"Wicked Game" Ch. 4
By Shawna
"Katsu?"
The voice drifted out of the dank air and darkness that surrounded her, and Katsu raised her head from where it had been resting on her knees. She was curled up in the corner of her dungeon cell, sitting on the damp ground with her knees up, shackled by her ankles to the wall.
"Shiro?" She called out weakly, thinking she recognized the voice that had spoken her name.
"Yes," he called back. "Katsu, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine," she said. Judging by his voice, Katsu thought he was probably about two cells down from her.
"That's good," Shiro said, sounding relieved. "Did he say anything about when either of us might be getting out of here?"
"No," Katsu replied, not wanting to tell him about how soon she would be getting out: any minute now. She had no sense of time, there was only darkness in the dungeon, but it had to have been nearly twelve hours since she had first been thrown down here and shackled. That would make it evening, and she was supposed to be taken to the courtyard.
"Well, at least we can hear each other. I'm just glad to know you're okay." Shiro paused. "Katsu, I... I'm sorry. This is my fault, and I know that. I just didn't think this would happen... no one has ever gotten in trouble for that before, because, you know, they think of it as just maintaining their slave population. They used to think like that, anyway. I don't know what made Prince Vegeta get that mad."
Katsu said nothing. She wanted to be mad at Shiro, but she knew that what he said was true: it was odd that they should get in this much trouble for their actions. The flogging, though, was her own fault. She was the one who had spit in Vegeta's face; Shiro had nothing to do with that one. She sighed heavily, regretting her action now, already cringing at the thought of Vegeta whipping her. She knew he would be vicious, and she also thought it would probably bring him pleasure to cause her pain.
"What's wrong?" Shiro asked, breaking Katsu from her thoughts. "You sighed."
Katsu had no time to respond, as the door to the dungeon was thrown open then, the soft light of the setting sun streaming in. Two Saiyans entered the dungeon, one of them holding the keys to the cells in his hand. He unlocked Katsu's cell and the two entered, one of them grabbing her wrists while the other removed the shackles from her ankles. The one holding her wrists dragged her to her feet and out of the cell. Shiro was clutching the bars of his own cell, watching as Katsu went past, his eyes full of questions. Katsu turned her face away from him.
The two Saiyans dragged her hurriedly to the courtyard. Katsu had expected it to be full of Saiyans, ready to laugh and sneer at her punishment, but the courtyard was utterly deserted. There were two poles stuck in the ground near the middle of it, though, and it was to these that the two Saiyans took Katsu, binding one of her wrists tightly to each of the poles. There was a stand next to the poles that was full of weapons: a long rod, used for beatings, two whips, one barbed and the other smooth, and several daggers. Katsu cringed, her back beginning to tingle as she realized that this was actually going to happen, and it was going to hurt... a lot.
More than a minute passed while she stood there, her wrists bound to the poles, stretching her arms out tight. The guards had disappeared and she was alone in the silence of the courtyard.
She didn't hear him approach, but Prince Vegeta was suddenly behind her, his breath hot on her neck as his hands moved her hair to the side, putting it all in front of her, over her shoulder. She gritted her teeth and swore to herself that she would make no noise during any of this. No matter how much it hurt, she would stay silent. She would not afford him the pleasure of hearing her scream.
"You probably expected a crowd," Vegeta said, his voice quiet and controlled. "At first, I thought I would make this open for everyone to see, but then I changed my mind." His hand slipped forward, around her neck, and he forced her head back until he could look down into her eyes. She stared up at him, unblinking, setting her face in a defiant look. He grinned, his fingers stroking her neck lightly and leaned down, pressing his lips to her ear.
"Then I decided I wanted this to be just between the two of us," he whispered, in that same hard, condescending tone. His hand went back around behind her and he gripped the collar of her dress with both hands and ripped it easily open, revealing the pale skin of her back. She tensed all over as he ran a finger gently down her spine and laughed. He went over to the weapons rack and Katsu cringed as his hand lingered near the barbed whip. He selected the smooth one and then returned, placing himself far enough behind her that she would get the crack of the whip upon her back. She tightened all of her muscles, bracing for the pain, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth hard.
The first blow felt like a blaze of painful fire in a line, and her back arched inward, her head flying up and back. She bit the inside of her cheek, hard, to keep from screaming. The pain shot through her whole body, until she could feel the unpleasant tingle of it all the way to her toes and the tips of her fingers. The second blow was no better and her fists clenched so tight that her fingernails broke her own skin. She sucked in ragged breath and bit her cheek again when the third blow fell. She could tell by the sting of the past blows that they had cut deep into her skin and were welling with blood. She focused her mind on not screaming. She would not give Vegeta the pleasure of knowing how much pain he was causing her. The fourth strike hit, this one lower on her back, shooting pain through her body again. She clamped her eyes shut, drawing blood on her cheek when she bit it this time. She would not give in to the pain Vegeta was causing her. Vegeta.. why was he doing this? Why did he seem to take such delight in hurting her?
Her mind had become preoccupied with these sudden questions and when the fifth strike of the whip hit, Katsu was not prepared and could not hold it in. She screamed, but the sound was weak and broken, defeated and full of pain. Tears began to fall from her eyes as the pain consumed her body and the anguish of defeat filled her mind. She did not even bother to brace for the sixth blow, merely resigning herself to its coming.
It never came. She heard the whip hit the ground, knew that Vegeta had dropped it, and a second later he was by her, running his hands up her arm to her wrist to undo the bindings. His breath was ragged and his face looked troubled. He unbound both of her wrists in this manner and then caught her around the waist as she began to collapse forward. He called for the guards, but Katsu could barely hear, and she knew that his arms were around her waist, but that all seemed very far away. Her vision was dimming, she didn't know why. A second later the guards had a hold of both of her arms and were dragging her away, but she couldn't process to where they were taking her. Her mind screamed in protest when the reentered the dungeon, but her body felt suddenly too weak to do anything but be dragged. She was laid down on her stomach in her cell and the guards departed. She wanted to rise up, not lay like this on the dingy floor, but she had no strength left in her arms or any part of her body. She closed her eyes and let darkness claim her.
She was awakened some time later, by Shiro's gentle but insistent voice.
"Katsu, wake up. Please wake up, Katsu. I need to know that you're all right. Wake up."
She did not try to rise but instead turned herself around, so her head was facing the door to the cell. "I'm awake," she called weakly.
"Oh, Katsu, I was so worried, I thought you died in there. What happened? What did they do to you?"
"I was whipped," she said, her voice becoming very soft.
"You were what?"
"Whipped," she called, close to yelling now. "I was whipped because I spit in Vegeta's face after you were taken away."
Shiro was silent for a moment. Then, slowly, "You spit in his face? Wow. That was bold. Foolish, but bold."
Katsu grinned despite herself. "Yeah," she said softly. "It felt great."
"Well, are you going to be okay? Did the whip cut into your skin?"
"Yes."
"I hope the cuts don't get infected, then. Are you lying on your stomach? Try not to let the cuts come in contact with any part of the walls or floor. It's pretty disgusting in here, as I'm sure you've noticed."
"Yes," she said softly. She wanted to reach around to feel her back, but she knew that that was not a good idea. Not only would that hurt quite a bit should she touch one of the cuts directly, but it would also increase her risk of infection, which was high enough already. She resisted the urge and stayed on her stomach, like she had been planning on and like Shiro had instructed her.
More than two days passed in this manner and Katsu was sore and stiff beyond belief when two guards came and retrieved her from the dungeon. Despite her efforts, her cuts stung horribly and she figured they were pretty well infected and, without treatment, such an infection could kill her. She had resigned herself to this. So be it, she had thought. This life sucks anyway.
She hated returning to the servants' basement quarters without Shiro, who was still in the dungeon, but she, of course, had no choice in the matter. The other servants avoided contact with her, having heard all about what had happened and how she had openly defied the prince. At the same time, they believed that Katsu's resistance was now broken. Far from it. Katsu could almost tangibly feel the infection in her back, but it did not bother her. Should she not heal the infection on her own, and come close to dying, she planned to take full advantage of it and rebel as much as she was capable of. For the time being, her rebellious spirit simmered in silence, waiting for a chance.
She found herself another black dress, this one a little too small but the best fit available, and crudely stitched the two eights off of her old dress onto the new one. The dress was tight, and chafed painfully against the cuts on her back, but she let the pain do nothing more than fuel her spirit.
The next morning, Prince Vegeta rang Katsu for his breakfast. She seethed at his nerve, but she had been expecting it, and took the tray dutifully up the stairs, slowly though, as each step brought a wave of pain from her back. She knocked softly on the door, as she always had before. It was different than before. When she entered the room and saw the prince sitting, watching her, anger so powerful flashed through her mind that she almost attacked him. She swallowed hard, breathing through her nose, and kept herself under control as she placed the tray on the table. She winced; bending over had caused another shot of pain down her back. She straightened slowly, gritting her teeth against the pain.
"What's wrong with you?"
She started when the prince spoke, but did not turn to face him for her reply.
"Nothing, your Highness."
"Don't lie to me, woman," he said with a snarl, rising from his chair. She tensed when he approached her, willing him not to touch her. He did, but he not only touched her, he smacked her, with quite a bit of force, on the back. Her face contorted and she gasped at the sudden, unexpected wave of pain.
Vegeta smirked. "Just as I thought. You let those cuts on your back get infected."
"Well, you put them there," she said angrily. "And you kept me locked in that filthy dungeon. It's not exactly my fault that they're infected."
Anger flashed in his eyes and he whirled her around and grabbed her by the jaw, pulling her face very close to his, his teeth gritted. She held her ground and stared defiantly back at him as his dark, rage filled eyes searched hers. His breath was hot on her face, and he was so close she could feel the warmth his skin radiated. She reached up slowly, gripped his hand, and pulled it away from her face. He resisted, but she put more pressure and pushed him away. He stared at her, his face becoming unreadable.
"Take off your dress," he said abruptly. Her eyes went wide. "Just the top part, baka. I want to see your back," he said, in a disgusted tone. "Nothing on your body could possibly interest me, but I'll turn around if it will protect your modesty," he added, his voice thick with sarcasm as he turned his back to her.
Katsu did not move for several seconds, wondering what the prince was going to do to her. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she did as he asked. She turned around, facing the wall, and hastily unlaced her dress, lest he lose patience. She took her arms out of the sleeves and peeled the dress down, letting it hang around her waist. She crossed her arms over her bare chest, feeling suddenly awkward and very exposed.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Vegeta had already turned around. He beckoned her to come to him and her stomach twisted up in knots. Despite all of her anger and hate towards him, her earlier sentiments about him hit her in that moment: he was very handsome. His shirt was skin tight, showcasing his perfect upper body and his face was set with hard, masculine features. She bit her lip, embarrassed at her own thoughts, and stepped carefully backwards toward him. She stopped right in front of him, keeping her face straight ahead. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she didn't know why. Several seconds passed and he said nothing. She wondered what he was thinking. He had said nothing about her body interested him, which made her suddenly upset. Why should she be so attracted to him when he was repulsed by her? He despised her, had struck her, whipped her, tried to break her spirit. How could she possibly still be attracted to him?
"Go lie down on the bed," he said, turning and walking towards the door. She looked after him curiously, but did as he said, walking over and stretching herself out on her stomach on the amazingly soft and comfortable bed. Vegeta opened the door and stuck his head out.
"Hey! You! Get me tincture, a lot of it!"
She figured he must be yelling to one of the guards, for there was the sound of hurrying feet and a minute later someone came to the door and handed Vegeta a bottle of clear liquid that had a brush attached to its cap. Vegeta slammed the door and turned towards the bed and Katsu hastily looked away. She turned her face away from the side of the bed that Vegeta came to and tensed as he sat down beside her.
"This will hurt," he said, unscrewing the top of the bottle. "But it will fight the infection and heal the cuts faster. It's very primitive compared with what we Saiyans use to heal ourselves, but its more than good enough for a servant."
The liquid was cold on her back and it did sting quite a bit. She hissed lightly at the pain but did not flinch. Vegeta brushed the liquid into the gashes across her back with surprising gentleness and she pictured in her mind the way he must look with his serious face, perfect body, and his powerful arms softly brushing tincture onto her bare back. She grinned at the image in her mind, enjoying it. He finished with the fifth cut and then placed the bottle of tincture under the bed.
"You can wait here until that dries," he said, rising. "Then get out."
She said nothing as he walked away, instead closing her eyes and relaxing her body. She could not remember how soft her own bed back home had been, but it certainly couldn't have been this comfortable. Perhaps this bed just seemed so nice because she had grown used to sleeping on a rough, uncomfortable cot, but either way, she did not want to leave it. She waited, willing the sting and feeling of wetness on her back to linger. The feelings faded all too quickly, though, and she was sure Vegeta would say something if she didn't leave soon. She rose and, being careful to keep her back to where Vegeta sat, pulled her dress up and relaced it.
She turned to face him and the dress was laced. "Why did you do that?" She asked, fully aware of the fact that she should not question the one decent thing he had done for her since she arrived.
He was silent for a moment. "I'm not out to kill you, you know," he said, not looking at her. "I was just turning you into a good servant. And now that I've done it, I'm not going to just let you die, or else I'll have to train someone else."
It was not the answer she wanted to hear, but at least he had not gotten angry at her. She walked slowly towards the door, casting one single glance over her shoulder at the prince, sitting before the window, his head resting on one of his fists, his face thoughtful. As her hand fell on the door, he spoke.
"I'll have to put more on tomorrow, and for a few days until you heal. Don't say anything to anyone about this. If you do, I'll whip you again and put you back in the dungeon, and I won't come to your rescue again."
"I won't say anything, your Highness," she said softly, sadly. She opened the door and left quickly, feeling as though she might cry. If she had not been in such a hurry and looked over her shoulder, she would have seen Prince Vegeta put his head down into his hand and clench his other fist tight.
**To Be Continued.**
