Chapter 22. Hiding

The capsule-house Vegeta had taken from the CC wasn't much, but it was furnished and had a seperate bedroom. It sufficed. They would only be staying there for a couple of days tops anyhow. He had it set up in the glade where he had spent time with his little concubine the previous day, deciding the place where he had put his daughter in her was a good starting point for their journey home.

He put the dragon radar on the table in the small kitchen and motioned Akane into the bedroom. The little Captain didn't object and he followed after her as she entered the small space.

Akane put her head back out and dismissed her men with an uncharacteristically mild: "Go take a dander. It's pretty nice out there. Off you fuck."

They did so and resumed talking over all that Vegeta had told them about the dragonballs and his plan to wish back their home planet.

Vegeta pulled the door to behind him and observed how his little concubine fought to kick off her boots. There was still a hint of fury in her jerky movements, remnant of her earlier outburst. The exhaustion and pain were plain on her glowering face as she wrestled to get out of her battle suit. The little thing was just completely worn out.

"Curse this bleeding suit!" Akane stamped her bare foot while jerking at a sleeve of the reluctant shirt. "Kack!"

Vegeta moved to help her peel the blue fabric from her burning skin. That fever of hers was just mad.

"I can do it myself." Akane growled.

"Oh will you give it up." Vegeta retorted just as rough. "You can hardly keep to your feet."

"I am perfectly fine." Akane swayed on her legs as she said it.

"I can see that."

Vegeta pulled the spandex shirt over her head without ceremony and she grasped his hair to keep her balance as he crouched to strip off her bottoms as well. His eyes lingered at her small feet. Why in the name of bleeding Victory did everything about her have to be so perfect? Finished, he straightened up and took her elbow to keep her from falling over.

Akane jerked away and put her hands on her hips as if to demonstrate that she could manage on her own. "Shouldn't you be off to look for those dragon-things?"

"Soon." Vegeta pointed to the bed behind her sharply. "Get into bed."

Akane remained stubbornly in front of him, her naked skin literally radiating heat. He kept his eyes on her face rather than on her stunning body. This really wasn't the time to be losing himself in his urges.

He still wasn't sure whether he should be angry with her for the things she said to him earlier. He wasn't. The thing was that he knew the despair she felt. It had been his once, long ago, when he gained his own freedom. Back when he still allowed room for his past in him. He had left it behind though. So much so that it had never occurred to him to wish back his planet with the dragonballs. He had burned all his bridges behind him and made ascending and surpassing Kakarot his sole objective. Then came his son and years later his daughter and it was all his life held. His little concubine had reawakened him to who he was. She made him remember what he was destined for. From that very first day she had tried to remind him of that.

"I said things." Akane snarled very aggressively, though she also looked ashamed.

Vegeta waited for her to go on. What was there for him to say really?

"I never... I don't give up. And I would never hurt our daughter. You have to know that... I just..." her voice trailed off.

Vegeta examined her bruised, weary face. It was taking her a lot to show so much of herself to him, to not hide her true feelings.

"I said I would forget." he reminded her mildly.

Akane drew up a bare shoulder almost as if to ward him off or to hide behind it. "It's the fever. It's messing with my head."

"I think you're hurting." Vegeta said frankly. If she wanted to continue this conversation despite his offer to abandon it, he wasn't going to spare her, no matter how fragile she looked at the moment.

Akane stared at him observably battling her tears. Finally her fierce exterior cracked before him and the hardness was lifted from her. The anguish he found in her was heartbreaking.

"I don't understand what's happening to me. It feels like I'm going mad."

She sounded so damaged Vegeta felt like falling apart himself. Seeing her in distress impacted him more than he could have imagined. It brought back memories and sorrows that he had long ago put to rest.

Vegeta gently pulled her down to sit on the edge of the bed with him. He had to help her in some way, ease her mind before she shattered them both.

"You're not. Your freedom gives you room to realise the scope of all that has happened since you left home. The destruction of our planet, your enslavement, the…" he wavered a moment as his mind conjured up scenes he had sworn to never think back on. He couldn't get himself to say it out loud. "…things they did to you."

Her downcast eyes were enough to prove him right. That was simply the way things were done in the WTO. She wrung her fingers together in her lap and he covered her hands with on of his own to still them.

Akane faced him uncertainly and Vegeta rose in order to evade her eyes.

"It will get better in time." he said roughly.

His stare found hers again only when he felt the impenetrableness return to his eyes. Hers weren't any less impassable to him. They were both back to the comfortable hiding.

"Now rest." Vegeta said. "You need it and so does our daughter. "

For once Akane didn't challenge him and crawled under the covers without complaints.

Vegeta wanted to turn and leave, yet something kept him from doing so. He moved in and pressed an urgent, forceful kiss on her lips, startling her and himself.

"Please stay in bed." he said softly as he touched his fingers to the pink curve of the scar at the corner of her mouth.

"I will." Akane whispered back.

After another firm touch of lips Vegeta was ready to tear himself away from her. He was stopped by her hand on his wrist however and he turned to find those intense yellowish eyes holding him fixedly.

"Vegeta…" her voice faltered.

Just as those golden orbs were about to give her away and show him what she truly felt for him in return, she blinked and focused on his hand lying loosely in hers. How long was she going to continue torturing him like this?

Akane shook her head lightly. "Never mind."

At least a while longer, it seemed.

Vegeta drew his hand away. "Go to sleep."

The door fell shut behind him a bit too hard. So what? He had no problem whatsoever with her knowing she got on his nerves again. He was past the point of playing along with these fucking mind games. Giving off mixed signals, attracting and repelling. He was sick of it and she needed to stop it.

Vegeta retrieved the dragonradar from the kitchen and stepped out of the capsule house. Turles and Ringo were seated in the soft glow of the reignited firepit Akane had built last time. He busied himself with the dragon radar, finding a dragonball located not far from their location.

"Turles, make sure the Captain stays in bed like she promised." Vegeta maundered without taking his eyes from the radar. Two more dragonballs were fairly close. Collecting all seven wasn't going to take them more than a day. "Perfect. Let's go."

Ringo gave a firm nod and followed after him when he shot up into the clear evening sky.