Honesty

Part 2

 

~ After Vejita Left ~

 

Goku watched as Vejita flew off, the last comment that Vejita had made registering in his mind. All this time Vejita had called him Kakarott because he was recognizing him as a part of Vejita’s lost race. It wasn’t just because it was his name. At anytime Vejita could’ve called him Goku, but he didn’t because Goku wasn’t human, he was Saiya-jin.

Now he wasn’t even that. To Vejita, he was nothing more than an Earthling. Goku realized that by calling him Goku for the first time since they had meet, Vejita had renounced him. The pain of the rejection hurt. Usually Goku was able to slide the prince’s comments off of himself, but this one wasn’t easy to get rid of.

‘At least he will still spar with me. I may be nothing but a weak human to him, but there is no one else that is close to his power lever that he can pound on in reckless fury whenever he needs to. Like that night when…’ Goku blushed slightly as he remembered what had happened two weeks ago when the prince had shown up on his doorstep. ‘It was never supposed to happen,’ he reminded himself. ‘It was a mistake.’ But was it?

Goku sighed and decided that he would train some more before returning to the “harpy,” as Vejita called her. He had just settled into the routine of training by himself, when, twenty minutes later, he was interrupted out of the complicated kata he was practicing when a loud plane zoomed by and landed on the ground below him.

He looked down and was able to see that it was Bulma and she was looking very upset. Worried, he landed next to her and was about to ask what was wrong but she decided to tell him on her own. “Goku, Vejita is leaving. What did you do to make him so upset all of a sudden? I know that you two fight all the time, but this time he’s leaving!”

Goku looked surprised to hear this and asked, “What do you mean, he’s leaving? Why?”

Bulma rolled her eyes, “I mean that he went up to his room and packed up all of his clothing and is getting ready to leave the planet at this very moment.”

Goku frowned, “How do you-”

“Because,” Bulma interrupted, “I asked him what he was doing and he told me. You have to stop him. He can’t just leave like this.”

Goku frowned, this wasn’t like Vejita. Why would he leave? Sure, they were having problems. A lot of them. Especially after what happened two weeks ago, but they were still friends, right? Why would Vejita leave without saying goodbye?

Goku shook his head, “Bulma, if he wants to leave then there is nothing that we can do to stop him. You know that.”

Bulma glared at him and snapped, “Do you not care about him? Is that it? What if he is ends up in a battle and is killed in space? Will you feel guilty knowing that you could’ve prevented it and didn’t?”

Bulma had a point. He would feel guilty, not just because Vejita was his friend, but because he cared about the man.

Goku nodded, “Very well Bulma. But I think that we better get the others too. They may not like Vejita that much but they all know that Vejita is a good ally to have around and that without him we are at a great disadvantage. Wait here. I’ll be back in a moment with the others.”

Bulma nodded and Goku disappeared. She didn’t have long to wait. About five minutes later Goku returned with Yamcha, Krillin and Piccolo.

“I couldn’t find Tien, but it doesn’t matter. Okay, where do you think he will be?”
Bulma thought for a moment and then smiled tensely, “He’d be in the backyard. We have to hurry.”

Goku nodded and addressed the others, “Okay, everyone hold hands.”

As they all linked together, grabbing hands and shoulders, Yamcha complained, “I don’t see why we have to prevent him for going. I am aware that we need him, but do we need him that much?”

Krillin agreed, “After all, all he does is belittle us.”

Goku exploded at their comments, something that he never did, but he was fed up with their complaining. He had had enough. All they did was complain about Vejita after he had told them of the predicament. “Fine! If none of you want to help then you don’t have to. But Bulma and I are going. I have wasted enough time.”

He took his hand off of Krillen’s arm and gripped Bulma’s hand harder as he brought his fingers to his forehead and concentrated. Piccolo, Krillin, and Yamcha found themselves staring at the empty air and wondering about the bizarre way that Goku was acting.

“What do you think is wrong with him?” asked Krillin. “He has never gotten that angry before.”

Yamcha shook his head, “I don’t know. He was worried a lot about Vejita though. What do you think is going on?”

Piccolo was silent as he thought about it all and then nodded in understanding, “It is very clear. Goku cares about Vejita a lot.”

Krillen rolled his eyes, “That is obvious to us too, Piccolo. However, it has to be more than that.”
”Oh, there is. However, it is not my place to say.” With a nod in dismissal, Piccolo turned and flew off in the direction of the Son house.

Yamcha and Krillin watched him go and then Krillin said, “I think that he knows what is going on.”

Yamcha nodded, “So do I. What do you say, we go to Capsule Corps and find out the truth?”

Krillin nodded and the two of them headed toward Capsule Corps as fast as they could, hoping that they wouldn’t miss much.

 

~ Back to Vejita ~

 

Vejita watched from the cockpit as Goku and Bulma ran forward toward the ship. When they were within ten feet, he heard Goku call to him, “Vejita, we need to talk.”

Vejita sighed and opened the door to the ship, stood and walked down the gangplank. Goku and Bulma watched silently as Vejita crossed the distance between them and then stopped. “What is it?”

Goku was slightly surprised that Vejita had even come out of the ship when he stated that he wanted to talk to him, however he was also aware that Vejita must’ve known that he would’ve stopped the ship from leaving if Vejita didn’t talk to him.

He decided to jump right to the point, “Why are you leaving?”

Vejita sent him the look of death, “What do you think, baka?”

“Is it about Chichi?” asked Goku with a frown.

Vejita snorted, “How insightful you are. Now, if you don’t mind, I am leaving! And don’t you dare try to stop me.” He didn’t wait for an answer. He just turned and walked off.

Bulma didn’t like that. She was confused about why Chichi had anything to do with things, but that was nothing next to Vejita not talking to them and just walking off. “Vejita, where do you think you are going! If you leave right this minute, or try to, I will deactivate the ship from my lab.”
Vejita stopped and turned to glare at her, “There is nothing that needs talking about. Goku and I have already spoken, nothing more needs to be said.”
“If you call that a discussion, Vejita, then you are more of an idiot than I am.”

Vejita frowned and peered at Goku closely. He had the look of determination that he usually wore when only going into battle. It was that look that Vejita had fallen for. Goku came towards him now and spoke in heavy tones, “Vejita, if you want to leave then you are going to have beat me in a battle. A real one, not a duel.”

Bulma nodded, she liked that idea. There was no way that Vejita would win. Everyone knew that Goku was the stronger of the two, even if Vejita didn’t realize it yet. She also knew that it was going to be one hell of a fight. Vejita’s pride wouldn’t let him back out of the challenge. However, the next thing Vejita said, she didn’t hear, and was confused by the outcome of whatever it was that he said that she missed.

Vejita spoke quietly to Goku so that Bulma couldn’t hear, “Need I remind you that I am the senior and that you have no control over me? You never did and you never will. Especially now.”
Goku was floored. Vejita was right. He was the senior. Not only in age, but also in the relationship that they had. According to Saiya-jin custom, Goku was the submissive one and didn’t have any control. If he tried to exert it, Vejita would get angry. Goku knew that he had already lost, but he had to try and reach his friend.
“Vejita, I will not try to make you stay. I am only asking that you try and tell me what’s wrong.”

Vejita glared and him and was silent for a long moment before he hissed out, “You know exactly what is wrong and you are doing nothing to change it. On Vejita-sai, people didn’t stay with others they weren’t bonded with as soon as they bonded with someone else. And for that reason, I am allowed to leave. I am the senior. You have no control at all. I don’t see a mark when I look in the mirror. Until I do, I don’t have to listen to you. Now, let me go before I kill you!” Vejita would never be able to kill Goku now because of the mind link, but Goku didn’t know that because he didn’t share it with Vejita.

Bulma watched in confusion as Goku backed out of the conversation that she had been unable to hear and watched helplessly as Vejita re-boarded the ship. A moment later, all that remained of the ship was a disappearing trail in the sky.

 

~ Five Weeks Later ~

 

Goku was miserable. He could no longer keep up a pretence of being happy anymore. It was like Vejita’s leaving had left him with an empty space inside that he couldn’t fix. After Vejita left, Krillin and Yamcha showed up. They didn’t say anything. They just let Goku leave, knowing that there was nothing they could say to help him. However, he didn’t go back to Chichi’s for two days. He went to the woods, and when he went back he pretended like nothing had happened. Chichi gave him hell of course, but there was nothing she could do about it.

After that day, he hardly stayed home. When he was at home, Chichi didn’t even bother to yell at him anymore. Well, most of the time anyway.

Goku sighed as he looked up at the sky. Everyday was the same. He left “home” and trained. At home, Gohan studied or trained with Piccolo. Chichi, well, she cleaned and berated Gohan for not studying enough. And then, of course, there were his friends who thought that his withdrawal from them and the rest of the world was unhealthy and tried to help as much as they could. However, they didn’t know what was wrong and so there wasn’t much that they were able to do to help.

Finally there was Bulma. Every time that he went over to her house, he found her working on a new experiment that she hoped would help her find Vejita. And every time that he was there she asked him if he would take a ship and go and find Vejita. And everyday his answer was the same, “I’ll think about it.”

It wasn’t that Goku didn’t want to find Vejita; it was just that he didn’t know what Vejita wanted. One thing was for sure though; he knew that Vejita didn’t want to see him at the moment.

 

~ Somewhere on a Asteroid Faraway ~

 

Vejita fired a ki blast that obliterated the wall of rock before him. He was once again working on a new move that he hoped would be stronger than his final flash attack. As the hours passed, Vejita slowly but surely reduced the three-mile long asteroid into nothing but a floating pile of small rocks. Standing upon the last one, which was supporting his ship on a five-foot wide base, he decided it was time to continue his journey to the planet Heiadth.

‘Humph! At this rate, I will get there by next month.’ He grinned slightly, ‘However, all of this training along the way is a good way to get stronger.’

Once Vejita boarded the ship again, he checked the monitor and made sure that he was still going on the correct route. Sitting down at the viewscreen, he watched as the stars zoomed past before him.

For a long time he was able to put Goku out of his mind. He had been doing that for a long time. Ever since he left Earth he had been keeping Goku out of conscience thought. Now, as he watched the black void of space, he had to block the memories of that baka and keep them from resurfacing. It was working too. Everyday, as he constantly repressed memories of his new mate, he began to forget more and more about him. It was a form of self-defense that kept him from getting hurt any more than he was already. Soon he wouldn’t have to suppress the memories anymore. Kakarott would be nothing more than a shadowy memory and after that maybe those too would go away…

 

~ One Week Later ~

 

“Goku, you have to go after him! He’s your friend, what are you doing hanging around here? Why aren’t you looking for him?”

Chichi glared at the blue haired woman as she tired to convince her husband to run off after a bad influence that she was glad was gone instead of staying home with her and the boys. “Bulma,” she snapped, “Goku needs to stay here. If he leaves, Gohan will think that it is okay and he will run off too.”

Bulma looked amazed at the woman for a moment and then she glared at her enraged, “That is my friend that you are talking about. Believe it or not there are still some of us that want Vejita to come back.”

Chichi snorted as she turned to look at Goku, who at the moment was standing quietly by the window gazing up at the sky. “Goku, you aren’t thinking of going are you?” Goku didn’t answer her or even acknowledge that she was there as she screeched at him, “Goku! Listen to me when I am talking to you!”

Goku was jolted out of the world in which he was thinking at the sound of a horrible screeching sound. It took him a moment to realize that it was the "hellcat" as Vejita often called her. With a sigh he asked her, “What is it Chichi?”

Chichi looked at him crossly, “What do you mean, ‘What is it’? I am you wife and I was talking to you. What are you planning on doing? You aren’t thinking of going after him are you? I hope not. Gohan has enough bad influence as it is without you going and putting more ideas into his head. I want you to say that you won’t go. Goku! Say it, say it now! Say it or else I’m going to leave you, and take the boys with me! You will never see them again if you go after him!”

Goku stared blankly into the sky, “Chichi,” he replied calmly, “I would never want to do anything to make you upset or unhappy.”

At this Chichi beamed, looking directly at Bulma. “Yes, I knew that you would come to your sen-” she started to say but was cut off by Goku.

“However, I want to do what I feel is right. And begin with Vejita is a duty that I am obligated to fulfill.”
Chichi glared at him, “I don’t know why you think whatever it is, is more important than your son and me, but I am tired of this. I am tired of you always going off and leaving Gohan and me. Why were you doing it? Always because of the same reason, ‘To save the world,’ ‘I have to help so and so,’ ‘the world is doomed without my help’ and my personal favorite, ‘I was killed.’ I am tired of the excuses and I wish that you would be like ever other normal person on this planet and-”

Goku spun around and focused on her sharply, fed up with her complaining and trying to make him feel guilty. “What do you know Chichi? All you ever do is yell at Gohan for not doing his schoolwork. And then you go and tell me that saving the world is not an important thing to do. What do you want from me, Chichi? I am not human! I am a Saiya-jin, and therefore I am different and will never be normal! If you wanted a normal husband then you should’ve married a weak and pathetic male and had lots of weak and pathetic human sons!”

Chichi looked at him, startled by the way that he had blown up on her. A second later the shock turned to anger as she yelled back at him, “Pathetic weak male? Is that how you think of humans? That we are weak and pathetic and that your race is the supreme and perfect one? Well, it isn’t mister. It is full of murders and cutthroats that would rather kill you as opposed to look at you. I don’t know where you get off telling me that I should’ve married another man, but if that is how you feel then-”

Goku didn’t give her the chance to finish, but rather, finished for her, “Then I should just leave you? You know Chichi that is a very good idea. Considering the fact that I haven’t loved you for a long time now and I only stay with you for our son's sake.”

Chichi was flustered, not expecting this answer from the peace loving man that she had married a long time ago, “Goku, what are you saying? You don’t love me? Humph. That is no reason to leave. What about your son? What are you going to tell him? What are you going to tell Gohan?”

Goku sighed and looked away out the window and up at the sky, “I will tell him that you and I have agreed not to live together anymore. I will tell him that we haven’t loved each other for a while now and that I can no longer hide it. I will tell him that you are going to go and leave him in my care and tha-”

Chichi was outraged, “What? Leave the boy in your care? Are you insane? He will never study. All he will do all day is fight and practice in order to “save the world” someday! Well I will not have it. I will not let you take Gohan away. When you come back, you will find that the two of us won’t be there. If you want to see your son again you won’t leave me like you have always done.”
“I am sorry, Chichi. I have to do this. It is my fault that he is gone and if I don’t go after him then I will never forgive myself.”

Chichi had had it, “Goku, I mean it! You are always doing this to me. How do I know if you are coming back? I don’t. Have someone else do the job. I don’t want you going after that lowlife Saiya-jin scum! He never does anything to help and he is always here instigating fights with everyone and I have had it. Saiya-jins are nothing but people that tarnish other people and they are a terrible influence to others. Goku I mean it. I don’t want you-”

All during her speech Goku had tried to hold his anger in. But then she started to trash Vejita and the Saiya-jin race in general and he couldn’t stand it anymore. With barely contained fury that no one had ever seen, Goku spoke to the woman that he had married when he was nineteen. For the first time that anyone had know him, he spoke in a harsh and enraged voice - something he never did outside of battle, “Chichi, in case you have forgotten I am Saiya-jin.”

Chichi’s face looked terrified as she noticed her mistake and tried to fix it, “Goku, I didn’t mean-”

Goku didn’t allow her to continue, “And since you didn’t know, I will let your comments slide about my mate. However, if you ever talk about him that way again, I will kill you!” The strong loyalty that Saiya-jins felt for their mates was late in coming to the surface in Goku’s mind but when it did, it came out full force. With a warning blast of ki, which landed an inch from Chichi shoes, he turned and blasted off, heading for a place that he could focus on Vejita’s far off ki.

Bulma was confused and surprised. After a moment, she got over it as she began to realize that it made a lot of sense to her. “Chichi, I think that it is best that you and Goku separate.”

Chichi was furious, “What do you mean, by that? I am not leaving him. He is mine and he can’t be serious about what he said. After all the things that Vejita has done to him he-”

Bulma raised a hand and interrupted her, “Chichi, you said yourself that you didn’t want him going away or you would leave. Since there is no denying the fact that he is leaving, I think that it would be best for the pair of you to separate before he goes.”

“But Gohan and the future baby-”

“Can take care of themselves. As much as I want to stay with Vejita, it seems that his love is for someone else.” There were tears in her eyes as she continued, “We were never together anyway. It would be better for them both if they get together like they should already have done.” Bulma grinned playfully, “If your husband wasn’t such a stubborn man, they would be together already. Not running from each other across the universe.”

Chichi sighed as she nodded, “Your right Bulma. You always are.”