Part 3
Fearless
Disclaimer: Right...and I'm a flying Pig.
ENJOY!
> >
Bulma shrieked as she felt herself being lifted from the ground. Chichi, eyes squeezed shut in fear, didn't even squeak. Her vocal cords had frozen in her terror. How would these men know her fear of heights? The last time she'd been up more than three stories, an Aryan man had held her out the window and threatened to drop her.
The woman latched her arms around Kakarotto's neck and buried her face in his chest. She was positively terrified. Bulma, seeing her friend's terror, dropped her head down. "If you could...go lower to the ground, milord..." She whispered to Vegita, not meeting his eyes.
"Whatever for, Woman?" Vegita snickered.
"Chichi is...afraid of heights, milord..." Bulma whispered softly. "She was held out of a third story window about a year ago...it is her biggest fear, to be dropped."
"Please." Vegita snorted. "If we were going to drop you, we'd have done it long ago. But I think my grip is slipping." He loosened his arms slightly and Bulma gasped, tightening her grasp on his neck.
"Forgive me, milord. I spoke out of place." The woman bowed her head.
Vegita and Kakarotto exchanged looks. What had made these two so submissive? Would the entire planet be like that? What fun was it to eradicate people that were already dead in soul?
"Look, woman. What building is yours?" Kakarotto asked the burden in his arms, and stopped to wait for her answer.
"It's-." Bulma began.
"SILENCE!" Vegita barked. "You were not asked! Keep your mouth shut!"
"Of course, milord." She murmured.
Chichi trembled as she looked up into Kakarotto's face, but avoided his eyes. "Please, milord, I am afraid of heights. Don't make me...Bulma knows..." She trailed off.
"I didn't ask your pathetic friend, did I?" Kakarotto's voice was deceptively calm.
"No, milord...you did not." Came the whispered agreement.
"Now tell me which building is yours!" He snapped. Chichi squeaked.
"Yes, of course, milord..." Chichi gulped, looking towards the ground below. She gasped. "It's so beautiful."
"Right. Now tell me where you live or I will drop you." Kakarotto stated shortly. He really would have dropped her too, at least, that's what he told himself. Now he only had to believe it.
"That one...the tallest of those six." Chichi pointed. "We live on the second floor. You can land on the fire escape, but it's rusty so we need to be careful."
"Of course. I might fall and die because I fell off a rusty fire escape and could fly." Kakarotto pointed out, rather sarcastically. Chichi blushed and looked down, trying to hid her amusement. A corner of her mouth quirked and Kakarotto smiled inwardly. Maybe these people weren't dead in soul. They still laughed.
The four landed outside the window of the building softly, Vegita prying it open easily. When they entered, the first thing the two Saiya-Jins noticed was soft, rattled breathing. "I suppose that is your father?" Vegita asked, referring to the breathing.
"Yes, milord, it is--he is very sick. We were afraid he might die, but he seems to be getting better." Bulma explained in a whisper.
"B-bulma?" The man wheezed from the next room. "Ch-chichi? Is that--is that you, girls?"
"Yes, Papa. We brought company." Bulma walked into the room. She lifted her father so Chichi could get him some water and check his temperature. "He's cooler now, Chi-chan." Bulma turned toward her "sister".
"That's good. How do you feel, Papa?" Chichi took the water from his lips.
"Like I've been sick." Her father confessed. "How did you get me better?"
"I stole some medicine." Bulma admitted, blushing.
"You did what?" Her father all but yelled in his shock.
"Shh! Do you want someone to hear you, Daddy?" Bulma covered his mouth. "I couldn't just let you die!"
"But to steal what we do not deserve? That is Treason!" His voice was a horse whisper. "You must be mad!"
"No, Papa! You were dying! I wasn't about to allow that!"
"I would have done it if she had not." Chichi broke in. "You are worth ten of them and we weren't going to let you die!"
"Bulma, Chichi..." Her father trailed off, and sighed, going limp in Bulma's arms.
"He's asleep." Bulma whispered, setting him back. The two tip-toed out of the room.
> >
"What's wrong with him?" Vegita questioned harshly. "He sounds ready to die. Why not simply kill him and put him out of his misery?"
"How dare you!" Bulma snarled, getting to her feet. "How dare you suggest such a thing? Would you kill your own father? You blood thirsty murderer!"
Vegita rose calmly to his feet. "Do not speak to me in such a way, Woman." Vegita pinned her to a wall, arms over her head. "Or do you not know what I could do to you?"
"Let her go!" Chichi sprang at the man, drawing her arm back, ready to punch him...only to be caught in Kakarotto's strong grip. The woman cried out, falling limp in his arms, tears in her eyes. "Don't hurt her!" She pleaded, a hysterical edge. "I beg you...please!"
"Shut up, wench!" Vegita backhanded her lightly, enough to sting but do no other harm.
Chichi's head snapped to the side; she had not been ready for the blow. "You-you hit me. I thought you were different..." Chichi trailed off.
Vegita rolled his eyes. "Females..." He hissed in exasperation, then, louder, he added, "Don't be stupid. You were growing hysterical."
"His...ter...eh...cal?" Chichi repeated, curiously. "What's that?"
"Are you people stupid?" Vegita demanded.
"Well, we're pretty smart for never going to...what do the Aryans call it? Oh yeah...for not going to school!" Bulma protested. Vegita turned quickly towards her, surprise showing only in his eyes.
Bulma, realizing her vulnerable position, tried to shrink back. "You've never had schooling of any sort?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No, sir." Bulma replied, not meeting his eyes.
"Stop avoiding me!" He roared. How he'd love to hurt her, but something stopped him. They looked so small, defeated. Almost like a lost little puppy. But he killed lost little puppies for kicks. Why did this group of people have such an affect on him? Maybe it was the Saiya-Jin like appearance. That had to be it, it couldn't be anything else, right?
"I'm sorry, milord." Bulma whispered. Vegita sighed and let her go. Kakarotto, still holding Chichi to prevent her from attacking Vegita, did the same.
"So, tell me, why are you enslaved in the first place?" Kakarotto broke the silence, moments later.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this, at least, that's what my grandmother said her mother told her." Bulma sat down on the thin carpet of the main room. "We sided with Germany, a country from a long time ago, in a war and Germany won. The dictator that was ruling Germany forced us to be like this. But we're sub-human so it makes little difference." Bulma shrugged.
"Sub-human? You are the same species..." Kakarotto blinked in confusion.
"No we aren't." Chichi disagreed. "We look different. They said we're barely above primates."
"Really? Then tell me, how is it that you are smarter than several Aryans we've met?" Vegita knew he had them both with that question.
"I'm a freak of nature and shouldn't really be alive, but here I am." Bulma shrugged.
"I find that hard to believe." Vegita crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. "But you just keep telling yourself that."
"I--what are you talking about?" Bulma shook her head. "You're mad. I think you lost your sanity when you crashed."
"Hmph. I'm hungry, Woman. Bring me food."
"Of course, milord. Would you like anything, Master Kakarotto?"
Kakarotto glanced up. "Sure. But make it quick. I'm starved."
"I'm afraid we've only a little food. We don't get fed much." Bulma looked down. "Daddy says that's why I'm so thin."
"It wouldn't surprise me," Vegita snorted. "Now get me my food."
"Right away, milord." Bulma and Chichi bowed and walked quickly from the room.
> >
"What do you make of these two?" Kakarotto questioned Vegita.
"I'm not to sure what to make of this whole damn planet!" Vegita snapped. "Sub-humans? Who made up this crap? The least they could do was get a better name."
Kakarotto shrugged. "What of the name? It's like Freeza. Perhaps he made the planet taboo to prevent us from finding this out?"
"No...there was something else that made this place taboo. I just don't know what yet." The two Saiya-Jin warriors fell silent as the woman entered the room, holding two trays of food.
Both Saiya-Jins eyed the meager rations. "You call this food?" Vegita demanded.
"It is all we have." Chichi told him timidly, handing him the bowl of gruel.
"Where is your portion of this mess?" Kakarotto asked.
"We gave it to you. We don't need it, truly." Chichi bowed. "Just eat."
Vegita and Kakarotto exchanged looks. If this was all they got it was little wonder that everyone was so thin. Vegita rose gracefully to his feet and took off through the still open window. Bulma gasped.
"We're not to be out after dark!" She told the other man, eyeing the setting sun. "Where is he going?"
"To get our meal. We can't eat this...stuff." Kakarotto wrinkled his nose. "It would not fill a baby Saiya-Jin, never mind a fully grown one."
"It's all we have." Bulma told him wearily. "He will not steal, will he?"
"I'm assuming you have animals in your forests and fish living around here somewhere?" Kakarotto snorted.
"Well, yes, but we can't hunt either. It's against the rules..." Chichi trailed off at Kakarotto's look of contempt.
"Just wait." He snapped.
Vegita reappeared nearly an hour later, holding several of what looked like deer, and a few fish. All were skinned and gutted and Vegita, before bringing them inside, had cut them into smaller pieces. "Cook this." He ordered, sitting down. "It will feed us all."
"Milord, this against the rules!" Bulma protested. "We aren't supposed to hunt or fish! Only the Aryans may!"
"Oh please." Vegita snorted. "If anyone questions me, I'll kill them. Problem solved."
"That have guns..." Chichi whispered. "And we do not. They will slaughter us if we try to rebel!"
"Humph." The two Saiya-Jin warriors rolled their eyes. "Give my a break." Kakarotto added. "If we can blow up a building, we can surely take a few...guns on and live."
"I don't know..." Chichi shook her head. "You two are not like anyone I've ever met before." She admitted. Bulma nodded in agreement.
"But bullets will still kill you." Bulma pointed out.
"Are you going to cook that or will we have to eat it raw?" Vegita sneered.
"I shall cook it, milord." Chichi bowed and nearly sprinted from the room in her haste to leave. Bulma, however, sat down.
"I would very much like to know what is going on." Bluma glared pointedly at the two.
"It is the same thing I told you earlier." Vegita sighed. Humans! "We are Saiya-Jins from Vegita-sei and we are here to destroy this little mudball."
"What is a Sigh-Jin?" Bulma asked, unaware she had messed up the name of the warrior's race.
"Saiya-Jin." Kakarotto corrected. "We are feared where ever we are known. This planet is years behind schedule, you should have been into space at least once by now, so you wouldn't know of other life forms, but our Master," Kakarotto spat the word out like a curse, "told us to clear the planet. We haven't had time off in a while, so we asked to have it now to mess with your small minds. Then we blow up the planet."
Bulma gasped and shook her head. "There's no way...and you follow him? Like good little lapdogs?"
Vegita and Kakarotto both growled, hands twitching. "What is it that you do for these Aryans?" Vegita snarled. "You do for them what we do for Lord Freeza. Because he is very powerful and we have no choice."
"I-I didn't know. I'm sorry, milord. My tongue gets away from me at times..." She admitted softly.
Vegita grunted, but made no move to harm her. Chichi, walking in with the food, saved the situation by mere chance. The two Saiya-Jins, having been in a drugged sleep for almost a week, began to scarf down food. The two woman stepped back, hands behind their backs. The Saiya-Jins paused for a moment.
"What are you doing?" Vegita demanded.
"Serving you." Chichi said, surprised. "Why? Are we doing something wrong?"
"You are supposed to eat something." Kakarotto explained. "That's why he got the fish."
"Oh...We were just going to eat what we brought earlier..." Chichi trailed off at the look on Kakarotto's face.
"Eat." He commanded. "That is not worthy of dogs and you will not eat it while we have food here."
"Yes, milord." The woman bowed and took a small bit of food from the table. Vegita rolled his eyes and fixed two plates, piled with food, and handed one to each of them. He knew they couldn't eat that much, but they would at least try and he and Kakarotto could eat what was left. The women, ready to protest, were silenced with a glare. Both began to eat.
After everyone had eaten and the dishes were done, the women
told the warriors that they would sleep on the floor and give the men
their beds. Both Saiya-Jins gave a decisive snort and flatly told the
woman that was not going to happen. Both grabbed a thin ratty blanket
and settled on the floor.
> >
It was very cold. Chichi shivered it the frigid air of the apartment unaware that her lips were slowly turning blue. Bulma was asleep and Chichi didn't want to wake anyone up, but the girl decided to get a drink of water before going back to sleep. Passing the guests as quietly as she could, she didn't notice that Kakarotto had woken up. The girl got her drink and Kakarotto nearly gasped when she turned around. Her lips were blue and she was shaking uncontrollably, the first signs of hypothermia.
"Chichi?" He got up and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Ka-ka-kakarotto?" She chattered out.
"You are freezing." He informed her, gathering her in his arms and igniting his ki around them both to warm her up.
"No, I'm fine, really!" She protested, teeth still chattering. "Just a little chilly's all."
"Right. Whatever." Kakarotto rolled his eyes. "Where's your blanket?"
"Papa needed them." Chichi whispered.
Vegita groaned, rolling over. "What's going on?" He asked, not yet awake.
"They are freezing, Vegita." Kakarotto explained. "This one is getting hypothermia and I'm not sure of the state of the other one yet."
Vegita, upon hearing that, quickly got up. "She's passed out from cold." He informed them both. "We need to warm them up."
"I know, Vegita. I took the same class you did." Kakarotto rolled his eyes and picked his blanket off the floor. Plunking Chichi down on her cot he laid down next to her, allowing his ki to continue warming them both. She gave a soft sigh-she was already asleep-and snuggled closer to the warmth.
Bluma, not waking up even though she was no longer
unconscience, did the same to Vegita. They did not dream for the first
time in a long while.
> >
(A/N) Well, another chapter! I'm not too
sure I like this all that well, but I figure that I may as well post
it, ne? Some of you might like it! This is mostly filler, trying to
figure out what's happening , getting to know each other. Boring, but
necessary. Shrugs Well, hope you like! Review, please!
Later!
Lady Foeseeker