Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Dragonball Z. The amazing Akria Toriyama does. I only own the plot and my own characters

Bardock's story

Chapter 13: Forbidden fruit

A few of days later, Bardock and his team had returned from a rather tough assignment. It was one of the toughest. Somehow, Bardock managed to get back to planet Vegeta without needing the healing pods. But Tora and the others all did. Plenthor and Malaka had all four of them stripped down and placed in the pods, air masks and sensors in place. It was a worrying sight.

"Will they be ok?" Bardock asked with his arms folded.

"Give them a couple of hours then some rest," Plenthor replied, "They'll be fine after that."

Bardock nodded in understanding but was still worried. His team seemed to attract bad luck. Or was Bardock the one trouble liked? For now, though, there was very little he could do so he left. As he walked away from the medical centre, his mind started wandering off. He hadn't seen Kayla since her brother caught them at the training centre. It was strange. He had only spent a few hours with the saiyaness but it felt wrong that he had no idea where she was. She had got under his skin and into his mind and now she was refusing to get out from there. There was so much he had to learn about this girl. There was a moment during the spar when she reminded Bardock of Matrika. He wasn't sure why, she just carried the same presence. It didn't matter though; she was still higher up the saiyan social ladder than he was.

"Her brother would rather kill her than see her with me again, anyway." Bardock thought.

He sighed then carried on walking.

But then, as he walked around a corner, someone collided hard with him, knocking him in to the floor.

"Hey! You should watch where you're going!" He shouted, his eyes shut in reflex.

"I'm sorry, I was…Bardock?"

Bardock looked again and there, lying on top of him, her emerald eyes wide, was Kayla. For a few moments, the two young saiyans just stayed like that, Bardock lying on his back with Kayla laying her tiny frame on him, her hands on his chest pushing herself up. Right there, Bardock felt the urge to kiss her soft pink lips. But he resisted. Kayla quickly got to her feet and offered her hand to help Bardock stand. Checking no would see him accept help; he took hold of her hand.

"I'm sorry about that," She said, "Are you ok?"

"Of course," He replied, "Where were you going in such a hurry?"

Then they heard it, Roka shouting Kayla's name. Instantly, Kayla looked spooked. Bardock understood. Quickly, he grabbed her hand and, before Kayla acknowledged what was going on, shoved her in to a nearby room. He shut the door and leaned against the wall. He managed to look casual just as Roka appeared. Bardock stood chewing on a toothpick. Roka stopped and stared at the low-level.

"Hey," He barked, "You didn't see a girl in blue armour run by here, did you?"

"Sorry," Bardock said, coolly, "I didn't"

Then Roka glared at Bardock. The two males stared intensely at each other, trying to read each other's face.

Then, Roka recognised Bardock. He stood back and snarled.

"You're that bastard who was at the training centre with my sister a few days ago."

"The name's Bardock. And you're Kayla's brother."

"Roka, soon to be, your new army commander"

"Just like your father? I'd sure hate to have that expectation hanging over me."

"Well, don't worry about that, no one would be stupid enough to leave the entire saiyan army in the hands of a pathetic low level like you."

Bardock stared as Roka smirked smugly at him. He really wanted to hit the arrogant elite but he held himself steady. Satisfied, his sister wasn't around, Roka turned to leave. But before he did he stopped and turned back to Bardock.

"Oh," He said warningly, "and if I see you anywhere near my little sister again, I'll kill you where you stand. She maybe weird but she's still too good for a scum-bag like you."

With a grunt, Roka was gone. Bardock just stood staring, anger bubbling inside. He almost forgot Kayla was just behind the door inches from him. She opened the door a crack and peered out.

"Bardock, is he gone?"

"Uh, yeah"

Kayla breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the doorframe. She then noticed Bardock wasn't looking at her. He hadn't moved from his spot, leaving his back to Kayla. He looked tense.

"Bardock? Are you ok?"

"Did you hear what he said about me?"

She sighed heavily. "Yeah, I'm sorry; he wasn't like that when we were growing up. He was arrogant for sure but he wouldn't have spoken to anyone like that. You're no scum-bag."

Bardock turned to see the honest look in Kayla's eyes.

"What about the other thing he said?" He asked.

"What? That I'm odd? Well, I'm the saiyan who refuses to fight."

"No"

Kayla then realised what Bardock meant. "I'm no better than anyone else, especially you."

They stared deeply in to each other's eyes. They'd only known each other for a few days yet there was already trust and attraction between them.

After a few moments of not breaking their gaze, Kayla smiled cheekily, grabbed Bardock's armour by the shoulder straps and dragged him backwards in to the room. The door shut as she kept pulling the stunned Bardock until his lips crashed in to hers, pinning her against the wall. At first, the young solider was too stunned to react to the feel of Kayla's plump pink lips kissing his own. But soon his desire for this stunning girl overcame the shock and he started kissing back. To Kayla's delight, she could feel Bardock taking control. She could feel his tongue probing her mouth, demanding access. She decided, cheekily, to deny him, keeping her mouth closed. She got a slight shock when she felt his teeth nip her bottom lip. Finally, she parted her lips enough for his tongue to slip in and caress hers. Her arms locked around his neck as his hands settled on her hips, holding her steady. Neither wanted this to end but soon both had to come up for air. When they did, their eyes locked as they panted, getting their breath back.

"You're a keen little creature, aren't you?" Bardock chuckled breathlessly.

"Call that a thank you for covering for me." She replied, "I've been trying to avoid Roka all day."

"Why?"

"He wanted me to go with him on his latest assignment. I'd rather face Frieza than be ordered about by my own brother."

"What if I ordered you about?"

Kayla grabbed Bardock's face firmly with one hand, "I'll probably cut your tail off. Then kill you."

She then kissed him roughly. But before the kiss could get better, Kayla pulled away. Bardock tried to catch her mouth again but she covered his mouth with her hand, giggling.

"I've got to go. I've things I need to see to."

"Can we meet up again? I'm not going out on assignments for a few days so maybe we could train together again."

Kayla didn't say anything at first. She really liked Bardock and wanted to see more of him but the danger of her brother finding them got her worried. Or was there more? Bardock wasn't sure. All he knew was that he wanted to see Kayla again. Finally, Kayla smiled more.

"You pick the training centre this time," She said, "Roka's right, I train in the same place so he's more likely to find us."

"Ok, there's a centre right on the edge of the city," Bardock replied, "It is a busy place but they're mostly kids and it's far enough away."

"Perfect, well, tomorrow is as good as any day. See you then, Bardock. And thank you."

Bardock stepped back so Kayla could slip past. But before she did, she placed a kiss right on his scar. This kiss was very soft, barely touching his skin. Then Kayla disappeared from the room.

Later on, Bardock was back in his bunk. He lay once again staring at the ceiling, arms behind his head. The barracks were rather quiet right now; most of the soldiers were either on assignment or were at the bar getting drunk. The odd person walked in but none of them seem to notice Bardock lying there. However, Bardock didn't notice them either. His head was filled with the kiss with Kayla. The feel of her lips against his was like nothing Bardock had ever experienced. He could still feel the silken feel of her tongue against his own and the curve of her hips. It just felt so good to have her clearly display that she wanted him. But there was still the stumbling block of her elite status. It was like Kayla was forbidden fruit; the more Bardock was told that she was off limits, the more he had to have her. He could only imagine what the skin under her armour would feel like under his fingertips.

But before Bardock could imagine much more, he was disturbed by the arrival of Tora, Shugesh and Borgos. Fasha slept in a different part of the barracks, just for the female soldiers.

"Hey, Bardock," Tora called stretching, "Sorry to bail on you like that. Did you miss us?"

"Nah, I loved the peace and quiet." Bardock replied smugly.

"Ha, ha, that's very funny…not!"

Bardock chuckled and rolled on to his side, watching as his team mates got ready for bed. Normally, all four boys would find Fasha and go get very drunk but Plenthor and Malaka had given them strict orders to rest for three days, meaning no training, no assignments and no drinking for this first night. All three pulled their armour and boots off, leaving their spandex pants on.

"So what did you do while we were stewing away?" Shugesh asked.

"Not much. I had dinner then came back here. Oh and I saw Kayla again."

Bardock smirked at the reactions from Borgos and Shugesh.

"Ah, man, Bardock, you lucky bastard!" Shugesh sniggered.

"You sure are. She's a cutie."

"She's more than cute, Borgos, she stunning."

But there was one person who wasn't so excited for Bardock. Tora stood, a concerned frown on his face, watching Bardock carefully. The spike-haired saiyan knew Kayla was higher up the food-chain that him yet he was still putting himself in the perfect position to get in to serious trouble.

Later, when Tora was sure Borgos and Shugesh were fast asleep, he had to confront Bardock.

"Bardock," He called, using a hushed voice, "Hey, Bardock, you awake?"

When Tora got no response, he jabbed his finger hard in to the mattress, poking Bardock in between the shoulder blades. It did the trick as Tora heard Bardock groan and grumble.

"Bardock, wake up, man."

"I'm awake. What's up, Tora?"

"It's about that Kayla girl. I can tell you like her. But you need to be careful. Remember she is elite, dude. Her fate is different to yours. If you get too involved and something happens, it won't be pretty."

That was a very big damper on Bardock's current happy phase but Tora was right. Kayla was above them. She was practically a princess; she should be the mate of another upper class saiyan or even of King Vegeta himself.

"She may be stunning," Tora continued, "Even I can see that, and she may a great girl, but you can't expect the two of you to become mates. I've seen you take some serious punishment that you didn't deserve. I just don't want Kayla to be next in line."

With silence, as Bardock thought, Tora fell asleep leaving his friend with just his thoughts and a mental picture of Kayla for company.