"Wicked Game" Ch. 14
By Shawna
When Katsu woke up the first thing that hit her was a feeling of déjá vú. Vegeta was asleep beside her and she ached all over; it was exactly like that morning after the first time, that morning that was more than a week old already. There were a few key differences this time, however. For one, they were on the floor, much to Katsu's sudden embarrassment. She was also pressed right up against Vegeta, with his arm over her, resting in the curve of her waist, and his tail curled around her thigh. The morning was slightly chilly and they had likely ended up wrapped around each other in their bodies' unconscious efforts to stay warm. Katsu shifted slightly and was relieved to find that the pain barely flared up at all; she was much less sore than she had been the last time. Nevertheless, she was still sore and dreaded going through another intensely painful work day.
Thinking of this, she glanced at the window was alarmed to see that it was very close to dawn. She lifted Vegeta's arm gently, let it rest on his side and tried to shimmy away without waking him. It would have been quite possible if not for the vice like grip his tail had on her thigh. She tried to pry it off, but it tensed, tightening itself to an almost painful level. Without thinking about it, she dug her fingernails into the furry brown tail.
Vegeta came awake with a yelp of pain, sitting up rapidly. Katsu released his tail, realizing what she had done.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just trying to leave before dawn and your tail was around my thigh..."
He groaned and collapsed back onto the floor. The tail released her thigh and she moved to go, but was not past a crouching position when his tail wrapped around her ankle. She turned, regarding Vegeta quizzically.
"I feel like hell," he said. "Sleeping on the floor makes me sore. Let's go to the bed."
"Let's?"
He released her ankle, rose to his feet and then bent and gripped her under the arms, pulling her to her feet. The next thing she knew, he had swept her into his arms and was carrying towards the bed.
"What are you doing?" She said, alarmed. "I have to get back before dawn."
They reached the bed, and he tossed her onto it before sitting down on it himself. She pressed her back against the headboard, wondering why he had not let, or made, her leave.
He did not speak as he reached out his hands, gripped the backs of her calves and began pulling her towards him.
"No," she said. "I mean, wha-"
He drew her into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist.
"Just one more time," he said huskily. "Then you can go. You'll be back in time."
Katsu did not make it back in time. She fell back to sleep in Vegeta's bed, and it was almost noon when she woke up again. At first she did not know what had woken her up, but then she felt Vegeta's tail stroking her inner thigh gently.
"You've got to get going," he said softly. The next thing Katsu knew, he had rolled over on top of her. "But how about a quickie first?"
It was nearly one o'clock in the afternoon when Katsu finally got out Vegeta's room. He had not told her when, and if, she should come back, but he had told her to tell the other servants he had put her to work before dawn and for the entire morning. After all, he claimed, he had been working her.
Katsu could not help but grin at the recollection of him saying that. As sordid as this situation had become, she had to admit she had been enjoying herself. Of course, how could she not enjoy herself? Rough though he may be, Vegeta was a surprisingly considerate lover; never taking his pleasure before he had given her hers and made sure she was more than ready for him. Her soreness thus far had resulted only from the duration and momentum of his actions; not from her being unready to take him.
Katsu was still thinking about these things when she got back to the servants' quarters. Many surprised looks greeted her, but she barely noticed them as she headed for her cot.
"Where have you been?" This was Shiro, and he was approaching her fast. "And what are you smirking about?"
Katsu wiped what was apparently a satisfied look off of her face and tried to look as though she were in pain. Shiro just looked confused.
"Where were you?" He repeated.
Katsu gestured ambiguously. "Working," she said. "Vegeta called for me before dawn and put me to work for the entire morning. I ache all over, I'd like to just go lay down right now."
Shiro looked unconvinced. "You were gone really early. I woke up hours before dawn and you weren't here."
Katsu swallowed nervously. "Well, he called me really early. I guess he couldn't sleep and needed some amusement or something and so decided to torture me over it. I'm sorry if that upsets you."
Shiro's ears flattened on top of his head and Katsu knew that she had angered him, probably with her tone. He stepped aside, letting her go by. She avoided his angry gaze as she walked to her cot, laying down upon it heavily. It only took a few minutes for her to fall into a deep sleep, since she had barely gotten any decent rest the night before.
The next thing she was aware of was Shiro shaking her. She opened her eyes to his face, intent on her own. When he saw that she was awake he released her and took a step back.
"Get up," he said, his voice firm and a bit angry. "We have to go change the sheets on the prince's bed."
Katsu's eyes flew open at this and she sat up so quickly a rush of blood went to her head and made her dizzy.
"I'll go alone," she said hastily. Shiro cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Why do you want to go alone?"
Katsu cleared her throat and tried to look as though she were still angry. "I don't think being around each other is the best thing for either of us right now," she said haughtily, rising and moving past Shiro. "I just want to be alone right now." With this, she swept away from him, went to the laundry room to retrieve the fresh sheets and made her way to Vegeta's bedroom. She thought Shiro might try to follow her, but instead he just watched her leave the servants' quarters, looking thoughtful and somehow sad. Katsu dismissed the look on his face.
To her surprise, Vegeta was in his bedroom when she got there. She was briefly taken aback; he had never before been in his bedroom during the mid-afternoon.
"Well, don't lurk in the doorway," he said with a wave of his hand. "Come in, and shut the door behind you."
Katsu did as he had told her to, with a sudden creeping feeling in her stomach. Was he angry? What could he possibly be angry about?
He was seated in what was obviously his favorite chair in front of the window, and he did not speak as he watched her cross the room and begin to strip the sheets off his bed.
"I was waiting for you and dog-boy to come up to change the sheets," he said as she worked. "I figured your absence plus the state of my bed would be enough to clue in even someone as dense as he is, so I was going to send him off on some inane task and have you change the sheets yourself. Obviously, you think a little faster than I gave you credit for because you came alone."
Katsu did not say anything as she finished making the bed, but she felt oddly pleased at his praise and this, in itself, sickened her; as though she was his pet and should wag her tail at the slightest praise from him. It was an odd thought and she dismissed it, not wanting to make herself angry with Vegeta. He gave her reason to be angry with him more than often enough; no sense in making herself angry over nothing.
"You're not so sore today," he said, obviously noticing this by the ease with which she moved. "Come back again. Not tonight... Tomorrow night."
Katsu did not answer, wanting to make him wonder if she was going to come or not. Apparently, he did not wonder at all, because he did not speak again. Katsu finished what she was doing and moved for the door. For a second, she hesitated, somehow feeling that there was something she wanted to tell Vegeta. She could think of nothing, however, and thus went out the door silently, holding the soiled sheets in her arms. They were close to her face and they smelled like Vegeta, like her; like what they had done. A wave of something like guilt swept over her. Because of what she had done, even if she somehow managed to get off this accursed planet she would never fully escape it. She froze as explicit images rose unbidden in her mind; she would be forever haunted by visions of Vegeta with his head between her legs, Vegeta holding her down in his bed, Vegeta thrusting into her so hard that her body was pressed down far into the bed's soft mattress.
The sheets slipped from her hands and a second later she joined them on the floor as her knees gave out. She pressed her hands to her face, biting her lip, suddenly overcome by the urge to cry. Tears began to cascade down her cheeks, between her fingers, hitting her legs.
What am I doing? And why do I feel this way about it? Why does it hurt so much?
She wept silently for some time before she could regain her composure. She wiped the backs of her hands across her cheeks and gathered the sheets back into her arms before rising to go. Her face was still hot and red when she arrived back at the servants' quarters, but she hid it behind the sheets and escaped anyone's notice.
The rest of the day dragged, and that night Katsu's sleep was light as always and rampant with dreams. It was the next day that went by far too fast; she had begun to argue with herself in her mind, telling herself that she would not go to Vegeta that night. She had been through this routine before. No matter how forcefully she told herself that she was being used and was not going to stand for it anymore, it did not matter. She wanted to go back.
She lay in her cot with her arms crossed over her chest that night. The same thought played repeatedly through her mind: I won't go to him. Tonight, though, it was the truth: she had already resolved not to go to him. Guilt had wracked her body since her breakdown the previous day and there was no way she was going to put herself through that again. The shadows in the room shortened; the moon was rising as the hour began to grow late.
Katsu was just drifting to sleep when the cuff at her wrist began to beep. At first, her sleep addled brain did not draw the connection and she wondered briefly what the racket was. It took curses from the other servants to bring her fully awake and aware of what was going on. She had not changed into her sleeping clothes that night, because when the evening had first begun, she had planned on going to Vegeta. Now she wished she had thrown her dress off in a corner or into the laundry room; anything to escape the noise of the cuff, beeping insistently at her.
She stuffed her wrist between her knees under the blanket, sufficiently muffling the sound to appease the other servants. The cuff stopped beeping a few minutes later and Katsu settled back down to sleep. She was almost there, too, almost asleep when a hand pressed against her mouth. Her first instinct was panic and she began to thrash about. Another hand gripped one of her wrists and then she saw the glint of Vegeta's eyes right before her own.
"Shh," he whispered fiercely into her ear before scooping her into his arms. He flitted across the room silently, like a shadow across a wall, and they were on the staircase and heading away from the servants' quarters within seconds. Katsu's mind was still fogged by sleep, but it occurred to her that Vegeta had just taken quite a risk in coming down to the basement to get her. It would have seemed very odd for him to be in the servants' quarters should he have been seen by anyone else.
It was not until they reached Vegeta's room that she realized that this was exactly what she had been hoping to, and she thought she had succeeded in, avoiding: ending up in the prince's chambers.
"No," she murmured, pushing against Vegeta's chest with her hands.
He arched an eyebrow as he gazed down at her, still holding her in his arms as he crossed the room. They ended up at the bed, where Vegeta set Katsu down on her feet beside it. Her head tilted to one side and she yawned. Vegeta traced his hand down her cheek.
"Wake up, Katsu," he said softly.
She shook her head quickly, trying to clear it of fatigue and succeeding only in hurting her neck. She tried to stifle another yawn.
"Well, I know what will wake you up," Vegeta said with a slight grin as he wrapped one hand around her back to keep her on her feet as his other hand undid the laces on her dress. As he had predicted, this did wake her up quite a bit. The material of the dress parted, cold air greeting her skin, and Katsu grabbed Vegeta's hands. He looked at her quizzically.
"You're acting strange, Katsu... What's the problem?"
Katsu bit her lip, staring into the depths of his dark eyes. "I... I don't want to do this with you anymore."
They stared at each other for a few moments, both of their faces unreadable. Then Vegeta lowered his head and pressed his lips to her collarbone.
"I meant it," Katsu said, trying to sound firm, but ending up sounding more as though she were weeping. "Just let me go back."
Vegeta pushed the dress back, off Katsu's shoulders and it fell to the ground. Tears sprung to her eyes, spilling over, trailing down her cheeks. Vegeta seemed taken aback. He gripped her wrists, raising her hands to his face and kissing her fingers lightly.
"What's wrong, Katsu? It's not like this is the first time..."
Katsu shook her head, trying to get her wrists out of his grip. "I don't know," she said. "I just don't want this."
He transferred both of her wrists to one of his hands and slipped his other hand between her legs.
"Feels like you want this to me," he said, smirking. Katsu moaned.
"No," she breathed.
It was a very quick motion: one second she was standing by the bed and the next she was flat on her back on it, her legs in the air and spread wide, Vegeta gripping her ankles.
"No!" She said again, trying to sit up. Vegeta moved one of his hands to her stomach and forced her back down.
"I don't get it," he said. "You weren't this resistant even the first time." He paused and then a grin came over his face. "Well, its a good thing I know just what you like." With this he knelt, trailed his tongue along her inner thigh and then...
Katsu moaned and twisted her hands in the bed sheets. Why am I being so resistant? He's right, this isn't the first time. If I wanted to keep my chastity I should have acted this way that time, not now. I don't understand. I guess I just wasn't in the mood tonight, but ...
She lost her train of thought and a few moments later cried out, her body going tense all over. Vegeta came down onto the bed on top of her, pushing her back so they could both fit laying on the bed sideways.
He stared down into her eyes for a few moments. She kept her own gaze steady, eyeing him, remembering that she had been telling him no not long before and yet here he was, getting ready to take her anyway.
He did something unexpected then, though; something that took Katsu a bit aback. He leaned down and started kissing her before he began.
**To Be Continued**
