Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Sheep and the Hedgehog ❯ "Contaminated"? ( Chapter 6 )

 

CHapter 6 is finally up! At last! Thanks to Trynia Merin, who´s beta-ing for me now. I´m sorry I have taken so long, but life sometimes become complicated. And it was really difficult to focuse on Vegeta´s thoughts, at that time.

 

 

Chapter 6

 

“Contaminated”?

 

 

 

The capital of Shamuru-sei wasn't among the prettiest cities they had been. Actually, if you compared it to the extinct capital of Vegeta-sei or even to Freeza´s Citadel, it was almost primitive. Not that that made any difference. For Vegeta, Radditz and Nappa, destroying cities like that was just routine. The only thing that would arouse their interest was a challenge, which the Shamuru-jins certainly hadn't been.

 

The artificial moon created by Vegeta to transform the three Saiyans in giant apes had extinguished about three hours ago. Now they sat around a fire, roasting a small beast they had found among the ruins, probably a pet of the now extinct mushroom men*. They also sat discussing details of the rampaging.

 

“Ah, hah-hah!" Nappa cackled loudly. “Did you see the way those little fatties ran from me? It was like smashing fleas!”

 

“The ones you didn't toast at first, like you usually do," Radditz snapped. “You always use your wretched Ka-pah.** Before I get the chance of having some fun!”

 

”Radditz, you're a whiner.” Vegeta grumbled. Creating moons drained his energy, and he hated feeling weak. “But you've got a point. If Nappa won't get a hold on his stinking breath, Freeza will no longer be able to sell the planets we clean up. And you know how grouchy he can be when he can't get what he wants.”

 

The two warriors glared silently at their prince. In their eyes, Vegeta could read the hate and resentment for having to submit to a brat of only 11 years old like him. However, he could also see fear and respect. Far less for his real position than for his amazing fighting power, which even in his current condition was enough to beat the two of them. The memory of his weakness unfortunately darkened his mood again. He wouldn't be surprised if he learned that Freeza was purposely sending him to planets without satellites. That would be very like the old maggot, even though Freeza usually preferred less subtle forms of humiliation..

 

He tore off a bite on his share of the half-toasted kill, and then spat.

 

“I don't know why Freeza insists in sending us to places like these. Such a waste of time,” he mumbled.

 

“If you're looking for challenges, Vegeta, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed,” Radditz chuckled “Nobody can withstand the powerful Saiyans. Unless, of course, that you're planning to face Freeza himself."

 

Nappa shot Radditz a warning look and then glanced nervously at his prince. Vegeta, however, simply twitched the corner of his mouth upwards.

 

”You talk too much, you know. Watch out our tongue, unless you'll want me using it to clean my boots.” he said, with his eyes closed.

 

Radditz paled. He mumbled, “I'm sorry, Highness. It won't happen again.”

 

Vegeta's half-smile enlarged imperceptibly. He smirked,”I haven't heard you call me Highness for a long while, Radditz. Why the change now? Have the years under Freeza´s command made you forget the respect you own to your prince?”

 

The atmosphere grew tense. Radditz opened his mouth to babble some poor, insincere excuse, yet Nappa grabbed his shoulder warningly. Calmly, Vegeta turned his back to his partners, savoring their fear as a dessert. These were the only moments when he felt free. It was a comforting contrast to the scorn and barbs he received from Kiwi and the rest of the envious scum with whom he had to put up in Freeza's quarters. Not to mention the humiliating quips from Dodoria, Zarbon and Freeza himself, which he was forced to accept without talking back, under pain of torture. Sometimes he was tortured even without reason. As much as he hated Radditz and Nappa and had to put up with their bluntness, they at least helped him to keep sane. Well, as soon as he got rid from Freeza he would no longer need them, too, the Prince decided.

 

He turned around to add something else to his mental checklist. Yet surprisingly, Vegeta saw nothing but air and ruins behind him. He called out, “Nappa? Radditz? Where are you?”

 

The only answer he detected was the howl of the wind. Irritated, the small prince levitated himself in the air and looked around as he flied over the wreckage. Cupping his hand to his mouth he shouted, “You know I don't like to be played around! Now respond me before I get really angry!”

 

“They're not here, Vegeta.” answered a cold voice.

 

Vegeta glanced over his shoulder to see Goku, standing a few meters of distance away from him, his face unusually stern. “Don't you remember? They are dead now. You killed Nappa and refused to wish Radditz back.” Said the taller Saiyan, every word dripping with icy disdain.

 

“Kakarot?!” the prince raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “How do you dare to come here and talk to me like this?”

 

Goku kept talking, as if he hadn't heard Vegeta´s question. He said, “Why are you so upset? You had planned to get rid from them. Sooner or later, what's the difference?”

 

Angrily, Vegeta charged towards him. His legs were longer now, and instead of his usual red-and-blue battle outfit with shoulder wings and legs protector, now he used a plain, black model with a hole ripped where his belly was. As hard as he tried to reach the other Saiyan, Goku receded further into the distance even though he hadn't moved one inch from his place.

 

“Kakarot, wait! Don't go!” the prince yelled eagerly, almost with despair, even though he couldn't understand why.

 

Goku´s eyes flashed into an aqua-green color. His hair stood up and burst in a golden light.

 

“Only weaklings need to stick together," he said. The tone of his voice resembled Vegeta´s, twenty years older.

 

Goku´s body disappeared into a burst of light that hurled Vegeta backward. The Royal Saiyan tumbled in the air aimlessly. Unable to control his flight, he watched the golden, blinding radiance fade slowly into a luminescent blue rectangle.

 

Bulma´s pale face glared at him from the holographic screen. She snapped, ”See? I told you were going to end up alone. I was right! But you never listen to me!”

 

”You're not one to talk, you little witch! So shut up!” Vegeta snapped cruelly.

 

Her pained expression was frozen in the hologram that melted in the darkness. Vegeta opened his eyes. He was again lying in a hospital bed in the infirmary of Capsule Corp.

 

“Hmpf. Another stupid dream,” he growled. Automatically he glanced to one side and noticed where Bulma was probably snoozing with her curly head leaning on the table besides his bed.

 

The table and chair next to his bed were empty.

 

Vegeta opened his mouth, without uttering a sound. The walls started to encroach upon him resembling the upper part of a cage, claustrophobically closing in on all sides. Even though he wanted to get out of there, he couldn't move a muscle. His arms were pinned down, by something like a hairpin. He felt himself sinking again from consciousness, as everything surrounding him went dark and blurred. Darkness enfolded him once again.

 

Now he was naked and cold, standing in the middle of what seemed to be a dark-red void. He still couldn't move, for it felt like desolation and anguish weighed down every cell of his body. Mingled with the sensation was the realization of the complete end of all hope.

 

“I'm back in Hell,” he muttered, but there was a strange quality to his voice. It was like it vibrated through his head.

 

Once again he opened his eyes. He was lying face down on the floor of the Gravity Room. The reddened mist was actually the light of the working Graviton, which he had sensed through his closed eyelids. Grudgingly, the prince stirred and turned over on one side, feeling every single muscle aching. Probably exhausted from training too much he must have fallen asleep. This was getting to be a habit. The sound of his own voice had woken him up.

 

How long have I been under now? Leaning on his hands, Vegeta automatically looked up at the point where the holographic screen used to appear. He almost awaited a voice berating him for abusing himself and worrying her to death. Then he realized what he was doing and frowned, in self-admonition. Painfully he stood up to turn off the gravity machine, before trudging toward the cabin shower behind the camera.

 

Who could have guessed that the little brother of that hairy clown could be the responsible for his fall?

 

Radditz was probably laughing at him from Hell. He and Nappa both. Vegeta didn't remember having seen any of them during his brief passage through the abyssal reign. Actually, he didn't even remember the sensation of having been there. Whatever form Hell appeared in, it certainly wouldn't be more miserable than his current life.

 

Bitterly, Vegeta turned the shower on. Throughout the last months he had followed the routine that seemed to be the ideal one. He arose before the sun and trained until it almost set again, with just quick stops for meal. The rare contacts he had with the nutty Briefs family happened only when he needed to eat or to order more training robots from the old man. Anything else was unnecessary. He no longer had to bother himself with Bul… with the woman's nagging. Ever since the night where she had overturned the bowl full of those cheese puffs on his head she seemed to act as he didn't exist. Best of all, she never had forced him to run to the toilet again. It had worth it to get his hair all greasy and salty from the cheetos shower. Now, nothing would keep him from reaching the Super Saiyan level.

 

Stupid.

 

His fighting power was much higher now, all right. Yet what was the good of his progress because whenever he raised his level, Kakarott was already many steps ahead? That reality always made Vegeta clench his teeth and redouble his efforts, until he barely had strength even to float, forgetting food or sleep. Unfortunately everything he did caused him to grow more and more frustrated.

 

Why? Why wasn't he making any progress? He wondered. His spells of exhaustion became more frequent. Several times he woke without having any idea if it was day or night. Sometimes, he envisioned himself in his old life, scorching planets with Radditz and Nappa. At other moments, which were a little worse, he saw the woman scolding him. Nevertheless then he woke up, all alone.

 

Always alone. Never, even once, she had turned on that damned screen again. Vegeta developed the habit of looking at the wall where her face used to appear, to his great chagrin. But she never came. One day, he had awakened again on the infirmary.

 

His hand squeezed the soap. He had awakened all alone.

 

She had pretended to care about him… just to end up abandoning him. Just like the rest of the others…starting with his father…Vegeta realized to his despair.

 

His heart beat with a sudden panic, as the walls of the cabinet seemed to bend over him claustrophobically, just like in his nightmares. A clammy feeling on his right hand broke the sensation, and he raised the hand to look at. Crap, He had squished the bloody soap in his anger!

 

He shrugged and started lathering himself with the slippery residue. The empty infirmary still nagged his mind, though. Purposely he concentrated, scrubbing himself in slow motion and paid attention to the soapy sensation of suds on his bare skin. However this action diverted his mind to another pair of hands, a feminine one. Vegeta couldn't help but wonder how it would be for him to be bathed with hands that weren't his. If he closed his eyes he could remember her warmth, the softness of her breasts squeezed against his chest. Yet he couldn't remember her touch.

 

Quickly, he opened up the cold water tap full blast to wash those dangerous thoughts away. It was much easier to keep tight reign on such urges in space. Where females were rare and there was no time to think of such crap. He could seduce her, of course. It would be easy, because her lust for him was too clear for anyone to see. Not to mention that such a union would secure his position in that house. However, that little viper could take his weakness for her as one advantage to put him down again. Ooh, she would do that for sure.

 

“ That's why you brought me here, isn't it? You're as lonely as I am.” She had said.

 

His eyes squeezed shut tightly as he felt the humiliation of that moment still burning inside. Besides that time when he had died by Freeza´s hands, Vegeta never had felt so helpless, so vulnerable as in that moment. It was like her look had torn his clothes from his body, leaving him as naked as he was now.

 

“What have I gotten myself into... its all Kakarot´s fault.”

 

Yes, it was Kakarot´s fault. The wretched moron had saved his life only to turn his back on him. It didn't matter that he had been beaten in all forms. It didn't matter that he was doomed to have a wretched excuse for a life, as long as he was left alive. This was the Earthling's proclaimed kindness: a poison able to transform a Saiyan into a clown and mere caricature of a true warrior! Worse still, that weakness seemed to be contaminating Vegeta, too. Even in his dreams he barely could recognize himself, from what his mind was trying to tell him.

 

"All my life I have been by himself. Why only now this is bothering me?”

 

Loneliness, his father had taught him, made a warrior stronger. Only the weak needed to stick together, like worms crawling in the mud. On the other hand, a member of royalty needed to be served, and some adulation was always welcome. Perhaps that was the reason why he had grown accustomed to the woman's constant presence, due to the lack of true Saiyans to serve him.

 

Even when he had lost everything he had taken for granted, he still had Nappa and Radditz. Although he hated them, and he knew those two would had killed him happily if they could, they still respected and admired him. It didn't matter that Freeza and his two seconds-in-commands, or even the Ginyu troop had much more power than he did. In the eyes of his last subjects Vegeta still was Number One. Besides, since the three were (officially) the only surviving members of their race, they had the same culture, and a similar way of thinking.

 

Was that the reason he had dreamed about them?

 

Not that would mean anything. Vegeta hadn't learned how even Saiyans could develop strong bonds among themselves, like Bardock and his team. Such things never were spoken of openly. For the proud prince, an alliance lasted only as long he could take advantages of it.

 

At such time when the advantages were no more, he would feel free even to eliminate his former allies, if he liked. Like he had done with Nappa, and would have done eventually with Radditz if Kakarott and the Namekian hadn't spared him the trouble of getting rid of the longhaired fool for him. Maybe he could be called a monster, but at least he was more honest and made no secrets about using others for his purposes. Without the pretense of friendship or any other emotional blackmailing.

 

“Every time they need an invention, or a place to stay, it's Bulma you've got to help us! But when it's me that needs a shoulder to rely on, everybody runs off…”

 

How someone could be so delusional? He had tried to knock some sense in to her, but the thickheaded bimbo preferred to be left alone with her freak. At some points, she was as stubborn as Kakarott! He had tried to reason with him, too. He still could remember his response:

 

“You foolish scum! Get cold-hearted! If you had only discarded you leniency, you would surely already be... a Super Saiyan!” he recalled saying to Kakkarot before he slew Freiza.

 

”I just don't see how I could act as cold hearted as you do.”

 

It was a funny thought, but, on hard reflection, Kakarott and Bulma were disturbingly similar. Both were filled with an annoying optimism and that maddening cheerfulness. Not to mention that their naivete was acceptable only in a two-year-old child! Then, suddenly, all that changed. The naivete faded away from their faces, giving way to a hard stare that pierced through him. Whether it came from the younger Saiyan or the woman, the transformation was impressive. It was terrifying.

 

“Those two are such an enigma. I wouldn't be surprised if I learned that Kakarott and that woman were once lovers,” he thought. Almost automatically, however, the image of Chichi flashed into his mind.

Vegeta almost winced at the reminder of the nagging voice coming from the small scarecrow figure in those ugly clothes. Worse than her appearance, though, was the fact that Kakarott apparently hadn't obtained any advantages from such a union? If Kakarott had chosen to throw his life away with that creature when he could live in the lap of luxury along with a woman that despite everything was at least attractive, he must be insane! True the older Saiyan didn't know anything about his rival's past. Perhaps he had married the little black-haired witch because Bulma had dumped him and chosen that scarred guy called Yamcha!

 

Hmpf, that wasn't his concern, Vegeta smirked. He was starting to sound like those stupid soap operas Bulma and her mother liked watching on TV. Continued exposure to this environment and he might also start wearing curls and grinning cheerfully everywhere with his eyes closed! However, the idea of Bulma and Kakarot getting together disgusted him, in a way that her relationship with the scarred sucker hadn't.

 

The cold water ran down over his petrified shoulders, and over his damp hair turned into a black cascade, but he barely noticed it. His eyes were stuck at his reflection at the bathroom tiles lining the shower, where Kakarot and Bulma´s faces seemed to laugh at him. They thought he was weak. None of them believed he would be able to turn Super Saiyan.

 

“Let´s say you do it,” Bulma had sneered.

 

And, when he had told Kakarot he still would defeated him, the s.o.b. had laughed in his face, “Yeah, sure.”

 

His fist clenched so tightly that he felt as if his fingers could penetrate the palm of his hand. Growling he vowed, “You'll see, you two! Ill prove to all of you. First the tin cans, then you, Kakarott... and then, by last, it will be your turn... Bulma."

 

There was a sound like china shattering in pieces, followed by a small cloud of dust and particulate matter. It next vanished to reveal a cobweb of cracks surrounding a hole in the middle of the wall. The hole had the exact shape of a fist.

 

****

 

The door of his room slammed open, almost immediately followed by the equally loud thumping of his closet's door. A subtle, familiar odor drifted toward his nose a second before he plunged through the contents in search of his old battle clothes. The woman probably had come to take them for cleaning. He wrinkled his nose, feeling once again his privacy invaded. Well, she wouldn't bother him again, for a good while. Soon he would return to the remote vacuum of space, his mind clear from lecherous thoughts and of that absurd longing for company.

 

He planned to stay there until the three years had passed, returning occasionally to Earth for eventual restocking of supplies. That was the only way of purifying himself from human companionship and to become a true Saiyan again.

 

He cursed, throwing his clothes all over the room. Where in the world was his uniform?

 

One day after Kakarot returned, he had received the precious outfit back from her cleaned and mended. Now he kept it at the back of the closet like a relic. Several times it had occurred him to demand the old man to see if it was possible to make a similar cloth, but he had put that notion aside. Now it was too late. The sooner he left the better. True the old ragged thing wouldn't last much longer. It would be better to take some of those stretching things too. Perhaps he should try to find some planet with more advanced technology to see if he could get replicas made of his uniform, if the Capsule Corp. science couldn't do it. The last thing he wanted was to fight the androids dressed as a human Earthling!

 

His room was now an entire mess and he hadn't found the wretched thing yet. That annoying nosy bitch had probably scrambled his well-ordered system while she did the cleaning!

 

And then he stiffened in realization. Bulma never cleaned the rooms. It was always her bubbly mother who happily did the task, or one of the cleaning robots.

 

 

 

 

*Shamuru is mashuru (from mashuru-mu, or mushroom in Japanese), scrambled.

**Nappa´s bucal blast of energy.