Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Out From Under ❯ Leaving ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

A/N: This literally came out of nowhere. I was sitting near a stream, leaning against a tree in the middle of nowhere with a notebook on my lap and a pen in my hand. This is the result. By the way, the title is from an Incubus song. The song isn't in the story but the title fit.

Warnings: First person P.O.V. (only for me is that a warning!) and A/U.

It's a little ironic how things happen. I mean that I never would have imagined that I'd be sitting here writing about a turn of evens that I never dreamed were possible. I guess it's just my human side showing: The need to communicate and reminisce. That and someone said that I talk too much when they're not listening. So I decided to write this to no one in particular or perhaps not anyone at all.

I guess you could say that it all started a few years ago. I was about fourteen. I say 'about' because I'm not too sure of exactly how old I am. Considering my day in the Room of Spirit and Time, I'm a year older than I should be. But then again, I spent time off planet. Without getting into complex details of physics, if one sets a clock, puts it in a spaceship, have it leave Earth for a time, and then return, it shows that the clock was in space for less time than a clock would say if it stayed on Earth. That is all beside the point; my chronological age is irrelevant. I have seen and been through too much to be considered a child.

That was part of the problem, I guess. I mean, how do you handle some one who could survive on their own since age four? That was my mom's problem: I didn't fit in her happy, little, human mold in her happy, little, ideal family. I was Earth's strongest warrior but she thought I should have still been hanging on her apron strings. I'm sorry but that is not what I was or am.

It all came to a head one day when Goten and I walked in the door after I had taken him out to begin training. Fighting had been a taboo subject since Cell. Mom had not allowed me to train or Goten to start training. I had decided that my baby brother needed to be taught some at least to be able to control himself better. Being half-Saiyan made him quite strong and he was always breaking things unintentionally. Mom constantly yelled at him for it but it wasn't his fault. At least if I trained him to control himself, he wouldn't get in trouble for that.

"And where have you been boys?" I remember her asking. I was going to lie and tell her that we went for a walk but Goten had to open his mouth.

"Gohan showed me how to do this…and this…and this!" Each 'this' was punctuated with a different strike or kick. I don't remember exactly what he did because I was too busy watching mom's face get redder and redder. I put my hand on Goten's shoulder and moved him behind me slightly.

"How long has this been going on? How many times have you went behind my back and disobeyed me? You know I forbade you from fighting!" She yelled.

I stood there mutely taking it like I had every other time she yelled at me. She hadn't scared me since I was five years old and realized that I was stronger than she'd ever be. I figured that it would be like every other time she deemed my behavior unsatisfactory behavior for a human child. She would say how bad I was, how bad all my influences were from the rest of the warriors, and how I would never amount to anything. This time, however, it was different.

"Can't you behave like a normal human? Fighting is what took you and Goku away from me. It is what killed him. You know, you're the reason your father never came back the last time," her voice was like a frozen dagger piercing my heart. I could tell that what she had said was not something just blurted out in the heat of an argument; she really meant it. I couldn't handle it; I went Super Saiyan right there in the kitchen.

"You think fighting is what killed dad? Our fighting is what kept everyone else on Earth alive. But you can't see that, can you? All you think about is yourself and your perfect little human family. Well guess what mom, we're not perfect, we're not human, and we're not even a family any more. I'm leaving and taking Goten with me," I said in a stern voice that was not raised to the level she used to yell at us. I reached down and picked my little brother up telling him to say goodbye to his mother. He just waved his small hand at her. As I turned to walk back out the door, she screamed on last time.

"You're both monsters! You're just like your father and that other nasty man: Inhuman monsters!"

I turned my now light eyes to look at her now cowering on the floor. If that was what it meant to be human, then I did not even want to be half-human. "You're right, we're not human. Just like dad and Vegeta, we are Saiyans."
Upon saying that, I left. I flew off and did not look back. I only stopped when Goten started squirming in my arms. When I set him down I noticed something that I hadn't seen back at the house. When I looked down at him with my Super Saiyan eyes, he looked back up at me with matching ones. My baby brother had gone Super Saiyan at four years of age.

"Goten…you're a Super Saiyan, " I had stammered out as if it was the only strange thing that had happened that day. "When did that happen?"
He knew what a super Saiyan was, I had told him about it before. I even dared showing him once. He rubbed his hand through his now golden locks and shrugged in a gesture that was uncannily like our father, "I guess when mommy was yelling at you and said bad stuff about you and daddy."

I picked him up and hugged him. Dad would have been so proud of his youngest son. I knew that I was. I missed my dad and I knew that Goten would miss his mother, too. I say 'his mom' because I don't really think of her as mine. Even way back on the space ship to Namek, Bulma was amazed that I never cried for my mommy. I had asked her why I should cry for someone I didn't need. All she did was stare at me for a minute and then laugh nervously.

Goten didn't need his mom either. Sure he was only four but he's a four year old with Saiyan blood. Dad survived on his own from infancy until Grandpa Gohan found him and then again after he died. I was only four when Piccolo left me all alone in the wilderness. Gotten was the same age but he wouldn't be alone - he had me.

We made camp that night. I showed my brother how to start a fire and keep it going. While he tended to the fire (more like poked it with a stick), I foraged for some food. A huge fish and an armload of apples later, we were both ready for sleep. I went to lie down on the soft grass and found the small form of my brother cuddling right up against me. I watched as he slowly drifted off to sleep and the gold faded from his hair.

I kept myself in Super Saiyan. The power it gave me just felt right. I had to be strong now - not just for myself but also for Goten. And looking back, it was just another way to defy her.

We fell into a comfortable routine: sleep, eat, and train. It was simple and enjoyable. Goten learned quickly. Soon he could fly, fire ki blasts, and even stay Super as long as he was awake. Days turned into weeks and before I knew it, we had been on our own for three months. We were ragged, we were dirty, we were barely better than wild animals, but we were happy.

I was happy but I was acting like a child. I soon started to realize that Goten's pants were becoming too short on him. It wouldn't be too long until he completely grew out of his clothes. I couldn't turn to any one else to buy him some and I couldn't make clothing appear like Piccolo could. I had to buy clothes for the both of us and didn't have any money. I figured that I looked old enough for someone to hire to do odd jobs on a farm or around a house. I was perfectly capable of doing it but I had one problem. I didn't think anyone would take me seriously when I looked like a wild boy. I needed to clean myself up and get some normal clothes.

So I went back to our old house one night. I snuck into my bedroom window quietly. Looking around, I realized that she had touched nothing in the room that I shared with Goten. I grabbed my backpack from under my bed and went to the closet. I picked out Goten's largest sized outfit I could find and then looked through my clothing. I settled on a baggy pair of jeans and a tee shirt. I also grabbed two thick flannel shirts that used to belong to Dad. Mom would have noticed if I took our good coats but not the two old shirts.

I had just enough room left in my pack for one thing. I walked over to my bookshelf and picked up my favorite book. I planned on starting to read it to Goten. I was about to leave when I noticed my photo album on the shelf. I leafed through it briefly smiling at the glossy images before me. I pulled out a picture of dad and I when I was still young enough to have my tail. I also took another one that Dr. Briefs had taken right before the Cell games that had everyone in it. I chuckled slightly at the laugh we all got at Trunks from the future holding the baby version of him. Trunks ended up wetting himself, if you know what I mean.

Almost as an afterthought, I grabbed one last picture. It had Vegeta standing in his classic pose with his arms crossed over his chest and a glare on his face. The tough guy image would have been perfect except for Trunks wrapped around his one leg and Goten around the other. If Vegeta were as nasty as she thought, then none of us would have lived through that picture - especially me. I was the one who took it.

I gently tucked the pictures in the book and put it in my backpack. Out of curiosity, I walked over to the door. When I tried to turn the knob but it was locked. She had probably locked it as soon as we had left, some how it did not surprise me in the least. I just flew out the window and back to my sleeping brother.

I fell into a fitful sleep and when I woke at sunrise, I got the shock of my life. Goten was already awake and he was running around in a circle like a dog chasing his tail. The only thing was, he was really chasing his tail. Somehow the fury appendage had grown back over night. I was slightly shocked until I remembered that Piccolo said that mine had a tendency to grow back repeatedly when I was a small child. I laughed at his antics. When he finally caught a hold of the elusive regenerative, he glared at me for making fun at him. Then he laughed at me when I tried to stand up. My balance was all wacky because it seemed that Goten's tail wasn't the only one that grew back the night before.

It took me all of two minutes to become accustomed to my tail. I couldn't figure out why they had grown back but at the time, I didn't care. I decided right then and there that we would never cut off our tails again. I understood that mine was originally removed out of safety; we still had the moon back then. But Goten's was a different story, I got the impression that it was done out of spite. Then again, it could have been her false logic that if he didn't have a tail then he would be human.

We spent most of that day training. We were basically trying all of our techniques to see how they would change with our tails back. In late afternoon, when the shadows were getting long, I sat my brother down and explained things to him. I told him that I needed to get some money so we could stay living on our own. I told him that I was going to see if I could work for some people. He was told that when I was gone that he was supposed to continue his training but he was also allowed to explore. He just had to meet me back at camp when he sensed me coming. He was not supposed to go near people at all.

Of course, curiosity got the best of him. He had to know what I had in my backpack. I showed him his clothes but I did not let him change into them. He needed them to last as long as possible because I did not know how long it would take until I earned enough money for new ones.

I then tried to start reading to him. I only got a few pages down before a frog got more attention from Goten than the story. I let him play because he'd only have one childhood. He needed to play as much as he could before he got too old.

The next morning, I got up early and bathed in a stream. I then got dressed in my fresh clothes. I realized something as I cut a hole in my pants to thread my tail through. I did not look like a normal human boy if I had a tail. I then remembered Vegeta when he first came to earth. He had kept his tail wrapped around his waist. So I just fed the furry, brown length through my belt loops like it was just a brown belt. I laughed; it made me feel like Vegeta with my tail like that.

I ate breakfast with Goten and then got up to start my journey to civilization. My little brother ran up and hugged me before I could go anywhere though. I patted him on the head and told him to go and play. As he turned to run, I swatted playfully at his bottom. He just turned quickly and stuck his tongue out at me. I laughed and set off to start my day.