Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Slave ❯ Kakarot ( Chapter 29 )

DISCLAIMER: I do not own DBZ or any of the characters from it.

A/N - Hey ho guys! Merry Christmas to you all and a happy new year too! This chapter is my Christmas present (albeit very late!) to all of my fic readers - trust me, in the spirit of this fanfic, this is a great and very important chapter. Thanks also to everyone who emailed me and reviewed the last chapter of this fic, it was very nice and inspired me to write this chapter faster then I other wise would have! Thanks and enjoy!

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"Hello, Father."

Bardock barely even acknowledged the all too-familiar voice that invaded his sanctuary and broke the silence. His eyes shut against his will and he fought the congruous sensations of fear and anxiety that arose in him as his son Kakarot's voice echoed through the healing tanks waters.

Bardock remembered little of what had happened to him, but whatever it had been it must have been bad…especially if it had brought his son scurrying home.

Kakarot.

He could remember when the news of his son's birth first reached him. He had been preparing to go on a purging mission with his team when his then-wife had gone into labor. She'd been rushed to the nearest medical center where they had done what they could for her during the difficult birth. While pregnancy amongst saiyans was rare - the ratio of male to female amongst the saiyan population was almost ten to one - it was completely unheard of for a saiyan to give birth twice in one life time.

Biologically saiyans were not equipped. It was a hard cold fact of life that after the first conception of a child a female saiyans body stopped producing eggs. His wife, Natoru, had been one of the rare exceptions to this rule, as her body had remained fertile for far longer then it should have. There was a very good reason why saiyan females were limited to one pregnancy in a lifetime- saiyan births were hard and many females remained in medic centers for weeks after giving birth. Bardock had known that his wife's chances at surviving giving birth a second time were slim at best, but she had been adamant that she be allowed the chance to bring life into this world one more time.

His wife hadn't died giving birth to Kakarot though - she'd died giving birth to his identical twin, Turles. Natoru had been the first saiyan to give birth to twins of any kind, it was an anomaly that had attracted the attention of not only the king, but also of the general saiyan population. The public's interest in his wife's birth had been merely as a curiosity and their interest had waned before long. However, the king's interest in his wife's condition had been more practical. He wanted to find out if others who shared Natoru's bloodline were also blessed with higher then normal fertility, and in doing so somehow find a way to manipulate the genes of other saiyan females to enable the saiyan race to multiply at a higher rate. The king's interest had also waned once he had learned that Natoru's other relatives did not share her 'gift'.

Bardock had never forgotten his wife or how obsessed she had been about allowing her two unborn children a chance to live. How was she to know that one of their children would turn out to be a monster and would inevitably become so satiated with bloodlust that he would take the lives of his brothers? Bardock was sure that if his wife had known what dwelt within her she would not have given birth.

If only Kakarot had been sent away as a child to another planet, if only he his power rating at birth hadn't been as promising…

Everything might have been different.

He should have been sent away as a child - his older brother Raditz had been, and his twin Turles was sent away. But not Kakarot - he had a promising future on planet Vegeta.

Kakarot.

Growing up he had been treated exactly the same as his other brothers once they had returned to their home world, but he had shown a far greater ability at fighting then either of them. His dedication to his training and his natural talent had seen him enter the kings army when he was barely past puberty, something which had occurred only once before, and that was with the future king - Prince Vegeta.

By the time Kakarot was eighteen he had brutally slain his older brother Raditz in an apparently spontaneous fight. Kakarot had never bothered to give reason for killing his brother; he hadn't shown remorse for slaying him either, if anything he had seemed pleased. Months later his behavior had become erratic and his moods had changed rapidly, he started taking purging mission after purging mission until the news that his brother Turles had left the planet reached his ears.

It seemed to Bardock now, that it was as though Kakarot had been waiting for this moment, as if all of his purging missions had been another way of training for the inevitable fight with the stronger of his siblings. Indeed, he had chased after his brother like a man possessed, determined for one reason or another to catch up with his twin.

Days after Kakarot had launched his space pod after his brothers, Bardock had received news that Turles and another saiyan had been slaughtered on the planet Aria. Rumors flew around the barracks where Bardock slept and finally it reached his ears that Turles had been involved with a saiyan male, something that was common amongst soldiers due to the lack of females. According to the rumor, Kakarot had also been involved with this male, and when his brother had taken off with him Kakarot had chased after them and killed them both in a fit of rage.

Bardock didn't know if the rumors were true, but he doubted it very much. He had his own suspicions about why Kakarot had killed his brother and they had less to do with lust and more to do with greed. None knew of this except Bardock and Kakarot, but the day before Turles had fled the planet, Bardock had announced that his own back pay from countless numbers of purging missions had come through and that the small fortune that he had amassed would be split evenly between the twins. It was Bardock's theory that Turles had left because he was frightened his brother would kill him and take his inheritance.

Now, years later, Kakarot was home again…

A small beep echoed through the waters, signaling that his healing had been completed. With a chuckle the shadowy figure outside the healing tank moved forward and pressed a button on the side of the tank. Moments later the water in the healing tank drained away, leaving Bardock hanging from the support tubes; naked and vulnerable.

"Well, well, well." Bardock muttered as he heaved himself to his feet and began ripping the tubs from his body, keeping his eyes firmly off the man in front of him. A foul taste invaded his mouth as he though of all the horror and shame Kakarot had put their family through. Bitterly, he finally met his middle-child's eyes. "The prodigal son returns at last."

His son said nothing and Bardock took a moment to look his son over, noting that the saiyan uniform his son had once sported had been replaced by clothing that looked uncannily like something Bulma had once tried to dress him in. Realization dawned on him as to where his son had been hiding for all these years.

"You've been on Earth!"

His son laughed again, a rumbling foreboding sound that had strains of something more dangerous echoing in it. The black leather pants and tight long sleeved leather shirt were both laced up the sides, the boots which he wore over his pants ran all the way up to his knees - the silver buckles on them shaped in the shape of the Saiyajin royal symbol. It was an outfit that Bardock would never have expected to find his son wearing, yet somehow it seemed to suit him perfectly. Finally Kakarot stopped laughing.

"Extreme head trauma, yet still he remembers what Earth clothes look like." Kakarot shook his head and snorted with laughter. He glanced at his father with amusement, "Yes father, I've been on Earth. I've been plundering."

"Plundering?" Bardock echoed dumbly.

"Yes." Kakarot grinned. "I've been looting and plundering - causing chaos and trouble for both Humans and Saiyajins." His son leant forwards sneakily. "Truthfully," He whispered covertly, "I don't hold any allegiance to any Empire anymore." He straightened again and looked suddenly thoughtful. "I hunt people for bounties now. I've always been good at killing - I have no remorse, no conscience…"

"If you have no remorse then why did you return home when I was injured?" Bardock smirked and stepped out of the tank, taking the towel his son offered him. He turned around and began drying himself off, so was unprepared when his son's hand came down hard on his shoulder. Kakarot turned him around roughly, an evil light gleaming in his ebony eyes.

"Merely coincidence, father." Kakarot smiled gleefully. "You see, I've taken a bounty on your life…"

~*~

Brolly yawned and rubbed his face with his hands, willing himself not to let the late hour get to him. Prince Vegeta was making plans for his crowning ceremony and Brolly had once again found himself assigned guard duty. From the amount of time Vegeta was taking organizing the ceremony Brolly guessed it would be an intricate affair, for although the private ceremony itself would only be small, Vegeta also had to make plans for extra guards to be posted outside of the palace. The ceremony would be shown to the public via the public broadcast system - the equivalent of what humans called television.

The Saiyajin community had taken well to Vegeta. Support for him as ruler was far greater then it had been for his father, and while undoubtedly this was because of all the time Vegeta had spent serving in his father's armies amongst the low levels, it was also because of the large support for the princess Zucchini. Despite being an obnoxious and spoilt Saiyajin female, she was a fierce warrior and her conquests had been well documented. She was an idol for many Saiyajin females who wished to reach a fighting ability that had previously been reserved for men - elitists.

While Saiyajins were not a sexually racist species, females had always been known in their culture as being the weaker of the sex. It wasn't because men wanted all the glory of fighting for themselves, it was just that female bodies couldn't seem to support as much power as their male counterparts. Female saiyan warriors had always been present in society, indeed some of the greatest saiyan warriors had been women - it was just that their had always been so many more great male warriors.

Women were more commonly known as being the more intelligent of the sexes. Women made up the majority of the teachers, doctors, and scientists on the planet Vegeta. Nowadays though, women were discontent and research was being conducted into ways in which women could enhance their fighting ability. Zucchini was up on a pedestal, and that was just the way the spoilt little princess liked it.

Brolly sighed and toyed with a lock of hair, boredom getting the better of him. As he played with his hair a sound echoed down the hallway, sending chills down his spine. He straightened and his hand fell away from his hair as the sounds continued. They were the sounds of battle and that meant that somewhere close by, someone was fighting. A loud crash and the sound of shattering glass pierced the air and Brolly straightened as he realized the fight was coming from the medical bay. His curiosity welled as he remembered that Bardock was being kept in the medical bay.

Torn between his duty to the prince and his natural curiosity to see who was disobeying the Prince's orders and fighting within the palace, Brolly shifted his weight and bunched his hands into fists. It was hard to accept but he couldn't just leave his post merely because of a scuffle that sounded interesting. He would have to let whoever was fighting sort it out between themselves, his job was to guard the prince and he would continue to do just that.

As he stood guard a muffled scream echoed down the hallway, followed by the sound of a ki blast…

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A/N - I'm so so so so sorry that this chapter took such a long time to write! I intended to have this out by Christmas! But as you can see, another key player was introduced into the story - Kakarot! That's right! We have the evil saiyan Goku running rampant through the castle! Will he kill his father? You will just have to wait until the next chapter! Mwa ha!

All complaints about the unfairness of this cliffhanger, threats to the author or demands for the next chapter can be emailed to vegeta_goddess@hotmail.com - oh and if you want updates for this fic then you can also request to join the mailing list!