| This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Jason M. Hough, friend, substitute father to my two daughters and fellow DBZ fan. July 23, 1975 - June 19, 1999. May you always fly with Eagles and the Great Saiyaman, Gohan. You will be missed. |
The only character that is mine is Naa, all others belong to Akira Toriyama, FujiTV, TOEI and anybody else who has the paperwork to back up their claim. I'm a poor woman, so please don't sue.. you would only get my kids ^_^(). This is only for entertainment purposes. I'm not making any money off my stories.
Hansei
Darkness…silence…. pain drifting in and out… then… nothing. Suddenly screams and shouts for loved ones, anguished cries, breaks the silence and images of different people from different races intrude on the darkness. Blood, guts, gore, limbs, dismembered bodies…images of past conquests, great victories for the Saiya-jin Empire. The light and sight of the full moon, the stretching of the form, muscle and bone, when revealing the full might of a mature Saiya-jin in the form of an Oozaru.
The feel and taste of blood on the lips and tongue… the warmth and saltiness to be savored, cherished. Males and females alike trampled beneath the huge foot of an Oozaru. The earth quakes, buildings crumble and fall, and the land itself trembles at the roar of a Saiya-jin on a rampage.
The pride…
And then… the loneliness.
Wondering where are the other Saiya-jin? The pods teach you all you need to know about the Saiya-jin Empire. The knowledge that there are thousands, thousands of thousands of your brethren out there spreading the glory of the empire fills you with pride, but the sense of loss is acutely felt when you have not seen another Saiya-jin in years. Where could they all be?
Falling, falling back in time, feeling yourself getting smaller, younger until you are no older than a babe freshly out of the artificial womb. A deep voice croons to you in a surprisingly soft voice, as if never used in that capacity before. Your hair being roughly dried, as is your tail, but you cry out in complaint as you feel, for the first time, the affect that happens when somebody grabs your tail. The humiliation that you have such a weakness. Saiya-jins are born ready to take on the world, they can remember their earliest memories, they mature and are capable to reproduce at an early age as in any species in a predatory capacity. For rare is it that you will find a Saiya-jin who suffers and dies of old age.
Young eyes look up at the being that holds you, a big brute of a man. Bald head, mustache, who holds you with gentleness and once again you hear that big booming deep voice speaking softly to you…
"Shush little thing, we must not disturb the Saiya-jin no Ouji. He does not know of you yet. You are my surprise to him. You will grow tall and strong and take my place as the prince's bodyguard when the time is right." A disgruntled cry interrupts the big man as he finishes drying off the infant. "Ah, yes, you let your displeasure be known. You will truly be a great warrior. Make me proud… my daughter. Strange to say that, I never thought it would ever happen to me. Now hush daughter," the man says as he calms the infant down before she could cry out again, "we must think of a nice strong name for you. One that will do your otousan proud. Yes, I know exactly what we should call you… Naa. For you are a part of me so shall your name be a part of mine… Nappa."
The darkness falls again and the face of the big man, whom you now know is your father, fades away. The loneliness is felt again, this time worse than the last, as you know at one time in your life you were not alone.
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"Otousan, no please… don't leave me." Naa cries out in her fevered dream, thrashing in her bed.
"Shush child, Oba's here, I'll take care of you." Oba says to Naa as she bathes her brow with a cold wet cloth. "You're not alone child, I'm here…."
______________
"Wwwwhhhhaaaaa… wwha, whaaaaa." The child cries out in the night, waking up in the dark had scared her, the big bald man was not here to comfort her. Taking a few moments to sniff and breathe Naa cries out again. However, before she could build up to a really good cry the light comes on in the room, blinding Naa briefly.
"What now child, I'm here, you're not alone." The big man now known as otousan comes into the room glaring at Naa then looks around, "Where are the nurse robots? They are supposed to check on you every hour." Looking down at the crying infant, tail lashing furiously Nappa sighs and picks her up. "If Prince Vegeta saw me now he'd kill me on sight, an elite playing nursemaid to an infant. He would say I was going soft and I would agree with him."
Naa does not care, the big man, otousan, had picked her up and was cradling her in his big hands. Contentedly, Naa curls her tail around his wrist tightly, in fear he would put her down soon.
Feeling Naa's tail wrap around his wrist he pulls her up to eye level to scold her. "You must not get too attached to me infant, soon you will be sent out to a planet to conquer for the Saiya-jin Empire. You must do me proud as the daughter of an elite. Never get emotionally attached to anything or anyone. You are a warrior, such things are trivial and beneath you." Nappa is interrupted as his personal comm unit beeps. "Yes, Nappa here."
"Nappa where are you?" The prince's sullen voice snaps over the comm line.
Nappa's eyes widen briefly and he glances around the nursery. He can't tell the Saiya-jin no Ouji he is in a nursery; quickly he tries to think up a lie. "Uhh… I'm in cargo bay five checking on our supplies sire."
"Radditz has brought it to my attention that he just remembered his younger sibling, Kakarotto, was sent out quite a few years ago to some dismal planet to destroy the inhabitants. He is overdue for retrieval. I am sending Radditz out right away, I'm sure he can handle this on his own. We could use another Saiya-jin to conquer planets for us. Our buyers have got quite a few planets for us to deal with so we will be leaving this nauseatingly peaceful outpost in a few days."
Nappa quickly glances down into his daughters eyes, and quietly replies, "I understand sire, I will make the preparations." Cutting the comm line, Nappa brings his daughter up to him. Closing his eyes, he breathes in her scent and very briefly hugs her close. Then, as if realizing what he is doing, he puts her down suddenly. Naa's eyes well with tears at the loss of body contact and she starts to cry softly. "I must be getting soft." Nappa grumbles under his breath as he turns to leave the room, but before he goes he strokes Naa's check with a finger, catching a tear and brings it to his lips, tasting the saltiness. Just then the nurse robot rolls into the room and Nappa strides out of it.
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As Oba leans over the bed to bath Naa's brow when Naa suddenly grabs Oba's arm with astonishing strength considering her condition and looks directly into Oba's eyes with her feverish own and whispers with such longing, "Please don't send me away…"
"Oh tou, I won't, I promise." Oba says as she brushes the bangs on Naa's forehead, but Naa does not hear. The present has faded away to the past.
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Nappa was in the launching bay supervising the preparation of the pod scheduled to be launched. "Does the pod have the full educational curriculum? I don't know when I'll be able to retrieve her so she must be properly trained in her station as a noble elite warrior. Are the coordinates set? Have the life support systems been checked?"
"Yes Nappa-san. Everything has been checked and double-checked and it is all in good working order. We've sent infants out many of times to know our job, even noble elite infants." The worker sighed in agitation. "Nappa-san, it's just an infant, you're not emotionally attached to it are you? If this one survives to be retrieved then it's worth your attention to be trained. Until then don't even spare a thought for it."
"Hrumph." Was all Nappa would say as he walked around the pod to inspect it himself. Nodding and rubbing his chin as if approving what he saw, Nappa walks the rest of the way around the pod and grunts to the worker as he passes him on his way to the door of the bay. The doors open before he could reach them and the nurse robot rolls in carrying Naa. Naa gurgles and coos as she sees her otousan but Nappa ignores her and starts walking out the door. Naa reaches out to him but her fingers just graze his arm as he leaves the bay, barely sparing her a glance.
The ache, the acute sense of loss, the heavy feeling in your heart as if it would explode from your chest from the pain and once again the loneliness.
Nappa enters a lift and descends several levels until he reaches the floor the Saiya-jin no Ouji resides. Approaching the door he briefly brushes his mind across the princes to let him know he was outside waiting. While waiting for the prince to grant him an audience Nappa leans against the wall and mulls over the telepathic property of his race. Most low level warriors do not even use that aspect of their abilities, only during rut. Even most elite warriors do not use it either but, Nappa admits, that it does come in handy at times. The sound of the door opening pulls Nappa from his thoughts and he straightens and enters the Prince's outer chambers to see Vegeta reluctantly going over reports that are part of his duties.
At the sound of Nappa entering the room Vegeta has no qualms about abandoning the routine reports in favor of discussing a Saiya-jin's favorite pastime, fighting.
"Nappa, we are leaving tomorrow for planet Poark which Freeza wants us to completely eliminate the current inhabitants for immediate repopulating. Seems some other weak but rich planet is spawning too many children and they need a new planet to overflow with their children. I'm glad we haven't fallen in that trap, eh, Nappa?" Vegeta sneers as he glances towards the big man.
Nappa, standing rigidly at attention replies, "Yes Sire."
"Good," Vegeta says softly, "now I want you to have our pods prepared at once. Go to the launching bay to insure everything is as I specified." When Nappa didn't move right away Vegeta snaps at him. "Well are you waiting for an invitation? Get to it!"
"Yes Sire!" Nappa says, turns, and leaves the room. After the door closes Nappa's head sags down to his chest in a moment of vulnerability, sighing deeply he strides down the corridor he had just walked only minutes earlier. Entering the lift he ascends back up to the launching bay. Once again entering the bay, Nappa notices his daughter's pod out on the launch pad going though the last preparations to launch. The ground crews were scurrying around checking fuel, oxygen, supplies, structural and electrical systems.
The crew leader called all the technicians off the pad and gave the go to launch the pod. Over the loud speaker last minute information and instructions can be heard.
"Pod 1975 destination planet Katel ready to launch. All technicians please clear the launch area and report in. T-minus 1 minute and counting."
Nappa walks up behind the mission controller and looks at the internal feed from his daughter's pod. Naa is crying furiously, tail all bristled out, arms flailing out wildly. "Can't you hurry the launch?" Nappa asks the mission controller.
"We are a T-minus 30 seconds, the pod will be out of here soon enough Nappa-san." The mission controller answered. "Is there anything you wish to say to her Nappa-san? The feed is both ways, we can see and hear her and she can see and hear us."
"No, there is nothing I need to say." Nappa replies.
Cold…scents and sounds that are strange…various people poking and prodding you. Then thrusted into a very small area, still cold…very cold. Frightened, where is otousan? Crying out for otousan, then suddenly hearing his voice, only vaguely understanding what is being done and said.
"T-minus 15 seconds, last minute personnel please evacuate the launch pad." The mission controller says over the loud speakers.
The loneliness is enclosing around you like a darkness where there is no light. NO! Otousan is sending you away…don't you want me? You let out a bellow of protest. No, I will not be sent away.
"T-minus 5 seconds."
Why?
"4."
Why are you doing this to me?
"3."
The loneliness is coming for me otousan.
"2."
Please…
"1."
When you receive no answer the loneliness turns to anger… your cry of rage can not be heard over the sound of the thrusters.
Back at the launch pad, as the pod took off, Nappa's scouter exploded. "What the?" Nappa says as he rubs the side of his head where his scouter used to sit. Looking around he noticed that everybody else's scouters were destroyed too. In a daze Nappa looks up and watches his daughters pod ascend in the sky.
I will find you again otousan…
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"ARRGGHHH!" Naa yells out as her body stretches taunt with the memories of her past.
"Boys get in here, I need your help." Oba yells out. "Now!"
Oba and her two sons pin Naa down to the bed, barely able to keep her from throwing herself out of the bed. Oba sees the anguished look on Naa's face.
"OTOUSAN!"
07.03.99