Chapter 7. Tournament
Dew hung in glittering droplets from the grass that covered the large open plain where all Saiyajins, full-blooded and demi's alike, stood. The sun was well on its way up and fighting to break through a snarl of dark grey clouds blothing the sky.
Kakarot was, as always, infuriatingly cheerful, his heir and his friend the idiot spawn were glancing up at the adult Saiyajins excitedly, the two third-class pricks were explicitly avoiding their Captain's murderous glares and the attractive little Captain herself was in a particularly foul mood.
A very short fuse, that one. Very fickle as well. Vegeta was oddly amused by it. When he left her not a half hour earlier she had been happy enough. She had fallen asleep with the pacified smile fixed to her marred face, the soft pur that had started in her throat dying out when she drifted off. He had even snoozed some himself and it had been intimate to lie there half entangled with her, both having their guard down for that moment, and also somehow very easy and uncomplicated, as if they had been sharing space for years. It had never felt like that with the woman. It had never felt like that with anyone. It almost made him want to forgo this tournament the idiot had planned.
The little Captain smelled of him now. Blatantly so. He made sure she would. He smelled of her too. No one could deny that he had claimed her and that she was off limits from now on. It placated that knotted thing in him, the thing that had impelled him to chase after her. It had finally left him. The males had all accepted it without comment, Kakarot rather uncomfortably so. Being raised on Earth made him as coy about the carnal as all other Earthlings.
His son was the only one to inquire after it, innocently, unable to recognize it for what his was at his young age. "You and the Captain already trained?"
Vegeta forbore the grin that wanted to come to his lips. The look the little Captain gave him was a very malignant one. She even bared her teeth at him in a mute snarl.
"The Captain helped me warm up." Vegeta replied casually, supressing a snicker.
Akane gave a snort at that and rammed her fists on her hips. "It is too bleeding early for this." she spat to nobody in particular, refusing to address the topic of her subjugation. "Turles!"
Turles flinched, but turned to face her bravely. "Yes, Captain?"
"You go first." Akane snapped, motioning roughly over to the center of the plain with a gloved hand.
Turles gave a quick nod and loped off to the middle of the clearing, evidently very happy to put some space between him and his Captain.
"You want to fight him kid?" Akane gruffed at Goten.
"Zettai!" Goten piped. "Captain!" He saluted foolishly before bounding off after Turles with a happy: "I'm fighting you, uncle Turles!"
"Ace!" Turles boomed.
"Remind me to kill whoever's cunting idea this was when I wake up, Ringo." Akane snarled as she hunkered down to sit on her haunches with her elbows on her thighs and her chin in her hands. She closed her eyes and snaked her tail about her waist.
"It was my idea." Goku cheered. "Isn't it great? A Saiyajin tournament!"
Akane opened her eyes again and locked him with a scathing glare, the sneering scar at the corner of her small mouth making it look like she was smirking wickedly at him. Soon a real and very sly smile touched her lips. "Then I'll be fighting you first, Kakarot."
She closed her eyes again and said nothing more.
Vegeta didn't like the looks she was giving the idiot. That knotted thing sprang back up inside him instantly. What was she driving at? He shoved his fury aside. He was tired of these feelings eating away at him. It wasn't hours after he submitted her and already she was challenging him again.
The fight started and Vegeta focused his attention on the battle rather than on the little Captain sitting so close by and smelling like he was still fucking her.
"Is there a prize for the victor?" Trunks asked.
"A prize?" Vegeta echoed irritably. "You are gaining strength with every fight. Let that be your prize."
The battle didn't last that long. Turles was a lot weaker than Goten, but the male Saiyajin was an awesome tactician and he soon gained the upper hand on the brash young demi. He sent Goten flying through the air tattered and unconscious and Goku caught his son in midair to restore his strength with a sensu bean.
"Nice one, Turles." Akane, who had deigned to remain awake and watch the fight after all, complimented.
"Cheers, Captain."
"Don't get too cocky though. You'll be taking it up against me later." Akane smirked as she jumped up and strode into the clearing with a sudden burst of energy. "Let's go, Kakarot."
Goku followed happily and Vegeta bore witness with grinding teeth.
The two warriors stopped in the middle of the clearing and Akane charged without hesitation. Goku blocked her attacks easily, sending her sailing through the air after a well timed fist to the gut. He was caught off guard when she made a quick twist with her body in mid-air that caused her to hover upside down.
"Stunning eyes!" Akane cried with her raw voice and laser beams shot from her eyes, hitting Goku square in the happy face.
Vegeta watched with growing outrage as the battle wore on. Every movement the savage little thing made now was like a concealed invite. The idiot was distracted by it multiple times, giving her room to land serious kicks and hits. She brushed up against him with her body several times in passing as they got tangled up in a brute fist-fight and it was very successful in making him lose focus. All she had to do now was wait for a lapse in his defences and when she found one, she pounced without mercy and rammed her elbow down the idiot's neck, sending him crashing towards the ground at high speed.
Goku recollected himself before he impacted the earth and landed panting on his feet. Akane dove down after him, touching ground right across from him.
Even from the distance where Vegeta stood watching with the others, he could see the Captain's provocative smile. He caught himself wondering furiously why she hadn't used any of those techniques on him inside the gravity-tank. She would have won their battle without effort. He had been ready to have his leg over the moment he had her trapped inside the tank with him.
Goku had phased into super-one form, clearly running out of other options.
"She's done for now." Goten said with a clenched fist held up spiritedly.
"Definitely." Trunks agreed.
"Are you sure about that, boy?" Vegeta asked sharply. "Have you paid any attention at all?"
"Yes, father." Trunks answered. "I know the Captain's been having the upper hand until now, but Goku-sama is way stronger than she is."
What the hell, Vegeta could use something to distract him from his fury and teaching his son the ways of a warrior was something he was always willing to do. "Strength is not going to avail him in this battle. He needs his brain now and he doesn't know his arse from his elbow. Remember that there are other ways of defeating an opponent. What you lack in strength you counterbalance by using other skills."
Trunks thought about this for a moment and Vegeta was pleased to see him grasp the concept quickly.
"Is it like when Goten and I use our small stature as an advantage against bigger opponents?" he asked.
"Precisely." Vegeta nodded.
The battle had grown fiercer. Goku gained the upper hand now that he had transformed, but Akane's battered face was dauntless, the wicked grin ever present on her lips. Goku rammed her into the ground and landed a few feet away from her with a satisfied smirk, looking like a true Saiyajin for a change. Trunks and Goten cheered for him. Vegeta knew it wasn't over though and so did the other two male Saiyajins. They waited silently for what was going to happen next and as expected, Akane soon staggered back up.
Vegeta saw her raising her hands above her head like she had done inside the gravity-tank. That was foolish. It wasn't the right move. Kakarot would expect a ki-attack and he had enough power to easily nullify her beam. She should know that too. Much to his likes she, in stead of summoning the Red Whorl, brought her hands back down with a string of red energy captured between them. She released the cord and guided it with flowing gestures of her hands, making it dance in front of her lazily. It was very inticing in some strange way. While she made her energy swirl and trace paterns in the air in between them, Goku stood motionless, captured by the sight of it. Who could blame the idiot? Vegeta found himself hypnotized and he was a good distance away from her.
When Goku finally seemed to snap out of it and readied himself to attack, Akane snapped her fingers at him. Goku froze in the midst of his lunge.
Vegeta's eyes fell on the little Captain's fierce face and he rather saw than heard her utter the quiet command: "Down."
Goten and Trunks gasped in utter shock when Goku dropped to his knees. Akane moved in, grabbed a fistful of his blonde hair and forced his face up to meet hers.
Vegeta was overcome by that now familiar, unwieldy, raw want when he saw a distinctly cruel smile creep onto her marred face. She was just pure evil.
"Fatal Flare." Akane purred, lifting two fingers in between their faces and letting her explosion rip.
It felt like the whole clearing got torn to shreds and everybody was thrown back by the insane force she had loosed. As the smoke cleared Akane hovered in midair over a vast crater. The plain beneath her was destroyed and Goku lay completely still on his back in the midst of the depression.