AnonymousDBZFan, Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter! :D Hoo boy, I have so much fun writing shy Vegeta, lol. It was a nice break to write him under these circumstances after his last violent display. Vegeta's a tough guy, but it makes sense on the shows when he gets a little flustered with PDA or intimacy in general. After all, he never wants to appear vulnerable, and that's exactly what intimacy demands. BTW what you said about Vegeta reminds me of a popular meme I've seen: "When you're a kid you like Goku, when you're an adult you understand Vegeta." :D

I'm so pleased to hear that I've been able to keep things interesting by keeping you guessing! I'm just flattered beyond words by all your positive feedback. I try my best to capture the nature of DBZ, because one of the things I loved about it were how situations could go from 0 to a 100. One minute I'd be laughing my ass off, and the next I'd be slapping a hand over my mouth in shock. XD Thank you again for all your positive feedback!

Another sort of long chapter; I ended up adding a scene right at the beginning. Be warned it's going to be another violent night at the arena. Thank you for reading!

Reckoning

"They looked so cuuuute!" Zeema gushed, her blue eyes sparkling. She and her two sisters were standing upon a hill amidst the flickering tombstones of the Nav Necropolis, a large vermilion torii gate looming over them. Clasping her hands together, Zeema twirled in a circle and sighed dreamily. "True love."

"You're such a sap!" Her red-haired sister laughed, just as tickled by the little scene she and her sisters had happened upon after returning from a late night outing. Eager to gossip and gush unheard, the three had escaped back to the necropolis. "Not everything is love…Lust on the other hand," she said, her ruby lips pulling up into a lascivious smirk. "And Mom calls us greedy? Ha ha! Now I get why Mom flipped out in the bathhouse. She just wanted to gobble him up for herself!"

Zeema's face suddenly fell in disappointment, her romantic bubble burst. "What? Mama doesn't do that! …Does she? You don't think she's going to eat him, do you?"

"Oh I totally do," Likha purred suggestively.

Zeema blinked at her sister before her mouth dropped open in scandalized delight. "Oh, you're such a dirty bird!" she admonished, playfully shoving her sister in the arm.

Kuma looked on disapprovingly as they giggled. "Oh my gods you two are so juvenile," she said with a shake of her head. "Her hand was on his face and she said goodnight. That's it. Now you think Mother's going to jump in bed with him? Talk about leaping to conclusions."

"Oh please, Kuma! You're in denial. We all saw them flirting before and now he and Mom were getting up close and personal tonight. And seriously, what's wrong with that? Why are you such a bitter old crone?"

"Yeah! What do have against Mama being happy?"

"Nothing!" Kuma shot back. She huffed. "Ok, I just thought Touketsu was being a bullheaded ass before, with all his verbal sparring with Mother. He is obsessed with fighting, after all." She looked away, pensive. "But after tonight…maybe."

"And so what?"

Kuma looked to her sisters. "If Mother does fall for him, how do you think she's going to feel when he finally gets killed?" Her sisters fell silent.

"He's not gonna die," Zeema protested meekly.

"Yes he is," Kuma insisted, crossing her arms. "He can only enter the arena so many times before his luck runs out."

"Are you kidding me, Kuma? No one can hold a candle to him!" Likha exclaimed.

"Zeygorn can. Only it will be more like a torch by the time he shows back up."

"…Touketsu beat him twice before," Likha countered without conviction.

"Every day that goes by Zeygorn is training in the Fire Realm," Kuma said, daring her sisters to refute the facts. She looked at them pointedly. "Touketsu's luck…will…run…out."

Zeema burst into tears.

Likha pulled her older sister into an embrace as the blonde continued sobbing onto her shoulder. Rubbing Zeema's back in comfort, the redhead shot her dark haired sister a contemptuous look. "Geez Kuma, why do have to be such a downer?!"

"Don't kill the messenger just because you can't handle the truth," Kuma shrugged. She looked to her weeping sister and frowned in annoyance. "And Zeema, since when have you turned into a blubbery mess over a mortal man? Especially his type?" She said reproachfully.

Zeema sniffled, straightening. "I ju-just don't like the thought of Mama being sad," she hiccuped.

Kuma's eyes softened and she went to her sister, giving her a hug. "Yeah, I know."

"Listen, um, how about we give Mom and Touketsu some space. Respect their privacy," Likha suggested, suddenly ashamed for spying on their mother when her feelings could be on the line.

"Agreed. We don't need to be reading too far into this anyway," said Kuma, wrapping an arm around Zeema and giving her a little pull. "Come on. Let's all go back and get to bed."

Days went by. Both in the morning and after the banquet, Touketsu trained with Marenna. Ever since that first night he had made a point of wearing his armor before reporting for training, leery of any excessive handsiness from the queen. If Marenna noticed he was putting up his walls she made no comment about it. Maintaining an air of friendly professionalism, she oversaw his training. After some meditation he'd begin his practice, recycling and reintroducing his natural ki energy to his body and building his duration and strength. The results were frustratingly slow to him, but Marenna seemed quite pleased with his progress. She smiled more openly with every session, and had taken to speaking to him as though they were old friends.

The night was clear, the stars sparkling behind a flashing, gossamer curtain of northern lights. Touketsu had been training at length in the courtyard, and Marenna halted him when she saw him beginning to flag. "That's enough for tonight."

"I can do more," he growled as he drew the energy back into himself, the sweat of his efforts trickling unseen beneath his lamellar scale armor.

"Doubtless you can. But knowing when to stop and recover is tantamount to rehabilitation." He released the energy, his body immediately darkening to draw it back in for another round. Marenna's lips pursed into a repressed smile before twitching up mischievously. "Are you just trying to impress me?"

He faltered and his body blanched white again, the energy escaping his grasp to explode in the sky. "Goddamn it! Look what you made me do!" he yelled at her, throwing an exasperated hand out towards the sky. She laughed, the light sound like silver bells. He growled and crossed his arms, looking away. "You are full of yourself, woman. I train for me, and I can do far more than you think me capable."

The smile hadn't left her face, but it softened. "You are very capable, I know," she said affectionately. He glanced at her before casually turning away to give her his back. No way in hell he was going to let her see him blush again. He willed the heat away from his face as she spoke behind him. "You're improving, Touketsu. Your energy signature has strengthened. I can feel the difference from here."

His eyes widened. He dropped his crossed arms and whipped around to face her, his mortification forgotten. "You can," he asserted.

"Yes," she said, stepping up to him. Not asking for permission this time, she placed a hand over the center of his armored chest. She paused, her ever-present Mona Lisa smile broadening. "It's opening," she said, looking up at him with dancing eyes. Her palm slid up to his throat, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he focused an arbitrary gaze on one of the paper lanterns hanging in the cherry trees. "This is working. You are doing much, much better." She placed her hand over his forehead. "You know, some mortals never unlock certain chakras. The Third Eye and the Crown are among the most elusive."

"That's not surprising," he snorted as Marenna placed a hand on his head. "I've been on my fair share of planets where the inhabitants can't use their ki in the slightest."

Marenna smiled a little at his arrogant tone. "Yes, well, you could stand to work on your Crown a little more," she said as she playfully tousled his hair.

He whipped his head away indignantly. "Hey!"

She chuckled. "Keep this training up, and you'll continue to see improvement. You could potentially wield the power you experienced when you last defeated Zhernobog." Her smile broadened a bit more "…Without it killing you."

He snorted wryly, suppressing a smirk. When I last defeated Zhernobog. His brows drew together.

Touketsu's body continued to darken, and the whirling fires grew a cold blue as they retracted. The creatures were pulled in and rent to nothingness as the tightly spinning conflagration deformed over the top of the demon prince's dark form. The spinning cocoon of energy quickly grew white hot before suddenly disappearing, swallowed in the dark void of Touketsu's body.

"KUROKEI!" The shadow raced up his arm to be released in a blast of blackness encompassed with the brilliant energy.

Marenna's smile faded. "Touketsu? What is it?"

He looked to her. "That ki, that Life Force that overtook the Dark Energy…I had to expend all of it in order to neutralize Zhernobog. Yet, after I returned to Zhernobog's realm and cut that bastard down…" his voice became hushed with reverence. "I did it again. I experienced a similar change."

Her face dawned in recollection, for she had witnessed this through the ice. "The energy you released, after you consumed the Kagmazoku…"

He nodded. "Right before I released the attack, my ki changed. It became almost pure white…a violet white or something," he muttered to himself, his eyes dropping in thought before refocusing on the queen. "It felt similar to how it did before, but it didn't completely overtake the dark ki that time. It coexisted with it before I released the energy, same as it would after I'd absorb the energy of others. The aura of the dark ki has changed in appearance from time to time, but never in nature. It didn't feel like Dark Energy…it felt like the Life Force," he said, the intensity of his inflection growing. He shook his head in disbelief at his own words. "It was the Life Force, but it shouldn't have been possible for me to channel it while in Zhernobog's realm."

"Although his world is cut off from the Life Force, your very body still houses its own unique ki."

"The ki contained within my body sure as hell didn't help me when I was still…me. How could it have been enough then, especially considering the trouble this goddamn form has with channeling Life Force?"

Marenna thought for a few moments. "Perhaps your ally's power was great enough to temporarily awaken an ability within you? One person's energy can influence another's."

His brows drew together. "What are you suggesting?"

"Do you recall how I told you that dark ki originates from true ki?" He nodded. "Perhaps, unconsciously and under your ally's influence, you were able to convert the dark ki back."

His mouth dropped open. "What?" he whispered.

She smiled. "At least part of it. From the sound of things, you successfully separated a part of your energy and converted it back to true ki."

His brows drew together in intrigue at this revelation. Theoretically, he could do it again. The transformation he took on after accepting Goku's incredible energy all but killed him the first time, but he recovered. He could well be strong enough to endure it now. "So," he began hesitantly, "I keep practicing channeling the Life Force, and I could again reawaken this ability? I could wield energy as infinite and powerful as the dark ki…without lending any to that shadowy leech?" Marenna smiled, and an ambitious smirk of his own tugged at the corner of his mouth. Power. Power all his own.

Marenna stepped up and clasped his hand in both of hers, her smile broadening as she looked up at him. "You'll be alright. Stay on this path, and you'll be alright." Touketsu's smirk faded. Suddenly uncomfortable with the way she was looking at him, he averted his eyes. She likewise dropped her gaze, biting her lower lip in an uncharacteristically shy way. "Touketsu, have you…thought about it?" She asked hesitantly, looking back up at him.

He resisted the powerful need to pull his hand away from her, and he turned his head to the left. "I have," he rumbled.

"And?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I won't take that drink, Marenna." Touketsu felt the smooth hands that encircled his own begin to gently kneed and worry in trepidation, the silence between them stretching on. He exhaled soundlessly through his nose. Shit.

"I expected you to say as much. But…that's not exactly what I meant."

Shit! His brows drew further down, his closed eyes tightening. He felt her right hand leave his own, felt it lay on the side of his face. Don't be a coward. He let her guide his head over, and he forced his eyes open to steel himself against the queen's blue gaze. He saw his cerulean haired goddess in his mind's eye for but a moment, her features bathed in the soft northern lights just as Marenna now was.

"You don't need to shed your identity if you are not ready. But, you can release yourself from your past…in other ways." She looked up at him imploringly, searching. "Touketsu. Let her go. No one can go alone forever."

Touketsu took a breath. He took a small step back, breaking contact with her hands. He had decided. "That's true enough, Marenna," he said, his voice low and firm. "But for the time being…I will."

Her hand was hovering in the air just out reach of his face. "Touketsu. Every journey begins with a single step," she said coaxingly, convincingly. She reached out and again lay her hand aside his cheek. "I can help you with that."

His back went rigid and his chin tilted up defensively, but he stood his ground this time as she took a step towards him. He scowled down at her, her persistence on the verge of threatening to him. "I'm not your rebound, woman," he growled.

"No, you're not," she chuckled, pearly fangs peaking from her winsome smile. She grew serious again. "I understand the power of bonds, Touketsu, but you are a willful one. You need not be a god to burn away your past and rise from its ashes. I have no doubt that you can do as I did." She closed the distance, her body pressing against him.

His brow furrowed. "…Marenna-"

"You have free will, my prince. You can choose to reclaim your birthright and start anew. A phoenix…from the flames."

He was transfixed to the spot as she leaned in, her lips closing the distance. His life as he knew it was over. This was his life now. He'd been frozen in time, stagnating, just as he had in Zhernobog's prison. How could he move forward if he didn't take that first step? She could be the way. His eyes slid closed, his brows drawing together. He felt himself surrendering, surrendering as he did the night he watched that bridge burn. He felt her cool lips barely grazing his own. His brows furrowed, his lips parting.

"You will at last be king," she whispered, her words gusting over his mouth. "You will be…my king."

Her king.

Her husband.

…Zhernobog.

Marenna's sapphire pools snapped open when she was suddenly thrust away, her upper arms gripped by a pair of strong hands.

Touketsu held the queen at arm's length, head lowered as he glowered at her. "Zhernobog is bound to me," he rumbled. His eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you're not still bound to him?" Marenna's brows drew together.

He had been wary of her at first, but he had slowly dared to believe. He dared believe that she was offering him sanctuary out of a sense of responsibility for what that creeping shadow had stolen from him. He had accepted that she was committed to keeping his former master locked away without subjecting him to the same fate. She had aided him, helped him find ways to combat the degenerative effects of the dark ki. Up until this moment he even thought she wanted him.

He had let down his guard the first night he was here, and he had been deceived and nearly killed. She had attempted to manipulate him into drinking a potion that would wipe his very personality away. He would have become a clean slate, an empty vessel…a complicit slave that she could shape into whatever she wanted. He had fought her twice, and twice she defeated him. She had power over him.

She had an agenda.

"You possess the power to turn me into the Demon Oozaru," Touketsu growled suspiciously. "Now, you tell me the truth, Marenna. Were you trying to lure Zhernobog out?"

He felt the goddess stiffen in his grasp. "No, Touketsu," she answered, her voice icy. "I already told you why I did what I did." Her eyes narrowed. "…Aside from teaching you a lesson in manners."

He bristled, a low growl rumbling in his chest. His grip tightened around her arms. "…And to 'conduct a test' I seem to recall you saying. Testing the waters, were you? Seeing what tricks would work? Witches have many, after all." His expression darkened, his tail lashing behind him. "Your siren daughters can draw out spirit energy with a fucking kiss. I assume you can as well, yes? Could you draw him out?" She said nothing, her eyes growing cold. He yanked her to him and shook her angrily. "YOU'RE not over him, are you!?-"

Touketsu released her in surprise when a blast of freezing energy coursed through his hands. Eyes flared, he stood across from her.

She clasped her hands beneath the broad sleeves of her kimono, her chin raised and her expression frigid. The winds picked up and the lanterns flickered as they rocked about in the wind. "That, is quite enough of your baseless accusations, Touketsu."

Glaring, he stepped up to her. "Baseless. You and that deathless sonofabitch were a pair for gods know how long. You still carry a torch for him - fuck, the light from your world reached all the way to his! You're trying to tell me you severed your bond with him!?" His voice dropped, his words trembling with restrained rage as he pointed a finger arbitrarily at the ground. "I saw my mate in my reflection down there, before I broke through. Your daughter took my Bulma's form and seduced me. YOU did the same," he accused, jabbing his finger at her. "You used Bulma's image like bait and lured me here! Why? What is the real reason?"

Marenna's expression darkened. "I'm beginning to think it won't matter what I tell you, Touketsu."

His lip curled up over his long canines, his fury growing over her evasiveness. "Since our first bout up to now you've been going on about 'separating energies.' You're trying to separate his energy from mine and draw him out, aren't you?"

"You sound as though you wish to stay bound to him."

"I don't trust having him in your possession."

"Nor I in yours," she answered, her words clipped. "If only it were that easy to free you of him. If I was capable I certainly would because you have proven to be far too irresponsible."

"Irresponsible, huh? You're referring to my fighting in the tournaments? You seem to think cowardice and responsibility are one and the same."

She regarded him silently for long moments. "I have tried to compromise, to work with you in spite of disagreeing with your decision to fight," she said, her words quiet and measured. "I have tried to help you find ways to restore balance both in your power and to your body, to pursue your passions without aiding Zhernobog. You insist on torturing yourself with regret and loss. You then try to evade it through self destruction, risking your health, your life, and quite possibly Creation at the tournaments," she continued, her voice rising. "Touketsu, when I offered you the Drink of Oblivion it was to save you from that, to save you from pain and death-"

"I don't need saving! And you pushed it on me, 'miss free will.' I will not relinquish control to manipulative females like yourself. Admit it. You've been attempting to go through me, just to get to him!"

She fell silent. "I only wished to aid you, to take care of you…since you seem incapable of taking care of yourself," she said, her hushed voice becoming acidic. "I don't know what else I can say or do to prove my intentions."

"Drop the seductress act for one."

Her oceanic eyes frosted over, and Touketsu felt his heart fleetingly seize up as he was reminded of the woman he lost. He glanced surreptitiously around when frost suddenly and inextricably covered the cherry blossoms surrounding them, the delicate pink petals blackening and shriveling beneath rimy shrouds of white. The winds picked up, the paper lanterns guttering out as the clouds closed in. Their world darkened as heavy snow quickly descended to whirl around them.

"I'm beginning to see how Bulma lost you to Zhernobog," Marenna said quietly.

Touketsu's eyes flared momentarily, his chest visibly rising and falling as he struggled to keep his rage in check.

"Your choices are your own," Marenna continued. "If you must continue to fight in the arena, you must learn to use your true ki over the dark ki. Do you understand?" He bristled at her patronizing tone. "Given your infatuation with the tournaments you obviously consider this all a game. I assure you, it is not. Always keep in mind your responsibility as Zhernobog's keeper. He must remain imprisoned." Silence hung between them for a moment. "I do not wish to send you back to prison with him."

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly at her veiled threat. "Very well," he rumbled, straightening as he squared his shoulders. He gave her a curt nod, his eyes not leaving hers, and his lowered voice took on the barest hint of condescension. "Thank you for your lessons, Queen Marenna. I will take what I've learned and practice on my own from here on out. Should I ever have need for your advice in the future I will come to you." His tone said he had no intention of ever doing so.

She bowed her head politely, not acknowledging his passive aggressiveness. "Very good, Mr. Touketsu. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, milady," he growled. They parted ways.

He stalked back to his quarters, pushing back the self doubt that was threatening to rise after hearing what she had to say. She could tell him whatever the fuck she wanted. He didn't trust her.

He'd never trust her.

True to his word, Touketsu trained alone the following day until day bled into night. Touketsu sat in the Imperial Box, arms crossed and distance placed between him and the queen. Dressed in her ceremonial garb and elaborate headdress as she did at every tournament, Marenna sat stoically in her reserved seat. Zeema, Likha, and Kuma sat behind them. It was very difficult to not evaluate what was going on between their mother and Touketsu when they sat right behind them every night. The girls traded glances; those two suddenly seemed kind of distant.

The firelight reflecting in his red eyes, Touketsu watched dispassionately as the dead emerged from the flames. He then sat up a bit in his seat, his ears pricking up with intrigue. He could detect a power level that was immensely strong. Zeygorn? The fighter wasn't quite visible yet from within the flames, but he could make out a vague silhouette. He was a massive warrior, towering and broad shouldered. The fighter emerged, clad in shining black armor…Saiyan armor.

Touketsu's eyes widened, and his heart began slamming in his chest over the conflicting emotions he was feeling. "I…can't believe it," he whispered, his voice audible to no one but himself.

Nappa.

Far removed from the madness and rage he was steeped in when he impulsively killed his cohort, His stomach turned over in regret for what he had done. His mind raced as he grappled with that feeling, arguing against it as though he was fighting for his life. He was an idiot, an oaf, a stupid reactive animal. He fucking never listened to me on the battlefield. I always had to jerk that idiot's chain. Always had to keep him in line. For years I had to put up with his bullshit. He was injured - useless! He deserved to die for his incompetence. He deserved it!

The jarring memories of that fateful day came roaring up from the depths of his mind.

"DAMN YOOOU! DAMN YOOOOOOUUUU!" Nappa screamed in unbridled rage after Raditz's low class, traitorous brother sent him into a cliffside. "I am an elite warrior of the nobility! I'll have no lower-class punk like you push me around!"

"Nappa! Get a hold of yourself, fool!" Vegeta screamed at his bodyguard. "He can't beat you if you keep your head! Calm DOWN!"

Touketsu grit his teeth as he recalled his own hypocrisy. …I behaved the same way as that low-brow idiot when I went up against Kakarot. I lost my head completely… All at once, he thought of his last moments on Namek: he had been ruing how Frieza had won against him in every way, turning him into the tyrant that treated the proud Saiyan race like disposable trash. He had killed a loyal follower and one of the few Saiyans left. He had helped edge his own race just a little closer to extinction. He frowned to himself. Well…on with the show. Nappa dies again tonight.

"Our reigning champion and executioner Mr. Touketsu will now face the next and final Inimicus of tonight's tournament, General Nappa!"

The crowd roared in anticipation as Nappa walked onto the arena floor to stand across from Touketsu. He evaluated Nappa's power level again; he almost couldn't believe how much it had grown. Then again, some time had gone by since his death. If Nappa had been battling and training since then, it only made sense his strength would increase. He was almost impressed. The gong sounded.

"Shall we begi-"

Touketsu barely dodged the fist that grazed his cheek. He's certainly faster than I remember. Touketsu immediately followed up with a double axe handle over Nappa's back but met nothing but air. Hm… Much faster. They engaged, meeting each other blow for blow. Touketsu wasn't pushing himself, feeling a great curiosity in testing Nappa and seeing how far he had come.

To Touketsu's surprise, Nappa's power level suddenly spiked and he managed to land a hard punch right in his mouth. Touketsu went somersaulting away to land on his back. He sat up and spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor; evidently Nappa had learned the clever little trick of suppressing his power level.

"What happened to you, Vegeta?" Nappa rumbled.

A wave of confused murmurs washed through the crowd at the name the large Saiyan addressed their champion by. It was a name that some in the stands recognized. Marenna's eyes widened, her daughters whispering amongst themselves behind her.

Touketsu looked up at Nappa in surprise before flashing a cocky smirk. So…his old cohort recognized him. "Went through some changes," he said matter-of-factly. "You must have too, Nappa. You're not quite as weak as I remember. I commend you."

Nappa wasn't amused. He stood over Touketsu, his clenched fists beginning to tremble at his sides as his brow furrowed. "Why THIS, Vegeta?!" The immense Saiyan finally exploded in dismay. "You had the potential to become the Legendary! Why did you become this instead?!" He shook his head, disbelieving disgust crawling over his features. "You look like some bastard son of King Cold."

Touketsu's jaw dropped open at the insult. The guilt Touketsu had successfully wrestled down was suddenly and completely drowned under a wave of self-righteous indignation. He scrambled to his feet. "How DARE you, soldier?! You have no fucking clue what happened to me!"

"I saw what was happenin' to you, I just didn't wanna believe it," Nappa growled. "But when you turned down wishing back Raditz…when you turned down the chance to bring back the glory of the Saiyan race-"

"How so? By raping Earth women in order to sire a bunch of ingrate half-breeds?! I'm not like you, you big, stupid animal," he sneered. In the heat of that moment, Touketsu's revived Saiyan pride was again hijacked by resentment and ego. "You just couldn't let it go. Well, I chose to leave the Saiyans buried in the past. They weren't the almighty race that you and my father told me it was. I eventually came to accept that. All I had to do was look at the facts, difficult though it was: We were extinct. The weak die, Nappa."

"The Saiyan race wasn't dead! There was still the three of us, Vegeta! Damn Frieza. He turned you on us! You chose to leave Raditz dead, and YOU KILLED ME!"

"I KILLED YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE AN INCOMPETENT BAFOON AND I FUCKING HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Touketsu screamed. In a brief pulse of darkness and a burst of dripping ki, Touketsu flew at his opponent.

Nappa barely recovered from his shock over his prince's strange new powers when he found himself on the defensive, flaring his ki into a powerful shield. Any strike he managed to throw was countered and capitalized upon by his ruthless and enraged opponent. Fortunately for Nappa he had always been able to take a good pummeling, particularly from his angry, young ward. His constant training and battling in Other World had also increased his strength and stamina considerably. He'd had his own breakthroughs, and like his opponent, he had his own resentments.

"I served you all those years!" Nappa yelled between blocks and blows, his power level ever climbing. "Me an' Radditz both did! And that's how you repaid us!"

Touketsu punched him in the mouth. "You served yourself, you bootlicking shit! Your chronic insubordination was borderline treasonous. You got what you deserved!"

"Treason?!" Nappa spat through a mouthful of blood as he continued to trade blows. You put me on the same level as Raditz's traitorous brother Kakarot!?"

"Over and OVER you defied my orders! You were good for nothing! HA! The esteemed general of the Saiyan army, assigned to protect the king's progeny," he sneered sarcastically. "Weakling! As if you could ever protect me from anything, much less Frieza. You didn't stand with your prince. You never did!"

"Didn't stand by you?! Didn't follow orders?!" Nappa yelled. "Didn't I listen to you and wait 3 goddamn hours for Kakarot to show up in spite of my body scream'n for battle?! I was locked up in stasis for a year! A goddamn YEAR, Vegeta! You KNOW how that effects Saiyans!"

"Well I managed it just fine! You have NO self control you overgrown monkey! Frieza told me time and again that the Saiyans were an inferior race. I didn't want to believe it, but YOU two idiots drove that point home!"

With a roar Nappa's ki burst forth to become a blazing gold. His thin, black mustache became blonde and his eyes flashed to teal. Eyes wide, Touketsu jumped back and blinked in astonishment over the sight.

"The Saiyans were the greatest warriors the universe has ever known, and THIS is why!" Nappa bellowed.

Touketsu's shocked expression twisted into one of complete outrage. "You? You're a Super Saiyan? HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE?!"

He had thought the power of the Super Saiyan, the stuff of legend, was only to be attained by the best of the best. Only to be attained by the Saiyan royal family. Nonetheless, after shaking free of that beast form Zhernobog had imprisoned him in, he had learned bit by bit that it wasn't so. Kakarot, a 3rd class Saiyan, had been the first to achieve it. Children who were not even full-blooded Saiyans were capable of the transformation. Now, his oafish bodyguard flaunted the ability. It stung that he was no longer capable, if only because of his conditioning since childhood: He was…had been the Saiyan Prince. The privilege of the Super Saiyan should have been his right and his right alone!

"It took a long time, long after death, but I did it. I now know that all Saiyans had this potential!" Nappa shouted.

Touketsu scowled. "Well. That certainly does diminish the appeal, sharing this ability with plebeians," he growled. This was like finding out that diamonds were as common and prolific as grains of sand. Far from being in awe upon learning that his entire race had been capable of ascension, he only felt bitter. The revered transformation was nothing special at all; a lie. Yet, as a youth he had used it as a barometer to gauge his own power. It had been the standard to live up to until he had stopped believing in the possibility for a long time.

"YOU had the potential to reach this level in life, Vegeta! You were the best of us! You should have been the first! The one to show us the way! You had the strength to avenge your people!"

Touketsu stood rigid, his expression cold. "I told you…I didn't care about them. And guess what - I've been the Super Saiyan," he told Nappa, not missing the way the large Saiyan's expression softened with reverence. "That's right. I may not remember how I achieved it, but I DID it. And I will tell you - you and the commoners can keep it. Strength is all that matters, Nappa," he said, his body darkening as the ki laced through the markings under his eyes and on his arms. His dripping aura burst forth. "And the power I have now completely eclipses anything ever reached by any Saiyan. TONIGHT YOU'RE DYING AGAIN!" He launched himself at Nappa and they quickly re-engaged.

"Damn you, Vegeta! Look what you've become!" Nappa raged as they fought, his own resentments continuing to be stoked by the toxic aura from every strike his adversary landed. "You wanted to make Kakarot suffer for being a traitor to our race?! LOOK at yourself! You betrayed the memory of your people so you could embrace the ways of that ugly lizard!

"HOW DARE YOU?! I WAS the Saiyan race! I was their PRINCE! Their SON! Their FUTURE! And my father and my people offered me up to Frieza like some sacrifice! You all betrayed ME!"

"Are you forgetting that we had to work for that bastard too!?" Nappa shot back, his power level sky-rocketing steadily upwards. "You were our last hope, Vegeta! For years me an' Raditz told you about our culture, our traditions, our legends! We did our best to remind you who you were and where you came from!"

"You had nothing of value to tell me! You two rejects showed me what it was to be Saiyan - mindless, idiotic, apes! You shamed me with your presence, both of you! Your blind patriotism for the Saiyan people was only because you and Raditz remembered our planet. Well I didn't! My father's idiotic decision saw to that!"

"Do you think it was easy for the king to make that decision, you spoiled brat?!"

"Wha?! Spoiled?! You-"

"King Vegeta was responsible for the lives of every Saiyan, NOT just yours! You may have been a kid, but you were heir to the Saiyan throne! You felt no responsibility to your people at all?!"

"NO!"

"YOU UNWORTHY LITTLE BRAT!" Nappa roared in outrage and his power exploded outward, blasting Touketsu away. The teal irises disappeared completely into the whites of his eyes, and electricity crackled and laced up and down grotesquely bulging muscles that made his hulking base form look small by comparison. The hair of his mustache and the color of his aura took on a burning, green hue.

The rage stoked by his demonic prince had temporarily pushed Nappa into the outrageous levels of the Legendary Super Saiyan. Touketsu was absolutely floored by the massive spike in power, and he was instantly transported back to childhood tales of the Legendary. Nappa rushed Touketsu and landed a devastating punch right into his shell-shocked face.

Roaring and reveling in the berserker rage that so characterized the Saiyan general's fighting style in life, Nappa pummeled his adversary relentlessly into the tiled floor of the arena with his massive fists. Roaring like a rabid beast, he grabbed the stunned and bloodied Touketsu by the tail and flung the former Saiyan prince straight into the bonfire.

Marenna stiffened, her pale hands gripping the armrests of her black opal chair as though to stay seated. Gasps and screams erupted from the crowd at this unexpected turn in the battle. Their shouts of surprise and horror coupled with the guttural screams coming from the fire, screams that quickly reached the tell-tale, high pitch sound of a man being burned alive. Behind Marenna, the three sisters each respectively covered their eyes, ears, and mouth in reaction to the sights and sounds of the horrific scene.

Nappa instantly snapped out of his berserker state of mind at the sound of his long time ward's agonized screaming. His teal eyes reappeared, and his muscle mass returned to its previous state as he dropped out of the Legendary transformation. His brow furrowed in anguish. For all his rage towards the prince, he was most enraged with himself. He had been Vegeta's bodyguard, but he had failed in his assignment. He couldn't protect the young prince from the poisonous influence of that tyrant. He had failed both the Saiyan king and his son.

"…Vegeta."

A screaming fireball bounded out of the bonfire on all fours, streaking back towards Nappa like a bouncing comet. Still ablaze with the bonfire, Touketsu's body darkened before bursting into his dripping blue and purple ki. Enrobed in bizarre colored tongues of flame that both rose above and sank below, the enraged creature barreled straight into his shocked bodyguard. Tumbling end over end, Touketsu ended up on top and straddled him to beat him mercilessly with blazing fists even as the fire burned his own flesh off.

"You're trying to pass off my slavery as grooming for a non-existent throne?!" He slavered, his melting flesh dripping off like burning tallow to fall upon his horrified cohort grappling beneath him. "That suffering for my underlings was somehow my job!? He hoisted Nappa to his feet. "Well I suppose that MAKES! SENSE!" Touketsu screamed, punctuating his words with a right hook followed by a left upper cut.

Nappa went flying to fall on his back before getting back up to his feet as quickly as his clumsy movements would allow. The living pyre continued its fevered litany of accusations as it stalked up to him, seemingly uncaring of the damage the fire was doing to his own body.

"I had to carry the dead weight of you two imbeciles for years. Tell me, Nappa. Is a king flogged like a slave when his loyal subjects FUCK UP!?"

A wave of terrifying power blasted outward from Touketsu, forcing Nappa to levitate skyward out of harm's way. The shadow over Touketsu's body, which had only been able to protect him so much from the supernatural fire, joined the expunged energy. The flames consuming his flesh were snuffed out. He stood panting, his body in complete ruin and his sooty armor still smoking.

The fires had burned the skin off his body, the flesh a raw, gnarled red covered in blackened char. The cornea of his left eye had been utterly destroyed by the heat; a blind, opaque white pupil peered out from beneath a red, raw brow. His seared scalp was bare, the hair burned off and his right ear completely gone. His legs and arms had been razed of their black hair, the flesh melted to the gauntlets and shin guards that covered them.

Having seen an opening, Nappa barreled down towards the horned demon, both fists extended and crackling with the power of the Super Saiyan. A fraction of a second too late, Nappa realized his heart wasn't in it. Touketsu leapt up and struck him with a spin-kick that sent the older Saiyan tumbling.

"Just how many times did I have to stop you from attacking Frieza when he'd get under your skin, as though you could ever so much as scratch him?!" Touketsu railed. He again launched himself at Nappa as he stood, continuing to beat him mercilessly as his aura grew red and his body darkened. "DO you realize you put my neck on the line whenever you defied him? Huh? When you'd fuck up our orders because your asses couldn't think straight, indulging in your slovenly ways and undisciplined, fucking animal blood-lust, just WHO do you think Frieza blamed for THAT!?"

"Vegeta-" Nappa pleaded as he was struck for the hundredth time.

"I was the one who was beat! I was the one who was humiliated!" He screamed hoarsely. A bruised, purple aura like that of the Demon Oozaru began to seep out from around him like a festering wound as the shadow drained away to join it. "You and Raditz were nothing but burdens! Children! I was looking after two fucking grown-ass men while you recklessly did whatever the hell you wanted! I had been since I was a BOY!" His good eye bled into the blank red of the Oozaru, his voice lowering deeper and deeper into a demonic timbre. "You can take your execution gracefully, Nappa, because FRIEZA WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU LONG BEFORE IF I DIDN'T KEEP YOU IN LINE!"

"Vegeta, I'm sorry!"

With a roar Touketsu plunged his fiery claws through Nappa's ribcage, vengeful talons gripping the beating organ within. He squeezed the heart sadistically, his claws puncturing through the thick muscle. Panting, Touketsu raised blank eyes, one ghostly white and the other blood-red, settling them on the face of his former bodyguard. His seared body darkened again before becoming jet black, and the roiling, purple aura cooled to an icy blue to fall and wash down his form. "Kuroshimo", he hissed.

Nappa's life force was sucked out, and he gasped inaudibly as he watched the horrific burns on the demon prince's face begin to repair, his hair growing back out from his healing scalp in patches.

"I don't want your fucking apologies," Touketsu said coldly, his voice reverting to normal as the red eye of the Oozaru left him. "I suggest you don't come back, Nappa."

Nappa's brows furrowed. "I take orders from the Saiyan Prince," Nappa managed to wheeze through a mouthful of blood, his voice barely audible and his skin growing more ashen by the second. He looked at Touketsu with regretful eyes that were fast glazing over. "You're not him."

Touketsu's lips peeled back from his fangs.

He didn't allow the extensive damage to his body to repair further. With a furious scream Touketsu roughly whirled Nappa around to face the bonfire and blasted him off his buried, blood-slick hand. The shadow left him, and Nappa's quickly crumpling body was sent straight into the conflagration.

Touketsu watched, seething and huffing as Nappa's burning remains disappeared in the flames. He then stalked out of the arena. He didn't know if Nappa would be returning tonight, but he didn't want to risk seeing him again.

Alone in the bathhouse, Touketsu stripped out of his ruined cuirass. Its leather lining had burned away and the metal had seared into the flesh, but he didn't so much as flinch when he ripped it off his body. He divested himself of the rest of his armor and descended into the milky, healing waters of the large pool. His expression dull and lifeless, he dutifully washed the lingering burns from his body, his white skin and the thick, black fur on his forearms reappearing like magic. His movements slowed. He let his arms fall to his sides, submerging them as he stared down at the undulating reflection on the steaming, pearlescent water. Half his face was still a burned wreck, his long hair sticking out in patches over his head.

"How about immortality for ourselves?" A 28 year old Saiyan prince suggested. "No death! No age! Only an eternity of combat!"

"Ah! Now THAT'S a wish!" Nappa crowed.

"Bootlick," he grumbled quietly to himself. An eternity of combat; it seemed like such a good idea at the time. He didn't think reliving his shame would be added to the mix. He would have to face Nappa down again and again.

Touketsu stood unmoving for a bit. Then, he closed his eyes and dipped beneath the water to submerge himself completely. A moment later he gently broke through the water's surface and slicked his shoulder length hair back. Fully healed and the Saiyan Prince in body once more, he turned and leaned up against the side of the pool, resting his chin over his folded arms. He stared at his reflection in the polished silver across the room for some time. Sighing, he buried his face in his arms.

He went straight to bed after that.

Queen Marenna sat upon her throne as she oversaw the attendance at Susmir, her normally placid expression tight. It wasn't long before she detected someone approaching, and she schooled her features. A silver skinned woman with long white hair stepped up to the dais and bowed her head respectfully.

"Queen Marenna. I must have a word with you."

Marenna likewise bowed her head politely in turn. "Queen Zarkala of Planet Luscep, but of course," she said quietly, the barest hint of resignation in her voice. "What is it?"

I mostly make references to the English dubbed DBZ and Super animes, but the Nappa and Vegeta flashback scenes were copied word for word from the DBZ manga. Also, when Touketsu Vegeta is boasting to Nappa about his new power, I had him almost quoting Frieza verbatim back when he made his wish to Shenron in "Touketsu".