Homeward Bound

Chapter 5: The Law of the Jungle

Gohan and Colby taught Cyrus for the rest of the afternoon, only stopping to eat lunch. By the end of the first session he could read simple words by sounding them out and Gohan had hope that he would be able to read harder books by the end of the week. Dinner soon came and they were given permission to accompany Cyrus to the dining room that he and his people used.

"I'm going to tell them not to bother either of you," he explained. "It's the only way you'll be left alone."

Colby was skeptical of his authority. "Do you actually think they're *that* afraid of you?"

A knife was pulled from Cyrus' boot and he flicked it across the room to embed itself into the wall next to one man's head. The man fainted and everyone else at the table moved away. "Does that answer your question?"

The boy looked up at him with wide eyes. "Yeah."

"You don't have to prove everything with violence, you know." Gohan told him. "My tousan taught me to use words instead of my fists."

"Your tousan's an idiot. Nothing can be solved without force. It's not possible."

Gohan's facial expression didn't change, but anger sparked in his eyes. "Do you have someone that you love?"

A little caught off-balance by the quick subject change, Cyrus nodded. "My mother and I were very close."

"She's deceased now?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"What if I called your mother a bitch? Would you be angry?"

Cyrus' hand clenched involuntarily around the hilt of yet another knife. "Where are you going with this?"

His eyes shone in the overhead light. "You would be extremely angry if I called your mother out of her name. What makes you think calling my father out of *his* name is any different?"

The man paused in mid-step and turned to look at him. "Is this another lesson? I didn't ask for one."

"Life's full of lessons: some you go searching for while others just fall into your lap." Gohan smiled sadly and sighed. "My tousan taught me that. I remember everything he had ever told me about life and I believe every word."

"You have a good father, Gohan," Colby said as they took a seat at the recently vacated table. "When we get out of here can I come and live with you guys?"

"Wait a minute! Who said that you were ever getting out of here alive?" Cyrus narrowed his eyes. "Is there some other leader that I don't know about?"

"You can't keep us here forever. Some day they're going to find you and we'll go free."

He shook his head as he caught the eye of a server. "That day will never come because we are more intelligent then they give us credit for. We are not stupid enough to prey upon the ones who can do something about it. Our hideout is secure, they don't even know where I am, and we have a large number of people working everywhere in the world. No one can defeat us."

"So you only attack and steal from the weak," Gohan said. "That's shameful of you."

"We aren't samurai, kid. The Bushido code means nothing to us. We're just a group of people trying to survive."

Colby couldn't take it anymore. He slammed his fists down on the table, startling both Cyrus and Gohan as well as the servant who had been filling his master's glass with white wine. "What do you think the victims are trying to do? Frolic in the fields? We're *all* trying to survive you jackass! If you just take what people have worked hard for then they'll just be even worse off then they were before!"

Cyrus' eyes went flat and cold. "The survival of others outside of my gang isn't my problem." Colby was seconds away from attacking the man and Gohan saw it. The boy laid his hands over the clenched fists of his friend and shook his head.

"By taking what others have you only weaken them," Gohan said seriously. "By weakening them you weaken society. If society weakens then chaos will rule and those you've stolen from before will steal from you in the future. Each person is only a small part in a much larger thing and each and every part is needed to keep things running smoothly. If you upset the balance then we all lose."

"We're the ones on the top of the food chain," he said with a self-assured grin, "and you two kids are just bottom-feeders. It's our right, as the top dogs, to take from the lesser dogs. If you can't fight for what you have then you don't deserve it. Only the strong survive; the weak perish."

"Let me hurt him," Colby begged in a whisper. "Please* let me hurt him!"

Gohan sighed and chose to dish food out onto his plate. "Violence wouldn't do any good, Colby. That's what made him in the first place. If you really wanted to get through to him then you would teach him. How else would he learn?" He ate slowly, not tasting a bite. Son Gohan had more important things on his mind, things that involved the education of Cyrus. It only took one word, one action to change someone's life forever.

***

The coffee shop was still fairly filled with the late dinner crowd when Vegeta and Goku took seats in the back. The two of them sat there in silence, merely staring at each other, until a waitress came to take their orders.

"Coffee, black," Vegeta said without looking at her. After taking Goku's order of hot tea and a cinnamon bun she departed, once again leaving them in silence.

"Do I have to start the conversation?" Goku asked in amusement. "Or are we just going to sit here all night?"

He lowered his voice to a near whisper and leaned partially over the table. "My story isn't that dramatic, Son. There were no battles or disownment. I just left."

"You had to have a reason. Princes just don't leave."

He smiled slightly. "That's true. I come from a country where a knife in the back is extremely common, especially among the upper class. Early on in my life my father locked me in my very own stone prison because he feared for my life."

"That was good of him," Goku commented. "I never knew my parents."

The shorter man snorted. "He didn't do it because he loved me, Son. He did it because I'm his only heir. If he dies and I'm not around to take the throne the entire country would fall apart. I got fed up with his restrictions for "my welfare" and split. That was three years ago." He had come a long way from the clueless man that used to command the Tokyo citizens. Most would laugh at him to his face, but there were a few that would snicker covertly behind their hands. Vegeta had thought that something was wrong with him until he realized that no one outside of his kingdom was going to do anything at his beck and call. That was when he began to observe and learn. "Since then I've learned the tricks of my trade. Private investigating pays a lot of money."

Goku frowned. "That's because you risk your life almost daily. You have to be compensated in some way."

The conversation paused briefly to allow the waitress to place their orders onto the table. "Will there be anything else, sirs?" Vegeta merely waved her away with one hand while Goku smiled and told her politely that no, there would be nothing else. After the woman was once again taking the order of another patron, Vegeta spoke.

"There are people after me, Son. Not to kill me but to take me back to my father. Promise me that if I get captured that you will try to rescue me. If you cannot, then kill me."

Goku was bewildered. "Why? Why is the mere thought of going back making you so angry?"

"I will not let that man imprison me in a cell made of his ideals. He will not deprive me of my right to grow beyond the narrow confines of his beliefs. Vegeta-ouji was not satisfied with his life back in Saiya so he became just Vegeta and created a new one. He did not make me, I made myself."

"For three million yen it wouldn't matter if you had made yourself into a psychopath," a voice spoke up from behind Vegeta's head. "The money more than makes it worth my while." Vegeta twisted around in his chair, silently cursing himself for not noticing the man earlier, and took in his wild black hair and intelligent dark brown eyes. He then rose slowly to meet the other man and discovered a few things: he was several inches shorter than his would-be capturer and also not quite as clueless. Vegeta laughed at little and deliberately turned his back on him.

"You're not even worth my time."

The man blinked. "What?"

"He said that you're not worth his time," Goku smiled pleasantly at him. "Have a nice day!"

He came around to stand in front of their table, blocking their view of the door. "Do you two people know who I am?"

"Should we care?" Vegeta asked in a bored tone of voice. "By the way, you need to move before I do it for you. I don't let anyone block my only escape route that doesn't involve breaking through something. I promised myself that I would always try the doors first before going for the windows."

"I'm Yamcha!" he exclaimed in a frustrated tone. "Haven't you heard of any excellent bounty hunters?"

Vegeta sighed, his patience for the man running a little low. "Hai, I've heard of the list of great bounty hunters each country puts out yearly. Iie, you were never on it." He pulled some cash from his pocket and placed it on the table, being sure to leave a ten percent tip. "If you're willing to go up against me you're free to try. I just hope that your medical insurance has been paid up."

He growled low in his throat and pulled a gun from the back waistband of his pants. "You won't make a fool out of me!" Vegeta and Goku both moved out of reflex, throwing themselves in opposite directions.

"I thought you said that there were no murders after you!" Goku shouted to him as the other patrons screamed in terror. He rolled underneath the nearest table, tipping it over to give himself adequate shelter to hide behind. Vegeta's voice came over the din clearly, almost as if the room was completely silent.

"He's not going to kill me, Son, only wound me enough so that I faint from blood loss. It'll be easier to drug me and drag me back to Saiya that way."

"Can you stop him?" Goku shouted as Yamcha reloaded his gun and continued to fire. "There's only a guarantee that he won't kill *you*."

Vegeta nodded and gave him a thumbs up sign. Sprinting out into open area he drew Yamcha's fire and ran from the coffee shop with the angry man chasing after him. Goku stood beside the table just staring for a moment before finally apologizing to everyone and following them outside.

He had to make sure Yamcha didn't do anything stupid with so many innocent people around.

"Come back here you little bastard!" Yamcha shouted as he fired. People on the street either screamed mindlessly or dove for cover as the enraged man chased the Saiya-jin prince. Goku ducked into the nearest alley and ran down to the other end, trying to catch up to his new friend by taking a short cut. He saw the prince turn a corner into a park and quickly climb up a tree. Yamcha stopped in the middle of the street in front of the park and slowly began to search every nook and cranny. Goku thought that he was a little too enthusiastic about his job.

"What will you do when you find him?" he asked, startling the other man. Yamcha spun around, gun at chest level, and glared at him.

"I'm going to shoot him in a non-vital area, drug him, and take him back to Saiya to claim my prize."

He shook his head at his words. "He hasn't done anything to you."

"So?" Yamcha turned back towards the park. "It's all about the reward, or haven't you figured that out yet? People need money to live and that would take care of me for the rest of my life. If a worried old man in a stone castle gets something out of it in return then so be it."

"It all comes down to money," Goku said softly. "It's always about money. What will stop someone else from just taking it all away from you? Eventually someone will come along with a bigger gun and a badder attitude and then you'll be the one on the receiving end of this nonsense. The cycle will just continue on."

All thoughts of his reward were forgotten in favor of anger at Goku's words. "You don't have the right to tell me *anything*! Look at yourself," he sneered, "with those expensive clothes and shoes. You've never gone hungry because you had no money to buy food. You had it easy."

"I haven't been wealthy all my life, you know. What money I have I've earned. Have you gone to college at all?" He went on at Yamcha's head shake. "I have. For seven long years I've studied to be a doctor, for five even longer years I was a resident at Tokyo General. Don't speak to me about "having it easy" because I've worked harder than you *ever* have." Goku turned his eyes toward the tree that Vegeta was currently crouched in. "Just leave us alone. Come back when you've grown up."

Yamcha, sensing that he wasn't going to get anything that night, abruptly turned and walked back the way he had come. After several minutes Vegeta poked his head between the thick leaves and proceeded to drop down to the ground.

"Nice speech," he said with a tiny grin.

Goku sighed. "It wasn't nice; it was necessary. People like him make me so angry with their whining. You can't get anything if you don't *do* anything. No one seems to understand that."

"I do," Vegeta held his eyes for a moment before looking down. "I may not be the most wealthy man in the world but I earned what I do have. Nothing in this world comes without a price. Life doesn't work that way." He fell silent then and looked off into a distance that wasn't seen by him. His eyes were viewing something deeper than the dark horizon. "We need to leave as soon as possible for the forest. Cyrus may do something that I'd have to kill him for if we wait."

"Is it better to leave tonight or tomorrow morning?"

"Tonight," he answered, keeping his face turned away. "We're going to need a full day to infiltrate so it's better if we leave while it's still dark. I'll take care of the arrangements but you need to take care of any loose ends of your own."

Goku pulled a slim black cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number from memory. "Anzai? This is Goku. I'm not going to be able to make it in to work today or tomorrow." He smiled slightly at the shocked silence on the other end. Goku hadn't missed a day of work since Gohan's sixth birthday party. "You know what? I might not be there Friday either. It's very important, you know that. Or I wouldn't be missing work for it. The kids are important to me too. It's taken care of? Alright, ja." He hung up and turned off his phone. "We leave tonight."

"Good," Vegeta said quietly, his mind already thinking about the things they would need. "Good."

***

The forest was quiet as they walked through it, deathly quiet. Vegeta remained tense, alert for the someone or something that had scared all of the owls and nocturnal animals away. Goku, having grown up in the woods with his grandfather, also knew that the forest was never completely quiet unless something was wrong. There was always the soft calls of the birds and the low sound of rustling plants as an animal passed through them. Even the wind's low, haunting song moved among the trees. The two men kept crouched low to the ground, eyes and ears tuned completely into the forest around them, each hoping that they could be the attackers instead of the attacked.

The trees were barely discernible from the inky blackness that was the forest. Usually a person would have severe problems with moving around, taking tiny steps to try and avoid foreign objects, but both Goku and Vegeta were moving as if it were a clear, sunny day. Neither knew that they weren't the only one with the Sight but neither were comfortable with discussing it with someone they had just met. They didn't see as other people saw in the darkness, instead they saw the way air moved to accommodate an object. They could see the aura, the ki, that every living thing emitted. There were no twigs stepped on, no branches broken, no trees bumped into. They were one with the forest, giving themselves over to it and allowing the flora to guide them to their destination.

After another half-hour's walk, Vegeta stopped and remained in a crouch. "His hideout is only five minutes away now," he said this almost without voice, a sound that nearly blended in with the whispering of the wind, but still Goku heard and understood him. "We can't go in by the main entrance, so we'll have to find another way. There has to be a ventilation duct around somewhere."

"We need a plan after we get inside," Goku said seriously. "I hope you don't think we can just fight our way through his people."

"I'm not stupid, Goku." The taller man smiled slightly at his use of his first name. "We don't want anyone to die unless they have to. We go down through the ventilation, taking out any guards we see with a silenced gun, and make our way slowly to where the prisoners are being kept. After freeing all of those small children you think should go with us and sending them to the elevator, we'll go find Cyrus and make him pay for what he's done."

"Not quickly. I want him to suffer."

If Vegeta was surprised at his words he gave no indication. "We will first interrogate him and then torture him until he begs for mercy. When, at last, his spirit is broken we will then dispatch him to Enma-sama."

Goku felt his even his guilty conscience smile. "Acceptable, but then again, I know it would only be glorious if I did it myself."

"Are you volunteering?"

"Iie," he shook his head. "I can't go back to my son with a man's blood on my hands after telling him all of his life not to let violence embrace him in its bloody arms. After your first killing it becomes easy to do a repeat performance."

"I respect your thoughts," Vegeta said quietly as he began pulling things from his backpack, "but don't be killed or get your son killed because of them." They both fell silent as Vegeta assembled various things and proceeded to wait until the hour of the dawning sun.