"Wicked Game" Ch. 7
By Shawna
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has left me a review! All of your reviews have been so kind, and I never expected such a good reaction to this story. Thanks again!
"I really don't think you should do that."
This was the first thing Shiro said when Katsu told him about what she had discovered she could do the night before and her plans to try her strength on one of the Saiyans. She clenched her fists determinedly.
"Why shouldn't I?" She said. "I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life. If I can fight and get away, it will be worth it. If I'm not strong enough and they put me to death, that's fine too. I'd rather die fighting then stay here."
Shiro looked upset. "Don't talk like that," he said firmly. "I don't want you to die, and I'm not going to let you commit suicide by doing something so stupid. Even if you are stronger than a Saiyan, you won't be powerful enough to get past all of the guards here."
"I don't have to get past them all," she said emphatically. "I can sneak away in the night, and get rid of any guards I might meet along the way."
Shiro put his head in his hands and groaned. "You're being too optimistic, as much as I hate to say that. You have no hope of escape. Once one guard sees you, he'll call for all the other guards with his wrist monitor and you'll get caught. I don't want to see that happen to you, Katsu. I like you, you know that, and I wish you could just accept what life has given you and try to make the best of it."
Katsu stared at him in disbelief. "Make the best of it?!" She fumed. "We're slaves, Shiro! Slaves! These Saiyans can beat us or kill us anytime they want! You can't make the best of a situation like that."
Shiro had no retort for this. He looked at her sadly and shook his head with a sigh. She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed angrily, turning her head away from him.
Shiro put a hand gently on her cheek, turning her back to face him. "I don't want to fight with you, Katsu," he said gently. "We're all each other has in this forsaken place, so we shouldn't fight. I just want you to promise me, please, that you won't try to escape. Not without some better planning at least."
Katsu's mood softened and she put her hand over Shiro's. "All right," she said softly. "I won't try anything... rash."
He grinned and before Katsu knew what he was doing he had planted a kiss on her lips. She responded briefly and then pulled away, to Shiro's disappointment. He apparently decided that to say anything would be to start another fight, so he kept silent, but drew Katsu into a warm hug. She allowed this, was even thankful for it, and responded by wrapping her arms around him and holding him for some time.
She kept her promise, for about ten hours. That evening she followed through with her original intentions, sneaking away, unnoticed up the stairs and into the main palace. There were guards everywhere, but in groups of two, and she wanted to challenge a single one. She had to scale the main stairs to the second floor before finding a guard without a partner. She walked up to him, positioning herself resolutely in front of him. He eyed her quizzically for a moment.
"You need directions somewhere?" He asked in a condescending tone.
"No," she said easily. "I need a fight. You think you can take me on?"
She saw the instant rush of anger in his eyes, but with it there was obvious glee at the thought of a fight. "Oh, you stupid woman. You really think a slave like you could even get a hit in on me? Pathetic. You're lucky I don't just kill you now. I'm in a good mood, though, so run along and I'll pretend you never opened your ugly mouth."
This angered Katsu, as she had hoped it would. The anger began to spread through her body and she concentrated on focusing it, amplifying it into useable energy. She growled and the guard's eyes widened at her obvious challenge. She took her first swing, hitting him squarely in the jaw, feeling the force of the impact in her wrist. The guard yelped in pain and surprise, clapping a hand to the spot where her fist had struck.
"Oh, you bitch!" He screamed. "You bitch! You hit me!"
"Well, try to hit me back," she taunted, jumping lightly back a few steps. He snarled and came forward, clenching his fist. She felt as though she were outside of her body, watching herself as she ducked under the first blow and landed an elbow in the guard's stomach. She bounced away, but he turned too quickly for her retreat and caught her by the wrist. She tried to twist out of his grip, but he used her previous momentum to swing her around, sending her flying to the ground. She landed with a cry, feeling pain shoot up her back from her tail bone, and then popped back to her feet.
The guard readied for another attack, but then he froze. His eyes were wide, staring over her shoulder. She wondered briefly if he was trying to trick her, to get her to look over her shoulder so he could attack when her guard was down. She kept her eyes on him and her hands up.
And then she felt the air move beside her and her stomach dropped as Prince Vegeta walked past, looking angrily at the guard. Before the guard could move, Vegeta had landed a solid blow to his face and the guard fell backwards as a fan of blood spurted from his nose.
"What do you think you're doing?" Vegeta yelled. "Trying to damage my servant?"
"But, but she hit me first," the guard blubbered, sounding just like a child, talking about who "started" it.
"I don't care if she hit you first!" Vegeta said firmly, his voice returned to its normal volume, but still possessing an unusually sharp edge in his anger. "You don't have authorization to touch my property!"
A pang of rage hit Katsu when Vegeta said this. His property! She fumed. How dare he! I'm not his "property." This was not true, however, as Katsu knew quite well. She was very much Vegeta's property, as was Shiro.
"Get off the ground," Vegeta said to the guard in disgust. "You're disgracing the name of Saiyan." The guard hurried to pick himself up as Vegeta turned away and strode back to Katsu. She was still angry, more angry than before even, and her body felt hot as flame. She was pumped for a fight, and as Vegeta came back towards her, it came to her head that now was her chance to strike him back for all the times he had hit her.
"I wish you wouldn't pick fights with the guards," he was saying. "They may not be as strong as I am, but they're still plenty strong enough to hurt you."
He was a mere two steps from her. It was now or never. I have to do this, she thought. I want to do this. I'm going to cause him pain. Hatred for him boiled in her veins and gave her strength. She jumped forward, already drawing back her fist, and threw her punch before Vegeta could know what she was doing and block. Her fist connected with his face squarely in the nose, and she felt this impact all the way to her shoulder, jarring the bones in her arm, hurting her hand. At the same time, she relished the feel of something rupturing beneath her knuckles, hoping that his nose would spurt blood as the guard's had, knowing the satisfaction she would get from that.
Vegeta stumbled back a step or two, his head back, as Katsu jumped back from her attack, immediately taking up a defensive position. Vegeta stood where he was as she stared. He took a deep breath, his chest rose and fell, and then he lowered his head slowly, very slowly, until he was staring right back at Katsu. The rage in his eyes was very controlled, cold, calculating, almost calm, and that was more terrifying to Katsu than any uncontrollable anger he might have shown. A thin trail of blood trickled from his nose.
Katsu had stopped concentrating, her anger had given way to fear, and the warm, pulsing feeling of power had abandoned her body. Vegeta wiped the blood away with the back of his hand and then walked right by Katsu, grabbing her wrist without stopping. "You're coming with me."
His grip was like a vice and she had no choice but to walk or be dragged. She concentrated on re-amplifying her power, but she could not muster up the anger and focus while being dragged along by her wrist. She seethed in frustrated silence, determining to get her power back and attack him as soon as he stopped.
"Stop squirming around," he said without turning his head back to look at her. "Just hold still. I think you'll like where I'm taking you."
This comment did nothing to alleviate her fears; in fact, it served to make her that much more apprehensive and she wondered with dread what exactly Vegeta thought she was going to like. They went back down the stairs, and down a hall she had never been through before. At the end of it was a thick door with a panel on the wall beside it. Vegeta approached the panel, placed his hand on it.
"Identification complete," came a pleasant, but undeniably computer generated, female voice. "Back to train some more, your Highness?" It continued. "You trained for hours earlier this afternoon." The door slid up into the ceiling.
"I'm here for a little sparring," Vegeta said quickly as he moved past the panel and into a large, empty, white walled room. The door slid shut behind them as Vegeta hurled Katsu to the floor.
"So, you want a fight?" He said. "Well, you can fight with me then. I'm a bit curious to see what sort of pathetic abilities you might know, and of course I can't let you get away with hitting me. However, if you're too scared to fight, I might let you go and just throw you into the dungeon for a few years."
Katsu scrambled to her feet, fuming in anger. "I'm not scared of you," she said through gritted teeth. "I attacked you, didn't I? I'll never let you scare me again."
He laughed. "You're so anxious to fight. I think that dress may put you at even more of a disadvantage, don't you? To be sporting, I'm willing to let you change into some appropriate clothes, but if you don't want to, we can get started now."
She growled, knowing that what he said was true. Trying to fight him in a dress was a very bad idea, and she had no idea how her strength would compare to his. She needed every advantage she could get.
"I'll change," she said grudgingly.
"I thought you would make that choice," he said with a grin, going over to the wall and opening a compartment filled with bodysuits like the ones the Saiyans all wore when they were on guard duty, or going to fight. He looked at a few before tossing a black one over his shoulder in her direction. He closed this compartment and went to another, punching a code into the lock on this compartment door. It opened to reveal a blue bodysuit and armor, obviously his. He pulled the bodysuit out and closed the compartment, turning his back to Katsu.
"I've got no interest in watching you change," he said, casually removing his shirt. He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Just make sure you keep your eyes off me."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "I don't have any interest in your body, either," she said firmly.
Vegeta snorted. "Whatever you say."
"What does that mean?" She asked, becoming angry, thankful that he was being his usual self and that it was incensing her as always.
"You lack subtlety," he said. "Now turn around and get changed!"
She breathed hard, angry, but turned around and began to unlace her dress because she had no reply. He must have noticed the way she had looked at him, the times she had admired his chiseled body, and that's why he had said she "lacked subtlety." So maybe he knew that she was attracted to him, but now she was determined to show him that she hated him as well. She was going to fight as hard as she could, and win or lose, she would show him how she really felt about him. She hated him.
She shed her dress and stepped into the bodysuit, pulling the tight fabric over her body, glad to feel that it stretched easily to fit. She pulled her hair out of the collar and turned around to find Vegeta already facing her.
"You were looking!" She said, aghast.
"You change too slowly," he said with a smirk. "I was just making sure you hadn't decided to not fight."
"Not a chance," she said.
He grinned, walking toward the center of the room. She followed him and stopped when he did, positioning herself the right distance from him to fight, not thinking about how it came naturally to her to stand at just the right distance and assume a ready position. She concentrated, focusing her anger, feeling the now familiar sensation of power flowing through her veins. She breathed hard, staring at Vegeta, feeling her anger build and focusing this into more energy. Strength pumped through her body and her senses were heightened, and she was aware of every sound, the heavy breathing in the room, and every tiny motion, even Vegeta's muscles as they tensed.
Vegeta came at her a second later and she felt as though she were watching him in slow motion as she moved to block his assault. She threw her own punch, which he blocked as he brought his leg up and around to kick her in the side. She gasped in pain and jumped back, he followed her, but she blocked the punches he threw along the way. She took a farther jump back and succeeded in gaining an opening. Her next punch connected, but it seemed to only barely stun him and his assault continued a second later. All she could was block; his punches came in lightning fast waves.
She finally had a second and used it to make a hasty retreat, placing distance between herself and Vegeta. He stood where she had left him, poised to continue the fight. She breathed hard, waiting for him to come at her again. She knew what she would do this time.
Several seconds passed as they stared each other down and then Vegeta did as Katsu had thought he would; he charged, coming at her at an alarming rate and she tensed, reading her body. Vegeta was a step in front of her, another step and he would strike, and Katsu ducked low and came forward, bring her fist up and directly into his gut. He doubled over with a grunt of pain and jumped back. She stayed where she was, crouched a bit, her hands up and ready.
He stared at her and this time he did not make a move. Katsu began to grow impatient. Attack him, attack, make a move, she chanted in her mind. She obeyed this instinct and went forward with her own charge, keeping her lower guard up so he could not use the same move she had just done. He was ready for her, though, and blocked all of her punches. His guard was concentrated on her upper body, however, so she stepped back on her right foot and then brought it up to kick him squarely in the chest. Her foot made the impact, but he grabbed her ankle before she could even lower her leg. She gasped as he swung her around, sending her flying across the room and crashing hard against the wall. Pain flared up her back and before she could recover he had dragged her to her feet, holding her around the neck. He apparently thought she was more out of it than she really was, because his guard was down, and she was able to bring her knee up, hard, into his stomach. His face contorted and his grip on her broke. She punched him in the face and he took one step back.
She came at him, but he was ready and caught her fist as she was throwing her punch. Her eyes widened and he smirked, transferring his grip to her wrist and whirling her around, pushing her and smashing her against the wall. He grabbed her other wrist and twisted her arms around behind her back, pulling them until she cried out in pain. She writhed, struggled to break his grip but he had latched on firmly now and she could not.
"I win," he said simply.
She snarled, but it was true. He had not pinned her on the ground, as was traditionally the way a fight was won, but he had still pinned her. She relaxed her body, abandoning her concentration and returning to her old power level. She rested her forehead against the wall, defeated.
He had not let go of her arms and now he put both of her wrists in one of his hands, gripping them tightly and pulling down, forcing her upper body back, her head falling onto his shoulder. His legs pressed hers firmly against the wall.
"What should I do to you since I'm the victor?" He said, his voice smooth, his tone suggestive. She breathed deeply, afraid of what he might do.
"Nothing to say?" He asked. "That's fine. I've got plenty of ideas of my own…"
One of his hands came around, flat on her stomach and she shuddered. The muscles in her stomach twitched under his palm. He smirked, sliding his hand up until he cupped one of her breasts.
Katsu breathed in sharply, her eyes going wide. She could see that Vegeta was looking down into her eyes, but her gaze was fixed on the ceiling. He removed his hand, taking a step back, turning her around and then pressing his body against hers, pinning her against the wall again.
She stared at him, looking into his eyes now, his eyes that were so close to her own. She was tensed all over and acutely aware of every curve of Vegeta's body against her own. His breath was heavy, hot on her face.
"You're not really that afraid, are you?" He asked, his voice carrying an almost indiscernible touch of concern. "I know you like this." He did not wait for her to affirm this statement, bringing his hands up and sliding his fingers into her collar on either side of her neck, stretching the remarkably elastic material wide, bringing it down past her shoulders. She reached up quickly, gripping his hands and stopping him from pulling the material down any farther. He stared into her eyes for a moment; both of them knew full well that he could overpower her and pull it down anyway. For a moment it seemed that he would, and Katsu gritted her teeth in fear. A second later he released the material, but his hands still slid lower, onto her breasts. He leaned his head closer to hers, but he did not kiss her lips; he leaned past and kissed the hollow below her ear. His lips traveled down her neck, his hands rubbed her softly. When he reached the spot where her neck merged into her shoulder, he stopped, sucking at the tender spot. Her hands pressed hard against the wall, her mind in turmoil. One part of her wanted nothing more than for him to continue, to take her right on the floor of this room. Another part of her mind said that was crazy, that not long ago she was telling herself how much she hated him.
I hate him, she repeated in her mind. I hate him. I'm not going to let him do this to me. She did not know, however, if she would be able to stop him. Would he do that? Would he rape her?
"Stop it," she said abruptly. Vegeta froze, but he did not take his lips from her neck.
"What?" He spoke against her neck.
"Stop it," she repeated. "Let me go now. I don't want you touching me anymore."
He did not move for several seconds, but his body tensed against hers, and a moment later his teeth sank into the spot on her neck that he had been paying so much attention to, and she cried out in sudden anger and surprise, fighting to break him off of her. He released her, and she felt the warmth of blood flowing onto her skin.
"You monster!" She shrieked. "Get off me!"
He stepped back, wiping blood from around his mouth, and she clapped a hand to the spot he had bitten, feeling the blood there, her face contorting in anger and pain.
"Why did you do that?!" She asked, fuming as she pulled the bodysuit back up around her neck.
Vegeta looked angry. "I wanted to," he said fiercely. "You think you can just tell me to stop? Your body belongs to me, I can do whatever I want with it. Besides, did you honestly think I was going to fuck you? I would never disgrace myself like that." He turned around, walking away from her.
"Seemed like you were going to do it to me," she called after him. "You were acting like a monkey in rut."
He stopped, his tail bristled. He whirled around and came back at her, forcing her against the wall again.
"Never call me that!" He said through gritted teeth. "Do you hear me? You say that to me again and I'll kill you. Saiyans are proud of our heritage, and just because we have these tails, doesn't mean we're animals. We're people. I'm a man."
"You're a beast," she spat back at him, seeing that she had hit a sensitive spot.
He snarled, but tore himself away from her, heading for the exit to the room.
"Get changed back into your dress and get out of here," he said as he left. "I don't want to see your face again for at least a week."
The door slid shut behind him and Katsu slid slowly down to sit on the ground. She breathed deeply, sighing. He had stopped when she had told him to. He had also gotten very angry, and then said he had had no intention of actually doing anything with her. She wondered if that was true.
Would he have done it or not? She thought, unsure. I stopped him, I stopped him because I hate him, she told herself. But did I need to stop him? Would he have gone all the way if I hadn't? She sighed again, not knowing the answers to these questions and unsure what to make of what had just happened. At the same time what had happened made her angry, she knew that part of her had wanted it to happen. Vegeta aroused her, there was no doubt about that, but he angered her as well, and these two emotions did not know how to mix. She changed slowly back into her dress and left the room, leaving the bodysuit on the floor. Her stomach felt funny and the spot on her neck that Vegeta had bitten hurt; she would need to clean and bandage it without Shiro seeing, because it would be quite obvious that the wound was a bite mark, and Shiro was not stupid; he would know who had done it.
Shiro. She felt in sudden need of comfort and contact, someone who could touch her without causing her pain. She went to find Shiro.
**To be continued…*
