Disclaimer; I didn't get the rights for Christmas…I don't own DBZ…sob sob
A/N; Yay, new chapter! And I am very happy with this one. It's a special chapter. I really hope you all enjoy it heaps, I enjoyed writing it heaps. So please, have a read and tell me what you think.
~D.B
P.S – This chapter is dedicated to Marie – She constantly reviews my stuff, and always leaves me such beautiful reviews. I'm really touched that you enjoy my work as much as you do and I really hope you enjoy this special chapter just for you, Marie.
And Then You'll Know
Chapter 30
For a day that was forecast to be relatively warm and sunny, it sure was a freezing morning. Chi-chi stood out in the open air, even though she was dressed in a pair of thick blue jeans, a white tee shirt, a very expensive black jacket with dark blue fluff around the collar and her new denim ankle boots. She was still freezing.
Next to her, stood the King. He didn't look like he was freezing his butt of though, wrapped in about 6 layers of clothing, which his personal assistant had probably hand picked just for him.
The small select group of people who had been informed of the morning proceedings all stood in the courtyard, many of them hovering around the table that had been set up and adorned with oodles of hot drinks of just about every variety imaginable.
"Chi-chi dear, you look lovely this morning" commented Neha as she approached the younger woman's side, sipping from a cup of coffee as she did.
Chi-chi nodded graciously "thank-you" she said
"Are you excited?" Neha asked
"Very" replied Chi-chi, once again lifting her gaze to the sky, which was still sprinkled with early morning stars, the anticipation inside her constantly building.
"Chi" she heard a frantic whisper from somewhere behind her. Excusing herself from her conversation with Neha, she quickly made her way to the door, where Bulma was standing, smiling like some kind of an idiot.
"What do you want?" she asked, knowing what the answer would be before she even asked the question.
"Can you get me out there? Please," her eyes were desperately pleading, "I need to see him"
Chi-chi rolled her eyes, she just couldn't say no to Bulma, especially when it was a matter like this. She linked her arm through Bulma's and sighed "C'mon then, but if papa kills me, I'm coming back to haunt you"
"Deal!" Bulma said, grinning from ear to ear.
~
"You must be proud of you boys then, huh?" Bardok said to the King, who nodded in response
"I couldn't be any prouder of any of my children. They have all been model representatives of the Royal Family throughout this entire ordeal"
"I know Chi-chi is excited that this is almost over"
"She just wants your son back," Bardok chuckled "she has planned a fantastic ceremony for tomorrow night though" explained the King.
"I don't doubt you".
"Papa," called Chi-chi as she and Bulma walked over to the two conversing men "Bardok," she greeted him "Papa, is it possible for Bulma to join us? Surely it won't inconvenience anyone to much will it?"
The King shook his head, "No, it won't. I think it will be fine for her to stay"
Bulma couldn't contain it and like a big smile broke out onto her face "Thank you your highness, thank you very much"
"That's quite ok. Please, help yourself to some coffee. You to Chi-chi"
"Thanks papa" said Chi-chi, and she reached up onto her tiptoes and gave her father a peck on the cheek, and then both she and Bulma disappeared into the small crowd of no more than 70.
Radditz was standing by the beverage table, rubbing his hands vigorously over the top of the silver thermos that contained the hot water for the hot drinks. "Bit cold there eh Radditz?" Chi-chi asked as she pulled a polystyrene cup off from the pile and filled it with coffee water and milk
"Just a little" he replied
"But you have so much hair to keep you warm" said Chi-chi sarcastically, she never really had clicked with Radditz, and she liked to pick on him, rubbing it in that she was better than he was and such.
Radditz rolled his eyes, Chi-chi could be such a brat sometimes, he often found himself wondering what Kakkarot saw in her, she wasn't particularly nice or friendly, she was very self centered and arrogant, really the only good things she had going for her were her fathers wealth and her good looks.
~
"What's the time Chi?" Bulma asked as she did up the buttons on her jacket and shoved her hands into her pockets.
Chi-chi looked down at her watch and her eyes grew wide "It's 5.30" she said, "They should be back any minute!"
Bulma gasped and the two girls rushed through the small group towards the King, as he was obviously going to be at the very front of the crowd, and both girls knew that with him, they were guaranteed the best view, as no one wanted to get in his way.
"I'm so excited Chi" whispered Bulma, tucking her hair behind her ear
"Me to B, I can't wait to see Kakkarot"
Bulma turned her gaze to Chi-chi and shot her a questioning glare "What about your brothers?" she asked
"I suppose it will be good to see Vegeta, Krillen I'm not really fussed with"
Bulma shook her head and sighed inwardly, why didn't Chi-chi see that brothers and sisters were a blessing? Bulma had lost her sister and would give anything to have her back again. Chi-chi could be such an ignorant fool sometime.
"Oh my god, Bulma look!" Chi-chi tapped Bulma on the shoulder and pointed up into the sky "Up there, it's them!"
An odd hush fell over the group as they all craned their necks up and slowly but surely they watch the big Sayian spaceship make it grand decent from the dark night sky on the big landing platform. It was quite an amazing thing to witness, heroes of war returning from battle, but the relief they all felt when the ship came into sight and they knew it was all over, was indescribable
***
"Kakkarot, we're home!" Krillen almost squealed, sounding to girly for anyone's liking
"I know that" said Kakkarot as he followed Krillen down the hall to the briefing room, for one final meeting before they headed outside to their loved ones. They took seats in the front of the room, next to Vegeta who was already seated and had his duffel bad resting between his feet, ready to leave this ship, he desperately needed a change of scenery
"Men," Nappa called the group to attention "As you can see, we are home, or in the case of those of you from Bindoon, at you accommodation until after tomorrow nights ceremony. Before I let you go, just let me say how immensely proud I am of all of you, you have been nothing less than heroic and done your planets and people proud. You deserve all the praise that is waiting for you out there, but please, don't screw up all you have done now, by letting it get to your head. Also, I have one final request, Price Vegeta, if you wouldn't mind coming up here"
Vegeta blinked, he didn't want to get up there, he wanted to get outside, something in here smelt seriously off, still he stood up and took a step forward, not really knowing was going on.
"As you all know, it was Prince Vegeta who delivered the final assault, so I think before everyone else gets a chance, we need to show him our appreciation. Everyone 3 big, noisy cheers for Prince Vegeta"
The boys filled the room with 3 rousing cheers, followed by a lot of hooting. Vegeta took Nappa's spot behind the make shift podium and repositioned the microphone. "Thanks," he said "But please, I've had just about enough of this prince crap, my name is Vegeta, that's it…nothing else, just Vegeta" he said and he sat back down, rolling his eyes as he did. Ever since he had blown that stupid morons head off people had been groveling to him, and that had been almost 2 weeks ago. Sure, he'd done something good, and so, he deserved some praise, but this was getting ridiculous. And there was not a doubt in his mind that he was going to be dealing with the press for at least another week, and they would probe with for all sorts of stupid questions that he would rather not have to answer.
Stupid press, he hated the press
~
Back outside, the crowd was beginning to wonder what was going on, the ship had been on the platform for almost 7 minutes, and still, nothing had happened. Chi-chi was about to break the eerie silence and ask her father if anything was wrong, when a hissing sound began to sound from under the ship, and the door slid open, and from that, came a ramp, which as soon as it hit the ground, men started walking down it. Most went straight to their families, succumbing to the kisses and embraces they had to offer and inevitably, comforting them and wiping away their tears.
Bulma and Chi-chi stood quietly waiting for their boys to emerge down the ramp. The first to come down was Krillen, and he was chatting with Ari, they were laughing and mucking around, happy to be home. Even Chi-chi had to laugh when she saw her younger brother, it looked like he hadn't shaved for a few days, since the lower half of his face was covered in stubble.
"Hey Krillen, wait for me!" Chi-chi's eyes lit up, that was Kakkarot's voice, and sure enough he burst out of the ship and ran to catch up with Krillen and Ari, he also, was in desperate need of a shave, with what looked like about 2 or 3 days of stubble.
"Kakkarot!" Chi-chi called out to him.
"Chi!" he cried and rushed over to her, picking her up and spinning her around in wild circles, before pulling her close to his warm body in an embrace that was so tight it almost crushed her, but she didn't say anything.
"I missed you so much" she chocked out in between the huge amounts of tears that were gushing from her eyes.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm here now, I'm back. It's all over. Everything's going to be ok" he said, hugging her just a little tighter.
Bulma's eyes were still fixated on the ship. Vegeta was standing on the ramp, slowly making his way down, Nappa right behind him. There was no doubt about it, this was Vegeta's moment, his time to shine and no one could take that away from him. He was trying to push his way through the crowd to get to his family, but everyone wanted to shake his hand and congratulate him on his monumental achievements on Namek.
Slowly he made his way towards her, when he was close enough to actually see her and differentiate her from the sea of other people wanting a piece of him, his eyes locked on to hers and neither of them tore there gaze away until they were standing mere centimeters away from each other.
Bulma could feel the moisture in the corners of her eyes, but she really didn't want to cry, she didn't want Vegeta to think she was weak. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but suddenly she was stopped, robbed of air for almost 5 seconds. By the time she realized it was Vegeta lips fiercely pressed against her own, it was over and Vegeta had walked off, to greet his father.
She stood there absolutely dumbfounded, yet very happy. "Welcome home Vegeta," she muttered to herself, touching her lips which were still moist from Vegeta's powerful kiss.
***
"We have to be quiet. It's not even 6am yet, everyone is still asleep" said Krillen as he lead Ari down the halls of the palace.
"Where's your room?" asked Ari, looking around the palace in absolute awe, back on his planet, he was only a simple villager, who worked in a store which specialized in selling parts for hover cars. The people of his planet could fly, and all were trained in it, but the majority of the citizens chose to save that special ability for battle and drove hover cars.
"My room is back there, but we can't use it," replied Krillen, pointing over his shoulder, he remembered what 18 had told him during their satellite connection, 17 and Tarie were in there.
"We'll go down to the guest rooms, we can shower and clean up in there"
"Great" Ari said eagerly.
It wasn't long before Krillen was clean, in comfortable clothing and nicely shaven, he picked up a comb and attempted to tame his unruly hair, as usual his success was very limited.
"Oh Ari I forgot, you can you the bathroom now. You'll find something to fit you in the closet so don't worry about that. I can pretty much assure you that I wont be here when you get back, but feel more than free to do whatever you want, explore the palace, get something to eat, stay right here and crash in the bed, it's up to you. The only thing you can't do is go into the throne wing. That's where my father conducts all of his business from, other than that, enjoy everything the palace has to offer"
Ari smiled and turned off the T.V "Where you going dude?" he asked
Krillen smiled brightly, a glow in his eyes Ari had never seen before "I'm going to go see 18"
Ari looked confused "Why wasn't she outside earlier?" he asked
Krillen shook his head "Don't you worry about it man, I might explain it to you later ok. I gotta split" he said and he practically ran out of the room.
***
Sunlight was just starting to shine into the cold cobblestone complex that 18 and her friends called home. 18 was still fast asleep as were most of the others, but a few of her friends were beginning to stir. It was around this time they usually began to wake up.
Krillen pushed open the doors as quietly as possible and he quickly made his way through the rooms towards 18. He arrived there quickly, and when he finally saw her, he could have sworn he felt his heart skip a beat. She was lying with her back to him, fast asleep. The blankets had fallen of the bed, exposing half her body and he could see she was wearing the tank top he gave her.
He walked around to the other side of the bed so he could see her face, and it was like he was seeing her for the first time all over again, and she literally took his breath away. Sleeping, she looked so peaceful, like she didn't have a care in the world. God he had missed her, he was so hopelessly in love with her, a lost cause who didn't ever want to be found.
He got onto his knees, so he was more at eye level with her, and merely watched her sleep for a few more minutes, until he couldn't stand not to be looking into her crystal blue eyes anymore.
"18" he whispered, and reached out and ran his finger down her cheek, "18"
Very slowly 18 became aware of something going on around her, but she could have been dreaming, nothing good ever happened to her in reality. "18". There, she heard it again, a soft, kind voice whispering her name.
He heard a small groan emit from her prefect cherry lips and grinned, she was waking up! Success! She scrunched her eyes up as the light began to shine through and irritate her, and she groaned louder.
"18, open your eyes"
18 knew that voice. She slowly forced her eyes open, and sure enough there was someone in front of her, she blinked a few times to clear the fuzziness out of her eyes and slowly her eyes traveled up from the persons mid section to their face.
And when she saw who it was, she was sure she was still dreaming.
"Krillen?" she asked, in sleepy amazement
"The one and only"
18 smiled brightly, despite her drowsy state. Could this really be happening, could Krillen really be back from Namek. No, she had to be dreaming.
"Is that really you?" she asked, not believing that it was really him, until he could prove to her that she wasn't dreaming.
"I've missed you so much"
18 could feel moisture on her cheeks, but she didn't care, she reached up and flung her arms around Krillens neck and in a desperate attempt to be close to him. He sat down on the bed, never coming free from her iron grip, and in return, wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. "Don't leave me like that ever again" she sobbed on to his shoulder, creating a rather big wet patch on his nice clean shirt.
"18 it's ok. I swear it's ok" he soother her as he rubbed big slow circles on her back. This was the closest he had ever been with her, and he loved every second of it. Taking in everything about her, from the feel of her wrapped in his arms, to the sweet smell of her hair, this was amazing
"Don't cry. Please don't cry. I feel bad enough for leaving you already" he said.
With one last squeeze, 18 pulled away from Krillen and looked at him through a tear-blurred gaze "I'm not crying because you left. I'm crying because you're back. I've been a mess this past month"
"18, I don't know what to say" Krillen was at a loss for words. She really did feel the same way as him. There were no words to explain how happy he felt right now. He reached out and carefully wiped the tears off of 18's pretty face. He was amazed that he had managed not to cry.
"So," he asked, moving around on the bed, so he could more comfortably embrace 18, which he did. "Did you like all of the things I got you?"
"They were lovely" she replied, snuggling against his warm body
"What was your favorite?" he asked, not expecting the answer he got
"The letter" there was a long silence before 18 spoke again. "It was special to me in so many different ways. Like a piece of your soul especially for me"
There was another pause as Krillen thought about what to say next. "You know how I feel about you, right?" he asked
18 blinked slowly "I…think I do"
"I…" he stopped, beaten by his nerves. 'C'mon Krillen' he thought to himself. 'You need to tell her – right now! Then that's the hard part over with, but if you don't, who knows what you'll loose'. Krillen blinked, his conscious was right. He had to tell her right now, no holding back "I love you"
18 felt the greatest feeling of relief wash over her when those 3 little words left his lips; it felt like she had been waiting an entire lifetime for him to say it. She smiled up at him and took a deep breath, what she was about to do took a lot of courage, she was going to completely tear down the emotional barricade she had spent so long getting in place. All for one man. But she loved him, she knew she did, and he deserved to know it as well "I love you to Krillen"
"Really?" he asked, his voice full of hope. She nodded, "really"
"Sooo..." Krillen drew out the word, "If I were to kiss you right now, you would have no objections, because you love me, right?"
18 rolled her eyes, nodded and smiled "right" she said.
Krillen was amazed things had worked out so well, this was the beginning of something more than beautiful, more than either of them could ever hope for. He gently cupped 18's chin in his hand and titled her head upwards, then brought his lips down to cover hers, to share their first magical kiss. It was a beautiful moment, there in the early morning sunlight, the single most amazing experience of either of their young lives. They may have only been 19, and many would rival that 19 was too young to love. But both Krillen and 18 had seen and been through so much more than most 19 year olds that they had the maturity of people twice their age.
Finally they pulled away from each other, both a little out of breath and neither knowing what to say.
"I liked that" 18 finally spoke up
Krillen laughed quietly and kissed her on the forehead "me to babe, me too"
"Shit!" 18 suddenly killed the mood by swearing loudly and jumping out of bed.
"What?" Krillen asked, sounding alarmed.
"I need to get to work, Chi-chi will pound me if I'm late" she panicked as she pulled on her skirt and top, then quickly dashed out the room.
Only to return
seconds later, to kiss Krillen one last time and say "see you later" then she
was gone. Leaving Krillen grinning stupidly behind her.
***
"Tarie, are you going to fit into that?" asked 18 as she pulled on her new black skirt and did the buttons on the front of her pristine white shirt up.
"Are you calling me fat?" asked Tarie, leaving 18 in an awkward situation.
"Well…um…er…no" replied 18, much to Taries amusement.
"It's ok 18, I know what you mean. Don't worry though, I'll fit into this, I'm not that pregnant yet" she said. 18 flashed Tarie a bright smile, and then sat down on the bed to pull on her shoes and socks.
17 walked into the room then, he had his eyes closed out of respect for the females in the room "You decent?" he asked
"It's only me and 18 in here dummy" said Tarie
"I know that," 17 replied "but with all do respect, I don't really want to see my own sister without her clothes on"
"Good!" shouted 18 from across the room
They were down in the slave quarters, since that was where their new uniforms for the night's ceremony were being delivered, and 17 and Tarie were still slaves so they still had to work every single day, and this was no exception.
"Ok 17, we're dressed now". 17 opened his eyes and straight away noticed that his sister was in an unusually good mood. "You look awfully happy for someone who had to work"
"She gets to see her prince" Tarie supplied 17 with the answer as she wrapped her arms around his waist "you need to get changed"
"We've still got 15 minutes," he said with a laugh. 18 sat up and looked at him "Um, I don't know whose watch you were looking at, but we've got more like 5 minutes"
"Oh…"
"Yeah, so go get changed and me and 18 will meet you up there."
***
"So, are you're family going to be here?" Krillen asked, as he did up the laces on his pair of nice black shoes. The dress code had been dressy casual, meaning a nice pair of pants and a clean shirt…or at least that was what Krillen had interpreted it as. So he was wearing a pair of dressy black pants and a dark blue shirt with full-length sleeves, as well as a black jacket.
"Yeah," said Ari as he brushed down his light blue hair "and I'll tell you, I can't wait to see my girls again.
"You have two daughters yeah?"
"Yeah, a 5 year old and a 7 month old"
"That must be great?"
"It is. You think you've experienced the best life has to offer you, and then you become a father, and things just become so much more magical that you could ever dream possible"
Krillen nodded his head in agreement, he could relate to what Ari was saying – not about being a father of course, but the principal was essentially the same, when he was with 18, things were always 10 hundred times better than he ever thought they could be.
"Hey do you have the time?" Ari asked, watching Krillens reflection in the mirror.
"Uh yeah," he pushed up his jacket sleeve and glanced at his wristwatch "it's almost 7.30, we can head down to the function room now"
***
The King felt his heart flutter when he spotted Queen Kahlia walking towards the function room that the slaves had converted into a beautiful array of sophisticated style. Her shiny, pale pink hair contrasted beautifully with the sparkly, slinky black dress she was wearing.
"Ah, Queen Kahlia. It's a pleasure to see you, as always" he said as he kissed the back of her hand.
The queen giggled and blushed, feeling quite embarrassed. "Your majesty, you're too kind" she said as he led her to her seat.
"Look at him, all over her. It's disgraceful" Chi-chi whispered to Bulma, leaning over in her seat, and obviously referring to her father
"Why?" asked Bulma "Why is it wrong for you father to be happy?"
Chic-chi shuddered, it was her father they were talking about, of course it was wrong! And wrong on so many levels!
Bulma shook her head and changed the subject. "They boys should be making their grand entrance soon". Looking up at the clock on the wall, she realized Bulma was right.
The way they had planned the ceremony was for all the invited guest to arrive a half-hour before the proceeding were due to start, so they would all be comfortably seated and ready. Then at 7.30, the King would take the stage and announce each of the boys' names. That would be their cue to enter the function center – to applause of course, and take their designated seat at the table especially for the guests of honor.
***
Krillen sat at the table in between Vegeta and Ari, merely playing with his soup, not eating it.
"What's wrong Krillen, aren't you hungry?"
"No," Krillen sighed as his eyes followed 18 around the room, everywhere she went he was with her "it's not that I'm not hungry, I just don't want to eat"
"I see" said Ari, clearly not getting it.
Soon, 18 disappeared into the kitchen and Krillen fell out of his trance, returning to his usually peppy self "So," he said "Where is your family?"
"Over there" Ari pointed to a table with a few families from Ari's planet seated around it.
"Have you said hi yet?"
"Haven't had the chance" Ari said, he sounded depressed
"Wanna introduce me?" asked Krillen
"When, now?"
"Sure, why not?"
The smile on Ari's face grew so wide Krillen was sure his face might crack, the got up out of their seats and walked across the big room
"Desta!" cried Ari.
Krillen stood back and watched on happily as a woman with very dark blue hair squealed, jumped up and flung herself into his friends open embrace, and mere seconds later a small girl, almost identical to her mother was in his arms as well.
"Krillen, Krillen come over here" Ari told him.
"Hello, it's lovely to meet you, I'm Krillen" he introduced himself to the women who he assumed was Desta, and held out his hand for her to shake. She gracefully took hold of it and bowed deeply, surprising Krillen
"Prince Krillen, it's an honor to meet you."
Krillen laughed and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand "that's not necessary".
"Krillen, this is my wife Desta and this is Sharnie" he indication to the small girl in his arms, who had suddenly gone shy and buried her face in the fathers shirt. Krillen laughed. "And I assume someone is looking after Sachi back home"
Desta nodded "We've all missed you, and we are so proud"
Krillen tuned out around that time, his mind only ever drifted to one thought though. She was blonde, had blue eyes, and loved him. He was the luckiest guy on the planet, that was all there was too it. He was lucky; everyone else was not, because 18 loved him and only him. He still couldn't quite believe it was true, that 18 reciprocated his feelings and emotion. She loved him – him! The prince that all his life had felt like he never belonged anywhere, and now he knew why. He had never been where 18 was, and anywhere she was, was the only place he belonged. By her side for all eternity.
Suddenly he was jolted back into reality by the feeling of someone tapping him on the shoulder, he looked to his left, which was where he had felt it, and no one was there, so naturally, he turned to look to his right, and there sure enough 18 was heading back towards the kitchen.
He smiled and shook his head, then decided to leave Ari and his family in peace for a while and resume his seat next to his brother.
~
18 walked into the noisy kitchen, depositing her tray of empty drinking glasses on the counter, then rested against the counter herself for just a second. She was exhausted.
"Hey 18, are you ok?" asked Nison, approaching her.
"Yeah, just a little light headed," she replied "Nothing unusual"
"You need to get some sleep" Nison stated matter-of-factly
18 raised one of her blonde eyebrows and looked at Nison like he was some kind of an idiot "What are you,?" she asked "Stupid?" as soon as the words left her mouth she knew it was to harsh
"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized "that was uncalled for"
"It's ok, don't mention it" replied Nison, though it was obvious he was upset
"Your right, I do just need more sleep. I'm sorry I snapped like that" she apologized one more time, then picked up a fresh tray of drinks and exited the kitchen.
17 walked walking around in between the tables, collecting used crockery, empty glasses and general rubbish that had been left by the guests. When 18 passed him on her way through he stopped her and asked "hey, have you seen Tarie anywhere?"
18 stopped, now that she though about it she hadn't seen Tarie since about quarter to 8, and now it was almost 8.30 "No," she said, looking around the room, a hint of worry in her voice "I haven't"
"She told me she wasn't feeling to great," 17 thought out loud "maybe she went to go and lie down"
"Here" said 18, and she quickly dispensed the rest of her drinks to the people on the nearest table. I'll finish up here, you go check on her"
"Thanks sis, you're the best"
18 smiled, "I know".
She worked her way around the tables collecting trash, until eventually she reached Krillen, he was sitting alone. Ari was with his family; reporters had swamped Vegeta all night, and Kakkarot was over talking with his parents and Chi-chi.
"Hi," she said as she walked around to the front of the table and pretended to collect trash "where are your friends?"
Krillen shrugged his shoulders "around", he looked up at her and smiled "but you're here now"
She nodded and very briefly rested her hand on his "not for long, this is your night, not mine. I still have work to do"
"Can't you stop?" asked Krillen, it was a stupid question. If she stopped, someone would probably kill her.
"I don't think so" she said
"Do you know what time this thing finishes?" Krillen asked her
"Maybe about 11" she replied as she picked up some empty bowls and stacked them up on her little trolley
"Ok" Krillen said with a nod
***
"Papa, it's time to hand out the medals" Chi-chi leaned over and told her father, who was trying to woo Kahlia, and the worst part was it appeared to be working.
"Oh yes, so it is" he said as he pushed his chair back and walked up on to the stage, taking his place behind the podium.
Soon the audience grew quiet, they all knew this was the most important part of the evening, where they got to recognize and thank each and every one of the heroic warriors who had so bravely risked everything to save their people
"I would like to thank you all for making the effort to come out here tonight, especially our friends who have made the trip from Bindoon, we are especially thankful to you. Tonight is meant to be a joyous occasion, celebrating the death of a tyrant and the birth of a new era, one in which none of our planets will bow to Frieza and his merciless ways, where we will be free to raise children without the fear or an invasion. We, the Sayians know first hand what an evil like that can do to a planet, even now, 8 years after an attack that nearly wiped our people out, we are still rebuilding in some areas and our population is still lower than it once was. But not anymore" the King said with a smile "that night mare has come to and end, and we only have these 60 brave men we are here in honor of tonight to thank. We began with 70 men, and those 10 who were so unfortunately taken away from us will be remembered in a memorial service next week, but tonight it is about these fine young men." The King stopped, took a breath and picked a box up from the table beside him.
"Of course, all of what you see here tonight, is thanks to my only daughter Chi-chi, she had been working tirelessly these past 2 weeks to get everything ready, so I think it would be only fair to ask her up here to help me distribute the medals.
Chi-chi was shocked, but she got up and joined her father on the stage nonetheless. As the King called each man's name, they would walk up onto the stage and Chi-chi would hand them the medal in a small red box, then they would shake her hand, shake the Kings hand and sit back down. It didn't seem like something that would take all that long, but by the time they got through all 60 men, it had taken close to an hour.
~
Krillen sat at the table, looking at the small token of appreciation in a red box. It was a solid gold, 5 pointed star, with some kind of fancy pattern on it, and it was attached to a piece of blue material, which had a clip on it, so if you wanted you could clip it to yourself. He picked it up – it was quite heavy, and looked at the other side, the words 'Royal Palace of Vegeta-sei – Token of Bravery' were in scripted on it. 'What a crappy message' he thought to himself as he yawned.
"Isn't this thing cool?" Kakkarot asked Krillen as he dangled his medal from his fingers
"Yeah, I suppose it's ok" replied Krillen, really sounding like he didn't mean it. He looked across at Vegeta; he also, seemed totally uninterested in his 'token of bravery'
"What a load of crock," he said as he pushed then box away from him "father probably has about 300 of these things lying around from some other battle 50 years ago"
Krillen doubted they were actually that old, but there was no way he was going to believe that these things were actually new, of course their father would of found them lying around somewhere and thought he could trick them. It was almost the prefect crime. Except he forget that both Vegeta and Krillen we're not that stupid.
~
The night was winding down, almost everyone had gone home, really only the slaves were left in the room, stacking chairs, vacuuming, and in the kitchen washing dishes. Tarie and 17 had come back long ago, and both were in the kitchen, they should have been washing dishes, but instead, Tarie was sitting on the bench, and 17 was all over her, it was very inappropriate.
"Oh guys. Really, would you mind not doing that?" asked 18, clearly disgusted, as she walked into the kitchen, she had finished her jobs for the night, and was about to head downstairs with Nison
"What?" 17 asked as he helped Tarie off the counter
"You know that's not appropriate, at least wait until you're not in a room full of people next time" she said as she looked at all her unfortunate friends who had had to witness that.
"Sorry" 17 groveled, not wanting to get on his sisters bad side after all she had done for them
She only rolled her eyes, "no your not," she said, "I know you. C'mon Nison, let's go"
They walked down the cold halls under the palace towards their more than crappy accommodation, talking and laughing. Their little disagreement from before long since forgotten
"Here you go ma'am" said Nison in a stupid accent as he held open the door for 18. She walked through laughing so hard her sides were beginning to hurt, she was in a very good mood now, which was strange, because before she felt like she would of bitten off anyone's head if they even looked at her the wrong way.
She walked through the dark rooms, knowing them like the back of her hand, even in pitch black and walked towards her bed. She could see a figure illuminated by the moonlight.
"Krillen?" she asked "What are you doing down here, you should be in bed" she said, though she had to admit, she didn't want him to be any where else.
"I can't sleep without you" he said as he watched her slip out of her fresh new attire and into her sleepwear, which consisted of her underwear and a white singlet top. Then she crawled onto the bed and over to Krillen.
"You do realize your stuck here now" she informed him as she pulled the covers up over them both
"You can hardly call it being stuck if you want you be there" he replied as he kissed her cheek, "now go to sleep"
"Yes sir" she said as she closed her eyes, her unusually good mood only getting better.
***
A/N; So what did you all think? Was it good, bad, I'd love to know. How was your Christmas? I got a new digital camera, so if you wanna be my friend and see pics of me now you can. My e-mail is kyliecool87@hotmail.com, I am known as Deadly Beauty on MSN messenger and KylieH 87 on AOL/AIM.
Well, leave a review please!
~Deadly Beauty