A/N: YES I was excited to start the sequel already. It's gonna be in Goku's POV to keep things interesting. He is going to be kind of OOC later on so don't yell at me, pleaseeee. :) This is definitely A/U and I'm thinking there will be non-con. This is not a story for people who want to imagine Goku as innocent and free of sin. So turn back now if that's what you're after.

Pairings: Goku/Videl again. Otherwise, they're all canon.

Rating: M for possible future non-con. Anything explicit will be on a different site, but I'm not a fan of smut.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

Cherished

1: Paradise

A butterfly floated past my face and landed neatly on my kneecap, gently bending her wings a few times before deciding it was a safe place to rest. She was beautiful—bright pink and black, contrasting starkly with the plain, flat landscape around me. I offered her my index finger and she hesitated before climbing on; her feet were so small I could scarcely feel the contact. It was like mini feathers were tickling my skin. I had become immune to a lot of sensations from my constant battles.

It was nice to be settling down. My Videl had left a couple of hours ago to look for food while I laid lazily in the wispy grass and enjoyed the wildlife. The butterfly flapped her wings gratefully and went airborne again, vanishing on the horizon within a few seconds. I couldn't wait for my Videl to come back. Just thinking of her made me shiver all over like a leaf in a windstorm. We were all alone for eternity because our lives were bound together and I could never die. She was mine forever and ever.

My thoughts drifted back to the day I told Chi-Chi I was leaving her. It was sad, but she was always yelling at me. When I tried to apologize, she yelled even more and accused me of sucking up. I was afraid to be in my own house because of my wife and I wanted to be happy. My Videl was always kind of lonely and we had a lot in common. I liked being around her, especially when she let me kiss her. Sex was nice, but I really loved kissing her. Chi-Chi always blushed and pushed me away when I tried.

Now I was divorced, for all intents and purposes. I frowned at the thought of not being married like all my other friends were and considered marrying my Videl. But I didn't need a piece of paper to tell me I loved someone. A mark on the neck was good enough. It would keep all other men away and unknown to her, it would let me feel her emotions. Nothing complicated or major, but I could get a vague sense of how my Videl was feeling. I shuddered again in excitement. My Videl. She belonged to me. If anyone tried to take her away from me, I wouldn't be very happy.

Gohan attacked me the night he found me biting my Videl to make her mark reappear. He was crying and calling me all sorts of foul names I normally would have spanked him for. When I explained that she wasn't happy with him and wanted to leave Earth with me, he nearly became a Super Saiyan 4 to strike back. But I let him take out his rage and bring her back to Bulma's. After they were gone, I went home to Chi-Chi and told her I wasn't going to keep living with her anymore. She laughed at first until I told her about my relationship with my Videl. Then she fainted.

A lot of things happened after that. Vegeta tried to kill Gohan when he found out he slept with Bulla and Bulma just thought it was funny. Goten and his girlfriend (what was her name… Valese?) didn't say a lot, but he kept her far away from me and kept staring at her neck. I hoped he would take a mate like I had and feel happy; complete. Gohan always brushed off mating as silly and now he regretted not doing it. I liked it. The way my Videl's skin tasted and the sound of her moaning drove me crazy.

I sat up and looked around for my Videl, hoping she would come back soon so we could do more things that felt good. It was taking her an awfully long time to find food. Our mating wasn't technically complete until she bit my neck, too, but I could sense her feelings very slightly. I closed my eyes and focused on her beautiful face, trying to keep my heart from pounding too loudly. My Videl. She was a bit nervous and unsure of herself. Her energy was coming from not too far off. It wouldn't be rude of me to barge in on her hunting, would it? My stomach was starting to growl.

Before I could get to my feet, I sensed my Videl's energy coming closer very quickly and settled back down with my legs crossed. There was no need to worry. Gohan was in a whole different realm and there was nothing he could do to take her away from me. The Dragon Balls were fused inside my body and couldn't be used for wishing unless I decided to give the summoner permission. I smiled happily to myself when my Videl appeared over the horizon with a handful of fruits cradled in her arms. Yup, we would be together forever in Other World—

Wait. What about the Namekian Dragon Balls? Could Porunga grant a wish that would take my Videl away? It was hard to believe that any dragon would be willing to meddle in matters of the heart, but Porunga was more understanding than Shenron had been. They couldn't wish her back to Earth. I'd grant my own wish later on so she could never leave me. When Son Goku made a decision, he stuck with it! My Videl wasn't leaving Other World and that was that!

Our bond had already made her look ten years younger. My Videl was never ugly or hard to look at before, but damn, making her my mate wasn't helping me resist the temptation to constantly have my way with her. I'd been able to suppress my "manly urges" as Krillin called them when I lived with Chi-Chi because she would yammer on about how we couldn't afford another baby, but I really wanted to have a couple of babies with my Videl. I'd done an okay job raising my sons. Kids always came easily to me.

"What are you thinking about now?" my Videl asked, offering me a piece of fruit.

"Oh, nothing." I sank my teeth into the sweet, juicy flesh and tried to keep myself from getting excited. It reminded me of biting her. "So what do you want to today? Can we finally go swimming? You've been promising me for a while and I'd like to catch a few fish."

"If you keep your clothes on, sure."

"Aw, you know I like being naked. Do I intimidate you? You've seen my whole body before."

My Videl blushed furiously and picked up a piece of fruit that looked very similar to an apple. "I'm just waiting for you to realize that what you've done is wrong. You'll miss Earth pretty soon."

Wrong. If returning to Earth meant I had to face Chi-Chi and Gohan, I was perfectly content to stay on an old planet the Kais had abandoned long ago. They technically bequeathed it to me when I became immortal, but I didn't like owning my own rock in space. It was convenient, though. No more hiding on Earth with my Videl when we wanted to be alone. No one besides King Kai could sense our energy in the Other World and no one from the other realm could come to us. We were basically dead.

When we were finished eating, I scooped my Videl up bridal style and flew across the tops of the trees until I found a lake with a lot of energy signatures in it. She quickly scrambled out of my arms after I landed and sat on the edge of the water to dangle her feet beneath the surface. It was like the first day I realize I had feelings for her—when I pulled her into the lake on Earth just for fun. Our bodies pressed together and for the first time, I was alive. My Videl was so small; so perfectly breakable. She denied feeling anything that day but I knew she did.

I stripped out of my clothes and threw them to the ground, then dived headfirst into the bright blue water. The heat plaguing me was gone immediately and I focused on finding a fish before I ran out of air and had to surface. It wasn't hard for Saiyans to hold their breath for a long time, but I wasn't exactly graceful underwater. I squinted through the depths and tried to sense their life energy until I pinned one down that seemed to be a good size. Gohan was nowhere near New Namek. I could spend a few days having fun with my Videl until I made the wish that would seal her fate.

The fish swam desperately when it figured out I was closing in, but it was no match for my Kamehameha wave. It was enough to fry the fish for eating before I even surfaced again. I gripped its thick tail and hurled it from the depths so it landed next to my Videl, who shrieked in surprise and fell into the water. A grin spread across my face and I quickly swam over to pull her to the surface, but I didn't immediately put her back on the shore. She was sopping wet and I liked how it made her look. I pushed her against the shoreline and tried to kiss her on the lips.

"Goku, cut it out," my Videl said.

"Why? Let me love you."

"You don't love me. Gohan loves me."

My spine prickled. When would she learn? If he loved her so much, why was he always out working and ignoring her? He lied about sleeping with Bulla, which I suspected happened more than once, and still wouldn't quit his job even though it meant continuing to leave his wife alone all day. When Chi-Chi liked me, I loved staying home with her. Gohan and I were training most of the time to battle Cell, but I tried to be home when I could. I wasn't off wasting time at some desk job.

Time was precious and I knew that better than anyone else. I let my Videl go and she quickly climbed out of the water to wring out her hair on the grass while I watched quietly. How could I prove that I cared more? Maybe if we had a couple of kids that would help. Chi-Chi was more attached to me when she was pregnant and it seemed like Trunks had brought Bulma and Vegeta together. I stared at the clothes clinging to her lithe body and sank lower in the lake up to my nose. Yes, a baby. All I had to do was convince her to have sex again at the right moment. Getting Chi-Chi pregnant had been easy.

Something in the back of my mind told me it wasn't a good idea to get a woman pregnant without making sure she wanted it, too. My Videl peeled off her shirt and squeezed water out of it, showing me her naked back only covered by her bra strap. She was asking me, right? Chi-Chi took her clothes off when she wanted to have sex. But I didn't always want sex when I got naked. I just liked not having to wear clothes all the time. Baffled, I slipped deeper into the lake and fixed my eyes on my Videl's body. Vegeta was right: women were an enigma.

"Stop staring!" my Videl demanded, covering herself with her damp shirt.

I smirked as the water closed over my head. She would come to terms with her feelings for me. If she didn't within a few days, I had no problem wishing for her to stay with me for all eternity.