Author's Note: Has it literally been half a year? Jesus, sorry to the audience. If anyone is actually still reading this. I was really tied up with school and with theatre, which has been more than enough stress on my hands. But however, I have written another part, I am so sorry for the long ass wait, but I will write another chapter when I have the time! That's just me for you.
Concubine
It wasn't as if his father hadn't ordered servants before, in fact it was more on a regular basis. Vegeta held back a laugh when he remembered how in one day half of their servant population had been terminated, all because their masters were not satisfied. He was definitely a hard one to please, each maid, each cook, each woman could not satisfy his insatiable need for cleanliness, edible food, and a good fuck. He wasn't sure if any could, though he was quite disappointed, women only had three tasks to him, and they could not complete a single one of them. Radditz had led them to a balcony which overlooked the screaming and raving public of Satan City. Vegeta peered over the edge for a second, just to see how many Radditz had actually managed to haul, and then resumed his place behind his parents.
"Earthlings?!" The King's voice roared. Radditz was taken aback, but quickly pulled himself into his wobbily half-stature. Heh. Vegeta always got a laugh out of Radditz right foot.
Radditz tried to save himself by uttering the first logical thought that came to his mind. "They may look weak, but they are skilled workers, your majes--"
"They are still Earthlings! I could snap each of their necks with a flick of my finger! Why the hell couldn't you find anything more suitable for the strongest race in the galaxy? Hm?" King Vegeta waited a total of 3 seconds for an answer before he stormed off through the open balcony doors and back to the throne room. Radditz rubbed his hands together in an uncomfortable fashion and found himself looking to the Queen for any sign of exceptance.
"They happen to be the most technologically advanced creatures...the Glicles would be too rebellious. These people are scared so badly, they'll do anything to keep their head on--" The Queen still overlooked the vast population of pitiful aliens. She sighed in frustration that this weight was left on her to deal with, her husband isn't as reliable as she first thought when she married him, he didn't even show up to Vegeta's birth!
"More than likely they'll be killed at some point or another being here." The Queen's answer was simple and exact, since Saiyans had never had a very long history with any number of given workers.
"That's their misfortune then, isn't it?" Vegeta remarked slickly. The Queen shook her head in objection, but stopped for a moment after looking at the women of the crowd. She turned slyly to him, a smirk on her royal face.
"If that's the way you see it, then you shall have your misfortune as well." She turned to Radditz. "We shall except. Bring all the women who look some what suitable for courtship to the ballroom, do what you want with the others. Same plan as always."
"As you wish, your highness." Radditz called to an officer on the ground to begin the sorting immediately, took a last grin at Vegeta and then exited. Vegeta balled his fists. What in the hell is she up to?
"Mother..."
"You know, Vegeta, I do know of all the women you have been seeing."
"Whores."
"I think it's nearly time we have your ready for your inauguration." Vegeta's eyes widened.
"By what?! Marrying me to an Earthling?" Lia laughed wholeheartedly.
"You shall have a concubine. Which is like a wife, only she has no real power. This shall just teach you the responsibility you need before you are allowed to become King." He was furious! How dare she tie him to the lowest of all races for some stupid responsibility nonsense? He doesn't need any woman, not a whore, not a concubine, and certainly not a wife!
"Do you not believe I am responsible enough to take the throne? I am more responsible than the current and the past! What--"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Vegeta. I am your mother, I birthed you, I suckled you on my breast until you were willing to feed on your own. That gives you no right to take such a tone with me." Vegeta withdrew his rage and quickly hid it beneath his famous visage. "I am still the Queen of Vegetasei, which gives me the right to take authority when it comes the age for your inauguration. I give you away, not your father. Every King has had a concubine, do not consider this a hard task!" Queen Lia controlled her stature extremely well under stressful situations.
"I don't. What do I do with this...'concubine'?"
"She will be with you at any occation, she will sleep in your bed, she will be the only woman you are to create any physical contact with, until we find an appropriate suitor for you." Vegeta glanced at the ground, before returning to his mother's penetrating gaze.
"What is the significance of any of this?" His anger was starting to peel the layers off his facade. "When I am King I can choose to have any woman in my bed as I choose." The Queen came deadly close to his face in aggression.
"A Saiyan takes a bond as King, Vegeta, which means that you are emotionally and physically tied to your Queen. There are no other women gracing your bed." The Queen backed away in remembrance, clasped a hand over mouth, and leaned against the stone backing of the balcony. Though Vegeta has always been arrogant and cruel toward anyone in his path, he has always hidden a secret love for his mother as all sons do. He was confused at his mother's sudden sadness, or why she had become teary eyed, Saiyans rarely cried, well...the stronger half rarely cried.
"Why?" Queen Lia looked up at her handsome and roughly brave son and tried to regain her composure by straightening her dress and dabbing at her nose. She had completely lost herself in thought that she had forgotten her etiquette.
"Because she will remember everything." Vegeta caught her last look with tears as she dabbed herself more and waltz strongly back to her husband.
They had all haulted, most of the women were bent over at the new weight of their bodies. Bulma figured that the gravity was much higher here and that their fair skin was not being protected from the rays of the sun. It was not enough to kill, but enough to burn. And boy did her skin burn, her wound was pounding with pain. She couldn't imagine what it was like for Sadai, who was gripping to Bulma's arm just to try to keep herself on her feet. A loud voice was shouted at the balcony above them, Bulma could not look up for the sun was far too bright. Soon after a whistle was blown and sets of officers were aligned in front of them. "ALL OF YOU MAGGOTS STAND UP STRAIGHT IN A SINGLE FILE VERTICAL LINE!" His voice was crusty to their deaf ears. "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I SAID LINE UP!" Force was used, as the women and children were forced into line, none knowing what was coming next. Bulma steadied Sadai in front of her.
"Don't be frightened, child." Bulma stared at Sadai, who was looking back at her.
"I'm not."
"You're shaking." Bulma noticed her quivers and forced her body to stop with every nerve. The least she could do was die without being afraid. Minutes passed as the line grew shorter, there was a group of teenage to mid-adult women pushed to one side and the older or young were pushed to another, each holding a bundle of clothing in their arms. Bulma feared that Sadai and herself would soon be seperated. As the line grew to their turn, the guard took one look at Sadai and turned to another.
"Kill her."
"WHAT?!" Bulma exclaimed wildly, pressing a firm grip on both of Sadai's arms.
"She is too old, she cannot even stand the gravity."
"She can do something!" Sadai tried to lift herself more, but failed in doing so.
"I can." She said simply hoping they would take pity on her. The guard looked at the old woman and back at Bulma. Bulma pointed to the group of children.
"She can watch them, as they are too young to work, she can watch them to make sure they do not get into any trouble!" Bulma loved her quick mind and the guard's even slower one. The guard looked at the children, at Sadai, and then back at Bulma. Sighed and with a nod of his head to the right where the children were located. Bulma tried to help Sadai walk there over the best she could, she couldn't ask the guard to help Sadai with her wounds since he had already spared her her life. The guard caught Bulma by her bad shoulder, causing her to flinch a bit.
"You. That group." He pointed to the left, where the other group of young women were located. He handed her a bundle. Bulma walked over and leaned against a column nearby taking a deep breath. The gravity was starting to ease up a bit, but it was taking a lot of strength to keep from falling. She looked through the cracks of the line in order to find Sadai looking straight back at her with a simple smile on her face.
Vegeta made no other argument to his mother about the situation in which he was forced into. It would be in vain since his mother was not necessarily the easiest to deal with. Besides, it's just one human. Simple. He made his way into the classic ballroom, which was currently empty, except for the large glasslike mural in the domed ceiling of the first Saiyan and his triumph in battle to become the strongest. Vegeta had always had a dream to become the strongest, which he knew he was already becoming, but he had an undying respect for the first. He approached his mother as an officer opened both of the doors to the ballroom and allowed a line of women to come through.
"LINE UP!" Each of the women tried to make as good of a line as they could, but most looked fraggled enough to break into pieces at that moment, leaving a gap in the chain. Vegeta's eyes scanned the number of at least decent looking women, some looked young enough to be his sister and he was only 23! It was his mother's choice by law, which he worried if she would pick an ugly one just to torment him. Queen Lia smiled at the newly lined women and gracefully glided till she stood before them all.
"Welcome to Vegetasei, home of the strongest race in the galaxy. I am your new Queen, Lia, with whom you shall respect, along with my husband and son, as though you were raised here from your birth." There were few whispers amongst the majority of the women causing the Queen to force her hand up to signal their silence. "To make one thing clear, Saiyans do not take rebellion lightly, as some of you may have already heard, we are not the most patient race in the galaxy nor do we let simple mistakes slide. Everyone one of you is here for one purpose and one purpose only, to serve. Simply said, the weak should serve the strong." Vegeta watched as his mother pace in front of all the women who stood not only frightened of what outcome she might serve at them, but of whatever example she might physically prove her serious behavior.
"What is to become of us?" A hidden voice from the crowd of lined women asked. The Queen raised her head a bit as if she knew which particular body the sound had risen from.
"One of you, by my choice, will become the concubine for your Prince. A concubine is there to attend all public functions, outings, meals, and is to sleep in the same bed with my son. However a concubine is only used until a rightful suitor is chosen and the offical inaguration process can begin. A concubine will be dressed as if she were royalty, simply because she is a symbol of first steps toward a new King and must set an example as such. I will choose from your physical stature and if I ask you a question, you had better answer." She had started to pace closer to the first row, stopping and glancing at each woman individually, obviously noticing flaws in each of them. This is going to take forever. Why can't she just pick one and hurry it up! I'm wasting a valuable amount of my time with this. Vegeta had become irritated and bored a least a quarter through his mother's speech. None of them knew what would happen to them if they weren't chosen.
The Queen's strong voice stung Bulma's ears as the sound bounced off the walls of the domed room. She didn't care much to listen to whatever the woman was saying since she knew know that she had an undefining hatred for this planet, this race, and this political nonsense. Her hair was always naturally curly, more curly than she would hope for it to be, so she tried to pull it back as best she could with a piece of a cloth so she wouldn't look so much like a caveman and be actually sent to work with the men. Though as the thought crossed her mind, she wondered why she was even thinking of anything out of the ordinary at the moment. She placed her hands on her hips like she usually did when she was fed up or waiting, she was both at the moment. It was like waiting to know the lottery numbers, except it was more on a life or death basis. She really needed to stop thinking about this in such a stupid manner. It was serious, but her mind wasn't taking anything in as it was given. Maybe time will cause it to penetrate the sheild she had forced upon herself.
The Queen found her way quickly through the first three rows, noting different things about different women, some good things, mostly bad things. She stopped and asked some questions, which were usually answered with a yes or no response. Bulma was on the 5th row, slightly off to the left near the middle. As she was watching the Queen's figure moving down the row she noticed something familiar out of the corner of her eye. She looked and gasped as she recognized the young girl from the ship that was praying. How could they send a girl this young to a contest to become a bedmate? Do these monsters have no compassion for even a young girl? The Queen approached the girl fast and stopped in front of her. Queen Lia moved the girl's face from side to side, examining her, pushing her chin up, looking her up and down. Bulma's pulse was racing. Was she actually considering this small girl as a candidate?! She didn't know what to do, so she did the only thing she was ever good at, she made herself known.
Lia noticed a blue hued woman approaching her and the girl. How dare she move out of line and approach me without permission? Bulma pulled the girl to her and positioned her behind herself defensively. The Queen was not only taken aback at Bulma's forceful and rude behavior, but at the fact a lowly human was stepping up against her authority. "If there is something you had wished to talk about, there are certain ways in which we do them here. Especially with royalty--"
"How dare you bring a child in here?!" Queen Lia was shocked at her tone.
"Excuse me? A child? That woman is clearly the one who best suits the standards." Bulma clenched her teeth as the Queen had pronounced the child behind her as a woman and not what she was, a girl. The Queen pointed to the girl, "What age are you?"
"14." The young girl peeked behind Bulma. The Queen gave Bulma a shrug of her eyebrows and a sneer.
"She isn't even allowed to get married on our planet!" Bulma protested causing her voice to rise, which caught the attention of others. Vegeta had looked up out of his boredom to actually find the first start of a rebellion beginning in the very midst of their arrival. He noticed a strikingly attractive blue haired woman arguing with his mother, while hiding someone behind her.
"You are not on your planet anymore, slave. You belong to Vegetasei. Our customs become your customs." Bulma made sure that the girl was firmly behind her. She knew that she would either die a slow and torture-filled death from bringing out an argument with the Queen of all people or she would be given a much worse fate. If I'm heading to my death, I might as well save one more life. "Get out of the way."
"You'll have to kill me." Bulma replied in all seriousness. The Queen looked as if she took what Bulma was saying as it was meant to be taken and stepped back a second to look a Bulma. Lia was quite impressed with how she withstood the gravity and at her own remarkable beauty, whether or not she was an odd color. This could work in my favor...if Vegeta can tolerate her, he won't falter to marry anyone we pick. The Queen turned to a guard.
"Take this child to work in the gardens," She turned back to Bulma, who did not smile, but tilted her head down in silent appreciation. Bulma exhaled and gently lead the girl to the guard, who lead her out of the ballroom. The slam of the door behind them echoed off the walls and into the humans' fragile ears. "You." Bulma prepared for the worst, some gun or blast or something, knocking her head to the floor, blood spewing everywhere, the women screaming in horror. But nothing of that came. She only stared the Queen in the eyes out of confusion. "I pick you."