Chapter 20
I don't own DBZ
Goku ran to Vegeta, looking absolutely exhausted from all of his father's chores. Not even Goku had realized how hard his father worked. He wanted to see if Vegeta could afford to give any help, but when he found him in the barn, he only became a little irritated. "Cousin Geta?"
Vegeta was in the process of making out with Bulma. Once they heard Goku's voice, the two of them immediately stopped. "What do you want Kakarot?"
"We posed ta be work'n. You do my chores, and I do my pa's. If we don't, then we lose some money. I need ya, cousin. I need yer help."
Bulma glanced over at Vegeta, who didn't seem to get the message, so she herself decided to avoid it as well. "Why don't we..." She began to whisper in Vegeta's ear, and once Goku saw the smirk appear on Vegeta's face, he could only guess what they were going to do.
"Kakarot, I'll be back in a little while." The two of them got off of the pile of hay they were sitting on and left out of the staple, leaving Goku all alone to do all of the chores. "But..." Goku stuck his chin up though, and continued to work. He now needed to do everything, absolutely everything, without any help from his dear cousin at all. 'I'll do it!' So little Goku worked all by himself, as hard as he possibly could.
"Was it right tuh leave him like dhat? I mean, he is all alone now?" Bulma started up her car.
"Since when did you start caring about the kid's well being?" Bulma was highly offended, even though Vegeta had a good point. "The movie is only two hours long woman. What else do you want me to say?" She still didn't look too sure. "He's a tough kid; he'll do what he can. Besides, I wanted your father to hire someone else. This is Bardock's mess. This has nothing to do with me."
Bulma wanted to see the movie, but Vegeta did seem a little cruel. "But they're your family."
"So what? I didn't choose to have them as relatives. Do you think I like them? The only tolerable one out of any of them is my aunt, and I think she's crazy for coming to live out here. Did you know she had a great chance to be an actress? Instead, she married a farmer and decided to live in debt her whole life. The only smart one is Raditz, because he got away."
"Vegeta..."
"You wanted to go to the movies right? You suggested it."
She nodded. "I did...so let's..." She sighed. "Let's just go." She plastered a smile on her face, and tried not to think of Goku. She really didn't have to try hard not to think about him, but rather Vegeta's lack of devotion to his own family. She wasn't a perfect daughter, but he just disowned them. Goku loved Vegeta and really admired him. "Let's go."
By the time Vegeta and Bulma returned from the movies, it was about time to leave the Briefs' farm. Goku had somehow managed to do everything, but now he looked dead. He was too tired to be angry with his cousin. He didn't even speak a word to Vegeta. Vegeta brought him goobers, but Goku didn't even take them. If Vegeta cared, he would have been worried. "We're home, Kakarot."
Goku opened his eyes and realized that he was in the family truck, but he couldn't really remember anything besides that. "I thought we were gonna go to the Briefs' farm."
"We did, you idiot. We're done working. It's time to go in now." Goku got out of the truck and drug his feet until he reached the stairs. He had trouble getting up. Each step was painful, and with each step, he remembered what he had been doing. 'Oh yeah, I did work...all by myself.' When his mother opened the door, she looked as if she was about to faint.
"Oh my poor baby!" She got on her knees and hugged her son, who just collapsed in her arms. "Sweety, are you alright?" He didn't answer, nor did she give him time to answer. "Oh honey, I don't know if you can do this. Look how tired you are. We'll manage with the lesser money. Don't be so proud, baby. Alright?"
Goku shook his head. "I kin do it."
She kissed her son on the cheek and let go. "Oh Goku, you're becoming a man. You make me proud everyday." She began getting so emotional that she actually began to cry. "You're just growing up so fast! I wish you would stay small forever!" She wiped her tears away and as fast as they fell, her calmness resumed. "It's time for dinner. Go take a shower, Kakarot. You're absolutely fifthly."
Goku nodded and made his way up the steps, very slowly.
"God bless that boy! I'm so proud of him." She noticed that Vegeta wasn't as dirty as Goku. "You on the other hand, can wash your face and hands."
"Of course. I'm not barbaric."
It was hard to believe that Vegeta wasn't dirty, but she let it go.
"I'm starving" Vegeta told his aunt. "Let's eat."
The two of them were sitting at the dinner table waiting for Goku. He was taking such a long time. "Go fetch your cousin, and I mean go get him. Don't you dare yell for him!"
Vegeta hated when she nagged like that. She was right though. Vegeta was just going to yell. He instead hurried upstairs to Kakarot's room. "Idiot?" He opened the door and the kid only had some pajama pants on. "It's time for dinner, kid. We're waiting on you."
"I'm looking for my top..." he started searching on his dresser, where his mother had left a pile of clothes. "So, where did you and Bulma go?"
"The movies, remember? She told me to bring you back some candy. I brought you some, Kakarot."
"Oh..." Goku was angry, but didn't say anything about it. He had to work by himself. Yes he got his father's chores done, but he only got a quarter of his done, and he was so tired! 'I can't believe cousin Geta did dhat ta me!' "I'm a come'n." He found his top in the pile and put it on.
"You must be hungry," Vegeta teased.
Goku didn't answer. He was usually so happy, but he was so angry at this point of time. He ran downstairs in order to separate himself from Vegeta. He hurried down to the table and closed his eyes for the prayer. Once Vegeta sat down, he closed his eyes as well.
"Bless the food" Tannipu told her son.
"Bless the food God, and let it be good." His mother was a little surprised by the short prayer, but she let it go. 'Something is wrong with my little boy.' "Are you going to be alright, Kakarot?"
"Sure mom, I'm jus a little tired. Aftah dinnah, I'm go'n ta bed."
She felt so bad for her son. She had to say what was in her heart, even though it would hurt him. "I think its best that we just let the Briefs hire someone else."
"But ma—"
"But nothing, young man! You and Vegeta tried your hardest today and it still wasn't enough. Sometimes you've got to know your limitations, and it's okay that you have them. I mean, you're only human. There's not much that you can do, little one. Sometimes you've got to learn to let things go."
"But I kin do it, ma! I kin! Trust me, and I promise ya I will. I'll work harder, I swear I will. Just let me try anuther time."
"It doesn't seem like the two of you can do it and Vegeta will be gone in a little bit. Then you'll be by yourself for a little while, and you can't manage. I'm afraid you just can't, Kakarot. You're a good boy, but you're no superhero."
Goku looked up at his cousin. "Yer right ma, I can't do it by myself. I know that much for sure."
"What's this about?" Tannipu finally asked. She could see that Goku was upset and Vegeta wasn't half as tired as Goku. "What happened today?"
Goku wasn't going to say. He wasn't really a snitch. Since Goku wasn't going to say anything, Vegeta confessed. He was a man and wasn't going to hide from what he did. "Today, Goku did most of the work on the farm. I did a little bit and then I took off with Bulma."
Tannipu looked like she wanted to smack Vegeta and burst into tears all at the same time. "Your cousin is trying is very best to take of the slack for his father and just when I thought he had some help—I thanked God he had help—and you just went with Bulma to hang out? You're our family Vegeta. That counts for something. I'm aware that you don't like the fact that we're not rich like your parents, but we're still your family. There are more important things than money. There's love, happiness, and joy. There are people who don't even know what it's like to have a family who love each other. Goku's father is the world to him and he had an accident. Bardock fell of a roof. Yes, that held us back a little bit, but Goku loves this family enough to work for his father's dream. Goku works so hard, and you couldn't even help him? You had to go watch some scary movie and flirt with a girl that you're not even going to see after a month? Is it worth it? Do you think your kicks are more important than us keeping our house and Bardock having his own farm so Goku can have some kind of inheritance? Is that really how you feel Vegeta? If so, then by all means, don't bother going to the farm tomorrow. You never liked this family, so you don't have to be apart of it if you don't want to." Tannipu couldn't stomach to stay at that table, so she left and went upstairs crying.
"Mom is right" Goku told his cousin. "I ain't gonna say nuthin though, cousin. If ya wanna be with Bulma, then go ahead. I ain't gonna stand in yer way, but don't pretend like ya help'n me. If I'm on my own, I wanna know it." Goku was upset with his cousin, but no way was he going to walk away from a table of food, so he started eating.
Vegeta wasn't going to leave either. He was going to eat. "Kakarot, I don't know what gave you the impression that I wanted to help you anyway."
"But cousin—"
"But cousin, nothing! I'm sick and tired of being here on this farm, with this family, and with you. We're not friends. You're sadly mistaken if you thought we were. I'm only at this stupid place for one reason. I'm on punishment, so I have to help you out Kakarot, but other than that, I don't have any other obligation to you. So I had some fun with Bulma. What's the big deal? She's the only thing that makes this place tolerable. You're just like a pebble in my shoe, and how can anyone like that?"
Goku's little heart was breaking. "But all that planning we did together? What about all the fun times we had? We worked side by side and everything! I thought we were friends!"
"You're a pest Kakarot, and nothing more."
"Yer a jerk, cousin! I thought we were friends, but apparently not. You don't have ta be my friend. I don't care! You kin go back home to yer mom and dad, and I won't care. You've been more like a big brother ta me, but since that doesn't mean anything to you, it doesn't mean anything ta me. I'm a through with ya!"
"Good, because I don't want anything to do with you anyway."
Goku angrily began taking mashed potatoes out of its dish and onto the plate.
Vegeta started doing the same with the macaroni.
"If ya don't like my mother than ya shouldn't eat her food, now pass the macaroni."
He smirked. "You want this?" He took a spoon and flung the macaroni right into Goku's face. "There's your helping Kakarot, and just so you know, I'll eat what I want without any input from you."
"You know I love my momma's macaroni! No one does that ta my macaroni!" Goku reached for the meatloaf and chucked the whole thing at him and hit Vegeta in head. Vegeta had barbeque dripping from down his face.
"I was going to eat that."
"So? I don't like it." Since Goku doesn't eat meatloaf, when his mother cooks it, she cooks a special main course just for Goku and this time it happened to be some chicken legs. "Don't ya dare touch it!"
Vegeta didn't care. He took the three drumsticks and threw it right at Goku. Goku caught one of them, but Vegeta wouldn't let him have the victory. Vegeta took the pitcher of Kool-Aid and threw it right and Goku, soaking him in tropical berry and also destroying the chicken he had saved. "Sorry Kakarot."
"I don't care!" Goku yelled. "I'll still eat it!" Goku tried, but Vegeta ran over to him and snatched it out of his hand and took the biggest bite that he possibly could out of it. "That's it!" Goku started to take the remainder of the food and just started chucking it right at Vegeta. Vegeta did the same, and it turned into an all out food fight between the two of them. Once there was no more food left to throw, Goku hopped on Vegeta's back and started pulling his hair.
"You think you can take me? Don't forget what I did to Yamcha."
"So what? Broly could take Yamcha with both hands tied behind his back!" Vegeta managed to get Goku off of his back and he pined him down to the ground, but Goku bit Vegeta hand and got free.
"You little worm!" The two of them continued wrestling until Tannipu ran down the stairs as fast as she could and into the dining room. "What's going on?" Goku and Vegeta stopped and neither of them could think of what to say. "Well?"
Goku smiled and said innocently "Um…we're eat'n…"
"Clean up this mess right now! What's wrong with you? I cook dinner for you kids and you do this crazy mess? This is how you repay me? Clean it up!" She marched upstairs so angry. She couldn't believe how they had acted.
Vegeta cursed his cousin once he realized how big of a mess they had made. "Now we have to clean all of this…"
Goku felt like crying. "Vegeta…I'm hungry."
"Shut up!"
To be continued…
A/N: Uh oh! Things are getting rough between Goku and Vegeta. Will they patch things up; will they never learn to get along? Find out next time! Please review!