There's chapter 7! R&R please
Most of the stalls on the market were just open when Gohan walked through the almost deserted streets. Sometimes a slave bought something in one of the stalls and a few children ran though the streets. Hastily, because he would set out for Alderyn in a few hours, he sought the stall with the bulky slave trader, who he saw yesterday.
Getting more annoyed by the minute, Gohan let his eyes pass across the numerous stalls and merchants, who were shouting to the few passers-by to buy their goods.
After a short while, Gohan had crossed the entire street, but he still hadn't found the stall he sought. With a growl, he turned around and walked to the other end of the street, where he just came from, while he ignored the shouting merchants and the stares of the few people, who had by now noticed who was walking up and down the street.
After going up and down the street for 3 times, the general had enough. He sought for almost half an hour and was about to give up his search and return to the royal palace where he could prepare himself a little more for the journey, when he heard a man yell and he knew he had found what he was looking for.
The slave trader's stall was standing between a weapon-stall and a clothing-stall, and if you didn't know where is was, you would walk by without even seeing it.
Gohan walked to the stall with the yelling man. When the merchant saw him coming closer, he immediately stopped scolding at some slave, who was standing behind him and who had his eyes fixed upon the ground.
"Ah, general, what a pleasant surprise." The bulky man said with a fake smile on his face. "What can I do for you, my most honorable customer?"
Gohan, disgusted by hearing so much fake flattery from the man's mouth answered the first thing that came into his mind.
"First of all, I ask of you to hold you're tongue, you worm, before I cut it of. I have no respect or whatsoever to people who flatter in order to swindle people and steal their money with ridiculously large prices. I only came here for one thing, and you'd better help me with it."
The slave trader, shocked and a little bit offended by the harsh words of the mighty general, asked, almost angrily, how he could help the general.
Gohan smirked and bend forward.
"Yesterday, I could not help but notice you had an interesting creature with you. A female earthling. The one you brutally punished with a whip for having the nerve to look at me."
The bulky Saiyan thought for a while, with his hand holding his chin and looking at the sky, before he remembered what the general was talking about.
"The young girl, with the blue eyes, fragile form?"
Gohan's smirk widened when he heard the description.
"Yes, that's the one I was talking about."
The slave trader looked at him suspiciously before he answered.
"You want to purchase her?"
"Exactly."
The face of the bulky Saiyan lightened up and he clapped in his hands before he turned around to enter a small tent, probably where he left all the slaves.
Gohan waited impatiently and heard a few yells coming from the tent. After a short while the slave trader returned with the slave, his huge hand clenching her pale, thin arm.
The slave struggled to break free from the grip of the huge man, but failed miserably, since she was only an earthling against a large Saiyan. Gohan noticed that her expression was fierce and at the same time…what was the word?...pretty, almost.
The merchant had a rope in his other hand and with no trouble at all, he bound the slave's hands together, while she furiously tried to kick him.
"I tell you, she is a feisty one!" the huge Saiyan chuckled maliciously.
Then the slave's eye fell on the mighty general in front of her and a sign of recognition appeared on her face. Gohan watched the slave and looked her in the eyes, but this time he was prepared and he could prevent himself to get enchanted again.
"Is this the creature you mean?" The bulky Saiyan interrupted.
Gohan nodded while he looked at the female earthling who, in turn, looked at him questioningly.
"Yes, that's the one." He said in an almost inaudible whisper.
Gohan inspected the slave with his eyes and his gaze went from head to toe. He remembered the earthling to be smaller, but she was actually longer than an average female earthling, though not as long as a female Saiyan. She looked thinner in the rags too, her shoulders were small and her neck was thin and bony. With horror, he looked at her feet, which were swollen and covered in dried blood and dirt. You could still see were she was chained last night, because both her ankles were red.
Unwillingly, Gohan felt his rage come up again and he felt like scolding at the slave trader for treating the slave like this. But his sense prevented him from doing that.
"How old is she?" He asked instead, while still having his gaze fixed upon the slave, while the latter also held her eyes on him.
"19 summers."
Gohan came closer to the slave, who in turn, tried to step away, but, since the slave trader still held her arm, failed.
With a serious expression on his face, Gohan reached out his hand to the slave's hair. The slave struggled to avoid the hand, but when even she realized that she had no chance against a Saiyan, she let him be, but with anger rising from her stomach.
Gohan frowned as he touched the hair of the female. It was thin and the strings of hair got entangled. Her hair was dull and full of dirt.
"The hair hasn't been washed and cut for ages". Gohan remarked to no one specifically.
His hand went down to the slaves face, whose breathing fastened out of anger to be humiliated like this.
Gohan watched the fire-spitting eyes and he smirked, enjoying the creatures fierceness.
He felt the skin of her face and it wasn't soft and smooth but dry, dirty and so pale, that it was almost transparent.
"Her skin looks like that of a corpse."
Gohan sent a quick glare to the slave trader, before he continued the inspection.
His finger went over the lips of the earthling.
"Her lips are dry and crusty."
His hand went from her chin to her neck.
"Her neck is like it can hardly support the head."
Again the slave struggled to break free, because she knew where the general's hand would go next. Her breathing was audible at this moment.
Gohan's hand went over the small shoulders of the creature and he frowned when he felt how bony they were.
He went down more with his hands, and felt her ribs.
"I can even count her ribs". He sent an even more furious glare to the bulky Saiyan.
The slave watched the general attentively but suspiciously, noticing the glares the man in front of her sent to the man holding her in a tight grip.
The general's hand went over her waist, hips and eventually, her thighs. She was so thin that it wouldn't surprise him she looked like a skeleton when she was undressed.
He pulled back his hand and fixed his eyes on the slave trader.
"She's not even worth a goat. I'll give you 50."
"What, but she's worth at least 200!" The slave trader yelled with clenched fists and a red face. The slave flinched, for the grip on her arm had tightened.
This time Gohan stepped towards the bulky Saiyan, seized him by the collar and brought his face to his own.
"She would have been worth over 300, had she been bathe and fed properly. It costs at least 250 to let her recover to her normal weight and strength. I will pay you 50 and you will accept that, you spineless fool of a Saiyan."
The general let go of the collar and the bulky Saiyan stepped back a few meters, while a huge purple vein had appeared on his red face.
"No, if you can't afford her, you won't get her! That's the rule of the merchants!"
"That slave is worth 50 in this condition and you know it. Don't forget, I am a powerful man and I could let you be closed down any minute for swindle."
The Saiyan's eyes widened and he clenched his teeth, but seeing he had no choice but to meet the offer of the general, he sold the slave.
By now the sun had risen and the streets were somewhat more crowded. Gohan walked calmly and silently back to the palace, while his fist clenched the rope where the female slave's wrists where tied together by. Every once in a while, he could feel a little resistance at the other end of the rope and he could hear the slave sigh or growl in frustration. After a while he turned his head, to see the slave attempting to free her wrists while trying to bite through the rope. Gohan chuckled at the sight and the slave sent him a death glare, which amused Gohan even more.
"Have no fear, when were at the palace, I will free your wrists from the rope. There you will also find food and decent clothes waiting for you…and a hot bath." The general said with a small smile curling his lips while the slave looked at him, still carrying the furious expression on her face.
The general turned his head to the street again, before he continued.
"Even I cannot deny that that disgusting intestine of a merchant mistreated you in all possible ways, even for slaves." He continued.
"…even for slaves. Bah." The slave angrily repeated in a subdued voice.
"Nevertheless…" Gohan continued while he turned around so the slave almost bumped into his chest. She looked at him with her big cerulean eyes and, for the first time now, was a little bit frightened by the general, who was almost a head taller and twice as broad as she was in all her skinniness, not to mention the authority and earnest radiating from his form, which made her feel like she was tiny and insignificant.
"…I have to give him credit for one thing: he was right in his judgment about you being a feisty creature".
The small smile, almost unrecognizable but still there, appeared again, gracing his face, while he looked into the clear eyes of the female, who, in turn, looked back at him, though she was a little less confident than before. They remained like this for a while, in the middle of the still quiet street, while the first rays of the sun crawled unnoticeably towards the two.
To her immense regret afterwards, because she considered herself showing weakness to the man in front of her, the slave broke the eye contact and fixed her gaze on the ground. The overwhelming authority in front of her was just too much to win from.
Gohan smiled cockily because of his small victory, though he admired the attitude of the small creature standing before him. Not much people dared to look at him strait in the eye like she did, nor could many hold that gaze towards him. And certainly no slaves.
"Tell me your name." He commanded.
The slave kept her gaze on the ground and her only respond was her biting on her lip.
Gohan cocked an eyebrow and the smile on his lips disappeared.
"Did you not hear me?" He asked indignantly. "I commanded you to tell me your name!"
The slave slowly turned her gaze from the ground to the general again and she looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"I don't respond to commands like that." She replied with fierceness in her eyes.
Gohan couldn't believe his ears. The creature opposed him, openly. Him..! The mighty Saiyan general, who could destroy planets single-handedly, one of the strongest warriors of his kind, someone who could kill her within a fraction of a second. She had more nerve than any creature, slave, Saiyan…anyone he has ever met.
He moved closer to her, to a distance where his chest almost met hers.
"You'd better start responding to my commands," he said in a soft, low, anger-suppressing voice, "since you are my property from this day on and…"
"Oh that's what you call us. Property." The slave interrupted on the same tone as the general.
"It is what you are. I own you now."
"I belong to no one and nothing but my own heart and soul."
"I'd like to add 'amen' to that. What did you expect? That you could escape destiny?"
"What do you know about destiny? It's just a meaningless word, invented by people like you to justify the crimes your kind has committed against numerous innocent races."
"Don't you start about justification of crimes. What about the crimes your people committed against your own kind?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I've been on your planet and I know about your history. If I am correct, your race also has a history of slavery. For thousands of years. How can you judge us with that knowledge?"
"You're talking about hundreds of years ago and we learned from that period. You can't compare it with your own situation."
"No, you're right. At least we never enslaved people of our own kind."
"We've closed that chapter. We are past that period and your people aren't. It's easy to look at one's past and form your opinion based upon that. But what must I think of someone who's crimes are not yet irrelevant and who is furiously trying to justify those particular crimes in front of my face?"
"Don't try to outsmart me with those strong words and opinions. Destiny or no destiny, crimes or no crimes, you are still a slave. My slave, that is, and if you don't follow my command, I can make you pay for that."
"Are you threatening to kill me if I don't do as you say?"
"There are far worse things that death."
"And there is no greater humiliation than the humiliation of following your orders."
Gohan looked at the slave calmly. In this whole conversation he had managed to stay poised and calm, while the slave's breathing had fastened and her pale cheeks now carried a reddish color.
"I am rather tired of this conversation, I have other troubles to worry about. I will leave this planet in less than two hours and if you don't tell me your name within that time, I will bring you back to that merchant and leave you there." Gohan stated coldly.
The slave's eyes widened and for less than a fraction of a second, Gohan saw fear and horror flashing through her eyes. He knew he had touched a sensitive chord.
"And I add," he continued, "that I'm not the worst master anyone could have. I will give you enough food and clothes, you can bathe yourself whenever you want, you will have your own room and you are allowed to have property. There are more than enough human slaves living in my residence and I imagine you will have enough friends there. You can even mate one, for all I care. You will be protected against other Saiyans so you don't have to fear for any sexual intimidation, as you call it, and I am more away from home than I am at home. All I ask in return is to keep my home clean and decent and to not misbehave yourself. See it as a trade, if you like: I offer you a comfortable life in trade for your services."
Gohan created some distance between the slave and himself, though he enjoyed intimidating her. The slave still watched him with fire-spitting eyes and Gohan couldn't help but think that she had the pride and stubbornness of a true Saiyan. And it amused him greatly.
Since the slave wasn't about to say anything, Gohan rolled his eyes and turned around again, ready to drag her to the palace, if he had to. But to his surprise, he felt no resistance at the other end of the rope at all. He turned his head to see if she hadn't free herself from the rope, but that was not the case. She was just willingly, though still angrily, following him. Gohan, who turned his head to the road in front of him again, only smirked.
After a while of walking in silence through the large street, the slave decided to say something.
"Where are you going in two hours?" She asked curiously but trying to sound indifferently.
A long silence followed in which the slave waited for an answer. She was just thinking how rude and arrogant the Saiyan was for not answering her question when he replied.
"That's none of your business." He said that in the indifferent tone the slave also tried to achieve.
"Are you too important to tell to your poor slave where you're going?"
Gohan secretly chuckled but made sure she didn't hear it.
"Yes". He replied simply.
A long silence followed, which the slave broke again.
"I hope you're not going to Alderyn. For you, I mean, I don't give a damn about where you're going. But I heard it's pretty dangerous out there. So…"
The smile on Gohan's face disappeared again and he swallowed heavily, which, fortunately, wasn't noticed by the slave.
"Yes, I heard something about that." He merely said.
Another silence followed and this one lasted just before they reached the palace.
"I will sent for some of my personal slaves in the palace." Gohan began. "I will order them to feed, bathe and dress you – don't be frightened, I will only call for females. If you don't make your name known within that time, I will have to send you back."
Gohan fixed his eyes to hers again and tried to read the emotions in them. He was still amazed how beautiful they actually were.
The slave eventually broke the silence.
"My name is Videl."
All Gohan did was nod. He knew she would come around eventually, so he wasn't really surprised.
"Alright then, miss Videl. I'm general Gohan."