Chapter 30

An audience awaits outside the lab, their playtime interrupted by the explosion. Vegeta ignores them but shoots a warning glance over at the woman leaving his training room to see what is going on. Like his father, Trunks pays no attention either and just continues on with the game even though the others have stopped and are just staring at the man who blasted most of Washu's laboratory into oblivion. He is still angry and infuriated with the liberties that the scientist dared to take and unsatisfied by having his sport spoiled by her would be rescuer. Those words Yamcha said are nibbling away at the back of his mind. Even though his actions mean little to him he knows that if she were still alive he would have disgraced his wife with such malicious sadism towards someone even Bulma could have taken in a fight. Washu gets to live more or less unharmed for the moment for he has bigger fish to fry: a sick princess to tend to, a pirate to supervise, but also his own stomach to feed.

Beckoning the confused girl to follow him with one finger as he walks into the kitchen, he hears her ask him about what he did and why, he does not answer her. He pours the simmering pot of tampered soup down the sink immediately after entering which only serves to confuse and unsettle Sasami further. Again she questions his actions as he turns the tap on and begins to thoroughly rinse out the empty pot. Vegeta, still focused on cleaning the tainted pot, gives her an abridged outline of what has transpired, without hesitation Sasami apologises to him. Now done with the pot he sets it back down on the work-surface and tells Sasami that it is not her fault and that she had no way of knowing or stopping it as he heads over towards the pantry to scavenge up some food for himself. Hungrily eyeing the many foods and meats within his reach, Vegeta requests for the younger sister to begin work on another fresh batch of soup to replace the one that Ryoko ruined. Happy to oblige Sasami nods and accepts and also asks if he would like her to cook him a meal now since he missed breakfast. The Saiyan declines as he begins greedily stuffing his face with anything and all that is edible without him having to waste time cooking.

" Mr Vegeta, I don't mean to be nosy, but what does Miss Washu have to do with the bad soup? I know you said that Ryoko got the pills from her lab but she must have done something really naughty for you to blow up her home." Sasami waits during Vegeta's feeding frenzy to ask him about the thing that doesn't seem to quite fit in with what he told her. Caught up with all of his missed meals and feeling a whole world better now that he has food digesting away in his belly, he picks at the few morsels stuck in-between his teeth before replying to the blue haired Juraian juvenile.

" Aside from being an insect who has the nerve to treat me, the Saiyan prince, as if I were as retarded as Kakarot, she failed to learn that this house is mine. Now she knows and will show me respect, if she ever dares to cross that line again..."

" If you're going to be nasty to her and act like a bully then I'll have to be mean and punish you like Ryoko." Abruptly she stands next to him with her hands on her diminutive hips. Seemingly on the warpath against all the violence and aggression that is always ensuing within this household, Sasami stands up to the short Saiyan sovereign. With a slight pout upon her face as she looks up at the man smiling down at her, the warrior appears greatly amused by her little act of defiance and the news that she has done the same to Ryoko.

" Now this interests me. Tell me more about how you punished that carefree woman."

"It might sound harsh but she was very bad yesterday and hurt Ayeka and me so I was angry and told her I won't cook for her till she says she's sorry."

" … So now you give me this ultimatum, a choice between food and acting like a Saiyan should? Having me even remotely consider this testifies greatly to your culinary skill, you should be proud, but I can cook my own food if need be. This Saiyan shall do as he pleases and Ryoko … will now be pestering and annoying me for food. Great." Feeling disgruntled at the thought of losing out on such stellar cuisine and knowing that Ryoko will be making demands of him to feed her, Vegeta sighs to himself and absently pats Sasami on the head as he grabs a bottle of milk from the fridge and walks out of the kitchen. Sasami isn't too happy with Vegeta not seeing her threat as all that threatening but quickly gets on with prepping some more vegetables for the replacement soup she now has to make. She hums to herself as she busies about the kitchen and not before long an inquisitive wet nose is snuffling about her work surface to see if any food will be fed to her.

Draining the bottle of milk in several glugs and then disintegrating the empty bottle, Vegeta jogs up the stairs and towards the bathroom where he left the one he is caring for. He was away from her for longer than he thought he would be, and thinking about it he can probably easily argue Ayeka onto his side once he tells her of the surveillance that left them with no privacy at all. Vegeta knocks on the door and Ayeka quickly responds asking who it is. Replying as always with his name and title, he quickly gets snapped at by her demanding to know what he blew up when he went swanning off and left her. She had called for him in his absence not knowing that he had gone, she demands to know why he skulked off to abandon her on her own.

" Lady Ayeka, if I were to tell you that during the last few minutes you were in there that some naïve scientist had been capturing all of that on film for her own sick and twisted reasons, would you not also have a slight urge to drastically renovate her den of operations? Oh, and also the reason you are in there is because Ryoko spiked your soup with laxatives which she stole from said lab." Assured that her irritation at him just up and leaving her after staying at her side like a faithful hound has successfully been passed onto others more deserving of it, he kneels down and begins massaging his damaged shin. Vegeta feels about his injury for any tenderness or swelling that is not being suppressed by his ki. Standing back up and leaning his back against the door having completed his brief examination he starts paying attention to the rustling noises and whispered voice coming from within the bathroom. Ayeka sounds displeased at best by the news he has given her. From the sound of hair brushing against clothing and the exasperated mutterings and mumblings of the princess throwing curses and insults to the empty air he surmises that she is now trying to fruitlessly spot where Washu has secreted her cameras. If his eyes cannot spot them then he highly doubts that hers can.

Vegeta focuses onto the princess's ki signature to see if she is recovering her strength and energy back, his impatience for this pestilence to lift itself from her getting the better of him. Thanks to the pharmaceutical stunt pulled by Ryoko her illness still has a profound grip on her. He muses to himself as to whether or not this house actually has any spare light bulbs stocked within it for the pirate to scavenge and as far as he is aware there are none. Though if she does happen across some then he shall simply dispose of them as well. She will learn as Washu did not to take him lightly. Ryoko should have just left well enough alone when sickness was present, all she has to do is wait and he fails to see why it is so hard for her to understand. His own sense of patience was born through his time spent travelling endlessly in space; days, weeks and months spent doing naught but meditating and awaiting arrival for him to be unleashed somewhere else, and she must have experienced similar journey times. Hearing deep breaths being taken from directly behind him and then a slight weight pushing back against the door he is leaning on Vegeta figures that Ayeka has calmed down enough from his news to continue on.

" I'm taking that angry silence as a yes. Sasami is working on some new soup for you and I have punished Ryoko accordingly, as has your sister surprisingly." Seeing whether news of her rival suffering some form of punishment will put her in a more amiable mood, Vegeta waits, but all he continues to hear from the opposite side of the bathroom door is her breathing. He stands up erect and turns to face the door with his fingers curling and uncurling. Ayeka's breathing has become shallower and sounds laboured. Fear is inching its way back into his mind after it was cruelly and quickly kicked out by sadistic pleasure.

" Lord Vegeta, I need your help again." Ayeka's voice is soft as it gently calls out to him through wood. The Saiyan's mental discipline prevents him from instantly tearing the door down to get to her, his pride and hers would be damaged by him barging into the bathroom whilst she occupies it. Begrudgingly, he counts to ten within his head to placate his nerves. His senses tell him that nothing is wrong in there and that she is not in trouble. Yet his mind also told him that when he spoke to his wife for the last time. The Saiyan is truly hating all the bad memories being dredged up, anything that forces him to deal with emotions is immediately detested by him and these emotions are not pleasant ones at all.

" I'm sorry, but unless it's your illness I'm not helping you out in there." Vegeta speaks sternly. The Saiyan will not let his fears control him. He passes it off as simply a matter of decency that he is declining her call for aid whilst his teeth grind together and he repeats mantras in his head that she is in no danger from her sickness. The bathroom door cracks open a sliver and Ayeka's pale face peeks out at him as she leans heavily on the door.

" My balance is impaired, I require you to carry me back." With an authoritative tone she gives him an order to try and glaze over the embarrassment she feels from this situation. Her royal blood and his instinctually disliking the crudeness and baseness of bathroom situations such as these. She opens up the door a bit more though it is difficult for her to do so whilst using it for support. Vegeta has the option to teleport in there with her to easily open the door from the inside for her but as her pride has already taken a hit he shall let her keep her dignity and leave her to do this herself. Ayeka gradually gets the door open enough to fit her slender body through and offers her hand out to the prince for assistance, he takes her hand and helps her stay upright as she woozily wobbles about.

" I fear that Ryoko might be rubbing off on you Ayeka, becoming quite forward in demanding of me to carry you when using me as a crutch would perfectly suffice." He jests to lighten the mood and Ayeka's cheeks grow rosy in response. Holding onto his arm to retain her balance she is closer to him than she deems she should be, her asking him to carry her was bold and she surprised herself in saying it and has also embarrassed herself by being so improper. A hand lightly touches her stomach and Vegeta enquires as to whether she is sensitive there. Ayeka quickly turns red and flinches away from his hand. Remembering that she is currently dressed only in a light night robe it flusters her greatly being touched by him like that. With a fearful and disconcerted stutter she loudly asks what he thinks he is doing whilst still holding onto his arm for support.

" You wanted me to carry you so I was seeing whether you would be in discomfort or not if I picked you up considering your recent activities." Vegeta gives a straightforward answer. He watches as Ayeka blushes further and looks away from him and mumbles that he doesn't have to carry her for she can walk fine with his aid. She does not see a slight grin appear on his face as his cunning has now got him out of having to carry her. The prince is well aware that his almost doting behaviour towards her has been quite intimate and so he does not want to indulge her any further than necessary.

" Lord Vegeta, I trust that Miss Washu is still alive, is she not?" Gradually making their way down the corridor and back to her bedchamber, Ayeka asks the obvious. She has faith in Vegeta and faith in his word but given what she now knows about Washu and the explosion she heard she has to make sure. Trying to keep her touch on her prince as light as possible as he escorts her back, she watches him as he scowls at the sound of the scientist's name. Vegeta wishes that he could answer negatively and he could be rid of the one who constantly and deliberately challenges his authority but his training must take priority and so her life was spared.

" If you can count a weaselly existence like hers life then yes, unfortunately."

"Good, for I shall be having strong words with father about her behav – you've destroyed her communicators haven't you?" Ayeka pulls on Vegeta's arm to stop him midway to her room. Washu might have her uses but most of those uses also come from the many devices and technologies within her lab, or that were once within it. The Saiyan is infamous for the destruction he can cause, and that was when his power was but a speck of sand to the beach it is now, and things Ayeka wanted to use were within the place he blew to kingdom come. Her plan to keep her mother from interfering with her life and give her independence revolved around keeping in contact with her from Washu's lab, now it seems that plan has literally gone up in smoke. Vegeta hears the blame in her words. He might not have thought everything through when he sent that ki blast in to make friends with Washu's demesne.

" Not all of her lab is gone, they might still exist and if not it will not take that insect long to start repairing and rebuilding that cursed place. She might be a worm under my boot but Washu is still your slave to do as you will." Grumbling to himself he sees this as a very minor problem that will be sorted out soon. His ears prick up. He can hear someone within Ayeka's room. Vegeta does not need three guesses to know who is floating around in there nor does he need them to know why she is in there.

" An employee of the Juraian royal family, not a slave. It will be your fault now if mother comes to visit us again due to our lack of contact with her." Vegeta absently nods at Ayeka's words. The two of them manage a few more slow steps before Ayeka once again stops Vegeta. Colour returns to her cheeks as a thought has just occurred to her that would be shameful if it were true. "Wait, Lord Vegeta, you said that Miss Washu has been, well for lack of a better word spying on us. You … you didn't happen to-"

"Rest assured, I was witness to none of her recordings. Those cameras will be feeding back to nothingness now so our modesty and pride can remain untarnished by her perversion." Ayeka seems relieved by Vegeta's words, the thought of all her private moments being displayed to him would disgrace her immensely. It is entirely possible that Washu could repair her surveillance system given time but Ayeka knows that Washu would have more sense than to pull a stunt like that twice after what it cost her the first time. Vegeta is just hoping that Ryoko will not try and cause a scene and will scurry on out of there when they enter.

He helps Ayeka the last few feet to her room and puts his hand on the door handle. Vegeta stops to think for a second about a good course of action yet Ryoko is too much of a wild card for him to anticipate her actions whatever he does, he will just have to wing it and trust in Ryoko knowing not to piss him off again. He looks to Ayeka at his side briefly and her eyes meet his, seemingly curious as to why they are not entering, and then he opens the door. A gasp is heard from Ayeka and her fingers tighten their grip on Vegeta as her thin brows furrow. Vegeta sighs to himself and takes a step into the room with Ayeka following as he looks up at the pirate smiling down at the two of them. Laying down in the air close to the ceiling and with a newly scavenged light bulb gripped within her tail, the feline eyes of Ryoko lock onto Ayeka as she raises up the book she is holding and contently flicking through. Vegeta did not peg her as the reading type but apparently that book has her enthralled yet the mischievous grin spread ear to ear on her face has the princess looking shocked and alarmed. Skimming through the pages and chuckling to herself, Ryoko gradually descends down to ground level.

" Give it back Ryoko." Composing herself, Ayeka locks Ryoko with a serious expression and speaks sternly. Her crimson eyes shooting daggers towards her hated rival gleefully smirking at her, she holds out one hand for the return of her possession. Ryoko's grin widens, she sticks her tongue out and floats upside down. The pirate slams the book shut and holds it aloft, far out of the princess's reach. Vegeta just closes his eyes and shakes his head.

" Ah ah ah, I didn't hear the magic word, princess." Ryoko playfully teases the princess. Since the Juraian is always such a stickler for manners and courtesy she has fun teasing her about her own conduct and impoliteness and maintaining a strong dominant position over her. She knows that Ayeka is still scared of her after what she did to her and that she will always try to cower behind the strength of Vegeta and the Saiyan will not be liking her actions at the minute, but this opportunity presented itself and she will take it for all it's worth and grind the purple haired maiden into the dust. The only reason she snuck into this room was to steal the light bulb from in here to use for herself, what she also found though whilst snooping about for anything else to purloin was just the icing on the cake for her.

" Ryoko give it back at once, if you do not I will-"

" C'mon then, get Vegeta to take this from me, I'm sure he'd want a good read of it as well." Calling her bluff, Ryoko continues to goad Ayeka with the possession she holds. Now landing back on the wooden flooring she glances across to the warrior choosing to ignore both of the women in an attempt at neutrality and staying out of this cat fight. Feline eyes wander across to the arm of Vegeta being held by Ayeka. Ryoko opens up the book again and starts rapidly turning the pages, scanning to find a particularly amusing part she saw earlier and all the while tearing a few corners of the pages. Out of annoyance and infuriation, Ayeka rubs at the bridge of her nose and brushes her unadorned hair behind her shoulders.

"Miss Ryoko, I have the utmost faith in Lord Vegeta to not look upon the contents of that book if I asked him so." Ayeka stares at Ryoko with her head held high, she was not bluffing about calling on Vegeta for assistance. Not one for being a pawn in their games between themselves, the man remains silent. A hiss in the air later and Ryoko is latched onto Vegeta's other arm with her vivid red dressed pressed up against his body and a wicked and devious smile stretching across her face. Both Ayeka's and Vegeta's eyes are drawn to her, one out of hatred and the other out of disapproval.

" Oh but princess, I feel it would just be so impolite for him not to see this, I mean there's a lot in here about him after all. You did ask for his permission first before you drew these, right?" Before Ayeka can react, Ryoko cackles to herself and holds open a page full of sketches in front of Vegeta's face. The Saiyan raises an eyebrow at his likeness lifelessly staring back at him. His rough figure and face drawn many times over the several pages Ryoko hurriedly flicks through before a highly embarrassed Ayeka tries to stop her and snatch back her very personal and very private diary back. Effortlessly Ryoko keeps the diary from its blushing red owner and smirks at her.

" L-l-lord Vegeta, it-it's not what it looks like. I-I-" Abashed and humiliated that her secret drawings have been uncovered and shown to Vegeta, Ayeka hurriedly tries to make an excuse for herself. With so much free time in the house and with nothing much to do she took up the pencil to pass the time and naturally Vegeta became a main subject of her sketches. Back on Jurai she occasionally drew the landscapes and buildings and cities of her planet but not often did she ever draw a person, she liked to keep her drawings to herself and people would want to see them if she drew them. Her ability to draw the male form is quite weak, the proportions, the musculature and especially his hands always ended up slightly wrong but improvement can be seen in her works. Vegeta holds little to no interest in her artistic skills or renditions of him, he didn't expect her to be making sketches of him but the only kind of art he ever cares about is martial arts.

"Can it, princess. Someone's been writing an awful lot of things about lover boy over here, lots of nasty, sordid little things, isn't that right Ayeka? Why don't you let me help you share this with Vegey?"

"My diary is not for sharing!" Ayeka raises her voice and shouts back at the cackling pirate, desperately trying to reach across the front of Vegeta to get to her diary. Her footing falters as she overextends her arm. She doesn't have any time to begin falling before a Saiyan arm is there to stop her and also bring a pirate a lot closer to her. Almost butting heads, Ayeka again makes an attempt for her book however Ryoko is far too nimble and agile to let the diary fall into its rightful owner's hand's. Vegeta clears his throat, his cold eyes looking at the cyan haired rogue. She hears his wordless message and sullenly relinquishes the diary back to Ayeka. The princess, still with flushed cheeks, holds the book close to her chest and quietly thanks Vegeta. Golden eyes shine vindictively. Ryoko wraps an arm around Vegeta's back and fixes Ayeka with an insidious gaze.

"Sharing is caring, as they say, though I can see why you wouldn't want to show him that, boring him to death with page after page of inane drivel. But Ayeka, I share everything with my Vegey. He knows my secrets, he knows my feelings for him, I don't hide things away from him like you do. I share everything with my Vegey … we've even gone so far as to have shared a bed together." The light bulb incinerates and scorches the end of Ryoko's tail. Vegeta whips his head around and stares at the grinning woman he did indeed share a bed with. They truly cannot argue amongst themselves without him getting fully dragged into the middle of all of it. This is not something he counted on Ryoko daring to do in his presence and neither is it something he wanted Ayeka to hear about. Last night was a disgrace to him but he knows that Ryoko is trying to spin it into a situation that she could have had happen but did not.

Ayeka's diary loudly clunks to the floor, spilling open to a blank page. The princess's crimson eyes blink several times, her grip on the prince becomes loose and she sways momentarily as her heart misses a beat. Her purple fringe ruffles as she violently shakes her head side to side to rid herself of the nightmarish image that has sprouted within her mind; the two of them post-coital within a bed and Ryoko with that same gleeful smile on her face as she has now. Knuckles whiten. Ayeka's teeth grind together, her nails bite into the Saiyan's flesh and her red eyes shoot murderous intentions towards Ryoko. The pirate nuzzles close to Vegeta. He replies by moving his arm back and so distances Ryoko from Ayeka and also himself.

"Such pitiful lies will not fool me. You honestly think that I'd buy into such blatant and pathetic fallacies, you must be as stupid as you are delusional, you old hag."

"I ain't lying, princess. Ask Vegey here whether or not we spent last night in each others arms and he'll tell you that we've slept together, ain't that right Ve-ge-ta. " Lustrously whispering each syllable of his name whilst her cat-like eyes stay dead set on Ayeka, a lofty air of smug self satisfaction exudes from the pirate. Under her breath, Ryoko cracks one short laugh of derision towards her foe reeling from her. She licks her lips seductively as she grins and turns her attention now towards the man she loves looking at her with indignation and a great scowl upon his stern face. Ayeka is left ignored in the background as her hands falter and lose their grip on her prince. Her pale face goes blank. Her wide eyes stare blankly at nothingness. Ryoko has such confidence in herself and her story that it cripples Ayeka's own confidence and that scandalous and abhorrent image niggles and worms its way back into the forefront of the royal's mind. Finally, Ayeka looks to the Saiyan prince to tell her that it is all lies, to say that what Ryoko says never did and never could happen, to dispel this dreaded image from her mind. Seeing his face, she is unsure as to whether the distinct anger of Vegeta is due to Ryoko downright lying about him and shaming him, or whether that terribly frowned brow is there due to a secret being outed. Ayeka's breath is held as the Saiyan breathes heavily and stares down at Ryoko.

"... Ryoko, you are making a mountain out of a molehill. All you did was take advantage of my weakness." Vegeta's low voice grumbles like thunder as he shrugs the cyan haired woman off of him. The ashes of the disintegrated light-bulb flutter to the ground. A Cheshire smile cruelly grins at Ayeka as the life blood drains from her face, Vegeta said what Ryoko expected. His pride and single-mindedness towards strength has been exploited. A tearing expulsion of air rattles through Ayeka's gaping open mouth. Pain stabs through the princess's chest, a fiery hot lance of undiluted betrayal. The world stops around her, time freezes, and her heart shatters into crystalline shards of ice. A muffled thud catches the ear of Vegeta, his angry glare quickly turning into one of worry as he turns to see Ayeka collapsed on the floor in an unladylike and undignified manner. A sea of purple cascades onto the floor, engulfing the princess, long locks of amethyst wrapping around her as she stays motionless.

Vegeta offers his hand down to the princess but she fails to see it. There is only one thing going through her mind now, one single thought plaguing her brain, running rampage and consuming her thoughts: Vegeta did not deny it, he did not deny it at all. It doesn't matter to her that he says she is exaggerating matters because underneath all that means there lies a bed of truth, an undeniable truth that breaks her heart. She feels so cold. Frozen and empty inside, all that golden splendour that had been filling her life with warmth has coldly left and abandoned her. In the darkness within her mind there is naught left, naught except two luminescent orbs. The reflective and taunting golden orbs of the pirate. Laughing at her, deriding her and mocking her feelings of love she holds for Vegeta. Ayeka shivers and convulses as she tries to wrap her head around this awful news she never wanted to hear. She inhales a breath wracked with pain and shudders as she loudly exhales it, all the while clutching the front of her night gown. So utterly heartbroken and wounded by his betrayal of her trust in him she raises her head mournfully to look up at him and the hand extended to her. Ayeka roughly slaps away his hand.

" … No … I-It's true? … You … Lord Vegeta, y-you let her … You let her force herself upon you?!" Her eyes are unblinking and her voice hints a tone of unwillingness to believe what she is hearing as she asks for a second time about what Ryoko has claimed. Ayeka's face warps under the abject and torturous hurt she is feeling just looking at Vegeta.

" You better believe it, all sealed with a kiss as well. Vegey and me-" Pouring salt onto the wound, Ryoko teleports above her victim. Levitating just out of reach as she giggles to herself at the pain she is causing to the one she hates. What she accomplished last night, if worded correctly, seems just the ticket to take her nemesis well and truly out of the picture for good. By default she claims herself now the winner; even if right now Vegeta is highly pissed off with her.

"Ryoko you will shut your mouth now or I will shut it for you. What truly happened was not of my choice and meant nothing to me, I did nothing that would disgrace my wife." A gnarled hand lashes out and seizes the pirate by the scruff of her neck, roughly yanking her back and snarling at her. Ayeka ignores this though. She cannot handle this. She cannot take this anymore. The heartache is destroying her from within, the man she loves trying to vainly downplay his adultery to her, his fiancée, as if it were nothing but worst of all is who she has lost him to. Defeated by such a lowly, vile and unworthy piece of criminal scum, Ayeka feels so worthless and soiled. Vegeta was never going to tell her this, he was going to keep it from her and never let her know the truth and this deception of his cuts her so very deep indeed. All this time he has been with her, nursing her, taking care of her, he has been omitting the fact that he and Ryoko have crossed a point of no return and without a word left her behind in the dust of the trail they have blazed under the veil of night. She believed there was minimal difference in the relationship between her and Vegeta and him and Ryoko but now her mind starts to question what else he has been hiding, how long has he been playing her for a fool and laughing behind her back as he callously leads her on. Her love has been misplaced. Her first true love has been forsaken and ridiculed. Ayeka silently closes her eyes and hangs her head down, bringing her knees up to cover and hide herself.

Struggling against Vegeta's indomitable strength, Ryoko attempts to wrest free by phasing. A solid ki choker soon silences her, but her wriggling and writhing only increase dramatically at the white hot touch of a restraint around her throat. Vegeta wants Ryoko to surrender to him and tell an unblemished version of what happened last night, but the pirate is not letting up at all. Locking her frantic movements is something she truly dislikes but he sees her as leaving him little option. The hidden eyes of Ayeka see them close to each other, touching, their bodies rubbing against each other, cavorting together blatantly in full view of her. A bright and vivid sphere of purest sapphire births itself in the room around the wounded princess. Small guardian logs spawn one after another in the air, coating the protective barrier.

"Get out."

Beneath the hum of energy in the air and the squabbling and squirming of Ryoko, a hoarse whisper catches Vegeta's ear. He grimaces. Painfully tightening his hold on Ryoko, he shouts at her to stop omitting the one crucial fact of her story that has been left unsaid; that by sleep together she means it in a none euphemistic way. The rogue purposefully lets loose an aroused squeal and giggles through the major discomfort of how Vegeta is treating her. The Saiyan is struggling with his own strength for there is such a minuscule line for him between putting pressure and pain on Ryoko and cleanly snapping her apart like a dried twig. Blue rays illuminate the whole room and inside a broken maiden is trembling with her dainty hands clutching at her woe filled head.

"Get out of my room, now." Ayeka's voice is low and quiet as her fingers clench against her skull. Trembling, she grits her teeth and pulls at her own hair. Ryoko makes a loud hissing sound at Vegeta. She really hates being held in a restraining fashion and she's not too sure how much more her limbs can take before he dislocates them, or worse. For a chance to take Ayeka out like this though she will gladly pay this price and the Saiyan's anger that will follow. An awful lot of doubt was put into her mind yesterday, if there is no-one competing against her then she has no need for such doubt to trouble her. Without Ayeka she can live freely with Vegeta and take her time as he eventually warms up to her. Ryoko hisses again and tells Vegeta to let her go. Surprising her, he does so and the ki around her neck disappears. The Saiyan prince does not want anger to rule his actions, a more delicate hand is needed here. Needlessly hurting Ryoko will solve nothing and if he were to keep it up for much longer he would begin to seriously injure her. Keeping wary eyes on him, she floats a metre away from him and rubs at her sore neck and joints.

The princess inside her bubble mournfully wails. She really does not want to believe any of this, even if it were shameful and demeaning she would give anything to swap positions with the abhorrent pirate who stole her fiancée. Preferring her honour and maidenhood to be discarded and her to have dirtied herself in fornication with him than to have her heart ripped asunder. Vegeta has hurt her again. He always brings agony to her, whether it be his intention of not. Breaking down into despair, dejection and self pity, her breath catches in her throat. Ayeka starts coughing violently, wracking her trembling and shivering body, as her illness makes itself known again. Gasping for breath as the coughing subsides, flakes of blue peel off her barrier and rain down around her. What starts off as minor deterioration quickly escalates into a downpour of the rest of her protective shield falling around her head. The guardian logs vanish into the air and she is left defenceless.

Ayeka hears a sound close to her but doesn't look to see what it is. She can hear his breathing near her, her whole body tenses and a taste of bile fills her mouth. She trusted Vegeta, she trusted him with her and her sister's life. Her trust was not repaid in the slightest. He has chosen a woman that was not her. Vegeta opens his mouth and begins to try and explain what really happened. Ayeka cannot stand to hear his voice, it sickens her. Red eyes filled with fury and hurt glare at him from under her fringe. A blast strikes him below his widow's peak and blows out her bedroom window. The shamed princess of Jurai fiercely raises her head, a look of absolute detest and contempt twisting her countenance as a solitary tear escapes her.

"I don't want to hear your damned lies, you filthy, heartless monkey! Take your whore with you and get the hell away from me! Get away! You damn, dirty ape!" She screeches at the man knelt in front of her at the top of her lungs, unbridled wroth and rage flooding from her mouth. Fingers and satin scratch and swish across the floorboards hurriedly. Ayeka backs away from Vegeta as though he has the plague, pushing herself against the frame of her bed. The widower goes to try and reason with her but she cuts him off before he can get a word in with another loud and aggressive scream telling him to begone. She points towards the door and stares vehemently at him. Her arm is shaking and her eyes are blinking back an inundation of water. Vegeta silently stands. A harsh yelp and pained wail follow him through the door as he drags Ryoko out by her ear. He closes the door behind him and closes his eyes, letting go of Ryoko's overly sensitive elfin ears. Ryoko teleports away in search of another light bulb. From within her room Vegeta can hear Ayeka's weeping and lamenting begin.

In a side medical bay that was left untouched from disaster, Washu hums to herself as she returns to her patient, having left him for a minute or two to get automated repairs underway. Her movement and mind grinds to a halt. The bed she left her lover on is empty, the covers tossed off of it. On the metal walls behind the bed is a half written message etched into the very wall still glowing red with heat.

" I'm sorry. … "