To See the Old Neighborhood.....

Part 5

No one seemed to notice them as they landed, save a few quick glances at the extremely out of place gi's they were wearing. Though when they started walking down the street, Goku and his children more tense that the other Saiyans, people stared casting longer glances at Vegita, who walked with his nose held higher that Radditz's hair.

Finally, an Saiyan with a print on the left chest of his armor of a three pronged leaf coming out of a red "U" shape approached them. Radditz, Nappa and Turles knelt, for the recognized the print as the royal seal, making this man a Saiyan with serious statis.

"Who are you?" the Saiyan asked Vegita, giving Goku a dirty look for not even saluting.

"I'm Prince Vegita!" Vegita said, trying to make himself look bigger, for the Saiyan that had spoken to him was a good three feet taller than he.

"No way! The prince is just a lad," the royaly dressed Saiyan said, looking dangerous, "Now tell me who you are, RIGHT now, or it's off to the chambers for you."

"Just a lad? What a minut-" Gohan started to whisper to himself.

"Don't speak when you're not spoken to," the Saiyan interupted Gohan's thought. Radditz, still kneeling, tilted his head so he could see the look on his older nephew's face. The shock was priceless.

"I AM Prince Vegita," Vegita said, getting frustarted.

The Saiyan snapped a look at the short Saiyan prince, then said something in a language that no one seemed to understand. No one save for Vegita and the other Saiyan. Vegita nodded his head and said something in return, but it was in that other language so no one knew what it was. The other Saiyan nodded, deep in thought for an instant, then said, "This needs to be settled. Will you please come with me?"

It was obvious that he was only addressing Vegita.

"What did you guys say?" Trunks asked, looking up at his father.

"Something only the royal Saiyan family knows," Vegita mumbled to him, then, handing Bra off to Gohan, said to them all, "I'm going to get this straightened out. You all just go........explore or something."

Before any compaints could be uttered, Vegita and the other Saiyan blasted off, leaving the small band with one less party.

"So now what?" Gohan turned to the only familiar faces on the planet, "Hey! Where are you guys going?"

Turles looked back at them from over his shoulder as he and Nappa were walking away, "To do as the Prince said! We're going to wander."

And they dissappeared into a sudden throng of milling Saiyans as they moved from point A to B. Gohan sighed, shifted Bra from one hip to the other, being carefull not to jar Pan off ov his shoulders.

"C'mon, Gohan!" Goten said, tugging at his pant leg, "I see a fighting ring over there! Me an' Trunks wanna check it out! Wanna come?"

Gohan gave a classic look to Goku and Radditz, then said to his eager little brother, "Okay, sure, but you can't beat them too badly, okay? Remember what the nice Mr. Noone said?"

"Okee!!" Goten and Trunks cheered and ran off.

Before following them, Gohan turned to Goku and Radditz, the only Saiyans that hadn't wandered off yet and said, "I guess we go exploring, then huh? We'll meet up later by following one another's chi. I trust you guys are capable of tending to your selves? I got to go make sure those two little hellions don't kill anyone."

"We'll survive," Goku said, his eyes darting greedily around as he absorbed through all his senses the Saiyan feeling. The sight, the sound, the very scent of it all seemed so familiar and invigorating.

As Gohan walked off to attempt to keep all the children under control, Goku smiled. He felt like he belonged. He felt like he was home from a long journey. It was all so nostalogic.

"So now what?" Radditz asked his brother, looking around and grinning like a fool. Radditz felt the same way about being there. It was great.

"Can we........can we see my...uh....your....uh......OUR dad?" Goku asked, fidgeting and wringing his hands.

"I don't see why not! Heck, it'll be nice to see him again!" Radditz stopped for a moment, and looked Goku in the eye, wondering for a moment if he hadn't grown taller, for they were almost the same heigth now.

"You can't introduce yourself as 'Son Goku' here, ya know," Radditz said sternly.

"Why not?" Goku asked, looking at two Saiyan walking by and marveling that they had tails. They ALL had tails! How he would have liked to see this when he was younger and every one made fun of his 'unique' tail.

"THIS is a Saiyan planet. THESE are Saiyan people. I am a Saiyan, and as long as you're here, you can't deny that YOU'RE a Saiyan."

"You're right," Kakarot said, sucking his teeth for a second as he thought about this, "I'll go by.....Kakarot.....as long as we're here," he said 'Kakarot' with a slight accent, "But ONLY as long as we're here."

Radditz laughed and slapped him on the back, "We're going to have to work on that pronounciation!"

"I speak just fine!"

"No. You don't."

"Yes I do!"

"Nope......"

****

Vegita walked with the other Saiyan (did he say his name was Lotus?) down the familiar halls of his father's palace. In most standards, it wasn't a very elegant, or decorative place for a king to live, but it suited King Vegita just fine. Vegita silently reminist about his early childhood memories of running down the halls, making all the lower class Saiyans jump out of his way, off to get in some fight

He thought briefly of Trunks, allowing himself to imagine his son running down the halls, yelling at any who dare to tell him to slow down. It was a sweet dream, but it was slightly depressing to think that Trunks would never be Prince. This was all just a tease, made up by the people in Noone's reality. It was almost cruel, Vegita thought, to allow them only a visit. Now that he was here, he didn't want to ever leave.

But what about Earth? Well, what about it. What about Bulma?.................He didn't want to think of that now. Perhaps she could build a space ship and fly out here? He scolded himself for having delusions. This was just a vacation. He would eventually have to go back to Earth, back to Bulma, back to his mundane life of no respect and having to cope with Kakarot and his brats running around the planet like they owned it.

They DID own it, dammit! And that just made everything seem even worse! Vegita looked around again as he and Lotus entered a room Vegita had long since thought he'd never see again.

The throne room of the Saiyan monarchy since they had come to power. And there, as though he had never moved from the last time Prince Vegita had seen him, sat King Vegita himself. Prince Vegita couldn't take his eyes off of his father. He hadn't aged a day, and Vegita wondered if perhaps he was older than his own father now. He felt slightly embarassed when he thought that he had never bothered to find out how old his father was in his entire childhood life.

Now, Lotus pulled Vegita to a stop in front of the thrown. Why was he being stopped? He was the prince! Every memory he had ever had of this place, every last ONE, he had never been stopped from taking his seat at his father's side. And as Vegita looked up at King Vegita, sitting up on a rise that allowed him to look down on even the giant Saiyans that kneeled before him, he saw that there, beside him, was his own thrown. Not as big as his father's, but it was indeed fit for a prince. But, why wasn't the prince allowed to sit in it?

Vegita felt extremely riled that they didn't believe him, it just wasn't right! He WAS Prince Vegita! He was born Prince, he held that status even after Vegita-sei's destruction and he stood before his long dead father now as the Prince he was. No one, alive or dead could take his status away from him, and THAT WAS FINAL!

Vegita had been so busy coming up with this resolve that he hadn't noticed Lotus was speaking.

"..........and he keeps to that story, my lord!" Lotus said to the Saiyan King, "He won't change his mind! Strangely enough, I would almost BELIEVE he were the Prince if I hadn't see the real Prince with my very eyes only moments ago. "

"What the hell are you all talking about!?" Vegita asked, enraged to cover his confusion.

For the first time since being in his presence again, the King turned his sharp Saiyans eyes onto Vegita, who even after all this time found himself slightly intimidated.

"So you claim to be 'Prince Vegita'," the King said, not a question or a statement.

"I AM," Vegita said, clenching his teeth a bit. Who else WOULD he be?

"I only have one son," the King said, "But you are not him, and I have no other offspring."

"I AM your only son!" Vegita glowered, "I think I should know!"

The King pondered Vegita a moment, then turned to Lotus.

"Send for my son," he ordered.

"Sir," Lotus said, and spoke quietly into his scouter for a moment. He faced the King again and said, "He's on his way."

Vegita stood, tall as ever. On the outside, he was the Saiyan Prince, tall and proud. On the inside, he was as confused as the dickens and couln't find a THING to help out of it.

"Ah, here's my son," the King, looking behind Vegita. Vegita spun around to see the strangest sight he could think of.

Right before Vegita stood an exact replica of himself. An exact replica of Vegita..........as a child.

"I think Noone has made a mistake," Vegita said.

To be continued................