Disclaimer: Second verse, same as the first.

Chapter Four: The Weight of the Warrior

Over the course of a month, Parseri paid more attention to the code on the door. Everyday when Vegeta left the room, she would watch at him push the series of buttons out of the corner of her eye, taking in new information and then practicing what she had learned over and over after he left, so that it was ingrained in her mind. Little by little, she had learned the entirety of the code and when the door opened for her the first time, she closed it with a satisfied smile.

She had gotten through the first obstacle, but that wasn't nearly enough to really escape. She sat down, pondering what to do next. She had to figure out how to get out of here, and she couldn't do that without the risk of being caught. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she murmured,

"Well, I guess it's a risk that I have to take. No going around it..."

She stood again and opened the door once again to poke her head out. With a quick glance left and right, she was able to spot quite a few soldiers roaming the halls. With a frown, she quickly pulled herself back in, locking the door again… She would have to wait.

Every so often, Parseri would peer out again, looking left and right to see if the coast was clear. After countless hours it seemed that luck was finally on her side! Seeing that the halls were completely vacant, she set off in a trot down the corridor, leaving Vegeta's room far behind.

The halls were like a never-ending maze. She took several turns and they seemed to lead her nowhere! Where would she go now, and what was she even trying to find? The whole thing seemed pointless. With a sigh, she sat down against the wall to think on it for awhile, when she heard noises coming from a room a couple doors down to her left. The door seemed to have been left open and, curiosity getting the better of her, Parseri crept up to it and peered in.

Inside she saw none other than Vegeta, hard at work training. So this is where he spent those nights when he didn't return to the room to sleep... He seemed to be alone, save for strange green creatures that were appearing at intervals just as fast as he was blasting them away. He dodged, and moved with impeccable agility, pummeling his enemies with every blow. His movements were mesmerizing... and she found that she couldn't tear her eyes away. Suddenly he let out a great wail, pushing a sort of force from his body, obliterating the remaining creatures near by. Her eyes widened as she thought to herself,

"How... how can I beat that?"

She jolted as she saw him turn, his eyes moving towards her. With a gasp, she quickly ducked out of the doorway, pressing herself against the wall, sweating and trembling in shock,
"Stupid! Stupid! Why did I have to look for so long! I think he saw me… Oh Gods, I think he saw me!"

Sure enough, she heard quiet footsteps slowly becoming louder as they drew nearer to the door. Glancing around, she spotted a door across the hall to her right and scrambled up to bolt over to it, slamming a fist on the button that would surely make it open. She slipped inside, pushing a smaller button to close herself into what she would one day recognize as a utility closet.

Parseri slid down to the floor, hugging her knees as she curled into a ball. She could hear the footsteps draw near, pausing every once and awhile as she took in short, shaky breaths in the dark. Suddenly the door slid open… and in its frame stood a very, very angry looking Vegeta.

In a movement that she couldn't follow with her eyes, his hand shot forward and grasped the front of her dress, picking her up and yanking her into the hallway as he shut the door. His eyes traveled down to her tail which was dangling by her ankles and grasped it roughly in his hand. Before she could emit a screech of pain, he clamped his free hand over her mouth, crushing and suffocating her. As she struggled, he drug her back to the training room from whence he came and threw her inside before entering himself, closing the door behind him.

Parseri lay on the floor in silent agony, her tail throbbing where he had squeezed it. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see a pair of white boots before her before traveling up to meet his, glaring back down at her. For several long moments, he remained silent... and that silence scared Parseri as she waited for something terrible to happen. Finally Vegeta spoke, spitting the first word out with venom in his voice and causing her to flinch,
"What... did I tell you about your tail?"

She shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth.
"Oh Gods... Oh Gods... He's going to kill me…"

He snapped down at her, annoyed and impatient with her silence,
"Well?"

She stammered in a wavering voice, trembling from head to toe.
"To... to keep it hidden at all times..."

Vegeta picked her up by her hair, causing her to cringe, squealing in pain.
"And did you do what you were told?"

"N-no..."

Opening one eye, she stared into his angry, yet slightly amused face.
"Now, I'm interested to know how you managed to escape my living quarters. Do tell, Parseri."

He dropped her on all-fours and awaited an answer. Her face paled as her mind whirred, trying to think of one. What could she tell him? If she told him that she knew the code, he would surely change it and be more cautious about her wandering eyes when locking it again. Then what? What could she say?

"I'm waiting..."

"The... the door wasn't locked..." She said slowly, in a trembling voice, "I tried it and it opened."

There was a long silence, and she didn't dare look up. After what felt like forever, he spoke again, slowly,

"That's a real possibility that I'll have to look into. However, this will not be a common occurrence." He kneeled next to her, smirking as he lifted her head by the hair once more, "And I did warn you about a punishment, did I not?"

Her blood went cold as she whimpered in fear and pain, squeezing her eyes shut again as to not look at him. He pulled her head higher, and she opened her mouth wide in a silent scream until he set her on her feet.

"Stand up, now..." He chuckled.

She opened her eyes wide, watching him back away and slide into a battle stance with evil smirk.

"I think it's time you started your training, little girl. Try and hit me."

She shook her head and stepped backward away from him. His smirk disappeared and with a low growl, he lunged at her, pulling his fast back to aim a punch,
"If you don't, then you're as good as dead."

He swung his fist at her and she ducked with a yelp. He swung again with the other and she she dropped to the floor, barely dodging with a roll. A loud cracking sound made her stare back up to the wall she had just been standing in front of… now cracked tile, falling apart with Vegeta's fist embedded deeply into the crator he had created. Her face paled as he turned and slowly began to walk towards her again.

"That could have been me…" She whimpered and scrambled to her feet, backing away. He started stalking faster with a predatory smirk sliding across his face that made Parseri lose her nerve and stumble backward into the adjacent wall, cornering herself. With a shriek, the girl ducked down and out of the way of another punch, covering her head as she crouched on the floor, feeling small pieces of the wall falling onto her head.

The trembling halfbreed looked up in time to see it happening, but not in time to actually to dodge it- and she was punted hard, tumbling across the floor until she was near the other side of the room. The girl grit her teeth, struggling to push herself up when she looked ahead to receive a cold shock… He was coming towards her again, only he was running this time! She screamed in a frenzied panic and clambered clumsily to her feet.

She was somewhat able to leap and dodge out of the way of several of his attacks, but she could easily tell that he wasn't really trying too hard to hit her... and that was what frightened her the most. With every few of her screams and yelps as she narrowly evaded him, he would shout at her,
"Hit me! Hit me and it'll be over!"

"But how can I hit him if I can't find an opening!" She thought frantically. She hadn't been able dodge the last blow successfully, and he had landed a punch to her face with ease. Her nose wasn't broken, but it was bruised and bleeding copiously. Once again she was backed up against the wall and was getting desperate. Without really thinking, she pushed herself from the wall, ramming her head into his gut with a hope to at least knock the wind out of him... Unfortunately for her, it hadn't.

Vegeta clamped his hands onto her shoulders and thrust a knee hard into her stomach, causing her eyes bulge as she watched specks of blood fly from her mouth and nose. As she gasped desperately for air, he rammed her up against the wall, making her squeak in pain- the only sound she seemed capable of making at the moment. He chuckled lowly at her with a sneer,
"You're weak, Parseri... You're corralled so easily and you can't even manage a proper attack, can you?"

As she was dropped to the ground, she crumpled into a ball, coughing and gasping hungrily for air. He stared down at her in disgust before picking her up by the back of her dress like a mammal's cub again, and hoisted her over his shoulder. He crossed the room and, remembering, set her back down by the door, quickly grasping both her wrists in one hand and holding her up.
"Hide your tail, and don't make a sound."

She shakily did as she was told before he hoisted her over his shoulder again, opening the door and quickly set off towards his room. Thankfully they met no one along the way, and Vegeta chucked her into his room before entering himself to lock the door behind him. Bruised and battered, Parseri began to pull herself backwards across the floor to get as much space as she could between them. He only stared coldly at her, folding his arms across his chest.

She was in trouble, and she knew it... Be that as it may, she drew in a shaky breath and formed the bravest, nastiest scowl on her face that she could possibly muster in the moment.

His eyes narrowed at this.
"For someone with a big attitude, you sure have little to show for it. You're a lot weaker than I thought and that won't do at all."

She growled lowly at this but said nothing. He grinned, somewhat amused by this. Though she was very disobedient and weak, the blood was there- her spirit and temper were proof of that. After looking her over once or twice he spoke again,

"Every day from now on you will do four-hundred push-ups and sit-ups. We'll start you off at that-" At the outraged noise and expression coming from her he added, "And you will not eat or sleep until you finish them all."

"You must be joking- I can't do that!" She shouted at him in anger.

He simply smirked and replied,
"And every time you complain or whine, I'll add another hundred." He chuckled, "So I guess that brings you up to five-hundred each, now doesn't it? And after you get the hang of that, we'll do the same with weighted clothing before I teach you any combative skills."

"What! That's totally barbaric!" Parseri snapped, and he unfolded his arms to step forward with a leer,

"Unless of course you'd rather start on reviving our Saiyan race, we can do that instead."

An incredulous expression was slapped onto her face,
"You... you can't! I'm not doing anything you say and you can't make me. Starve me, I don't care- I won't do anything! And if you try to do anything else to me, I'll… I'll bite my tongue and bleed to death! Or… I'll scream so loud that someone will hear me and then my cover will be blown."

"No, I really do think you'll do whatever I say. You say starving is no big deal now, but we'll see how you feel after a few days without eating or sleeping. I'm certainly not above surrendering a few days of my own training to be sure that you don't get an ounce of rest."

"Heh... You can't do that to me." She smirked arrogantly as she stood up, "You said it yourself that 'I'm far too valuable to lose,' and besides... I need to eat and sleep to gain energy, so I have to do both those things if I'm to even consider doing anything you say."

He merely looked at her, smirking for a long while in an uncomfortable silence... It unnerved her how quiet the room had become. Without a word, Vegeta strode up to her until he was so close their noses were nearly touching. He let out a low chuckle, his breath fanning her face as he spoke in a gravelly voice,
"Well then... let's try it this way. I have tired of your disobedience."

The movement was so swift and strong that Parseri didn't even see it coming. One second she was face to face with him, the next she was hunched over from the suffocating pain of his fist being thrust into her gut. It hurt... It hurt so damn much... He had used a lot more force in that one punch than when she fought him in the training room and now she couldn't breathe no matter how desperately she gasped for air.

"You're too weak." He hissed down at her, "None of my offspring or race will have any weakness. You are valuable, yes, but I grow tired of things easily... Don't mistake your value, girl, because if I choose to kill you, don't doubt for a moment that I will in the most painstakingly slow way imaginable. So... here are your choices to choose from..."

As the dark prince removed his fist, she to toppled against him, propping herself up on his chest with her forearms and elbows. Her head hung so low that he couldn't see the dark expression on her face as she tried to steady her breathing, but he still smirked smugly down at her as he continued,

"Either you train with me, or you die. And what will your precious dead people of your pathetic mud ball of a planet think of you then if you just roll over and succumb to death? Heh, actually come to think of it, they probably wouldn't mind too much seeing as that was exactly what they did." He added with a cruel chuckle.

Something inside Parseri snapped once again and an unstoppable rage was unleashed. Her heart pounded fast as she clenched her fists so hard that her fingers began to hurt. Looking down at the girl leaning against him, Vegeta grinned malevolently.

Oh, yes… She was angry…

He was amused at the fact that he could enrage her this much when there was absolutely nothing that she could do about it. But just then, her head snapped up and she glared at him. He saw fury and pain in her eyes with angry, unshed tears dwelling within them, threatening to spill. Without much of a warning, she swung a clawed hand at him and slapped him hard across the face, scratching his cheek and drawing blood in the process. Everything seemed to move in slow motion after that.

"Did... did she just attack me?!" He asked himself, stunned, "Did she just spill... my BLOOD?!" A surge of anger coursed through his veins, and as he saw her hand attempting to come back at him in a backhand fashion, he caught it and grasped it tightly and painfully.

He hissed through his teeth at her, watching her cringe in pain,
"New game, you ungrateful bitch. From now on, you will do as I say, and if you don't…" He smirked cruelly, "Well... I think I'll just give you to my men. They've been begging me to let them have some fun, and now maybe I'll finally give in. But I'll be merciful this one last time and give you a choice. Train... or become a plaything to my comrades. The choice is yours."

That did it. He watched that fiery light disappear from her eyes before filling up with pure authentic fear. He could see that being deflowered by two Saiyan warriors was not something that she wanted to happen. With a dark chuckle, he squeezed her wrist tighter to make her answer quicker, but it only made her scream,

"Stop it! Stop it! It hurts!"

An evil grin spread across his face,
"It hurts, does it? Well if this hurts, then we've got a lot of work to do, don't we? Unless of course you'd rather that I hand you over to my men. I'm sure we could find a suitable... pleasing outfit for you to wear."

She squeezed her eyes shut, hating him more than anything in the world. She hated to lose. Hated it.

"I can't... I can't do this…" She whimpered in her head, and with a choking voice, she spoke slowly.

"No..." She slowly sank to the floor, her wrist still within his grasp. "No. I'll do... whatever you want... Don't let them..." As angry tears began to spill from her eyes, she had never loathed herself as much as she did at that moment. She had never begged like this in her life. Never... Never.

A victorious smile crossed his lips and he finally released her wrist, watching her cradle it with a whimper of pain.

"Well then, I suggest you get started. And you should be thanking me, girl. Many would kill to get training from one such as I, so feel privileged."

Without another word, she nodded and positioned herself in a starting push-up position. Her wrist was throbbing in pain, but she bit her lip and began her push-ups. She was doing alright until around her sixty-seventh, when her arms buckled and gave way. Vegeta, who had sat on his bed to watch her, nudged her with his foot and ordered her to get up. She tried to push herself up, but the pain in her wrist was too great. Parseri rolled over and laid on her back, holding her wrist in agony as he nudged her again with his boot and barked at her to get back up. Once more she tried, this time successfully rising.

She grit her teeth, trying to ignore the pain and just stared down at her hands as they slowly, shakily drew nearer and further away, again and again. Her breath came out in trembling puffs as she gazed down at the blood... his blood- still caught beneath her fingernails.

.~*~.

And thus, her training began. Each day she would do five-hundred push-ups and sit-ups if she wanted to eat or sleep and strangely enough, it became a little easier as each day passed. Her arms didn't seem to be bulking up, but she would feel just a little stronger the next day and was becoming less stiff and sore. It wouldn't be long before he would start her in combat... something she wasn't looking forward to at all. Each night she curled up, dreading the day she would have to fight with him again... And each night, she would drift off into a troubled slumber, filled with disturbing dreams.

The day for her first sparring lesson had finally come. She stood shakily in the training room, watching him slide into that familiar fighting stance.

She gulped, full of fear.

Vegeta smirked and ordered her to make the first move.

She refused.

His smirk disappeared and he ordered her again, warning her not to disobey him.

She backed away, still refusing and pleading that she have more time. She wasn't ready yet. She needed more time!

He advanced on her and grasped her by her hair and began dragging her out of the training room.
"Have it your way then."

Parseri screeched in pain, hearing her voice echo down the halls. Why couldn't anyone hear her? She was trying to pry his hand out of her hair, but every time she tried to pull his fingers apart, he grasped tighter. Her eyes were watering from the pain. Where was he taking her?
Finally he stopped, opened a door in front of him and tossed her in while chuckling in an evil voice,

"Here you go, boys. Enjoy."

Her vision was bleary from tears, so it took her some time to adjust to her new surroundings. Wiping her eyes, she found herself in a dark room with the only light coming from the open door, and Vegeta's long shadow was looming over her. She heard laughter erupt behind her- Evil laughter, and just the sound of it chilled her to the bone. She slowly turned to find Nappa and Raditz slowly striding towards her out of the darkness. Filled with renewed terror, Parseri whipped her head back to Vegeta, who had removed himself from the doorway and leaned against a wall to watch with his arms folded over his chest and an amused smirk on his face.

"Wait! Wait, no! Please! I'll do it! I'll fight! Please don't let them do this!"

But it was too late. Nappa and Raditz were already on her, their hands grasping and groping, ripping and tearing at her clothes, kissing... licking... Screaming in fear and agony, she begged Vegeta to call them off... Telling him that she would do anything if he would only stop them! But he just watched them continue their assault with a sick grin on his face... as if this were a form of entertainment.

She screamed in terror as loud as she could,
"NO! PLEASE STOP!"

.~*~.

Parseri bolted upright in Vegeta's bed, panting heavily. She was entirely drenched in sweat and immediately began feeling her body in the darkness to find that her clothes were still on and intact. As her eyes adjusted to the blackness of night, she noticed that Vegeta was nowhere to be found. She figured that he had left again after she had eaten and fallen asleep, often depositing her onto his bed. He seemed to do that often nowadays, and she wondered if he ever slept at all. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against her knees. She had other dreams like this often and each night that she had them, each grew steadily worse than the last. Parseri shuddered as images from the most recent nightmare flashed through her mind and quickly tried to think of something else. She slid out of bed and walked to the window, pressing her head against the cool glass.

"How long will I be forced to stay in this horrible place...?"

.~*~.

After a few weeks of working out in weighted armor, Vegeta deemed her ready to spar. With her tail hidden beneath her dress, he allowed her to walk herself as he led her to a nearby training room. Sparing a brief glance at her over his shoulder, he noticed that she was trembling the entire way.

Inside the training room, Vegeta slid into his familiar fighting stance, a smirk sliding onto his face. She shakily spread her feet apart into a more defensive stance, her eyes narrowing as bravely as she could manage as her forehead began to sweat.

"Ready?"

She shook her head sharply and he frowned, standing upright.

"The point of this match is just for you to attack. I won't do anything to you unless you refuse my orders, alright?"

She tensed up slightly, glaring suspiciously at him,
"You promise?"

He chuckled and folded his arms over his rumbling chest,
"Yes. Now get over here and hit me."

She approached him tentatively, her hands up and her body crouched in a rather shy attempt at an aggressive position. As she did so, he slid into his fighting stance once again and awaited her move. She stared him in the eye, slightly unsure of what to do... Finally, with a timid squeak, she sent a clawed hand towards his face. Without so much as a thought, the Saiyan warrior easily caught her by the wrist and twisted to hold her arm at an uncomfortable angle behind her back. He spoke next to her ear in with an irritated sigh,
"Looks like we'll be learning how to punch first."

Vegeta released his hold on her arm and whirled her around to face him, shaping her hands into a proper fist. He instructed her how to align her arm and wrist when punching and ordered her to hit him again. He put his hands up, palms facing outward to indicate that he meant her to use them as targets. With a frown, Parseri threw a weak punch at his right hand, which he caught, grasping it lightly.

"Good, you can aim. Now hit harder." He grunted harshly.

They practiced for a good couple of hours before he brought her back to the room. He had shown her a few different punches and demanded that she practice them at least once a day whenever he was away. Parseri found this routine a bit more innervating than the former work-out. She found she could concentrate and block out more painful memories and focus on what she was doing. Her mind seemed to wander to places that brought her comfort when she practiced like this. There were times when Vegeta sat on his bed to watch her practice, and she was able to ignore him as if he wasn't even there.

Parseri was improving... She was moving and breathing correctly, and her heart seemed to be more or less be into it... quenching a thirst that she didn't understand.

.~*~.

It was a very slow process training her. Her improvements were great, but not great or fast enough. After she was acceptable at punching, he had moved her onto kicking- which proved to be more difficult for her, as it required a bit more balance than she seemed to posses. It was nearly a month before she was ready for a real spar.

Nappa and Vegeta stood, leaning against the wall of the training room as they watched Parseri spar with Raditz. He had been instructed to go very easy on her, as she was still very new to fighting and lacked a strong ability to think and act quickly. Fire-dancers weren't required to know how to fight and Parseri seemed to have used her Saiyan blood to at least excel in speed, which proved useful in dodging Raditz' attacks.

As she fought, Vegeta barked orders of improvement in strategy and technique, in which she tried to comply. After awhile, he became a prominent voice in her head, telling her when and how to attack. Her punches were becoming more accurate and sometimes she was able to land a few on Raditz. The girl still wasn't very good... but it was a vast improvement.

Each day for almost another month she spent at least an hour fighting against Raditz, observed by Nappa and Vegeta, until one week they seemed to have little time to do much with her at all. The sudden change was like night and day, and all they seemed to have time to do anymore was drop food off in the room for her.

It was after her month-long trance of battle seemed to wear away, Parseri's mind once again drifted to escape now that there was no one around her all the time and pushing her to train. She could fight somewhat now... so maybe that would increase her chances.