Author: FireCracker KLee624820@aol.com
        Pairing Goku/Vegeta/Radditz/Nappa

        A/U -Goku learns what it really means to be Saiyan.

       Monkey Moon Part 11

        Nappa grinned. "I'd nearly forgotten...I suppose we'll have to hear strident
        accusations, eh?"

        "They can screech all day, it changes nothing" Raditz insisted as the others
        approached. "Kakarot knows his life."

        Piccolo stalked down the incline first. "What's going on here, saiyans?"

        "'Saiyans?'" Vegeta mocked, wide eyed. "My, how formal. And here I thought we
        were past such distinctions."

        "Save it, Vegeta. What have you done to Goku?" he glanced at the prone figure.

        Vegeta glanced at his fellow saiyan and smiled, gently sweeping his tail across the
        handsome face. A small grin curved upward on swarthy features.

        Krillen stepped forward. "HEY! Cut that out!"

        "The mouse roars" Nappa pointed his ham hock at them all. "Why are you people
        here? We're enjoying a quiet breakfast, and don't appreciate foolish interruptions."

        "We're here out of concern for Goku" Tien responded. "Let's just say we aren't
        convinced he's here voluntarily."

        Vegeta made a grand gesture at his side. "As you can see, he's sleeping peacefully."

        "How do we know he isn't drugged?"

        The saiyans roared with laughter. Raditz shook his head somberly. "Are all humans so
        ridiculous?! What would drugging him achieve?"

        "Who knows? Your motives haven't made sense since you arrived on earth."

        "Ah, but they do. We simply haven't revealed them."

        "Bull!" Krillen shouted. "You've got a hidden agenda. What is it?"

        "Nothing sinister, I assure you" Vegeta said smoothly. "If you don't believe me, ask
        sleeping beauty here" he pointed at Goku.

        Krillen kneeled next to his friend, shaking him gently. "Goku, can you hear me?"

        A strange keening sound came from the saiyan's throat. Krillen shrugged at the
        others.

        "Maybe he's clearing his voice or something-"

        "Hn, don't remember last night but it sure was hot!" Goku mumbled.

        Yamcha coughed into his hand, grinning. "Well...at least we know he isn't drugged!"

        "Will you wake up already" Krillen shook the saiyan again. "We don't need a porn
        recording!"

        Sleepy eyes blinked open. "Ha? Krillen?"

        "Yeah, it's me."

        Goku sat up slowly, rubbing his head. He stared at his friends.

        "What are you doing here in South America?"

        "Chi Chi was concerned about you" Piccolo supplied. "So were we."

        Goku was nearly awake now. "But why?"

        "She briefed us on some...changes that have occurred."

        "What? She told you everything?!"

        Tien stepped up. "Just enough to make us wonder if you were okay."

        Vegeta gave a flip of a hand. "They're wondering if you've grown another head,
        Kakarot...or perhaps mutated into a green frog!"

        "You're real funny, Vegeta" Krillen snorted.

        "Do join us for breakfast" Nappa offered sarcastically. "There's plenty for all" he
        indicated a huge boar on a spit. "We even left the skin on!"

        Raditz held up a bowl. "The brains go well with fruit for relish. We filled the stomach
        with banana leaf mash."

        Yamcha turned gray. "Uh, no thanks...we ate on the ship."

        "Goku, are you all right? Really?" Piccolo wanted to know.

        The tall saiyan stretched in the grass. "I'm fine...I apprecate the concern, but there's
        no need."

        Krillen stared in fascination at his tail. "I'd forgotten you used to have that..."

        Goku grinned, waving it about. "Yeah, it still seems a bit strange, but I'm getting used
        to it."

        "And the other changes as well?" Piccolo wondered.

        Goku suddenly gave a goofy grin, rubbing the back of his head. "Gee, what changes?
        I'm still just me!"

        The saiyans glanced at each other in surprise. Krillen laughed in relief.

        "That's our Goku! He seems the same to me."

        "Me too" Tien agreed. "I think you overreacted, Piccolo."

        "Maybe, but that still leaves the matter of the Dragonballs."

        Vegeta bristled. "What about them?"

        "We know you intend to use them, Vegeta. The question is for what?"

        "That's none of your buisness, Piccolo. Keep your nose out of our affairs."

        "Goku, why's he being secretive? Has he told you anything?"

        Dark brows pinched, perplexed. "No...the topic hadn't come up, though I'm a bit
        curious myself."

        "Our interests don't involve your precious earth, namek" Nappa stated. "You have
        nothing to fear."

        "Well I have a question" Tien spoke up suddenly. "Were you responsible for all the
        damage done in this area?"

        Vegeta nodded and smiled. "We had a little party...things got out of hand."

        "Goku, will you come back with us?"

        Goku stood slowly, shocking the other saiyans. "I think so...I need to clear up a few
        things with Chi Chi."

        "Kakarot!!" Raditz hissed, starting to rise. Vegeta motioned him to be still.

        Krillen patted the dark saiyan on the arm. "Goku knows who his true friends are."

        ****

        Raditz couldn't believe his eyes as they watched Goku leave with the others. He
        stood up angrily.

        "Vegeta, why'd you stop me?! Kakarot's going back to that shrew-"

        The ouji pointed. "Sit, Raditz."

        "But I tell you-"

        "Sit!!"

        Furious, Raditz flopped down. "Everything is undone now!"

        "Hardly. Although I was mildly surprised he wanted to leave, it wasn't shocking. What
        did you expect? Despite his change, he knows the comfort of a lifestyle with that
        ningen."

        "Great. So he thinks to be all things to all people again? That's what fractured him in
        the first place! DId you see that insane act he slipped back into?!"

        "Huhh" Nappa grunted, still chomping. "Well enough. He played the buffoon perfectly
        for those saps."

        "There's a difference, Raditz" Vegeta stated. "The clown is but a skin now, to be worn
        in convenience. They wanted Goku, he gave them Goku."

        Raditz pulled some meat off a bone. "You sound confident..."

        Black eyes blazed wildly. "Comfort isn't fire. Familiarity isn't love. Let blood boil and
        bones burn. The final truth will rip him free!"

        Nappa nodded. "The choosing is done. Now let the chosen be bonded."

        "He's yet to be touched" Raditz murmured a soft smile, tail lashing slowly.

        Vegeta stretched his toes. "Ai...a final night of kisses will render him ours forever.
        Then will he cry my name under the moon!" the ouji shouted in triumph.

        "Honey to my lips" Raditz purred, thinking of things to come.

        ****

        Goku talked and chattered nonstop on the flight back. Krillen laughed, while Tien
        covered his ears. Yamcha could only shake his head in amazement.

        "You're going a hundred miles an hour, Goku!" he commented.

        Piccolo sat in a corner of the cabin, unimpressed. "Too much, I'd say."

        Goku shrugged. "Ah, don't be like that, Piccolo...I had fun! The jungle's really beautiful
        once you adjust to the heat-"

        "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" Krillen made a face, fanning himself.

        "That's awful" Tien commented.

        "So sue me."

        Goku stood at the viewscreen, a silly smile plastered on his face as he stared at blue
        skies. Piccolo couldn't take anymore. He stalked over to the tall saiyan's side.

        "That's enough, Goku. Drop the act!"

        Goku frowned. "What?"

        "You heard me. Maybe you can fool the others with that routine, but I'm not buying
        it!"

        "What's your trip, Piccolo?" Yamcha wanted to know. "Goku's cool...are you looking
        for trouble?"

        "He's acting, and I won't tolerate it!"

        Goku laughed, his tone abruptly changing. "You won't tolerate it? Since when do I
        answer to you?!"

        Everyone stared in silence. Goku stopped, mortified. He glared at the namek.

        "That's a dirty trick..."

        Piccolo folded his arms smugly. "Sorry...I had to break through the pretense."

        "What pretense?"

        "That imbecilic smile you plaster on."

        "And if I walked around looking grim, would that make me honest?"

        "No, but a bit more real."

        "Lighten up, Piccolo" Tien told him. "Goku isn't under a microscope here!"

        "No, but we all know he's changed."

        "All right, Piccolo" Goku waved him off. "You've made your point. Satisfied?"

        "I'm not" Krillen stared. "You're still the same basic person, Goku. Despite what we
        were told, I still have faith in you as a friend."

        Goku smiled, clapping his shoulder. "I can always count on you, Krillen."

        "That makes two of us" Yamcha added. "Who are we to judge? You've saved earth
        more times than I can count."

        Piccolo turned his back. "I never doubted you, but these changes...what do they
        mean for the future?"

        A sigh. "I have some hard decisions to make."

        Tien shook his head. "I don't like the sound of that...are you really so different now?"

        Goku was serious. "Yes and no. I can't go back to being the way I was before, but I
        won't forget friends. Count on it."

        "But if you hook up with the saiyans, won't that be a conflict of interest?" Yamcha
        wanted to know.

        "They're my own people, Yamcha. Raditz is my brother. What would you have me
        do?"

        "But they're evil, Goku!" Tien blurted.

        "It isn't as simple as that."

        A pause. "I just hope this doesn't create problems for us all down the road."

        Goku looked out the viewscreen again. "You and me both."

        ****

        An agitated Raditz paced around the campfire. "We should have stopped him!!"

        Vegeta snorted. "Stop thinking with your cock, for Kami's sake. Kakarot has no
        choice now. The seed is planted in his soul...it will bloom soon enough!"

        "So you say, prince. But you and I both know my brother is stubborn!"

        "An inherited trait, apparently. Sit down and eat, Raditz. Your bellowing strains my
        ears, and other thoughts occupy my mind now."

        The burly saiyan paused in thought. "It would be a quick turnaround for him to get
        back by nightfall."

        "Hn, no distance is too great when the blood burns."

        "You're unusually calm, prince."

        "The prize is mine, so there's no need for haste. I've learned to be more patient."

        Nappa laughed, gulping a beer. "A patient saiyan...now there's a contradiction in
        terms!"

        Vegeta flashed a wolfish smile. "Only to a point, Nappa. What I want, I get. Any who
        interfere with our plans will pay dearly!"

        Nappa purred in satisfaction. "Loving, fighting, and a universe to conquer...what
        saiyan could ask for more?"

        Raditz plopped next to him. "Immortality, once we get the remaining dragonballs..."

        Nappa stroked the thick tail in his lap. "Hai, handsome one. Our dreams will be
        complete then."

        Vegeta stretched out in the warm sunshine. "And none can stop us."

        ****

        Goku made his abbreviated goodbyes when they got back. Piccolo wasn't so quick to
        leave his side as they stood outside the house.

        "You don't have to hold my hand, Piccolo."

        "Goku, I have reservations about what I'm sensing. I'm convinced the others have
        plans for you."

        "Then let me deal with it. I'm a big boy."

        "Why are you being this way?"

        Goku spun. "Stop hovering over me. I don't need watching, and I'm not a monster!"

        Piccolo was grim. "All right. But I have a terrible feeling of disaster down the road."

        "Explain yourself, I'm not interested in riddles."

        "I don't want to lose your friendship, Goku. Our history has been checkered, I know."

        "Where's this coming from? That's all in the past."

        "The future worries me. There's more to this than either of us know, and the changes
        in you are shocking."

        "Shocking? Give me a break."

        "No...unlike the others I can sense what goes on within. I know how you've
        changed."

        Goku considered that. "I see. You think I'll betray everyone someday?"

        "Do you even know for certain?"

        "My motives are the same."

        "Motives change with desire. I sense what you truly want isn't here."

        Saiyan temper flared. "You dare look inside me?!"

        Piccolo sighed. "For Gohan's sake, I had little choice. The passions and needs of your
        race...are unfathomable to me."

        "Our blood runs hot." Goku replied savagely, looking completely saiyan at that
        moment. He turned to open the door.

        "I appreciate your concerns, but nothing will happen. I just need to spend some time
        with Chi Chi."

        "I'll see you later, then?"

        "Hai. Go home, Piccolo."

        ****