Chapter 36. Dispute

It had been a struggle but gradually Vegeta and Akane learned to live with their bond. They found ways of sifting out the important feelings and thoughts from the usual ones and only tuned in to each other when they felt like it. Everything else was successfully ignored and existed as a mere distant hum within them. They spent much time withdrawn from the goings on of the Marauder, soon becoming completely engrossed in each other now that Akane had given up on remaining Captain and Vegeta found that he was unwilling to miss a second of his little mate's progressing pregnancy.

What exactly it was that they did all their time spent in isolation was a question Vegeta had been shamefully asking himself more than once. They didn't really do anything but arse about, something that wasn't too befitting of a Prince and he wouldn't have dreamed of doing before he met Akane. He was enjoying it nonetheless and the days went by in a heartbeat.

Still sometimes his conscience would play up and ask him if this frenzy he was in served any need other than his own and if this really was the type of leader he wanted to be. Surely he could find more important things to occupy him. His people needed him to rule them as their Prince while he was stowed away in his bed chamber with his mate, detached and acting like a lovesick dog.

Today was one of those days.

"You might be bad for me after all." Vegeta said more playfully than he intended.

Akane towered over him standing on the bed, spiritedly showing off her protruding belly from every possible angle and taking on a variety of battle poses. She halted with her arms still stretched above her head.

"Why is that?"

Vegeta folded his hands behind his head lazily, high on the voluptuousness of her gorgeous body in plain view before him. "Well, I'm not being much of leader to my people, am I? We haven't left this room for days."

"We haven't left this bed for days." Akane corrected him. She bestowed him one of her fierce grins and resumed her flaunting. "So?"

"So, don't you think it's about time we got up?" Vegeta retorted still not capable of taking his own objections seriously. He only had eye for the savage beauty of his little mate.

Akane simply shook her head and smiled so roguishly that Vegeta braced himself quickly and held up a warning finger. "Don't do it."

As expected Akane raised her rough voice and yelled: "Belly squash!" as if launching an attack and let herself fall forward right on top of him.

Vegeta caught her in his arms emitting a combination of laughter and grunting when her big belly crashed hard into his gut. The little life within failed to notice the impact and he was certain that even a Final Flash attack wouldn't be enough to bother his daughter considering the battle power she now possessed.

"Akane," Vegeta admonished when she continued fooling around. He sat up against the pillows with her still draped over his chest. "Be serious for a moment. I can't keep pissing about like this."

"Vegeta," she returned just as grave. "There is nothing to do except wait until we reach our destination. The Platoon Ardians are keeping the men busy with training, the old cocker is probably spending his days in a drivelling sleep and Ruirdo is most likely having it away with her new bed mate. I doubt anyone is missing you at the moment. You'll be longing back to this once Vegetasei is restored. Just enjoy it while it lasts."

"You're making me into a bleeding skiver." Vegeta muttered irritably. "I should be out training at least."

Akane took his face between her fingers, squeezing his cheeks to make his lips pout so that she could put a teasing kiss to them. "My poor, ugly mate."

She turned to sit back against his chest before he could return her kiss and Vegeta's hands automatically slipped around her to rest on the fair swell of her belly.

"We could spar later." Akane suggested and it wasn't the first time either.

They could. The babe wouldn't be bothered by it and his little mate wouldn't either, yet Vegeta couldn't do it. It just felt wrong somehow to kick the shit out of her while she was so obviously with child. She needed to be worshipped, not trashed.

"We could do a kata together." he offered in return. "Or meditate."

"Oh away and shite with your meditations." Akane gruffed dismissively. "It's a right cunt-ache. I honestly don't see what you value in it. It bores the tits off me."

No, meditating was not for her. That foul temper didn't allow her to get anywhere near a state of peace and tranquility. It made him laugh.

"That you are so ill achieved at it, does not mean it has no value. It could help you moderate your wild temperament some."

"I have you for that." Akane pointed out.

That was true.

Her body grew rigid against him all of the sudden and Vegeta was instantly aware of the rapidly building power under his hands. His daughter was testing her strength. It wasn't the first time this had happened. It made him wary. Mainly because Akane always went out of her way to try and pass it off as something insignificant while he could clearly feel her fear through their bond.

He didn't stop her when she made an effortful attempt to claw her way off of his chest, knowing she would start clawing at him instead if he tried to assist in any way. She finally curled up at his side heaving groans of pain which she tried to muffle by biting her lip with so much disoblige that blood soon started running down her chin. Her arms came up as if to protect her face, though Vegeta knew she only wanted to hide her pained expression from him.

"She must really hate me." Akane panted, trying in vain to make light of the situation.

Vegeta was already bending over her with his hand pressed against her abdomen hoping it would help calm his daughter. This had worked the last time, yet the babe was disinclined to simmer down now. He could feel her twirling about spiritedly inside.

"This isn't a bleeding joke, Akane. She is hurting you."

"It's nothing." Akane gasped from behind her drawn up arms.

That was what she kept saying, that it was nothing, that it was all just part of the pregnancy and up until now Vegeta had taken her word for it because he didn't know the first thing about these things, but he couldn't think of it as nothing any longer. The babe's power kept increasing madly with every passing day and Akane's pain was getting worse every time their daughter put that power to the test. She had already surpassed her mother and it was likely that she would continue developing at this rate, if not faster while she grew.

"I think you should see the medic."

Akane snarled in either pain or irritation, it was hard to tell because most of her face was still hidden behind her arms. "You shouldn't worry so much. She is only trying out her strength." she spoke in between laborious breaths.

Vegeta pulled her arms away and found her golden eyes filmy with pain. "This worries you more than me."

"Well this isn't a fucking picnic, is it?" Akane hissed through clenched teeth. "She just startled me, is all."

Vegeta knew that she was lying. He had learned that this was just her way of coping with difficult situations. Even so, he wasn't going to allow her denial this time. He thus told her flat out what his thoughts were.

"She will end up killing you."

Akane sat up with such force that she nearly knocked him over and she drew herself up in his face with beads of sweat glistening on her forehead. The babe in her belly had simmered down again and his little mate immediately seized her chance to exploit this. She uttered a rough laugh. "You question my strength? Surely I am better fit to bear your offspring than that pitiful Earthling cunt."

Aghast as he was due to the strange turn their conversation took Vegeta could only utter an unintelligent: "What?"

"Your son." Akane clarified insistently. "The Earthling managed to bear him just fine, didn't she, even if he was so much stronger?"

"No! My son's power didn't start developing until after he was born!" Vegeta was about ready to loose it. "I can't believe this is about her. You could be in serious danger and all you care about is having one up on the woman. Are you out of your tree?"

"It is not about her!"

"Yes it is. This is about your fucking pride. I'm getting the medic."

Akane tried to stop him from getting off of the bed by hanging on his arm, but Vegeta brushed her off like he would a fly. Her strength wasn't even a fragment of what it had been before the kitten started levelling up. On his way out, slipping his shirt over his head while making for the exit, he barked at her to put some fucking clothes on and slammed the door to behind him to cut off the stream of objections she yelled after him.

.

.

.

Akane sat on the bed, arms folded in a huff when Vegeta returned with the medic. She should probably feel flattered that her mate worried for her so. All she felt was contempt really. Who would have ever thought the Prince could be such a craven? The way his face snapped up to meet hers told her he had picked up on that particular thought and the frustrated grinding of his teeth was mute testimony that he wasn't all to pleased with her at the moment. Good, she wasn't all that pleased with him either.

The medic saluted her and Akane nodded at the man with the neatly trimmed ruddy beard and the fat scar running down the side of his neck which proclaimed that even though he served as the Marauder's physician, he was foremost a warrior. The man had taken care of her injuries countless times and Akane knew him to be capable in both professions.

"There was no need for you to come here, doc. The cramping has already passed." Akane snarled at the medic as he followed Vegeta to the side of the bed.

"We'll have a look anyway." the medic replied after a quick glance at Vegeta's inflexible expression.

Well who could blame him? Of course the man would follow his Prince's orders over hers. Akane felt the urge to strangle him nonetheless. She drew the covers from herself with a flurry, revealing that she had failed to follow her mate's orders and was still as starkers as he had left her. Her mate did not share and that included the sight of her naked body. Her contempt for him now vanished for he seemed ready to sort her out as soon as the medic left. She had been hoping for it, he had been far too tolerant with her these past weeks.

The medic, not at all impressed with the sight of her naked flesh, sat down on the edge of the bed and searched Akane's swollen belly with his hands, quickly growing absorbed in examining her.

'Do you even know anything about this, apart from how to get a woman in this state." Akane joked.

The medic snickered in spite of himself. Behind his back the grinding of Vegeta's teeth had become so forceful that Akane could actually hear it.

"I know enough." the medic answered. "How often have you been experiencing the cramping?"

Akane shrugged carelessly. "Every other day or so."

From the corner of her eye she could see Vegeta chewing on the inside of his cheek now to keep himself from exploding. "It can hardly be called cramping and it happens at least twice a day."

"My kitten is just a bit enthusiastic. I told you before that it is perfectly normal." Akane rebutted over the medic's head. She then looked to him for support.

Vegeta cut across him as he opened his mouth to reply. "It surely can't be normal for her to be in such pain."

The medic's eyes were now darting from one to the other. He looked more oppressed with every passing second and Akane started to feel sorry for the sad bastard who had found himself caught in the middle of a royal dispute.

"It ah… It is not uncommon, my Prince." the medic said, swiftly continuing his examination, probably to escape Vegeta's scrutiny. "The charging may seem dangerous and it can be rather painful for the mother, it usually does little harm."

Akane threw Vegeta the most self-satisfied smile she could muster.

Vegeta ignored her completely. "So it isn't dangerous?"

"Your daughter will test the Princess's limits, but she isn't likely to push too far." the medic replied quietly. "Let's see how she is doing."

He whipped out a silver, oblong object and Akane snickered at Vegeta who eyed the thing suspiciouly. It was a WTO issued device that could read a person's medical status. It was very high tech. The medic turned it on and, to Vegeta's obvious relief, used it to scan Akane's belly. A shaft of green light crept up and down her skin until there sounded a short bleep to indicate that the process was finished. The medic read the results from a tiny display at the top of the device.

"Heart rate and blood pressure are both normal. Her temperature is a bit high but that's probably because of the earlier charging. Your daughter looks to be in perfect health." A look of awe now crossed the medic's face. "The amount of power she possesses is… She is very strong. I have never seen a battle power that high."

"Blame him." Akane loosely motioned to Vegeta at his back.

There wasn't even a shadow of the arrogant smile she had expected to find on his handsome face. He really was very fretting over this if he didn't even find satisfaction in his own awesomeness anymore.

"But that shouldn't be a problem, right?" Akane asked the medic. "I will be able to tap into her power without trouble?"

The medic was still looking at the display with a deep crease between his eyebrows and he absently drew the covers back up to cover Akane's body. "With a difference in power this great I would advice an abdominal delivery. There are serious risks…"

"No." Akane interrupted him curtly. "I am bleeding well going to give it a try before even considering such a procedure."

"What risks?" Vegeta half snarled at the medic.

The man stood up from the bed, this time likely to avoid Akane's fierce stare. "If the Princess is unable to generate enough power by taping into that of the babe upon delivery, she could die."

Vegeta now turned to Akane pointedly. "And you were trying to keep this from me?"

Akane was out of bed within the blink of an eye with the covers clutched to her chest. She grabbed the medic's arm roughly. "Since we're being so frank, would you also be kind enough to explain why most warriors would rather die than agree to an abdominal delivery?"

The medic now looked sincerely intimidated. Every inch of his rigid being proclaimed how desperately he wanted to get out of there. Akane was pitiless. "Well?"

"Because the mother gains strength after a natural birth, while with an abdominal delivery she will not." the medic explained carefully.

Vegeta sighed defeated and Akane could hear him admitting to himself that if that was the case, there would be no way of talking her out of it. She would want to do it on her own and no matter how much he disliked it, he couldn't deny that he understood.

Reassured by the fact that nobody had exploded in rage, the medic now spoke in his professional calm voice again: "We will keep a close eye on the babe's development during the remaining weeks of your pregnancy. If anything goes wrong, we can always decide to go ahead with the procedure. I'll come back to check on you in a couple of days. If you'd like, I can give you something to get you through the chargings."

Akane shook her head resolutely and saw the medic out after his respectful salutes to both her and his Prince. When she turned she found Vegeta sitting quite still on the edge of the bed.

"I won't do it."

He waved her decisive announcement away by simply holding up an elegant hand.

Akane was half relieved, half angry that there wasn't going to be a fight about it. Before she could stop herself she was stomping her feet like a brat that wouldn't get her way and she threw the covers on the floor furiously.

"I am not frail!"

She hated how he was now. The dominance she so loved in him had been lacking ever since her pregnancy started to manifest itself clearer and she hated how her struggle made him grow soft on her. If she had wanted a kind and gentle mate she would have bonded with Turles!

At the same time it was heart warming how openly he expressed the love he felt for her by worrying so much and trying his best to spare her, especially since this wasn't in his nature. It actually made tears come to her eyes… And then again, this soft approach wasn't very attractive.

"Curse my blood." Akane sighed as she gathered the covers from the floor and flopped onto the bed behind him.

Likely she was just apt to being dissatisfied and nothing he did could manage to please her right now. Those bleeding hormones.

"You're impossible." was all Vegeta had to say about her thoughts.

He remained seated on the edge of the bed and Akane made herself small against his back, closing her eyes as his hand found its way to her face and reassuringly cupped her jaw.