Finding Love (Vegeta x Goku)

Dashed Hopes

"You want me to do what?"  Gohan asked his grandfather, honestly confused. He and Tarble had accompanied the large man to the living room for a private conversation.

"I want you to take over the kingdom, Gohan." Ox responded in complete seriousness.

"I heard that, but I don't understand why." The teen said in shock. "We never even talked about this when I was younger, and what about..." he trailed off not sure if he wanted to call Chichi his mother or not. Ox sighed, he loved his daughter but she was never the nicest of people.

"Your mother wanted to wait until you were older at first, and then she just kept stalling and was obsessed with you having a normal life. I was going to tell you when you were 18, but then your father came back and that whole mess with Buu happened...I thought I'd let you have some time to reconnect with Goku and try dating without having any pressure on you." Ox tried to explain. "Chichi was never in line for the throne, Gohan. She never really got involved with matters of the kingdom or even tried to learn more incase she needed to rule one day. Not to discredit women but the Ox Kingdom is traditionally ruled by male heirs often passing to the first male in the line of succession."

"But....why now? I'm flattered you want me to succeed you but why so soon?" Gohan asked. "I'm only 19, you can't want me to take over right now."

"I'm getting too old, Gohan." The man said with a chuckle. "Sometimes I think you and everyone forget that I trained under Master Roshi with Goku's grandfather. Gohan was older than me, but it wasn't by much. I just had the fortune of finding a draught of youth that slowed down the physical side of things. I'm over 70 now, Gohan, and I'm more than ready to start handing things over to you. It's not going to be an immediate thing, Gohan. I promise to help you learn everything you need to know before letting you completely take over by the time you're 21 at the soonest." Gohan was floored.

"Gohan, I think you can do it." Tarble said softly. "You should really consider what he's asking."

The teen looked over at the younger prince in shock. He couldn't believe that the beta was suggesting such a thing. Didn't Tarble know that if he did take over the throne that he couldn't go black to Vegetasei? He wouldn't be able to mate with Tarble.

"But...if I do take over, I won't be able to go back with you to Vegetasei. How am I supposed to court you if I am light-years away from you? I don't want to be separated from you." The alpha laced his fingers with the submissive's and pulled their hands up so he could kiss the back of the smaller saiyan's.

"Gohan, this is part of your heritage." Tarble smiled at his chosen. " I'm not saying you have to decide right now. I want you to think on it. And if you decide to do stay, I'm sure we can work something out so we can still court each other. We can have Kakarot teach us his teleportation technique."

The Ox King watched his oldest grandson with a warm yet slightly sad smile on his face. While he wanted the teenager to take his place as king, he was feeling guilty over coming between his grandson and his chosen.

Gohan looked from Tarble to his grandfather as he shifted through his thoughts. For the first time ever, the teen felt torn between his two races; and he had no idea on what to do or what was the right choice. The beta did bring up a very good point though. This was a part of his heritage, and he really needed to think things through.

"I'll let you know my decision when Dad has been cured, Grandpa. Right now, I can't give you an answer. I....I need some time....I need to talk with Dad..."

"That's all I ask," Ox said with a relieved smiled.

+++VK+++

"Alright, so you were injected here." Bulma pointed to a spot on the neck of the 3D holographic image of Goku's body that her computer generated. She typed a few keys and the image showed the beta's muscles and soft tissue at the throat. "The needle pierced your vocal cords and paralyzed them with an unknown solution."