"Wicked Game" Ch. 9

By Shawna

"Katsu, are you okay?"

Shiro startled Katsu out of her reverie and she turned to face him, looking dazed.

"You've been sitting there staring into space for over an hour. What are you thinking about?"

Katsu rubbed at her heavy eyes. It had been a full day since Vegeta had kissed her, and her stomach still felt like it was full of fluttering butterflies. At the same time, her sleep had been tormented with hazy nightmares of the purple haired demon whom she could still remember nothing about. Between all of this, she had been formulating her escape plan, carefully, meticulously.

"I'm fine," she said softly, yawning and rubbing at her eyes again. Shiro eyed her incredulously.

"It's barely even afternoon; why are you so tired? Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

Katsu did not look at him. She shook her head. "I've... I've been having nightmares."

Shiro sat down quickly on Katsu's cot, putting his arm around her. He stroked her hair with his other hand as he spoke.

"About what? Your home planet? The prince?"

"I don't know... Something that I can't remember..."

Shiro said nothing to this, but he continued to stroke her hair and whisper comfortingly.

"And I've been thinking," Katsu said suddenly, feeling emboldened. "I've been thinking of a way to get off this planet."

Shiro drew back with a sigh. "Not that again, Katsu, please. I thought you'd gotten over that. There is no way off this rock. Please stop obsessing over it. You're only hurting yourself."

Katsu glared at him. "I'm not obsessing over it," she said angrily. "I've thought of a real plan to escape."

He regarded her coolly with his violet eyes. She stared right back at him, chin up, eyes flashing pride. "Well," he said at length. "Let's hear it then."

Katsu looked away. "I have to test it a little bit first, and find the necessary materials... I'll tell you when I've got it all worked out."

Shiro shook his head. "I thought you already had it all worked out," he said irritably. "Katsu, you really are something else." His tone changed as he said this last part, becoming softer. He turned his eyes on her fondly. "But that's probably why I love being with you so much."

Katsu stared at him, surprised at this sudden confession of emotion. She licked her lips nervously, thinking about Vegeta and trying to muster the same passion for Shiro as she had felt when kissing the prince. It almost came, but not quite. Not quite as much, but enough to make her act.

"Come with me, Shiro," Katsu said abruptly, gripping his collar and pulling him close to her. "Come with me. We can start a new life together on my planet, or if its not there anymore, some other planet. Any planet. Anywhere away from these damn Saiyans. Some place where we can live our own lives."

Shiro's eyes had gone wide and he looked utterly shocked. "C-come with you?" He stammered. "Leave planet Vegeta? A new life..." Katsu nodded eagerly, anxious for him to agree. "I don't know," he said uncertainly.

"What do you have to lose? Your bondage? We could be free, Shiro, free to do whatever we want, whenever we want. No more restrictions, no more being surrounded by other people all the time... We could be alone sometimes." Her tone was silky and suggestive as she said this, but the words felt thick and phony in her mouth. She wanted him to come with her, badly, because she did not want to go alone. It troubled her to no end that her planet might be gone or her people all dead and she did not think she could handle that on her own. She cared about Shiro; she truly did, and she did want him to be free, but mostly she just did not want to be alone.

"Katsu," Shiro said very seriously, taking her hands off his collar and clutching them in his lap. "I do like you, a lot, and I would love to spend my life with you, but... This planet has become my home. I grew up here. I don't know if I could leave. I want to, but... It would just be really hard for me. I want to stay with you, but..."

Katsu took her hands out of Shiro's, placing them on either side of his face. "Shiro," she said softly, earnestly, leaning in close to him. "This is not your home. You were brought her by force, through violence. We can make a real home together. We could be happy."

"Katsu..." His large eyes shone as he stared back at her. "Why do you want me to go with you so badly? Do you... How do you really feel about me Katsu?"

Katsu was taken aback by this question and drew away from him, turning her face away. "I-I'm not sure," she said softly, honestly.

He turned her around to look at him, clutching her shoulders. "I want you, Katsu. I want to stay with you."

She grinned softly but drew away from him gently, pushing his hands down. "Then it's settled," she said. "As soon as everything is in order, you'll come with me." Shiro's expression was unreadable.

It was late afternoon when Katsu's wrist cuff sounded and she gazed at it curiously, wondering what Vegeta could want at this time of the day. She went quickly to his room, her stomach feeling full of butterflies as she wondered what side of Vegeta's personality would be showing this afternoon. She wondered if he would kiss her again...

When she arrived at his room she found him clad in the blue bodysuit he wore for fighting, and she gazed at him questioningly. He smirked.

"I want to fight you again," he said casually, walking by her and grabbing her arm, dragging her out of the room.

"Hey! Why?" She tried to free her arm from his grip.

"Just for fun," he said, releasing her. "I need to do some sparring with someone who isn't a Saiyan for a change."

Katsu had not been expecting this, but what had happened after their last fight flashed through her mind. Was that his real intention? Was he going to put her in a similar situation and try to get her to give in this time? She sneered, irritated at the prince's arrogance. Let him try anything with her again. She would show him. She might even beat him in the fight.

The two went through the same routine as last time in the training room: Katsu pressing herself into a corner to change as Vegeta waited impatiently. They took up their positions across from each other, Katsu becoming annoyed with her lack of anger. Her power level was barely higher than normal and she would be pummeled if she did not shape up fast. Vegeta had already taken up an attack stance and looked ready to pounce on her at any second. Nervousness ran through her. Should she try to stall? There was no way he would listen to her...

He came at her fast and she was totally unprepared, taking a hard hit in the face and nearly going down. She staggered and recaught her balance, bouncing back lightly on the balls of her feet. Vegeta's face had taken up its usual cocky smirk and this made her angry, and she felt her strength increase a little bit. Not enough, though, not nearly enough. He needed to do something absolutely intolerable that would set her off and give her the power to match him and maybe even beat him. He just was not doing it right now; he always made her angry, but right now he just was not doing it enough.

He came at her again and she was able to block a few of his punches before he found a break in her slower than usual movements and struck her in the face again. Blood spurted from her nose, across his chest, and she fell away from him weakly, trying to put distance between them before he could hit her again. He did not follow her this time.

"What's wrong with you today?" He asked.

She shook her head slowly, feeling pain throb in her skull. She wiped the blood from her nose away with her sleeve and tried to concentrate. She was angry now, definitely, but the pain pulsing through her body muddled her thoughts and she could not seem to focus her anger into anything useable.

Vegeta charged again, from the side this time, driving her back towards the middle of the room. Again, she was able to block only a few of his punches before he found another opening and punched her in the mouth. Her lip split, and the force of the strike sent blood spraying out in a fan, across Vegeta's face. He reared back for a second, wiping it away from his eyes, and then came at her again, scoring another punch that sent out another fan of blood. She fell back, almost collapsing to the ground, catching her balance only to receive a knee in her stomach that knocked the wind out of her and doubled her over in pain. A second later Vegeta's elbow came down hard on her upper back and sent her straight to the floor, face first. She cried out in pain and lay were she had fallen, unable to rise.

"Why are you fighting so horribly today? I can't even call this fighting. You were much better before."

Katsu moaned incoherently. Vegeta slowly removed his blood stained white glove and tossed it into a corner of the room. She moaned again, softer this time, but still full of pain. She had not been expecting him to beat her this badly, especially after he had seen that she was not up to her past fighting prowess. Why was he doing this? She tried to rise up on her hands only to collapse again.

Vegeta straddled her and then knelt, pressing one of his knees into the small of her back. "Obviously you need more motivation. I noticed that you're a bit like a Saiyan in that you're more powerful when you're angry. Saiyans are always powerful, though, while you seem nearly incapable of fighting when you're not pissed off." His knee pressed harder into her back. "I guess you need a little more foreplay to get you wet, hm?"

She snarled at his innuendo. He slid one of his hands into her hair and jerked it up, raising her head and upper body off of the floor. His other hand came around her neck, but there was something in it, something cold. He snapped it around her neck and there was a soft clicking as it fused in the back. She brought one of her hands up to run along the smooth metal band now encircling her neck. A collar.

She writhed under Vegeta's knee. "You bastard!" She screamed, flailing around. "You take this off of me! Now!"

He laughed scornfully. "You know perfectly well you can't tell me what to do." He removed his knee and stood, taking a few steps back from her as she popped to her feet, her energy returned by her sudden but very complete rage. The flow of blood from her wounds had staunched and she was ready to fight again. Her hands went first to the collar, her fingers slipping inside it as she pulled, fighting to break it off.

"Don't bother," Vegeta said with a wave of his hand. "Even I wouldn't be able to bust that thing off. The only way to do it is with this key." He held up a small cylindrical object that shone under the lights. She stared at it and then lunged, trying to grab it from his hands, but he seemed to have expected this and stepped out of the way. She attacked again, snarling, reaching out with her hands to swipe at him with her fingernails without even realizing what she was doing. He was laughing, dodging her attacks easily. She finally saw this and stopped, panting, trying to focus her newfound anger into energy to formulate a good attack.

"Why do I have to wear this?" She said through gritted teeth. "None of the other slaves do."

"Servants," he corrected her. "And you have to wear it because I think it looks cute on you."

She slashed at him again with her fingernails, his quick evasive action being not quite fast enough. Her fingernails passed through a bit of his hair and the black strands floated slowly to the ground.

"Damn, woman, those things are sharp," Vegeta said with some surprise, seeing the hairs on the ground. Katsu snarled at him.

"Don't lie to me," she said angrily. "Why do I really have to wear this?"

"Because the other servants' spirits have been broken. Your spirit has not. You have to wear that because you were thinking of attempting an escape."

She gaped at him. How could he possibly know that she had planned an escape? Only Shiro knew of her plan. Had Shiro betrayed her?

"I've seen it in your eyes," Vegeta said. "You've longed to escape. Did you think I wouldn't notice the way you were sizing up every bit of the castle? I'm not stupid, you know."

Katsu took a step back, shocked that he had noticed everything that she had done, wondering if he had been watching her when she could not see him. What was going on?

Vegeta laughed. "I find things out quite easily."

Katsu breathed hard through her nose. "How?" She demanded. "How did you know that?"

He did not answer her, but instead turned to the side and got into an attack position. "Fight me and maybe I'll tell you."

She had focused herself by now; she was more ready to fight him. She did not hesitate, throwing herself at him, her hands forward, fingers arched. It was not until she was nearly on him that she realized what she was doing. She clenched her fingers into fists and began throwing punches.

They fought for nearly a half hour, Katsu's heightened agility canceling out Vegeta's superior strength and making them nearly equally matched. It did not seem that either of them would be able to gain the upper hand, but Vegeta was cocky as always and he made a small mistake. He threw a punch with too much force behind it, expecting it to connect, but Katsu was able to dodge at the last second and he pitched forward, thrown off balance. She saw this instantly and locked her foot around his ankle, sweeping his foot out from under him and causing him to go down hard on his back. She instantly straddled him, remembering what he had done to her, and knelt, driving her knee into his stomach. She supported herself on her right hand as she placed her left elbow on his throat. His eyes widened, but he did not try to move. They stared at each other in silence; their heavy breathing the only sound in the room.

"I could kill you right now," Katsu said quietly, her voice still sounding too loud as it broke the silence. She raised her elbow a bit, brought it slowly down back to his skin. "That's all I'd have to do to crush your windpipe and kill you."

"You won't," Vegeta said, his voice utterly calm and confident. Katsu narrowed her eyes.

"Why shouldn't I? All I have to do is bring this elbow down..."

"And all I have to do is bring my wrist down."

Katsu started when he said this and glanced at his arm, stretched out above his head. His palm was up and the small panel that he wore around his wrist and used to call on his guards and servants was down against the floor. If he pressed down, the buttons on the panel would be pushed, summoning the guards, Shiro, and even herself.

"You'd be dead before they got here," she snarled.

He smirked. "And you'd be dead as soon as they did."

"I'm not afraid to die."

"Neither am I."

"Then there's nothing to stop me from doing it."

"No. It's your call."

Katsu stared down into Vegeta's dark eyes, searching for any trace of fear in them. There was none. He seemed both doubtful that she would actually do it and fully prepared to accept it if she should. She stared at him for a long time, mulling over her options.

"There's no reason for me to die now," she said. "I'm going to be escaping soon anyway."

"Not with that collar," he said with a smirk.

"What does it do?"

"Don't leave the castle grounds and you won't find out."

She snarled at him, her anger, which had just begun to subside, surfacing again.

"Temper, temper," he said. "Calm down, pussy cat. Why don't we continue our little duel and you can expend some of that energy?"

She scoffed. "Our fight is over. You're pinned, I've won."

He looked away. "So you have," he said. "And what are you going to do now? Besides killing me, that is, since you've already shown that you don't want to do that."

"Don't tempt me."

"I don't need to."

She drove her elbow a bit into his skin and he coughed, his tail beginning to thrash wildly beside him. Katsu looked at it and without thinking reached out and gripped it hard. Vegeta bucked under her, gasping in pain. She stared at him, startled, loosening her grip on his tail. His body eased.

"Your tail..." She mused. "Your tail is your weak point." Her eyes widened.

He snarled. "Yes, it is. You actually figured something out. Now get the hell off me."

She brought the tip of his tail to her mouth and bit it, not too hard, but with enough force to cause him to cry out in pained anger. "You better watch what you say to me," she said with a smirk, holding his tail threateningly close to her mouth.

Vegeta glared up at her with anger and a touch of fear in his eyes. This exhilarated her; for once she had the power. She could cause him any amount of pain through his tail. She was in control now and was acutely aware of this position. A slight grin came over her face as she slid a hand down the firm muscles of Vegeta's stomach and then took her knee and brought it slowly down onto the floor, stretching it and her other knee out a bit so she could lower herself onto him. She then ran her hand up his arm, flipping over his hand where he had the call link and then pressing his wrist against the floor so he could not activate it. She leaned down, nuzzling his neck, hearing him gasp lightly when she bit gently at his earlobe.

"How does it feel?" She breathed into his ear. "Now that I'm the one in control?"

"I'm not exactly as helpless as you were all those times," he said.

"You are as long as I have this," she whispered, squeezing his tail lightly as she rubbed herself slowly against him and nibbled at his neck. "And I can do to you exactly what you did to me." She raised her head, kissed him softly on the lips and then hefted herself to her feet, striding easily away from him and towards her dress, which lay rumpled in the corner. Vegeta sat up quickly.

"Hey," he called after her. "Where are you going? You can't just leave now."

She laughed. "Oh really? I've got to take out the dinner soon. I can't be late feeding the other people who live in this castle just because you're a little bit... hard." She snickered after this last word and Vegeta seemed embarrassed.

"I can make you stay," he said angrily.

"I thought you didn't need to do that," she said daintily, changing into her dress seemingly without regard for whether he saw her or not. She was careful to keep her back to him, though, and change so quickly that he would not have had time to see much.

This seemed to have taken him aback. "I don't," he said with increasing anger.

"Then I'm leaving." She made for the door, casting only one quick glance over her shoulder. Vegeta was sitting in the middle of the training room, his face a mixture of anger and shock. She shut the door behind her without a word.

**To Be Continued...**