Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters

A glass shattered after it hit the wall of a living room in a home downtown.

"Get out of here you good-for-nothing, lazy kid and don't come back!"

A teenaged boy slammed the front door shut and walked aimlessly through the city. He would eventually end up at the homeless shelter and stay for a night, until his father would call his cell and demand him to run some errand or return home. It became his normal routine seven years prior. Already angered, the boy thought against the trip down memory lane. He didn't want to cause a scene.

The boy ended up at a cemetery and stopped in front of one of the graves. A rare tear escaped him.

Why did you have to go? he thought, placing his hand atop the tombstone. Sighing heavily, he continued his trek to the shelter.

"Hey, Vegeta, you're back?" Goku asked. Goku was Vegeta's best friend since forever and volunteered at the homeless shelter often. Vegeta grunted the affirmative. Goku sighed. "I don't understand why you just don't come stay with my family. You know my parents wouldn't mind."

Vegeta had been offered this many times and had really wanted to take him up on the offer, but what was the point when the drunken bastard would just seek him out. He'd be forced back home and probably punished for disloyalty or some such nonsense.

"It's fine, Kakarot," Vegeta responded using his friend's nickname. "Tell your parents thanks for me."

Goku sighed but gave Vegeta a blanket for one of the spare beds. "Have you eaten at all?" he asked.

Vegeta nodded. "That's actually why I'm here. The jerk drank his taste buds numb and said it was my fault for not flavoring the meat enough."

"I'm sorry." Vegeta glared at him. He hated it when people pitied him. "I know…no apologizing. It's just that you're my friend and you don't deserve that."

Vegeta took the blanket and went to one of the beds. He lied down, stared out the window, and watched the start of a rainstorm. No, he didn't deserve how his father treated him, but Goku would never know the extent of it. Contemplating his next move for the morning, Vegeta closed his eyes and succumbed to the nightmares that usually plagued him.