Just A Simple Shower (Mature Content)


"I said no, Raditz!"

Raditz dragged her into the training room and locked the door, but the minute he did, she sat and refused to get into a battle stance. "Pepper..."

"We both know you won't do anything to hurt me, and that's exactly what's going to happen if you force me to fight. I said no, and nothing you say will change my mind on the matter."

He hadn't expected this... For over a week he had been trying to get her to train; he had yet to find a motivation to make her. It didn't help that she was right, but why was she refusing. She had loved to fight... or did she fight because she had no choice? In reality, they knew almost nothing about her, what she had liked, what made her smile, what made her laugh... Everything she had done was for someone else. Every battle she had fought, she had taken it as if their lives depended on it, and after West City, that fire in her had vanished.

Sighing, he decided to train on his own again... It wasn't the same when he lacked someone to fight him, but Bardock was busy training with the others, leaving him to deal with Pepper. It wasn't that he couldn't leave her with anyone else, but the minute he did, she had panic attacks and it took him hours to calm her down. Now he just kept her close, her golden eyes watching everything he did. There were other minor details he had picked up on; she didn't touch anything or anyone. She only ate what he gave her and she didn't go anywhere that he wasn't.

There was no way to move forward if she couldn't find a way to live, regardless if he was beside her or not. While she might have caused the damage to her mind, they were all trying to find a way to reconnect to her. She needed them as much as they needed her. Distracted, he never saw her tail lash out, grabbing his ankle and tripping him. "What are you doing?"

"You weren't paying attention," she whispered. "I wasn't even serious; why do you always hold back?"

"If you're reading my thoughts, then you should already know why."

"I stay out of your mind unless you want me to be there. I've just picked up on an obvious fact... Anyone that watches close enough, can see what I see. Can you please answer the question?"

"There's no reason to go all out; good enough?"

"So you're the reason why everyone is being held back."

"How am I responsible for that?"

"You're the one that's training them. If you never push them to their limits, then how are they supposed to gain the strength, speed, and skill to defeat enemies like the Red Ribbon Army or Frieza? I might have been a child, but if I picked up on what you were doing, what did you expect for me to do? Who did you have train me?"

"Vegeta."

"Who was stronger?" Raditz had no idea, but he started to get a sickening feeling what she was trying to get him to understand. "Were you going all out when we fought in that Tournament?"

"I hate talking about that."

"Put aside your emotions for a moment and answer the question. You were the one that said if I had questions to ask them; I'm just doing what you yourself ordered."

"You've been refusing my order to train, but you're willing to follow this one?" Raditz growled.

"What's your point; it won't save my life, so I choose to sit and watch you continue to waste your time."

"Pepper, if you have something to say; then say it!" He started to close in on her, but she didn't move, her golden eyes staring at him with little to no emotion. She often got like this and he saw flickers of how she had been before...

"Have you ever, once in your life, gone all out?"

"No."

"Why?"

"What does it matter as long as I complete my objective?"

"You're not on Planet Vegeta any longer! You don't fall under Ice-jin law either! So why do you refuse to do what you need to?!"

Kneeling, he threaded his fingers through her hair and tilted her head back. "I don't use my full power because it can decimate an entire planet; possibly more. I don't use my full power," he snarled, leaning in closer to whisper against her ear, "Because that kind of power was used to hurt the very same people we were supposed to protect. What good was my power if I couldn't do anything with it other than to destroy or kill?"

He had a brief image of having her in a similar position, caught in his grasp, and his grip tightened. However, unlike then, he didn't feel the same response to him, and he pulled back, disappointed and angry. How did he get that back? How did he fix the impossible?

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "My intent was not to hurt you."

"Don't worry about it... I'm just getting impatient."

"Raditz... if you've made it a habit to hold back, how will you use that power when you really need it. You'll die, and then it's game over for the rest of us."

She wasn't seeing the future; Pepper was stating a simple fact.

"I can never go all out, not against any of you."

"Why?"

"I would risk killing them; I got to close with you as it was and I wasn't even using half of my real strength."

"So if I were to train with you; you'd never take it seriously enough to really teach me."

"Wha-?"

"That's why I won't train; if you really wanted me to survive, you would do whatever it took to make that happen. I'm not saying that I want you to kill me, but I have no reason to fight if the outcome results in me dying. I can pluck any technique out of your head, but I don't have the experience or strength to take you down. The only way for a Saiya-jin to get stronger is to fight another, pushing themselves to the limit every time. Do you want to know the real reason that I'm afraid to let you go anywhere without me?"

"Why?"

"I'm terrified that you won't come back; that when you walk out the door, it'll be the last image that I see and after everything that I've done to you guys, it won't make up for any of it."

"Is that why you're trying so hard not to feel anything?"

"I feel more than you think; I'm trying to brace myself for the fact that you'll die because you just won't take any fight seriously."

She stood, prepared to leave, when he grabbed her wrist... "I thought you were afraid of being alone."

"I am... However, if that's going to be the end result, I need to learn to deal with it."

Raditz spun her around, slamming her against the wall. "You really aren't in my head; are you?"

"No. You didn't want this bond, not initially, and I don't want to force myself on you anymore than I have."

"Stop that!" Raditz slammed his fist into the wall beside her, chunks flying. The pain inside of him was growing, and he needed something from her. Why couldn't he figure it out? "No, I didn't want you at first... but that started to change. I'm good at denying what's in front of me, and you're right. I do hold back, and it seems I've been doing it with my emotions as well. You're strong... there's no other way to describe what you are after what you did. The kind of hell you put yourself through, and yet you kept going. Fine... you win."

"Would you mind trying something?"

"What?"

Taking his wrist, she pulled him to the center of the room. "Do what you were doing before I stopped you? Nothing more, nothing less."

Frowning, he tried to understand what she was trying to do. He hadn't been doing anything other than basic level attacks; it was always a warm up to the harder training he did later throughout the day. Sighing, he did what she asked, and to his surprise, she countered everyone of his moves, blocking and twisting, moving with his footwork, twisting and turning as if they were in sync with one another.

"I thought you weren't..."

"That had nothing to do with reading your mind. Apparently, I can see a technique once and memorize it. I've been watching you since I woke up, and I know everything about how you breathe, how you move, and every weak spot I can strike at if I wanted. I could probably do it with the others as well, but you're the one I want to learn from; not them. If you're holding back, so will they."


Kakarot was helping Bulma with the programming of the defense shields when they saw Raditz approach. "She's not with you?"

"It won't last; I can leave her for a limited time before she wakes up and finds me gone."

"She still doesn't know who we are; does she?"

"No, and she looks at everything from a logical perspective instead of an emotional one. Unless she's in the dark, she seems almost robotic."

"It's a defense mechanism," Bulma said, sliding out from beneath a computer terminal. "I used to be like her... Seems like forever ago, but before I met you guys, I didn't trust anyone, not with my heart or my emotions. It was easier to keep myself closed off."

"Why?"

"When people start to let you down, hurt you... There's a number of reasons; however, it develops a certain amount of mistrust and then you start to believe that the only one that you can rely on is yourself."

"Why are you bringing this up?" Kakarot asked him. "It's not like you."

"I'm never going to move forward with her; not if I don't change."

"She did what she did at the Tournament; didn't she?" Bardock was leaning against the door, watching Raditz with a knowing gaze.

"I have no idea what she did; I've never taken the time to know or understand her. However, I do know that she just countered every move I had a minute ago, and it was all from just watching."

"Raditz, while she took a lot of techniques from our minds, she was also watching every fighter that exchanged blows. Even if the matches only lasted a second, she took the techniques that actually mattered and internalized them. Did you know that it was a new moon that night?"

Raditz sucked in a deep breath. If what Bardock was saying was true... He hadn't known back then that she lost her visions during a new moon; he just assumed that she had fought him with it and that had infuriated him for years. That meant... at eight years old, she had taken him on with what knowledge she had acquired and forced him into a stale mate. He hadn't powered up; but it still wasn't something he would have expected out of someone at her age.

Seeing the pale look on his son's face, Bardock decided he was going to drive the knife in even further. He was tired of his son holding back, and he was about to get the lesson of a life time if he didn't snap out of it and soon. Turles had already made up his mind about it once they got back from their current mission. "You could have won that Tournament," Bardock growled. "She didn't have the experience or the knowledge to defeat you; you just decided that she was a child and wasn't capable of taking you on at even a fraction of your power level. So you chose to remain at your base level. In a way, I have to admit, you enabled her to accomplish what she did."

"That girl... She was observing and learning while you dragged it out. She incorporated every move that she saw and pushed you to your limits and by the time you started to realize the mistake you made... both of you didn't have the energy to power up or continue and that's what resulted in the stale mate. With or without her visions, regardless if she's the guardian, that girl is not an average fighter. Her analytical skills are higher than Bulma's and Kakarot's combined. If you think that you've figured something out, she's already thought about it and several steps ahead."

Kakarot slammed several books into his brother's arms; "Read those. I can't believe I'm lecturing my older brother, but I never for a minute thought you were the submissive one."

"Like hell I am!"

"Really? That girl has been dominating all of us since she arrived on this planet! Every time we think we have her figured out, she pulls the rug out from under us! A Saiya-jin male is by their very nature stronger than their mate; it's necessary for their survival. She's not asking to fight you because she gets a kick out of it; she's not doing it because she's acting childish; she's asking you to train and fight her because her life depends on it! It's not just Frieza anymore; because of what she is, all our enemies will target her. If we go down, you're all she has, and if you can't take something like this dead serious, then you might as well get it over with and kill her now."

Kakarot shoved his brother against a wall, both hands wrapped around the collar of his battle armor. "Does she even known how you feel? Or does she still think that you don't want her? You act surprised when she shows hardly any emotion, but if she keeps thinking that you want nothing to do with her, she'll continue the way she is. It's her way of trying to give you what you want. Stop messing around with this; or so help me, I don't give a damn if I get my ass kicked, I'll fight you until I beat some sense into that thick skull of yours!"

"Her memories will never come back if you two remain the way you are." Storming out of the lab, Kakarot blasted off, Bulma sighing.

"I guess his temper still gets the better of him at times. Raditz, I know you care about her. I saw the way you were acting in confinement, and that's why I took the risk I did. What are you so afraid of?"

That was the problem; he had no idea and it frustrated him. Bulma tossed him a few more books... "Kakarot is exactly like you... if he could figure out how to make our relationship work, then the person that he looks up to, should have no problem doing the same. I'm going to tell you what I told him; it's impossible for you or the Oozuru to hurt your mate. Trust your instincts and everything else will work out. As for what Kakarot said... he's right. She's definitely, at this moment, showing signs of being more dominant. If you don't want it to stay that way, change it."

"What are these?" Raditz asked.

"You're the perfect soldier; aren't you? While she's sleeping, it wouldn't hurt you to study how to mate or take care of her. Humans and Saiya-jins are 100% compatible, so everything in those books can be applied to you guys. Not everything will work, but that's what trial and error is, and the link will let you know if she's in pain or not. If she's enjoying it, then you know you're doing what you're supposed to. Now that I'm done giving you a sex education class 101; I'm going to let you decide on what to do."

"You always speak your mind; don't you," Bardock growled, but she saw hints of a smile and she patted him on the arm before going after Kakarot. Knowing him, he was probably on the roof of Capsule Corporation.


Raditz watched her sleep for a long time, lost in thought as he considered what to do. How did he feel about her? From the Battle of West City to now, he kept seeing and learning sides of her that had him wanting to discover more. Their earlier session in the training room had startled him... and with surprising gentleness, he slid back her hair and traced the mark on her shoulder. She whimpered; shifting away as she felt the flood of heat at the contact. Curious, he did it again, and her discomfort increased, but it wasn't painful, nor did she seem to dislike it. Her mind was confused, and she tried to process what was going on, but before she could wake up, he decided to stop.

Her reaction to the mating mark intrigued him, but before he decided to use it to his advantage, he picked up a book, and decided that Kakarot and Bulma were right. He was tired of fighting the Oozuru, and based on her response... She was perhaps more attracted to him than she was letting on. How long could she keep that neutral expression of hers now that he had her figured out?


She was screaming in pain... something was happening to her... Snapping awake, she gasped for air, frantically looking around. She was in her room, Raditz sleeping beside her. Unable to go back to sleep herself, and not wanting to wake him, she made her way to the shower. That vision had shaken her... Other than Fire Mountain, she hadn't had one, and she can't say it was a pleasant one. Was this how it had started the first time around; when she was travelling to Earth with Kakarot?

In the vision, the enemy had her... did that mean something had happened to the others; to Raditz? She didn't know how much longer she could pretend that she felt nothing for him. The bond was something she had forced on him in order to save the others and she knew it was impossible to make him want her, but still...

Lifting her face to the warm shower, she didn't notice the bathroom door open and shut, Raditz leaning against it as he watched her. Sensing her panic, he had woken up, but instead of reaching for him like she usually did, she had retreated. He had no idea if what he had seen in her mind had been a vision or a nightmare, but it didn't matter. He was focusing on the other emotions whirling around in her mind. He remembered her saying something in the training room the day before... She was terrified of letting him out of her site...

He had never done what he was about to try, and she very well might try to lash out at him, but damn it, she belonged to him, and he wanted to know if what he felt was one sided, or if she had been keeping her true feelings hidden from him. Taking off his armor, he quietly made his way towards her, careful not to disturb her. True to her word, she wasn't in his mind, or this wouldn't have worked. She was leaned against the wall, her arms wrapped around her waist, her breath coming in small gasps as she struggled to work through her panic.

"I thought we agreed that we wouldn't keep secrets any longer," he growled, his breath brushing against her mating mark. Startled, she almost fell, but he easily caught and stabilized her, his arm locking her in place, her back pressed against his chest.

"Raditz?" she whispered, taken off guard. Glancing up at him over her shoulder, he saw it... damn it... she really had been keeping her emotions hidden from him. It was that same confused look that she had given him right after they had ended the Battle of West City. She wasn't even aware of it; her defenses were down and she looked like what she wanted was within hand's reach, but she couldn't have it. "I'll let you have the shower if you want."

"I'm almost positive you haven't washed your hair; you've just been standing here."

She looked like a cornered animal, trapped, and she had no where to run or hide. "Raditz, what are you doing?" She sounded tired, and not physically.

"As long as your hair is; I'm sure it isn't easy to wash it," he offered.

She almost told him no; she should have told him no. In the end, she didn't have the mental strength to deny him. What difference did it make anyway? She had washed her hair several times herself, and she didn't see anything different with allowing him to.

He couldn't believe how easy she was making this, but she honestly thought that this was just like herself doing it so she wasn't bracing herself for anything. She started to realize something was different when his fingers began to massage her scalp, digging in, scrubbing, untangling her hair. It was so easy to let herself go to the soothing sensations, her defenses lowering even further. He wasn't an idiot though. She had gotten accustomed to the idea that he had never wanted her, and because he hadn't told her how he felt differently over the past couple of years, she had shut out any possibility of the idea. It was going to take a lot of effort to get her to open up to him, but when he set his mind to something, there was no changing it.

"Lean forward," he commanded softly. She didn't argue, letting the warm water rinse the suds from her hair. Now that he had an excuse to play with her hair, he wasn't about to let her bathe on her own anymore. "Hand me a wash cloth."

"I thought..."

"I might as well finish what I've started. If I leave you alone, you're probably going to pass out."

She glanced at him over her shoulder, her expression guarded and confused. Pepper was trying to understand his motives, but she had no desire to read his mind. He started to get an idea why she wouldn't. Having accepted that their bond was unwanted, she avoided any thoughts that might indicate he hated or resented her. A shadow in her mind, he discovered that she didn't blame him for his feelings... She was the reason they had been created in the first place, and it was taking its toll on her. She wanted to go back and change what she had done... Without any memory of the past, she was stuck with the results of her actions and she kept the pain buried as deep as she could so no one would have to see her suffering. Pepper felt that she didn't have the right to.

"I'm just washing your back, Pepper. Don't think too much about it." Relenting, she reached for and handed him the cloth along with a bar of soap. Again she thought nothing about the process of bathing, but the moment she felt his fingers and the cloth press against her skin, her eyes shot open. This was nothing like doing it herself, his touch gliding across her shoulder blades and spine.

Now that she agreed, she had no choice but to see this through. She was half tempted to read his mind, but she forced herself not to. There wasn't anymore to what he was doing; was there? Looking at his face, she couldn't determine what he was thinking or why he was offering to do what she was fully capable of doing on her own. When she turned her face back forward, Raditz smirked. This was going to be a lot easier than he thought. He felt the spikes of pleasure in her mind, but there were hints that she wanted to ask him to stop. She had no idea why it felt different when he washed her hair and body, but he had a plan in place if she started to shy away from him.

Kneeling, he started working on her rear, ensuring he missed nothing. The gasp told him everything... She was responding to what he was doing, but she didn't understand the sensations he was causing, or why she was starting to shake, jumping as he continued scrubbing her skin. Next he moved to her calves, working to the inside of her thighs and legs. She whimpered, and he paused. "I can stop if you want; maybe you should rest."

She wasn't tired, and the mere fact that he thought she was still that weak infuriated her. Digging her nails into the shower wall in front of her, she tried to steady her heart rate and shaking of her legs. His grin widened... Her pride was going to work in his favor. Switching to her other leg, he repeated what he had done with the first, and it was everything she could do to remain standing. "Pepper, are you sure you don't need to lie down?"

"I'm fine!" she snarled. Her mind was a haze of heat, and she tried to stay calm. It was just a damn bath, so why was it causing so much havoc on her senses?

"You do realize I still have the front to do; right?"

Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at him with panic and desperation. If she told him no, he would insist that she needed to stay in bed. If she told him yes... His expression was still neutral, and the desire to read his mind increased. In truth, he wanted her to. She'd figure out that he was quite fond of her, but he wasn't going to force her.

"I can... do it..." she stammered, making herself sound like a complete idiot.

"Pepper, you're about to collapse. Just let me finish this and we can get out."

"What about you?"

He almost lost his composure. Raditz didn't want to say no to her, but the entire point of this experiment was to see what kind of effect he had on her. This wasn't about him; not yet. "Let's just see how you're feeling when I'm done. I'm not entirely convinced that you're well enough to run around after we get out of here."

She had no choice. If she didn't prove to him that there was nothing wrong with her, he really would confine her to her bed and order that she stay there for the remainder of the day. Damn it... I'm not a damn child. If I say I'm fine, I'm fine! She almost thought she heard him laughing, but when she glared down at him, his expression was the same as it had been since he started this fiasco. Taking a deep breath, she turned around, crossing her arms in front of her in defiance. "I can't wash everything if you're holding your arms like that. In fact, just hold onto the shower head. I won't miss the smaller spots."

Pepper, with shaking hands, did what he asked. Switching the cloth for some kind of blue scrubby thing that Bulma had in all her bathrooms, he put a different kind of soap on it and started with her neck, just over the mating mark. Her legs did give out, and he caught her, his arm holding her up as he seemingly looked at her with concern. "Raditz..."

"We're almost done," he whispered, dropping his voice, her eyes staring into his with a heated intensity. She had finally submitted, but he wasn't going to take advantage past washing her. If he did anything past what he originally said or asked her to do, he'd never earn her trust and any further attempts at winning her over would fail. The mating mark was definitely a weak point for her... every time he touched it, she responded, and there wasn't much she could do to resist it or anything he would want from her as a result. Keeping that in the back of his mind, he continued washing her throat, moving to her neck, and then her breasts.

The human books on mating said they were a critical feature to prepping a female, to coaxing them into a submissive position later on. Rushing a female could cause resistance or unnecessary pain, and Raditz had no intentions of doing anything other than finding out exactly what she liked or didn't. While she was no longer fighting anything he did, he wanted to see how far he could increase the heat in her mind. She was restless, unaware of the soft whines and whimpers echoing in their bathroom. "Just relax," he purred against her ear. "It's just a bath... nothing more... nothing less..."

Brushing the scrub brush across her right breast, she yelped, turning her head into his shoulder. He took his time, paying extra attention to her tiny nipple that seemed to increase her pleasure more than the breast alone. Pretending to focus on the underpart of her breast, he squeezed and lifted, her body trembling so hard he thought she'd break if she wasn't a Saiya-jin. The human mating books were nothing short of genius... She was long past the point of resistance if he wanted to claim her, but he focused on the task at hand. He had plenty of time... Raditz was after something far more important than just claiming her instinctively. He wanted this woman's heart and soul... He wanted the guarded look gone from her gaze when she looked at him.

"Hold onto my shoulders." He felt the bite of her nails against his skin, and it took all of his strength not to give into the Oozuru's desire. When he finally did claim her, he knew it wasn't going to be slow; he needed her trust at that point, or everything he was doing now would have meant nothing. Widening her stance, he once again decided to start with her lower leg and to the inside of her thigh. Every time she tried to shift her legs closed, he would move them back. Her eyes were wild with desire, and he continued to increase that heat... He wanted to know what this was going to do to her if he pushed her a little further. Switching to the other leg, he finally moved to the folds between her thighs, applying pressure as he scrubbed. Her knees gave out, and shifting her around, he had her back pressed against his chest, one of his legs propping her thigh open so he could finish.

Pepper couldn't think... it was too much... too fast, and with a cry her body arched upwards, Raditz continuing to scrub and wash. She tried to jerk away from the sensation, but his other leg trapped her second thigh, and she felt wave after wave of pleasure slamming into her. He continued to wash every inch of her, not stopping until she blacked out.

Raditz stroked her face with the back of his hand, amazed that something this innocent and pure had been given to him. He had never once appreciated the fact that he had been given the responsibility to protect her, nor did he fully understand the fact that their bond was unique to the others. She wasn't able to choose any of the others, and he had hurt her by giving into the fears that she encouraged. Turning off the shower, he lifted and carried her back to bed, wrapped in a towel.