What Exactly is Involved in a Saiyan Mating Ritual?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tail Union

The slight desert breeze swept deliciously over tanned skin, as Vegeta braved the unknown and closed his eyes. Well, perhaps unknown was somewhat of a harsh term. Un-ventured was perhaps the preferred enunciation. He had a slight inclination of what was about to befall him, but it was completely uncertified by his teachings as a child. The link was not a piece of technology to be taken lightly and was pretty accurate on Saiyan history and culture. Nappa and Raditz had proven a lot of the collated data as reliable, but there was an edginess to his mind as he let his lids close. It made him wonder just how reliable that precious second hand information had been? If anything were certain in this constantly changing universe, then it was misinformation. So many topics had been consummately diluted by being batted freely about for all to discuss. The Chikyu endearment of the entity they called 'love' was exquisite proof of this.

His mind began to doubt - wonder. What was it that Kandai had said to Bulma? Something about the tail union being bound to those whose mating rituals only he officiated? That in itself was enough to put him on guard. The whores he had seen on the small visor, as he had waded through the pornography during his searches for data on it, were most definitely not of a high social status. It was highly unlikely that they had participated in a tail union themselves, so therefore it reasonable to assume they were just guessing. There was a tiny little portion of him that revolted and wanted to inquire what was to befall himself and his mate, but the bigger portion; that stubborn arrogance, which couldn't bear the torture of being indebted to another living creature, made him stay silent on the subject and assume the artificial role of a creature in the know.

The start was as promising as he could have hoped for. Even the merest of touches, as fur met fur, managed to elicit sharp bolts of needle like pleasure to pierce through his body. It was so close to what was described and how he had felt when his original tail was still his own, but even now the brief vibrations that contact with Bulma's tail created couldn't totally sooth his mind. To lay himself so open, so vulnerable, was an instinct that would flare doubt and conscience. Did he really want to go through with this? It would be so easy to leave. To go back to his training and pretend that nothing over the past month had happened. He would be free to do as he wanted, and not give a damn about the consequences of his actions. He had never given a damn about the result of them before, why was it any different now?

Bulma may be upset for a little while, but what did that matter to him? She would recover soon enough and realize just what a fortunate form of release he had presented her with. Yes he would silently suffer under the thought of what could have been, but he had so many 'what ifs' that clawed at his past. He could chalk it up to his life being nothing more than a darkened nightmare, because now it was up to him to decide whether to cower in fear of the monsters that threatened, following in their predatory visage, or rise up to kill them all.

He sighed. Was he really that stupid? Things had changed - inexorably so. Wasn't that part of the fascination that pulled under the veil of disinterestedness. Attraction there was, pure and unwavering, but perhaps it would not have tripped him up so completely if other influences hadn't intruded. The brilliance that seemed to gleam off her wasn't just painted by beauty, or genius (although she possessed both in abundance) it was something simpler than that. It was because she had been free all her life; it was her spirit, her relative innocence. She was his complete opposite in background. Compared to his, her very existence had been something he could only dream of under Frieza's rule. She was the embodiment of what he had spent his whole life trying to reach, and perhaps, he thought with a smirk, she could also be the immortality he had been striving for all that time.

He leant his head back until his spine would not flex any further. Letting a long exhale dance its way to the dry air that surrounded. There it was… the answer to the riddle that was being completely unwound through his mind. He could feel it pounding through his chest. The swell encompassed it entirely. Since exiting the game he had contemplated ripping the spell from his own body rather than have to live with it for the rest of his life. It was a grim reminder indeed. He had relaxed so completely after having destroyed the scouter and the last link to any ties with the Ko-oni-jin, but it had been a fleeting feeling. As he had lain with Bulma after their first union and played with the fine silk of aquamarine that was fanned across his chest, he could feel it.

At that moment realization had come hurtling at him like a blow to the stomach. It had winded him with the weight it carried. He would never be free from the Ko-oni-jin. Their witchcraft was interwoven with the power of the bond. What had the Elder referred to it as… the physical incarnation of the soul? Or at least, the aging nymph had said something to that effect. It was that portion of his body that still rebelled. It was sickening, the way his own body could take control of his mind so easily at times. This was part of the answer to breaking it.

"Are you ready?" asked Kandai; throwing his thoughts out from the confusion they had lapsed into. It was so easy for him to get consumed in his own musings at times. He had seen it written over other creatures' faces when they tried to work him out - the confusion that he inspired in them. Sometimes he would laugh as they puzzled over his character, knowing that even the possessor himself, couldn't sift through the confliction of them as they constantly waged war with each other.

Somewhere in the distance of reality he heard Bulma's soft reply of, "yes" and it made his chest swell with the realization of how much confidence was in those words. He wondered what it must have been like for her in the link. Throughout the whole, he had been the one in the know, he had taunted and flagrantly played with her emotions, when she had looked for nothing more than reassurance. She had had to suffer all the misgivings about a ritual that was completely alien to her, and he had tortured the feeling. Despite all this though she had complied with quiet acquiescence and never once failed to comply with a ceremony that didn't mean anything to her.

Well now they were level and he felt even guiltier about his actions than he did earlier. He now knew how disconcerting the feeling of not being in control of a situation felt.

"Vegeta?"

The word was whispered so quietly into consciousness, that in the tumult of his mind Vegeta almost didn't hear it, but the tones could not be misunderstood. The voice had been Bulma's, and the tenor was fearful, almost pleading. She needed reassurance that this was what he wanted. He had put her feelings on hold through so much of what had passed, that it made him want to curl into a ball of shame.

He felt his eyelids squeeze together in resolution. "Proceed!" he demanded, knowing that he could not go back to what he had been, and ultimately, not wanting to.

Vegeta felt a tingle of excitement slide down his spine as Bulma's tail relaxed in his own. He had missed the point that so much tension had been forced into it and it only made him want the union even more. It was the only way he could truly make amends. He was a selfish creature, in the end, and couldn't do without the hope and affection she promised.

Bulma was everything he would ever need to make himself complete and he smiled inwardly at the easy way her tail allowed itself to be controlled by his own as they almost instinctively tangled together for greater purchase. It was at once submissive and relaxed. No one would ever know how much he needed her at that minute, but he would at least allow her the right she deserved by admitting it to himself.

"As you wish Vegeta," said Kandai, his hand wrapping around the converged tails. "To get the union to work properly I have to first free the power of your emotional bond. It will be similar to the release of energy I used on Bulma before, but less dramatic. I know how to work the level of power properly now, plus I will not be changing the substance of it as I had to last time. It will also be kept focused between the two of you, coming to rest as it encompasses both of your tails. This will bind you both together for the second step."

In the pit of his stomach Vegeta felt a nervous flutter that wasn't his own. "Be calm Bulma." He whispered, "Do you trust me?" he asked, hoping that the answer would be the one he needed to hear.

"Unconditionally." She replied.

He exhaled in relief, "And you trust Kandai?"

"Yes."

"Then relax."

His words were almost made insignificant as Kandai's power began to work on their own. Vegeta could feel it. It started in the feet, creeping up his legs millimetre-by-millimetre, setting the veins throbbing with power and desire. Who could doubt the validity of what they were doing when such a feeling was wrapping its ethereal beauty through their bodies. The added fuel to his yearning was sensing it in Bulma as well, the complete resignation that swept through her being in conjunction with it and the total acceptance as it swam through her as eloquently as it did himself was mind-blowing.

The power now encompassed his entire body, and he could feel the spell that Kandai was chanting, flowing through is mind in a language he had almost forgotten. It pushed that power away from his body and sent its embrace spiralling to the tail. If he had been lost in the feelings the power had bestowed before then he was completely desperate now. He had never felt a sensation like it. Never had pure power been so truly addictive, and considering his pursuit and unwavering determination to find more, that was saying a lot.

In spite of the control he wished to obtain over his body, he couldn't restrain the deep purring that vibrated through his chest in response to it. He would have felt completely humiliated if it wasn't for the scream of pleasure that escaped from Bulma's lips at the very same time.

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Kandai looked wistfully over the pair as the golden hue of power radiated smoothly through his fingers. It had been a long time since he last performed this ritual and it never ceased to amaze him in the pleasure it seemed to afford. There was a tiny piece of his soul that was jealous of the two before him and that was because he had never been able to experience it for himself.

From a very early age he had sworn himself to celibacy. It wasn't just a matter of choice though. He was half Alorian. It might not mean much now, but during his lifetime it was everything. He was the product of an inter-species exchange, a sin that not even his mother (a well respected member of the royal guard) could escape from. For so long as Vegeta-sei had existed off world relationships had been largely frowned upon. The planet was split by those who accepted it and those that didn't.

The vast Saiyan genetics programme, which Vegeta had been a product of, meant that the gap was even greater. The palace held firm to the pure policy, even though the royal family had been known to him as something of a sympathizer, and had forced the issue. No one who carried alien blood was allowed within the ranks of pure blood. That is why his own path to prosperity had been that of a healer. It was a talent that wasn't intrinsic to Saiyan power and so being of such a rarity it was an ability that was coveted.

He had been given the ultimate present by his foreign genetics, as it was a skill that was pretty much second nature to his Alorian blood. Social status however, still could not bridge one gap. As he had informed the couple that sat in mated pleasure before him, the intimacy of a mating ritual was something he had realized he would always have to do without.

The majority of the time it did not bother him. Over the lonely years he had suffered guarding over Vegeta-sei he seemed to have been separated from his ties with the Saiyan populous, with each new purging mission or conquest they made and which ultimately he had no control over, even with the assistance of the Kais, he had clung closer and closer to the part of him that wasn't Saiyan. It was true that over the years the Saiyan's believed he was a Spirit. He found himself slipping into that role, until he assumed it entirely. The death of his mother made it a matter of even greater need.

He sighed and smiled, putting his history behind him. He spent far too much of his time with his head in the past, it was time to act. Clearing his throat he began.

"The second phase will now begin. I will touch a point on your foreheads, making you both fall into a form of hypnosis. During this time I will manipulate the power to flow from the tip of each of your tails, as I use my abilities as a healer to clear your minds completely, I will break down the mental walls that separate your spirits and intertwine them. You have at the moment an emotional bond. This was at one time a great secret, but during more recent Saiyan history increasing numbers of Saiyan society used it to cement their union. What is not so well known though is the capacity there is for a mental bond. Only a few factions ever knew about it, and it is not documented."

Kandai relaxed a moment to augment his thoughts, knowing that neither of them was in a position to reply.

"This will ultimately bind you to each other for the rest of your lives. The emotional bond could be broken, although only by a healer, but a mental one cannot. When I make the changes it will be permanent. Do you still wish to proceed? I know you cannot speak, simply nod if you agree."

Kandai waited, looking at them both for permission to continue. It took a while, but he was a patient being and knew it was not a decision to be taken lightly. When at last they did agree Kandai was glad to see that both of their heads fell at exactly the same time, just as it should do. He exhaled in relief, and continued.

"When you next awake I will be gone. I would not stay even if I had the time. What happens between you will be something very special that will be disturbed by a third party. Prince Vegeta; live long, be strong and remember your ancestry. I fully believe that this step will help you in your search to become the legendary. Make your people proud. Bulma Briefs; you are his salvation, you will need to be strong for the life that is planned out for you. Take your prince and make him realize what it is to know peace. Despite everything he may protest to the opposite he needs you, remember that for the trials ahead. I wish you both prosperity and longevity. Farewell."

Kandai bowed his respect to both of them and knelt on the dried and cracked stone, placing an index finger on both of their foreheads. He let the power of the emotional bond consume him and fell into a deep meditation as he untangled the passion that existed between their thoughts.

Half an hour was spent in this way. The sweat beaded on his head from the mental effort. Both the creatures before him were of an intellectual capacity that made it difficult. Vegeta's anger kept him out for the longest time, and Bulma's inventive thoughts kept trying to mislead him, but eventually he had tied the last strand of energy that would connect them.

Silently he fell back, taking a quick breather, before he regained his footing. He couldn't hang around too long. It would only be a matter of minutes before they would be released from the hypnotic trance. He studied them quietly for a minute, pushing the power back from their tails. "See you in the afterlife," he breathed, letting his ki flood over him, "my king and queen." Before disappearing back into the sky, making a beeline for Kami's lookout.

His Namekian counterpart was there to greet him as he reached the precariously balanced platform.

"A job very well done!" he smiled before Kandai had even touched down.

"Thank you," he replied, as his legs gave way.

Kami laughed, "I warned you how strong Vegeta was old man."

"Not enough!" he smiled, "And less of the old man. You are no spring chicken either."

"I still have fifty years on you."

Kandai chuckled, "Of which I've been dead twenty. Now how long is it till I have to go back?"

Kami extracted a small hourglass from his robes, "Not bad! You still have an hour left."

There was a glint in Kami's eye and Kandai recognized it straight away, "So tell me Namek. How exactly did you get the Grand Kai to agree with this?"

The reply was swift and unabashed, "Pornography."

"I thought so." He grimaced, "How do you fancy getting your own back? I'm sure we can come up with something to piss him off with in the time I have left. Follow me Namekian we have some alchemy to perform!"

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In the blinking of an eye, the world stopped churning and cognisance finally returned. Bulma did not dare to open her eyes just yet, there was just far too much to take in, so much for her thoughts to come to terms with for vision to cope as well. As she felt Kandai's spell leave her body she was half expecting her head to pound, but it didn't. In fact it felt more alert and alive than it had ever done before. She could make out the reddish glow of the desert sun, as it filtered gently through her closed eyelids, and by looking through the colour it managed to make her concentrate on that feeling of something new, which sprawled under her usual thought process.

In the distance, she could hear footsteps, but they weren't as simple as they would have been half an hour ago. No. There was a poignancy to them now, perhaps even emphasis, that set them so widely apart from the norm. It was almost as though they echoed through her mind, capturing a mental image of the motion, just as if her eyes were wide enough to see and feel it as a part of her being.

She sighed, lost in the feeling of comfort it brought. "Vegeta!" The way it came from her lips could almost be described as a drowsiness, because even the name took the air from her lungs as it left her lips.

Her lids were still closed, but she no longer needed to open them. She could see him just as physically through her thoughts as she could through her sight. It was amazing! They even breathed as one as she tempered her newly discovered senses to pull through his own.

"Come to me Bulma."

The words were not spoken but implied by the movement of air currents on her face and the pull of the power running through her body. Obediently she stood and started to open her eyes.

"No!" The word was demanded the same way as before, "Come to me, but keep your eyes closed."

Bulma concentrated pushing her reply back the way his had come, "Why?" It was so easy so natural, almost like an extension of her senses.

"Because I enjoy the way your brow furrows in anger when I try to order you around." The words were said with such deep undertones that they left little cohesion for an answer, "And besides," he continued, "aren't you curious about your new abilities? Don't you want to test them?"

"Yes."

"Then do as I ask!"

Bulma wasn't sure how she knew where to go, after all Vegeta had done nothing to give his position away, but she certainly had an urge to walk in one direction and one alone. The instinct was like a magnet it pulled so powerfully. After taking several tentative steps she came to a stop, and was strangely unsurprised when a hand dropped to her shoulder, free falling down her back as the strong arm that accompanied it pulled her closer to solid chest.

"Open your eyes."

This time the words were spoken.

"What will I see if I do?"

"Your prince."

"Will I lose this feeling?" She asked, not wanting to relinquish the intoxicating chord of connection.

"No," he replied, "you will not, you will be able to call upon it at any given time. Can't you feel the exhilaration Bulma? It is the same power that flows through our emotional bond. Just as we can manipulate that power, so we can this. They are the same. Its… amazing!"

Slowly she relaxed in his arms, letting her eyes flutter open. The first thing to greet them was the drilled concentration of two obsidian orbs as they studied the depths of her cerulean ones.

His head lowered to meet hers, his lips brushing gently against her mouth. It wasn't enough. The power demanded closer contact and just as he was about to pull away she pulled him closer. Her lips demanding the bruising contact they needed.

Vegeta easily complied. She could feel the need pulling through his own body just as powerfully as it did through hers and knew that completion was demanded. It was such a heady pleasure and she knew there was only one way to satiate it. Not breaking the contact that sandwiched their lips together she ran her hands seductively over his chest, running them down the side until they reached the hem of his dark blue training top, pulling it up.

By some complex movement on Vegeta's part Bulma felt him tugging at her own spandex aerobics top and they parted for the briefest of moments as each of the garments were pulled over their heads, and discarded with equal nonchalance. Their shorts were removed in a similarly hurried manner soon afterwards, along with training shoes as they were flung from feet. It was too much; the need to feel each other's nakedness consumed them.

Carefully Vegeta laid her down and his mouth descended. It left the comfort of her lips and made a passionate path down the neck and over the collarbone. The fire it created was uncharted. It sent her senses into a spin that was hard to control. The bond seemed to multiply every single touch, heightening every shiver of desire.

Bulma frowned as he stopped. His gaze poured over her nakedness, but there were now no longer any awkward inhibitions to get in the way. She didn't feel nervous or put on show. Silently she noticed the hunger in his eyes, the devilish grin and lust pouring through him as it was accompanied by the power of the bond. Almost to confirm his interest her eyes locked on his own body, marvelling at the way his muscles moved and contracted under the silken veil of his skin.

Once again his thoughts pulled at hers, communicating through the subconscious, and she complied to his silent entreaty, pushing her pelvis up against him, willing his hands to travel in that direction. They did precisely that, playing teasingly with the aquamarine tufts, before spreading them and delving one finger to bruise over her clitoris. It sent a jolt of pleasure through her as it surrendered the position. It was as though electricity had been sent flowing through the contact as he waited for her to recover before doing the same again. His eye contact with her never broke and Bulma felt so powerful under that intense gaze as she felt the enjoyment he had in making her lose control.

Deep down though they both knew that foreplay could wait. Completion was the biggest want from both of them. Exploration could come later. The bond literally demanded the union of being a part of one another. Vegeta's fingers lowered and one pushed gently into her opening. His mind whispered erotically into hers. "I can't wait Bulma. I need you now! If you want more I will give it to you, but I need to feel myself inside you. Tell me what you want?"

"I want to feel you Vegeta!"

He didn't waste any time. In a blink of an eye he was positioned at her entrance, the tip of his erection pushing at her. Bulma squirmed underneath him. Never had the desire for intercourse been so strong. It was as though her body were taking over, breaking free from her mind and acting of its own accord, demanding this course of action as it's necessity.

All restraint was lost and Bulma pushed her hips up at the same time as Vegeta thrust into her, her mind racing, and lungs panting at how beautiful it felt. For a while they stayed still, but it wasn't to last long. Vegeta's hands almost clawed at her hips as he held onto them, pulling them up to his level as he knelt. The penetration was deep and at the perfect angle. His pace was furious and Bulma couldn't keep up, but she willed him on with as much of the power as possible as she pushed the words "Oh yes!" repeatedly through his mind.

His hands surrendered their position on her hips. Her body was almost bent double as he pounded into her, allowing him to let go and for one hand to grab mercilessly at her breast and the other to delve towards the nub he had tortured earlier.

It was too much for Bulma to cope with, her lungs screamed her release for the whole desert to hear, the sound echoing around the cavernous terrain. The tremors scorched through her veins as the power cemented the emotion and pushed it through to Vegeta.

His breathing was erratic now, and Bulma could feel his control slipping through their mental tie, as she pushed the feelings of her climax through it. Doubling the intensity. Her ears picked up the growl that burst from his lungs as she felt his member grow inside her and felt the intoxicating waves of his own release as he paid her back for his pleasure in full. It was like nothing she had experienced before. The mixture of delight made her climax complete and as all strength left their bodies to delight in the feelings elicited, they clung even closer to each other in a twisted panting of limbs.

Ten minutes passed in which nothing but the heady daze of post sex intruded. Slowly after that time Vegeta's strength returned and he moved inside his mate, the passion each craved, still as violent as before. Bulma could feel the passion relighting in her own stomach and clenched her muscles along him, willing him on.

Over the next few hours they both freely indulged in each other's bodies, not caring about anything other than the feeling of being united. During that time both of them explored and tested every millimetre of skin. Memorizing each other's forms in the most intimate way. They did not return to Capsule Corporation that night, enjoying the freedom and passion of the desert, sharing in a passion that Vegeta had thought had been destroyed along with his planet twenty years ago.

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A/N - *sniffles* This was the penultimate chapter. I can't believe that it's almost over! Look for the last chapter of this story some time in the next couple of weeks.

A special thanks goes to Bardockgurl for beta-ing this chapter for me! You're the best gal!

*hugs*

Ember