A.N. It's always nice to read your reactions to the story as it progresses, so please keep them coming in! ^-^ I'm sure that if you've guessed a few mysteries and unanswered questions by now, then you're probably right. If not, well incoming your way are the final clue/s. I've estimated only another 5 or 6 chapters to go, but erm... we'll see. I'm also considering a prequel involving my favourite Saiyan Prince, once this story is wrapped up nicely. But before I do start anything new, I definately need to take some time out to read the fanfics written by my awesome reviewers :)

Oh yes, and the 'horizontally challenged' was a very funny mistake! Hehe...well I've corrected it now, after suffering a huge, painful grin!

~ Anorelei ~
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Chapter 12: Can You Imagine?

Nestled between two moons not far from a starry nebula of red and purple hues, lay the turbulent home planet of the Saiyans. Vegetasei; named after the line of Kings who each bore the name 'Vegeta' from the cycle of father, to son. In the throne room of the Capital City's Palace, sat the emotional and physical wreck who currently claimed the Kingly title. Since defeating the Changeling tyrants, the Saiyan Prince had not only earned his rightful crown. He been revered as a hero among his people, worshipped even, and undoubtedly feared for the sheer, incredible strength he'd somehow obtained. Since a child, the prince had shown great ambition and potential, despite the failure of his mother to follow in her father's great footsteps. Luckily, she'd blessed her son with her mere blood-descent alone. But now, there were those who had the gall to continually oppose him. Even the council of his most trusted Elites, were doubting his actions against the various rebels who threatened his almost fascist, iron-fist rule. Vegeta growled under his breath, resting his chin on his wrist as dark, onyx eyes lowered to this feet. The newest limp body that sprawled over the descending steps of his mighty throne, was going to be difficult to explain.

"Incoming message, your Majesty." A lesser underling declared over the intercom, and the King ignorantly fixed his last, trademark white glove over a still shaking, deeply olive-tanned hand. The monitor screen flickered, but the message connection would be denied until he gave the word.

"This had better be worth my time," he snarled, which was good enough. So the image of two familiar faces flickered onto the screen, with a screeching of galactic sound waves adjusting to the planetary frequency. The King merely scowled; his tail flicking dangerously behind him. Both were faces he did not care to see, and for now, he focused completely on the male.

"You again?" He declared in an immediate eruption of disappointment. "What is it now, baka! Did I not make my orders clear enough for your thick skull?"

General Kakarot kept a stoic expression under the glaring insults of the mighty King. Yet it was the unwanted presence of the female beside him, who answered the question, in her usual calm and collected manner.

"You always did have a way with words, dearest brother." He immediately rose to his feet, pointing a finger in her direction, complete with the automatic raising of his gruff voice. The woman infuriated him beyond reasoning. If it weren't for keeping the ultimate favour of the tradition-worshipping council, he would've personally bought her a one-way ticket to Hel many years ago.

"Do not insult me with that name!"

"Temper-temper."

"You forget our pathetic excuse for a father has no longer a say in your right to breathe. Keep trying my patience Kari, and you will see how not even the council will save you!"

"And you forget your consistent failure to secure your beloved little throne." He instantly narrowed his eyes, causing her smirk to stretch the left side of her pout. "Oops. Did I manage to hit a soft spot?" His lightly elevating growl confirmed her already known suspicious. "Apologies, your Majesty."

"Kakarot!" He barked, returning his attention to the baka of a General. "You have ten seconds." Waste not want not, and so the silenced female cast her glance to the 'loyal-subject' in question.

"Kari has issued her sponsorship over my son. As we will unavoidably pass Gelidus, I request permission to send him to the final trial."

"Hmph!" The short King folded his muscular arms, keeping his fixed glare on the descendant of the great Bardock. "What makes you so sure he's worthy of the title? Do not think I have forgotten the human wench."

"It is… no longer Gohan's concern." Despite the bitter taste of the semi-lie on Kakarot's tongue, the King bought it. He was, after all, speaking to one of his very few remaining, most trusted warriors. Kari merely grinned in approving satisfaction, flicking her slanted eyes back to her half-brother.

"So, your brat is a dog after all," the King darkly snickered in brief amusement. "Fine! Let him have his blasted trial."

"Gratitude." The briefest pause allowed the slight change in Kakarot's voice, as his tone suffered a less confident edge before the King could cut the connection completely. "But there is, one more thing."

"Yes?" It was not Kakarot who answered the bark however, as the detested female voice clearly spoke of her intentions.

"The Earthling will also face the trail." The deeply confused and unimpressed scowl, soon became an outburst of mocking yet highly amused laughter, in complete disbelief to this mad revelation. It was one achievement to gain the King's crazed laughter, but it was another to catch him by surprise.

"That's one way to get rid of it!" He managed to spit between his laughter.

"The human is mine." Ah, and there it was, the piece of the puzzle she'd left until last. Typical Kari. So the King's laughter faded, though the smirk remained, as he waited for the cursed woman to finish. "Should it survive, there will be a new project. My project."

"I always knew you were insane onna," the King jeered. "But still, you surprise me." He couldn't help it, as he laughed again at such a preposterous notion. "Have your games Kari, but know this. If you dare to even bring that things corpse back here, I will have your head …on a silver platter!"

"As will I have my say before the council. I expect my trial to be perfectly timed with our arrival. Time is of the essence."

"Hmph!" The damn woman had him by the balls, and she was squeezing far too hard for the King to permit for much longer. Oh yes, she would have her tribunal. And he would have her joining her cursed parents, far sooner than she thought.

"Give my regards to Tarnipa… Or has she now joined the rest, adorning your precious, little feet?"

The connection cut, and the beyond-irritated King returned his glance south, to the lifeless female by those said, 'precious little feet. With another primal, snarling growl, he dealt with the matter of disposing with the evidence… again.

It was usual for Gohan to naturally sleep for nine hours, occasionally pushing eleven, but thirteen was certainly a new record. Yet it felt like far longer, as he slowly came to his senses and gave a mighty yawn, worthy of any lion. It felt like someone had hit him repetitively across the skull, while his limbs seemed to emphasise their protests more than usual, against his desire to leave the warm and cosy bed.

"Hmm," a female voice started, and it took him a moment to recognise the tone accurately. "I was beginning to wonder if I'd made a slight overdose... Error."

That was certainly not the human he'd fallen asleep next to. The same human who was now missing entirely from his side, or as he soon found, anywhere else on the wide bed. Startled, he sat up instantly, instinctively examining the rest of the near-empty room, before being forced to settle his eyes on the woman who casually occupied the recliner chair.

"Where is she?"

Kari responded to the growling male with a light snicker, and crossed one, meaty thigh over the other in a neat and overly-relaxed movement.

"Safe, I imagine." She even had the nerve to absent-mindedly pick at her nails. "For now." Eyes flickered, as the male, despite still recovering from the deeply lingering slumber, leapt onto his feet with the sole intention of advancing on the brash woman. A simple, high-impact blast, put an end to that idea, and Gohan found himself bouncing back against the bed in an explosion of scolding red light.

"Down boy," she mocked, going back to flicking dirt from her nails as if nothing had happened. "Honour and glory rests on these next few hours. You must prepare yourself for your trial."

"What trial! Where have you taken her!" The poor boy, forgetting the most important ritual a Saiyan could ever face, all for a human? Kari licked her lips, as her plans fell into place perfectly.

"If you took a moment to calm yourself, perhaps you would notice we are no longer moving. You would also find the view from any window to be rather different, compare to before."

Taking a moment to control his erratic breathing, the Saiyan finally found the comfort of truth in Kari's words, as his ears pricked to the sound of deaf engines. Tilting his head back, his eyes lifted up to the sky-view window over the roof of his room, to see nothing but stark, white frost, already forming over the glass. Indeed, they were no longer in the great depths of endless space.

"There now," Kari grinned as the boy finally obeyed in calmer silence. "Was that so hard?" She stood then, picking up the heavy armours by her feet, and taking them with her towards the bed. "At long last, the King has granted his permission for your final, Elite Trial. We are on Gelidus, obviously."

Gohan inhaled a shaky breath, as words sunk in. Slowly reaching out, his fingertips slid over the polished white surface of his plated and smooth chest armour. For a brief moment, he was bribed by the sheer fact that he would be taking that final step towards his life's ambition. Had this been a month ago, he would've glowed with pride and the security of knowing that should he somehow fail and die, it would be with great honour.

"Kari," he breathed the name desperately through lightly gritted teeth. Brows lowered over the deep emotion, concealed in the prison of his matching irises. Too much had changed, and the bribe ultimately failed. "Tell me where she is."

"I remember my trial," the woman began ignorantly. Tasking herself with the armour, she parted the sockets, and fitted the shell against the boy's chest and back. She felt how he trembled, trying his very best to contain his anger and frustration. "Can you imagine, Gohan? The pressure of my lineage? I could never forget the twisting of my gut, that day."

He pushed against her attempts to armour him, rising to his feet with the clear intention of searching the ship. Kari was quick to shoot him down, only this time with words alone.

"You won't find her." He froze, keeping his back to the cruel woman. "Not on this ship." He heard her stand, and step behind him to fasten the loose clasps that would secure his chest armour tightly in place. "You might find her exactly where I left her though."

That caught his attention, as he cast his eyes over his shoulder, watching the woman circle around to face him properly, while fixing the thickly padded, orange shoulder straps in place.

"If you can calm yourself and prepare, rather than subject yourself to what will only be inevitable failure, I might just tell you where..."

Gohan swallowed back hard with a deep breath. As much as he wanted to blast a hole through the wall and find the human himself, something told him that a lot was riding on having to trust Kari right now. The freezing atmosphere on Gelidus was famous for clouding a Saiyan's senses and overall judgement. Frieza had thrived there, using the cold planet as his closest base to the monkey pets. It was possible that he would find the human quickly, but it was more likely that the trial would find him first. Rather obediently, he moved back to the edge of the bed, and sunk down in co-operation. Kari grinned, strangely lowering herself to fit the teenager's feet inside each pure white boot, while wasting more of his time with her words.

"Did you know I was there at your birth?" His leg tensed. "Oh yes Gohan, I saw your mother in her finest hour. I heard your first, deep breath, and like many others, I felt the energy that you brought into the world with you. It was… spectacular." With barely a pause, she started on fixing the other boot in place.

"They say my father was a weak man, and surely he had his…faults. But he believed you would not be one of them, despite your corrupted blood. I should know. I was there when others argued against your right to live."

At last, she took a decent pause, as she fluidly rose to her feet to meet the frowning glare of the male. He of course, had no idea why she was telling him this, other than as her strange idea for a prep talk before the big event. Kari was never that simple though, and the absence of his father during all of this, was worrying him beyond anything. Surely it should be the father helping the son into what could be his last-worn armour, gifted with an affectionate pat on the back.

"After everything I did for you… the brat of a second class baka and his whore. Where was the returned treatment, when it came to me?"

"What are you talking about Kari?" He practically growled unsympathetically, having no patience to deal with her reminiscence or the way she spoke of his father and mother. Infact, Gohan was barely even taking notice of her words. All he could think about, was trying to focus on locating the human's ki.

"Mating with non Saiyan blood was unheard of, back then. Your very existence provoked questioning, and though the King was happy enough for you to live, he wasn't prepared yet for an army of half-bloods. He knew that when you would grow up into a powerful warrior, others would seek the right to breed as your father had. It threatened the ethics of our beliefs."

"You see, your mother was not the only Earthling to arrive on our planet. There were but a handful of others, who secretly inhabited the bowels of the city. Human scientists enslaved with other intellectual species we had collected, tasked with the sole purpose of developing our new technology. Where do you think this ship came from?"

She paused to lightly cackle at his growing frown. "It has evolved far beyond Frieza's first designs."

"I don't understand what any of this has to do with my trial," Gohan quietly barked, hunching his shoulders slightly at the growing agitation. "Or why you suddenly chose to take away -"

"If we hadn't kept the existence of those humans a very important secret," she ignorantly interrupted without fail. "There would be others like yourself. Other…. Abominations." He sighed loudly with clear impatience. Well obviously there could've been in the past, given the circumstances she saw fit to tell him about now, but what did it matter, since there was only him?

"As it happens. There were only, two."

Ah yes, that definitely caught his undivided attention, as Kari's well-planned words lifted the male's chin, to eye her dead-on with serious and confounded eyes.

"Two?" He repeated, as if he hadn't heard her clearly. Had she forgot how to count?

"That's what I said. If you paid attention, you would be starting to understand me Gohan. Yet it seems I am forced to repeat myself. So tell me. Who was there to witness your birth? Who was there to stand for your right to breathe?"

Gohan swallowed back. He was staring coldly at the answer, and the woman was beginning to seriously un-nerve him.

"For years I lived in the shadow of my father's mistake. For years I was ridiculed as an abomination in my own right. To carry the un-bonded blood of royalty and an elite whore. To be told I would always be in the shadow of my undeserving brother. Can you imagine how it would be, if I could spawn my very own abomination? One with the power to silence those fools forever? I knew what had to be done, and so… I saw to it, that it was done."

Silence descended over them, as the demi-Saiyan tried his best to comprehend all of this taxing information, with the un-relenting need to know where the human was. It was difficult to focus on two things at once, and so he felt his disciplined mind wavering, to deal with Kari first. She spoke with such a simplicity, acting as though he should know exactly what she was referring to. Yet she only continued to allude him.

"I don't understand," he spat, unimpressed with her ability to confuse him endlessly. "Are you saying you wanted… a half-breed of your own? But you have no child Kari. You fucked and for whatever reasons, mated with my uncle, and you continue to give him no chi-"

He felt the cold sting of her back handed slap against his cheek, then the follow-up rebuke of her raised voice.

"Do not flap your tongue with matters you could never understand! Oh yes, they raised you well didn't they? I did wonder, had you been nurtured by your true mother, if you might've suffered from her human interactions. Instead, you happily erased any figment of your humanity. As far as your test was concerned, you almost passed it on Earth. You mindlessly destroyed half of what you are, and you felt nothing. Did you."

His jaw twitched at the rhetorical questioning. Yes, he remembered how Kari had called the mission to Earth a 'test.' He remembered how he couldn't care less about the mission to Earth, aside from at last seeing the planet where his mother had been rescued from.

"Until you brought a stowaway onboard. It was just too good to be true. History repeating itself… what a riot!"

He stood then, erratically pacing to the middle of the room, where he could breathe more freely without the stench of the woman invading his senses. He could think more clearly, and sense beyond the outer walls of the ship, past the thick ice and snow capped mountains. 'Videl… where are you?'

"To think, had it not been for my painful decision, you would not be holding that broken human in your arms. Oh… how I searched in vain for her, and convinced myself that she was alive... somewhere. Yet you had her brought here, all along! I suppose I should thank you, but I already did. The way you laid your hands on her... Did you think I could ever allow that? You were undeserving of ever calling her yours."

Knotted brows over narrowed eyes burnt the woman's back, convincing her to turn around, and face the truth head on.

"Yes, Gohan. The 'human' is mine." When she saw how his jaw lightly dropped to what he only saw to be her crazed obsessions, she on the other hand, smirked in the victory of her revelation. "I selected the strongest of the human males, though I had very little to choose from, unlike your father had. To my genuine surprise, I found myself carrying within only a month's contact."

The demi-Saiyan had to sit down, and so his rear found the solstice of the reclining chair, which still stunk of the two people in question. Kari lowered her gaze, and begun to pace very slowly, letting words slip from her tongue in the structure of her own, demented pleasure.

"I knew my father was secretly impressed by my initiative to take these theories into my own, personal study. When the birthing time came, he was there as he had been for you. But when my child took her first breath, she did not meet with the same approval. Can you imagine how it feels, to carry a life inside you? To nurture and care for another being, only to be told it is inadequate?"

To his surprise, Gohan heard the woman's voice even crack. For a pure Saiyan who always carried herself with such pride and self-confidence, it was quite uncomfortable and awkward to witness her crumbling façade.

"Of course you can't. Only a mother could ever bear that burden." He watched her with dedication, putting the pieces together as she tilted her chin up, and took a deep, calming breath. "If anyone was going to rob my child of life, it would be my own hands. Yet despite the humiliation I had created, I… I c-could not do it."

With a strange laugh at her own words, she shook her head, pausing to stand completely still herself on the spot. "I was not convinced she was as pathetic as they had thought. They produced their own theories. They compared you to her. Your father had mated with the ChiChi, whereas I had merely fucked my human, until the deed was done. They began to believe that the bonding was the only reason for Saiyan blood to overwrite your weak, human decadence. My own mother had not bonded with my father… but I had been strong. I could not understand … why should it matter?"

To Gohan's surprise, the woman lowered her chin slightly, as she looked down to the light swelling of her toned stomach. It was awkward to watch her raise her hand to the area where she had grown life, as though it had never left her.

"Can you imagine what it's like, to rob your own child of their pride? To shame her, as you allowed the permanent removal, of her tail? To degrade her to a life perhaps not even worth living, after all? To -"

"Kari…"

"Silence! I am not finished." She tilted her body to face him with the quick pointing of her finger, yet did not let her eyes come close to his own, as her face remained side-on from his perspective. "To feel such a… a strange connection, that forces you to act in the most unthinkable ways. Can you imagine, Gohan?"

"…. No."

"Of course not!" She breathed a strained laugh. "There are instincts you could never begin to understand! There are instincts you can only ever dream of feeling. I have felt them all."

"Let me get this straight," he started again, despite her rebuking him for attempting before. "Are you trying to tell me, that the Earthling I brought on this ship. She's your… child?B-But that's impossible! I mean… she doesn't even carry your scent! She -"

"It's amusing you should resort to that excuse," Kari quickly countered with a light smirk lifting her lips. "Do you truly believe the you still carry even the slightest inch of your mother's scent? You are nothing but your father's child."

He sat very still, jaw still lightly ajar in his completely flabbergasted state.

"Nature versus Nurture…. versus Nature versus Nurture… It's only natural that you would only see her in her nurtured, human state. But you cannot deny her Saiyan spirit. Oh yes Gohan, you know I am right. You cannot deny that it is half my blood, that flows through her dormant veins."

He swallowed back, still frowning in the deepest of thoughts. The complexity of this revelation, and how much truth it really bore. He had to weight up all the facts, one by one. He had to weigh up all the actions Kari had initiated, and the true reasons behind her clever façade.

"The Seoxyrium… it wasn't just an experiment. That's why you mixed it with your blood?"

"Yes."

"The needle!… Sampling her blood? A cover-up and yet…still forcing her potential?"

"Yes!"

"And then… when you were as certain as you could be. Why you allowed me to train her. Because I wasn't really breaking any rules."

She breathed a series of what could be almost orgasmic laughter, as the teenager slowly grasped his understanding of the matters involved. Slowly, with her words came her own advancing on the still seated teen.

"I had to watch you grow. I had to watch you live the life that I knew my child could have prospered under." By then standing opposite Gohan, the emotional wreck of a woman, lifted her calloused hands to either side of his jaw, and lifted his eyes to hers.

"And oh, did you live it well. You were perfect… a living reminder of what I had hoped for. And a constant reminder of the debt you owed to me." The pressure against his cheeks and jaw hardened slightly, as the woman forced her words upon him. "A debt you are now going to finally, fully repay."

"What do I owe you?" He managed to ask, staring directly into the deep pools of her obsidian eyes. There was so much anger and jealousy harboured there, and yet, and odd respect, or… something else? Gohan wasn't entirely sure what it was, but he felt something that he had never felt before. Fear. This woman was stronger than him, and now that it felt like she had the life of her own daughter balanced in her demented grasp, he felt the need to just do as she ultimately asked. Yet Kari's grip lessened, and though her tail flicked as she straightened, she did not cease to tower over her little project. Instead, arms folded, and her tone evened out into a professional, very serious level.

"You will find the… my daughter," the words were strange, even in her opinion, so they awkwardly slipped from her tongue, and though she regretted it afterwards, still she continued. "Hidden in the ruins of the tyrant's station. You will assume there is nothing left, as many others have before you. But the sanctuary buries deep underground. If you are lucky, she has not yet woken."

She saw how he made a very accurate mental note of the information, with the subtle twitch of his brows.

"But that is the least of your worries, after all, this is not your trial alone. The honour belongs to both of you. You are not just fighting for your beloved title. Oh no, dear Gohan. You are perfection after all, your trial will be far beyond anything that any other has faced before you."

Then she felt how he slightly tensed; his energy levels wavering again with nerves rising to meet the anticipation of a challenge, and so much more.

"How does my debt play in all of this? Are you expecting me to lose? To give my title and honour to her?"

"If only it were that easy," she almost cooed the words affectingly, after her initial reaction of brief, hoarsely chuckles. "No, dear boy."

Then, snaking her arm around the back of his neck, she stepped forwards to cushion the impact of his forehead, forced against her stomach in the most mothering gesture she'd ever be capable of sharing with him.

"I expect you to do, what is only right. I'm quite confident that even you, son of the baka Kakarot, can handle that…"

To be Continued…