Octavia's labored breathing was the only thing she could hear over the pounding of her heart. Her body was weak, ready to give, but she stood - or in her case, floated - her ground above the world she desperately wanted to save with great defiance etched into her tired face.

She stood between her world and the one who wanted to destroy it.

Her body wanted to give up, to fall to the ground far below her and allow her last moments to be of her resting on the very dirt she'd been trying to protect for the last day in a half. But her mind and pride wouldn't allow that. She just couldn't. It wasn't right. The reasoning for the destruction of her world was just wrong and tasted foul on her tongue.

All because of one, messily, burnt fish.

It wasn't the chef's fault that he served one burnt fish among the throngs of food offered to the God. It'd slipped past the chef unnoticed when the food had been served. It was an accident. Nothing more, nothing less. And yet, because the God found the burnt crust to be 'unpleasantly burnt and troublesome on his tastebuds' her world deserved to be destroyed.

It made her so mad, so angry, she craved to wrap her delicate fingers around that purple throat and just squeeze. Hard. Unpleasantly hard where he found it to be rather troublesome on his windpipe...

If only her imagination would just become a reality, it would make her feel so much better.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

The question brought her back to reality and back to the situation at hand. Beerus was staring at her with the same narrowed-eyed bored expression, and the same light, cocky smile ever present, with his hands tucked behind his back as he patiently waited for her next move.

"Have you finally accepted your defeat, Octavia?"

She hated when he said her name, and he knew just that when his smile grew as he watched the distaste flash in her eyes every time he said her name out loud.

"Never." The word came out heavy, just like her breathing. But as the minutes ticked by, Octavia began to realize her vision was slowing fading out. She shook the black edges away from encompassing her vision, rubbing her eyes on the back of her tattered gray sleeve of her fighting uniform.

She couldn't faint now. She was the only thing standing between her world's destruction, dammit!

"You're tired." Beerus pointed out the obvious, his knowing smile ever present as he continued, "Just give up already. No need to give up your life so soon. Why not die with the rest of your world. It would be so much easier, and less painful for you."

That pretentious, self-important jackass!

Every word he spoke was so patronizing, it made her blood boil, even more, every time he would open his loud mouth - it was agonizing.

"Why...?" she whispered, her head bowed to hide her anger behind her dark bangs.

"What was that? Speak up why don't you. I find when people mumble, it annoys me."

She shot her head up to look straight into his own uncaring eyes and yelled, "I asked you 'why'!? Why do you want to destroy my world! Why do you want to murder everyone because of a lousy burnt fish!? What are you, a child!? Children of my world have more self-respect than you ever will, Beerus. If they were forced to walk in your shoes, they wouldn't ever dream doing what you are doing now." She spat out his name like it was vile, in which case, it most definitely was, given the circumstances.

"Oh my," said Beerus' assistant, Whis, as he covered his mouth with his hand, trying to cover up an overly amused smirk that smothered his lips without an ounce of success.

Before she knew it, Beerus was in front of her. His hand extended in front of her face, mere inches away.

How did he do that? She didn't even see him move?

"Did you just insult me?" He paused, his hand flexing with his next words. "I should destroy you for your insolence."

Octavia gritted her teeth, her pink lips baring her white teeth. "Like I said," she spat with as much venom as she could muster, "You're nothing more than a child who likes to play a God."

He smiled, but his eyes didn't reflect any amusement, narrowing in on her own. She didn't flinch; she wouldn't allow him to have that satisfaction. "You forget, my sweet Octavia, that I am a God. The God of Destruction, in case your feeble mind forgot."

How could she forget? For the last day in a half, he'd kept repeating that bit of overused information to her every time she'd thought she had the upper hand on him. Now, she realized, he was only playing with her.

"No, you're not," she said with eased defiance. Squaring her jaw and shoulders.

His right eye ticked. "Yes, I am."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"Nada."

"Yes, I am!"

"Probably..."

"I said I am!"

"Okay."

"Stop questioning-!" He stopped suddenly in his yelling tyrant when he realized she had, apparently, agreed with him.

Her smile grew when she saw the flash of annoyance cross his eyes. At least she had that against him now.

"Worth it." She smiled dopily at him, finding that she was having a hard time keeping afloat. She put as much Ki she could muster around her body to keep herself on the same level as Beerus, but even then she could feel she didn't have much longer before she'd fall unconscious, losing this battle and her world.

A purple glow began to circulate in his hand, his face set to a disapproving frown. Octavia knew she was going to die, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"As fun as it was to toy with you, you're time is up, dear Octavia. I've grown bored of your antics."

When the glow intensified, Octavia blinked after his words - a thought suddenly struck her. A very stupid thought.

"You're going to kill me because I bore you now?" she asked, her eyes blinking at his own.

The glow subsided, but a residual amount was still present in his palm. "Don't make me repeat myself." His eyes narrowing, again, at a promised threat - which Octavia couldn't process when Beerus really had nothing more to intimidate herself with. He was already threatening her life and her World's destruction, what more could he do?

She stared at him blankly, her mind reeling over the possibilities she thought was presented to her. When he growled his annoyance, finding her sudden bout of silence to be more annoying, but then she finally spoke her mind, "If I entertain you - no, do something that completely surprises you, will you allow my world a pass from your destructive judgement of it?" Octavia asked calmly, collectively. Trying her best now not to push him.

"And why would I grant you that privilege, my dear Octavia? I no longer find you entertaining, there's really no use for you now."

She waited for a beat, then smiled. "If that was true, I'd be dead right about - earlier." She closed her eyes, feeling how tired she actually was, and then continued, "Give me one chance. That's all I'm asking. I promise you won't be disappointed. And if I surprise you, you'll let my world go."

"I don't like those odds, I'm afraid. And you haven't earned that privilege to demand such a request from me. Unfortunately for you, my judgement still stands. Too bad you couldn't change my mind, my dear Octavia" -he smiled grew with malevolence- "It was fun while it lasted." Despite his choice of wording, he wasn't sorry. Beerus was never sorry, he probably never felt anything of the likes. No remorse, no nothing. Probably was incapable given his role,

But that didn't mean he couldn't feel other things. He did enjoy eating delicious food, after all. That delight came from somewhere.

She thought about her request for a moment, seeing that he at least was willing to hear her out since he wasn't destroying her at the moment - and stuff. She just needed to word it differently.

"Okay, let me put it like this: if I am somehow able to surprise you, you'll consider not destroying my world?"

He was still frowning, the same frown he had on since their little argument Octavia started not too long ago, but his hand finally dropped to his side, the purple glow completely disappearing in his palm.

"I guess I can give you this. I don't have any future engagements when I'm done destroying your planet. I'll entertain your pitiful request, I suppose."

Octavia smiled brightly, her eyes forced to close from how big and hopeful the smile was turning out.

"Okay then!"

Then, just as suddenly, her body began to lean forward, her eyes glazing, and then she started to fall, a blank look crossing her face as she lost consciousness.

"Well, that was short-lived," Beerus said with a smirk, finding that he won the stupid little game without much action on his part. How fortunate. Even if she was somehow to surprise him, no matter how big the surprise was, he still planned to destroy her world, no matter what. That burnt fish was a disgrace to his taste buds, after all. He just had to avenge them.

He lifted his hand as he watched her pummel toward the dirt far below, a small purple ball forming in his grasp. He smiled wide and triumphantly, and as he started to release the energy, two arms shot out, seemingly out of nowhere, and wrapped around his arm.

"Not yet!" Octavia screeched, her face beat red from the exertion she put her body through when she awoke again to see Beerus ready to destroy her world above her as she fell to the ground.

Beerus frowned at her sudden appearance and intrusion in his personal space. She, yet again, got in the way of his destruction. How many times was that now? He lost count.

"You have thirty seconds. Your antics will not prolong the destruction of your world any longer."

Her face suddenly turned a different shade of red. It was an unusual color, and he questioned its origin but didn't voice his thoughts on the matter as he waited for her next move. She still had a firm grasp on his arm, he easily noted, as her eyes glanced away from him.

"You have to close your eyes," she whispered, her face now as red as those earth tomatoes. His eyes narrowed, slits of daggers trained in on her own, showing his great displeasure. But a deal was a deal; he will entertain her request this one time. Besides, she would be dead in a matter of seconds anyhow, and this ridiculous ruse of hers would have been forgotten in due time.

He closed his eyes, against his better judgment, earning an 'oh my' from Whis who was somehow surprised by Beerus' unusual cooperation from a lesser being.

She only had five seconds to surprise him, and he didn't see how she would accomplish this feat with his eyes closed. How could she surprise him when he couldn't see the surprise? He was about to open them and demand that she let go of him when he suddenly paused...

He felt something soft, almost unnoticeable suddenly press against his lips. It felt delicate against the skin of his mouth, fragile, but the softness of it had him pausing from opening his eyes to question her motives. He was curious, beyond curious, to see what she was doing, and the first thought that popped into his mind was that she was feeding him something soft and most likely delectable, considering how it was supposed to surprise him enough to consider not destroying her world. When he took a sniff to discern what it was, all he could smell was that girl, nothing more. He'd never came across a dish that didn't have some sort of odor.

But when Whis suddenly gasped followed by a snort of a laugh, that was when Beerus finally opened his eyes and was instantly greeted with the sight of Octavia's face directly in front of his own, her eyes squeezed shut and the skin on her face taking on a peculiar purple shade...

Then it hit him, harder than any foes punch he ever had the chance of feeling against the very jaw that was connected to his face.

The very jaw that was connected to his lips; the very lips she was currently kissing…

She was kissing him.

She was kissing him!?

Octavia felt the pull of unconscious finally win over her body. She felt the pull of gravity to be far greater than her own, her body finally slumping forward from exhaustion; breaking the kiss she no longer realized she was holding. With her mind no longer conscious, her power was unable to hold her up any longer, her descent down toward the dirt below grew faster in strength as she fell.

Beerus continued to float there in the same position, eyes wide and unblinking. He was having a hard time coming to terms with what had just happened.

"Well," Whis began as he appeared next to his Lord, "That was certainly a surprise, would you say, Lord Beerus? I definitely was not expecting that, especially when considering how prude her people's culture is."

When Beerus didn't say anything, Whis turned his eyes from the descending body below and back toward his Lord. Beerus still stared ahead, unmoving, eyes still wide with a dubious surprise that had Whis laughing all over again.

Beerus blinked, then blinked again, and finally, his face fell into his normal scowl, his teeth snapped tight in a grimace.

"Why that little...!" Beerus growled as he descended after the falling body and appeared right below before she hit the ground. He caught her in his arms, still unconscious and completely unaware of anything going on around her.

Beerus stared at her unconscious face, his left eye still ticking from his annoyance and unhinged anger at the girl in his arms - but he let out a slow sigh and then turned to the natives of the planet who'd bared witness to their fight before her utter defeat, and started to walk over to them.

The beings of this planet were quite similar to the ones of Earth, despite their skins taking on a more yellow hue than the pinkish ones native to Earth. The result of similar ecosystems, but Beerus wouldn't know about any of that. Whis was the one to take pleasure in learning how each planet thrived in the galaxy. Beerus could careless.

When he was close enough, you looked down his nose at the one that stood in front of all the others, the same determination etched into his features similar in look to the girl in his arms. He took one last step toward the man and looked down at Octavia. The man, getting what Beerus expected of him, reached forward with his own arms and caught Octavia when Beerus suddenly let her go.

Beerus stepped back and continued to glare at the trio of people that now surrounded Octavia, all looking at him with their own degree of dauntlessness, despite some of their trembling bodies.

"I grow bored of this world and rather not waste any more energy on it. I'm leaving." Was his final words before he took off towards where Whis still floated, an annoyed look crossed Beerus' face when he saw the same amusement still present from earlier.

"Not going to destroy this world either?" Whis asked, his smile still ever present and burning into Beerus' face.

"I've grown rather bored. I just want to go home. I've had enough of this world and grow wary of it." Beerus yawned, showcasing what he actually meant.

"As you wish, Lord Beerus." Whis bowed his head in respect and turned so Beerus could place his palm on his back, leaving the world behind and that pesky girl until the next time he decided to pay a visit and finish what he started.

EXTRA:

Scene: Mid-flight back to Beerus' planet.

"So," Whis began, turning to look at Beerus behind him, "All it takes is a kiss from a girl to stop your destructive track, Lord Beerus?"

Beerus' eyes bugged out before they narrowed in on his attendant, his face flushed with anger. "Of course not! I would have destroyed that planet regardless! I just didn't feel like it at the time."

Whis turned away, hiding his smile before his Lord could see it again. "Of course."

Beerus continued to growl behind him, his face still flushed as he tried he best not to think about the last couple of minutes.

The nerve of that girl…

(A/N: This is a one shot, something short and only slightly cute - I was just in the mood to write it. I may make this into a multi-chapter story, if you want.

Thanks for reading!)