AN: Sorry this took so long. There is some fairly heavy stuff in this chapter, please note I have upped the rating to R
Once again thanks to all of you who read AND take the time to review. Everyone of your reviews means something to me.
Chapter 22 Who are you again?!?!?!
Monday about 5:30 PM
Ichigo watched Roshi run out the door. For the first time since her father sent her on this mission, she was starting to feel a sense of hope.
Then like usual her doubt caught up with her. 'I know that this is all pointless. By know most of my people are dead and even if Roshi teaches me everything he knows it won't help me when I return home. I am as good as dead. Not only am I as good as dead, but I am also a coward. If I were a real Saiyan, I would have gone back home the moment that Banana told me my father was dead. I am a coward and nothing I can do will change that. Changelings have a power level of 400 to 700 thousand. I was so happy to reach 70,000. 70,000 is a high level for my people, but it is pathetic compared to the changelings. To top it off, now without my tail, I can't even go Ouzaru so my chances of beating the Changelings off and saving my people are doomed.'
While she was tempted to let despair rule her thoughts for a few moments, Ichigo was not one to loose herself in despair however, and she began mentally arguing with her own doubts and fears.
'STOP! I can't doubt myself. I may have lost my tail, and I may not have been able to find the Super Saiyans of myth, but I did find the Vegeta Saiyans.'
'Big deal. All the normal Saiyans in the universe are not going to be able to help me.'
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I am not going to give up. I have come too far to just whimper away and start doubting myself now.'
'Hope is the crutch of the weak. You can hope all you want it won't change the fact that you're delusional.'
"I cannot give up, everyone is depending on me." She said aloud to enforce the thought.
"What'd you say?" Tee said from over by Boxers.
"Nothing concerning you, just thinking out loud." She shot back.
"Sheesh bite my head of will ya? I was just asking a question." Tee replied.
"Leave me alone, I need to think." Ichigo said back.
"Fine, I'm going to go eat. See you around Boxers." Tee said as he walked out the door.
"Hey, wait up! I'm coming to eat too!" Boxers called back. "You coming, or are you just going to sit here and starve?"
Ichigo pondered for a moment. "I think I need some time alone to think for a while."
Both Boxers and Tee gawked at her for a few moments. 'And she claims we don't act like Saiyans?' Boxers pondered to himself.
"Ok, if you say so. See you later." He said.
"Wait! Show me how to get out of this maze of a building." Ichigo commanded.
"Sure thing, just make sure you tell Roshi that you are leaving." Boxers said as he waved her forward.
"What, you afraid of him or something?" She said back mockingly.
"Ah, no, but then maybe you should be." He said back cocking an eyebrow at her.
Ichigo glared at him. She dropped her voice and fiercely spat back. "A REAL WARRIOR IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! If you want to question me, then you had better be able to back those words with ability. Roshi has proven to be a an able fighter, but NONE of you have a clue what it means to be a warrior!" She screamed at him while forming a ki ball in her right hand.
"Hey now calm down! Can't you take a simple joke? I was just teasing." Boxers said defensively.
"I fail to find the humor." Ichigo said flatly.
"Ah, yeah" Boxers said hesitantly as he turned around to lead her out of the complex.
* * *
Ichigo turned her scouter on. 'Now which way to my ship?' she thought to herself as she slowly turned in the air above the Capsule Corporation.
Beep beep beep! The scouter rang out as it picked up a high ki level moving away from her location. 'That must be Roshi' she thought to herself as the scouter fluctuated from 25,000 to 60,000 never settling on a set number.
Ichigo glared at the power level reading for several moments. 'I wonder just how powerful the jerk really is.'
Ichigo grimaced remembering the fight from the previous night. 'Mark my words Roshi, I will beat you before I leave.' She thought before turning and flying off in the direction her scouter had said her ship was in.
* * *
Roshi stopped in midair. He could sense the girl leaving the Capsule Corp. He waited several moments. "Guess she just doesn't want me to trust her" he said out loud shaking his head slowly in disgust when she didn't tell him where she was going.
"Damn it!" he cursed into the wind. "If I don't go home, mom will kill me and I will be lucky if I ever get out of the house again. At the same time I am responsible for letting Kinomi live. She has yet to show that she is actually trust worthy, and I can't just let her go off by herself."
Roshi thought for several minutes. "Guess that means I follow her and accept my punishment later, not like I ever had any choice in the matter." He said to himself aloud to finalize his decision.
Roshi took off to follow her. However, after just a few moments, he slowed way down. 'I had better go slowly, I told her to get rid of the scouter, but if she has it, it will detect me if I am not careful.'
"Kintoun!" He called out to the little yellow cloud.
The Kintoun soon reached him and he set out once again.
* * *
"DAMN IT!!! Where is it?!?!?!" Ichigo screamed while throwing wreckage around. "I have to find it. I can't believe I forgot about it. Oh how could I be so careless?"
'Careless, like when I stupidly let the jerk rip my tail off? Careless like when I let him beat me and dishonor me in combat?' Her doubts ripped into her as she franticly searched through the rubble of her ship.
'Ha, some ruler I would make. I run away when I should have stayed and died with my people. Then, I can't even keep my own tail and now I first forget about and then loose my mother's pendent. Who am I kidding, even if it is the proof of royalty, by the time I get home there won't be anyone left to rule.'
Ichigo sat in the middle of her ruined ship and like any sixteen-year-old girl faced with the overly harsh realities of the world, she broke down and started to cry. 'Damn it! I can't do anything right. WARRIORS DON'T CRY!!' She screamed at herself mentally.
A tattered picture of her mother suddenly blew past her in the wind. She grabbed it and looked at it for a few moments.
"Sometimes all that remains are tears." She said repeating something that Momo had said after her mother's funeral. "In those times the dam's must break, or the pain won't be washed away."
Ichigo hugged herself and leaned back on a ruined bulkhead. 'I wish Momo or my father were here.' She thought to herself as tears once again welled in her eyes.
* * *
Miles away, Roshi was starting to get suspicious. 'She's been at her ship for a long time now. I wonder what she is doing.'
While he didn't feel comfortable actually spying on her, he turned his earpiece on and opened the link to the one he had given her.
Nothing had prepared him to hear muffled sobs and whimpering cries.
'What on earth is going on? There is no one there, why is she crying?' Then another thought caught up with him. 'If she ever learns that I heard her crying for whatever reason she will probably take it just as bad as loosing her tail. She puts so much stake in her tough girl act that any little show of weakness is almost a criminal offense.'
Roshi turned the link off. 'Well, I think I need to go talk to Kami for a bit. I have not seen him in along time, but now seems like a good time to ask my questions. Like, where the hell did Buu go?'
* * *
Meanwhile on an approach vector with Earth, "Sir, we have detected wreckage with a functioning transponder that matches the Princess's ship." Mango reported to Banana.
Banana cracked his knuckles. "Wonderful." He smiled evilly. "So the little bitch crashed on this pathetic planet and now cannot escape. Oh how the Gods have smiled on us today men!" He yelled to the five other Saiyans on board.
"I do think that this is a wonderful place to start your reign as King sire," Kiwi said.
"Yes, I do say so myself. Pineapple, you have scanned the planet. Did the bitch survive the crash? Will we get to have some fun with her, or will I just have to settle for killing the populace of the world?"
"Ah yes sir, er I have found a power level of 26,000 near the crash site sir. It is close enough to her level when she left Saiya that I believe it to be her sir!"
"Ahhhhh wonderful, and are there any other threats on this world?"
"They appear to be technologically advanced with warp capable ships. However, our approach seems to be undetected. I have found 3 power levels of between 10,000 and 20,000. All other levels are far below that." Pineapple reported.
"Since not even the pretender King knew our real strength this should be a simple battle sir, all of us are stronger then the girl." Papaya stated from the back.
"Excellent. Set us down one hours flight time away from her. If her scouter has been damaged I want to take her by surprise. Otherwise we will act the rescue party until the time is right to dispose of her."
"Aye sir!" Durian said from the pilots seat.
* * *
When Roshi got to the sanctuary, Mr. Popo informed him that Kami had detected dire time was meditating on the problem. He would therefore not be available for several hours. Roshi had agreed to meditate in a separate room until he could speak with Kami.
* * *
Ichigo had cried herself to sleep. After the fight, the shortened night, and the training all afternoon, she was exhausted.
BEEP BEEEP BEEEEP! Her scouter woke her up. Ichigo pulled the communicator Roshi had given her back out of her ear and stuck it in her pants pocket. She then put her scouter back on.
"YAWN, Six power levels approaching rapidly. The highest is 54,560. Then there are two in the 40,000s and three in the 30,000s. It can't be Roshi and his cousins they would be coming from another direction. I wonder who they are and why they are coming right at me." She said aloud while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
'Guess I might as well find out.' She thought as she took off to fly in the direction of the oncoming powers.
* * *
'What the heck?' Ichigo thought to herself as she flew up to where the six warriors had landed.
"Princess Ichigo is that you? Where did you get such ridiculous clothes?
"Captain Banana? Is that you? I will ignore your comments, when there is nothing else to wear, I wear what I can."
Banana bowed into a kneel and replied. "Yes my princess. I am sorry for misspeaking."
Ichigo could have sworn she saw him smirk when he said that. "Why are you here?" She demanded.
"We, Myself and my men here came searching for you my princess. We needed to find you." Banana replied.
"Why?"
"So you could lead us my princess."
Ichigo looked at the men. Other then Captain Banana, she did not know any of them. Their being here was unsettling and she did not know why. She decided to try to calm her nerves using the technique that Roshi and the dream man had taught her earlier in the day.
"Haaaaahhhh" She let out a long breath. "How goes the fight on Saiya? Can we beat back the Changelings?"
"The fight was over the by the time you disappeared. Blizzard attacked and then left. There is no more threat you ran from nothing, you need not continue this goose chase for the imaginary Super Saiyan." Banana said calmly.
"My father is dead?"
"Yes, Ichigo Kudamono you will be queen when we return home."
"Then my first order is for you to go back and prepare for my coronation. My father's last orders were for me to find the Super Saiyans, I may not be able to find them, but there is much for me to learn here. I will return home shortly." Ichigo said sternly.
One of the men snorted a laugh.
"What do you think is so funny?" Ichigo demanded.
"You are." The squat man said back.
"Who are you and how dare you speak to me in such a manner!?" She screamed into his grimy face.
"I am warrior elite class Durian. We followed your power level as you came here. It is only 46,200. Pathetic. You ran when your father died fighting and now you seek to order us around?!" The man spat back.
The man's treasonous comment and a high pitched beep from her scouter both warned Ichigo of the impending attack. Moreover she sensed a change in the posture of the six men.
Surrounded, outnumbered, and out-massed, She did all that she could do; she leapt straight into the air.
WHAM!! Banana caught her slamming a double-handed fist into her head, she was thrown back to the ground.
Even before she had hit the ground she was reacting trying to find a weakness to exploit.
She hit the ground with a hollow sounding thud and sprung away from the point of impact.
WHACK!! A knee landed in the middle of her back slamming her once again into the ground.
Ten pairs of hands grabbed her and pinned her flat on her back to the ground.
Banana stood over her looking down at her like she was a chunk of spoiled meat at a banquet.
"What is the meaning of this!?!?!" She demanded.
"Ho ho ho, you have got to be joking. You should know well enough what this is about. You Princess are not fit to lead us. Your entire family is a disgrace to the Saiyan race. Weak and pathetic. You fail us by your very existence. Your father failed us when he failed to sire a worthy son to lead us. He failed again when he refused to remarry after your harlot of a mother died. To make matters worse, he sends you away to PROTECT you while we the loyal warriors died by the thousand." Banana spat at her.
"How dare you!" Ichigo screamed up at him.
"How dare I? How dare I? Tell me little girl what do you know of our ancient laws? Your family ruled because it was the strongest. Once before your pathetic waste of a family were challenged for the right to rule us. The VEGETA family were branded traitors and exiled. They should have been Kings but your petty worthless ancestors caused them to war with themselves and they were finally forced into SLAVERY to Cold and his sons. By the ancient laws, I declare myself KING. You are my slave. Unlike your stupid father I have struck a deal with Blizzard. When I return to Saiya with proof of your death, MY kingdom will be backed by the might of the Changelings."
"I will kill you for that you traitor!!" Ichigo said before Banana kicked her in the side of the mouth to shut her up.
Banana suddenly started laughing uncontrollably. "I have just realized something. You aren't even worthy to be called a Saiyan! Where is your tail bitch?!"
Ichigo could only glared up at him in mute protest.
"Roll her over and hold her down!" Banana directed.
She was forced onto her stomach and had her face slammed into the ground and rubbed in the dirt. Then she felt hands grabbing her belt.
"RAAAAAAAAHHHH" Riiiippppppppp For a few moments before the fabric gave way it felt like he was trying to rip her in half. Then her belt and the seams of her pants gave way. He ripped the cloth off of her revealing her mid-thigh length shorts.
Banana pulled her shorts down far enough to reveal the cauterized wound.
"You actually let yourself be docked? You are even more pathetic then I could have imagined! And they even cauterized the wound so you can't grow it back! You aren't even worth my time to kill all I have to do is take the record of this back to Blizzard and it will disgrace your family forever!!!"
Ichigo could have died right then and there. Nothing was worth this kind of humiliation. Banana was laughing his foolish head off and all she could do was squirm. She knew she could beat any one or possibly two of these men, but with five of them holding her down she didn't stand a chance. Ichigo was very busy examining her options when something bounced off her head.
"Roll her over I want to see the fear in her eyes while I talk to her!" She heard Banana say.
The next thing she knew he was holding something silver in front of her.
"What is this? Some sort of communicator? Who are you trying to communicate with? Should we hurry your death? Do you have friends coming?" Banana demanded. With each question he kicked her in the ribs.
"AAAAHHHH" Ichigo gasped for air. "Just kill me now and get it over with!" She screamed at him.
He laughed. "Oh no, we can't do that. We scanned this planet, there is no one here who would even be a challenge to us." He said as he bent down over her. He slowly caressed one of her thighs Running his hand up to her groin. "Besides, I think we can find something much more fun then just killing you. Right men?" He finished. Her entire body involuntarily shuddered.
"Over my dead body!" She screamed.
"Himgh, that can be arranged." He smirked. "But first let's stop anyone from listening in." He said as he crushed the communicator in his other hand.
He then pulled out his warrior's dagger. It was a large 20cm long vibrodager. With its composite diamond-filament titanium-carbide blade that vibrated at ultrasonic speeds, that dagger could cut through Ichigo's flesh like butter.
Holding the dagger in front of Ichigo's widening eyes he laughed. "I want to hear you scream. Then I'm going to have my pleasures with you, and then we are going to carve you piece by pretty little piece."
'I can't let him win. He's going to kill me, but I'm not going to let him win. I'll not scream I'll never give him the pleasure.' Ichigo thought as she watched him bring the dagger's point down on her forehead.
Banana used the dagger as a surgeon would use a scalpel. He barely cut the skin, but traced a line down the center of her forehead down the bridge of her nose over its tip and then down to her lips. A small trickle of blood ran down the bridge of her nose and pooled into her left eye. Ichigo ignored the burning pain. She stared straight forward, unblinking, unfeeling, and unseeing.
Banana traced his line over her lips and down her chin. He didn't even pause as the blade sliced through the softer skin of her neck. When he got to the neckline of her gi, he did pause. He glared into her eyes. "I want to hear you whimper girl. Beg for my mercy."
"Never!" Ichigo said back before spitting into his face. 'Why didn't I learn a breath blast attack? Or Eye lasers? I can't even shoot a ki blast with my hands planted in the ground. I can't let him win. I will never scream. NEVER!'
Seeing the determination in her eyes Banana trust the dagger into the ground next to her and cupped her right breast savagely as he bent down to lick the blood seeping from her neck and face. He leered at her and then savagely kissed her with his bloody lips.
Ichigo tried to bite him, but he was too fast. He pulled away and only received a face full of bloody spit. Grinning down at her he grabbed the dagger and savagely cut her gi off of her. Discarding the shredded cloth to the side, he leered down at her as if examining her for the smallest physical flaw.
"For a worthless piece of garbage, you are not bad looking. I think I am going to have some fun." He declared matter-o-factly as he started tracing his finger down her bra strap and then roughly cupped her left breast.
It hurt. Oh how it hurt, but Ichigo wasn't going to let him win. She clenched her jaw and stared at the sky.
"Someone hold her head up. I want her to watch." Banana ordered as he once again picked up the dagger and started cutting her. He traced continued to trace his line down the center of her body. Amazingly he didn't cut her bra off of her but mentioned leaving that for later.
Ichigo didn't scream.
"She's being a tough little bitch isn't she?" He asked as he kneeled down to lick her stomach starting right above her shorts and traveling up. His mouth moved to hover over her right breast as he slowly pulled the strap off of her right shoulder. Yanking the cup of her bra down he traced his tongue around her nipple.
Ichigo shuddered. She couldn't help it. 'I won't let him win, I won't let him win I won't let him win.' Ichigo repeated to herself over and over again as a mantra. Suddenly twisting in the men's grasp, she jerked to the side and managed to slam her shoulder into Banana's face. Following through, she almost broke her right arm free of the hands that were holding it down, but she was violently smashed back down into the ground before she could rip her way free.
"AAHHH AHHHH" She couldn't help but gasp in pain as Banana grabbed his dagger and thrust it deep into her right breast. It felt like a searing pain plunging into her. She felt skin and tissue part. Then it sliced into the muscles and finally jarred to a stop against her ribs.
"You like that do you? Just wait when we are done with you you're going to wish you had died at birth." She heard Banana say mockingly as he squeezed her chest forcing blood to flow more rapidly.
Crack!
Almost as if observing from the outside without feeling, she realized that Banana had just broken her jaw when she hadn't screamed. If only she had learned the eye lasers, or mouth attacks. 'If only... If only...' She felt hands once again running up her inner thighs. She shuddered and retreated further into her mind. 'This isn't happening, not to me, not now. I won't let him win. I won't let him win. I won't let him win.'
"Get those shorts off of her. Let's have some real fun!" She heard one of them say.
"Yeah, let's bring some real fun video back to Saiya!" Another one commented.
Ichigo no longer cared. If they didn't she would kill herself as soon as she could.
"No, not yet, I'm not done with this part of her yet"
Ichigo cracked. Or at least her resolve did. She had never in her life actually been afraid. During her fight with Roshi she was afraid of failure. But this was different. Never before had she ever feared for herself. Never before had she been thrust into a situation where she had no control what so ever. She withdrew into a small corner of her mind she had never been before. Pure uncutable terror gripped her. She wouldn't, couldn't even scream out in indignant protest or pain. Her voice had left her. Time stopped and an eternity of anguish and personal hatred, fear and loathing set in.
* * *
Roshi had fallen asleep. After only getting a few hours of sleep the night before and then trying to train the girl and his cousins, he was exhausted. In the peaceful serenity of the Sanctuary, it had only taken him a few minutes to fall into a peaceful slumber. He was suddenly woken back into reality by Mr. Popo.
"I am sorry, but Kami has said that you are needed to go back down to the surface now." Mr. Popo said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked.
"Open your senses Roshi" a voice said from behind him.
He whipped around to see Dende, standing behind him. "Um, ok..." he replied. He did not need to ask why once he had. He immediately felt six large ki's moving towards the girl he knew as Kinomi.
"Thank you, I have to go." Is all he said before he ran to the edge and jumped off falling to the level were the Kintoun could catch him.
Turning on his communicator he called Slip. "Slip you got the GKSS running yet?"
"No! Why you loose your stupid barbarian woman?" Slip replied crassly over the link.
"Um no, but I think you had better get it running soon. Oh, and get Boxers and Tee found, I will need there help tonight. This isn't a joke just DO it ok no questions just get Boxers and Tee and get the GKSS running and do it now!" He said quickly before breaking the link.
Slip grumbled for a bit and then got up and sent an email message to Tee and Boxers to go find Roshi. She then went back to sorting out her lab.
Roshi had broken the link and started listening to whatever Ichigo's was picking up.
'Princess Ichigo??? Did I hear that right? She is responding to it... So her real name is Ichigo Kudamono and she is the Royal princess Oh does she have some explaining to do when I catch up with her' Roshi thought as he spurred the Kintoun on.
When they turned on her and labeled one of them the true king, it surprised him, but not totally. He seemed to recall that being one of the few things Vegeta had reportedly said about Saiyan law. The cowardly way they ganged up on her made him mad, however, and it spurred him on that much faster.
When they hinted at rape and worse before breaking the communicator Roshi was infuriated. He didn't care for Princess Lying Ichigo. But just the thought of anyone doing that repulsed him. As his anger grew so did his power.
Nothing, however, prepared him for what he saw when he got within eyesight of the group. They were just starting to pull down her shorts, this was enough to spur him to faster movement. But, what they had done to the rest of her formerly beautiful body was revolting. A large wound in her chest bled freely. A cut neatly bisected her from forehead to lower stomach, and multiple bruises were already starting to form.
Roshi was utterly disgusted. He wouldn't wish such horrific abuse on his worst enemy. No one disserved to go through what she had just experienced. He released his anger and slammed into the one who appeared to be the strongest of the group. After hitting the ground he dug a good forty-foot trench with the man's back before jumping off and turning to face the rest of the Saiyans.
The man he had attacked slowly got up.
"You have just made the worst mistake of your life boy. You have no idea what you're getting into. You may have caught us by surprise but now that you are here there is no place to run!" Banana spat out as he got up.
"Who said anything about running?" Roshi said calmly.
"Funny, just who the hell do you think you are brat?" Banana demanded.
Roshi took several steps back so he could look at all of them at the same time. Letting his anger fuel his aura, he spoke, "I am Son Roshi. I am the eldest heir of the Family Vegeta from the time 550 some years ago when Frieza attempted to exterminate the Saiyan race." He paused for effect his blue aura building like a firestorm around him. Clenching his fists, he created two small explosions that rippled the ground and shook the air around him. "By your own words, I am your king." He said calmly and evenly with as much force as he could muster.
* * *
Important Authors Note.
I have a friend who I don't talk to much anymore. When she was eighteen, she was brutally beaten and Raped. This was several years ago and she still has not recovered from her ordeal. I did not include the attempted rape in this chapter to glorify it as some authors here on FF.net have done. It is a despicable EVIL disgusting act and being Male I truly cannot know what it would feel like but I fully believe that any guy who thinks that Rape is funny should have his balls removed with a sledge hammer or other painful manner.
My heart goes out to anyone who has ever been affected by rape.
Now, I would like your honest assessment of this chapter. Should the Rating go up to NC-17 because of what is in this chapter? Please tell me what you think.
* * *
# I would like to thank Adam for the idea of using the Durian fruit as one of my villains. Thanks man!
* Durians The stinking fruit. During the ripening process this fruit spreads a bad smell. This is so bad that in south-east Asia the fruit may not be taken into an airplane or hotels.
* The taste of the durian is very good and special, like vanilla. So special that even durian parties are organized.
* Do not store the durian, it smells too bad.
This stuff is actually real fruit, I can't make something this funny up. Don't store cause it smells too bad... HA HA ;)
Lastly but not least. Thanks again to all of you who told me about the Html. I am not going to worry about that for a while. I think the quality of the written work is of more importance to you readers then how the text looks on the screen. Once I am all done revising, I will post the new chapters in html... and THEN repost these old chapters AGAIN only this time without taking the whole thing down.
Once again thanks to all of you who read AND take the time to review. Everyone of your reviews means something to me.
Chapter 22 Who are you again?!?!?!
Monday about 5:30 PM
Ichigo watched Roshi run out the door. For the first time since her father sent her on this mission, she was starting to feel a sense of hope.
Then like usual her doubt caught up with her. 'I know that this is all pointless. By know most of my people are dead and even if Roshi teaches me everything he knows it won't help me when I return home. I am as good as dead. Not only am I as good as dead, but I am also a coward. If I were a real Saiyan, I would have gone back home the moment that Banana told me my father was dead. I am a coward and nothing I can do will change that. Changelings have a power level of 400 to 700 thousand. I was so happy to reach 70,000. 70,000 is a high level for my people, but it is pathetic compared to the changelings. To top it off, now without my tail, I can't even go Ouzaru so my chances of beating the Changelings off and saving my people are doomed.'
While she was tempted to let despair rule her thoughts for a few moments, Ichigo was not one to loose herself in despair however, and she began mentally arguing with her own doubts and fears.
'STOP! I can't doubt myself. I may have lost my tail, and I may not have been able to find the Super Saiyans of myth, but I did find the Vegeta Saiyans.'
'Big deal. All the normal Saiyans in the universe are not going to be able to help me.'
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I am not going to give up. I have come too far to just whimper away and start doubting myself now.'
'Hope is the crutch of the weak. You can hope all you want it won't change the fact that you're delusional.'
"I cannot give up, everyone is depending on me." She said aloud to enforce the thought.
"What'd you say?" Tee said from over by Boxers.
"Nothing concerning you, just thinking out loud." She shot back.
"Sheesh bite my head of will ya? I was just asking a question." Tee replied.
"Leave me alone, I need to think." Ichigo said back.
"Fine, I'm going to go eat. See you around Boxers." Tee said as he walked out the door.
"Hey, wait up! I'm coming to eat too!" Boxers called back. "You coming, or are you just going to sit here and starve?"
Ichigo pondered for a moment. "I think I need some time alone to think for a while."
Both Boxers and Tee gawked at her for a few moments. 'And she claims we don't act like Saiyans?' Boxers pondered to himself.
"Ok, if you say so. See you later." He said.
"Wait! Show me how to get out of this maze of a building." Ichigo commanded.
"Sure thing, just make sure you tell Roshi that you are leaving." Boxers said as he waved her forward.
"What, you afraid of him or something?" She said back mockingly.
"Ah, no, but then maybe you should be." He said back cocking an eyebrow at her.
Ichigo glared at him. She dropped her voice and fiercely spat back. "A REAL WARRIOR IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! If you want to question me, then you had better be able to back those words with ability. Roshi has proven to be a an able fighter, but NONE of you have a clue what it means to be a warrior!" She screamed at him while forming a ki ball in her right hand.
"Hey now calm down! Can't you take a simple joke? I was just teasing." Boxers said defensively.
"I fail to find the humor." Ichigo said flatly.
"Ah, yeah" Boxers said hesitantly as he turned around to lead her out of the complex.
* * *
Ichigo turned her scouter on. 'Now which way to my ship?' she thought to herself as she slowly turned in the air above the Capsule Corporation.
Beep beep beep! The scouter rang out as it picked up a high ki level moving away from her location. 'That must be Roshi' she thought to herself as the scouter fluctuated from 25,000 to 60,000 never settling on a set number.
Ichigo glared at the power level reading for several moments. 'I wonder just how powerful the jerk really is.'
Ichigo grimaced remembering the fight from the previous night. 'Mark my words Roshi, I will beat you before I leave.' She thought before turning and flying off in the direction her scouter had said her ship was in.
* * *
Roshi stopped in midair. He could sense the girl leaving the Capsule Corp. He waited several moments. "Guess she just doesn't want me to trust her" he said out loud shaking his head slowly in disgust when she didn't tell him where she was going.
"Damn it!" he cursed into the wind. "If I don't go home, mom will kill me and I will be lucky if I ever get out of the house again. At the same time I am responsible for letting Kinomi live. She has yet to show that she is actually trust worthy, and I can't just let her go off by herself."
Roshi thought for several minutes. "Guess that means I follow her and accept my punishment later, not like I ever had any choice in the matter." He said to himself aloud to finalize his decision.
Roshi took off to follow her. However, after just a few moments, he slowed way down. 'I had better go slowly, I told her to get rid of the scouter, but if she has it, it will detect me if I am not careful.'
"Kintoun!" He called out to the little yellow cloud.
The Kintoun soon reached him and he set out once again.
* * *
"DAMN IT!!! Where is it?!?!?!" Ichigo screamed while throwing wreckage around. "I have to find it. I can't believe I forgot about it. Oh how could I be so careless?"
'Careless, like when I stupidly let the jerk rip my tail off? Careless like when I let him beat me and dishonor me in combat?' Her doubts ripped into her as she franticly searched through the rubble of her ship.
'Ha, some ruler I would make. I run away when I should have stayed and died with my people. Then, I can't even keep my own tail and now I first forget about and then loose my mother's pendent. Who am I kidding, even if it is the proof of royalty, by the time I get home there won't be anyone left to rule.'
Ichigo sat in the middle of her ruined ship and like any sixteen-year-old girl faced with the overly harsh realities of the world, she broke down and started to cry. 'Damn it! I can't do anything right. WARRIORS DON'T CRY!!' She screamed at herself mentally.
A tattered picture of her mother suddenly blew past her in the wind. She grabbed it and looked at it for a few moments.
"Sometimes all that remains are tears." She said repeating something that Momo had said after her mother's funeral. "In those times the dam's must break, or the pain won't be washed away."
Ichigo hugged herself and leaned back on a ruined bulkhead. 'I wish Momo or my father were here.' She thought to herself as tears once again welled in her eyes.
* * *
Miles away, Roshi was starting to get suspicious. 'She's been at her ship for a long time now. I wonder what she is doing.'
While he didn't feel comfortable actually spying on her, he turned his earpiece on and opened the link to the one he had given her.
Nothing had prepared him to hear muffled sobs and whimpering cries.
'What on earth is going on? There is no one there, why is she crying?' Then another thought caught up with him. 'If she ever learns that I heard her crying for whatever reason she will probably take it just as bad as loosing her tail. She puts so much stake in her tough girl act that any little show of weakness is almost a criminal offense.'
Roshi turned the link off. 'Well, I think I need to go talk to Kami for a bit. I have not seen him in along time, but now seems like a good time to ask my questions. Like, where the hell did Buu go?'
* * *
Meanwhile on an approach vector with Earth, "Sir, we have detected wreckage with a functioning transponder that matches the Princess's ship." Mango reported to Banana.
Banana cracked his knuckles. "Wonderful." He smiled evilly. "So the little bitch crashed on this pathetic planet and now cannot escape. Oh how the Gods have smiled on us today men!" He yelled to the five other Saiyans on board.
"I do think that this is a wonderful place to start your reign as King sire," Kiwi said.
"Yes, I do say so myself. Pineapple, you have scanned the planet. Did the bitch survive the crash? Will we get to have some fun with her, or will I just have to settle for killing the populace of the world?"
"Ah yes sir, er I have found a power level of 26,000 near the crash site sir. It is close enough to her level when she left Saiya that I believe it to be her sir!"
"Ahhhhh wonderful, and are there any other threats on this world?"
"They appear to be technologically advanced with warp capable ships. However, our approach seems to be undetected. I have found 3 power levels of between 10,000 and 20,000. All other levels are far below that." Pineapple reported.
"Since not even the pretender King knew our real strength this should be a simple battle sir, all of us are stronger then the girl." Papaya stated from the back.
"Excellent. Set us down one hours flight time away from her. If her scouter has been damaged I want to take her by surprise. Otherwise we will act the rescue party until the time is right to dispose of her."
"Aye sir!" Durian said from the pilots seat.
* * *
When Roshi got to the sanctuary, Mr. Popo informed him that Kami had detected dire time was meditating on the problem. He would therefore not be available for several hours. Roshi had agreed to meditate in a separate room until he could speak with Kami.
* * *
Ichigo had cried herself to sleep. After the fight, the shortened night, and the training all afternoon, she was exhausted.
BEEP BEEEP BEEEEP! Her scouter woke her up. Ichigo pulled the communicator Roshi had given her back out of her ear and stuck it in her pants pocket. She then put her scouter back on.
"YAWN, Six power levels approaching rapidly. The highest is 54,560. Then there are two in the 40,000s and three in the 30,000s. It can't be Roshi and his cousins they would be coming from another direction. I wonder who they are and why they are coming right at me." She said aloud while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
'Guess I might as well find out.' She thought as she took off to fly in the direction of the oncoming powers.
* * *
'What the heck?' Ichigo thought to herself as she flew up to where the six warriors had landed.
"Princess Ichigo is that you? Where did you get such ridiculous clothes?
"Captain Banana? Is that you? I will ignore your comments, when there is nothing else to wear, I wear what I can."
Banana bowed into a kneel and replied. "Yes my princess. I am sorry for misspeaking."
Ichigo could have sworn she saw him smirk when he said that. "Why are you here?" She demanded.
"We, Myself and my men here came searching for you my princess. We needed to find you." Banana replied.
"Why?"
"So you could lead us my princess."
Ichigo looked at the men. Other then Captain Banana, she did not know any of them. Their being here was unsettling and she did not know why. She decided to try to calm her nerves using the technique that Roshi and the dream man had taught her earlier in the day.
"Haaaaahhhh" She let out a long breath. "How goes the fight on Saiya? Can we beat back the Changelings?"
"The fight was over the by the time you disappeared. Blizzard attacked and then left. There is no more threat you ran from nothing, you need not continue this goose chase for the imaginary Super Saiyan." Banana said calmly.
"My father is dead?"
"Yes, Ichigo Kudamono you will be queen when we return home."
"Then my first order is for you to go back and prepare for my coronation. My father's last orders were for me to find the Super Saiyans, I may not be able to find them, but there is much for me to learn here. I will return home shortly." Ichigo said sternly.
One of the men snorted a laugh.
"What do you think is so funny?" Ichigo demanded.
"You are." The squat man said back.
"Who are you and how dare you speak to me in such a manner!?" She screamed into his grimy face.
"I am warrior elite class Durian. We followed your power level as you came here. It is only 46,200. Pathetic. You ran when your father died fighting and now you seek to order us around?!" The man spat back.
The man's treasonous comment and a high pitched beep from her scouter both warned Ichigo of the impending attack. Moreover she sensed a change in the posture of the six men.
Surrounded, outnumbered, and out-massed, She did all that she could do; she leapt straight into the air.
WHAM!! Banana caught her slamming a double-handed fist into her head, she was thrown back to the ground.
Even before she had hit the ground she was reacting trying to find a weakness to exploit.
She hit the ground with a hollow sounding thud and sprung away from the point of impact.
WHACK!! A knee landed in the middle of her back slamming her once again into the ground.
Ten pairs of hands grabbed her and pinned her flat on her back to the ground.
Banana stood over her looking down at her like she was a chunk of spoiled meat at a banquet.
"What is the meaning of this!?!?!" She demanded.
"Ho ho ho, you have got to be joking. You should know well enough what this is about. You Princess are not fit to lead us. Your entire family is a disgrace to the Saiyan race. Weak and pathetic. You fail us by your very existence. Your father failed us when he failed to sire a worthy son to lead us. He failed again when he refused to remarry after your harlot of a mother died. To make matters worse, he sends you away to PROTECT you while we the loyal warriors died by the thousand." Banana spat at her.
"How dare you!" Ichigo screamed up at him.
"How dare I? How dare I? Tell me little girl what do you know of our ancient laws? Your family ruled because it was the strongest. Once before your pathetic waste of a family were challenged for the right to rule us. The VEGETA family were branded traitors and exiled. They should have been Kings but your petty worthless ancestors caused them to war with themselves and they were finally forced into SLAVERY to Cold and his sons. By the ancient laws, I declare myself KING. You are my slave. Unlike your stupid father I have struck a deal with Blizzard. When I return to Saiya with proof of your death, MY kingdom will be backed by the might of the Changelings."
"I will kill you for that you traitor!!" Ichigo said before Banana kicked her in the side of the mouth to shut her up.
Banana suddenly started laughing uncontrollably. "I have just realized something. You aren't even worthy to be called a Saiyan! Where is your tail bitch?!"
Ichigo could only glared up at him in mute protest.
"Roll her over and hold her down!" Banana directed.
She was forced onto her stomach and had her face slammed into the ground and rubbed in the dirt. Then she felt hands grabbing her belt.
"RAAAAAAAAHHHH" Riiiippppppppp For a few moments before the fabric gave way it felt like he was trying to rip her in half. Then her belt and the seams of her pants gave way. He ripped the cloth off of her revealing her mid-thigh length shorts.
Banana pulled her shorts down far enough to reveal the cauterized wound.
"You actually let yourself be docked? You are even more pathetic then I could have imagined! And they even cauterized the wound so you can't grow it back! You aren't even worth my time to kill all I have to do is take the record of this back to Blizzard and it will disgrace your family forever!!!"
Ichigo could have died right then and there. Nothing was worth this kind of humiliation. Banana was laughing his foolish head off and all she could do was squirm. She knew she could beat any one or possibly two of these men, but with five of them holding her down she didn't stand a chance. Ichigo was very busy examining her options when something bounced off her head.
"Roll her over I want to see the fear in her eyes while I talk to her!" She heard Banana say.
The next thing she knew he was holding something silver in front of her.
"What is this? Some sort of communicator? Who are you trying to communicate with? Should we hurry your death? Do you have friends coming?" Banana demanded. With each question he kicked her in the ribs.
"AAAAHHHH" Ichigo gasped for air. "Just kill me now and get it over with!" She screamed at him.
He laughed. "Oh no, we can't do that. We scanned this planet, there is no one here who would even be a challenge to us." He said as he bent down over her. He slowly caressed one of her thighs Running his hand up to her groin. "Besides, I think we can find something much more fun then just killing you. Right men?" He finished. Her entire body involuntarily shuddered.
"Over my dead body!" She screamed.
"Himgh, that can be arranged." He smirked. "But first let's stop anyone from listening in." He said as he crushed the communicator in his other hand.
He then pulled out his warrior's dagger. It was a large 20cm long vibrodager. With its composite diamond-filament titanium-carbide blade that vibrated at ultrasonic speeds, that dagger could cut through Ichigo's flesh like butter.
Holding the dagger in front of Ichigo's widening eyes he laughed. "I want to hear you scream. Then I'm going to have my pleasures with you, and then we are going to carve you piece by pretty little piece."
'I can't let him win. He's going to kill me, but I'm not going to let him win. I'll not scream I'll never give him the pleasure.' Ichigo thought as she watched him bring the dagger's point down on her forehead.
Banana used the dagger as a surgeon would use a scalpel. He barely cut the skin, but traced a line down the center of her forehead down the bridge of her nose over its tip and then down to her lips. A small trickle of blood ran down the bridge of her nose and pooled into her left eye. Ichigo ignored the burning pain. She stared straight forward, unblinking, unfeeling, and unseeing.
Banana traced his line over her lips and down her chin. He didn't even pause as the blade sliced through the softer skin of her neck. When he got to the neckline of her gi, he did pause. He glared into her eyes. "I want to hear you whimper girl. Beg for my mercy."
"Never!" Ichigo said back before spitting into his face. 'Why didn't I learn a breath blast attack? Or Eye lasers? I can't even shoot a ki blast with my hands planted in the ground. I can't let him win. I will never scream. NEVER!'
Seeing the determination in her eyes Banana trust the dagger into the ground next to her and cupped her right breast savagely as he bent down to lick the blood seeping from her neck and face. He leered at her and then savagely kissed her with his bloody lips.
Ichigo tried to bite him, but he was too fast. He pulled away and only received a face full of bloody spit. Grinning down at her he grabbed the dagger and savagely cut her gi off of her. Discarding the shredded cloth to the side, he leered down at her as if examining her for the smallest physical flaw.
"For a worthless piece of garbage, you are not bad looking. I think I am going to have some fun." He declared matter-o-factly as he started tracing his finger down her bra strap and then roughly cupped her left breast.
It hurt. Oh how it hurt, but Ichigo wasn't going to let him win. She clenched her jaw and stared at the sky.
"Someone hold her head up. I want her to watch." Banana ordered as he once again picked up the dagger and started cutting her. He traced continued to trace his line down the center of her body. Amazingly he didn't cut her bra off of her but mentioned leaving that for later.
Ichigo didn't scream.
"She's being a tough little bitch isn't she?" He asked as he kneeled down to lick her stomach starting right above her shorts and traveling up. His mouth moved to hover over her right breast as he slowly pulled the strap off of her right shoulder. Yanking the cup of her bra down he traced his tongue around her nipple.
Ichigo shuddered. She couldn't help it. 'I won't let him win, I won't let him win I won't let him win.' Ichigo repeated to herself over and over again as a mantra. Suddenly twisting in the men's grasp, she jerked to the side and managed to slam her shoulder into Banana's face. Following through, she almost broke her right arm free of the hands that were holding it down, but she was violently smashed back down into the ground before she could rip her way free.
"AAHHH AHHHH" She couldn't help but gasp in pain as Banana grabbed his dagger and thrust it deep into her right breast. It felt like a searing pain plunging into her. She felt skin and tissue part. Then it sliced into the muscles and finally jarred to a stop against her ribs.
"You like that do you? Just wait when we are done with you you're going to wish you had died at birth." She heard Banana say mockingly as he squeezed her chest forcing blood to flow more rapidly.
Crack!
Almost as if observing from the outside without feeling, she realized that Banana had just broken her jaw when she hadn't screamed. If only she had learned the eye lasers, or mouth attacks. 'If only... If only...' She felt hands once again running up her inner thighs. She shuddered and retreated further into her mind. 'This isn't happening, not to me, not now. I won't let him win. I won't let him win. I won't let him win.'
"Get those shorts off of her. Let's have some real fun!" She heard one of them say.
"Yeah, let's bring some real fun video back to Saiya!" Another one commented.
Ichigo no longer cared. If they didn't she would kill herself as soon as she could.
"No, not yet, I'm not done with this part of her yet"
Ichigo cracked. Or at least her resolve did. She had never in her life actually been afraid. During her fight with Roshi she was afraid of failure. But this was different. Never before had she ever feared for herself. Never before had she been thrust into a situation where she had no control what so ever. She withdrew into a small corner of her mind she had never been before. Pure uncutable terror gripped her. She wouldn't, couldn't even scream out in indignant protest or pain. Her voice had left her. Time stopped and an eternity of anguish and personal hatred, fear and loathing set in.
* * *
Roshi had fallen asleep. After only getting a few hours of sleep the night before and then trying to train the girl and his cousins, he was exhausted. In the peaceful serenity of the Sanctuary, it had only taken him a few minutes to fall into a peaceful slumber. He was suddenly woken back into reality by Mr. Popo.
"I am sorry, but Kami has said that you are needed to go back down to the surface now." Mr. Popo said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked.
"Open your senses Roshi" a voice said from behind him.
He whipped around to see Dende, standing behind him. "Um, ok..." he replied. He did not need to ask why once he had. He immediately felt six large ki's moving towards the girl he knew as Kinomi.
"Thank you, I have to go." Is all he said before he ran to the edge and jumped off falling to the level were the Kintoun could catch him.
Turning on his communicator he called Slip. "Slip you got the GKSS running yet?"
"No! Why you loose your stupid barbarian woman?" Slip replied crassly over the link.
"Um no, but I think you had better get it running soon. Oh, and get Boxers and Tee found, I will need there help tonight. This isn't a joke just DO it ok no questions just get Boxers and Tee and get the GKSS running and do it now!" He said quickly before breaking the link.
Slip grumbled for a bit and then got up and sent an email message to Tee and Boxers to go find Roshi. She then went back to sorting out her lab.
Roshi had broken the link and started listening to whatever Ichigo's was picking up.
'Princess Ichigo??? Did I hear that right? She is responding to it... So her real name is Ichigo Kudamono and she is the Royal princess Oh does she have some explaining to do when I catch up with her' Roshi thought as he spurred the Kintoun on.
When they turned on her and labeled one of them the true king, it surprised him, but not totally. He seemed to recall that being one of the few things Vegeta had reportedly said about Saiyan law. The cowardly way they ganged up on her made him mad, however, and it spurred him on that much faster.
When they hinted at rape and worse before breaking the communicator Roshi was infuriated. He didn't care for Princess Lying Ichigo. But just the thought of anyone doing that repulsed him. As his anger grew so did his power.
Nothing, however, prepared him for what he saw when he got within eyesight of the group. They were just starting to pull down her shorts, this was enough to spur him to faster movement. But, what they had done to the rest of her formerly beautiful body was revolting. A large wound in her chest bled freely. A cut neatly bisected her from forehead to lower stomach, and multiple bruises were already starting to form.
Roshi was utterly disgusted. He wouldn't wish such horrific abuse on his worst enemy. No one disserved to go through what she had just experienced. He released his anger and slammed into the one who appeared to be the strongest of the group. After hitting the ground he dug a good forty-foot trench with the man's back before jumping off and turning to face the rest of the Saiyans.
The man he had attacked slowly got up.
"You have just made the worst mistake of your life boy. You have no idea what you're getting into. You may have caught us by surprise but now that you are here there is no place to run!" Banana spat out as he got up.
"Who said anything about running?" Roshi said calmly.
"Funny, just who the hell do you think you are brat?" Banana demanded.
Roshi took several steps back so he could look at all of them at the same time. Letting his anger fuel his aura, he spoke, "I am Son Roshi. I am the eldest heir of the Family Vegeta from the time 550 some years ago when Frieza attempted to exterminate the Saiyan race." He paused for effect his blue aura building like a firestorm around him. Clenching his fists, he created two small explosions that rippled the ground and shook the air around him. "By your own words, I am your king." He said calmly and evenly with as much force as he could muster.
* * *
Important Authors Note.
I have a friend who I don't talk to much anymore. When she was eighteen, she was brutally beaten and Raped. This was several years ago and she still has not recovered from her ordeal. I did not include the attempted rape in this chapter to glorify it as some authors here on FF.net have done. It is a despicable EVIL disgusting act and being Male I truly cannot know what it would feel like but I fully believe that any guy who thinks that Rape is funny should have his balls removed with a sledge hammer or other painful manner.
My heart goes out to anyone who has ever been affected by rape.
Now, I would like your honest assessment of this chapter. Should the Rating go up to NC-17 because of what is in this chapter? Please tell me what you think.
* * *
# I would like to thank Adam for the idea of using the Durian fruit as one of my villains. Thanks man!
* Durians The stinking fruit. During the ripening process this fruit spreads a bad smell. This is so bad that in south-east Asia the fruit may not be taken into an airplane or hotels.
* The taste of the durian is very good and special, like vanilla. So special that even durian parties are organized.
* Do not store the durian, it smells too bad.
This stuff is actually real fruit, I can't make something this funny up. Don't store cause it smells too bad... HA HA ;)
Lastly but not least. Thanks again to all of you who told me about the Html. I am not going to worry about that for a while. I think the quality of the written work is of more importance to you readers then how the text looks on the screen. Once I am all done revising, I will post the new chapters in html... and THEN repost these old chapters AGAIN only this time without taking the whole thing down.
