A/N: Hello again! I think if I manage to update once a month, I'm doing well. I wanted to make a quick clarification for anyone who might be confused: this story takes place six years before Planet Vegeta is destroyed by Frieza, which means it is one years before the Saiyan/Tuffle War ends. Nappa is Nappa from DBZ, Vegeta is King Vegeta, etc. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one.
Disclaimer: Dragonball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama
Warning: Tiny, tiny bit of citrus-y material.
His lips were so soft against hers. Odd to think a hardened Saiyan warrior would have soft lips. She had been kissed before, by some of the men in her village, but this one was different. This one she enjoyed. It was not the sloppy attempt of a virginal male, but the passionate melting of a chief.
Her mind came back to her then. She pushed back against him, broke the kiss, and slipped off the edge of the cliff. There were several feet between her and the next ledge when she stopped herself, but she felt as though all the breath was knocked out of her. The chief looked down at her and seemed ready to follow, so she darted away. There was no possible situation she wanted to be in that involved her staying in his home that night.
Damn him, he thought to himself. Why did he do that, least of all to his new envoy? It was certainly enough to threaten the new alliance with the Diminutives: Kotak had been very clear about no harm, physical or otherwise, coming to his sister. All it would take was a slight exaggeration of the truth to think harm had come to Aina. It was not allowable for his hormones, or whatever stupid bodily aspect had caused this, to overrule common sense and judgment.
He had thought about chasing after her when she flew off. Decency demanded he apologize for what was obviously unwanted contact: why else would she have flown off so suddenly? If he chased after her, however, there was a good chance he would only make matters worse. Perhaps if he let her be tonight and confront her in the morning she would be more open to discussing the contact. Until then, he hoped she did not tell anyone, lest the information reach her brother.
It was a nice kiss, though.
She had barely slept at all that night. There were so many things she was thinking of, especially about the following day when she would have to speak with the chief. No way to get around that awful situation, not if she wanted to lay out the ground rules and secure the fragile alliance between her people and his. She dearly hoped it had been unintentional, just something that happened in the moment. If Chief Vegeta had in any way planned that kiss, it would make everything that much more difficult. But she was an envoy, so he must know that any sort of intimate contact with her would be terribly inappropriate.
The morning meal did not sit well in her stomach. In all her life she had never run into a situation like this. It took every ounce of strength she could muster just to walk up to the chief's home. There was no formal custom for going into a person's home, but she took her time with each step and tried not to make too much noise. She swore at herself silently: she was trying to be so quiet, and yet the whole purpose of her being here was to find and speak with the chief, not hide from him.
Saiyan noses were a wonderful thing: she smelled him and discerned he was in the training area at the far end of the structure. When she reached the area, she had to admire the man before her. Vegeta had taken off his tunic, bearing his well-sculpted chest to the air. Sweat gleamed off each muscle and showed no trace of fat on his body. Part of her whimpered a little. There was no denying a physical attraction, not now. She could do without the facial hair, as it had tickled her a little during the kiss, but everything else made her knees weak. Which was exactly why she had to set boundaries with him.
She cleared her throat. "Chief Vegeta, could we talk?" He did not seem surprised as he turned to face her: he had probably smelled or heard her when she came in. His face seemed pained.
"Yes, I think that would be best." He made no move to leave the training area, so this was as good a place as any to have this conversation.
"I—" they both began, quickly cutting themselves off to let the other speak. Vegeta ceded his speech.
"I think I need to lay down some rules." She swallowed and tried to avoid looking at the chief's eyes directly. "But first, I need to know if you intended to kiss me, before the discussion on the cliff."
The chief took in a deep breath. "No, of course not. Did you intend to accept a kiss from me before the discussion?"
Her cheeks reddened a little. Yes, her body wanted to say. But no, it had been unintentional, just not necessarily unwelcome. "No. So, can we both safely say the kiss was just a fluke? Neither of us are rocks, after all, and these things happen." Vegeta nodded, placing his hands on his hips.
"These things happen." He shifted nervously and swallowed. "Aina, I would never intentionally jeopardize the alliance between our clans. Your brother made me promise no harm would come to you, and he had a very serious look in his eyes when he told me this that told me he did not just mean harm from violence." She had to laugh a little.
"That sounds like Kotak. You know, he has never even broached the subject of my choosing a mate? There have been offers, oh yes, but each time a man entered proud and ready to ask for permission, he exited hunched and sweating. My brother is a scary man when it comes to me." She was relieved when she saw the chief smile in kind.
"Will you be omitting this little incident, then?"
"Yes, I will." She sighed and rocked back on her heels. A warm smile curved her lips. "It's a stupid thing to end an alliance over, and I am sure with the proper explanation my brother would understand, but it is good to discuss these things. And good to learn when to keep certain things hidden from him." She laughed again. "Not too long ago, not long after Kotak became chief, I went out hunting with a few of the young boys. I wanted to show them how to catch rock-hoppers; I'm not sure if it is the same here, but catching rock-hoppers does not constitute adult male exertion.
"So, we were scrambling along the rocky outcroppings on the hills behind our camp. The boy were having very little luck with the rock-hoppers, mostly just scared them away. I told them to be patient, but as with all little boys patience is the furthest thing from their minds. I demonstrated how to lie low and wait for one of the small beasts to come to me and then I caught one. They were amazed, and of course wanted to show off to their teacher. Well, one little boy did not heed the lesson as much as I had hoped. A rock-hopper jumped onto a rock right next to me and the boy lunged for it. Now, the boys were only using sharpened sticks as their hunting tools, but with the force of a lunging boy behind one, it can really do some damage. He hit me instead.
"Fortunately, it was just a grazing wound and not a puncture, but it still was pretty bad. I had never seen someone more scared in my life at that moment. Sure, I was in pain, but that was nothing compared to the boy. He was so pale at the thought of my telling my brother what had happened. I wound up telling my brother I had tripped over one of the fleeing rock-hoppers and gashed myself against a rock, and he believed me. But that little boy was the perfect student from then on."
Vegeta was smiling. "I doubt he believed you. I sure would not have."
"Perhaps, but he at least let me think he believed me, and that's good enough for me. So, do you have any siblings?"
"No. Once my father got his heir, my mother refused to have any more children. Ironically enough, she died in childbirth when I was about five. The child did not survive."
She stopped smiling. "That must have been hard. I mean, you're a tough Saiyan warrior, but I'm guessing that did not matter so much back then." To her surprise, he laughed lightly.
"I was the whiniest child when my mother was alive, and for awhile after, too. When I was finally old enough to feel the loss of my mother, the whining stopped. My father finally began teaching me some of the chiefly duties, and I found more people started to gain respect for me. Nappa stopped picking on me, especially when I became stronger than he."
"You and Commander Nappa were rivals?" He laughed harder.
"Not exactly, we were only ten. It was more an 'I am bigger than you, so hah' squabble. We have been friends since I bested him in a sparring match; he likes that he has competition."
"That does not surprise me in the least. I think I may have misjudged him a little prematurely. He is not as brutish as I thought. I think Torae has something to do with that, though." She giggled and sighed. "Maybe that kiss was not such a terrible thing. This is the first time we have actually talked like two normal people."
"Perhaps if I make a pass at you later, we will wind up revealing our deepest, darkest secrets to each other," he jested. She laughed and shook her head knowingly. "So, did the brat leave you with a scar?"
She whipped her head up. "Well, now, that was a sudden transition."
"I wanted to ask, but the conversation was a little distracting. I promise I won't laugh if you're horribly disfigured." No laughter might come from his mouth, but his eyes were dancing with it. He was a bit of a bastard, which she had to admit she liked.
She stepped closer to him and turned around, back towards him. Moving the left side of her tunic aside, she revealed a long, faint scar across her shoulder blade. "It's not very noticeable, but yes, the 'brat' did scar me." Everything suddenly got much warmer as a hand not her own traced the thin scar.
"That is not so bad. I'm guessing the one on my arm will be more impressive than this little thing, once it has healed. I have a few elsewhere, too, if you have not noticed. What about you? Any other scars I cannot see?" She had noticed a few on his back and arms, but she supposed the inquiry was more to see if she had noticed him rather than to acknowledge his battle wounds. He did not stop stroking her shoulder.
"A few, mostly miniscule ones from childhood learning experiences, like falling off a rock after being told to get down. I don't have a battle scars, though." Her breath hitched when he dragged a nail across the underside of her shoulder blade. It was not as though she were stopping it, however: she still was holding her tunic to the side.
"Women are allowed to go to battle in your clan, are they not?" He had moved closer to her, heat from his chest enveloping her backside.
"Yes, but it is not so much that I am a woman than it is that I am the sister of the chief. Kotak has no heirs, not even a mate yet, and until he does I cannot be risked. He is the strongest warrior of my clan, and therefore goes off fighting regularly. If he dies, I must take his place until either I produce an heir or the right of succession has taken place amongst the males of the clan. And the right of succession is a very long process, even longer during war. He has put his faith in me as a leader and looks to me to be ready to take over if the need should ever arise. Which is why I have no battle scars, because I have never been in battle."
"So he has put quite a bit of faith in me as well, placing you into my care." His hand moved from her shoulder and to her neck, where it pushed her hair over her right shoulder. She slowly turned around, not wanting to have his hands leave her entirely. Actually, she did not know what she wanted of him, just that she knew it would pain her to break contact.
"Yes. He trusts you greatly. I am not sure what you said to him during negotiations, but you must have impressed him." He murmured something in the affirmative as his hand traced her collarbone. She breathed in slowly, the strange sensation she had felt before, when he had kissed her, coming back.
"Then, I should do the utmost in my power to keep you safe, and not do anything to break his trust." A finger caressed her earlobe and she felt her knees weaken.
"No, nothing to break his trust," she breathed. It was then that she spread her fingers over his chest and admired each dazzling muscle. She felt herself being moved backwards until her back came up against the cool rock face of the training area. He teased her flesh with light caresses of his fingers here and there, ever proper and restrained. She wrapped her arms partially about his torso and attempted to move him closer. When he did not budge, she gave him a hard stare. "I do believe, Chief, that if you do not kiss me I will become very angry."
A knowing smile came to his face. "I would not want to anger my envoy." He wrapped his arms about her and lifted her off the ground, his lips claiming hers as soon as they were in reach. They played against hers, gentle and impassioned. A hand glided down her back and smoothed over her buttocks as it cupped them underneath and brought her hips closer to him. The offending hand spiked that strange feeling, a sensation now working its way between her legs and through her breasts.
When his tongue slid against her lips, she granted him entry and met the hot kiss blow to blow. She wrapped her arms around his neck and spread her fingers through his hair, pushing him closer within her. Gradually, he set her down on the ground, but did not break the kiss. His hands now free from supporting her, one stayed atop her buttocks while the other tested the boundaries around her breasts. The hand touched the underside and the valley, but did nothing more than tease until she grabbed his hand and set it firmly on top of her left breast. The invitation was accepted wholeheartedly as his hand grabbed the sumptuous flesh and kneaded it slowly.
"Vegeta, did you want a sparring….partner?" The sound of Nappa's voice flung the two quickly apart, but not quickly enough. "I guess you already have one." He chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "I'll come back later."
They looked at each other when the commander had left, both faces bright red. "So, um, Envoy Aina, what were those boundaries?"
"Hmm?" She was still trying to catch her breath.
"You were going to set some boundaries for us, but never got around to telling me."
"Oh, those, that's right. Well, we cannot do anything to jeopardize the alliance, and anything like that kiss could be misconstrued so many ways. And, in light of, well, recent events, I think we should make it a point to not be alone together. You are an attractive male, and I am…I am female, so we need to try to be away from each other when we are in the same space without anyone else present, and we should be as clothed as possible. And, maybe, you could show favor to one of the local women."
"What?" Perhaps that had not been the correct thing to say, but what was done was done.
"If your body is satisfied, mine won't be as appealing. I will just be your envoy, nothing more." He huffed a bit and his eyes hardened a little. Damn, that definitely was the wrong thing to say.
"Good idea," he said very softly, leaving the training area. Oh, yes, she was the champion of pissing him off.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Like I have said before, it will take awhile to get to the actual lemony material, but some stuff will happen along the way. I really want this to be a nicely drawn-out relationship.