Varlia Saga: The Joining of Love by Kitty
Part 3: the revelation
King Vegeta paced back and forth in the royal chamber puzzling over his missing army. They were too strong to be taken by force and too loyal to change sides. Unless...unless they were given orders from his son. The aging king knew his time would soon be up but for Vegeta to openly defy him like this...this was a grievous insult.
"Lieutenant! Around up the remaining warriors and have them begin training level 5 immediately," he barked and his orders were carried out. If his son wanted the throne now, he was going to have to work for it.
***
Pinrut stood behind a curtain within hearing distance from the king. He was the King's younger brother's son and next in line for the throne after Vegeta and he had every intention of becoming the next king. He had heard from his network of spies that Prince Vegeta was on the Planet Varlia preparing to fight the almighty Lord Frieza. Pinrut had no doubt in his mind that the beloved Prince would lose along with half the King's army that had sneaked away last night. He supposed he could wait until final word of Vegeta's demise came through but he was always a go-getter.
In two days the annual celebration would be held in honor of the King. A perfect time to plan his attack. Although he was not as strong as the Prince he had enough strength to defeat the old, fading king. Already he had the backing of the royal guards and the people would follow soon enough. He was sure there would be some still loyal to the Prince but they would be quickly exiled to prevent any trouble.
*Finally my day will come. And I'll make sure the name 'Vegeta' is wiped from the history books. I think I'll name our planet Turnip. Yes, I like the sound of that.*
***
ChiChi couldn't sleep. Her encounter with Kakarot swirled in her brain, invaded her dreams, and caused her unrest. She woke up with a start and found herself in the dark of night. Why had he come? Questions after questions but she could think of no answers. Why had she slept with him? Did he sleep with that girl that came out of his room? How many others had he slept with while he was here? Was she just one of many conquests? Just another notch on his belt?
She didn't know why but she got up, dressed, left a note for her father, and walked back to the palace. She thought maybe she would try talking to him again but then she changed her mind and thought maybe she should just deck him instead. She sighed. Life was so much easier before. And maybe a little dull, too.
By the time she reached the front gate it was almost morning. Strangely enough she didn't feel a bit tired. She intended to sneak into her room quietly but that was impossible with the palace a buzzed with activity as everyone prepared for war. She was quickly updated on what was going on and she herself reached for a weapon ready to fight.
"EMERGENCY EVACUATION. ALL NON-MILITARY PERSONNEL PLEASE HEAD FOR THE NEAREST UNDERGROUND SHELTER," said a voice through the intercom. Everyone frantically scrambled either to get underground or to get a weapon. The soldiers looked extremely worried and maybe a little scared. They had never faced an enemy as strong as this before.
ChiChi ran toward the war room where she knew all the top leaders would be assembled. "Princess Bulma!"
The blue-haired woman looked up. "ChiChi! Where were you?"
She quickly explained where she had been the past couple of days. Looking down at the table she realized that the Princess was working on some new gadget. It was a modified ki shield Bulma explained. Supposedly it would help them from outside ki attacks while allowing their own soldiers to fire out. She knew the Princess was a technical genius but still doubt lingered as to how effective that new contraption would be against Lord Frieza's men.
"Here, take these capsules," said the Princess. Then she took off to a corner of the palace. ChiChi decided to go the other way and help out in whatever way she could. By some odd luck she ended up on the same corner as Kakarot. He hadn't seen her yet and she debated whether to go back and find another place to launch her attacks. But by the time she reached her decision it was too late.
"Lady ChiChi," he said formally. She nodded in acknowledgement trying to maintain her cool on the outside but she felt an extreme unrest inside.
***
"The first wave will be all of Frieza's weakest men. We should be able to easily wipe them out but they will probably take out much of the Varlian soldiers," Prince Vegeta explained to his comrades. "Use wide-dispersing blasts. Don't try to aim, just attack. Now the second wave will come in with heavier firepower. They will be stronger and they will also have mechanical weapons. Try using strong, focused attacks. Take out the machines first. Everyone understand?"
They nodded affirmatively.
"Everyone take a corner. Life, honor, and pride," said the Prince.
"Life, honor, and pride," replied Nappa and Kakarot.
***
Prince Vegeta stationed himself at an advantageous corner and began blasting away at the incoming army. Right next to him was the woman, the woman that he was now joined with, mated for life. As far as beauty goes she wasn't too bad. Her physical shape was okay. Her intelligence up to par with his. But that mouth of hers and her insolence...infuriating as it was intriguing. He knew he had said a lot of harsh things to her before the battle began but deep inside he had an odd feeling that he would end up contradicting himself.
"Woman, go load up your contraption and blast those idiots over there," he commanded.
She turned her pretty, blue head with a furious tingle in her eyes. "Don't give me orders, I'll do as I please. And don't call me woman!"
"Hmmpf. I'll call you whatever I want and unless you want your troops to die you better go take care of that," he said pointing to the left. She looked, growled, then did as she was told, but with a little stomp of her feet to indicate she was doing it unwillingly.
He returned his attention back to the battle...but with a little smirk on his face.
***
The other Saiyans were doing their best to keep the enemy at bay. Although Kakarot was the Prince's right hand man, he was still not one of their strongest warriors. He had the potential, yes, but hadn't had enough time to develop his full strength. Thus, he was having a little trouble keeping his corner safe. Not only that he now had to guard a female who had decided that she was a warrior too and was using machines to attack them. He was sure that she had good intentions but it would be his strength and his attacks that would get them through the day.
She popped open another capsule and immediately assembled the pieces together. It was mindless work, one in which she could do in ten seconds but it was taking her at least a minute per item. Her concentration was...elsewhere.
*I hate to admit it but she's actually helping me out. I guess I was wrong. Those machine things are working.* He had little time to say anything to her as a stray beam came toward his chest. At the last second he managed to deflect it but it still stung him on his left arm. Part of his uniform was torn away replaced by a bloody gash. He ignored the pain and continued to fight. The blood began to trickle down soaking the lower parts of his uniform. Soon a small puddle formed next to his left foot.
ChiChi turned her head just at that moment trying to shield her eyes from a nearby blast and she noticed the stain on the ground. Her eyes scanned upward until it reached the source of the blood.
"You're hurt!" she cried out almost startling him.
"It's just a flesh wound," he replied.
"Bullshit," she cursed, something that was very un-ladylike. Quickly she ran inside and grabbed a nearby medical kit. Fortunately Princess Bulma had the forethought to make some and spread them out around the perimeter of the palace. "Hold still."
He frowned and stared down at her incredulously. "How can I fight if I remain still?"
She bit her lip. Although there were many Varlian soldiers around they were hardly making a dent in Frieza's army. If Kakarot didn't fight then the enemy camp would surely overtake them within minutes if not seconds. But if the wound wasn't dressed he had the risk of fainting from the great loss of blood. It was not a flesh wound but a huge gash that continuously dripped blood.
Suddenly an idea popped in her head. It wasn't perfect but it was the best she could do with what she had. She quickly popped open a capsule containing a light bomb. It was designed to blind anyone within a mile radius. With a small prayer to the heavens she tossed it as far as she could and shut her eyes. The bomb exploded with a bang and a blinding white light surrounded the area. Unfortunately she had forgotten to tell anyone about her plan and so everyone including Kakarot were temporarily blinded.
"I can't see!" he yelled. That was when she finally realized her mistake but there was nothing she could do at the moment. The blindness would wear off within a couple of minutes. At least their enemies were also blinded. She quickly went to work on dressing the wound. She was about halfway through when she heard a thunderous noise. The second wave! They were charging through and no, they were not blind at all.
"The second wave is coming!" she warned everyone. But they were baffled as to what to do about it. "What are we going to do?"
His lips were tightly shut, not wanting to say such vulgar things in front of a lady. He instead asked her to point him toward the battlefield and he shot blindly. It didn't work too well. Then he tried to feel for their energy signatures but there were just too many bodies to sort out and pinpoint. But he kept firing. And they fired back. The allies took in heavy casualties. Kakarot himself was injured a lot worse than that previous arm wound. ChiChi was near tears at the damage she had caused. A retreat was called and everyone ran back inside. The enemy had captured one corner of the palace. But as soon as his sight was returned the battle became more even and they managed to push the enemy back out to the field. Lady ChiChi was nowhere to be seen near Kakarot's corner...and he sort of missed her presence, however annoying it may have been.
Soon their reinforcement arrived and the top dogs could take a little break. Prince Vegeta went straight to the gravity machine to train. The others went their separate ways to tend to their wounds and rest up for their shift.
***
ChiChi wandered around the palace trying to stay out of everyone's way. She felt useless and a little depressed. She needed someone to talk to and that someone was Princess Bulma. Unexpectedly she changed directions and headed for Bulma's chamber. She wasn't there. So ChiChi decided to try the lab, her most favorite place. She wasn't there either, but she noticed that the computer screen was left on. Being sort of a busybody she peered in and read its contents. As she neared the end of the page an eerie feeling began developing deep inside her gut.
"She wouldn't...she couldn't...oh no..." she whispered to the empty room. Quickly she fled and began asking everyone if they had seen the Princess. They were shook their heads no. She decided to go to the King but as she turned a corner she ran into someone and fell down on her rump.
"Hey, where's the fire?" he asked giving her a hand. She gracefully took it and shook off her dress.
"I need to see the King. It's urgent," she explained.
"What's going on?"
She hesitated whether to tell him. Why would he care, she thought, but since they were involved in this war he should be informed too. "I think the Princess may be trying something."
Kakarot looked confused. "Uh, could you elaborate?"
She took a deep breath and spilled her story about the lab and the computer screen.
"It doesn't necessary mean she's going to try it," he tried to calm her down.
Her eyebrows rose. "Yes, it does," she said matter-of-factly. "Now if you'll excuse me--"
"Wait! You stay here. I'll take care of this."
"What? How dare--"
He grabbed her and kissed her firmly on her rosy, red lips. "Be a good girl for me, okay? Stay here. I have to go inform the Prince. He'll bring her back safely, I know it." Then he patted her head like she was some kind of dog or pet and took off sprinting. Needless-to-say she was fuming.
"That son of a b--" she muttered under her breath and stomped after him.
***
Kakarot cleared his mind and concentrated trying to locate the Princess before she did anything foolish but his senses came out blank. She was nowhere to be found. That made him a little worried but he kept telling himself that she wouldn't do anything so utterly ridiculous and dangerous. Of course, if roles had been reverse and it was Prince Vegeta instead of the Princess...
He arrived at the ship dock and immediately started to count. All was accounted for except one. This was not good, he thought. Not good at all.
He quickly made his way over to the gravity chamber and shut the machine down. He walked in and was confronted with a very, very angry Saiyan.
***
Sometime later Kakarot stood in front of a spaceship debating what to do next. His mind was still spinning from his previous conversation with the Prince. More like a heated argument than a conversation, he thought unhappily. He couldn't understand Prince Vegeta's reactions. Did he really not care about his mate? Had he been wrong about the whole 'in love' thing?
"Kakarot!" a furious voice called out for him from behind. He didn't turn around but continued to stare at the spaceship in front of him as if it was the most fascinating object in the universe. She knocked over some tools which made a loud clanging noise as they hit the floor. That finally got his attention.
"ChiChi," he cried out in surprise. Why hadn't he sensed her earlier, he wondered. Was his mind so occupied that he didn't detect her until now?
"Some warrior you ar--," she started to say before he rudely interrupted her.
"Shhh," he said putting a finger over her mouth, "don't try to make me angry right now. I have something very important to do...but how about after you and me get together for a little uh, how shall I say, reunion?" Every time he decided not to think about her anymore she invaded his mind like a virus. She was a mistake. He should never have slept with her, but something was happening to him. Something every warrior feared, but he had caught it like his Prince before him. What was it with these Varlian women that made a man weak in the knees and incredibly turned on?
She slapped his hand away. "I don't think so. You will not use me twice!" She started to walk away but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
He continued to hold onto her without saying a word. He noticed her black, glistening hair tied back into a knot and he loosened it to let her hair flow freely around her neck and back. She was surprised by his actions but did nothing to stop them. A thin, string of hair came forward over her forehead and down to her cheek which he lightly brushed back. Her lips were so soft, he was thinking as he rubbed his thumb back and forth. He was curious as to why they were trembling.
"S-Stop. Stop it," she said trying to pull away. He still held firm but loosened his grip slightly to give her some leeway.
She didn't understand him. Actually their whole race. One minute he was doing one thing and then the next minute something else. What was his game now, she thought extremely confused. She believed he had a gentle heart despite his warrior status. She had seen it on that night when they made love. Was it love or sex? It didn't matter, she angrily told herself, he was still a cheating jerk. 'He can't cheat on you if you're not going out with him,' corrected her mind.
"ChiChi," he began.
She looked up at him, so tall and strong. She knew he'd be able to protect her from any and all danger and for some reason that made her care about him even more. *No, I don't care about him. Not one bit!* But she was convincing nobody, not even herself.
He had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. Was this what Prince Vegeta felt also? He wasn't sure if he liked it yet but he knew he didn't totally dislike it. "I...," he got down on one knee.
That freaked her out. What was he going to do? Why? So many questions went through her head. The answer was no. Of course it was no. She didn't like him, remember? He was a big jerk, right?
"Yes!" she jumped the gun and spoke.
"What?" he asked confused.
"What?" she said back, equally confused. That wasn't what she had wanted to say. *Damn, now he thinks I like him. Say something else.* "I take that back. I mean no."
"Uh...no to what?" He was beginning to think this getting down on one knee to beg was not a good idea.
*Oh no. He hasn't asked me anything yet. Now what?* She was floundering for an answer or solution to her embarrassing dilemma. "I mean, yes? What were you going to say?"
He decided to say what he wanted to say earlier and forget what just happened. "I like to apologize for my actions. I did not mean to use you as you put it. That night was special to me. Your kindness and concern overwhelmed my better judgment and I took advantage of you. I ask for your forgiveness."
*Special? Forgiveness?* Not exactly what she had expected to hear. But quickly her senses came back to her. "Don't try to pour your charm on me. If our night was so special then why did I see you with the morning maid?"
"The maid?" he asked, his mind thinking back. "Oh, the maid. You don't think I..."
She turned her head away. "...you think I slept with her, don't you."
"Why? Are you saying that you didn't?" she asked.
He nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I woke up thinking she was an intruder and accidentally attacked her. I ran out trying to catch her so I could explain what happened and that's when you saw me."
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Silently she thought to herself, 'His explanation sort of makes sense, but...' "You were buck naked!"
He smiled. "I uh sleep in the nude. It's more comfortable."
"Oh," was all she could say. *So he didn't cheat on me and he's still very handsome. Okay, now what should I do?* "Did we make love or was it just sex?"
"What is the difference?" he asked, his naiveté showing through.
"Well, if you don't know then I'm not going to tell you. Good day!" she yelled and ran off.
As long as he lived he would never understand women. Why did he feel like his days would be filled with many long apologies to his raven-haired mate? Yes, he had already decided to completely join with her. Every day his longing for her grew and he found himself acting a little 'goofy' whenever he was around her. This love thing was contagious, he thought slightly amused.
"Kakarot!" a male voice yelled from afar.
***
Frieza had arrived onto the planet surface. Kakarot stubbornly followed Vegeta ready to fight. In the back of his mind he thought of the girl. He knew he would be met with resistance from her. But somehow he knew that was a fight he would very much enjoy. She had a fiery spirit and not too bad fighting moves. She would make an excellent match for him.
*I wonder how father will take it.* He thought of his father Bardock back on Vegetasei. He knew he was expected to join with a Saiyan female who would bear him strong offspring. *It'll take a lot of convincing to get his blessing.* He sighed. Without his father's blessing he could not join with her...not without sacrificing his honor and pride, something a warrior cherished most above all else.
*What shall I do?* He looked up to the heavens for some advice and instead received some bird droppings on his face. *Guess I'll think about this later.*