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Hair bright like a sudden sunrise, eyes tinted with the vastness of the sea. Time slowed just the smallest bit, as the power flared. Beatific, he was smiling even then, laughter reddening his cheeks, true warmth gently plying his innocence into friendliness condensed. Smiles for the battlefield, friendship for his foes. The man was deadly cheer, sweetness and steel. His smile stayed unwavering, even as his power level diminished everything around him to dust. Charming, like a child's cursed doll, eyes dark and smiles dangerous. All Vegeta did was glare.

~If I was beautiful like you~
~Oh the things I would do~

Kakarrot was a fool to waste his carefully crafted good humor on someone who would never be taken in by it. There were so many other areas to be exploited, so many people who were practically begging for the younger Saiyan's attention...But then, Kakarrot had never been very good at using people. Winning them over, yes, but he wasn't highly adept at manipulation. Not like he should have been. Vegeta could have taught him a thing or two.

~Those not so blessed would be crying out murder~
~And I'd just laugh and get away with it too~
~Like you do~

Of course, what Vegeta really wanted to do was teach his rival pain. Kakarrot certainly deserved it, considering his normal state of perpetual good cheer. The prince positively hated the younger warrior for ease with which he always played his sugar sweet game. Only Kakarrot could fight so hard and still manage to look innocent. Only him. Did the rest of the world truly think he was so gentle? Did they forget how many he'd made bleed? Or maybe the blood just didn't stain his doll-white skin, like it did everyone else's.

No matter what his actions were, Kakarrot always looked so pure. He always seemed so sure he was doing the right thing. And people just believed? They were fools. There were daggers in his smiles; death lay in his eyes. But he was never judged. A fighter, never judged. A killer, never judged because he brought the victim down and let another use the knife?

Oh, how very wise. How very, very shrewd. A wolf among the sheep, hoping his costume would stay glued firmly in place. The smile never left his face.

~If I was beautiful like you~
~I would never be at fault~
~I'd walk in the rain between the rain drops~
~Bringing traffic to a halt~

So holy and high above, full of innocence and love--that was the story his lips portrayed. Didn't the fools see how easily they were being tricked? How could they regard a Saiyan as their personal, benevolent god? It didn't make sense, and yet wherever Kakarrot went, they parted like a sea, not one willing to stand in his way. It never rained where he walked. It was never muddy where he stepped. He had been given so much good fortune and misguided worship, and they wondered how he could be so high above the rest of the dirty world? He only stood so very tall because the rest of them all knelt. Well, Vegeta would not kneel. He would stand in Kakarrot's way and kick the mud onto his shoes. He would make the blood run from his hands, dark and damning.

Kakarrot, of course, wasn't about to encourage this. His gentle face tried to dissuade the prince from his purpose, the mask of sweetness oh so perfect. Unfortunately for Kakarrot, smiles never moved the prince. They were just a way of politely baring teeth, and true royalty would never stoop to follow such a inane, lowly lead. True, Kakarrot put on a good act, a very pretty, carefree, enticing act, but Vegeta had his own script to play out, his own mask to wear: his pride, fierce and mysterious and terribly alluring.

What a fool Kakarrot was to use that grin on him, as if it would be returned, as if Vegeta might put aside his own mask and learn how to smile.

~But that will never be~
~That would never never be~
~'Cause I'm not beautiful like you~

Vegeta's expression wrapped itself into an impassioned snarl, eyes darkening with forbidden fire, air trembling with summoned heat. The ground beneath him began to crumble, a wild light dancing madly around him as he summoned power. The shadows it cast played flickeringly across his face. Even the shrouded blackness was made frightened and jittery by the sheer focus of his eyes. Vegeta's expression was truly captivating when he was angry.

The earth formed a hollow bowl beneath him. Ground turning to nothing

~I'm beautiful like me~

What did that fool Kakarrot know, putting on a smile as if it would stop the world. Vegeta faced him with a cunning, dangerous sneer--now that was an expression that could truly move people. A hot aura scorched the air he floated in. His eyes were deadly black and seemed to eat the stars of light that tried to shine inside. Nearby, ancient mountains trembled.

~I'm beautiful like me~

The energy hissing around him finally reached a fevered crescendo, and prince screamed his challenge to the stormy sky, powering up until his hair spilled like white gold down his back, the unbalanced moment of its fall causing it to gently sway at his hips as if tugged by a summer breeze. Just as the golden mass came to rest, Vegeta launched himself toward his opponent.

Kakarrot still smiled at him.

~If I was beautiful like you~
~I'd be quick to assume~
~They'd do anything to please me; why not?~
~I see their reaction, when you walk into the room~

The sweetness of Kakarrot's act made him nauseous. It was a sickening ploy, like sugar on already iced cake. How could anyone stand to bite into it? Yet they did. They practically ate it out of his hand. The grinning mask had them all fooled, every one of those ignorant Earthlings. Stupid human sheep. Was Kakarrot so gentle and so meek as his fists pummeled blood from his enemy's wounds? Prepared for his hidden ferocity, Vegeta turned the other Saiyan's vicious attacks aside, going into an aggressive assault of his own, determined to beat the cheerfulness out of his adversary, to rip the smile from his face and reveal his sharpened canines.

Of course, none of the Earthlings would thank him for doing so. They all liked their beautiful illusion so well, their "gentle" warrior. How Vegeta hated them for thinking that. So foolish, so trusting. Sometimes, he was tempted to use them himself, as Kakarrot did. If all it took was a smile...

~But that will never be~
~That would never never be~
~'Cause I'm not beautiful like you~
~I'm beautiful like me~
~I'm beautiful like me~

Just a smile...

The mere thought of wearing a sickeningly charming grin, though, made Vegeta's lips draw into a snarl. That wasn't him. Sugar had never been to his taste. He was power and pain, glory and death, the smell of smoke, and the taste of blood. His was the passion of the relentless attack, and the grace of the remorseless kill. Let Kakarrot have his smiles. Vegeta had his bloodlust.

~Beautiful~

That precious scarlet fluid he wanted so much to see. Vegeta's lips pulled back hungrily as a river of red began to flow from Kakarrot's side. The prince cherished the sight of it, warm and bright and sweet smelling as only Kakarrot's blood could be. It mimicked his mask, but if the prince could just cut deep enough, just strike hard enough, then the thick fluid that oozed through the other Saiyan's major veins, polluted with its journey though his body, could be beaten to the surface. That blood was dark and heavy, thick and deep. Vegeta was determined to draw it out. To draw Kakarrot out.

A long laceration, a deep gouge, a dripping avulsion--they were all evidence of the shamelessly fierce battle the two Saiyans engaged in. Vegeta dodged to the side and ducked under Kakarrot's high kick, retaliating with a blast that sent the taller man through several mountains. An angry blaze of light rose from the chasm his crashing body had created.

~Beautiful like me~

Slowly, full of deadly chill, the taller man rose from the jagged depression, golden spikes sticking out along his back in angry warning. Brilliant light gathered around, pretty to see, and yet so deadly to touch. Vegeta loved the sight of it, loved the set of Kakarrot's eyebrows in a hard, determined line. This was what he wanted, a fight, remorseless and brutal, no punches pulled and no tricks held back. He could almost like Kakarrot when they fought like this. He could almost feel the connection.

~Like me~

A harsh burst of blinding energy lanced out from Kakarrot's cupped hands, the beam singeing royal flesh and princely trappings. The charred cloth was pushed away, the burnt flesh ignored. The pain was such a distant thing, as they fought like starving animals who called each other prey. For them, there was only the taste of blood.

~Like me~

Sneering ferally, Vegeta noted the violent passion in his opponent's obsidian eyes. Kakarrot could fool the others by playing silly games. He could call himself by a silly Earth name. He could paste a silly plastic gentleness across his Saiyan face. It didn't change who he was. In battle, the prince could feel his heat and taste his bloodlust. The flavor was sharp on his Saiyan tongue as they grappled savagely.

At first, the balance of power was unclear. Vegeta matched the other warrior strike for strike, dodging his attacks and blocking the ones that couldn't be avoided. He fought like the predator he was, fearless and angry, wild and hungry and brutally savage. There was something exhilarating about being so completely unbound. The taste of blood was heady, yet all too soon, Vegeta was covered in his own.

Kakarrot still blazed bright, his smile steady as if he could hold off night forever. With a burst of strength, he sent the other crashing to the ground with one great blow. Gold faded to black, as Vegeta's hair followed the path of his heart, dark to his opponent's light. Kakarrot landed gently beside him.

"You okay, Vegeta?" his asked, his smile warm and friendly as ever, despite the damage he had caused. He looked so innocent...

~If I was beautiful like you, I'd have so many friends~

Was that how he won them over? Was that how he won all of them over? With that smile, so gentle, when his opponents were in so much need of something besides pain? Was that the smile people sought out so desperately when they were in trouble? Was that the key? Vegeta had never been moved by smiling. It just proved Kakarrot had teeth.

"Here, let me help you up." The cheerful Saiyan reached one incarnadine hand out toward his prince. It was Vegeta's blood that stained his fingers.

"Get away from me!" He struck the offer away hard enough to make Kakarrot's blood join his own.

"But--" The smooth forehead creased.

"Just get away! I don't want your help!" Vegeta snarled, his fury in defeat not any less than in the height of the battle.

Kakarrot gave him a half pleading, half injured look, one ever smiling lip drawn up between bright, pearly teeth. How many souls had that one look won over? How many followers had Kakarrot gathered with his "mercy"? It had to make him feel powerful, having so much sway over others lives. What did he think when they vied for his attention?

~All fighting for my time to be next in line~
~So if I hurt one I wouldn't have to make amends~

Slightly wary from Vegeta's earlier response, the taller Saiyan carefully moved forward as if to inspect some of the prince's deeper wounds, but the smaller Saiyan snarled at him so viciously that he hastily backed off. It was almost comical, the mask Earth's favorite hero wore. Surely, he was so much stronger than that.

Vegeta snorted in the blood thick air. Why Kakarrot even bothered putting on the act for him was a puzzle. The younger Saiyan had to have figured out long before that his charm wasn't going to work on Vegeta. There were so many others that adored him. Why bother with someone obviously not fooled?

The taller man sighed at the darker one's perpetual scowl, trying to erase it with his own smile.

"Why don't you lighten up, Vegeta? I wish we could just get along."

~That will never be~

"I can't believe you would even suggest such a ludicrous thing! You are a fool!"

Kakarrot sighed tiredly. "So? That doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Doesn't it? But I supposed you want a better reason, don't you?" Vegeta snarled. "The first obviously wasn't good enough. Well, get this through your sickeningly cheerful mind, Kakarrot: I hate you!"

For some reason, those words seemed to actually hurt the actor. The ever-present smile dropped from the younger Saiyan's face, just for a second. The blood drained from his cheeks.

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Vegeta. You know, you shouldn't use words like that just because you're angry."

"I use words like that just because they're true!"

Again, the noticeable wince, as if Kakarrot was caused real pain by such an assertion. The perpetual smile was very clearly faltering.

"I hate you!" Vegeta spat again, trying to crack it completely, wanting to see what was underneath.

For a moment, it all completely shattered. The gentle lips pulled back into a grimace, the warm eyes chilled with a bitter desperation, every muscle in the normally smooth face stretched hard and tense. It looked a lot like the expression Vegeta wore when he was fighting a losing battle, and for a little while, it made them seem so alike. In battle, they were always alike, and maybe, if Kakarrot was in normal life what he was in a fight, they might truly have had a chance of connecting. But then, slowly, with obvious effort, the mask put itself together and snapped back into place.

That damned smile. That smile which seemed to say everything was going to be all right, that some day they really would be close.

~That would never never be~

The smile was far too sweet for him, and the prince just scowled harder at his adversary.

"Vegeta...We'll just talk about this when you're less angry." Kakarrot's smile was still firm, but there was something hopeless in his voice.

"I'll never be less angry!"

~'Cause I'm not beautiful like you~

"But you...you can't really stay mad forever, can you?" the younger man asked, voice raising with nervous laughter at the end, as if he were hoping that it was a rhetorical question.

"Of course I can!"

~I'm not beautiful like you~

"But--" Kakarrot took a stupid, impulsive step, reaching out as if that would halt the angry words.

Vegeta's power flared.

~I'm not beautiful like you~

Anger sent the strength of an inferno through firm, well-toned muscles.

~I'm beautiful like me~

Spiked hair cascaded down.

~I'm beautiful like me~

The silence was broken by the sound of an unsuspecting hand's meta-carpals being crushed.

Kakarrot looked down, shock and betrayal replacing the mask on his face. He looked up with disbelief. Muscles in his cheeks spasmed. His pupils shrank down to the size of pinheads. His entire body shook with pain so sharp it almost made him scream, anger so deep it almost made him weep.

That was the face of a warrior.

~Beautiful like me~

A warrior conquered.

Stunned and frightened of himself, of his pain, of his anger and of Vegeta's, the younger Saiyan turned tail and ran from the hurtful, unfamiliar feeling of total failure, leaving Vegeta to pull himself out of the ground and wash the dirt from his wounds. There was a ragged river nearby that ran red with his blood, dark and thick as only his could ever really be. He looked at his reflection in the sanguine water.

His features were still proud, alluring in their sheer fevered passion, fascinating in their wild extreme. He was the wonder untamed, scowl etched in stone.

~I'm beautiful like me~

A wonder angry with the world. For a moment longer, he regarded his blood tinted skin in the water, power gathering in his hardened hand. He would never smile at his reflection like Kakarrot might. His was not that sort of act. Deliberately, the prince fired the blast at his own mirrored face, glorying in the power he had just unleashed. No, his was never the fragile sort of charm. Vegeta's allure was destruction.

~I'm beautiful like me~