Chapter 24

" Look I'm fine, I don't need your help. Just … leave me alone. I'll be ok." Trunks grumbles to the two women stood next to him. He sighs to himself, a sigh you would expect to hear coming from an individual with more years under his belt than he has.

"I am looking Trunks and you are in very bad shape, your argument might be a bit more convincing if you conversed with me instead of the floorboards." Her kind and gentle voice hides the slight trace of unease she has talking to and being so close to her would be attacker. It was a good thing that her sister called them over to aid him when she found him as he is. Trunks groans, still as yet unmoving on the floor. The second woman in the room reaches out to turn the boy over onto his back and yelps out in surprise when her hand meets resistance and is pushed away seemingly by nothing but air.

"Go away." His fingers twitch, his hand raises slightly but then fails and feebly falls down. Trunks can't get up. He has been laying on the floor of the kitchen for a few minutes now having expunged his last reserves of energy in escaping his father. Mihoshi turns her head and looks through the doorway and into the front-room at her partner leaning against the wall and frowning to herself. Having heard about Trunks attempting to harm Ayeka, Kiyone refused to go and help the boy on the logical ground of them not being able to stop him if he decides to make a second attempt, though Mihoshi knows there is another reason as well. The police officer on scene removes her fluffy bobble and spawns a vial of healing fluid. She holds the small bottle in her hands, not knowing how to get Trunks' consent so she can apply it.

With her hands on her hips, the small princess of Jurai marches up to the prone lad and stands over him. She doesn't like seeing him hurt and in pain and doesn't agree with his silliness of not letting anyone help him and tells him that. Sasami ignores his mutterings and murmuring as she kneels down besides him. Again he tries to avoid any help with a weak wall of ki but she soon threatens him with no dinner and his defences drop instantly. She rolls him over and rests his head on her lap. Ayeka smiles at her sister and Mihoshi steps forwards and just empties the medicine onto him. A few minutes later Trunks sits up, stands up and stalks out of the room and up the stairs in silence.

Ayeka and Mihoshi help Sasami clean up the slight stains Trunks left, the younger royal sibling stays in the kitchen to begin making preparations for dinner as the two adults leave and sit down on the sofa next to Kiyone.

" Kiyone, I can understand your hesitation in wanting to help my 'assailant' but you should have more faith. He's just a boy, a boy lashing out at the world after his mother's death and confused by all this change in his house. I'm sure you can understand his position and anyway, if push comes to shove I'm sure that Lord Vegeta would-"

"Would step in and commit child abuse again? Yeah, he's such a hero alright, savagely beating his own son to a pulp." She is quick on the draw to interrupt Ayeka, Kiyone will not be easily swayed into trusting a killer or the son who appears to share a similar interest in such murderous past-times. Mihoshi tries to get Kiyone to calm down but she knows that her partner will not forgive Vegeta or ever let this grudge she holds against all criminals slide in the slightest. With her arms tightly folded and her blue eyes glancing at the metal door which separates her from the criminal, Kiyone coldly insults the man who's house she is trapped within, not knowing his Saiyan ears can hear this conversation.

"And you seem to forget that Lord Vegeta is doing your job for you. Maybe you shouldn't complain about his questionable methods for if he hadn't stepped in then father would soon be having you made into compost for Kirito." Ayeka stands up, she will not abide by someone slandering Vegeta when they don't even know him. From the rafters, Ryoko smiles hearing the riled up Ayeka. She would join in and help defend Vegeta, but that would mean siding with the princess and she would rather not do that unless completely necessary.

" As that is so much better than waiting here till psycho snaps and uses us as punching bags as well." Kiyone stands too. The teal haired policewoman and the amethyst haired maiden stare at each other and Mihoshi's quiet voice trying to get them to stop does not receive any notice whatsoever. One of them despises all forms of law breaking and the other is in love with a man who cares naught for any law but his own. Before Kiyone gets a chance to continue the argument she started, Ayeka shuts her up by threatening to tell her superiors at the galaxy police and the Juraian royal family of this misconduct. Looking smug as Kiyone silently fumes, Ayeka excuses herself to go and see if her sister would like any help in the preparations for dinner. With the Juraian royal gone, Ryoko casually floats down from her favourite wooden beam and waves in a friendly way at the two policewomen. Mihoshi waves back, Kiyone meanwhile is still angry and feels like venting said frustration on this pirate.

"Don't you smile and wave at me like we're friends, by all accounts you're no better than that Saiyan. If it weren't for that psycho then I'd have you behind bars where you belong."

"You would, would you? That's nice. And how long do you think it would take me to teleport out if, by some miracle, you managed to get me into one of your prisons? Talk all you want, I ain't ever going back into a cell." With a smile on her face, Ryoko casually walks past Kiyone and lounges down on the sofa. Kiyone's fists clench so tight her knuckles go paler than snow. She hates this impotence she is feeling. Her total and utter inability to do anything about these two A class criminals in her midst is really grinding her gears. As she goes to open her mouth Ryoko nonchalantly makes a shooing action towards her with her hands. Kiyone feels a scream of rage building within her.

Mihoshi steps in-between her partner and Ryoko and puts her hands on Kiyone's shoulders. Looking her partner in the eye with a reassuring smile on her face, the dark skinned cop quietens her friend and talks her down out of her anger despite a rogue smirking in the background. She tries to get Kiyone's mind off matters and suggests for her to go and take a nice and relaxing bath to cool off. Kiyone seems unsure at first as to whether she should be bathing whilst technically on duty but she agrees that she does need one and heads off upstairs.

Mihoshi seems happy that she sorted that out and sits down next to Ryoko. The space pirate glances at the smiling cop sat close to her and picks up the remote control to turn on the television. A haggard and worn out face appears on the screen, dripping sweat and sluggishly moving about as Vegeta still trains. His grim look of determination is set in stone upon his face as Ryoko reclines back in her chair to enjoy the show. Then another idea of a show pops into her head as she feels a slight tremor run through the seat's cushions.

"Boo!"

Badly startled, Mihoshi jumps in fright and covers her face with her hands. Ryoko chuckles to herself as she floats over the police officer and sits down again after teleporting and pulling her little prank. She gently settles herself back onto the sofa and continues to laugh at the frightened policewoman.

" Wow, why didn't they send people like you after me, I would have never gone to prison if they had. Ha,ha, how the hell did someone like you ever become a detective?" Laughing in mockery at Mihoshi, Ryoko's insults upset the cop and she takes offence at it. Dropping her shielding hands, she folds her arms and replies that she is a very good detective and has solved many cases with her partner and that she came top in her class in the academy. The pirate merely grins at her, points behind the policewoman and says Vegeta's there. Colour drains from Mihoshi's face as she sits petrified of turning her head to look behind her. Timidly trembling in dread, the bright blue eyes of Mihoshi widen in fear as she hears a swish behind her and the sound of someone breathing right next to her. A small and pitiful whimper escapes her and then she feels it, next she sees it. The poor officer of the law passes out from absolute terror and slumps down in the chair, her mouth gaping and eyes as open and startled as those of a hare staring down the headlights of oncoming traffic. A second great guffaw of evil laughter resonates from Ryoko. Retracting her phased hand through the back of the chair and the abdomen of the unconscious woman, she merrily rolls about whilst floating in the air in amusement at this jape that scared Mihoshi witless. No-one can blame the blonde for passing out when the last thing she saw was a fist sticking clean through her gut. Ryoko has found out what Vegeta did when he chose these police officers, great enrichment can be obtained from utilising their superior powers over these mere mortals.

Clunk! Ryoko looks up and around her with a start. Her long, elfin ears pinpoint the sound having come from inside the training room so she turns and frowns in puzzlement. The television screen flickers black momentarily. When the image clearly appears once again on its surface, she curiously cocks her head to the side and looks around her. The monitor shows that the room is now empty and unoccupied. Wondering to herself where Vegeta has gone to and if, since he is not training, she can go and see if he's in the mood for some company, Ryoko is about to close her eyes and focus her ki sensing abilities when the sound of a door opening catches her attention.

"Oh, hey there Ryoko. Just ran into Vegeta on the way out, damn near flattened me he was in such a rush. God knows what he wants from Washu this time, though I did hear your name spoke just as I..." Yamcha steps out from Washu's lab and starts being his normal, friendly self. He sees the great interest piqued in the space pirate by his words and isn't surprised at all when he sees her form vanish from in-front of him and sense it reappearing somewhere in the depths of his lover's laboratory. So far, so good. He has done his part now and sighs to himself, wishing Ryoko luck in there and then raising an eyebrow as he sees the passed out woman on the sofa. Yamcha crosses the room to check on her and try to rouse her as Ryoko begins looking around the dark and foreboding lab at the place she sensed to have a very high amount of ki, though unfortunately unable to find Vegeta at its source, just some random pipework and machinery. From inside the training room, a pained Saiyan rubs at his bleeding forehead as he tries to push himself up from the floor. He was unprepared for the sudden fluctuation in artificial gravity and his aching skull and the shattered tiling tells the tale of his painful descent at several kilometres per second when weighing several tonnes. Still struggling against the maximum force of gravity that this room can generate, he tries with all his might to stay propped up on his elbows and knees as his failing body screams against him. He roars in infuriation and anger as he is forced to ascend. The super Saiyan stands up and steps towards the console and resets it to the setting he was training at, he sighs in relief as he feels the weight of the world literally slip off his shoulders and reverts back to his untransformed state. As if nothing happened, he slips back into his training regime whilst thinking to himself to consult Washu about the weird glitch that pinned him to the floor.

Yamcha slowly but surely wakes Mihoshi up, she yelps slightly and her eyes dart about wildly as she comes to. Murmuring to herself that it must have just been a bad dream, she apologises to Yamcha as she sits up, her blue eyes still warily wandering about the room. He sits down next to her with his head in his hands, shaking his head slightly side to side. With his hair falling over his face he brushes it back. Mihoshi leans forward and asks him if anything is troubling him, which it obviously is.

"Nah, it's … it's nothing really. Don't you worry 'bout it, just one of those things you do for your girl."

"Has Washu asked you to do something naughty?" Mihoshi smiles as she cheekily inquires. Yamcha smiles back half-heartedly before lounging back into the seat.

"I wish, but no it's … No, I shouldn't be telling you. I appreciate you trying to help but this is something between me and Washu." Yamcha leaves it at that. He's not proud of what he has done but for the sake of his relationship he'll continue to comply and keep it private information between him and his girlfriend. Mihoshi sees that he doesn't want to and will not talk about it anymore and switches the TV channel over from a half-dead Vegeta trying to keep pace and onto an anime by the name of Moldiver that quickly grabs her attention. Engrossed in her show, Mihoshi sits on the edge of the seat whilst Yamcha slouches and deals with the feeling of guilt troubling him.

With naught but the flashing LED's and dim monitor displays to light her way, Ryoko flies about the labyrinthine passageways and rooms of this scientific realm in search of the one she was told was asking about her. Her eagerness to find him though is dripping away as the shady ambience and ill lighting saps at her resolve. Whenever she hovers around a corner to where she discerns his ki to be, she finds an empty room and the large build up of spiritual energy to have moved on deeper into the lab. Unbeknown to her, the ki she is sensing is not that of the Saiyan prince but a pooled reserve of that previously drained from Yamcha being manipulated into different set machines as the puppet master of this dimension draws her prey in to the trap awaiting her. After a few minutes the large amount of ki vanishes, leaving her alone in a darkened room with only towering machines and humming super computers for company. From within the shadows of the room a scientist grins and presses 'enter' on her keyboard, the mouse has followed the cheese and has unwittingly given itself over to the cat.

Ryoko calls out into the silence, her ears twitching at a muffled movement she heard coming from inside this dimly lit room. Believing it to be Vegeta she calls out his name again only for silence to answer her. She taps her feet impatiently, not understanding what is going on or where Vegeta could be if he even is in this place to begin with. Several seconds pass as she thinks to herself about what she should do when her foot hits something sticky. Perplexed, she quickly finds out that she can no longer lift her feet up from the tiles, looking down she quickly sees the reason. She has sunk a good several inches into the now amorphous flooring, her feet, ankles and some of her lower leg now completely submerged and engulfed. Before her mind has time to wrap itself around this situation and get her out of it, a smooth and hard object no bigger than a golf ball is pressed into the back of her neck. The ability to teleport, to fly, to make her body non-corporeal and her enhanced strength flee from her body upon contact with the device. Lashing out behind her, the pressure at the back of her neck is quickly removed but the damage has already been done, her ki has been drained, sapped away from her, and she is now as helpless in this situation as an ordinary being.

Tendrils of the metallic flooring rise up and wrap around her wrists before solidifying again, shackling her in place as she feebly tries to break out of the restraints holding her captive. Ryoko does not like this, her dislike of being detained and unable to move freely invades her mind and begins teasing with the switch in her brain to drive her into a panic. Thrashing her head side to side to try and see her captor and shouting for them to show themselves, the space pirate realises the trap for what it was when Washu calmly steps out from the shadows and waves at her. A few choice words are directed towards the scientist. Washu though just calmly excuses herself from the room to gather and bring back some of her equipment and ignores the venomous insults being directed at her from a known killer. Pink hair swishes around the corner and detainee is left in all encompassing silence.

In solitude, the lone denizen of this self enforced hell-hole forces himself to stop, a sheen of sweat running down his face. Something is not right and it hasn't been since the gravity machine pounded him into the ground. He halves the gravity within the room and lifts up his left leg. Gently he lowers it and distributes his weight onto it and off again. Pain. His shin has become incredibly tender at the area where his son injured him, not enough to disable his movement and cripple him but enough when compiled with all the other aches, injuries and fatigue to halt his masochistic training. There are two hairline fractures running up his tibia, using his ki sensory abilities internally he determines this and swears in infuriation at this additional hurdle barring his path to greatness. Despite his stubbornness and usual reckless abandon when it comes to training he is not so arrogant or unwise to ignore this. Continuing to train whilst using that leg would only make matters much worse for him, especially with all the Senzu beans used up, if the fracture grows and the bone breaks he could lose a lot of his precious time devoted to training. Vegeta hops off the ground and grabs onto one of the girders across the ceiling. With his legs now not in use, Vegeta works on his back and upper body by beginning to do some pull-ups.

The gloom is all that she can see. Darkness imprisoning her as much as the unbreakable restraints. If she had some energy she could form a ball of light or a flare or even a way out but she is left with none as the shadows encroach upon her mind. She shakes her head hung in denial, it has happened to her again. The nightmare that stole over half of her life from her has captured her again. This forsaken existence of being a prisoner which she swore to herself she would never allow is back. Ryoko hates it, she detests it to an even higher level than she does Ayeka and for the time being she is impotent and unable to do anything at all. All those years she spent rotting in a cell, chained up and all alone apart from when the guards thought she deserved a beating are invading her mind, the memories of her wasted decades clawing at the forefront of her mind no matter how much she tries to repress them. Despite all her bravado and confidence a deathly fear is entering her chest and freezing her blood. She desperately wishes that Washu would return, any company at all is better than nothing and at the very least she could try to distract her mind from the situation she is in. Absolute horror creeps its way into her heart and firmly embeds itself, sending deep and warping roots into her brain to twist and bend her perceptions. Her breathing becomes shallow and fast as her keen night-vision fails to penetrate the all encompassing murk engulfing her. She can't see, she can't move and she cannot escape, under her breath Ryoko begs for Vegeta to come and save her yet he cannot her plea.

Minutes crawl by at a snail's pace, the sand's of the hourglass falling in slow motion for the panicking prisoner. Ryoko's fraying mind is on the brink when a smiling woman rounds the corner with a lab coat on. Enraged at Washu but at the same time thankful for her returning, Ryoko stays quiet as her eyes maliciously bore into the back of Washu as she snaps on some rubber gloves and clicks her fingers. A wave of relief and joy sweeps over the space pirate as light illuminates the room, she smiles thankfully as the tension of dread alleviates itself from her body and Washu's grin widens.

"And the results of the first test are in. Miss Ryoko is testing positive with cases of both Nyctophobia and Cleisophobia, maybe even Isolophobia. Now that the nasty initial mental examinations are over for now we can get ourselves down to some nitty-gritty biology and have ourselves some fun."

Twenty minutes pass as Washu thoroughly investigates, examines and tests each and every square millimetre of Ryoko. Her 'patient' offers up as much resistance as she possibly can, freely throwing threats towards her captor and fidgeting and squirming about as much as the shackles and manacles allow her to. The scientist tries to spark some banter between them but for some reason Ryoko is not in the mood for chatting. With all the data she can possibly collect at this moment in time without causing injury or death to her test subject, Washu hums to herself as her computers collate and calculate the anatomical and physiological information on the space pirate. She begins to quickly flick through and skim over the details being flashed up on screen and shuts up Ryoko by telling her if she gets interrupted reading this then she will turn off the lights again and not let her go. An annoyed growl is the last thing to escape from the bound Ryoko's lips as she awaits for Washu to see what she found out. Washu's expression hardens upon the second page of data. Her thin brows furrow in thought and her emerald eyes glean over the remainder of the report as quickly as she can. Without a word she closes the database of documents, wafts away her holographic laptop and rests her chin in her hands as her eyes flicker towards her prisoner with a look in them that Ryoko doesn't like. It isn't an evil and malicious glint hidden in the dark depths of her pupils, nor a happy and joyful warmth waiting to greet her but something far, far worse for it seems to Ryoko that the emotion held in Washu's eyes towards her is much more akin to that of pity.

"What is it? What'd ya tests say?" Ryoko is naturally wary of what could be perturbing Washu and of what those experiments have found out. Whatever it is though Ryoko knows it can't be anything good for her. This whole situation reeks to the space pirate but her worry for herself and her health is overriding her dislike and mistrust of the one imprisoning her. Leaning forwards, Ryoko anxiously awaits for the scientist to tell her what part of the test is troubling her. Throughout her body, she feels a small and minute spark. Her ki has started to return to her. If Washu isn't going to tell her she estimates that soon she will be able to escape and make her tell her anyway. Washu summons her hovering cushion to her and sits down on it, looking at Ryoko thoughtfully.

"You sure you really want to know, it's not exactly good news."

"What! What is it, tell me. Is something wrong with me? Do I have some kind of disease or something?" Her suspicions have been confirmed, Ryoko's mind starts to race concerning all the possible things that could potentially be wrong with her body – even potentially fatal ones which send a chill down her spine. Washu though wafts her hand in dismissal of that being the case and quickly re-summons her laptop to her side to check where everyone is within the household, or mainly to see if Vegeta has left his training room or not or whether she needs to remotely activate its gravity again.

"No, don't worry about that, if I were your doctor I'd be giving you a clean bill of health. It's something more … delicate than that. If you weren't being forcefully restrained I'd tell ya to sit down, but you are so … What's your current understanding on basic biochemistry?" Washu leans forward in her seat with her chin resting on her hands. Even with her enormous intelligence backing her up she is having a hard time trying to think of a way in which to disclose what she has learnt to Ryoko, she knows if she does this incorrectly she could face the wrath of an angered outlaw or if worst comes to worse her possible demise at either Ryoko or Vegeta's hand. Ryoko though is not too keen on this slow, methodical and meticulous way of building up to the revelation. She wants to know, and she wants to know right now.

"The hell Washu, just tell me! Do I look like someone who got to go to school and learn about that crap. Stop dancing 'round the subject and give it to me." Heatedly shouting at the pink haired mistress of knowledge and straining herself against the adamantine restraints, the space pirate glowers at Washu as the slightest hint of desperation enters her yells. She doesn't care about all the science and hoo-ha behind whatever it is, the what is what she wants to be told not the why or the how. Though reassured that her life or health is not in danger it only confuses her even more as to what is not exactly wrong with her but is giving Washu pause for thought and worth causing a fuss over. Swishing her ponytail back over her slim shoulders, Washu nods, perfectly understanding Ryoko's desire to be given the news as soon as possible.

"Ok, it's easier that's all if you have some understanding concerning this field. So, most organic life forms are made up of the biochemical known as DNA-"

"No shit. Stop giving me a lecture and get on with it." Her natural impatience emphasised by the niggling anxiety, Ryoko can't help but interrupt what sounds to her like some kind of long winded explanation of something so basic even her without an education has a rough knowledge of. Washu waits a few seconds for Ryoko to quieten down before continuing on with what she was about to say.

"As I was saying, most organics are compromised of DNA and in turn this DNA is mostly constructed from 4 different chemicals: guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine. Mostly. Now, although it isn't inherently bad or genetically wrong, who you are and what you are isn't conforming to this norm of standard Jurainoid biology. Ryoko, you do not have any thymine or adenine, instead … well something my computers are busy categorising and naming." Washu watches as a look of confusion sets into Ryoko's face and replaces her worries with a lack of understanding as to what Washu said actually entails. Just typical, she stopped her when she was taking her time to explain, rushed her to tell her and now she has to go back and explain anyway. Before Ryoko's lips even part to ask the question, Washu knows precisely what she will ask and begins forming her answer.

"So? What do those small chemicals in me have to do with anything?" Ryoko' voice is quieter and more subdued as she queries as to how genetic make-up such as this is a problem for her. It sounds very serious to Ryoko and dangerous, but if it where life threatening she is sure that the ki sensing abilities of someone within the house would have picked up on this. However, since it is to do with her DNA structure she knows enough to realise that this is nothing new and has been with her since her conception and birth, wherever and whenever they took place. These two conflicting ideas, that of it sounding incredibly meaningful to her health and that of it having done nothing to affect her in the century she has being alive, only bring more befuddlement to the mind of the pirate who learnt what little she knows of biology from overheard conversations and her own experiences. Washu takes a deep breath and exhales. What she is about to say will have a profound impact upon Ryoko and so she double checks and triple checks her brain for a simpler or easier explanation that will clarify the situation to her prisoner of science.

" I'm not going to spend hours teaching you about RNA formation, protein synthesis or diploid cell replication but I don't want to sound too harsh telling you this. You have no thymine or adenine in your genetic coding. Vegeta, along with most other Jurainoids, does and so ultimately this means you are, to put it bluntly, biologically incompatible with him." Washu's eyes continue to inspect the changing tides of emotion rising and subsiding across her captive's face and taking her cue from these as to her next move. She sits back in her seat and waits. For a minute of stunned silence, Ryoko' mouth limply hangs agape. Silently she mouths that word Washu said, ' incompatible'. It still doesn't make sense to her, but the same surging wave of dread that threatened to engulf her during the short period she was left on her own has flowed back into her mind. Its strong currents threatening to pull her under and take her down into the dark and murky depths of despair and drift in that empty abyss.

"Wh-what? … What-what does that mean Washu? How do two small chemicals mean I'm incompatible wi-with Vegeta? … And … incompatible how?" Barely managing a whisper as she talks, Ryoko's feline eyes fail to raise themselves from the ground and look Washu in the eye as she talks to her. If not for her lack of taste-buds then Ryoko would now be tasting the vile bitterness of bile writhing its way up her throat.

"Those small chemicals in your biological make-up mean … they mean that you and Vegeta could never successfully reproduce with one another. The two of you are incompatible. To the Saiyan you might as well be infertile for you don't have the potential to bear his child. I'm sorry Ryoko, but that's how it is." She solemnly states to Ryoko. Washu derives no pleasure in divulging this unwanted truth. In silence, she presses a button and the restraints holding Ryoko release. She appears extremely wobbly on her feet, swaying side to side as her golden eyes stare blankly at the cold tiles beneath her feet, feet that feel as if the very floor beneath her has been yanked out and she is left falling into the void.

A barren woman, that is what Vegeta will think of her if he ever finds out about this. A female devoid of any potential of giving him another son or daughter, something Washu made all too clear that someone of Jurai would be able to. Her long eyelashes try to blink away the growing moisture gathering and obscuring her vision. She feels empty. Empty and devoid except for a crashing wave of depression and self loathing bearing down on her. Ryoko feels betrayed, so utterly betrayed, even more so than when she was sold into custody by her accomplice but this time it is her own body that is the traitor. Her future has been swiped away from her. Her chance with Vegeta stolen due to something entirely beyond her control.

"... If you're willing to listen, if you ever want help concerning this, I can try and help. Personally I haven't set aside much in the way for such eventualities so I haven't got some magical panacea but I do know of some routes and methods. They don't have much in the way of success rates and can be quite risky but-"

" SHUT UP! Shut up! Just … shut up. … I don't care. … I don't care at all!" Ryoko screams at the top of her lungs out of pure, unadulterated rage at the unfairness of it all. Violent trembles enter her body. Her hands subconsciously hover by her stomach as they tightly clench into fists, her fingernails biting into the flesh of her palms. The uncontrollable trembling and shaking resounding through her body makes her knees feel as if they are about to buckle yet she tries with all her might to stay stood up as the pain of the news rips into her. Shaking her head side to side, she scatters the first set of tears threatening to flow down her face.

Honestly she had never even given it any thought, she acts on impulse and doesn't think long term or make plans for her future so the idea of children never crossed her mind. That is not to say however that she would not like it as a potential option. She doesn't care much for children or have much in the way of maternal instincts but if she were to ever have a child the only man she ever wants to be the father can no longer impregnate her. Ryoko has seen how much Vegeta loves and cherishes his child, even if it is obscured by his callous and cold nature, and if he ever wanted to extend his family and spread the bloodline of his near extinct race then she could not give to him what he desires. If he did want for Trunk to have a brother or a sister then she would not be the woman chosen. She would automatically lose to Ayeka, she would have to watch as those two fall in love with one another and begin a relationship with each other. Alone and with her own love for him ignored and rejected she would only be able to play the spectator. Fear of this eventuality coming to pass is ravaging her mind. Due to nothing that she can control she feels her dreams of being with Vegeta snatched from her and it is destroying her.

"Ryoko, pretending to-" Washu is trying to soothe and comfort the obviously distraught and devastated Ryoko as best she can, feeling somewhat at fault for this situation since it was her who broke the news to her. It's not an easy thing for her to witness and she has seen an awful lot of horrible things and caused a few herself. Guilt doesn't often frequent her intellectual mind but now it does seeing this space pirate fall to her knees as she tries to argue back.

"No! Shut up! I don't give a fuck what you or V-Vegeta thinks! … Did I ever say anything about wanting his children? Look at me, ya think I'd want to go and ruin this b-body with … with motherhood? … 'Cos I don't." Sunk to the floor as her knees have finally given in, Ryoko's head hangs low with her hair veiling her face as her voice breaks between anger and sorrow. The tears begin freely falling as she quietly weeps to herself. She hates herself, absolutely detests her own body she is normally so eager to flaunt and cannot stand this prying and boring thought penetrating and invading her mind of losing Vegeta. If she loathes herself so much she cannot bear to think what the Saiyan prince would think of her if or when he finds out about her. At the minute in time Ryoko might believe her body to be at fault here but it is her mind that is her own worst enemy now.

She dismounts from her cushion and softly steps towards the openly weeping Ryoko. Gently, Washu strokes the back of Ryoko's head in a very caring manner as she tries to do what is right. Ryoko initially flinches at the touch but soon welcomes it and buries her head into Washu's abdomen and lets loose the floodgates. For a while the two radically different women stay in that position. Putting both hands on the knelt down pirate's shoulders, Washu speaks again. The scientist knows what Ryoko has been thinking and why she is so torn up but she is still not being honest with herself, she has to come to terms with this and admit it, continuing with her shambolic pretence of false bravado is helping no-one. Not admitting the problem will never lead to it getting solved and it has to get worse before it gets better.

" Look Ryoko, we both know what you're trying to do here and it ain't working. We both know Vegeta and that Saiyan mind-set of his. He is extremely emotionally stunted from his upbringing and highly apathetic, not to mention his pride and whole inferiority complex. He has zero experience with romance outside of his marriage to Bulma, a marriage and relationship born and maintained by the glue that was Trunks. Do you think he would have ever learned to love her if she never bore his first-born?"

" No … no more …. shut up. He's different now. Vegeta is different." A voice as quiet and as timid as a mouse is exhaled from Ryoko. Even as her mind toys and teases her heart with torturous futures she is stubbornly refusing to let any of those thoughts verbally escape her. Her hands grab onto the front of Washu's skirt as she slowly raises her head to look up at Washu with eyes pleading from the bottom of her heart to help her and make the pain stop. Washu though can only do so much for Ryoko, healing emotional pain is a path that can only be walked alone.

" You are right, he has has undergone a major psychological change for the better over his time on Earth. But Ryoko, he is still a Saiyan. A species that never evolved a marriage system of their own, or had any culture devoted to love. They saw only one reason for a relationship ..." Washu lets that fact ominously hang in the air. No matter how much the woman devoted to him believes he has changed and become a better man the fact of the matter remains: he is a proud Saiyan warrior who still rigidly upholds to the customs and traditions of his fathers. She says no more on the matter and Ryoko responds equally with her silent sobbing. The grip on the front of Washu's clothing is starting to become painful as the preternatural strength gradually returns to the distressed woman. Washu is starting to feel very uncomfortable in this situation and the added bonus of the sharp nails increasing their vice-like grip is not making her enjoy being stuck here with Ryoko anymore but for sympathy's sake she'll put up with it, at least until Ryoko's strength in her fingers becomes too much to bear.

The sharp bite of nails into her sides ceases abruptly. Washu looks down at the woman by her feet as the crying of Ryoko swiftly transitions into a low, keening growl. Fists slam into the floor right next to Washu's feet causing the scientist to hurriedly back off a few paces. The anguished woman looks dead in Washu's eyes, gold meeting green and Washu freezes momentarily out of fear for her well-being. She thought she had sidestepped around any eventuality which would cause hostility and even violence to be directed at her from Ryoko. Washu has no means of defending herself from an enraged and traumatised space pirate out for vengeance, as part of the plan she sent Yamcha outside of her lab so he is of no help to her.

" This is her doing! Y-you've been lying to me! That bitch Ayeka put you up to this 'cos she knows she can't win any other way. It's a lie, a lie!" Snarling like a rabid animal, Ryoko aggressively denies what Washu has been telling her. Washu sighs in relief that all that fury is not actually being directed her way but towards Ryoko's bête noire. The cyan haired rogue's mind is desperately trying to cling on to whatever hope it can find and right now it is clutching onto the straw that all this is some elaborate ruse concocted within the conniving mind of the Juraian royal. First Ayeka somehow gets her parents to arrange for her and Vegeta to be engaged and now this, she sees it as a plan to get her out of the picture and for revenge after the fun she had with her on that windy plateau. Of course, Ryoko does not truly believe this, she deeply wants to though. She'll try to believe anything other than this which dictates to her that the fair maiden of Jurai holds a clear advantage over her and will rob her of any possibility to end up with Vegeta.

Shaking her head at this display, Washu fails to hear a quiet beeping sound from her laptop as she strolls up to the woman more angry at herself and her terrible misfortune than the one she professes to despise above all others. Ryoko's eyes continue to wrathfully stare into hers even as tears still stream down her face. Bordering between the first and second stages of grief, those of denial and anger, Ryoko clasps her hands over her elfin ears and closes her eyes in a vain attempt to block the words from the mouth that has caused her such emotional turmoil and pain when she sees Washu's lips part.

" I'm afraid not, I don't give false data. My tests are correct as are my results. Although Ayeka was the one who asked me to run these tests on you in the first place she never asked me to forge this diagnosis, and if she did I would never have agreed to such a thing. I'm sorry Ryoko … yet, I think I might have something from long ago, a machine I never had the chance to use or test ..."

Upon that last sentence, Ryoko's eyes snap open and she blinks several times slowly as she sees one of Washu's petite hands held before her. Slowly Ryoko retracts her hands from her ears and moves them towards Washu's offered hand. She is offering her a way out, some miracle device to stop the pain and increase her chances of Vegeta falling for her. Despite her distrust of this woman who chained her up and probed her for information, she finds herself reaching for Washu. Out of the sheer desperation the terrible situation has put her in, she takes Washu's hand, gets helped up by the genius and follows her off into another part of her lab for this promised machine.