Whatever you say, Vejiita!" he exclaimed with a merry grin, drawing the prince even closer into his embrace. He couldn't help himself; a moment later he was kissing the attractive Saiyajin, deeply, enthusiastically, another moment, and Vejiita's fingers were woven like steal cords through his hair.
The prince tugged at the lush, raven locks, pulling Kakarotto's delectable mouth hard against his own. Kami� he had hoped last night would have purged the alluring warrior from his system� obviously not.
If he still had any remaining objections moiling around within, Vejiita no longer remembered; he was far too busy basking in the tasty delicacy that was Kakarotto. His Kakarotto�
A low moan was instantly muffled by the larger man's invading tongue. Then the prince arched his neck, breaking the kiss and offering his own throat in viable compensation. Kakarotto took it without a qualm or complaint, his mouth gliding sensually down the susceptive flesh to the base of his neck. The warrior's tongue swirled over his skin in a masterful ballet of delightful sensation, licking, sucking� his teeth closing deliciously over the thick, corded muscle where Vejiita's shoulder began�
The prince froze, his blood instantly running cold.
No!
His recovery was swift, as was his reaction. His hands pushed the large Saiyajin back, away from the flesh of his neck, and the royal blood that surged unsteadily beneath it. His eyes locked keenly onto the other's, silently shouting in sudden, unequivocal negation.
No!
Not this. He did not accept this.
The man's eyes were a sparkling window of clear, unabashed love.
No�
Not this.
Vejiita pushed him back even further, turning away from his adoring face, and then quickly sat up.
"Vejiita?"
"I said I was going to shower," he said stiffly, his voice sounding gruff.
There was a slight pause. "Okay. An hour then? The usual spot?"
"Make it two," the prince returned curtly, climbing gracefully to his feet. Then he walked straightway into the bathroom, not daring to glance back even once.
"Okay. I'll see you then."
He felt the man's ki vanish, then instantaneously reappear again much farther away.
His hand fumbled with the shower fixture, striving almost clumsily to find the correct temperature. Then he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, gratefully allowing the steaming water to course over his skin and trembling muscles with near scalding heat.
Shimatta� everything had changed� and far too quickly for his emotions to catch up� for his mind to resolve what had happened between them. It had just� happened. One minute he was resisting the man with every ounce of willpower he had, and the next, he was deeply submerged within Kakarotto's magnificent body, utilizing every scrap of knowledge he possessed to please and pleasure the man.
Ouji-sama�
Kami� Kakarotto had actually acknowledged him as his prince� Kakarotto was his�
Hn� if he wanted him.
A frown of confusion creased his brow, outwardly reflecting his jumbled inner turmoil. For he did want him. There was no point at all in denying that now. He wanted him, and he had taken him� yet he had not truly made the man his own�his mate. And he had just now stopped Kakarotto from doing the same.
Love me, Vejiita�
The prince let his eyelids fall closed, shutting out the light of day, shutting in the troubling chaos that was his mind.
Love him�love Kakarotto�and take him as his mate�
Impossible.
The man was� was�
The side of Vejiita's fist hit the tiled wall with a dull thud as a grunt of angry, bitter frustration churned raggedly in his throat. Time to face the truth, Ouji-sama! he sneered to himself.
There was nothing wrong with the man. Nothing at all. He was perfect. Kakarotto was damn bloody perfect! The perfect warrior, forever matchless and unbeatable, always leaving him behind in the dust to gaze endlessly ahead with utter awe and envy. His perfect, godlike physique, not too tall, not too short�hn�just a beautiful, flawless sculpture of Saiyajin masculinity. His pure, perfect heart; something the Saiyan prince had never been able to comprehend fully�or perhaps at all�just enough to determine that his own was a black, rotted lump of vile coal in comparison. Goku revered life, all life, and continually strove to protect it with all the majestic power at his disposal. Vejiita could not count the lives he had taken, obliterated, with the dreadful power he possessed, even had he wanted to. There were far too many� far too many�
The man had only one major flaw that he could see�and now he had concrete proof!
I love you, Vejiita.
Kakarotto was a fool.
Yet, that was not the problem�none of that was the problem. Oh, the man's seeming perfection was still as irritating as hell, but it was not the thing that had made him stop Kakarotto from marking him. By acknowledging his title, his supremacy, the larger Saiyajin had effectively negated any and all objections of pride. The problem now was�
His breath quavered painfully within his chest.
It had just felt wrong. Kami, his reaction had been reflexive, automatic, sending him recoiling away the second he'd felt the man's teeth graze over his skin in that significant spot�a spot that already had the faint white lines of a scar that held more than mere significance to him. That was her mark. She was his mate.
Kakarotto was perfect�beautiful and powerful and pure Saiyajin�but he could never replace her. No one could. Bulma was the only one he had ever loved like that. She was like him in so many ways�her stubborn will, her relentless drive, her fierce pride. They had connected on so many different levels that Vejiita had found it astonishing; after all, she was not a warrior, not even Saiyajin, yet she had slowly become the most wonderful being he had ever known. And she had loved him.
Funny, he had never thought her a fool for it. Perhaps because she was so much like him; her feelings for him had just seemed so natural to him�inevitable even�and vice versa. But Kakarotto� Kakarotto could not be more diametrically opposite. Although, they did share the love of battle as only Saiyajin could, and sex with the man was�Kami-sama!�absolutely fantastic, still� what else did they have in common? The man was so unbelievably different! Trying to understand how Kakarotto's mind worked was a near impossibility! What else could they possibly share besides sex and fighting?
Vejiita abruptly halted in his reflections, as a sudden, intrusive thought struck him, squarely and disturbingly: What else did he, himself, do besides sex and fighting? The prince frowned. He trained most of the day, stopping only for short food breaks� Hn. Sex, eating and fighting. Come to think of it, he'd only really done two of those things with Bulma�
Kuso! His head was beginning to hurt. Trying to make sense of this kind of thing was utterly pointless, which was why he usually tried to avoid the whole subject of feelings and emotions altogether. What would happen, would happen.
"Hn. Yes. Whatever happens, happens," he muttered softly to himself, coming to an abrupt decision. He was Saiyajin; he lived in the moment. Today was all that mattered.
Today he would spar with Kakarotto, a thing he had truly missed doing these last few weeks. After that�
Whatever.
* * * * *
Clouds had rolled in sometime during the past hour, veiling the sun and cooling the air a few minor degrees. The lower temperature would make their sparring session a little more comfortable, and the lack of bright sunlight was much more favorable to visibility. Not that Goku had consciously taken notice. As he sent his body through the usual routine of stretches and warm-ups, his mind was wholly occupied by far greater concerns than the irrelevant condition of the weather.
Vejiita was late. Vejiita was never late. He wasn't coming. Why wasn't he coming? Wait. No. He'd arrived early, so Vejiita wasn't late. There were still a few minutes left. Oh, Kami, what was wrong with him? Relax. Just relax, Goku. He'll be, here, you'll see. He'll come.
Shimatta! His own speculative thoughts were practically tearing him apart! He had never been this anxious about anything before. It was just� the pain. Kami! He had never felt such horrible pain before, either. Physical pain was nothing in comparison; that was something he'd experienced his whole life. Yet the emotional turmoil he'd just suffered through these past few weeks was new to him, and had been sheer, agonizing hell.
At least the prince hadn't pulled his hair this time� or wounded him deeply with callous insults. At least he hadn't rejected him again�
Yet.
Oh, Kami! Vejiita was so unpredictable! He didn't know what the man was going to say or do! The prince had responded to his kiss this morning� and yet had pushed him away just moments later. What did it mean? What did Vejiita think of him now, after what they had shared last night?
You are beautiful, Kakarotto�
Oh, Kami� how did he feel? How did Vejiita feel about him now? That was the real question he�
And then Vejiita's ki was there, igniting like a dazzling solar flare, and Goku whirled to see him land before him in the vast clearing, just a few yards away. Eyes of black fire seared into his own for several long, meaningful moments that instantly left the taller Saiyan's throat dry. Then the prince smirked.
"Don't tell me I surprised you," he said, his deep voice silken and mocking.
"I� I guess I wasn't paying attention," he mumbled absently in reply.
"Well, you had better pay attention from here on out, Kakarotto," the prince said, tugging at the rim of one pristine glove. "You promised me a challenge."
Goku gazed at him mutely for another lingering moment, and then the word 'challenge' finally filtered in through the unfamiliar and benumbing haze of insecurity. Then his eyes drank the man in�really drank him in, this time. The tight blue body suit that clung to his every sinewy curve, defining every sculptured muscle. White, spotless gloves over nimble hands, with matching boots sheathing perfectly-formed feet that appeared small and almost delicate�a deadly deception, for they were one of Vejiita's most lethal weapons. The Saiyajin prince had come, true to his word, and he had come dressed for battle. Goku felt a grin start to steal across his countenance.
"So I did," he returned, the grin sparking in his eyes, spreading through his soul, until his entire body was alive and vibrating with warm, giddy excitement. His stance shifted automatically, eagerly, his arms rising slowly into position as his body crouched low, coiling tautly in preparation.
Vejiita's smirk altered as he watched him, growing more feral in nature, his burning eyes suddenly gleaming with anticipation. Then his lithe figure slid gracefully, flawlessly, into an artful posture of readiness. Good Kami, he was magnificent!
Goku phased out and reappeared before him, the need for close combat overwhelming. His arm swung with perfect timing, yet the prince blocked it instantly with seeming ease. Goku knew better. It was sheer skill. Then they traded a furious series of blows, neither one breaking through the other's defenses as their limbs clashed with tempestuous force. The grin widened.
Kami, he had missed this! Only Vejiita could give him this. He did enjoy sparring with others, but only Vejiita could match, even elevate, the ferocious intensity of the fight. Goku's grin turned savage as his body transformed, the golden aura of Super Saiyajin keenly heightening his senses. The prince dodged another attack, and then exploded before him into an equivalent display of fierce, golden power.
Always rising to oppose him. Always striving to outdo him. Now that the prince had finally achieved level three, it was certainly going to be interesting to find out who was now the stronger. Would Vejiita finally defeat him?
You can try, Ouji-sama, but I intend to give you my very best. The Saiyan prince deserved nothing less. Goku's power swiftly escalated as their battle took to the air.
The thunderous blows rapidly burgeoned into devastating cracks of power that rippled down over the barren terrain below, a terrain already marked by scars and scorch marks from countless previous battles. Still their ki continued to increase, and level two was obtained and quickly surpassed.
Goku landed a grazing blow across Vejiita's jaw, knocking him backward in the air, granting himself the few precious seconds needed to metamorphose to the third level. His rabid cry intermingled with the tumultuous shock wave of detonating power, his hair bursting outward into a thick, long, golden mane�awkward, but the strength and speed of the form easily made up for it. Then he paused, to mentally prepare for the battle to come, to await Vejiita's next move.
His eyes were locked steadily onto the prince, gleaming brightly with excitement and expectation. Kami! He must have wanted this more than he'd thought! To fight someone equal to his own power, a true challenge, and to have that someone be Vejiita�
The prince floated idly several yards away, where the larger Saiyan's smiting fist had sent him, his aquamarine eyes narrowed to mere slits, his power level� dropping.
Goku blinked. That could not be right. His senses swept over the man again� but there was no doubt about it. Vejiita's ki was, indeed, slowly decreasing in power. Goku could only gape at him for several disbelieving seconds. Then�
"Vejiita? Is something wrong?"
The sound of his voice appeared to startle the prince for a moment, and then the man shook his head, as if clearing it. The decline of his power abruptly halted. "Of course not!" he said with a snort of dismissal.
"But your ki was�"
"I said there is nothing wrong!" he growled out tersely. "Are we fighting or what?"
Goku nodded, though the puzzled look on his face did not disperse. Still, his muscles tensed in preparation.
Vejiita, however, did not move. His power level remained constant. His eyes were gaping pits of devouring darkness.
"Umm� Vejiita?" he called to him again, hesitantly. "Aren't you going to transform?"
The smaller Saiyan's mouth opened to answer, but no sound emerged. He paused, took another breath, and tried again. Nothing. And then dark, bleak shadows of despair slowly began to consume his unbreakable gaze.
"Did you forget how?" Goku asked in confusion. Come to think of it, he had not sensed Vejiita's ki reach the level of Super Saiyajin three since that very first day.
Vejiita's upper lip curled back into an angry snarl, even as his eyes grew incongruously slick. "Baka! Of course I didn't forget!" he rasped out hoarsely, his voice thick and strained with emotion. Goku's breath caught in his throat as comprehension finally sank in.
Oh, Kami� Vejiita�
The man was right. Stupid, selfish baka. Goku quickly dropped the form, power falling to parallel Vejiita's, and then he wordlessly closed the distance between them. The prince's glistening eyes flashed with anger, with turmoil, yet his body did not stir; his gaze did not waver. Goku halted directly before him. His arm stretched forth toward his shoulder in comfort.
"Vejiita�"
His hand was instantly swatted back by the proud Saiyajin. Yet the glaring teal eyes before him were now drowning in unshed tears. Undaunted, Goku made another attempt, his arm lifting once more.
"I'm sorry, Vejiita. I should have realized�"
"I do not need your pity, Kakarotto!" he exclaimed harshly, vehemently, batting the consoling hand away again.
"It's not pity, Vejiita," he returned softly. "It's sympathy. It's empathy. I know what it feels like�"
"You know?! You know how I feel?! You know nothing!!" the prince hissed in rage, in overwhelming anguish. "You were not bonded to your wife, baka! You know nothing of what it feels like to lose someone who shared your soul! Who was your soul!!" The tears broke free and began to glide agonizingly down his cheeks. "To watch her beautiful body wither away before your impotent eyes! To�to have her ripped from your mind no matter how desperately you tried holding her to you! And to�" His voice faltered, choking grievously over the final, bitter words. "�to�to gain all the power you had ever sought at the cost of her death! Just like that! Her precious life for this�this�worthless power!! How can you possibly know what any of that feels like?!!"
Goku stared at the man in momentary shock, Vejiita's frankness and raw, fevered intensity stunning him into silence. But only for a moment. Then his arms moved, making the attempt one more time, this time dodging the man's spurning blows and enfolding his shoulders in a warm, solacing embrace.
"Vejiita!" he said firmly, beseechingly, before the prince could form another protest. "Listen to me! I do know what it's like to gain power at the cost of someone you love! That is how I attained Super Saiyajin in the first place, remember? That terrible feeling of loss is unfortunately one of the triggers that releases our power. It's just the way it works. And� and I do know the love I have for Chichi can't be compared to that of a bond� but I also know what that bond now feels like, Vejiita," he murmured softly. "I know how I would feel if I lost you."
The silence that descended upon them was both calm and deafening. The prince was nothing but a motionless statue in his arms, totally unresponsive, and yet not struggling to free himself, either.
Vejiita just stayed there, snuggled warmly in the embrace of his old rival, his new lover, fighting to hold his breathing steady. He had already said too much. He had already made an inexcusable spectacle of himself. The emotions had struck him too hard and too swiftly to maintain control. The sight of Kakarotto�the thought of rising to that level once again�had stirred within him those same horrifying feelings that had seized him that day. That dreadful day. Oh, Kami�
Was he just supposed to forget? Was he supposed to forget where the power had come from? Just use it? Use her death for his own benefit? Kami� if he was not a monster before, he would certainly be one then�
The tall warrior's strong arms held him tightly, tenderly, gentle fingers skimming over the taut surface of his back.
I know how I would feel if I lost you.
Would Kakarotto feel this, this hollow, desolating pain, if he died? It was difficult to imagine. Bulma had loved him, a miracle in and of itself, but would she have been so utterly devastated, as he had been, had the situation been reversed? Vejiita did not believe so. Bulma was so strong� and her human mind could not process their bond as a true Saiyan would have. Only on rare occasions had she been able to feel him as he had her. As Kakarotto would feel him, should he but choose to drop the barrier that held the man back. Still, to love him that much?
I love you, Vejiita.
Hn. But Kakarotto loved everyone. It was one of the fool's odd little quirks that he could never seem to truly fathom.
Shimatta� what did it matter? The man was here, now, that's all that mattered. He was here and he was warm and he was beautiful, and he smelled so damned good�
Vejiita let his gloved hands sink into the rich spikes of luminous gold, then yanked the man to his mouth, plunging into his savory softness. He did not know why. He did not care to know why. All he knew, right that second, was that he wanted him� he wanted to lose himself deep within Kakarotto's powerful body.
He kissed him, brutally, savagely, releasing him but a moment to wrench the gloves blindly off his hands and let them fall carelessly to the ground far below. The abrupt need to touch, to taste, to partake fully of the man's exquisite body, once again, spurred him onward.
Kami� more� more� Kakarotto�
Vejiita's hands roamed as if they had a mind of their own, tearing at the tall Saiyan's clothing, stripping the fabric of his shirt from his hard, muscular flesh with frenzied haste. Then his tongue was claiming that flesh, his teeth nipping and biting at the sleek, damp skin that glowed brightly, warmly, with the dazzling hue of a glorified sun. Kakarotto's immense power radiated over him, penetrating his skin, prickling his senses with an unexpected thrill of pleasure.
Goku's hands grasped hold of the smaller man's buttocks and wantonly pulled their bodies close, their hardening groins rubbing delightfully together with marvelous friction as he instantly responded to Vejiita's sudden explosion of passion. There was a moan of feral enjoyment, yet the prince could not say for certain whose throat had actually ground it out. Then the hands were slipping up his back, under his shirt, tugging it upward, lifting it over his head. Vejiita raised his arms and let it go, gratified to have the flimsy barrier removed. Then he pressed his naked torso deep into the warm, silken circle of flesh that housed the strong aura of power he both physically and spiritually craved. His own power was equal in strength and potency, and was pulsating wildly, rolling out over Goku's body in deliberate waves of heat and energy, sensually caressing the man with the dynamic force of his ki, as well as his admiring palms.
Goku slid his hands tantalizingly down his back, his fingers pausing to trace a slow orbit around his tail spot. Vejiita bucked against the larger Saiyajin's glistening body with a rejoining growl even as the man's palms stole beneath the stretchy fabric of his pants to cup and squeeze the soft, round flesh of his posterior. Vejiita's retaliation was swift and frenetic.
The prince's hands were now literally quaking with need as they clasped the waistband of the other warrior's gi, then ripped the sash in half at the back and yanked the offending covering from his hips.
"Hurry, baka!" he growled, harshly, without any semblance of patience. A quick, equivalent rending of dark blue spandex was the immediate reply.
Then Kakarotto's unclad form was floating downward, the man's tongue hot and wet and blazing a trail down his chest, down his stomach, with direct, unfaltering intent. Vejiita cried out, arching in the air like a bow, his lithe body curved and taut with pleasure as scorching lips closed covetously around his arousal. The man's strong fingers grasped him tightly, and then leisurely began to push and pull Vejiita's slim hips, sliding the prince's hard length in and out of his slick, glorious mouth.
Oh, Kami! That felt so incredibly good�
Yet it was not what he wanted just then�not what he needed. He needed more. Not just pleasure� more.
Contact.
More contact.
He wanted, needed, to submerge himself in Kakarotto's smooth, velvety flesh�inside his splendid heat�with the man's powerful arms and aura encompassing him fully in a near suffocating embrace.
His fingers dove into undisciplined golden spikes, then drew the tormenting mouth back and away. The prince floated down to meet the fair warrior's fevered gaze.
"Hold on to me," he commanded crisply, his inflection breathy and low. "Hold on to me, Kakarotto, and do not let go."
Goku's teal eyes questioned brightly, yet his arms rose simultaneously to comply, twining about Vejiita's shoulders with undisguised relish.
The prince dropped lower for a moment to curl his hands around the man's burly thighs, and then lifted, drawing them up, spreading them wide. The large Saiyajin caught on quickly and coiled his steel calves around Vejiita's waist, a gleam of anticipation sparking in his eyes.
The smaller Saiyan seized his lips in another blistering kiss, ingesting deeply the sweet, honeyed nectar of the man as their tongues waltzed elegantly in omnivorous concert. Vejiita let his arms slide back around the other warrior, one hand moving to grip one firm, plump mound, and the other sailing unerringly to the sensitive nub of flesh just above. Then his fingers began to play, strumming a light, erotic tune across the susceptive remains of Kakarotto's Saiyan heritage.
The tall warrior broke their kiss with a gasp that instantly transmuted into a groan of pure pleasure as Vejiita's other hand delved between padded cheeks to forge the way with a single questing digit. And then their tongues dipped and danced and dallied again with frolicking delight. One became two, and two became three, as Kakarotto writhed and twisted sensually against him.
"Vejiita," he breathed into his mouth, desperation and aching need rumbling deeply, imploringly, in his throat. The fingers were immediately withdrawn.
Yes, Kakarotto� oh, yes�
Hands gripped eager hips and guided them steadily downward, answering the plea, satisfying the need. Heat enveloped him, sultry and marvelous, of sumptuous flesh, of rippling power, surrounding him, suffusing him, searing through every molecule of his being.
This was what he wanted. This was what the deep, inner core of his soul was vehemently demanding.
Kakarotto held his body close in a vice grip of love and affection, clinging to him tightly, devotedly, as his prince had commanded. The power of Super Saiyajin raged between, sizzling, crackling, as the energy collided and merged�as their bodies collided and merged�with that tremendous force as fuel feeding the torrid flames of desire.
Pleasure unprecedented surged through Vejiita's blood, to every nerve ending in his ki-enhanced body, throbbing with delicious power as he moved within the fiery flesh of the handsome Saiyajin.
He had never had sex in this form before. He'd had to be careful with Bulma in his normal, tempered state; Super Saiyajin would have surely destroyed her. But, now, with Kakarotto� they were both at level two. And Great Kami-sama!
The power mounted between them even as their pleasure soared to new heights, the beautiful golden warrior thrashing and moaning incoherently in Vejiita's arms as he ravished the man's magnificent body with pounding force. Oh, Kami� oh, Kami� more� more�
"More�" Goku groaned in eerie echo of his own delirious thoughts. Eyes of warm, glazed turquoise were ablaze with voracious hunger. "More, Vejiita," he entreated softly, his voice thick and husky with impassioned fervor.
Yes�
Give him all of it� take him with everything he had�
The power flared between them with scarcely a conscious thought, animalistic pleasure usurping their minds completely, ki energy skyrocketing into the stratosphere. An explosion of silken gold abruptly encircled them, enshrouding the lovers in long, satiny tresses born of unimaginable power.
Their lips clashed once again, hot and moist, and seasoned with an intoxicating flavor likened only unto the sweetest heavenly manna. Pleasure and power were all that they knew, even as both continued to escalate, building, rising, ascending to glorious, majestic peaks heretofore unattainable. Climbing� magnifying� striving toward the ultimate pinnacle that taunted them mercilessly even as they neared the mind-blowing threshold.
Then they screamed aloud, synchronously, as if one being, power mushrooming outward in a devastating burst of force, violently rocking the earth below them as their bodies spasmed wildly in the air in near-catastrophic bliss. The pleasure jolted through them in mammoth waves of sweet, rapturous ecstasy, as they clung to one another, basking in the divine sensations that rolled in seeming endlessness throughout their beings.
Then end it did, though slowly, gradually, as the cresting waves of pleasure came to a tapering halt. And then blackness descended, blanketing their minds in soft, fuzzy nothingness, as their bodies shut down in the wake of such massive expenditures of power. No longer Super or even conscious, the two Saiyajin fell from the sky.
* * * * *
Sunlight trickled in through the cracks of his eyelids, past the thick, black lashes that fluttered lightly, as his mind forded through the haze toward cognizance. Kami, his whole body ached� yet not in a tired and in pain kind of way. It ached in a tired and relaxed kind of way� as if he'd just had the best workout of his entire life. Damn, he felt good� he just wanted to stretch out his whole body and languish in the nice, warm feeling of serene satisfaction. His throat rumbled softly with lazy contentment, purring in uninhibited bliss for several long minutes before his memory finally caught up with him.
Good Kami�
His eyelids slowly lifted even as the tranquil purr came to an abrupt halt.
Kakarotto�
The man was a solid wall of hot, sinewy flesh draped slick and damp across his torso. They were both lying on the ground�well, he was on the ground, and Kakarotto was on top of him. Hn, and the ground was different� the topography had shifted. No, had been altered. The explosion�
Kami-sama!!!
Vejiita's hands unconsciously latched on to the motionless figure above him, curving tautly about his waist.
Not explosion� climax! A climax so powerful, so gloriously intense�
The numerous plateaus of the desert around them were all but gone, now broken and crumbled to nothing but dust and rubble. The potent wave of energy appeared to have flattened the entire area�as far as he could see at the moment, anyway. Kami, the power...!
The power had been phenomenal! And they had used it like an intoxicating narcotic between them, enhancing, stimulating, rocketing their pleasure to� Kami-sama! Never before in the history of the universe. There had never been two third level Super Saiyajin before who had�
Shimatta. Reality struck him then. Level three. He had not been able to force himself to reach that level again for his own sake�at the expense of Bulma's�but he had done it without compunction, without even a thought� for him.
More, Vejiita�
Kuso� he had reacted automatically to that soft, impassioned plea. A frown suddenly creased his features. Then he weaseled his hands between them as he rolled Kakarotto's body to the side, attempting to push the oblivious man off of him. However, the large Saiyajin would not budge. Goku's arms were still tightly wrapped around his prince's shoulders, and even though the man was unconscious, they were as immovable as unbreakable iron rods. Vejiita's frown deepened as he tilted his head back to gaze into the peaceful visage of the insensate man.
Single-minded to a fault. The man never, ever gave up. He was relentless in every endeavor. In his training, in his fighting� in his allegiance. Loyal to his family, to his friends, to his adopted planet� to his prince? Hn. That still remained to be seen.
Or did it?
Hold on to me, Kakarotto, and do not let go.
"Kakarotto," he called gruffly to the unmoving form unwittingly imprisoning him. "Wake up, Kakarotto!" Where his energy-sapped struggles had not succeeded in rousing the man, the sound of his voice did�almost instantly. Goku's eyelids sluggishly blinked their way open.
"'Jiita?" he questioned groggily, as his eyes focused blearily on his face. And then he smiled a drowsy, lopsided grin. "Hi, 'Jiita!" he greeted, in a warm and cheerful tone.
"You can let go of me now," the prince informed him steadily, causing the man's eyes to blink once more.
"Huh?" Confusion muddled his brain a few moments. "Oh� sorry," he said, finally, loosening his tenacious embrace, his grin turning sheepish.
Vejiita pulled himself free and then pushed his body to a sitting position. Shimatta� his limbs were uncommonly tremulous and wobbly from their prior exertions.
"Good Kami!" he heard the larger man exclaim beside him, astonishment and wonder alive in his voice. "Did we do all that?" Vejiita didn't have to look at him to know he was referring to the shattered landscape.
"Hn," the prince grunted in acknowledging reply.
"Kami..." he repeated in marveling awe. "That was the most amazing thing!"
"Hn," he agreed impassively.
"I've never felt anything like that before� Have you, Vejiita?"
The prince considered the demolished terrain with a thoughtful eye. "Of course," he said matter-of-factly. "This happens every time I screw another Super Saiyajin."
"What?" Strong fingers dug painfully into his upper arm. "What do you mean? What other Super Saiyajin?! There's only�"
Vejiita turned his head and lifted a single lofty brow, immediately arresting the other Saiyan's jealous tirade mid-sentence. "Baka," he said with dry amusement into the abrupt silence.
"Oh." The fingers went lax as Goku's cheeks flushed scarlet. There was a quiet aftermath that lasted for several uncomfortable minutes, to the larger man's chagrin. Then he re-marshaled his courage once more.
"Are you hungry?" Goku asked him, finally.
"Hn."
"We can eat at my house," he suggested. "I still have all the clothes and stuff you left there, too."
Vejiita grunted again. "Why not?"
The grin returned to brighten the tall warrior's fair countenance once again.
* * * * *
The room was dark, and yet luminous, with the silver rays of the moon that shone brilliantly through the small window. Plenty of light for the large Saiyajin to see by as he gazed fondly at the beautiful, slumbering form of his prince reposing beside him. Vejiita had not forsaken him again; he had stayed. Goku wasn't even sure how or why it happened, only that he'd kept asking the prince to stay longer�and Vejiita's reply had been the same every time: "Why not?"
Lunch had been somewhat awkward, with little to no conversation taking place between them. But then afterward, just when he'd been certain the prince was going to leave out of sheer boredom, the smaller Saiyan had grabbed hold of him, shoved him roughly onto the couch, and had taken him once again in a spectacular whirlwind of revitalized passion and vigor. Twice. Then, after they'd bathed once again, he'd stayed for dinner, which was less awkward, but still rather quiet. Goku had been afraid of saying the wrong thing, so he'd ended up not saying much at all. Vejiita� well, Goku wasn't sure, but it had seemed as if the prince had been trying to assimilate everything that was happening between them. He truly hoped so, anyway. The man had elected to stay the night when Goku had anxiously invited him. They had made love one more time before both had finally succumbed to the fatigue the wonderfully rigorous day had brought them.
Now Goku lay awake, roused from sleep by something he could not adequately discern, silently luxuriating in the blessed splendor of this placid and precious moment. His eyes leisurely caressed the shadowed planes of the prince's handsome features, a small, blissful smile adorning his lips�lips that still bore the fading mark of the man's rabid fury. So much had changed between them since that vicious, angry bite� yet he was still apprehensively dubious of his continuing good fortune. Vejiita was here with him now, but that extraordinary fact astounded him each and every time he thought about it. Beneath his bright, avaricious gaze, the prince stirred in his sleep, a frown pinching the smaller Saiyan's angled brow.
Stay with me, Vejiita, he pleaded wordlessly with the entrancing figure. Stay with me forever. I swear I'll do it right this time� I'll never leave you. I'll do everything within my power to make you happy again. Kami� had he ever wanted anything this much?
A soft sound broke through his meandering thoughts, as Vejiita released a low moan deep in his throat. Concerned, Goku drew himself instantly closer. The man's visage appeared drawn and troubled, as if haunted by a lingering pain.
Another nightmare? Goku closed his eyes and focused a moment on the tiny silken-steel thread that bound them together. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just make out�
Pain. Grief. Desolation.
Dreaming about Bulma again, Vejiita? More than likely. Goku's eyes flickered open and then his fingers dipped tenderly into the thick, ebony widow's peak and stroked soothingly. Ah, I know, my prince, I know� but you're not alone. I am here for you. His fingertips slid across the man's brow, coming to a rest against Vejiita's temple. He knew how to dispel painful dreams�
The prince's eyelids snapped open like a shot, a short gasp bursting frantically into the quiet atmosphere. His eyes jerked immediately toward the person beside him, wide with anguish and ineffable horror. "Onna�!" he rasped out in frenetic alarm. Then he blinked, his breath rising and falling rapidly, as he took in the sight of the wrong, yet familiar, visage peering down at him, and felt the large, warm palm cradling his face.
"K-Kakarotto?" he questioned falteringly.
"Yes, Vejiita," he acknowledged softly.
Heat and mortification rushed agonizingly through the prince's cheeks as realization dawned. Shimatta!
"It's okay, Vejiita," Goku murmured, gently caressing his face. "Just another bad dream. I was about to soothe it away, but I guess it woke you first."
The prince merely stared at the larger man speechlessly for several contemplating moments. Then, "What do you mean by that? What were you going to do?" Cold, dark suspicion iced over his voice.
"I was gonna soothe away your nightmare," he returned quietly, casually, "just like last time. I didn't know you were still having them."
Vejiita felt his face flush hot again, and was grateful for the shadowed darkness. He had done it before?! "Perhaps you'd better explain just exactly what you did, Kakarotto," he said flatly.
Goku's face took on a rather puzzled expression. "I don't know if I can explain it," he said, his hand lifting away to scratch at his head. "I just sort of did it. The dream was upsetting you, and I just sort of� soothed it away."
"I thought I told you never to mess with my mind!" the prince reminded him sharply, angrily.
"I wasn't! I was just�" Goku's features scrunched in confusion. "I mean, I didn't think I was. I thought I was helping. I thought I was just soothing away the bad feelings� so you could sleep easier."
"Hn. Well, I think you had just better show me exactly what you did, Kakarotto," he stated bluntly. "The idea that you played around in my mind while I was sleeping is more than disconcerting!"
"I didn't play, Vejiita!" he protested vehemently. "I just�I just�" His hand swept over the prince's brow once again, brushing lightly down his temple, a soothing flood of warmth and tranquillity following in its wake.
As the peaceful deluge washed over him, wholly and completely, Vejiita's dark eyes vanished behind fluttering eyelashes as he abruptly lost control of all senses. Sight and sound and smell evaporated away; only the concrete physical sensations of his body remained as the stream of gentle emotion coursed freely into his being. He could feel�
Beauty�
Beauty incarnate.
Pure, radiant, iridescent, and yet utterly raw and unrefined. It was sweet�a rich, lush, natural sweetness�that melted warmly, gloriously into his soul. It spoke of serenity, of shelter and safety and assurance. It was a sanctuary of sublime peace, suffused with a balmy, copious love, almost smothering in its thick, exuberant intensity. It was joy and it was pleasure, exalted beyond all known boundaries, elevated, glorified� an exhilarating resplendence, warm and sumptuous in its divine magnificence. It soothed; it assuaged. It eased and it mollified. It filled him, imbuing him totally, thoroughly�
"Vejiita!" a muffled voice called out from the inky darkness. "Oh, Kami! I'm sorry, Vejiita!"
His senses slowly returned to him, but the exquisite warmth lingered. The prince soon realized that he was being held securely within the arms of the other Saiyajin. Goku's face was pressed snugly against his ear.
"I'm sorry, Vejiita!" he repeated mournfully, miserably. "I won't do it again! I promise! I promise!"
Kakarotto�
He� he should not have been able to do that� not through the shield he'd erected�
"Forgive me!" the man whispered, his inflection desperate.
Forgive�
Forgive what? His sweetness? His purity? His overwhelming spirit? Kuso� how could he be so beautiful� inside?
Vejiita's arms wrapped around the bare, brawny torso, his palms gliding with savoring relish over the soft, smooth heat of the man's skin. He could never seem to get enough. He had licked and tasted, nibbled, stroked, caressed, taken and retaken every inch of this man's marvelous flesh� and still he wanted more. Even suppressed, the bond held him utterly enthralled. Or was it simply the man?
Warm lips nuzzled his ear. "Thank you," Goku breathed softly, reverently, and then slid his lips to lovingly worship those of his prince.
"Stay with me, Vejiita," he murmured against his mouth. "Stay with me for as long as you want�"
Lips and tongues meshed and swirled as muscled flesh endeavored once more to become one.
Oh, Kami� Kakarotto�
"Why not?" he gasped out into the cool night air.
