Chapter 7 – Settling in?
Sereki was shown her sparse quarters below the palace. Bardock looked at her with a somewhat semblance of sympathy.
"You can't stay with me because–" Her father was interrupted by his daughter.
"I know..." she said lowering her head.
"Oh. Yes. Well…" he paused as he looked at her. His idea of her serving her punishment as a slave grew more and more distasteful in his mouth the more time he spent with her. "See you later."
She simply nodded in acknowledgement, and walked into her room. Her escorting guard stuck his head in the door and barked out orders. "You will meet the Prince to spar in 0900 hours." He left shortly afterwards.
"Yuck," she exclaimed while surveying her room. "Oh well, comes with the territory of being a slave, or servant, or whatever-you-call it. Ha. This is going to be so much fun!" She clapped her hands together in mock joy. "I'm growing more cynical by the day. I'm going to be a sarcastic, caustic, pessimistic mess in thirty years." She rolled her eyes as she flopped onto her bed. THUD. "Ow!" She quickly got up and looked at her bed. "Oh, no mattress… just a few blankets." She rolled her eyes again and sat gingerly on her bed. She wouldn't be making that mistake again.
She turned around to find an old, dusty, rusty clock hanging above her door. It read 8:00. "Great, one hour to myself." She un-capsulated a few of her things – her brush and toiletries. "I better not un-capsulate everything… down here things could get stolen." She looked out of her quarters and observed the musty, smoky hallways of the slaves quarters. A group of aliens were having some fun breaking the belongings of another unfortunate inhabitant of the floor. "Yep, I will keep my eyes on my things… I better try to hide them." She found a wood panel underneath her bed that was loose, and stored her capsules in there. She breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on her bed. She was about to take nap before the 'almighty know-it-all prince' demanded her. She'd keep that thought to herself.
"Hey… guys!" One of the burly pink aliens commented to his friends on the other end of the hall. "Did you see that tasty piece of flesh a moment ago?" he said while jerking his head towards Sereki's quarters.
"Heck yes, we did!" His compatriots responded enthusiastically.
"Let's have some fun. What do you say?" The alien had a creepy smile on his face.
"Oh yes, she will be some fun!" They slowly crept towards her room. The leader of the group poked his head into her room and found the woman asleep.
"Okay. Be quiet, or she'll wake up!" He whispered roughly. He tip-toed over to her bed and raised his hand above her head. He brought it down, intending to knock her out so she wouldn't cause any trouble.
Sereki's eyes snapped open, and she grabbed his arm. In a flash, the leader alien was part of the hallway's wall decorations. He slumped to the floor, leaving a huge dent that outlined all of his features. The other aliens shrieked and ran away. Her ears pinked up fragments of the retreating forms conversations…
"Geez, I'm not messing with that one!"
"But she's SOOOO pretty!"
"Femme Fatale, literally."
Sereki smirked to herself as she slowly walked out of her room and approached the wounded pink alien. She kissed her own finger and put it on the forehead of the dazed alien. She winked flirtatiously. Just as he smiled, she lifted her foot and kicked him 400ft down the hallway.
"Fat chance, baka!" She shouted down the hallway. She triumphantly returned to her room.
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A months later, the prince found himself refreshed. This female was one of the most superb fighters he had faced. Of course, he would never tell her that. That would ruin his self-important image.
He sat down against the wall of the sparring chamber and grabbed his water bottle. He wiped the sweat off his face with a towel and eyed the woman. She was at the other end of the room, meditating and floating a foot off of the ground. Her ways of combat would never cease to amuse him. She was leaving herself open for attack. Yes, she was definitely vulnerable – sweat poured off of her body and her breathing was starting to become ragged. The prince was the in the same condition, but he refused to admit that, too.
He smirked as he readied another energy blast from the last droughts of his energy. The light glowed blue, then violet out of the palm of his hand. He let it go from his hand, and it careened across the room towards the female. Let's see her get out of this one. He was starting to laugh at her vulnerable, unassuming position. She should NEVER drop her guard. I shall teach her that.
The blast hurled itself towards Sereki… 50 ft… … 10ft… 5ft… 4ft… 5ft… 10ft… Vegeta's eyes widened as he realized too late that his own blast was bearing down straight at him. "What the–?!" He couldn't get out another word as the blast slammed him into the wall, water bottle and towel in tow.
He picked himself off of the wall, and brushed the dust off his shoulders. He looked over to his sparring partner. "How?" He simply asked her.
Sereki's eyes snapped open in shock. He wants me to talk to him? Crazy, I'm a 'slave.' I shouldn't even look at him, let alone talk to him I haven't said a word except 'yes' and 'no' to him since I came here. She forced her mouth to move. "I used my ki to deflect yours. My mind formed a net to catch your blast, and then I sent it careening back at you."
"Could you do that with a large blast?"
"Theoretically."
"Explain." He was really shocking her today. Might as well make the most of it and keep the conversation going. She was beginning to take a liking to the prideful prince before her. Wait, scratch that. She tolerated him. Not like she had much of a choice.
"Well, it all depends on your ki level. If yours is stronger than the blast, or stronger than your opponent, the blast can be caught. That's most of the work. Once it's caught, it only requires energy on your end to send it in the direction of your choice. It consumes a lot of energy, so it really is better to get out of the way. However, it has it's advantages."
"Like the element of surprise." He said flatly and looked to the floor, his face turning red.
Sereki tried so hard to suppress the giggle that had been forming in her throat. Fate was against her, however, and it turned into a full-fledged laughed. She laughed so hard she fell over onto the floor.
"Woman! Stop laughing!" Vegeta commanded her.
She looked at him, tears almost in her eyes from laughing so hard. She brought it down to giggles. "But… your face!" She laughed again. As soon as she realized what she said, she clamped her hand mouth. Shoot, shoot, shoot! Bad thing to say… really bad thing to say. So far, she had managed to suppress her outgoing, and sometimes jovial personality, but she slipped. She looked at the floor, expecting some kind of punishment to be leveled on her.
"My face?" Vegeta repeated confused. "What's so funny about my face, woman?"
"Nothing… nothing at all… your Highness." She forced herself to stop breathing in order to quell the next round of laughter that was threatening to seize her poor body.
"Oh please, you saw something. Don't act like a scared idiot. Why would I punish my sparring partner? It would only punish me in the end as well – we wouldn't spar, or you would be hurt and the fighting wouldn't be good. Spit it out, woman."
Her eyes grew twice their normal size. He wouldn't punish her. Amazing! When she noticed the prince was tapping his foot on the floor impatiently, she remembered she had to answer him.
"Your eyes were as big as your face!" She bit her lower lip to stop the laughing that was getting its second wind.
He smirked at her. "So are yours." He almost laughed as he walked out of the door. Sparring her was going to be more interesting from now on. He had let her show a little bit of herself, and he liked it. As much as he'd hate to admit it, it drove him crazy to have people with no personalities do everything he asked. And she was a little… dare he think… funny? He shrugged as he made his way toward the showers and another day full of meetings.
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"So, Vegeta won't punish her?" The dark shadow at the head of the oval table asked. A single lamp lit the room. Shadowy figures sat around the table in the center of the dark room.
"No. In fact, she insulted him, and he almost laughed at it. I think he liked it." The second figure whispered.
"Insulted him?" The third shadow couldn't believe it.
"Liked it?" The fourth one exclaimed.
"Yes, I think that she will get closer to him as time goes on. She is proving to be most threatening in the long run." The head figure mused.
"But she's a slave!"
"Yes, maybe. But remember in ages past? The Royal Bloodline hasn't always been... shall we say… royal." The woman suggested. "We have to do something. One of must secure the position of Princess. Of course, we all want it, for one reason or the other. But remember, as long of one of us is the Princess, our group will have immense power. Surely the Prince would ask his own wife for advice."
"Yes, yes – the husband is the head, but the wife is the–" one of the women started.
"–Neck and can turn the head anyway she wants!" They all ended saying with glee in their voice.
"The Prince is nearing the age where it is unavoidable to say single any longer. His father will surely announce a tournament where all eligible females, from slaves to the highest classes will compete for the position of Vegeta's wife. The best fighter would win, securing strong offspring for the Royal Bloodline."
"We shall train, and train hard." The head woman brought her hand down with a resounding CRACK onto the table. The lamp blew out with the gush of wind that came from the open window. The female looked out of the window at the cold night. The land was to become restless in the days ahead. The moon was coming in a little less than a year.
A/N: I updated soon, just as you promised. What do you think of the plot so far? Thank you Vladegurl and Yuko the Saiyan for your great reviews! It's appreciated :)