Bloodlines 2

Bloodlines 2

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon do not belong to me, and I make no money from this at all.

Notes: Well, I'm going to leave the couple out for you to guess at. But you will be… surprised. (snickers)

Serenity stared at the walls of the room she had been left in, having paced all four steps of its length, and three of its width. If she made small steps. It was plain, gray metal, with a dim light over a mirror and sink, which was next to a toilet, next to her tiny cot. There was nothing to really bathe with.

She'd done just about everything she could think of to keep from going stir crazy. She's sang, she'd braided her hair up, taken it down and done just about every imaginable style, she done limited exercises, she told stories to herself, walked on her hands, meditated, but in the end, she'd fallen asleep.

The only times she's seen anyone where when they'd brought her food. As far as she was concerned, it was the only part of this mess that was tolerable- they piled her plate high with fairly tasty edibles. Not that she could always tell what they were.

Serenity sighed loudly, and blinked back tears, remembering all the comments her friends would kid her with about her appetite. It was a running joke- her court could eat as much as she did when they were hungry, but Serenity had always been eager to eat.

She bit her lip, fighting the deluge of memories as they hit. She needed to get out of there. Getting to her feet, she hopped to the door, and smashed the button with her fist, knowing it wouldn't open-

When it slid silently into the wall.

There she was, staring at the empty space of the door that had held her up until a few seconds ago. Not quite believing it, she put a hand through. Nothing happened.

Stepping across, she started to look around. She was obviously on some kind of ship- she'd been off planet enough to recognize the feel of space travel.

The odd part had been a few days ago, and she'd felt something akin to when she'd sneaked through the time portal to visit Sailor Pluto. It had been an odd, wrenching sensation, like she was being torn out of place.

There was a bend in the hallway, and she cautiously went around it…

"Hey, look! The hell kitten came out to play! Want some milk, kitty?" said a mocking voice, and Serenity automatically tensed, Her eyes landed on the group of people wearing armor, four men and one woman. Two she recognized, Seripa and Bardock.

"We thought you'd never come out. Too good for us third classers?' said a portly, mustached man, with flat black hair.

She blinked. "You mean it was NEVER locked?" she blurted, without thinking about it. This caused more uproarious laughter.

"What would we have to fear from you, kid? Like we told you, it was nothing personal. We have to get you there in one piece, and you need to be halfway healthy. What'd be the point of locking you up?" answered Bardock, before handing her a roast leg of something. Not quite knowing what to do, she took it.

"Good girl. You're too thin. My mate told me that skinny girls didn't have as much luck having brats. So eat. We'll start your training later."

"TRAINING?" Serenity shrieked, temper rising. "In what, how to please a man in bed? I'm no damned WHORE!"

More laughter.

"Well, for one, that would not work really well, would it? Toma and Seripa are mates; Panboukin doesn't like girls, and () couldn't care less. So there is no one here to teach you. Nah- we can't really spare anyone to take care of you, and you DO need to get the kind of stamina needed to keep up with the king. Which, if what I hear is true, is not easy. Plus, we don't know what Furiza will do if, more probably when, he finds out about you. You need to at least have a fighting chance, girl."

The Moon Princess fumed. "My name is SERENITY. Not girl, or kid, or hellcat! SERENITY!"

"Kay, kitten, whatever you say."

She yelled and charged him again, and Bardock only laughed and tossed her over his shoulder. Her tiny fists rapped against his armor, doing nothing put bruising her hands.

He casually put her back in a chair, and stuck the drumstick she'd dropped in her mouth.

"Kitten, you will eat, and then Seripa is going to train you. Got that?"

Serenity couldn't answer, because her mouth was full of meat. Snarling, she started to gnaw on the bone, drawing more laughter from the group.

"Why do I have to be the one to train her?" complained Seripa, looking up from her cards.

"Because you're the only female here!"

"You're only saying that because I was winning!"

"I am not!" Bardock snarled, and huffed, looking at his cards.

"All right, all right, we'll deal her in," he said, and cards were put in front of the still chewing princess.

"You're training starts tomorrow, kitten," he told her, and everyone nodded.

~*~*~*~*~

Serenity sat back in her cot, after her fifth day of training, thinking hard about some things.

These people where NOTHING like she's expected.

They seemed cruel, brutish, without thought.

Now, she knew that wasn't quite true. They had not treated her harshly, as she would have expected them too. In fact, they treated her with the same kind of comfortable, gruff respect that was given Bardock, even if she was watched as a prisoner. When they related tales of their purging missions, it was with the kind of voice one would use to tell about a sport.

Back home, this would be deplorable. Yet, she could see they simply had never been taught to consider other living things as worthwhile.

Among each other and those more powerful, they were capable of great caring and friendship. She could see that whenever Seripa and Toma interacted, like a loving, kind couple, even though they hid it well. Bardock's love for his mate was there whenever he spoke of her. They worked as a full team, one that took up where the others lacked, and helping each other in turn. Their willingness to let her in on their games was still surprising-but she'd had fun. They were almost like her old court…

She again swallowed the ever-present threat of tears, closing her eyes tightly.

They'd spoken truthfully- there was never any real malice behind their actions. They were efficient business folk.

And as Toma had pointed out…

"Be grateful it was us, kid. We don't play with those we kill. We just clear the planet out and are done with it. If it had been Furiza… you're folk'd be worse than dead."

The scary thing was, she could see what he was talking about. From what she'd heard about this overlord "Furiza", he made Metallia look sweet as a summer day.

"They aren't evil," she muttered. "Misguided, yes… But not evil. They aren't BAD. They just… are a passionate, striving people who don't have anything to put that energy to, right now, other than killing. Gods, what they could BECOME."

She sighed… wishing they'd been able to see the beauty of her home, appreciate it, before it had been destroyed.

Home…

Oddly, it was that one word that finally broke her. Her eyes burned painfully, her throat seeming to close, as she felt the hot liquid streak down her cheeks.

More and more…

She couldn't stop herself from sobbing, and rolled over, curling up in a ball, no longer able to put off the mourning and rage inside her. So she cried.

So caught up in the memories- the stolen and given kisses with Endymion, playing games with her friends, listening to her mother teaching her of state's craft, she didn't hear he door open.

She did feel a strange, soft brush against her face. Opening her eyes, she saw a brown furry something coil its way back around Bardock's waist, as he kept a carefully blank expression.

"What's your problem?" he said, his arms crossed… and that brown thing seemed to pause as she watched it. It twitched back towards her, again stroking her cheek, the coarse, dark guard hairs tickling gently.

"Nothing, Bardock," she whispered, turning her face away. She didn't want this man to see her weak- not ever.

"I told your mother you'd be looked after. That's what I'm doing, looking after you."

Her head snapped around at that, and she stared at him like he'd grown another head.

"I came to tell you we'll be making out first planet fall in a couple of hours. We'll finally get some FRESH meat," he said- but Serenity was able to hear all the things he wasn't saying.

"You will cook it, won't you?" she said, trying to sound dismayed.

He just sneered. "What, little miss princess can't eat fresh meat?"

Sniffing, she put her nose in the air. "Do not speak so to your betters, Commander," she chuckled wetly, and Bardock smirked.

"Of course, your highness, anything you say, your highness… You sure the air of this world will be to your liking? Maybe we should perfume it, your highness," he said, bowing out of the room.

Serenity watched him go, the door sliding shut, and suddenly- things weren't quite so bad.

To be continued!