Ningen or nekojin?: Chapter 2

Ningen or nekojin?

 

 

By The Chichi Slaughter House

 

This was inspired by a doujinshi that one of my friends sent me and I really enjoyed it, even having ideas for a fic. Neko Vegeta’s are my new obsession, so I don’t want any flames about ‘OMG, are you sick?? Vegeta is a cat!’, because he won’t ever truly be a cat in my fics. I’m not a fan of animal sex.

 

Warnings: Uhh…let’s see…Vegeta as uke, Goku pov, lemon, romanticishness, swearing maybe and anything else my twisted mind wants to come up with.

 

Disclaimer: Ugh! I can’t believe I forgot to put this in! Bad Slaughter, bad! (cough)

I do not own DBZ, because, sadly, I am not rich. But if I did… (evil laugh) there’d be no more seme Vegeta stuff, because I’d put everyone straight! (shakes fist) ((Don’t be offended by this if you support seme Vegeta, this is merely me being an idiot. Thank you.))

 

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Chapter two:

 

Vegeta’s been hiding in his room for over a week now. I muse silently as I walk through my unclean house. The floor is littered with rubbish, dirty plates and cups left around on the surfaces, dirty clothes just flung around the room. Empty wine bottles are around everywhere, my house looking like I had a party with a bunch of lazy alcoholics. It’s a good thing I don’t smoke, really. The amount of full ashtrays around would probably drive me insane. As I sit on my settee, I sigh. I’m so alone…I haven’t seen Brolli or Trunks for days and I can’t stand having no contact with anyone. I think I’m going to go insane.

 

I’ve been wearing the same clothes for three days now, not having the motivation to get changed. Not that anyone would care, all my friends have deserted me. I sigh as I realise I have run out of food and dishes, and I decide that eating pizza doesn’t seem like such a bad idea anymore. It’s easy and I don’t even have to cook it. I reach for the phone and notice an old solicitors letter, grabbing it and reading it instead. It was the one I received when my father died, telling me of what I had inherited from him. I look through the list again and I see that I inherited all of his journals. Maybe I should read them…it’s not like I do anything else around this house except mope and make it untidy. I get up from the sofa and head into the box room, finding one full of journals, dragging it into my livingroom and starting to read the last few months of my father’s life.

 

This year has started out so well. All of my experiments are going according to plan! Well, most of them are. The capsules, it seems, cannot carry around live animals, after opening a few to find their occupants were dying, or in fact, dead, was one of the biggest let-downs I’ve ever faced with my company. But it doesn’t really matter about animal transportation; I doubt that anyone would want to encase their animals like that. Some of my colleagues suggest we keep trying, but I have decided it was a lost cause. I don’t think they were very happy to hear that.

 

 

One of my best work friends, Vegeta, suggests we try to capsulate bigger things than we are now, like cars or houses, and I think that that may be possible. He is one of the brightest people at the company, and I am thinking of giving him the company when I retire. He could take this company straight to the top.

 

 

I pause, biting my lip. Vegeta? I look over at Vegeta’s bedroom, wondering whether it was him who my father wrote about, but I shake my head. It can’t be…can it? I look back at the journals, finding more extracts with his name in, more mentions as my father’s death grew closer.

 

Vegeta has decided that he wants to try and see if humans can be capsulated, and insists we make a clone of him to test it out on. We have already started out a DNA sample, and he has modified it, to give the other a tail, though I do not understand why.

 

 

My eyes widen as I flick through some other entries. A tail…’Geta has a tail…is ’Geta a clone…? I turn forward a few days, skimming some entries until I find more about the clone.

 

The clone seems to be growing well, and I always go to see its progress every day. Vegeta, however, is too immersed into his job to care. He hasn’t thought about this very well, but I cannot stop the experiment now. To make this clone has cost us thousands and thousands of pounds, to stop would waste all that money, and I fear my business is going to go bankrupt as it is. I am getting poor, and I am having to take money from the company just to keep my family alive and well.

 

 

I’d never noticed we were running out of money…I don’t understand…he never acted as if the company was going bad…he hid it so well…

 

The worst thing to ever happen to the company has happened. We are almost broke and I don’t know how long the company will last. I have told others about this problem, and they have offered money to help us along a while, but I am still unsure of how long we will last. Vegeta is determined to capsulate humans, and the clone isn’t growing as fast as we need it to, so he has taken it upon himself to be the experiment. Everyone is worried, but he refuses to give up his idea, determined that my business shall not fail. He plans to test it tomorrow…I hope I can talk him out of it…

 

 

I bite my lip, wondering what happened to the other Vegeta, hoping that maybe if I can find him, then maybe he could persuade ’Geta to come out of his room and talk to me. Or maybe he’d hate me for what I’ve done and take ’Geta away from me. My heart hurts at the thought. I don’t want to lose him…

 

It’s terrible. I can’t really talk about it…Vegeta…he…he died during the experiment…we couldn’t get him out quickly enough and he suffocated. I never should have let him do this. People are wondering what to do about the clone, seeing as it has almost finished growing. Another week or two and it will be as old as Vegeta had wanted it. I think it will have all of his memories up to the point of taking the DNA, but it has been growing a few months, so we cannot give it to his family and say it is him. It wouldn’t work. I don’t know what we are going to do.

 

 

I stare at the page and read the words over and over again, trying to calm myself down. I never thought that ’Geta would be a clone…I don’t know how he would react to the news…maybe he’ll hate me even more, because my father was the one who created him, or maybe he will hate himself, for being cloned. I look at his door again, shaking. He hasn’t been eating or going to the bathroom…he could die from malnutrition… I sigh sadly. He’d never open the door to get the food, let alone accept anything I give him, I’m sure he hates me enough to kill himself, just to upset me. I tremble, then turn the page of the journal. I am near the end of his life now.

 

Nappa has kindly offered to take in Vegeta's clone, and I have allowed him to. He and Vegeta were great friends and I hope everything will be alright. The doctors have told me that I have cancer and that I don’t have much longer to live, even if I have treatment, so I won’t have any. There is no point. I have decided to give the company to Kakarott, because I feel that maybe he can salvage it. I don’t know why I feel this, but I cannot let all of our research go to waste. I just hope I have made the right decision.

 

 

Tears brim in my eyes and I swallow, trembling. I gave the company to Bulma…Bulma salvaged it…I made the right choice…I just…I want him to be proud of me…he knew science wasn’t my forte. So Vegeta was given to one of his old friends called Nappa… I read the next few entries, then find more.

 

Nappa tells me that the clone knows nothing of Vegeta's past and that he is attempting to re-educate it, trying to see if he can help it remember. I wish him luck, for I don’t have much longer to live now, and I will never know if he succeeds. I plan to spend my last week with my family, hoping to say my final goodbyes before I pass on. I have not told them that I am ill, and I think it will be a shock for them, but I know that they will eventually get on with their lives. I don’t want my death to upset them in any way, I just…I love them so much…

 

 

That is the last entry. My heart pangs as I read it over and over again. I miss my father so much… But I pause, frowning. Nappa was re-educating Vegeta…so…why…did Vegeta think he was a cat? Unless…of course! Nappa must have re-educated him into believing he was a cat! But…why? What could he possibly gain by—What if…what if Vegeta and Nappa weren’t friends? What if Nappa was jealous of Vegeta? What if he hated him? Maybe forcing ’Geta into thinking he was a cat is some form of humiliation? A type of revenge? I scowl. I do not even know this man, and I already hate him.

 

I look over to my unused computer and wonder if it possesses Nappa’s address, seeing as it used to be my father’s, but I have no clue where I would find it, or even if I could. There are probably hundreds and hundreds of files on there, and I would have no clue what program he would keep the data saved on, or what he’d name the file. It’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It could take days, or even weeks to find the right file, but then I’d have to search through it…maybe it isn’t even on this computer! I sigh. It could end up as a huge waste of time…

 

Suddenly, the answer appears in my mind and I resist the urge to slap myself in the face. Of course! The company would have it on record and they’d know where it was! I pick up the phone and dial Bulma’s mobile, hoping she had it on and close to answer. To my great relief, the phone rings and I wait nervously for her to answer, my heart pounding in my chest.  She could definitely help me find Nappa! I hear a click, and then Bulma’s voice.

 

“Hey Kakarott! I haven’t heard from you in ages! How are you?” She asks happily. I bite my lip. How am I? After all that’s happened recently, I really don’t know…

 

“I’m fine.” I lie, not wanting to worry her. “Hey, Bulma, I need to ask you a huge favour…” I pause, and wait for her to say something; no doubt she’s going to wonder what I could possibly want, and why I am asking her for it.

 

“What’s wrong?” She asks, sounding concerned. “Do you need help with Chichi again? Why’s she upset this time?” I blink in confusion, wondering what she is talking about, but then it hits me. Oh yeah, I never told her that Chichi and I split up.

 

“Umm…this isn’t about Chichi this time…” I say, feeling guilty. She doesn’t even know about ’Geta. “I need you to find the address of someone who works in the company for me.” She’s silent on the other end of the phone and I get a little worried that she won’t help me. “Please Bulma, this is important.” I hear her sigh.

 

“Okay, but only this once. Who am I looking for?” I hear her typing and clicking in the background, obviously finding the file and I feel relieved, knowing I can find out straight away, gathering a pen and some paper to write down the man’s address, though I don’t know what I’ll do with it when I have it. “Hello? I need a name!” Bulma reminds me, and I blush slightly, glad she can’t see me.

 

“His name is Nappa.” I say, not knowing anything else about him, unable to tell her any more information. “I don’t know anything else, except that he worked with my dad…” I add, feeling useless. There could be lots of guys named Nappa working at Capsule Corp, it could take forever to find the right one! There is more typing and clicking and I wait silently, not wanting to interrupt her, yet I am desperate to know. Finally, I hear her voice again.

 

“There was a guy named Nappa Gilfoyle who worked here a while ago, and I have his address and number, but according to this, he died of a heart attack in the middle of an experiment one day…” She says, pausing. “There’s only him on record, really. Why did you want to know?” I am silent. Nappa is dead? I sigh sadly. Now there’s no way I can find out why ’Geta thinks he’s a cat… “Kakarott? Hey, you there?” Bulma asks, sounding worried.

 

“Yeah, I’m here. Thanks for helping, Bulma, I really appreciate it.” I say happily, mentally wanting to scream. “I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye.” I hang up, then unplug the phone. It’s not fair! Nappa deserves to pay for what he did and now he can’t! Why did he have to be dead?! I grab the phone and throw it at the wall, angry, not caring when it smashed and fell, broken. “BASTARD!” I yell, knocking over my table and kicking my father’s journals, blinded by my rage. It’s so fucking unfair! I pause, then look at the mess I’ve made, looking at the broken glass and phone, feeling angry. It’s not fair! I stomp into my room, slamming the door behind myself and flinging myself into bed, trying to go to sleep, seething with hate.

 

I don’t know how, but I manage to go to sleep, waking up at 5pm, getting out of bed and heading back into the livingroom, swallowing as I see Bulma sitting on my settee, the house clean and, by the look of it, stocked with food. She’s watching the news on my television and I am shocked to see she looks like she came straight from Capsule Corp to see me. She’s a great friend. I really don’t know why we barely see each other.

 

“Hey Bulma…” I say quietly, padding over and sitting on the settee nest to her, idly noticing I had a new table and phone in here. She switches off the news and turns to face me, looking worried and then hugging me tightly. I hug her back, then pull away, confused. “Why are you here Bulma? Shouldn’t you be at the company, revolutionising everything?” I joke weakly, not really knowing what to say to her. Her blue eyes blaze into my green ones, giving me a look like a mother does to a disobedient child, unnerving me.

 

“I cannot believe you hung up on me!” She scolds, poking me in the chest playfully, but then stops, her expression completely serious. “I’ve known you since you were 2 years old! You can’t just forget about me so easily!” I try to interrupt, but she puts her finger to my lips, giving me a warning look. “You didn’t tell me you and Chichi had split up!” She says, then moved her finger, allowing me to speak, but I’m not sure what to say, just staring at her, hoping she will tell me how she knows. “Kakarott…I know because this place was a mess and you look unhealthy…please, tell me what’s happened and what it has to do with Nappa Gilfoyle.” I nod and then start at the beginning, telling her about when I first found ’Geta up until the present, her blue eyes widening as I told her about ’Geta going into my room up til I rang her. We sat in silence for a few moments before I broke the quiet.

 

“So…” I say, hoping to prompt her into giving me some advice, or just a noise would do. I want to know she heard me and I really need her help. She’s one of the smartest and most logical people I have ever known; she must be able to give me some advice, right? She’s still deadly silent and I don’t know whether it’s a good or bad sign, biting my lip. She could just be thinking through what I’ve said, or she could be shocked, or even disgusted about this whole thing. I wait an agonising few more seconds, then I crack, unable to stand the uncomfortable silence any longer, it’s driving me completely insane! “Bulma? Any advice you’d like to give me?” I ask, impatient. She turns to me with a frown on her face, her blue eyes seeming dark and angered. I bite my lip. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything?

 

“I can’t believe this!” Bulma yells, getting to her feet and pacing my livingroom. I stay silent, not wanting to enrage her further as she tries to think and calm herself down. “Let me get this straight.” She says, stopping and looking directly at me. “Our company grew a clone of a man named Vegeta, who died in a capsulating project gone wrong and they just…gave the clone to Nappa?” I nod and she gives me a funny look, obviously not believing me in the slightest. “Cloning is illegal! There’s no way that your father would be able to create one, let alone allow it to happen!” I sigh and look away, I know this must be difficult for her; my father was like an idol to her and she doesn’t want to believe that he would break the law, for scientific advancement or not. Not that I blame her, if someone had told me this story, I wouldn’t believe it either. But there is a way I can convince her, or, at least, I hope it will convince her. I stand up and look for the box of my father’s journals. I am almost certain she will believe them, rather than me, but I can’t see them anywhere!

 

“Bulma! Where did you put my father’s journals?” I ask, somewhat frantically. She gives me another funny look, then kneels down, pulling the box out from under the new table, watching me with a shocked expression as I fall to my knees and pull out the journal I read, then give it to her. “Read it.” She sighs and sits on my settee, opening the journal and reading from the beginning as I stay on the floor, looking at the tea-stain from when I spilled my cup days ago when I told Brolli and Trunks about  what had happened the previous night. I was just as nervous then as I am now. I poke at the stain, trying to find a way for this situation to pass faster. I look up at Bulma again to see her reading with wide eyes, biting her lip. I wait again silently, watching her as she finishes reading, closing the journal and laying it next to her, just staring at me blankly, worrying me. “Bulma?” She blinks in response and stops biting her lip.

 

“Why would anyone do such a thing?” She whispers, more to herself than me. “I can’t believe someone who worked in our company would do that…it’s so…weird and inhumane…” She trails off, then looks at her fingernails in silence. I just watch her with my emerald eyes, twitching nervously and impatiently, wanting her help and advice. After what seems like ages, she speaks again. “Can I go and look at him?” She asks quietly and I blink, not understanding what she means. Look at Nappa? The man’s a corpse! Why would she want to--? ’Geta. She wants to look at ’Geta. I want to slap my forehead again, but yet again, I resist and give her a weird look. Hasn’t she been listening to anything until I involved the company?

 

“Of course.” I say, then laugh. “If you can get him to open his door and if you give me advice on what to do, then, be my guest.” I bite my lip. I think I’m being too harsh. I mean, it’s not her fault  I’m in this mess, it’s mine. I was the one who took him in, I was the one who took him on my date with Maitake and I was the one who rejected him and threatened him. I shouldn’t take my anger out on Bulma for things that I brought upon myself. She’s interested in the scientific aspect of things, it’s not like she’s going to harm him or take him away from me, is she? I pause, then look at her suspiciously. What if she wants to take him from me? What if she wants to do experiments on him? Will she hurt him to further her scientific career? Will she kill him to make sure nobody knows about Capsule Corp creating a clone? Suddenly, I realise I am growling and glaring at her, and I stop, feeling ashamed of myself. I am too suspicious for my own good! She only wants to see him for goodness sake! “I-I’m sorry Bulma…” I murmur, my voice quiet. “I’m just so stressed and upset about this whole thing…” She nods, then smiles at me, not looking bothered at all.

 

“It’s okay Kakarott, I understand. You love ‘Geta, it’s obvious  that you would want to protect him and keep him to yourself.” She says, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I blink a few times, then blush a deep crimson as I look at the floor in embarrassment. Me? Love ’Geta? Do I love him or is it just lust? I really don’t know. I can’t bear living without him, I miss him, I want to apologise and have sex with him, but love? Love’s such a strong word, how can she be so sure about how I feel if I don’t know how I feel? I don’t think I have ever loved anyone. It is said to be such a powerful emotion, but I haven’t ever felt drawn enough to anyone…

 

Except him.

 

I bite my lip as I realise this. I never loved Chichi, that’s why I didn’t care when she left. I adapted so quickly to ’Geta’s habits and wants after she left that I must have been too involved in trying to please him to give her a few thoughts. I never felt lust after Chichi left either, not to Maitake or anyone, not even ’Geta, but I might have been suppressing it…

 

It makes perfect sense!

 

He fitted into my life so easily, I gave up my wife to keep him, I do anything and everything to make him happy, I love spending time with him, I can never stay mad at him, I accepted him(mostly) when he wanted me, despite what I did, I still want him. I spe-- Wait. He came to me. I look over at his door.

 

Does that mean he loves me?

 

I try to find some evidence to back this idea, but my mind keeps finding the reasons I love him. Some are similar, but they can be used as both. No. I need to find original and unused evidence for this, or it could just be me trying to fool myself into believing something untrue. I think hard about this. Indications that he likes me… An image of ’Geta attacking Maitake pops into my head and I blink it away. That won’t help me! I recall Trunks covered in cat scratches many times from trying to play with him and try to ignore it, trying to think of a good point.

 

FLASHBACK

 

 

“UGH!” A pan had clattered to the ground from the kitchen as I had sat watching the television, ignoring my wife as she tried to cook us some dinner, still angry that I had brought home a mentally ill stranger whom I had found off the streets. I had scowled as I’d heard her cursing and then begin yelling. “Kakarott! You get this insane freak away from me! He keeps attacking me!”

 

I remember sighing and getting up from my comfortable settee, going into my kitchen to see ’Geta with a fluffed-up tail from indignant anger, his eyes narrowed as he glared at Chichi, looking murderous. I had sat next to him and petted him into relaxation, then picked him up and took him back to the settee with me as she continued cooking.

 

END FLASHBACK

 

 

Later on, she had tried to pet him, but he had scratched at her, leaving a scar on her hand. I blink, then think through everything again.

 

He chose me. He attacked Chichi for trying to touch him. He attacked Trunks too, though I was always talking to Brolli at the time, so I don’t know why. Maitake got scratched badly for accidentally touching his tail. That’s when it hits me. I am the only person he lets touch him. He trusts me. He let me wash him and dress him and feed him as I wanted. The force of that realisation slaps me in the face, leaving me gobsmacked. He loves me. I love him. I look over to Bulma, who is giving me the ‘Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out’ look, commonly used when I used to state the obvious because I was so deep in thought that I had to say it aloud to reaffirm it. Now is one of those times.

 

“I love him.” It truly shocks me to see how easily I could say that sentence when I really had to think to say it to Chichi. “I love him. I love ’Geta.” I reaffirm again, trying to make it sink in. Bulma suddenly looks sympathetic towards me and I look away from her. I don’t want her sympathy, I need her help, but I don’t think there’s much she can do to help me in this. It is my fault, not hers, after all. I look back at her, seeing her wise cerulean eyes staring at me intensely, as if trying to figure something out. The gaze is rather unnerving and I break eye contact, looking at the floor again, not liking the deep silence between us, but not breaking it. I know why she is sympathetic towards me; this entire situation is ironic and problematic. She is sorry that it took me this long to figure it out, as am I. I don’t know whether I should have listened to my morality, or my heart, but at the time, I didn’t realise I loved him, I just thought it was lust. I didn’t want to take away a special part of him, or hurt him, but by rejecting him, I managed both.

 

This is so screwed up.

 

I don’t know whether to be happy or sad at this moment. He started showing his more human traits and I pushed him away, afraid and confused, even though I had wanted the same thing and wanted to see the real him. I’ve never really liked the way things change; not wanting to redecorate my home, buy new clothes unlike the ones I already have or even change my diet. This change from him being my pet to being a man scares me; I liked things as they had been. I can’t ever really grasp the idea that everything around me is always changing, because I never really got to say goodbye to my father. Since he died, I had tried to keep everything the same as before he had left me, but after my mother had died from heartbreak and Radditz had moved away, I had nothing to cling onto, except Chichi. But even she left me too.

 

I don’t understand! Why does everyone want to leave me?! I haven’t done anything wrong! Why? Do they all hate me?! What did I do?!

 

I realise I’m trembling, tears in my eyes and that Bulma is now holding me gently, allowing me to rest my head on her belly as she strokes my hair to soothe me. I still can’t get over how everyone left, the pain got so deep after my parents died and then Radditz just left me to deal with it on my own. Chichi couldn’t ever understand the pain I felt – still feel – so I was always alone in my sadness and depression. No one will ever understand. Now, I have lost everything. My parents, my brother, my wife and now ’Geta. I still have a few friends, but I miss living with people and my friends don’t live with me, and if I asked, they wouldn’t be able to because of their jobs and lifestyles needing them to be where they live now. I’m alone.

 

“Kakarott?” I hear Bulma's concerned voice and look up, trying to calm myself as I move away from her and look to the side. I need to calm my emotions. I shouldn’t let her see me like this. I’m weak and pathetic, I don’t deserve friends! I don’t deserve my house, I don’t deserve my money and I don’t deserve ’Geta! My rage at myself intensifies dramatically, I don’t deserve to live. I look over to the knife I had grabbed when I had considered this last time. I would be able to do it now. “Kakarott?!” I stand and walk to the kitchen, not caring if she sees me kill myself. I deserve to die. I grab the handle and pull it out of the wooden block I store it in, lifting the blade and testing the sharpness with my thumb. Yes, it will work. “KAKAROTT??” I hear Bulma yell frantically and she gets off the settee, running towards me as I slice from the bottom of my wrist towards my elbow, watching the blood flow from my skin. Bulma screams and I turn to face her, only to be hit in the side of the head with a frying pan and fade into the darkness. 

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Thus endeth chapter two :) Anyone hate me right now? XD Cause I do! (kills self) X.X