Coming and Going

 

 Part one of ?

 

The first Talon/Dasia Collaboration (Maybe we should come up with some kind of fusion name or something *smirks*)

 

Pairings Mirai Gohan/Vegeta…Mirai Gohan and?  You’ll have to read it to find out.

 

Warnings: (not all in this part) Violence, language, consensual sex with a minor, references to some nasty stuff, LEMON AND MORE LEMON, surprises, slightly AU

 

Italics denotes flashbacks

 

It was always dim in the gravity room, the lights turned down to a comfortable level so it wasn't necessary to squint to see what you were fighting.  I never knew why it was that Vegeta invited me over to spar instead of my father...I still thought my Dad was the strongest fighter in the universe.  But Vegeta knew better. 

 

"Damn it boy, you can give me more than that!"  Oh Kami-sama...I can still hear that royal voice mocking me, prodding me to the power he knew lay beneath the surface.  He pushed me, in ways that Dad and Piccolo never did...never could...I loved Piccolo, always had, ever since I could remember.  And Dad...well he was Dad after all.  But Vegeta...fascinated me

 

He sparked that  part of me...that untamed, wild, ferocious SAIYJIN part.  And I never felt more like myself than I did when I was with him.

 

 

I had spent the day training his son, Trunks.  Every movement, every gesture the boy made reminded me of his father...his sideways smirk, his upturned nose, his elegant hands and feet.  I missed him so much.  Trunks' youthful arrogance could not begin to replace the intense nobility and pride of his father.  Whenever I spar against the son, I come home frustrated, unsatisfied.  My longing only becomes more intense as the years pass by.

 

What would he think of me now, I wonder?  My once-handsome looks are now marred with a cross-hatching of scars on my cheeks. The loss of my arm concerns me the most.  Vegeta loved all things to be beautiful, perfect.  I am less than I was...I wonder if he would still want me.

 

"Again.  We're going to do this until you get it right, boy.  I know you can do better, don't fuck around." 

 

 "But Vegeta-sama..."

 

"No buts, AGAIN."

 

I sighed as I prepared my Masenko attack once again.  I had thought Piccolo was a strict taskmaster; just went to prove that I didn't know everything."

 

He was a harsh man, to some almost unlovable...but I saw in him a savage, untamed beauty that called to my very soul.

 

The floor of the gravity room was slick with sweat and blood...most of it mine.  No matter how fast I moved, Vegeta was faster, no matter how hard I kicked, Vegeta kicked harder.  No matter how hard I tried, it wasn't good enough for my prince.

 

"Again boy!"  Kami-sama, I heard that voice in my sleep for weeks.  Dad wondered what I was doing over at CC all the time.  I told him Vegeta was training me, he seemed pleased that the prince had taken an interest in my training.  I wonder what he would have done had he known just what kind of interest Vegeta had in me.  Or what he would have said if he knew how I felt about Vegeta.  I like to think he would have understood....but I am too Saiyjin to believe that.  No matter how willing I was, I was still a child...HIS child.  I am sure Vegeta would have ended up in a considerable amount of pain had Dad known.  I kept the feelings that were growing inside of me to myself, I could tell no one, not even Piccolo, from whom I could hold few secrets.

 

 

I remember once, we had been going at it all day, and I was exhausted.  I was dripping blood from half a dozen wounds and smarting from at least as many burns, the result of badly deflected ki attacks.  Had I been fighting against my dad or Piccolo, I would have eaten a senzu bean...but I did not want to show Vegeta any weakness.  He despised the use of senzu, except in extreme emergency.

 

Vegeta kept pushing me.  He knew just which buttons to push.  My mind filled with a red haze as his taunting voice brought to mind Garlic Jr, Frieza, even Cooler, and my apparent helplessness against them all.  I just couldn’t take it anymore.

 

“I'm tired, I hurt, haven't we done enough today Vegeta-sama”  I knew I was whining, but I couldn’t seem to help it.

 

“The hell we have brat.  We’ll have done enough when I say we’ve done enough, and not one second before.  I'll be damned if I'll be the only one standing out here in the fucking cold training when you're the one with all the damned potential handed to you on a silver platter...”

 

I cringed, helpless against his anger; wishing once again that I could please my prince.  But I just didn’t think I had what it took.  He continued, getting right up into my face, his nose nearly touching mine.  Kami…I nearly passed out from his scent alone.  He’s not yelling anymore, but this deadly calm voice is worse…

 

“You've never had to worry about a fucking thing in your entire existence, Daddy has always been there to bail you out...Well, guess what, brat, shit happens and people die...and you'll be praying for more training when you're on your own.  We're the last of our kind.  If we don't take measures to make ourselves the fastest, the strongest, the best then the Saiyjin race will die out.”

 

He was right, after all.  Not long after that training session, my father came down with a heart virus.  He…he died.  Not the death I think he would have wanted.  He was in horrible pain, and I wasn’t allowed to see him.  They were afraid that I would contract it as well.  They told me my father asked for me, towards the end…but I can’t think of that.  Even now, the tears threaten to overwhelm me.  The pain is years old, and yet it could have been yesterday for all the easement in the sharpness.  Sometimes I wonder if that’s how Dad felt…that horrible stabbing pain in the left hand side of my chest…

 

But Piccolo was there for me, as he ever was…letting me sob out my grief, making me eat as I withdrew from the world for weeks on end.  He couldn’t bring me out of it…but someone else was looking for me.

 

I don't believe he meant to hurt me as much as he did, he was only trying to get me angry, to react to something, to rejoin the world.  He was never the most tactful of people, and never one to reveal his true feelings.  Vegeta.  I heard as though from miles away, voices arguing, Vegeta’s regal imperiousness refusing to be pushed aside by Piccolo’s protectiveness.

 

“You can’t see him Vegeta, just let him alone.”  That was my teacher.

 

“Damn it Piccolo, he can’t just stay in that Kami- damned cave.  He needs to get out, he NEEDS to fight.  He’s a Saiyjin, and he’s fucking going to act like one!”

 

Looking back, it's most likely that Vegeta was fearful that my severe depression after my father's death would lead me to commit suicide, or worse.  I was easily the most powerful fighter on Earth.  If I lost my hold on reality, it is doubtful that anyone, even Piccolo and Vegeta, could have stopped me from wreaking havoc.

 

Piccolo said something in response, but I had ceased to listen.  The next thing I knew, Vegeta had me by the hair and was dragging me out of the cave where I had hidden myself, weeks ago. 

 

As he dragged me across the rough ground, my sight landed on a bruised and battered Piccolo.  I felt myself gasp.  Vegeta spared me a contemptuous look.

 

“Don’t worry about the Namek, he’ll be fine.  I left him a senzu.”

 

Even my shock at seeing my teacher so utterly beaten did little to rouse me from my depression.

 

 

"Damnit, boy.  Do I have to do every fucking thing for you?  You are not a weakling...stop acting like one.  Bring your ass out of this depression, or I will beat it out of you."

 

I ignored him completely.  Nothing mattered.  I closed my eyes, as though that would make him disappear.

 

"We need you strong, fighting.  This is pathetic.  You're pitiful.  I refuse to let our race die out.  Stand your ass up boy.  Fight me!" his rough voice grinds.

 

I shook my head.  Fight him?  I couldn't stand, I could barely breathe.

Leave me alone Vegeta, I thought.  I must have known that he wouldn't.

 

 

"Vegeta, please, just stop." My voice sounded dead, even to me.

 

"Fuck YOU!!  Fight me, bitch!  Shut me up!  Make me stop...you're stronger than me, aren't you? Isn't that what you're thinking? I'll just keep on talking...I'm just that fucking crazy."

 

"Vegeta, please, I don't want to fight you…I don't want to fight anybody."

 

"No?"  Vegeta's voice is high, innocent, "We'll see about that..."

 

"Get your pussy ass over here.  You're a fucking joke.  The strongest fighter in the universe...you're a punk-ass snot-nosed child.  When I was your age, I had already destroyed more planets than you can count."

 

"Vegeta-sama, I don't want to destroy anything.  I just want to be left alone,” I whispered.

 

"Goddamn it, you're a Saiyjin, and destruction is your business.  It's in your blood.  Haven't you ever wanted to destroy something beautiful?"

 

“Of course I haven’t…why would I want to?”

 

“Because the destruction of something beautiful is sometimes more beautiful than the thing itself boy.  People moan and gripe about the loss of innocence…innocence isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…look at your father.”

 

I felt myself stiffen.

 

“Your brainless fuck of a father… that son of a whore couldn't find his ass with both hands.  You’re wasting your time grieving for that low-class bastard.  The only intelligent thing he ever did was die."

 

 

"Vegeta..." my voice lowers dangerously.  I realize now that he didn't mean it, that he just wanted to force me out of the chasm of despair that threatened to claim my soul.  At the time, however, the pain was still so fresh; his harsh words were like a lance through my heart.

 

"Vegeta...Vegeta..."his voice mocks, "Shut my fucking mouth!!  Push my teeth through my skull, pull my tongue out and stomp on it, beat the shit out of me...but DO something!"  Vegeta screams.

 

I said nothing.  I did nothing.  Vegeta's ki began to rise sharply.  A vein throbbed in his forehead, his face was flushed.  He's so angry that he's nearly hysterical, "Kakkarott wasn't the great fighter you think he was.  He was a low-class bastard that got lucky."

 

 

"My father was stronger than you..." I say quietly.  I can barely believe my own words.  What comes out of my mouth next astounds me even to this day.  My voice was low, "He let you live..."

 

 

"Is that what you think, boy?  That your father LET me live?  I'm the Saiyan no Ouji, I was his prince, and I let HIM live.  You and this pathetic planet are still here only at my sufferance!"

 

The voice that issues from my throat is not my own.  I could never say these things, "Bullshit.  You are the prince of nothing.  I could kick your ass all the way back to Vegetasei.  Oh, no, I couldn't, could I?  Your precious little home is nothing but dust.  This is MY home, my father’s home and you are here only because I allow it."

 

I didn't notice the fleeting smirk that crossed his face as I did exactly what he wanted. I see it now, clearly, in my memories...as I see everything else.

 

"Bitch, I don't need your fucking permission, and I sure as hell don't need your dumbass father's permission to do a goddamn thing!  Especially since the cocksucker is DEAD!!!"

 

“Shut…up…Vegeta,” I said slowly, my voice cracking.

 

"What's the matter, whelp?  Are you afraid of little-old me?  I won't shut up until you fuck me up.  If you truly felt a thing for your father, you would never let me insult him.  I don't think you give a shit that he's dead;   you're just a spoiled little brat, wanting attention.  Or else you agree with me.  Is that it?  Don't you know deep-down that I'm right?  That your father was nothing more than pitiful?  That he was a brain-damaged, ignorant fool with no manners and less upbringing?  That he could never measure up to the power that we possess?"

 

I shudder, his words striking me as surely as if they were physical blows.  The world is flickering in and out of my vision, and I feel a strange sensation beginning to fill me.  It’s power…untamed, unleashed, unbridled, unbidden power.  And it begins to fill me, trapping me within its golden confines.  But strangely, I don’t feel trapped.  I feel…anger…rage…my overwhelming grief is shoved out of my brain completely as I face the man who dared to insult my father, who dared question my grief, my love for the man that gave me…and him…life.

 

I raise my arms to the heavens, and I see the golden aura that surrounds me.  I feel the earth shift under my feet at the mere nudge of my awesome power. I am a Super Saiyjin? I look the Saiyjin-no-Ouji in the eye and taste his surprise…his fear…his awe?

 

Only the fear means anything to me now.  A deadly calm engulfs me as I say “You should not have insulted my father.  He was a better man, a better fighter than you in every way and you will PAY for your words to me in BLOOD!”

 

For the first time since I had known him, Vegeta was speechless.  My blood sang as the proud fighter took a single reluctant step backwards.  He looked up in surprise; he knew that he had just betrayed his fear to me. 

 

And then, I attack.

 

That was after all what he had wanted me to do…to attack him, to fight him.  Kami...he was beautiful I thought, as his hesitation framed him for a moment in my golden aura...the impact of flesh on flesh as I struck his royal face gave me the greatest satisfaction I had ever known.

 

"Son-of-a-BITCH!" he screamed.  Vegeta raised his face towards mine, his lower lip torn and bleeding.  He raises one hand to his bloodied face...and laughs.  I had never heard him laugh like that before.  It was almost...joyous?  "I'll be damned.  So you do have some balls, after all?"

 

His laugh was melodious, I nearly smiled myself at his elation before I remembered why he was so happy.  So help me Vegeta was going to pay for his insults to my father...to me.

 

I attacked again, faster this time, harder, striking blows with lightening precision, and just as quickly, maybe more so, dodging the blows he was trying so hard to land.  It was frustrating to him, I could tell, and I smiled coldly as I broke his nose, the blood flowing over my hand in a crimson tide.  I remember that sweet, coppery scent, it fills my nostrils and even today  the memory excites me.

 

We broke apart, him breathless, panting me, calm and collected as he casually wiped the blood from his face.  I watched it soak into his white training glove almost distractedly, the red slowly conquering the white.

 

His voice rumbled low in his throat, "Now do you see?  Now do you comprehend what it means to be truly Saiyan?"

 

 I answered dangerously, "Yes.  I understand now.  Do you?" 

 

His ebony eyes bored into mine as he asked, "Understand what, boy?"

 

 I laughed harshly, my voice barbed, "I am the last TRUE Saiyan.  You are less than nothing." 

 

I flinched as his ki exploded around me.  "DAMN YOU TO HELL!" he shrieked.

 

I could feel him, his presence betrayed by his energy signature, but Vegeta had been fighting more years than I had been alive.  Suddenly, I felt nothing.  He wasn't there.

 

"Nani?!?" I exclaimed.  I wheeled around...and there he was.  His knee impacted with my jaw, and I screamed in pain. His fists delivered several powerful punches to my head and neck.  The shock wore off, however, and once again, I was in control of the fight. 

 

I brought my hands together in a gesture that brought tears to my eyes.  How many times had I seen my father do this?  I bite off my choked sob and channeled my grief into my ki.  My voice utters the familiar focusing chant, Kami, it could almost be my father’s voice, my father’s power coursing through me as I voice the memorable syllables.

 

“Ka…me….ha…me…”.a breath as I ready myself….”HA!”  I release the wave, and I know it is dead on accurate.  I can FEEL my father, almost smell that woodsy scent that I have always associated with him…THIS IS FOR YOU DADDY, my brain screams…and I am not aware that my voice echoes the agonized internal shriek.

 

Vegeta barely raised his arms in time to shield his face.  The wave hit him dead-on, and he struggled to remain upright under the ferocious onslaught.  He screamed as his forearms began to burn from the intense heat.  He lost his footing as the wave seemed to intensify, and found himself buried in the rock bed of the cliff behind him.  He grappled desperately with the massive ball of ki, and with a tremendous effort, he flung it up into the sky, hoping faintly that it wouldn’t hit anything important on its way out to space.

 

Vegeta panted slightly, then pried himself out of the rock.  He steadied himself and calmly walked back towards me, that smirk still on his face.  When he spoke, it was as though my attack had never happened, hadn’t affected him in any way, had been totally inconsequential.  How could that be?  He was bleeding, bruised and I could see the burns on his forearms from blocking that attack.  How could he act like it never even happened?

 

"Is that the BEST you can do boy?  You barely singed me.  Your pitiful father could have done better.  You couldn't even beat Frieza with a blast like that."  My breath hitched in my chest.  Nani?  What was he DOING? His slightly graveled voice continued.  "That pathetic attack… so much like your father..."

 

"I don't know what you're trying to prove Vegeta," I snarled, "but my father's attack has damaged you considerably. Just like it always has.  Your energy is dropping even as we speak."

 

 

He chuckles softly, "Yes.  It SEEMS that way, doesn't it, brat?  But you don't have the slightest notion of my true power..."

 

His eyes are cold, distant.  I can't read them at all.  If he is suppressing his ki...he can’t be…he’s bluffing…he MUST be bluffing.  My eyes narrow, and my world focuses on Vegeta.  His words, his lies, his fucking arrogance….my power spikes again, and I attack, without restraint, relying completely on instinct.  I feel nothing, I hear nothing.   I only fight.

 

My hold on reality, already tenuous after the death of my father, was now almost completely severed.  The heartless bastard standing before me was the only thing I cared about now.  I'm no longer a boy, I'm no longer a Son, I'm no longer Gohan.  I am a Super Saiyan.  All my grief, all my suffering, all my pain is focused on this one being.  My ailing mind was convinced that he was the one to blame...for all of it.  I can remember very little about the fight that followed, but the feeling that finally, here was an enemy that I could fight, that stays with me.   I could not fight the heart disease that had claimed my father's life, I could not fight the despair that clawed at my heart.  But I could fight that arrogant bastard to the death.

 

I can't remember what pushed him over the edge...I must have nearly lost it utterly.  I can only think that beyond his fear, his concern, his love for me enabled him to do the one thing that could save me from myself.  He became a Super Saiyjin.

 

I remember seeing him erupt in a flame of gold, his aura pulsating with that awesome power known only to the three surviving Saiyjins, and later his son.  I was astounded at the pure, raw energy bleeding off of him. My stunned shock gave him the entrance he needed.  In a barely discernable flash, he was behind me; then I fell.  And for a long time, I knew no more.

 

"Gohan...Gohan."  The soft voice is familiar to me, but I resist waking up.  A gentle shake on my shoulder, "Gohan, please wake up, you're scaring me."  I sigh inwardly and struggle towards consciousness.  I open my eyes to meet bright azure orbs...so unlike my prince, and yet, there is something of Vegeta in the shape of them, and the heavy lavender brows that slant over them.

 

 

A sigh of relief escapes his lips and he smiles.  His smile is bright, but even at its brightest it is always shadowed.  I know full well that he blames himself for the loss of my arm; it wasn't his fault, but nothing I have said since then has changed his mind.  He prefers to keep the blame on his shoulders.  THAT is very like Vegeta.

 

 

"C'mon Gohan, Kassan has breakfast waiting."  I smile at him, and swing my legs over the side of my bed.  I had fallen asleep in my clothes last night, and could see no reason to change.  My dreams had been restless, memories of Vegeta plague me; no, that is not the right word.  Even my worst memories of him I treasure like a precious gem.  It is only in my memories that the Saiyjin-no-Ouji truly lives.  His son was too young to remember his father, and Bulma is human.  There is just so much that she can't know couldn't understand about him.  But I knew everything about him before he died, and those memories sustain me even as they torture me.

 

 

 

Breakfast is brief; thankfully Bulma developed a kind of nutrition bar and beverage that supplies the necessary caloric demands for demi-Saiyjins.  Unfortunately they don't taste very good, but they are satisfying, and nutritious.  We still eat regular food, but there simply isn't enough these days.  I am grateful for the supplements, and I know Trunks is too.  His growing body requires vast amounts of protein and calories.  I am glad to know that he won't be stunted.  Vegeta wouldn't have liked that.

 

 

I wish I could go back to bed for awhile...but it's not a good idea.  Trunks needs to train, and I am the only one who can do it.  Kami-sama, I love the little brat, even if being around him hurts my heart.  I promised Vegeta I'd look after him if anything happened to him.  I had no choice really, and my hand absently strokes the claim-mark he left on the junction between my neck and shoulder.  Trunks after all for all intents and purposes is my son.

 

 

He doesn't know of course...not really.  He knows I miss his father terribly, but I have never told him of our relationship, brief as it was.  I never told Bulma either, and I don't know if Vegeta ever did.  Despite that, I wonder if she knows.  There is a look she gives me at times, a coolly appraising look that raises the hair on the back of my neck.  I look at Trunks sitting across from me at the breakfast table, suppressing a shudder as he downs a second glass of supplement.  I am startled to realize how much he has grown recently.  Kami, I may have to tell him after all.  Someone needs to give him the low-down on demi-Saiyjin physiology.  Who knows if I will even still be alive when his first heat strikes?  I don't like thinking that way, but I must be realistic.  Even if he doesn't know it, he is my child, and I have that responsibility.

 

 

We spar for a few hours into the early afternoon, drilling endlessly, working on his weaknesses, and finding ways around my missing arm.  I am stronger than I ever was, but the loss of my left arm still throws me off balance, and leaves me open to attack on that side.  I concentrate on trying to turn that weakness into an advantage.  Needless to say I have yet to succeed.

 

 

We return to the ruins of CC for lunch, and Trunks goes to help his mother while I slip away back into my room.  I search for a certain data chip that Vegeta left me and plug it in to the terminal in my room.  It contains everything from the records in Vegeta's old space pod, his personal journals, medical charts and educational programs that were used during cryo-sleep inbetween purging planets while he was in Frieza's employ.

 

 

I had asked Vegeta to teach me Saiyjin-o, and instead of teaching me himself (well, he did teach me some of the more colorful phrases he was fond of using) he dug his old programs out and set them up for me to use.  Some of them were programmed for subliminal use and some of them for interactive.  All were in Saiyjin-o.  Since then I had developed a translating program, after all my Saiyjin-o wasn't perfect and I didn't have Vegeta here to ask, and I had spent a great deal of time learning all I could about my prince and my people.

 

It made me feel closer to him I think, and there was no doubt that Vegeta was pleased at my interest.  I learned the spoken language quickly, and we often conversed in Saiyjin-o, Vegeta ever trying to improve my accent.

 

I found what I was looking for in both Vegeta's personal logs and the general medical records and ran it through the translating program.  I checked it over, and edited it, adding things that were pertinent for demi-Saiyjins, mostly guesswork considering the only experience I had was my own, and copied it to a spare chip.  My hand trembled as I sat back, more emotionally affected than I would have thought by simply reading medical charts and logs.  My mind caressed the subtle beauty of my prince's language and I remembered suddenly how I felt the day I discovered I could actually understand what he was growling at me under his breath.

 

 

I shivered slightly and stood up, pocketing the chip and leaving my quarters abruptly.  I knew where I would find Trunks, and headed to Bulma's workshop.  We needed to have a talk, he and I, and I'd be Kami-damned if I was going to shirk my duty...and my vow.  My heart squeezed painfully as I thought of Vegeta again, let's face it, Vegeta is my every other thought.  But it was the picture in my mind of Vegeta and Trunks together, those faces so similar, but the details so strikingly different.  Vegeta would have been so proud of his son.  I sighed as I found myself outside of Bulma's workshop.

 

 

"Hey guys," I call out cheerfully.  "Hi Gohan," replies Trunks, smiling all over his face.  "Lookit what we've been working on!"  I follow him over to the work table, and listen as he jabbers on about his mother's latest invention, and what he is doing to help.

 

"That's great Trunks," I say smiling supportively when he stops for a breath.  "But I need to talk to you about something, are you done here for now?"

 

"Sure," he says, giving me a quizzical look.  And he follows me out of the room.  Instead of going back to my quarters, I lead the way back to his room, figuring he'd feel more comfortable on his turf.  Entering, I close the door behind him and hand him the data chip.  "Sit down Trunks," I said.

 

He obeyed me, still looking puzzled.

 

"We need to have a frank talk about sex."

 

He blushed furiously, and giggled nervously.  "Go-chan, Mama already..."

 

I cut him off impatiently.  "This isn't a birds and bees talk Trunks, what I am going to tell you your mother knows very little or nothing about, but it is VERY important that you know.  If your father were alive, no doubt he would have already had this talk with you, but since he isn't, it's my responsibility."

 

 

His eyes open wide at the tone in my voice.  It is harsh and guttural, and I almost lapse into Saiyjin-o in my discomfort.  I swallow and continue.  I figured the best way to explain things was to give him a real life example.  I had decided to tell him about his father and me.

 

 

I sat down on the chair across from where he sat on the edge of his bed.  "That data chip contains some very useful information, as well as some of your father's personal logs.  I want you to read them later, and if you have any questions, come to me.  Don't go to your mother, I don't know what she knows or what she doesn't know.  This is a Saiyjin matter, and I would rather keep this between the two of us.  Understand?"

 

 

He nodded mutely, amethyst hair flopping into his eyes as he forced himself to meet my gaze.  I could see that he realized this was important, and was listening closely.

 

 

I hesitated, then pulled down the collar of my shirt, exposing the oddly shaped claim-mark that Vegeta had put there.

 

 

"You've seen this scar before, ne?"

 

"Yes, Go-chan."

 

 

"It is your father's claim-mark.  He gave it to me the day that we became mates.  He claimed me for his own.  Do you understand what that means?"

 

Trunks shook his head, looking slightly confused.

 

"It means that we were bonded mates Trunks.  In human terms, you would call what we had a marriage."

 

He looked stunned.  "B..but...what about kassan?"

 

"That I don't know.  I do know that your father never claimed her, though he mated with her, obviously seeing as how you exist."  I grinned at him, amused in spite of myself at his embarrassed blush.

 

"From what Vegeta told me, a Saiyjin can only truly mate with another Saiyjin.  There is a mental and emotional bond that is formed when a Saiyjin claims another.  I have all your father's memories up here." I tapped my forehead.  "And in here." I placed my hand over my heart.

 

I looked him full in the eyes.  "I loved your father Trunks.  I loved him more than I thought it was possible to love another person.  And the only thing that kept me from following him in death was you, my son."

 

"I was no older than you are now when your father claimed me, and then you were barely walking.  He made me promise that if anything happened to him, that I would protect you, that I would help the onna as he called her, raise you, and teach you what it meant to be a Saiyjin prince.  I've done my best Trunks, I know it isn't much, but I do and have always loved you as though you were my own.  You are in a very real way my child.  Your father and I were bonded by blood, and before he died, we performed a blood-bonding ceremony with you.  It's like a Saiyjin adoption; basically you bit me and tasted my blood, forming a parent-bond between us."  I chuckled.  "That's how I always know what you're up to, Trunks."  He looked uncomfortable.  I figured I knew what he was thinking. But I wanted him to ask.

 

"I will answer any questions you have the best that I can Trunks.  You don't have to be afraid, I won't get angry, or embarrassed.  If I didn't think this was important, I wouldn't tell you."  I lowered my head.  "I never told anybody.  It wasn't a secret exactly, we just had so little time together before...before he died.  And I didn't really have anybody to tell.  The only other person who might have understood was my father, but he had already died."  I wiped the back of my had across my damp eyes and looked at him.

 

He gazed at me levelly, his calm look disrupted by his reddened face.  "So, you and tousan were married, right?"  I nodded.  "And kassan told me that married people have sex."  I nodded again.  "But she only told me about men and women...she never said anything about two men together..."  I could see him forcing himself to keep my gaze.  Kami, I was so proud of him!  He was determined not to show how uncomfortable and embarrassed he was.  Not for the first time I wished Vegeta were here tonight.

 

"Human's have long held the idea that love between two people of the same sex is wrong," I began, my gaze never leaving his.  "Saiyjins on the other hand were more concerned about finding a mate that fit them, be it male or female.  They had no such moral bans on same-sex mating."

 

"But what about having babies?" asked Trunks, frankly puzzled.  "I mean, I can see how it would be pretty easy for two women to have a baby, all they need is sperm, one of them can carry the pregnancy.  But men can't get pregnant."

 

"Some Saiyjin men could get pregnant actually.  It was a genetic trait that ran in certain families.  All that information is on the data chip I gave you."

 

He frowned, but seemed to accept that.  "So, how do two men have sex exactly?"

 

I knew the question had been coming, and I was prepared to answer it, but even as I began, face hot my mind flew back, remembering....