Heart of Fire

Disclaimer: *Sings* I don’t own it, ….and I never wiiilll….

Here it is, the last chapter to Heart of Fire. I was contemplating doing an Epilogue but I don’t know. Prepare to see more from me, as I will be writing new fics when I get the time. Anyhow, on with the story.


Heart of Fire Chapter 9

Despite the size, there was nothing grand about the planet they had arrived to. Agron was as busy as a restaurant on Earth and just as loud. But it was the only service station en-route to Dusk. The service station was packed with people of different races that had minor qualities about them that made it known they were from different planets.

Vegeta could swear he saw Tarneus smirk and literally lick his chops at the sight of the people. Ignoring him for the moment, Vegeta scanned the rest of the place and found that it was very much like an Earth mall, indeed it had everything in one place, no need to go anywhere else.

“Food. Now.” Tarneus grunted, advancing toward a small shack that served what they called the finest miso soup in the galaxy. Vegeta rolled his eyes and followed, watching him carefully. Tarneus seemed calm enough, but he was smart enough to watch him close and keep him at arms length.

When they stepped into the restaurant, it was to Vegeta’s disappointment that it was full. “Someone’s going to die!” Tarneus snarled, forgetting his ‘promise’. “No, nobody will die, we can go elsewhere.” It was like leading a temperamental child along by the hand, except Vegeta was not touching him.

Tarneus growled and kept walking to a seat that he saw fit for him and proceeded to lift a woman out of her seat and toss her into a food cart. The woman’s child stared up at him with wide, terrified eyes and Tarneus prepared to strike him, had Vegeta not stepped in his way.

“What are you doing, you fool?!”

“What does it look like, I’m getting a table. You get your own, this isn’t a tea party!” The child ran to his mother, who had people all around her, trying to revive her.

“I should kill you now, you coward!”

“Watch your tone, you little wank-off! When I’m finished here, you’ll be worrying more about what I do to you.” Vegeta’s tongue was hot in his mouth, wanting badly to say something scathing to the tall asshole in front of him, but he bit down and tightened his lips. For whatever reason, the inhabitants had been wise not to approach Tarneus with their anger, for listening to him talk was enough to put them on high alert of the two mysterious strangers who didn’t seem to get along at all.

“I don’t care what you do, I got this table on my own, I will eat here. I don’t want you near me any longer than necessary.” Vegeta said nothing and went to find his own table not far from his adversary.

Sitting down, he stared at Tarneus from afar and for the life of him he could not see Kakarot. Not even the likeness that he was supposed to be. This one was different, nothing about him reminded Vegeta of a Saiyan, save for his appearance. He wasn’t Goku, that was for sure, but he was unfamiliar if not dangerous because of this.

“You seem to like staring at me. Are you taken by my appearance, or are you trying to figure out what I will do next? You’ll know in due time.” Smug was he, confident that it wouldn’t be a problem to wipe the smirk from Vegeta’s face. Vegeta would have laughed if the situation weren’t so brash, Tarneus exuded evil, but Vegeta had seen far more menacing faces in his lifetime. Why, the taller man was correct in assuming the reason Vegeta stared. He was unpredictable at best and Vegeta knew nothing about him. This guy was dangerous.

Since he was not Kakarot and he was not Goku, it made it that much harder to fathom what he would do and what he could do. Strength wise, there wasn’t much to tell, but he couldn’t look him in the face and tell what he was thinking, like he had done with…Kakarot. Vegeta’s mouth curled into an unpleasant frown upon realizing that he obviously didn’t know as much about his Saiyan rival as he had thought. Just enough to know that things had gone wrong somewhere along the way.

Tarneus wanted badly to strike out and kill someone, anyone, but if not for the not spoken of agreement they had, he would have to wait. That the other man was willing to accept letting him eat to gather the strength to kill him would soon be his own undoing. It was a blatantly obvious weakness he had but either Vegeta didn’t seem to notice or he didn’t worry about it as much as he should have. Either way, the older man was going to regret this. Fighting him was not a necessity anymore, but more of a challenge or a conquest. Something to be surpassed and he expected it to be nothing short of interesting at the very least. The other man certainly had some spunk in him, a great challenge indeed.

Tarneus grinned a feral grin to himself and glanced over at Vegeta. Vegeta was looking off at something and frowning, no doubt thinking about him. ‘He hates me.’ This only made Tarneus grin wider. “Uh, here is your soup, sir.” Looking up at the young waitress, he gazed wolfishly at her, unashamedly looking her up and down. She turned away with a blush and went off to serve the next costumer. “Nice.” Is all he said before glaring at the bowl set before him.

One? What the fuck kind of service was this? He had come here hungry as a dog and this yellow skinned broad gives him one bowl of soup?

He roared at the tops of his lungs, cursing and banging his fist on the table. “Tell that bitch I want more food!!!! Bring her here!!!”

The yellow skinned woman ran over to him and nervously bowed. “I-I-I’m s-sorry sir, you didn’t tell me you wanted more, I would have certainly---

Tarneus grabbed the woman by her long silver-blonde hair and ran his tongue up the shell of her rounded ear. “I want everything you have here and you stop bringing me shit when I tell you too.” He roughly shoved her into a table, smirking wickedly. All the while, Vegeta’s eyes were building a steady fire on the side of his head, snarling and gripping the table with bubbling rage. Tarneus stared back challengingly and sneered.

Vegeta closed his eyes and tried hard to keep his anger in check. Not because he had hurt the woman, but because he was doing it to piss Vegeta off. All of the touching and screaming could have been avoided, but it was asking too much for the brash, tall Saiyan to be polite or at the very least courteous. Fighting him now would change nothing and only deter him from eating. Hell, if he could get a meal out of this foolish deal then why not cooperate? After all, Tarneus had never promised not to be a total prick or keep his disgusting hands to himself. Vegeta didn’t care what he did to these people, so long as he didn’t kill one of them. The people, especially the women on this planet looked frail and weak, like just enough violence could shatter them.

Never a hero to a single person, he had never thought to interfere if he saw two people fighting or someone getting beat up for no reason. As a whole, he had saved the planet a few times, but not for the acknowledgment as a hero, but simply because Earth was his home.

Another waitress came to Tarneus’ table and set before him several large bowls of steaming hot miso soup, adding another table to accommodate his enormous meal.

“That’s more like it, I get what the fuck I asked for!”

Of course, he asked for no such thing, like the people were supposed to know what he wanted but, it seemed to be part of his ego trip to treat people like his slaves. Vegeta’s food was also carried in and set on adjoining tables. The waitress bowed graciously in front of him, but he ignored her and started to eat. While he may have seemed nicer in comparison to the tall asshole on the other side of the place, he was not as generous as he looked and offered her no thanks for the meal. The restaurant was relatively quiet save for the annoying gulping, smacking and chomping sounds the other greedy Saiyan made from across the room.

Vegeta himself ate with practiced mannerisms and etiquette, quickly munching down on savory meats, soups and other exotic foods, all without looking like a pig. Vegeta finished eating before Tarneus did and instantly got up to leave. Tarneus spotted him and gave him a dirty look with a mouthful of soup that only served to make him looked more foolish. The sleazy bastard could follow him whenever he was ready, but Vegeta was leaving now.

Tarneus wolfed down his food impossibly faster and with a broad swipe of one strong, sinewy arm, cleared the table, making the dishes fall and break. Overturning the table, he stalked after Vegeta.

Once aboard his ship full and ready, he was overcome with a giddy sense of excitement of what was to come. Three more days. Three more days and he could rid the galaxy of Vegeta and hopefully rid himself of Goku. At the thought of the sick apparition’s name, he suppressed a shudder of disgust. The food at the place had not been his idea of a gourmet meal, but the Lais-jins had fed him far worse. Sitting down to let the food digest, a thought that had tugged at the back of his mind had resurfaced and was now his latest mystery.

How had Vegeta gotten into his ship? Teleportation? No, not through space, his matter would have been spread across the stars by now. Something else, somehow, he was able to do it without being detected and far faster than any teleportation he had ever seen. In space, movement like that is only possible in the form of light. And that guy was moving much faster. For him to get there as fast as he had and dematerialize just as fast was something Tarneus knew could present a real problem.

He wondered briefly what the other was doing in his ship, probably getting ready for the upcoming battle. He himself should have been training as well, but he really needed to just relax right now. Besides, it would be an even better challenge if the other Saiyan trained to give him a real fight. Whatever Vegeta’s real purpose for seeking out him was, he would have to somehow wring it out of him. Goku wasn’t telling him, and killing him hadn’t made anything any clearer.

Tarneus’ mind was just drifting out of reality when a strong Ki made itself known.

“What the fuck do you want?”

Vegeta stood in his ship, arms crossed, trying to glare him to ashes. “I want to make something clear to you, you buffoon! I came here looking for Kakarot, and found you so don’t get cocky! I don’t know how this happened, but I will have Kakarot back. I do not intend to kill you, I can’t. I don’t…..we have to make another deal.”

Another deal? Was he backing out of the fight?

“What are you talking about? I don’t care who you came to get, I’m going to kill you and that’s what we agreed on! You’re not backing out of this, I don’t give a shit what you want!”

Vegeta had come there knowing full well outright asking him wouldn’t work. Now, it was time for plan B. “I don’t think that will be easy. I didn’t say I was arranging not to fight you. The farthest I will go is beating you outside of your mind. But if you go unconscious, then I obviously win and get what I want. If you kill me, you get what your twisted heart desires. But, I’m here now because I want to ask you what you wanted to know about Kakarot. Earlier you presented a request of me, and needless to say, I’m curious.”

Tarneus had forgotten all about that. “Yes well I suppose I could ask you. ‘Goku’ has invaded my mind. He won’t leave me the fuck alone and he claims that your presence here is the reason why.” Vegeta blinked.

‘Kakarot? In his mind because of me? How is this possible?’

“I don’t know how, but that freak is telling me that you have come for him. He knows you’re here, but let’s wager something more valuable.”

“What?”

“Your feelings.”

‘What feelings?’

Vegeta shook his head and grit his teeth, ready to deny it. “Don’t play me for a fool, I know there is more to this than meets the eye. Goku seems to be relying heavily on you rescuing him and from what I understand….he did this to himself. And now he’s looking for a way out. Who better to help him than the one who put him in the situation?” Tarneus spitefully grinned, running his tongue across his sharp canines.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! You are a mistake. Kakarot and I are the only Saiyans left in the universe, of course we rely on each other in certain predicaments.” “Not this one. He didn’t trust you for some reason before. Something was going on, I felt tinges of fear in my psyche, he’s afraid.”

“Of what?” “You. I don’t know, I was hoping you’d tell me why.”

Hell, Vegeta himself barely knew why! Tarneus expected him to stand there and pour out his heart for a man he didn’t even love? What business is it of his? He had no right questioning him for things that were none of his business!

“What Kakarot feels is no concern---

“IT IS! That freak is HAUNTING me! In my head, naked and freaky, he tells me he’ll never leave me alone. It has something to do with you but if I kill you, he’ll never leave!” “Tell me!”

“Tell you what? There isn’t anything to tell.” Vegeta held in his smirk of delight at seeing the younger Saiyan loose his temper. Kakarot was naked in his dreams as well, now it was clear that there was definitely a connection. He was fighting to get out of there, in the evil subconscious of his mind, struggling and trying to send Vegeta a message. Vegeta got it.

“Tarneus, I’m not telling you anything. He can haunt you for the rest of your days. You haven’t even met the particularly annoying part of him. Trust me, I know from lengthy experience.” A bluff, but the other didn’t know that.

“You sonofabitch! You’re going to tell me or I will obliterate the entire human race, starting with Trunks.” Vegeta’s eyes widened with surprise at the mention of his son’s name.

“How the fuck do you know my son?”

Tarneus cackled predatorily and stood up and began to circle Vegeta like a vulture going in for the kill. “Lately, I have gained the ability to tap into Goku’s memory. You know, it’s my memory as well. Trunks is your son, and you also have a beautiful daughter. I could think of a few ways to torture her.” A shocking pain went through his jaw and he staggered back a way. Rubbing his cheek, he smiled evilly again.

“So how about it Vegeta? Would you care to tell me exactly why you are here?” “Not quite, if you manage to kill me, you’ll never know and Kakarot is an empath. That means he’s able to read emotions to a certain extent, and yours are ripe for the picking seeing as he is in your head. Not only that, but if you destroy earth, the god of the planet and the after life are able to go to the gods home planet to revive---

“Oh yes, the Dragonballs. You needn’t worry about that. Namek will be gone faster than you can say die.”

“You didn’t let me finish, prick! As I was saying, the god of planet Earth is a Namekian as you know, but what I’m sure you don’t know is that even from the after life, in dire circumstances, he can recreate the Dragonballs. You destroy him and they go as well. They are new balls and are to be used in situations such as the one you are presenting, only because of the trouble they caused several years ago. So I think you are in more of a pinch than you realize.” The taller beings eye twitched in anger as he glared balefully at him, fists clenching with rage.

“Fuck you! You are in no position to tell me anything! I don’t care what those Earthlings do, because, I can do anything I want to them and that doesn’t necessarily mean I have to kill them. I could enslave them and bring them pain and suffering for generations to come. I could look for your Dragonballs and wish for eternal youth. Now what do you say, short guy?”

Vegeta only stood where he was and smirked. Tarneus thought he had something there, but he had nothing.

“I’m done here, I’ve proposed what I wanted and now it is up to you.” With that Vegeta disappeared again.

‘I’ve gotta learn how he does that!’

It was time for some training. He wouldn’t give Vegetas request the time of day. That piece of vermin could go toss himself off for all Tarneus cared. He would find a way to get Goku out of his head without Vegetas help. Goku was not speaking to him as of late, just silently staring at him, as if expecting something to happen.

‘Well, it isn’t going to happen!”

The hateful thing must know of his contact with the other Saiyan and now he was waiting. As far as Tarneus was concerned, he would be waiting forever. And he would stay silent, that would be nice too. But there was no space in his head for his weak minded counterpart. Getting up stiffly, he walked across the room and began his exercise, yanking his shirt over his head.

Three days was too long to contain his excitement, but he couldn’t stop and land on another planet, Dusk was the next and largest planet outside of the Konack galaxy, a small planet simply wouldn’t do. For all of his ignorance and carelessness, he couldn’t help but drift to Vegeta’s request. If they weren’t fighting to the finish then what were Vegeta’s real intentions? One particularly strong feeling in his mind was rejection, or the fear of it.

Rejection from what? Vegeta? Goku was gay?

Well, that was something surprising, seeing as he didn’t seem like it in his memories. He hid it well and if not for Tarneus’ perceptiveness he would have never considered it. ‘So the freak is actually a fag.’ He mused.

Vegeta may or may not know, either way, it wouldn’t matter because he was never getting Goku back. “I won’t let that freak dominate me! I’m going to kill Vegeta and litter his pieces all over space!” Tarneus huffed and grunted as he pulled himself up on his arms in mid air.

Tarneus suddenly hit his face on the ground as a startling thought came over him. What if his plan backfired? Vegeta mentioned that the Earth could be wished back in the event Tarneus destroyed it. In the event that he didn’t gave Goku the chance to torment him forever. From what he knew, the Dragonballs couldn’t be used for issues other than dire situations. He could not wish for immortality! Vegeta had said nothing when he blurted that out, but had let him figure it out for himself. The clever bastard knew he had no choice other than to consider his request. Damnit! And what would Goku do if Vegeta died? Would he find a way to destroy Tarneus from the inside?

Now, things were getting risky and it was beginning to look like this fight wouldn’t happen. It was beginning to look like killing Vegeta was absolutely useless. Although he was not yet a threat to the Earth, he had plans to destroy it and now even that was useless. Jumping up, he ran over to the control panel and jabbed the on screen button.

Vegeta’s smug face popped up.

“Have you really thought about it? How pointless your plans for universal domination are? Haha, you don’t know the first thing about ruling anything, you’re even having mental problems. From the look on your face I would say you’ve considered every possibility and have realized that they will all fail.” The look on his face was enough to make Tarneus invite him over to kill each other in space. But Vegeta didn’t want to kill him. And nothing would come of it if he killed Vegeta.

“What do you want from me?”

“To give Kakarot a message.”

“What? Will that make you and him leave me alone?”

“Not me, but you won’t have to worry about that. Tell him that I do care.”

‘He’s a fag too!’

Tarneus couldn’t explain what happened next if he tried. He opened his mouth and screamed in a voice that was a lot more high pitched than his own,

“Vegeta!”

Vegeta scooted closer to the screen, realizing instantly who the voice belong.

“Kakarot!”

“Nooooo!!!!!!” Tarneus screamed gripping the sides of his head and shaking it wildly.

“Vegeta, help me!”

“Kakarot!”

“YOU FREAK, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEEEAAAAADDDDDAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” Tarneus screamed at the tops of his lungs. Vegeta sensed this was working, and quickly Instant Transmissioned to Tarneus’ ship. “Kakarot, I’m here!”

“Vegeta, Vegeta, I need--- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” “Fight him Kakarot! You have to come back with me. Kakarot I……”

Tarneus’ body slowly fell to the floor, unconscious.

Vegeta hesitated to pick him up and knelt beside him to see if he was alive. He was, barely. Placing his hands on Gokus back, he concentrated and with a small grunt let his Ki flow into the Saiyan. “Kakarot come back.” He muttered. The man didn’t move for a long while and Vegeta thought that maybe it was too late. “Kakarot is alive but his mind could have been damaged beyond repair! Shit!” Vegeta cursed, flipping him over. When he did so, the body began to twitch and ebony eyes cracked open slowly. “V-Vegetahhhhh….”

“Kakarot! Are you alright?” He didn’t care about how worried he sounded; damnit he was worried!

Goku shifted in his grip, which Vegeta hadn’t realized was tight and protective. “Vegeta, what’s wrong? What happened?” “I’ll tell you one the way home.” “Where are we?” He got up and stumbled a little, finally regaining his balance. “Woah, I feel all wobbly and weird.” Vegeta smirked and grabbed Goku’s arm and put his fingers to his forehead.

“Vegeta wha---

Inside of his ship Vegeta turned to his companion and searched his face for any hint of Tarneus. Nothing. “Vegeta tell me why you’re here.”

“Kakarot, first you have to tell me something?”

“What?”

“Why did you leave?” It wasn’t that he didn’t know the answer to that, but he sure as hell wasn’t telling him first!

“Leave?”

Looking around he suddenly snapped his head in Vegeta’s direction and frowned. “Well? You seem to remember at least that, so why don’t you tell me why.”

“I needed space.”

“Oh, trust me you got plenty of that! I’ve been cavorting around space for almost a year looking for you, so I think now you owe me an explanation.” Goku squinted. “A year? You’ve been looking for me that long? What happened?” “Answer me first and I’ll be glad to tell you.”

The tall Saiyan walked away from Vegeta and mumbled something.

“What I can’t hear you.”

“I said, I told you I needed space.”

“Why, were you not happy on Earth? Don’t lie to me Kakarot! You left with nothing and you’d been gone for a whole year! Now, try again and this time, tell me the truth!”

Goku turned on him in a flash. “What do you care?! I left, so what, you’re not my keeper! I can go where I damn well please and I don’t have to explain myself to you!”

“My my, aren’t we getting touchy. Hm, I’ll ask you nicely, even though I’ve been looking for you and busting my ass to save yours. Will you please tell me why you left Earth?” Goku did not turn to face him and Vegeta didn’t know what he was thinking.

He’d been through galaxies, minor annoyances, threats to him and his family, hunger, boredom, and grueling dreams, Kakarot better had something to tell!

If he was going to get nasty about it…

“Did you leave because of me?”

He could feel his companion tense up from where he was and knew he hit his target. “No, I just had to leave I was bored.” Another lie. How stupid. He was too insecure and protective of himself and would have rather spared the risk of telling Vegeta the truth. Vegeta didn’t want to have to talk about it but it was a big issue, apparently important enough to put him through two years worth of trouble. “Why are you lying---

“And how would you know if I’m lying, Vegeta?!” His head turned to the side to assess Vegeta’s reaction.

“I know because you suck at lying and there is no way that what happened didn’t happen for a reason.”

“You seem to want to know why pretty badly, but I need you to tell me what happened to me first and how you learned the Instant Transmission.”

“Alright! But only because you need to know and I suppose it doesn’t matter what order its in. You left the planet two years ago, for some unknown reason, and landed on the planet Lais. Lais has temperatures more than 50 degrees below zero. You blacked out upon arriving on the planet. The inhabitants took advantage of you when you woke up with no memory due to blacking out because of the extreme temperatures. They trained you for about a year and told you you were someone else. They called you Tarneus and you were pure evil. I thought you had gone for many reasons, but I had to find out for myself and went looking for you. King Kai tracked you when you powered up in space on your way to a planet called Dusk. You were going there to purge it and then you were going to purge Earth, the only place in your memory at the time. I searched for you and then I decided it would be easier with the Instantaneous Movement technique, which I went to Yardat to learn.”

Vegeta took a deep breath and continued. “I did not go to Lais, because you had already left and for whatever reason I could not track your Ki signature at all. I had to find you the hard way. Then luck was at my side when I suddenly found a ship, following the instructions of King Kai. I searched the vicinity you had most recently vacated. I travel in space for months before I finally found you. And you can be sure that I was more than surprised when you told me you didn’t know who I was. I was confused but you were serious. When I called you Kakarot, you told me that wasn’t your name.”

Goku had by now fully faced Vegeta to listen to the story. He was stunned at the events that already happened and how long he had been gone. He didn’t think about it further so he could listen to Vegeta’s story.

“I accepted that you were different and told Tarneus that I needed to speak with him. I went to his ship using Instant Transmission and he was startled when I appeared. From the power reading that guided me here, he had tapped in to your highest level of power; Super Saiyan 4. He attacked me and I hit him. He didn’t retaliate. Instead, he vowed to kill me. I tried to explain to him why I was there and what I wanted, but he was so far gone that he didn’t want to hear it. But the worst part was, he knew what happened to him and that was it. I wracked my brain trying to figure out the reason you left, but alas, I needed to face Tarneus. He wouldn’t tell me, however he did tell me that he had a freak inside of his head. Kakarot, you were fighting him inside of his head, but you couldn’t get out. How you manifested a place in his head, I don’t know, but he said you haunted him and such things like that. You were also in my mind, you invaded us in dream form, and I was more puzzled than he as to how you were doing it. I thought I had lost every ounce of hope and opportunity to get to you, but a chance presented itself in the form of your hunger.” Goku laughed at that. He remembered only what he had seen through Tarneus feelings, the little he had.

“He was hungry and wanted to eat but he also let out that he wanted to speak to me about something so important that he would hold off destroying Dusk. I called him on it, and he retracted his statement telling me it meant nothing. Apparently it had meant something and I knew it was something about you. He and I were scheduled to fight on the planet he was originally headed to. A fight to the death. I had no intentions on killing him and it took me a while figure out that it was no good if he killed me. He realized this and when I told him to tell you something when he saw you, that’s when you spoke to me and he began to lose the battle you had waged inside of his mind. That is what led to this. You had already annihilated two planets and killed several ‘innocents’ as you would call them. That is all you wanted to know about the events that were the result of you leaving Earth for whatever reason you did.”

Goku stood with his brows knitted together, grimacing at the story he already knew. Then, finding his voice, he said, “Vegeta, I had no idea all you were looking for me that long, I didn’t mean for anything like that…..But I….”

“You what Kakarot, you got something to tell me?” Vegeta watched with interest as his spiky haired friend paced the floor serious all of a sudden. Was he finally going to reveal his feelings? After all the trouble Vegeta went through, he’d better!

“Vegeta….I…left because I couldn’t stay with you.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” Vegeta smirked.

“Nothing, it wasn’t you, it was me.”

“Get on with it Kakarot and tell me!”

“I couldn’t live with you anymore after I found out that…I was in l-lo-love with you.” He paused and let it sink in, glancing quickly up at Vegeta.

Vegeta didn’t even bat an eye.

“Uh, and I thought that if I left that I could forget about you. You don’t even like me! I couldn’t very well tell you how I felt, I didn’t know what you would say. I was afraid of you and my feelings, so I left and all I remember was landing on a ball of ice. I didn’t know where I was going, anywhere to get away from you and Earth.”

“So you left me for that?”

“Left you? Well, yeah, you would have kicked me out if I had told you, and I was already lonely as it was. You never really paid attention to me unless you wanted to insult me or ask me something. I thought that you wouldn’t care and that you would hate me more if I told you.”

“….”

“I know how you feel about petty human emotions so I didn’t even bother. When you didn’t stop me from leaving I knew then that you didn’t care and that was the only thing I needed to hear. So I left and I had intentions of ever coming back. What would I come back to? I have nothing, Goten is dead, Gohan probably doesn’t even remember that I’m alive and all of my friends are gone. You let me stay with you, and I knew it was out of boredom and loneliness even if you didn’t want to admit it. Why did you come for me anyway? Was it to figure out why I left? Well, now you know, so you can say whatever you want to me, I don’t care anymore. I’ve been through a lot because of my stupid feelings and I would really rather just be left alone.”

“Kakarot.”

Goku refused to answer, he wanted to leave and go back to the ship Vegeta found him so he wouldn’t have to hear him mocking him.

“Kakarot.” Vegeta said again. He would keep calling him until he answered.

“What, Vegeta?”

“I knew.” Goku spun around and gasped a little, eyes the size wide and questioning. “What do you mean you knew?” “I mean what it sounds like I mean. I knew how you felt about me. It too a while and I only figured it out a few weeks ago, no more than a month I knew.” “Then why did you make me tell you?!”

“I wanted to hear it from you first to be completely sure. And I needed to know exactly what you felt. So, in love with me, huh?”

“Vegeta, I hope you didn’t rescue me to mock me and make me feel bad. If you did, then let me leave and you won’t have to worry about anything.” “Let you leave again? I think not.” “Why not? You were tired of being alone for a year and now you want something to insult and hurt with your mean words. No, I’m not sticking around for that.”

Putting two hands to his forehead he was about to leave when what Vegeta said something that made him stop and turn around.

“No. You’re not going anywhere. At this point I can find you and I won’t leave until you come back with me.” Vegeta replied calmly.

“Yes..but…since when?”

“Being in space for a year alone gave me a lot of time to think. When I tried to found out what the only possibility you might have left, it all kept pointing to me. I remembered the way you always looked and acted around me, when you were there, and I knew, you left and it was my fault. I cared even then to some extent because I went to find you and bring you home. Kakarot, I know you care for me and I want you to come back with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Weren’t you listening to anything I’ve said?! I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU! I more than care for you, Vegeta!”

Vegeta said nothing. “I thought that if I left, then I wouldn’t feel you anymore. That’s why I wasn’t around the house very much, I had to get away. But no matter where I went, I could feel you and I would be so upset because I knew that you didn’t, couldn’t love me back! Damn bond we had. I don’t know if you know this but, Vegeta, we’ve always had the bond we’ve had since we fused, you couldn’t feel it, but I felt you. It was always there, weak, but there. When I left the planet, the bond had dissolved, but when I woke up that day on Lais, I could feel something tugging at me. A hint of something. And then I found out that I lost my memory, that’s what they told me. I was Tarneus, and I was evil, that was what I knew. My body was useless but I could think for myself and the memories came flooding back and then I realized, that I couldn’t do anything about it. My body was not my own anymore and therefore I had no control over him. For months I occupied a place in his head and stayed there until I figured out that if nothing else, I could tell him what I knew. He started rejecting me, because I didn’t belong there. Vegeta, I don’t belong here. Kakarot does. The Kakarot that you always wanted me to be, that I never could because we were two separate people. You hated me because of what I had become and resented that I wasn’t a Saiyan. I had no place to go but inside of Tarneus’ head and no way of getting out so I gave up after a while and waited. I waited for you, hoping that you would come and that you would be able to do something. But now that you’re here…. I don’t know what to do. I’m not supposed to be here, Kakarot is. You had him, what do you want with me?”

“Kaka—

“Oh let me guess, he’s still a third class clown? Okay. I suppose you changed and maybe you don’t want that Kakarot anymore, you’ve accepted that I can’t be who you want me to be. I tried, I did, but you, Vegeta, are hard to please. I don’t know why you came here, but I’m glad you did. If I hadn’t been holding on, if I hadn’t changed so much from the time I landed on Earth as a baby, then you wouldn’t have been able to stop him. So I want to ask, why did you look for me? I left and I thought I knew that what I was doing was right until I had the accident on Lais. But I knew you would come. The only problem is, if Kakarot hadn’t returned, I would have never wanted to see you again. I had not initially wanted to be found and if it weren’t for Kakarot’s reappearance as Tarneus, then I would have gone on the rest of my life avoiding you.”

Vegeta lips were parted in surprise at the revelation Goku was leading him to. This fool obviously felt strongly for him and that was the reason he left. He tried to speak again, but Goku cut him off

“The bond was always there, I could feel it but Kakarot couldn’t. He doesn’t know you like I do. You couldn’t feel me because I wasn’t there. Because you don’t know Kakarot as he is, there was no presence of a bond. But it was there, and now….it’s weaker than before, I can’t feel you very much now, but…that’s a good thing.”

He closed his eyes and prepared to leave, hesitating to see of Vegeta had anything to say.

“I…Kakarot, don’t leave! I may not be in love with you as well, but I care for you a lot and I can try.”

Goku slowly studied the shorter Saiyan. The object of his hearts desire and the reason for all of this madness was telling him that he cared. For him!

“V-Vegeta. I…do you mean….you care about me?”

“Yes, isn’t that what I just said?”

Vegeta’s hand was outstretched, attempting to get the younger Saiyan to stop. He looked desperate but he didn’t care. Life was too short to pretend like he didn’t have any feelings for this man. “Kakarot…. the feelings are there, they always have been but I’m not ready yet. I need time, please…don’t leave.” The handsome Saiyan in front of him was now walking toward him and standing in front to him.

“Vegeta?”

“Kakarot?”

“Can I hug you?”

Vegeta squirmed but after a moment of fidgeting nervously, consented. Strong arms wrapped around his smaller frame, pulling him close. ‘He so warm.’ Vegeta sighed and tried not to purr in his arms, he felt so safe. ‘And he smells so good. His original scent is back.’

A large hand cupped his face and brought it to soft lips. Vegeta gasped into the kiss and tried to pull away. Goku let him go, blushing. “Sorry Vegeta, I’ve been wanting to do that forever.”

Vegeta couldn’t say he didn’t like it, but he…wasn’t ready to like it. He had never found himself to be sexually attracted to Goku, but the kiss damn near blew him away! Of course he wouldn’t let Goku see it.

“I’m sorry I just---

“Don’t worry about it.”

Goku looked apprehensive, scratching his head and scuffing his feet like a child wanting to ask his crush a question. Same thing, except he wasn’t a child. “Vegeta, does this mean I can sleep in your room? I mean, it gets real lonely in my own.” “When I’m ready Kakarot.” Goku nodded and keep quiet until the moment got too awkward to stand it.

“So, when will we get back home?”

“In 11 months.” Vegeta said casually.

“Gyah!”

OWARI.

And that’s the end! I finally did it! I needed sometime to do other things and this new semester is loading me up with work and stuff. Sorry it took so long to get to this chapter and I would have made it longer, but I didn’t want to keep you guys in suspense. Thanks to all of the people that reviewed this story, I hope to see more for this last chapter. I had a great time writing this and am surprised it came out so good, seeing as I didn’t know what I was doing and had no plan whatsoever of what to write.