Chapter 9 – Need
Trunks awakes with the feeling that something is wrong. Toorah's still lying beside him, but Vegeta is missing. He gets up and closes his eyes to sense where Vegeta has gone. He doesn't have to look far; on the other side of the cave, Vegeta's sleeping soundly in Radditz' arms.
"Radditsu…" Trunks growls, his vision turns red. His tail lashes out behind him, then he charges.
"What the…" Curses and grunts are heard as Trunks attacks Radditz, waltzing over Vegeta in the process.The tables soon turn though as Vegeta grabs Trunks' tail and brings him down to his knees in pain.
"KAMI DAMN IT WHELP, ARE YOU INSANE?" Vegeta towers over him, burning with rage. Radditz is nursing his bleeding nose in the background.
"Do you think you can attack Radditz because you're stronger than he is? Do you really think I'd let you?"
Trunks growls at him in frustration. He acted on instinct, not on rational thoughts.
"Leave him alone, Vegeta," Radditz says. "He didn't mean no harm."
Trunks finally snaps out of it and stops growling at Vegeta. Nani? Radditz is defending him?
"Oh sure he didn't," Vegeta spits. "Tell that to your broken nose."
"It ain't broken!" Radditz snarls. "Now let go of his tail!"
Trunks watches the soundless battle between Vegeta and Radditz. Suddenly he feels how his tail is released.
"If I catch you doing so much as thinking a wrong thought about him, I swear to Kami, I'll skin you alive." Vegeta stomps off.
Radditz approaches Trunks and punches him in the shoulder playfully.
"That was the stupidest thing to do if you're trying to gain a place on Geta's favorite's list."
"I wasn't trying anything," Trunks replies weakly. His shoulders slouch down.
"I know," Radditz answers. "That's why I defended you. You weren't thinking. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
Trunks lowers his head, tears welling up in his crystal blue eyes. The smell of Vegeta on Radditz is driving him crazy! He can see the bite mark on Radditz' shoulder, it's like a neon sign in Vegas. Involuntarily he clenches his fists at his sides.
"Damn it kid, you've got it bad!" Radditz backs away from him, leaving the cave.
"Trunks, you idiot," he hears Toorah's mocking voice behind him. "Don't mess with my parents. Vegeta already told you he'd bond with you, so have some fucking patience."
"That's the problem," Trunks hisses. "I'm done waiting, I've waited long enough!" His body is shaking with pure frustration.
'There's plenty of things we can do to kill time…' Toorah switches to telepathy as he unceremoniously pushes Trunks to the ground and pounces on him.
"Come on, Vegeta, don't be such a stuck up baka," Radditz complains. "We need to talk about what happened."
"What part of "leave me alone" didn't you understand, soldier? GET OUT!" Vegeta turns his back on Radditz, shaking with rage.
"Or you'll do what?"
Radditz stands his ground, knowing that Vegeta can't hurt him that bad since he's already dead.
'Relax, koi, you're overreacting. Let's sit down and talk about what's eating you.'
After a few moments, Vegeta surrenders to Radditz' soothing thoughts and flops down on the floor.
"I'm scared," he blurts out.
Radditz eyes go wide in surprise. "Then why did you agree to mate him?"
"The only other solution was to turn him into a submissive Saiyan… I refused. It would be like forcing myself to be submissive… Impossible. It would be so degrading…"
"So you agreed to mate him, but you're afraid to do so. Why?"
"Excuse me, have you seen him just a few seconds ago? He was about to rip out your guts with his bare hands!"
Radditz smiles. "Yeah, he's a true son of his father…"
"Why the hell are you defending him anyway?" Vegeta snarls.
"I'm not. I'm just trying to make you see that he's so much like you! He's probably scared as well. Maybe he doesn't realize, since his need to be with you is greater than anything right now. I think you should talk to him and work things out."
"Talk… I should show him who's boss, that's what I should do."
"I won't work on him, Geta. He's dominant."
Articulate curses emanate from Vegeta's throat as he realizes he has no other choice. He has to talk to Trunks.
Mirai Trunks lies on his back, half asleep, half unconscious. Next to him is Toorah, bloody and beaten. With a huge grin on his face. He downs a senzu bean and turns around when he hears the curtains covering the entrance of the room rustle.
"Hi dad," he greets Vegeta. "If you want to talk to him, better come back later. He'll be out of it for quite some time."
Vegeta sniffs the air. It's heavy with pheromones and the smell of blood. He senses anger and pain as well.
"It's a good thing you had senzu, son," Vegeta says hoarsely, counting the blood stains on the sheets.
"Feh! I could've lasted another round." Toorah gets up, glancing at Mirai Trunks before putting on some loose pants. "I guess you want me to leave?"
"Please."
Toorah is baffled. He never heard his father utter that word before. He leaves without another word.
Vegeta sits down next to Mirai Trunks and waits.
Red fabric is everywhere around him, muffling his cries for help. He looks down on himself, hammering into Toorah, clawing onto his bare back.
"How does it feel, Trunks, to become what you hate most?" A deep, dark voice hits his ears. The red fabric rushes over his thighs, his groin, the base of his tail. Cold sweat runs over Trunks' face. He can't get out… Fear tugs at his chest, crushing his ribs with fatal pressure.
"Can't… breathe…" His face cringes at the numbing sensation of desperation. He is powerless.
"Wake up, Trunks. It's just a dream."
The voice of Vegeta pushes him to the surface. Gasping for air, Trunks wakes up. His body is trembling with the intense experience of fear.
"Thanks…"
Vegeta is shocked by the look in Mirai's eyes. It reminds him of the look in his own eyes, staring at his face in the mirror after a nightmare in which Frieza played the major part. He puts his hand on Mirai's shoulder, squeezing it gently.
"Relax…"
Mirai sighs deeply as he is comforted by Vegeta's ki.
"You're not mad at me anymore?" Crystal blue eyes look into Vegeta's black ones.
"No. But I've been thinking since you attacked Radditz. We need to talk, Trunks. I promised I'd bond with you. I never break a promise."
"I know that… I can't seem to control myself! And I don't understand how you can!"
Vegeta looks at the young man understandingly. "I can explain to you why I don't have the intense urge to pounce on you all the time."
Mirai's face turns red.
"I already established two bonds, one of them a deep bond. I agreed to bond with you because I'd rather kill myself than turn you into a submissive Saiyan."
Tears form in Mirai's eyes when he hears Vegeta say that.
"So you don't… have feelings for me?"
Vegeta grins widely. "You know better than that."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Mirai looks at Vegeta expectantly.
"The truth is…" Vegeta casts his eyes down.
"I have no idea how we can establish a 'devil's bond'. I wanted to talk to my father first to find out what we're supposed to do. Secondly, Kakarot and I did some serious memory sharing before we bonded. I'm not sure if you can handle bonding without it."
"How so?" Trunks' eyes seem to darken a bit.
"My childhood was pretty fucked up," Vegeta states coldly.
"So was mine," Trunks replies.
"In that case, it'll work both ways. I don't want either of us to get hurt."
Trunks nods. Then he asks: "So how come you know what a devil's bond is, but don't know how to form one?"
"I suck at rituals. I tend to change them even if I know exactly how they should be performed. But even I don't have the guts to mess with a devil's bond. Since my father does know all the Saiyan rituals by heart, I'll go ask him."
"And the memory sharing?"
"Tomorrow."
As soon as their mental link severs, Vegeta knows that he has made a mistake. Instead of hitting the ground unconscious, Mirai Trunks starts to power up.
"Kami damn it… You motherfucking asshole! I'll kill you!" Mirai attacks Vegeta with passion, already on the brink of SSJ 2.
Vegeta fazes out just in time and releases a ki drain attack on Mirai. It costs him surprisingly much energy to drain Trunks' power; it's like he's drawing power from some kind of secret buried inside his mind. His rage is worse than Vegeta has ever witnessed. In the end, Vegeta succeeds at draining Trunks' energy and catches his limp body before it hits the ground.
"What the hell was all that about, kid?"
He carries Trunks inside, his mind filled with question marks.