A Song-fic. Still not lemony, but very cinnamony. (13/10/2002)
Not from anyone’s particular POV. Personal thoughts are
bordered by ~, shared thoughts by ::
Steeling himself, Vegeta was about to enter; he never
knocked, when the front door opened. He froze in mid-stride and looked up at
the taller Saiyan. Though the moon was full, thick clouds obscured the silvery
orb, and he could barely make out the ebon-haired male’s expression. The ouji’s
stomach twisted in an unfamiliar tension and his nerves were stretched taut.
His tongue flicked out nervously, unconsciously to wet his dry lips.
Goku’s eyes were slightly blood-shot and his face and lips
were pale. Dressed only in jeans, his hair fell in rumpled disarray and he
looked terrible. A brief look of hurt, tinged with a hint of hope flashed
briefly in his eyes before he managed to regain control. Crossing his arms, he
stood stonily in the center of the doorway, his jerkily lashing tail the only
outward indication that he was as agitated as the prince.
The two stood there in an uneasy silence until Goku couldn’t
take the tension anymore, and ran a jittery hand though his tousled black
spikes, combing it into some semblance of order. “Nani?”
Vegeta started a bit at the curt, peevish tone and
swallowed. Kami, this was harder than he thought… ~ Shit, I’m supposed to be
the prince of a warrior race; I’ve faced worse situations than this… What am I
so scared of? ~
Reminding himself of his previous resolve, he lifted his
chin slightly higher. “Kakarrot…” Flushing a little at his cracked voice, he
cleared his throat, crossed his arms unconsciously and tried again. “Kakarrot,
I..I didn’t mean it.”
Goku’s eyes hardened with a glint. He was still feeling
angry and upset over what had transpired earlier, and he admitted privately, a
tad revengeful as well. He had spent the past few hours curled up on his
bed in his old bedroom feeling like absolute shit. “What do you mean, you
didn’t mean it?”
Vegeta groaned inwardly at the wintry look from the taller
Saiyan. “I did not mean what I said earlier.”
Goku waited patiently as he raked the shorter Saiyan with
his gaze. Dressed in black leather pants and a loose navy shirt that was neatly
tucked in, Vegeta looked oddly formal. The silence stretched and became
positively sadistic.
“It isn’t …only sex.”
The taller Saiyan’s adamantine eyes narrowed further when it
appeared that Vegeta wasn’t going to say anything else. That short admission
was not good enough for him. With a low growl, he stepped back and was prepared
to slam the door shut when a hand shot out and gripped his forearm tightly.
“Wait, Kakarrot…” Goku noted the ever so slightly panicked tone in the ouji’s
normally imperturbable voice, and twisted his head slightly to one side to hide
his small smirk.
“You aren’t only a ‘casual fuck’ to me; I’ve never meant to
imply that… You mean more to me than that.” The words tripped out awkwardly and
then Vegeta faltered, his voice dropping lowly to a whisper. “A lot more.
Kakarrot, I’m really sorry about what I said earlier.”
~ Fuck, I can’t do this! ~ He dropped his gaze dejectedly,
almost growling in frustration, taking Goku’s continued silence as rejection.
Every word, every admission was a trial for him; apology did not come easy to
him.
~ I’m a prince…I won’t grovel. ~ Shaking his head slightly
as he dragged in a ragged breath, Vegeta released his grip on the younger
Saiyan’s arm as well and turned to leave. “Never mind.”
“Vegeta.” He paused at Goku’s call but did not turn around.
Brawny arms wrapped around his waist and after a moment, he relaxed with an
inaudible sigh and leaned back against the warm, solid body behind him.
“Vegeta… I..I…”
“Kakarrot…”
Both spoke simultaneously and there was an awkward pause.
“Kakarrot.” Vegeta twisted in Goku’s loose embrace and
looked up at the taller warrior. For once, his expression was open and
strangely vulnerable. “I am who I am; I cannot change that. And… ”
“I understand.” Goku did understand just how much it
cost Vegeta to even apologize like this. He knew the ouji’s pride, and his lips
curled up in a small but radiant smile. Maybe there was a chance after all…
“You don’t have to say anything more.”
“No, I need to tell you. I, we… just can’t continue skirting
this issue…” Vegeta sighed but kept his gaze steady on the younger Saiyan. “I
truly am sorry about what I said, but I don’t know if I… Kuso! …I don’t know if
I …love you.”
Goku swallowed hard, his heart breaking again as he
blinked suddenly misty eyes rapidly. Oh god, it still hurt even though Vegeta
had already told him so. No, actually… it hurt so much more. Because he had
foolishly raised his hopes yet again, and because now, Vegeta was being nice
about it… He opened his mouth, his mind fumbling for some blithe reply.
“Kakarrot. Wait.” Vegeta raised a finger to parted lips,
halting the younger male’s reply. “I cannot give you what you want…”
“I only want you.” A dejected, slightly hoarse whisper.
“And I want you too.” The whiskey whisper was so faint, Goku
wondered for a second if he had somehow deluded himself again.
“I..I can’t explain it. I don’t know how to say it, I
don’t even know…” Normally articulate, the prince cursed as he stumbled over
how to express this nebulous, vague feeling within him. A dark tint painted
over regal cheeks as he draped his arms around the other’s broad shoulders and
looked up into eyes of midnight liquid. “But I want you. And I don’t want you
to leave… To leave me.”
Goku could hear, feel his heartbeat thudding loudly
as the whispered words echoed loudly in his head. His eyes softened and he
tightened his arms around the smaller figure, almost afraid that the aloof
prince might somehow flit away. “I won’t… I’m sorry too. I know I shouldn’t
have pushed you…”
“Hn.” Slim hands reached up and threaded through mussed
spikes, bringing the younger’s head down. Lips met for a tender kiss and uneasy
tension dissolved as two bodies melted hungrily against each other.
Vegeta finally pulled away reluctantly to look up at the
other’s slightly flushed visage, his voice a husky whisper. “Once I have mocked
these sappy feelings as weaknesses, once I have claimed not to believe in a
stupid Ningen emotion like love.” He ran one hand lightly over Goku’s
cheekbones, enjoying the feel of warm satiny skin against the back of his
fingers. “I am still not sure what this love is, but maybe… love is
being stupid together.”
Dancing in
the dark ‘til the tune ends
We’re dancing
in the dark and it soon ends
We’re
waltzing in the wonder of why we’re here
Time
hurries by, we’re here, and we’re gone
Vegeta’s ki flared gently, swirling around them and lifting
them smoothly as eyes slid close and heads slanted towards each other again.
Mouths sought each other again in a desperate, searing kiss, tongues flicking
out to tease along swollen lips before plunging in to tangle and twine
sensually. Golden trails of ki eddied around them as they spun slowly in the
cool night air.
They broke apart again as they surfaced over the heavy
clouds. Smiling faintly, Vegeta settled the younger’s arms around his hips
before he rested his hands lightly on the other’s hips as well.
~ Let me try to show you what you mean to me. ~
His tail brushed up Goku’s leg as he led the younger,
stepping and turning in a sensual, private dance. The auburn length curled and
uncurled along the denim-clad muscled thigh as he spoke softly, before looping
intimately with another furry appendage.
“We are not only a barbaric warrior race with no culture. We
had a rich, splendid past. A kata is, but a martial dance of skill after all.
On Vegetasei, balls were often held in my father’s great hall. As the Saiyan no
Ouji, I was taught all types of dance from an early age and I had sometimes
danced with the dignitaries that visited.” Vegeta’s voice was a low, distant
murmur as he delved into pleasant memories, subconsciously leading the younger
Saiyan in a graceful waltz. “I had danced like this once, with a distant
cousin. We were young but we were close; our parents probably had hoped we
would mate when we grew older. But I had never coiled tails with her.”
Goku blushed darkly as the furry tail around his own
tightened and rippled. “Vegeta…”
The ouji rose slightly until he was looking at the taller
warrior straight in the eye. His lips quirked further slightly in a lopsided
smile, and to Goku’s surprise, he felt the gossamer brush of the royal’s mind
against his own. Faint strains of a sensual music filled his mind, the melody
alien yet stirring. He could just see the shadowy images of a grand
bedecked ballroom overlaid over his own vision, ghostly couples twirling
zephyr-like past them.
With a start, he realized that these were Vegeta’s memories.
The music was wavering, the images indistinct; the prince had not thought about
that halcyon era for a long time, but as they continued moving over their own
private dance floor and down the hallowed halls of the prince’s mind, the faint
strains rose in intensity and volume to a crescendo as old memories came
flooding back. However, the images remained fuzzy and barely perceptible and
soon faded, as they stepped to their own intimate dance. Though he had not
learned the unfamiliar steps, Goku found himself being led gracefully and
easily, the subtle hints he picked up from their mental link helping as well,
and he soon settled into a relaxed rhythm.
“I had expected to dance like this one day… exactly like
this.” A low baritone broke Goku’s reverie. “On the night when I announce my
chosen mate, by twining tails when we dance. It is an old Saiyan custom.” A
warm feeling of utter happiness bubbled up in the younger Saiyan at that
simple, telling statement.
“And a dance is but making love to a different kind of music…
“ Vegeta smirked suggestively as he pulled his lover closer.
Luna’s silvery light drenched the thick, roiling clouds and
at the altitude they were at, the sky was crisp and clear. Faint tendrils of
their hot breath steamed in the frosty night air and the entire setting seemed
ethereal, surreal. It felt like a dream, floating and spinning in mid-air
across a mercury dance floor that shifted and curled around their feet.
Sparkling stars dotted the velvety midnight skyscape above them.
Looking for
the light of a new love
To
brighten up the night, I have you love
And we can
face the music together
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Vegeta spoke again. “I
am who I am. I am the Saiyan no Ouji. I am proud, harsh, bloodthirsty. I can
and probably will be cruel, I will never be soft, I will never say what you
want me to say. I may regret untrue words, but I can’t and will not apologize
for who I am. I will not change who I am, not even for you.”
“Hai.” Goku replied seriously. “You are all that I ever
wanted. You wouldn’t be Vegeta, the Saiyan no Ouji, you wouldn’t be you,
the person I fell in love with, if you were anything else.”
“If you are sure, Kakarrot…”
Vegeta gave a calm, small smile as his eyes slid close.
Inwardly though, he was trembling. Was he sure? Was this what he wanted?
Yes; he had brooded about this earlier, he had ruthlessly examined his own
feelings towards the younger Saiyan.
Yes…
Yet…
He had known from a young age how a Saiyan mating was to be
like; it was intense and it was forever. The feelings, the relationship between
a Saiyan mated pair were different from how Ningen culture; Saiyans were a
warrior race after all. He remembered his parents’ fiery relationship; they
were always fighting, always challenging, taunting and teasing, yet they
couldn’t stay apart. No quarter given, none expected. Once bonded, there was no
turning back.
Yet, following the destruction of his planet and the deaths
of his people, he had grown wary of close attachments, walling himself off
behind a barrier of coldness and rage, distancing himself from what he saw as
emotional weaknesses. He could not understand how his people; a race of fierce
fighters, who led a risky way of life, could afford to shackle themselves in
such a manner.
But perhaps his people knew something he didn’t…
With a barely perceptible sigh that shuddered through his
frame, Vegeta dropped his mental barriers. Raw, exposed…To relinquish control…
He felt unbelievably vulnerable and for a moment, he quailed and wanted
to turn back. To hide. Shame and fear twisted violently in his gut and he
wondered how Kakarrot could stand it; he could tell that the Earth-raised
Saiyan had only rudimentary instinctive shields. Sneering a little at his
cowardice, he gritted his teeth and sent his mind reaching towards his
counterpart’s.
~ I would choose you as mate… ~
“Forever…” Goku barely heard the breathy whisper, laden with
veiled meaning and promises. He had only a second to ponder on its meaning
before he felt Vegeta’s mind brushing faintly against his own, and the
momentary question was forgotten.
The light touch of the ouji’s mind against his own became
more insistent, and after a few moments’ confusion, Goku realized what Vegeta
wanted. Relaxing, mentally and physically, he could literally feel the walls
around his mind crumble and something alien, yet something familiar easing in.
He gasped and arched back, his eyes falling close as the fiery, intense sheer presence
of the ouji flowed in… His favorite image of molten lava whenever he thought of
the older Saiyan came back to him.
Vegeta gave a low, primal groan as he threw out metaphysical
tendrils around the younger warrior’s mind. He had telepathic experience, but
never had he ventured into another mind with the intention of permanently
bonding to the other… It was terrifying yet it was oddly comforting as well.
Kakarrot’s mind was lighter, airier… different. He was reminded of a bright
crystal as he wandered through the vaults of the Earth-raised Saiyan’s mind;
Kakarrot’s view of the world was dazzlingly clear in it’s simplicity. Doubts
faded as he continued to weave his own psyche through the other’s, exploring,
showing, learning, teaching…
Goku felt overwhelmed; drowning in the thoughts, memories,
emotions that he knew were not his own, echoing through his head like a million
whispers in the wind, a thousand fragments in a hallway of shadowed mirrors… He
felt confused yet he also felt drawn, wishing he could grasp at the elusive
images that flitted at the edge of his consciousness.
:: Later…:: The ouji’s deep voice reverberated soundlessly
through his mind.
:: Now…:: And he learnt to separate himself, though he
somehow knew they would eternally be linked.
Twin sets of eyes snapped open with a gasp simultaneously.
Vegeta stared at the inky eyes of his chosen’s, and ever so slowly, somehow
knowing what he had to do next, sank his fingers through the riotous spikes and
brought their lips together.
~ Kakarrot… ~
Streaks of amber ki swirled swiftly around them as they
sealed their union with a searing kiss. Bodies pressed closely together, arms
wrapped tightly, almost desperately. Heads slanted instinctively to deepen the
kiss. One hand clutched fistfuls of thick ebony hair shot with darkest indigo,
arms tightened around a clothed back, hands smoothing and rubbing against the
flexing muscles beneath the fabric. A leather-clad leg rubbed sensually against
up a denim counterpart as hips bucked and gyrated. Tails fluffed and twined in
a bristling spiral.
~ Vegeta! ~
Ebony hair flared into gold as energies skyrocketed and
merged in a crackling, contained maelstrom. Their aura exploded around them in
a radiant, pulsating, golden sphere. The thick clouds beneath their feet roiled
violently and were pushed away by the sheer, glorious force of their tumultuous
joining.
:: …… ::
When they finally broke apart and relaxed, their faces were
flushed and eyes were glazed drunkenly. The frosty night winds blew around
them, cooling their heated skin and wisps of clouds drifted tentatively back to
curl around their legs. For a long while, they could only pant lightly as they
gazed at each other wordlessly, still stunned by all that has happened so far.
Vegeta did not know it would be like this; hearing stories and actually
experiencing a bonding had been two very different matters.
Goku was the first to notice the difference in their
appearances. It was very slight and he pulled back further to look at the
prince, initially thinking it had just been a trick of the moonlight. But, no…
His eyes widened as he lifted his hand to run it through
Vegeta’s thick upswept hair, lightly infusing his hand with a soft yellow glow
to see better. In addition to the faint auburn highlights normally present in
the ouji’s ebon hair were blue-black tints… just like his own. He lowered his
wide-eyed stare…and their tails…
His own now had russet streaks, while the ouji’s darker
reddish brown tail was stained with chestnut. Both also had gold lightly shot
through the furry lengths. “Vegeta, was this suppose to happen?”
Vegeta looked down at their tails in surprise. “Yes… Bonded
mates wear each other’s colors; it has to do with the exchange and merging of
ki. But I had not expected the golden highlights… That has never happened
before.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we are both
Super Saiyans…” Goku cracked a grin.
“Hai.” Vegeta responded with a truly stunning smile of his
own. Raising his hands as he floated back a step, he slowly unbuttoned his
shirt; smile quirking into a smirk as he watched a familiar fire ignite in the
younger male’s eyes.
Goku raked his eyes hungrily down the smaller Saiyan’s body,
following the path of those slim fingers as they moved down the front of the
navy shirt to reveal smooth skin. The said fingers then trailed back up a
chiseled abdomen and chest slowly, tantalizingly as the opened shirt billowed
gently in the cold night breeze. Silvery light from the pale orb from above
cast each dip and swell of the muscled body in stark relief. Reaching the
collar, the prince casually shrugged the dark fabric off his shoulders and
allowed it to fall, fluttering unnoticed through the clouds beneath.
“Wait, Kakarrot. There is another common Saiyan mating
tradition.” Vegeta smirked wickedly as he held up a hand, fully enjoying the
look of thwarted frustration on the other male’ countenance as he floated back
from the younger Saiyan’s reach. Reaching into the pocket in his pants, he
pulled out a slim bar.
“Nani?” Goku momentarily forgot the throbbing ache in his
nether regions as he watched the prince in puzzlement.
Using his ki, Vegeta held the ingot of gold in place,
hovering in midair between his opened palms. The oblong melted as he increased
the ki flowing between his hands, simultaneously bringing them apart to extrude
the metal. It was fortunate that gold was extremely soft and malleable. He had
paid a second visit back to Capsule Corp that evening to obtain the bar after
he made up his mind on his course of action.
“Raise your ki around your left arm, Kakarrot.”
The molten gold stretched, and then flattened as the
shimmering liquid metal became a flowing stream. Dividing the liquefied metal
into two equal parts, he wound one thin golden ribbon around Goku’s left arm.
With his ki raised, the heated metal did not burn and Goku watched with
interest as the prince deftly spun the thin strip in a simple spiral that went
around his thickly muscled upper arm twice.
Floating closer, Vegeta focused a bit of ki on an index
finger and traced out a tiny symbol and compact, neat letters, his ki engraving
the writing on the softened metal, murmuring softly as he worked. “This is the
crest of the royal family, and that is my name in Saiyingo.”
“This is very much like a common Ningen custom of exchanging
wedding bands…” Goku smiled, extremely touched.
“Hai…” Vegeta nodded in satisfaction as he examined his
handiwork. As he withdrew his ki from the heated metal, the gold cooled in the
frosty night air and shrank slightly to fit snugly over the thickly muscled
arm.
“If we were back on Vegetasei, as royal consort, you would
have been given a lot more jewelry and other gifts. I might have gifted
you with a sword or a pair of daggers, valuable baubles, perhaps a deed of
land… Along with the grand celebrations…” He shuddered and rolled his eyes.
Grinning naughtily, Vegeta touched the younger’s left ear lobe lightly with his
finger, still pulsing warm with ki. “Would you like an earring, or two? How
about some piercing further down? Or perhaps you would like to wear my crest on
your cute ass to show your undying devotion to me, ne?”
“Vegeta!” Goku yelped and jumped back, clutching his ear and
ass protectively.
The prince smirked, and turned his attention back to the
remaining mass of molten gold. Repeating the same process, he spun a similar
armband around his own upper left arm. The engraving gave him a bit more of a
problem as he twisted his neck to trace the tiny words laboriously. “These
letters are your name in Sayingo, and I saw this on your father’s coat of arms
when he came to swear fealty to my father a long time back…” His words trailed
off as he concentrated on the fine work.
When Vegeta was done, he looked up at the taller Saiyan.
Slowly, he drew his younger mate to him. Both were suddenly quiet, both feeling
a little stunned. Content to float silently in the clear night air, embraced
within warm arms, immersed in private thoughts.
Dancing in
the dark ‘til the tune ends
We’re
dancing in the dark and it soon ends
We’re
waltzing in the wonder of why we’re here
Time
hurries by, we’re here, and we’re gone
-----
A/N: The song “Dancing in the Dark” was written by Howard
Dietz and Schwartz. Heh. I know with the bright moon above, it wasn’t very dark
but I hope you get the scene…
Onto Chapter 6
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