Enough

Chapter 16

"Absolutely not Kakarot" Vegeta scowled. He had explained the difference between what Goten smelled and what he thought was happening to Gohan once they had him ki restrained and back to CC. He was asleep in a guest room as they argued outside the door.

"We have to make sure! He's my son Vegeta!" Goku was pissed.

"Look, Kakarot, I didn't say we should just leave him to his fate without trying to help - I'm trying to get you to understand that going into Gohan's mind while he's like this would be worse than suicide."

"What?"

"He's completely unstable, anyone can see that baka! If you try to share in his thoughts you could be driven mad yourself, or even get sucked into his head and be lost in the chaos forever." Goku's face began to crumble, but he quickly steeled himself, being strong for his son.

"There is a way to check if he is under outside influence without going into his thoughts, but that is all we can do for him right now. If it turns out he is being controlled or manipulated, we will deal with it Kakarot, mark my words, but we cannot force him from the brink, he must find his own way back" Vegeta said while squeezing his hand tightly... Goku refused to cry yet. Later, once they had checked over Gohan and helped him with everything they could, he would curl up in Vegeta's arms and bawl like a stupid baka, he was sure... but right now he gave into the anger instead, let the heat of it dry the tears that had started to form, and straightened his shoulders.

"Ok, let's do what we can then" he nodded. Vegeta looked into his eyes for a moment, his tail swishing like he was deep in thought, then he nodded his head and they went into Gohan's temporary room. Bulma had brought in a pitcher of cold water, and was applying a towel soaked with it onto Gohan's forehead as he slept.

"He's getting a fever" she said quietly. They both just stared at her, everyone knowing that wasn't good.

"We're going to try and do what we can for him; you should leave the room now, this will take us a little while" Vegeta instructed her. Once she was gone, he took off his gloves, and placed them on the nightstand. Goku watched him intently as he closed his eyes and focused, then held his hands out over top of the sleeping figure. Goku could see Vegeta's power tracing out over Gohan, never actually touching him, but just hovering a few inches above his skin in a yellow web. Once the web finished spreading, the strands began to get thicker and stronger, until the web formed into a solid blanket of energy that wrapped him from head to toe. It hummed and vibrated as Vegeta concentrated, then began to thin and dissipate into the air as he opened his eyes a few minutes later.

"Nothing is trying to control him or invade his mind Kakarot" he said with a sigh, "But there is one more thing that I want to check, help me get his shirt off."

Vegeta didn't find what he was looking for after thoroughly examining Gohan's entire upper body. He didn't understand it... Nothing was trying to control the boy, but if it was just Kakarot's baka of a son having some sort of personal mental break down - why the fever? He had no marks on him in any of the usual places, but the seriousness of the situation dictated that he check everywhere... He sighed again.

"Damn it - there's nothing there, help me take off the rest of his clothes too" he muttered, pulling on a shoe.
"Um, Vegeta, what exactly are you looking for?" Goku said with his arms crossed over his chest.

"A scar" he replied tersely.

"A scar? What do you mean? How could a scar drive him crazy and give him a fever?" Goku wondered aloud.

"If he had been mated once, or tried to, then yes, theoretically, it could." he responded.

"We all know he's not mated Vegeta, you can smell it - but what to you mean by 'tried to'?"