Disclaimer: Bet you didn't know this, but I'm really the daughter of Akira Toriyama! When he dies, I inherit it all! Someday I'll own DBZ! But until the old man croaks, I don't own anything. =P (And for you lawyers out there, I'm being completely facetious here!)
Questions and Answers
Bardock had two hours before he was expected to show up for the meal with the diplomats, and he intended to use them well. He needed to talk to both Turles and Radditz, but since his brother had not only had contact with the mysterious onna, but might also have a direct relationship to the suspicious diplomat from Earth, that was who he was going to track down first. Besides that, Radditz tended to be easier to find, and was less of a pain to deal with. Talking to Turles was usually grounds for a headache for the rest of the day.
As he walked down the hallway leading to the first class training facilities, he could only be grateful that he knew his twin well enough to know that Turles was most likely to be found training at this time of day. It made things a lot simpler when you could narrow the search down to a specific quarter of the palace, instead of, say, the training gyms, the cafeterias... and every damn onna's bed on the planet.
Upon reaching the first of the sparring rooms, Bardock nearly smiled as he walked in. Fate must have turned her kind face in his direction, because there was his brother, the familiar face framed by spiky black hair furrowed in concentration as he sparred with some other Saiyan male that Bardock didn't recognize. Turles obviously had the upper hand in the battle, a faint smirk playing on his lips as he easily dodged a fist aimed for his gut, returning the favor with an elbow jabbed into his opponent's side. The two continued to exchange blows as Bardock studied the fight, unnoticed by combatants and spectators alike.
Cocky, arrogant bastard... he snorted to himself. Turles was no longer even taking his sparring partner seriously and was now simply toying with him. One of these days, you'll run into an opponent who'll use your overconfidence against you, and then where will you be? A small smile crept across Bardock's features at the answer to his question. In a regen tank, of course. Or just plain dead.
Finally tiring of watching his brother play, Bardock folded his arms across his chest and inhaled slowly. "Hey, Turles!!" he barked sharply, smirking with an inner glee as Turles's head snapped up in a startled reflex, his concentration completely broken. The Saiyan who'd been sparring with Turles wasted no time in taking full advantage of his opponent's momentary inattention, grinning wickedly as he connected a powerful punch with Turles's jaw.
Turles's head snapped back from the impact of the blow and he stumbled as he tried to regain his balance. Swiftly bringing his head back to face his foe, the spiky haired warrior lifted a hand to wipe a trickle of blood from his lip. The sight of the blood only seemed to enrage him further, a dark light dancing behind his cobalt eyes, and he snarled, "Fucking asshole!"
Quick as lightning, the angry Saiyan's fist rammed itself in his unfortunate opponent's belly, knocking the man clear across the room and into the wall with enough force to leave a considerable dent. Without another glance at his fallen enemy, Turles growled and stalked over to where his brother stood smirking, fists still balled as though prepared to strike. "Mother fucking bastard!" he shouted when he was inches away from Bardock's face. "You did that just to break my concentration!"
Snorting lightly at the irony of his twin brother calling him a bastard, Bardock lifted an indifferent eyebrow and shrugged. "So what? You shouldn't have been so focused on the fight at hand that you could be caught off guard like that." Unfolding his arms, he placed his open palm on Turles's chest and pushed firmly to get the other man's face out of his own. "And I wouldn't toss that particular insult around too lightly, Mr. I Bed Any Onna Who's Willing!"
Arrogant Turles may be, even a little vain, and definitely on the perverted side, but stupid he was not. He caught that insult, as well as the full connotations it carried, and he was not a happy Saiyan! "Fuck off, ototo-chan!" he sneered, batting Bardock's arm away from his chest. "Unless you have nothing better to do than interrupt my training!"
Bardock gritted his teeth, inwardly seething at the filial reference. It was basically true, since Turles had been born a few minutes before him, but the older of the twins used the term as a way to mock Bardock and assert 'superiority', not as an endearment. Not to mention just to get on Bardock's nerves - Bardock hated being called 'ototo-chan', and Turles knew it. "Actually, I do have better things to do with my time! Unfortunately, I can't do any of them until I talk with you, Turles," he growled. Turning his head to glare menacingly at the other Saiyans in the training room, he barked. "Out!" Much to his satisfaction, the room quickly emptied of its occupants, leaving only himself and his brother.
As the last of the first class soldiers filed out, Turles grabbed a towel and started wiping the sweat off his well muscled body, shooting a few glares in his twin's direction. "Well, what do you want, little brother?" he growled irritably, annoyed that the confrontation would be dragged out a little longer. "Surely you-"
"Shut up," Bardock cut in abruptly, his voice deadly calm now. Surprisingly, Turles didn't protest, although his lip did curl into a sneer. "I'm here to talk to you about your fucking habits, in the very literal sense of the term." Turles blinked. This was not what he had expected in the slightest. "You want to know what I saw today, Turles?" the younger Saiyan continued before his brother could interject a comment. "Vegeta-ou and I met the diplomats from Chikyuu-sei today. One of them was a normal, Earthling onna, stronger than most, but still Chikyuu-jin. The other," he paused for emphasis, carefully gauging Turles's reaction, "was Saiya-jin. He wouldn't admit it, of course, but there were too many Saiyan traits to believe he was human. Give him a tail, and he would have no trouble passing for one of us. I highly suspect he lost his tail or had it removed as a punishment for something, and that he's been hiding out on Earth and passing himself off as human."
"Yes, yes," the elder of the spiky haired duo growled impatiently and tossed the soiled towel into a laundry bin. "So you've found a Saiyan exile pretending to be human. Good for you." His voice veritably dripped with sarcasm, and the glare he gave his brother could have melted glaciers in seconds. "So what does this all have to do with me and my - how did you oh so eloquently put it? Oh, yes. My 'fucking habits'?"
Narrowing his eyes angrily, Bardock raised a hand and pointing one finger at his brother's chest. "Only that the brat could have been the spitting image of you a few decades ago, Turles." When Turles's eyes widened fractionally in surprise, Bardock smirked faintly, glad that he had finally got the other Saiyan's attention. "The hair, the eyes, basic build - there's no mistaking it, Turles. I'd swear on our father's soul that the brat was related to us, which is where we get into your sex life. There's only three males left in our family, brother, meaning it was either you, Radditz, or me who's been sleeping around carelessly and not keeping tabs on the onnas involved." Meaning that it was you who sired Son Goten or his father, since we both know how likely it is that either Radditz or I crawled into some onna's bed. Bardock was beginning to doubt that Goten was Turles's son after he had thought about it for a bit and was beginning to think that perhaps the boy was actually the grandson of Turles. Goten had claimed this 'Son Goku' as his father, not Turles, and the other diplomat had corroborated the story. Unfortunately, that would imply that there was at least one other Saiyan, if not more, living undetected on Chikyuu-sei for who knows how long. Either something was seriously wrong with the planet's security, or these Saiyans were just very lucky, but either way a search would need to be undertaken to track down and kill or extradite them. Since most humans were too weak to face off against a Saiyan, this would mean that Earth would need Vegeta-sei's help, which would mean more bureaucratic red tape. Vegeta-ou would not be pleased.
Anger flashed across the face that could have been Bardock's mirror image, and Turles balled his hands into tight fists. "So you're saying I haven't been keeping track of the females I bed? Is that it?! Little brother, I am most careful to make sure I never have any offspring that I don't want, which, in case you're wondering, is any offspring! I don't need a damn brat on my hands! I won't accuse you of being this mysterious Saiyan's father, since your mate has you so whipped you wouldn't dare lay eye on another onna like that, but maybe Radditz hasn't-"
"You know as well as I do that Radditz never slept around, Turles! Not during the time frame I'm guessing this brat must have been conceived in. Radditz was and had been mated to Sala for several years, during which time he never laid eyes on a woman with even the slightest bit of interest, and after Sala died, I don't think he's had even the slightest inclination to hop in another onna's bed, so it's not bloody likely that he fathered any children."
"Fine, fine!" Turles conceded wearily with a hint of impatience, rubbing the bridge of his nose as though he had a headache. "So I'm the most likely suspect. I'll ask around my old bed mates and find out if one of them had a brat. How old did you say this boy was?"
"I didn't check, but he looks like he's in his thirties or forties." Great. I got him to at least admit it might have been him, so now he'll start looking, too. That's one question down, one to go. "Much as I'd like to let you get busy searching for the female you got pregnant, there's one other thing I need to know." The scientist could feel a headache coming, probably induced by the prospect of trying to drag more answers out of his twin brother, and he lifted a hand to rub the bridge of his nose in an unconscious mirror of his own brother's actions.
"Anything to get you to leave me alone, ototo-chan," came the caustic reply, accompanied by a glare from the older twin. Becoming aware that they were both rubbing their foreheads, Turles snatched his hand away and scowled as though it had betrayed him. "Just make it quick!"
Deciding to get this over with as quickly as possible, Bardock asked bluntly, "Do you know where the non-classed female is who was last seen in the company of you and Radditz?"
~*~
"Not to pry or anything, but "Pan" doesn't sound like a Saiyan name..." Sereri was now washing the dishes from the meal while Pan and Radditz sat back in their chairs, letting their stomachs settle. Setting a newly cleaned pan in a rack next to the wall, she glanced at her strange guest to gauge her reaction.
"That's because it's not." For some reason, Pan felt like she could trust Sereri, and she figured that since Radditz was her son, the Saiyan woman would find out from him sooner or later. "It's a human name." An irritated mutter brought her attention back to Radditz, who was looking rather annoyed with her for some reason. Huh. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he didn't intend to tell Sereri... Damn. Too late now.
"Human?" Sereri asked, half curious, half suspicious. "Why would you have a human name, Pan?"
"It's because she's demi," Radditz cut in with a scowl. Pan stuck her tongue out at him, which earned her a menacing growl from the wild maned Saiyan. "Part Saiya-jin, part Chikyuu-jin."
Dishes momentarily forgotten, Sereri turned to face the pair, a look of surprise on her face. "You mean, like the prince and princess?" she asked incredulously, eyebrows arching to her hairline as she absentmindedly reached for another dish to dry. Radditz nodded.
"Actually, I'm only a quarter Saiyan," Pan admitted, folding her arms as though to dare either of them to call her weak for being less Saiyan. "I got my Saiyan blood from Grandpa Goku." Her face fell as she thought back to the last time she'd seen her grandfather, that day so many years ago when he had disappeared on the back of the Eternal Dragon. Kami, she missed him!
"Goku is not a Saiyan name," Radditz stated firmly, a suspicious frown crossing his features.
"Are you calling me a liar?" A low growl emerged from the raven haired demi's throat and she narrowed her eyes threateningly. "For your information, Goku is the name he grew up with, not his birth name."
Smirking in the way of a wolf about to go in for the kill, Radditz arched a skeptical eyebrow and crossed his own arms. "Then he is purposefully hiding his identity? Is he a criminal, Son Pan?" he goaded, trying to elicit an unguarded reaction from her by rousing her ire. Briefly glancing at his mother, he tried to communicate with that one look that she should not interfere with this.
"MY GRANDPA IS NOT A CRIMINAL!" Pan screamed, anger dancing hotly in her eyes as she glared at the man who would dare accuse her grandfather of such a thing. How dare he! He didn't even know Goku, and he was claiming that he was a criminal!
"Then what is his Saiyan name?" Radditz challenged. "If he is not a criminal, then there should be no problem in telling me his Saiyan name, right?" The smirk on his face broadened as he sprang the trap of words he had been weaving. Either Pan's grandfather was a criminal and needed to be extradited from Chikyuu-sei for proper punishment, or he was simply an exile with nowhere else to go. Once he knew a name, he could search the exile and criminal archives and find out which category this man fit into. Of course, Pan might just remain silent, but that in and of itself would be condemnation enough.
"His Saiyan name is Kakarot," Pan hissed acidly, clenching her hands into tight fists as anger swelled her ki. She didn't know which she wanted to do more right now - strangle Radditz or punch him hard enough to dislocate his jaw - but she knew that if he insinuated one more thing about her grandpa, she'd make him wish that he'd never been born.
Crash!
Pan's attention was yanked roughly away from glaring daggers at Radditz by the sound of a shattering plate. Startled by the noise, her head jerked in the direction of the disturbance to find Sereri staring at her in shock, her face two shades paler than it normally was. At her feet were the broken shards of one of the plates she'd been drying with the towel she still held clutched in one shaky fist. "Kakarot, you say?" Her voice was calm and even, belying the state of shock that her outward demeanor presented. Too calm.
Ire forgotten, Pan blinked owlishly at the Saiyan woman for a moment as she tried to puzzle out the meaning of her reaction. "Yes," she answered warily, uncertain if this was a good thing or bad. Curiosity got the better of her and she risked asking a question of her own. "How-"
"Impossible!" Radditz roared, slamming his fist on the table as he glared from one onna to the other. "Kakarot is dead! There is absolutely no way he can be your grandfather, Son Pan, so either you're lying, misinformed, or-"
"Be quiet, Radditz!!" Sereri barked, her voice taking on a knife-like quality that cut through her son's protests. Radditz promptly shut his mouth with an audible click. One did not argue with Sereri when she used that tone of voice, not if they wanted to live a long and healthy life. Seeing that Radditz was obeying her order, she turned her steely gaze on the raven haired demi sitting at her table, causing Pan to involuntarily shrink away from her. "Your grandfather's Saiyan name is Kakarot?" she demanded Pan to confirm, her voice a mixture of confusion, curiosity, determination... and a spark of hope. The younger woman nodded her head uncertainly, confusion reigning on her face as she opened her mouth to ask a question, but Sereri cut her off. "And you said that my husband, the man who brought you here last night, reminded you of your grandfather?"
Wondering where the Saiyan female was going with this line of questioning, Pan nodded again, her tail twitching anxiously behind her. She didn't know why, but Sereri's piercing gaze was rather disconcerting, making her lose some of her aggressiveness. "Yes, he had spiky hair like my grandpa," she made gestures with her hands to indicate how the spikes were placed on Goku's head, "and his face looked like my grandpa's..." Frowning, she tried to picture Bardock's face more clearly, then added, "Except my grandpa doesn't have a scar on his cheek." A soft exhalation from Sereri drew her attention back to the other woman, and she furrowed her brow in puzzlement at the introspective look on the wild haired woman's face. "How do you know my Grandpa Go- I mean, 'Kakarot'?" she asked suddenly.
Sereri's eyes came back into focus and she tilted her head to one side, looking at Pan as though she had never seen her before. After a few moments of studying her, the older woman nodded to herself, as though in confirmation of some inner thought, then turned her attention back to Pan's question. "Kakarot," she said, "is my son."
~*~
What's that you say? What happened to Trunks? I was intending to put him in this chapter, but decided it would be better if I saved his scene for the next chapter. ^_^ Which Trunks you say? *smirks evilly* You'll just have to wait and see! If you're lucky, I may even have a scene for both of them! Meaning, a separate scene for each Trunks, not one scene with both of them.
Now, I KNOW that I'll be getting reviews, eventually asking such things as "When are you going to update again? Are you going to finish this story?" and so forth. Before you ask, let me assure you that I that I have no intention of abandoning this fic, which means I will continue writing. If circumstances demanded that I stop writing Wild Occurrences (such as if my computers all broke and I couldn't replace them, or I was notified of my impending death, or something equally drastic and unlikely), then rest assured that I would at least post a notice stating that! I will not just suddenly disappear from the face of the earth and quit writing!
Also on that note, I have added a section to my profile, down at the bottom, that tells you what exactly I'm writing at the moment, what story I plan to update next, and any extra comments I might have to add.
That's pretty much all I have to say this chapter, besides asking you all to review. ^_^