"Rabusongu - Part two"
--Vega
***
Sixteen years passed.
I won't bore you with the details.
Falfa was killed during a planetary raid, the poor fellow. Celik took over his spot as squad leader and got his shit together real quick. He turned out to be quite the stunning young man, and although it was obvious he was still grieving for his old lover, Falfa, he won himself a female easily enough and began a family of his own.
There was a scare with Rurutip and I when I thought I might be pregnant, but it turned out that my monthly was just late because I was stressed. I recall having had a real laugh that first month on board Ru's ship when I had to explain to Rurutip what a menstrual cycle was.
Apparently, Saiya-jinn females only became fertile with the coming of the moon, like we humans did. But unlike us, who became fertile, then shed the un-used uterus lining each month, the Saiyans only did so every eight years.
(Lucky bitches!)
So, Rurutip had never really considered that what we did could make me pregnant, and when I had learned this, I had freaked on him. I stated very loudly and very plainly that humans were fertile ALL THE TIME. But, he calmed me with the assurance that -due to some wacko genetic evolutionary thing - Saiya-jinn males could choose wether or not to shoot blanks, as it were. In fact, they were automatically 'blank' unless he chose otherwise.
Boy, was I glad to hear that!
There was another brief period in which I met another human man, roughly the same age as me, and he began to show romantic interest towards me, despite my fervent warnings otherwise.
Rurutip soon straightened that out, and I never saw the man again.
I sincerely hope that Ru didn't kill him, but I'll never be sure.
As I've mentioned before, Saiya-jinn are VERY possessive creatures, and there were three different sets of metaphorical neon "do not trespass" signs floating over my head at all times:
Rurutip's, the King's, and, when he was old enough, Vejii's. The little brat became awful arrogant when he hit five, and he took delight in gloating that the most prized slave in the Saiya-jinn empire sang him to sleep at night.
That problem with the human guy put a strain on our relationship for a while, Ru and me, but after a few days of anger I broke down first and begged him to forgive me. He responded that it was only natural for me to be attracted to my own species, and that he wasn't mad at me.
I couldn't tell if that was a lie or not, but we never spoke of it again and our relationship became stronger.
If I didn't know it was completely impossible... I would've sworn he loved me.
Vejii grew up into a strikingly handsome young man, even by Saiyan standards. His tail was silken and long, longer than his legs, and it's only flaw was the small distinctly visible scar in the middle from when he had been trod upon as a child. Fur simply refused to grow on the scar tissue. His posture was proud, but held none of the arrogance that the former Prince's did.
His hair was the same wild up sweep that his father's was and his brother's had been, but it fell to the side slightly, which annoyed him to no end. He and I tried everything we could to make it stand straight up like his father's - emptied bottles of sprays and gels- but in the end he was resigned to the fact that it would never be anything more than a wind-tossed imitation of Vejiita-ou's.
However, there was one thing that - as Vejii's permanent nurse- I made sure he had: Human Ideology.
Vejii grew up with me constantly at his side, dropping morals and truths into his ear whenever I could, trying to override the arrogance and the egotistical pride that both his father and his trainer, Nappa, tried to beat into him.
I'm not saying Vejii was humble or gentle; no, far from it. He was ruthless and bloodthirsty and always eager for a fight, even if all he could ever get was a verbal skirmish with me. But I made sure he knew who Abraham Lincon was, what the "Natural Rights of Man" were, and what each sentient life form was entitled to.
I turned my boy into a closet Lockian.
And, yes, I said "My."
Vejii was just as much my son as Vejiita-ou's. I raised him, after all. I taught him to walk. I toilet trained the little monkey. I was the one to hear his first word: "Song."
And I was there, by his side, when he reached his sixteenth year and the time came for Prince Vejii to become King Vejiita. I watched stonily, silently urging him to be brave as he slaughtered his own father before the eyes of the court and took the Royal pendant from around the corpse's neck before it was even cold and put it around his own amid the lusty cheers of his people.
And I was the one to comfort him when he sobbed himself to sleep that night.
***
The relationship between Rurutip, my lover, and Vejii, my pseudo-son, was a somewhat odd one.
After killing Nappa at age eight, Vejii wanted to be taught be Rurutip, who -unlike Nappa- had not only formal combat training, but had actually seen battle and had developed his own unique technique.
Vejii was an intelligent fellow, and learned quickly, and although Rurutip never actually became the father figure I had hoped he'd be to the Prince, they became what some might term sparring buddies.
As for Rurutip and I, it's a bit more complicated. We couldn't just knock each other's heads in to get along, and while I was away raising Vejii a lot during his younger years, we fought heatedly. We fell back into the old patterns of our earlier days together, and my glib tongue often earned me a good wallop or two.
Vejii would get mad at Rurutip if I showed up with any visible bruising, and then beat the shit out of him in turn in their sparring. That would upset Ru, and he'd be edgy, and one wrong word from me would start it all over again. It was almost amusing, the way the circle went.
But, after Vejii grew up and I had more time to devote to Ru, the old sense of mutual respect and sort-of-but-not-really love returned.
Once, when Vejii was about 12, Rurutip and I were in bed, both of us exhausted and teetering on the cusp of sleep. I had leaned over to Ru, very sleepily, and licked the edge of his ear.
"No more." he had sighed. "You're too tired."
"I love you." I had answered softly, falling at once back into the land of dreams.
He stared at me, snorted, rolled over, and went to sleep.
We never spoke of the 'l' word again.
***
Let us now, dear reader, jump ahead to last year, three months after I held Vejii as he cried himself to sleep in my arms.
He really had cared about his father, and the King really had cared about him too. I think, after having lost his first son, Vejiita-ou had made a point of being there for Vejii, even though they were expected to hate one another in public.
Vejii became Vejiita-ou, although I could never break the habit of calling him Vejii. Odd, since he never called me "Ningen", save for in public. At age 11, when he realized that he shared a name with 56 other Kings, he had become fascinated with names, and had demanded mine.
He was the only one to ever pronounce it right.
Anyway, in the days after his ascension, the empire became a nicer place to live. I'm not saying he changed everything drastically, but it became a generally more humane and fair society.
Very few slaves were captured after that, though no rules were passed to ban them; that was just wishful thinking on my part. Vejiita-sei was opened to diplomats and travellers - all of whom had to wear gravity devises to keep from getting squished like I did - and even a few from Chikyuu.
How strange it was to hear it be called "Earth" after seventeen years.
And how odd was it that one such diplomat - a young man named Anthony - was one of my old best friends.
Can you guess how much Rurutip and Vejii loved that?
I can tell you right now -neither of them wanted me to remember my roots, and hated Tony from the first moment I recognized him.
***
Because Vejii and I were very close - though mostly in secret - I often attended Vejii in court, though to most I was just known as the chick with the voice who was always ready nearby with a song.
More often than naught I was there for moral support, but no one else needed to know that.
So, there I was, standing to the rear of Vejii's dias, behind Rurutip, who was the King's most trusted guard, when this lanky, blond-haired guy walks up to the throne and bows, Chikyuu-jinn style.
I peered at him curiously, blinking.
I ... almost recognized this face....
And that's when it hit me, of course. I must've known this guy sixteen years ago on Chikyuu-sei, though for the life of me I couldn't recall where from.
Was he.. My old neighbour? No, I don't recall having had a blond neighbour. Although I don't think I could trust my memory after all these years.
Perhaps... well, I used to go to school, didn't I? Maybe I knew him from there?
I payed close attention as the human man did all the sorts of stuff visiting dignitaries did. Praised the empire, hailed the King, invited him to Earth, and never expected him to accept. Vejii didn't of course, and I watched with curiosity as the young man then stated that he had come to Vejiita-sei to interview the other Chikyuu-jinn who had been taken off world since the occupation sixteen years ago, and to make a case study of them.
He also hinted that he was searching for a particular person, I assumed a loved one or relative but kept my mouth shut, and the King made a veiled half-promise to assist him.
Then Vejii turned to me.
"Ningen," he said, continence softening marginally. I nodded and stepped up. "You know every Chikyuu-jinn on Vejiita-sei, do you not?"
I nodded slowly. "Hai, wagakimi."
He waved me towards the blond man at the foot of his dias. "Help him."
"Yes, my Lord." I responded softly and limped down the stairs to join the human. My leg had gotten better over the years. Vejii - when he was old enough to understand such things - had been appalled that my leg had been left the heal so poorly, and much had been done to fix it, but I still had a weak gait nonetheless.
The man stared at my face, hard and long, as if trying to decide if I was human or not.
As we walked out of the large throne room, I leaned over to him to whisper in his ear. "Welcome to Vejiita-sei."
He blinked back at me, and, as we exited, he asked, "Did the king call you 'Ningen'?"
I nodded. "It's a nickname. Um... It means foreigner."
"Yes, I know." he answered softly.
We walked in awkward silence for a little while longer down the hall. Then he asked, "What planet are you from?"
"Chikyuu-sei."
He chuckled.
"Nani?"
"You've been on Vejiita-sei a long time, haven't you?" he asked and I nodded. "I can tell. No human ever calls it Chikyuu."
"Oh." I said softly, mildly shocked that I had absorbed the Saiya-jinn culture so entirely without realizing it.
Another long pause fell between us. Then I asked, "Where are you headed?"
"Oh, anywhere, I suppose." He shrugged. I was almost envious of his casual ease. It had been a very long time since I had been so relaxed anywhere but in Rurutip's arms. "Where ever you want to sit down."
I looked over at him curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
He stopped and looked at me throughly, taking every detail of my dress, my posture, my facial expressions and hairstyle. "I said I was here to make a study of the slave population on Planet Vejiita, so I might as well start with you. My dear, I want to tell your story. You've got to have one."
"I do." I blinked, then smiled faintly. "But I don't think his Majesty would approve."
The human man stared at me hard and long. "Why wouldn't he?"
I shrugged, falling back into the habit from so long ago, and continued to walk aimlessly. He followed. "You don't understand Vejii like I do. He's... possessive." I laughed lightly. "They both are. They might not want me to tell."
"Both?" One tawny eyebrow rose above green eyes.
"Hai." I laughed then said, "Yes. I belong to two Saiya-jinn."
"Which two?" he said into his jacket as he pulled out a pad of paper -which I hadn't seen in YEARS - and a pen.
"Rurutip, and the King."
"Who's Rurutip?"
"The main guard."
"Oh, the big guy beside the throne?"
"Yeah, him."
He was about to ask another question when I waved him to silence and bowed low at the waist. He puzzled at me, until he too heard the tell-tale sounds of a Saiya-jinn warrior stomping angrily in this direction. He backed up against a wall as the tall, lean soldier stormed past. Then he squeaked as the large fighter turned back to us.
"Ningen?" He asked, and I looked up.
"Hai, Celik?" I said softy.
"Ah! It IS you!" He smiled - actually, it was more of a flash of fang, but that's Celik for you.
"Hai."
He took a step closer and bade me rise, then tucked his palm under my chin to study my face. "The years have been kind, little okinirii." he said, lifting my neck as if to search for more mating scars. When he found none, he added "As has Rurutip, I see."
I flashed a brilliant smile. "The years have been more than kind to you, sir. Your lifemate is a lucky woman."
He snorted. "Hai. Tell HER that."
I laughed, he smirked, and then we both went on our separate ways.
The human man stood stock still and stared at me for a very long time. I waited until he was done with whatever thoughts were plaguing him, and steered him towards the gardens. Vejii loved flowers, and he made quite sure that there were always blooms in season.
Once we reached it, I offered him a seat on a stone near the largest tree in the centre of the garden and then curled up myself in the grass.
He removed his jacket for it was a warm day, and re-prepared his notebook.
I grinned at his eager expression and asked, before he could, "What's your name?"
He paused a moment, then smiled warmly. "Anthony."
I nodded, trying to remember how to make my lips move to create the sound of that name. "It's been a long time since I've heard such a name." I admitted. Then I paused for a second. "I think I used to know an Anthony once, back on Chikyuu-sei. He... I seem to remember him having brown hair." I chuckled to myself, doting on memories that I hadn't allowed to surface since... since I decided never to fear Rurutip again. "We used to sing together in a choir. It was a joke, because his name was Tony, and mine Maria."
I closed my eyes, and sighed.
"Only you, every thought I've ever known,
every where I go, you'll be...
All the world is only you and me...
Tony... Tony...."
I looked up at his carefully blank expression and sighed once more. "Silly romantic love songs. I don't sing those anymore."
When he didn't answer me, I met his sparkling green eyes. He took a deep breath, then began to sing himself, his voice a clear, controlled, and quite obviously classically trained tenor:
"Maria... I just met a girl named Maria...
And suddenly that name,
Will never bet he same to me....
Maria, I just kissed a girl named Maria..."
I gasped in shock. "You know it?"
"Yes." he nodded slowly. Then he scratched his hair. "I bleached my hair out last week. And I used to live in a small town in North America. And I used to sing the Highschool choir with my friends... and I used to sing those songs all the time with a girl named... Maria."
Tears filled my eyes. "Tony?"
He nodded slowly, and I just sat there, shocked.
He knelt slowly on the grass and took my hand in his. "We were all so worried about you." he whispered. "We thought you were dead... Your parents wouldn't tell us a thing."
I answered, in equally low tones, "I told them not to." I met his eyes, and found that they, too were sparkling with unshed tears. So strange to see that, so strange to feel emotions coming from him, to have him touching me merely to touch, not to hit or kiss or fuck. "Are they... still alive?"
He nodded. "They still live in the same house. When they learned that I was coming here, they asked me to look for you."
I sobbed with relief.
"Maria, I'm so happy I've found you..." he whispered and pulled me close for a hug. I froze, uncertain, then returned the embrace. It had been seventeen years since someone had hugged me last.
Then, from our left came a growl. I looked up at the furious scowl of Ru, who was standing nearby, and jumped to my feet.
"Ningen." Rurutip snarled at me, standing with his feet apart and his hands crossed over his chest nearby. His tail was loose and lashing angrily. I shivered at the anger in his voice. "The fuck are you doing?!"
"This human and I are old friends." I answered softly, eyes on Ru's boots. "We were just... expressing our joy at finding one another again."
Ru's narrow eyes slitted dangerously, and I took a step away from Tony hastily, knowing the look. I approached Ru with the appropriate amount of humility.
"Please don't hurt him, Ru-kun." I whispered under my breath.
I glared down at me, grabbed my upper arm, and dragged me back into the palace and to his rooms.
The last I saw of Tony's face, he was staring after us with horrified puzzlement.
***
--Vega
***
Sixteen years passed.
I won't bore you with the details.
Falfa was killed during a planetary raid, the poor fellow. Celik took over his spot as squad leader and got his shit together real quick. He turned out to be quite the stunning young man, and although it was obvious he was still grieving for his old lover, Falfa, he won himself a female easily enough and began a family of his own.
There was a scare with Rurutip and I when I thought I might be pregnant, but it turned out that my monthly was just late because I was stressed. I recall having had a real laugh that first month on board Ru's ship when I had to explain to Rurutip what a menstrual cycle was.
Apparently, Saiya-jinn females only became fertile with the coming of the moon, like we humans did. But unlike us, who became fertile, then shed the un-used uterus lining each month, the Saiyans only did so every eight years.
(Lucky bitches!)
So, Rurutip had never really considered that what we did could make me pregnant, and when I had learned this, I had freaked on him. I stated very loudly and very plainly that humans were fertile ALL THE TIME. But, he calmed me with the assurance that -due to some wacko genetic evolutionary thing - Saiya-jinn males could choose wether or not to shoot blanks, as it were. In fact, they were automatically 'blank' unless he chose otherwise.
Boy, was I glad to hear that!
There was another brief period in which I met another human man, roughly the same age as me, and he began to show romantic interest towards me, despite my fervent warnings otherwise.
Rurutip soon straightened that out, and I never saw the man again.
I sincerely hope that Ru didn't kill him, but I'll never be sure.
As I've mentioned before, Saiya-jinn are VERY possessive creatures, and there were three different sets of metaphorical neon "do not trespass" signs floating over my head at all times:
Rurutip's, the King's, and, when he was old enough, Vejii's. The little brat became awful arrogant when he hit five, and he took delight in gloating that the most prized slave in the Saiya-jinn empire sang him to sleep at night.
That problem with the human guy put a strain on our relationship for a while, Ru and me, but after a few days of anger I broke down first and begged him to forgive me. He responded that it was only natural for me to be attracted to my own species, and that he wasn't mad at me.
I couldn't tell if that was a lie or not, but we never spoke of it again and our relationship became stronger.
If I didn't know it was completely impossible... I would've sworn he loved me.
Vejii grew up into a strikingly handsome young man, even by Saiyan standards. His tail was silken and long, longer than his legs, and it's only flaw was the small distinctly visible scar in the middle from when he had been trod upon as a child. Fur simply refused to grow on the scar tissue. His posture was proud, but held none of the arrogance that the former Prince's did.
His hair was the same wild up sweep that his father's was and his brother's had been, but it fell to the side slightly, which annoyed him to no end. He and I tried everything we could to make it stand straight up like his father's - emptied bottles of sprays and gels- but in the end he was resigned to the fact that it would never be anything more than a wind-tossed imitation of Vejiita-ou's.
However, there was one thing that - as Vejii's permanent nurse- I made sure he had: Human Ideology.
Vejii grew up with me constantly at his side, dropping morals and truths into his ear whenever I could, trying to override the arrogance and the egotistical pride that both his father and his trainer, Nappa, tried to beat into him.
I'm not saying Vejii was humble or gentle; no, far from it. He was ruthless and bloodthirsty and always eager for a fight, even if all he could ever get was a verbal skirmish with me. But I made sure he knew who Abraham Lincon was, what the "Natural Rights of Man" were, and what each sentient life form was entitled to.
I turned my boy into a closet Lockian.
And, yes, I said "My."
Vejii was just as much my son as Vejiita-ou's. I raised him, after all. I taught him to walk. I toilet trained the little monkey. I was the one to hear his first word: "Song."
And I was there, by his side, when he reached his sixteenth year and the time came for Prince Vejii to become King Vejiita. I watched stonily, silently urging him to be brave as he slaughtered his own father before the eyes of the court and took the Royal pendant from around the corpse's neck before it was even cold and put it around his own amid the lusty cheers of his people.
And I was the one to comfort him when he sobbed himself to sleep that night.
***
The relationship between Rurutip, my lover, and Vejii, my pseudo-son, was a somewhat odd one.
After killing Nappa at age eight, Vejii wanted to be taught be Rurutip, who -unlike Nappa- had not only formal combat training, but had actually seen battle and had developed his own unique technique.
Vejii was an intelligent fellow, and learned quickly, and although Rurutip never actually became the father figure I had hoped he'd be to the Prince, they became what some might term sparring buddies.
As for Rurutip and I, it's a bit more complicated. We couldn't just knock each other's heads in to get along, and while I was away raising Vejii a lot during his younger years, we fought heatedly. We fell back into the old patterns of our earlier days together, and my glib tongue often earned me a good wallop or two.
Vejii would get mad at Rurutip if I showed up with any visible bruising, and then beat the shit out of him in turn in their sparring. That would upset Ru, and he'd be edgy, and one wrong word from me would start it all over again. It was almost amusing, the way the circle went.
But, after Vejii grew up and I had more time to devote to Ru, the old sense of mutual respect and sort-of-but-not-really love returned.
Once, when Vejii was about 12, Rurutip and I were in bed, both of us exhausted and teetering on the cusp of sleep. I had leaned over to Ru, very sleepily, and licked the edge of his ear.
"No more." he had sighed. "You're too tired."
"I love you." I had answered softly, falling at once back into the land of dreams.
He stared at me, snorted, rolled over, and went to sleep.
We never spoke of the 'l' word again.
***
Let us now, dear reader, jump ahead to last year, three months after I held Vejii as he cried himself to sleep in my arms.
He really had cared about his father, and the King really had cared about him too. I think, after having lost his first son, Vejiita-ou had made a point of being there for Vejii, even though they were expected to hate one another in public.
Vejii became Vejiita-ou, although I could never break the habit of calling him Vejii. Odd, since he never called me "Ningen", save for in public. At age 11, when he realized that he shared a name with 56 other Kings, he had become fascinated with names, and had demanded mine.
He was the only one to ever pronounce it right.
Anyway, in the days after his ascension, the empire became a nicer place to live. I'm not saying he changed everything drastically, but it became a generally more humane and fair society.
Very few slaves were captured after that, though no rules were passed to ban them; that was just wishful thinking on my part. Vejiita-sei was opened to diplomats and travellers - all of whom had to wear gravity devises to keep from getting squished like I did - and even a few from Chikyuu.
How strange it was to hear it be called "Earth" after seventeen years.
And how odd was it that one such diplomat - a young man named Anthony - was one of my old best friends.
Can you guess how much Rurutip and Vejii loved that?
I can tell you right now -neither of them wanted me to remember my roots, and hated Tony from the first moment I recognized him.
***
Because Vejii and I were very close - though mostly in secret - I often attended Vejii in court, though to most I was just known as the chick with the voice who was always ready nearby with a song.
More often than naught I was there for moral support, but no one else needed to know that.
So, there I was, standing to the rear of Vejii's dias, behind Rurutip, who was the King's most trusted guard, when this lanky, blond-haired guy walks up to the throne and bows, Chikyuu-jinn style.
I peered at him curiously, blinking.
I ... almost recognized this face....
And that's when it hit me, of course. I must've known this guy sixteen years ago on Chikyuu-sei, though for the life of me I couldn't recall where from.
Was he.. My old neighbour? No, I don't recall having had a blond neighbour. Although I don't think I could trust my memory after all these years.
Perhaps... well, I used to go to school, didn't I? Maybe I knew him from there?
I payed close attention as the human man did all the sorts of stuff visiting dignitaries did. Praised the empire, hailed the King, invited him to Earth, and never expected him to accept. Vejii didn't of course, and I watched with curiosity as the young man then stated that he had come to Vejiita-sei to interview the other Chikyuu-jinn who had been taken off world since the occupation sixteen years ago, and to make a case study of them.
He also hinted that he was searching for a particular person, I assumed a loved one or relative but kept my mouth shut, and the King made a veiled half-promise to assist him.
Then Vejii turned to me.
"Ningen," he said, continence softening marginally. I nodded and stepped up. "You know every Chikyuu-jinn on Vejiita-sei, do you not?"
I nodded slowly. "Hai, wagakimi."
He waved me towards the blond man at the foot of his dias. "Help him."
"Yes, my Lord." I responded softly and limped down the stairs to join the human. My leg had gotten better over the years. Vejii - when he was old enough to understand such things - had been appalled that my leg had been left the heal so poorly, and much had been done to fix it, but I still had a weak gait nonetheless.
The man stared at my face, hard and long, as if trying to decide if I was human or not.
As we walked out of the large throne room, I leaned over to him to whisper in his ear. "Welcome to Vejiita-sei."
He blinked back at me, and, as we exited, he asked, "Did the king call you 'Ningen'?"
I nodded. "It's a nickname. Um... It means foreigner."
"Yes, I know." he answered softly.
We walked in awkward silence for a little while longer down the hall. Then he asked, "What planet are you from?"
"Chikyuu-sei."
He chuckled.
"Nani?"
"You've been on Vejiita-sei a long time, haven't you?" he asked and I nodded. "I can tell. No human ever calls it Chikyuu."
"Oh." I said softly, mildly shocked that I had absorbed the Saiya-jinn culture so entirely without realizing it.
Another long pause fell between us. Then I asked, "Where are you headed?"
"Oh, anywhere, I suppose." He shrugged. I was almost envious of his casual ease. It had been a very long time since I had been so relaxed anywhere but in Rurutip's arms. "Where ever you want to sit down."
I looked over at him curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
He stopped and looked at me throughly, taking every detail of my dress, my posture, my facial expressions and hairstyle. "I said I was here to make a study of the slave population on Planet Vejiita, so I might as well start with you. My dear, I want to tell your story. You've got to have one."
"I do." I blinked, then smiled faintly. "But I don't think his Majesty would approve."
The human man stared at me hard and long. "Why wouldn't he?"
I shrugged, falling back into the habit from so long ago, and continued to walk aimlessly. He followed. "You don't understand Vejii like I do. He's... possessive." I laughed lightly. "They both are. They might not want me to tell."
"Both?" One tawny eyebrow rose above green eyes.
"Hai." I laughed then said, "Yes. I belong to two Saiya-jinn."
"Which two?" he said into his jacket as he pulled out a pad of paper -which I hadn't seen in YEARS - and a pen.
"Rurutip, and the King."
"Who's Rurutip?"
"The main guard."
"Oh, the big guy beside the throne?"
"Yeah, him."
He was about to ask another question when I waved him to silence and bowed low at the waist. He puzzled at me, until he too heard the tell-tale sounds of a Saiya-jinn warrior stomping angrily in this direction. He backed up against a wall as the tall, lean soldier stormed past. Then he squeaked as the large fighter turned back to us.
"Ningen?" He asked, and I looked up.
"Hai, Celik?" I said softy.
"Ah! It IS you!" He smiled - actually, it was more of a flash of fang, but that's Celik for you.
"Hai."
He took a step closer and bade me rise, then tucked his palm under my chin to study my face. "The years have been kind, little okinirii." he said, lifting my neck as if to search for more mating scars. When he found none, he added "As has Rurutip, I see."
I flashed a brilliant smile. "The years have been more than kind to you, sir. Your lifemate is a lucky woman."
He snorted. "Hai. Tell HER that."
I laughed, he smirked, and then we both went on our separate ways.
The human man stood stock still and stared at me for a very long time. I waited until he was done with whatever thoughts were plaguing him, and steered him towards the gardens. Vejii loved flowers, and he made quite sure that there were always blooms in season.
Once we reached it, I offered him a seat on a stone near the largest tree in the centre of the garden and then curled up myself in the grass.
He removed his jacket for it was a warm day, and re-prepared his notebook.
I grinned at his eager expression and asked, before he could, "What's your name?"
He paused a moment, then smiled warmly. "Anthony."
I nodded, trying to remember how to make my lips move to create the sound of that name. "It's been a long time since I've heard such a name." I admitted. Then I paused for a second. "I think I used to know an Anthony once, back on Chikyuu-sei. He... I seem to remember him having brown hair." I chuckled to myself, doting on memories that I hadn't allowed to surface since... since I decided never to fear Rurutip again. "We used to sing together in a choir. It was a joke, because his name was Tony, and mine Maria."
I closed my eyes, and sighed.
"Only you, every thought I've ever known,
every where I go, you'll be...
All the world is only you and me...
Tony... Tony...."
I looked up at his carefully blank expression and sighed once more. "Silly romantic love songs. I don't sing those anymore."
When he didn't answer me, I met his sparkling green eyes. He took a deep breath, then began to sing himself, his voice a clear, controlled, and quite obviously classically trained tenor:
"Maria... I just met a girl named Maria...
And suddenly that name,
Will never bet he same to me....
Maria, I just kissed a girl named Maria..."
I gasped in shock. "You know it?"
"Yes." he nodded slowly. Then he scratched his hair. "I bleached my hair out last week. And I used to live in a small town in North America. And I used to sing the Highschool choir with my friends... and I used to sing those songs all the time with a girl named... Maria."
Tears filled my eyes. "Tony?"
He nodded slowly, and I just sat there, shocked.
He knelt slowly on the grass and took my hand in his. "We were all so worried about you." he whispered. "We thought you were dead... Your parents wouldn't tell us a thing."
I answered, in equally low tones, "I told them not to." I met his eyes, and found that they, too were sparkling with unshed tears. So strange to see that, so strange to feel emotions coming from him, to have him touching me merely to touch, not to hit or kiss or fuck. "Are they... still alive?"
He nodded. "They still live in the same house. When they learned that I was coming here, they asked me to look for you."
I sobbed with relief.
"Maria, I'm so happy I've found you..." he whispered and pulled me close for a hug. I froze, uncertain, then returned the embrace. It had been seventeen years since someone had hugged me last.
Then, from our left came a growl. I looked up at the furious scowl of Ru, who was standing nearby, and jumped to my feet.
"Ningen." Rurutip snarled at me, standing with his feet apart and his hands crossed over his chest nearby. His tail was loose and lashing angrily. I shivered at the anger in his voice. "The fuck are you doing?!"
"This human and I are old friends." I answered softly, eyes on Ru's boots. "We were just... expressing our joy at finding one another again."
Ru's narrow eyes slitted dangerously, and I took a step away from Tony hastily, knowing the look. I approached Ru with the appropriate amount of humility.
"Please don't hurt him, Ru-kun." I whispered under my breath.
I glared down at me, grabbed my upper arm, and dragged me back into the palace and to his rooms.
The last I saw of Tony's face, he was staring after us with horrified puzzlement.
***