Chapter 47
Through the fading light a rod of red is summoned and a low, wavering growl can be heard. One long shuddering snarl is exhaled after the form of Ryoko appears before she charges and brings her sword crashing down onto Vegeta. Feline eyes laced with murderous intent bewitch him as she tries her utmost to smite him from existence. Vegeta does not move, he does not block, he lets these attacks hit and they do nothing to him. Slashes and stabs wild with rage lose all finesse as Ryoko lets loose all her pent up fury and swings her energy sword at him in a rabid and reckless flurry. In the background Ayeka silently takes several steps away from this scene and stays out of it. The Juraian princess lets Ryoko have this time for she knows she is the one who deserves this more than she does. Blasts hit Vegeta square in the face to no effect and only at this point does he move so as to block some of the hell-fire from demolishing his house. After a dozen or so of these inaccurate shots he takes action and steps forwards, closer to Ryoko, so her target is harder to miss.
" Stay the fuck away from me! Get away! Fuck off, you … you! You did this to me, you liked doing this to me! Why? Why aren't you attacking back? Go on, you like hitting women, don't you, why are you holding back now? You scared? Are you? Is Kakarot's bitch scared of enjoying it too much and getting a puny and pathetic hard-on in front of Miss Fertile Princess over there? Fight back! Fight. Back. I … you … You're- y-y-you-you're the worst cunt, ever. How could … how could you do that to me? To me! I am … I'm Ryoko, you hear that, I am Ryoko, you-you don't rape Ryoko! You don't rape me! No … No, no, no, no, no, never. You don't – you can't, no. Just … just die." She teleports back several metres at him making any movement towards her and then sends blast after blast at him. More power gets sent into each bolt of ki, letting her attacks get fuelled by her terrible wroth. They all hit and the only thing Vegeta does is channel some of his ki to focus their blast radius onto him so the windows of his house do not shatter. Her roaring gets louder and harsher to make sure that he can hear every last word she throws at him over the explosions. Soon smoke and plumes of dust conceal her target from her bleary eyes.
Ryoko screams after letting it out and the sudden exhaustion of firing all those blasts hits her. Her breathing is heavily laboured and her predatory eyes stay locked onto the ki signature she can detect through the obscuring clouds. With no exertion at all, Vegeta clears the dust around him with his ki. Ryoko sees his eyes looking at her. Instead of the calculating black, all she can see is the blood red staring back at her. Seeing him is terrifying her and only her extreme rage at him is allowing her to stand. She wants him dead. She wants him to pay. Her heart is bleeding a torrent of tears that flood her face and she needs to make him feel a pain worse than this. Decades of being a prisoner made her feel less trapped than she does now, she so desperately wants to rid this man from existence and her life.
"Ryoko, I am sorry." Vegeta says the words to her, the words she wants to hear but is deaf to. His words pervade into her ears, the same voice that mocked her and broke her bit by bit and called for Ayeka when she was not enough for him. She cannot stand hearing his voice. Her blood boils.
"No you aren't! You are dead! You. Are. Dead. I-I-I-I will kill –kill you!" Ryoko teleports forwards and raises her palm to Vegeta's head. She will have her revenge and she will never be made a fool of like this ever again. For all her shouting and aggression Vegeta does not seem the least bit threatened, and she loathes him for it.
"Ryoko -"
"I-I can do it. I will do it! I can kill you! I'm not weak, I'm not weak, I'm going to kill you." With a jerking action she rams her open palm into his face. Her hand almost convulses back to her as a tide of revulsion fills her at feeling Vegeta. With tears streaming from her face and her bosom an open cavity of pain she sends a small amount of ki into her hand. She will not become the helpless woman at his mercy and she will make him see her strength, the strength he dared to defy and anger. He probably does not take this threat to his life seriously with all his ego and confidence surrounding his supreme power but Ryoko has had time to think and plan this. Her revenge will work, she knows it will, she hopes it will. A breath is exhaled onto her hand and Ryoko slams her other hand behind the first so she cannot retract it.
"I know you can, Ryoko. Your ability of phasing, you plan to phase your hand inside my skull and then materialise it again. You are correct, this will kill me by destroying my brain, and your hand." Speaking in a very impassive and level-headed tone considering a woman who wants to kill him, and can, holds his life in her hands, Vegeta maintains eye contact with the rogue and confirms that her plan will indeed work. It was during her duel with Ayeka that it occurred to him how formidable her phasing ability could be if used correctly. Though easily negated by ki it can cause horrific damage to those not defending themselves and bypass all physical defences, as long as you are willing to pay the price of an injury to yourself. In the distance he sees the fragile and scared Juraian begin to look worried at this announcement that Ryoko can murder him.
"You already got rid of this hand once, if I can hurt you this time before I have to heal it back … Say it! Say it before you die!" Fingernails scratch at his face and dig into his flesh. Ryoko does not like that he knows her plan but she is feeling empowered at him admitting even he can be felled by her. Her chest heaves as her breathing comes fast and sharp and she roars for him to apologise again. She pushes her hand harder against him and readies it for phasing into his head. Vegeta's breathing remains calm and constant, warming her palm.
"Open your eyes if you intend to kill me. I am sorry, Ryoko."
Ryoko freezes. Her wet eyes are firmly shut and her head is facing away from him. She did not even realise she was doing this, that she was not even going to get to witness the moment she had her vengeance and took everything from him. Ryoko slowly begins to open her golden orbs to look at him. Her arms shake like leaves in the wind and her leaden knees feel as though they are about to buckle from just seeing those black eyes staring back at her. The breath caught in her throat escapes in a hoarse and rasping moan. Strings are being pulled within her. The dangerously taught wire that was her nerve previously only supported by the inferno of hatred blazing inside her has cleanly snapped at his words. Ryoko wrenches her hands back away from him and stumbles awkwardly backwards as she begins clutching at her own head. The insipid tendrils within her chest are constricting around her already broken soul. She cannot bring herself to kill Vegeta. She cannot kill the man she still holds feelings for.
"Bastard! Bastard, bastard, prick. You're doing it again, you're doing it all again to me! Stop it. Stop, please. Get out of my head! Go … D-d-die." Ryoko's tearful voice tries to sound intimidating as she breaks down into sobs. Her victory has been snatched from her. Those detestable emotions within her she cannot quell or disconnect from herself are to blame. She wants rid of them so bad, all they are doing are hurting her, she wants her love to end now so she can seize her vengeance. A bluff was called that she did not even know was a bluff. There is too much anguish within her to stand. She cannot bear to see his face, his words wound her with every syllable and every beat of his heart is another stab into her own.
A loud meow reverberates throughout the land as Ryo-Ohki appears in the night sky. After being ditched by those with Saiyan blood she has now flown her way back home and found her mistress as well. The brown shards and crystalline structure give way with a poof as a small and fluffy cabbit nimbly and gently lands besides Ryoko. Ayeka looks confused by this for she has never seen Ryo-Ohki transform, there are bigger things to fret about though so she quickly pushes it from her mind. It nuzzles its snout against its grieving master's legs and quickly gets picked up and held close to Ryoko's breast. This transforming spaceship is the only one she trusts now, her only friend in the galaxy and she will not let go of her as she wets its fur with her crying. She was hurt for his own amusement. Her own affection was brandished against her and a biological quirk that is no fault of her own was combined with this to form the ultimate weapon against her. The warmth of the fuzzy creature is welcome to her as it nuzzles sympathetically against her cheek. Her feline eyes dart to the maiden stood a fair distance away by the lake's edge, to the weapon used to break her down into this pitiful state.
" … She … she's here now. Look, she's the one you want, go and … S-sh-she – she -she's the fertile one. You … you … how could you do that to me?" She points with one hand as the other smothers Ryo-Ohki and the false logic plays out in her head that if Vegeta focuses on her rival then Ayeka will be the one hurting and not her. Ayeka stands stock still on the spot as a vehement pirate yells at her. Her red eyes wide and fearful. The princess does not want this attention on her or her own name being used for such abhorrent purposes, and being called such a moniker as the fertile one is degrading, making her feel like her only notable feature is her gender and her womb. Ryoko soon forgets about her rival as she asks him an already answered question. She is not accepting his answer. Ryoko demands another reason for her pain.
" Ryoko, we both know the intoxicating pleasure of sadism and the-"
" I'm not like you! I'm not like that. You – what I – it was different. You're the monster, you are. You are! You hurt me." Open denial and yelling are her defences from Vegeta's most dangerous words. Ryoko violently shakes her head, rejecting that thought as much as she can. Her motion comes to a halt though as her cabbit leaps from her tight grip and starts bounding off back towards the house and food. Not realising she was hurting Ryo-Ohki by holding her so tightly, Ryoko forlornly reaches out a hand to her pet as it hops away. An abject look of abandonment written across her face, Ryoko weeps on her own now as she wards off the irrefutable logic of the Saiyan prince. Ryoko cannot admit the truth of her own sadistic tendencies, the ones Ayeka knows all too well about, she cannot be allowed to hear that she takes the same joy in hurting people as the one who nearly raped and killed her. She is the victim, she is the one wronged, she cannot think about all those other victims she has put in the position she is in now.
" I know I did, my actions disgust me and I am deeply sorry for my inability to protect you." Vegeta knows better than to press the issue that both of them are highly sadistic and so falls back on more apologetic condolences. This situation is incredibly volatile and he is trying to think of the best way to deal with this when Ryoko is being unpredictable, irrational and very emotional. Three days of little sleep, no food and no training are taking a toll on his patience and mind but there is no quick fix for this so he keeps on talking calmly and not making any movements towards her. He is thankful that Ayeka is being reasonable and letting him have this time with Ryoko before she has her own turn of speaking to him.
" Wha- why? Why did-d-did you … you were nicer to her so I, what was all that? Why?"
" At the end of our date? That was me getting desperate to save your life. The reason there was that difference was if I pushed any further with Ayeka she would have broken. I reached her limit whilst with you it was more of my own limit holding back my actions. If I had known ..."
Ryoko goes quiet. The difference that led to her going to Vegeta was caused because he was being mindful of the modest princess. All this was done to her because he was playing safe with Ayeka and did not fully commit to his plan so that she could have remained safe. His voice callously laughs and calls out the Juraian's name in her head. Ayeka shuffles about on the spot, feeling very uneasy about this whole revelation that she was forced into a passionate kiss as a ruse and also guilty that her delicate nature had a part to play in all this. The princess looks towards the doorway to the house and hears the meowing of a hungry cabbit and then sees a flash of two tails of blue, she winces. Sasami has been eavesdropping on the conversation, her curiosity about this incident got the better of her and even if it did not she would hear the shouting anyway. Ayeka shakes her head to herself, her sister should not know of matters such as these. Ryoko begins to curse under her breath and a sword materialises in her hand as she raises her face to look at the Saiyan.
" I'm … I'm just the whore, aren't I? She's the sweet, innocent princess you have to always defend and protect whilst fuck me, I don't matter. I can be hurt and messed about because I'm just some dumb slut you don't care for. Fuck you. Fuck you to hell! If … All you had to do was touch her damn arse, it's not that big a deal, then I … then I wouldn't have to kill you." None of her anger is abating. Trying to vent it out again in an onslaught of swordplay, she swings in futility at Vegeta. He hurt her and he will not hurt Ayeka, that is all she has heard and learnt from this. He laughs and enjoys her in misery and pain but not Ayeka's, this inequality is playing havoc with her mind and the tender wound of the affection she detests. She is careful to only let her sword touch him and none of her flesh. Vegeta can detect the extreme aggressiveness in her actions being a smokescreen to try and conceal how wounded and weak she is. Getting hit like this is annoying him now.
"You aren't going to kill me, Ryoko, this is meant as no insult but I have already called that bluff." He catches her sword to bring an end to all this pointless and wild slashing that is serving no-one and hindering him making any progress. A yelp comes from Ryoko and once again she teleports away as he took action. Ayeka is sensing a change in Vegeta's attitude, she was already petrified of him and now he has become more assertive and his temper is becoming noticeable. Ryoko, however, is blind to this. She hovers closer from her point of retreat with her eyes glowering at him for stopping her from letting off some steam.
" I want to kill you though. I … I'm gonna make you hurt. Hurt. Hurt bad. I know your weaknesses, just like you knew mine. … I hate you. And you are nothing." Ryoko's voice is low and full of a very real danger. She cannot help those acts of instinctual fear whenever she sees Vegeta motion towards her, after what he did to her it is only natural. No other attack on her has left her this vulnerable and afraid, not even the betrayal that left her to rot in prison. She has to keep up her rage and her threats and her bile or else all she has to keep her company is the pain. Dancing on the precipice of that all engulfing abyss, Ryoko is fighting so as to not fall into that inescapable pit of despair that hungrily awaits her. Her feet land a metre in front of the waiting Saiyan. Vegeta is cautiously watching to try and gauge and predict her, she is purposefully not looking at him but at the ground instead.
" I -I really, really hate you. You're … Shit. You just h-had to shout for her, didn't you?Didn't you! Pain-pain-painful. Ya didn't … ha-ha, you didn't even have the decency to give me a good fucking so I might have got something out of it. Princess pussy is all you want!"
A muffled whimper sounds from Ayeka after Ryoko finishes screeching her pain and betrayal. She nervously fidgets. That was incredibly distasteful for her. Vegeta stands there and shakes his head. He can see this is as far as he will be allowed to get. Ryoko has taken a high dive and he can see little reasoning with her when she is in such a worked up state. She is still very much hung up on him saying Ayeka's name and he understands why, it was the cruellest thing he could do at the time and he did it whilst throttling her. He can decipher how backed up into a corner she is if she is driven to shouting out that he should have gone ahead with the rape and is somehow justifying to herself it would have been better for her.
" Ryoko, I did not say her name due to preference. Just sadism, just to hurt you. Sex would not have made you feel any better then." Vegeta clarifies again that there was no ulterior reason for him saying Ayeka's name other than to cause hurt on the woman within his grasp. A large divot of turf and sod get kicked up at him. Ryoko is too far gone now in hysteria to listen to his words. The emotion within her is overwhelming, her grasp on things is loosening. Vegeta is causing her colossal pain. She has suffered too much now. She does not trust him or his words or anything. He tried to rape and kill her and worst of all is she knows that a small part of her loves him still and she cannot claw it out no matter how much she bleeds.
" I would have won though! I … fuck you all. No. No – I didn't. I. Don't. Care. Fuck Ayeka now, get her … hurt her like you did to me. Rapist. Fucking scum monkey rapist. Monkey!" Venom drips from her every word as she tries to cover her feelings for him escaping in verbal form. She will not accept his apologies, she will not listen to him and she cannot hurt him enough to have her revenge.
Ryoko takes a step closer to Vegeta and spits in his face. Twice.
A strong hand darts out and between his forefinger and thumb he holds her chin. Vegeta has had his waning patience tested. He tried to be the bigger man and keep his cool. She can only push him so far though before he pushes back. Vegeta is a man with a temper, and he is not a prince who allows people to spit on him or kick dirt at him. She did not listen to any of what he had to say and now that same look of fear she had when he tortured her has appeared on her face. Ki enters his hand to prevent her from phasing out of his grip. Vegeta has lived his life with all of his efforts being thrown back in his face for naught, he will not abide this to happen again when he is actually making the effort of saying sorry to her, words he has no skill in saying. Her rage seems to have simmered down as she stares terrified at him, Vegeta has his anger still and gives her a piece of his mind. He has already mentioned their similarities in sadistic tendencies but there is another he will use against her now.
" I was not the first here to try and rape another! You're the foolish wench who mistook days of threats for a goddamn invitation, are you that sex starved that after sleeping with me you really needed that next step?" He has not forgotten being overpowered and humiliated by Ryoko as she chained him to her bed, ready to have her way with him. She beat him in his exhausted state and took advantage of his weakness. It is nowhere near an eye for an eye but he can tell Ryoko never thought how easy he was on her for all that and how little he held it against her.
Fingers grip his throat and try to squeeze the life from him. Ryoko will not let herself be hurt like that or insulted by him. She never did a thing to him then even though she could, she was gentle and kind and as she recalls she was crying because of him then as well, because of what he did for Ayeka. He always hurts her. Tears fall like waterfalls from her eyes as she glares down at him. This is his fault and she will make him pay. He admitted that she could kill him. She also knows an easy way to hurt him. There are chinks in his armour and as her hands attempt in vain to wring his neck she goes for the jugular the best she can.
" Kakarot … and that rotting corpse Bulma. Midget here has some very large weaknesses. … You are going to waste that year for you are never, ever going to get better than Kakarot. You don't deserve to! It's only fitting you waste your whole life and put yourself through hell for nothing, for being weak and pathetic. Second best, how lucky you were to claw your way up that far from being Frieza's pet monkey, second best is all you'll ever be. I bet your wife loved Goku more than you, he beats you hands down in every way. She probably screamed his name whilst you fucked her. She only settled for you out of pity. Pity! He was taken and you weren't and she felt sorry for your punk ass, you are worthless as a man. There's a good reason you're alone now, you should be alone, always. Bulma never loved you. No-one ever could. Hahaha, Bulma is better off dead than with you!"
Manic cackles echo into silence as Ryoko teleports far, far away. She got back at him. She hurt him and she saw it for herself and thus left on a high note for herself to recuperate. Her laughter continues as she reappears in the barren wasteland where she first landed on this planet. Ryoko doubles over in the throes of her out of control shrieks. Her mind is not in a good place. All too quickly though her laughter changes into sobbing. She did not cause enough pain to him, her pain still exists.
A Super Saiyan 2 stands blazing by the lakeside with murder in his eyes. No-one says that about Bulma to him. His wife is innocent in all of this and mocking her death was something Ryoko should not have done. All he had to do was push with his thumb and he would have snapped her neck and if Gotenks heard then he would not have saved her from what she brought upon herself. Ryoko definitely hit a weak-spot, that only causes Vegeta to have a want to lash out though. His aura burns intensely and bright, lighting up the night sky. He growls at the woman who insulted his dead wife and fights back the urge within him to instant transmission to her location and give her a reminder of fear and pain. She was wise to teleport away.
Vegeta's blonde hair darkens and the flaming energy illuminating the area dies down. This is not the time for him to be flaring up. With a long exhale he internalises this anger and powers down. Violence got him into this mess along with him being unable to control himself, he will not dig himself a deeper hole by acting on Ryoko's purposefully aggravating insults. He calms himself down and turns his head to look at the princess quaking in her shoes following his display of anger. She is incredibly frightened of him after witnessing him grab Ryoko like that and blow his top. Vegeta walks towards her and she attempts to quell her trembling as best she can. She can see that he is making an effort here but he has committed grave sins. He stops before her, bows his head and apologises to her. Ayeka stands mute. Her hands nervously mess with her hair and her outfit. He says the words again to her and her breath catches as she hears his voice. She closes her eyes and tries to rally as much resolve as she can muster.
" … L … Lower." Ayeka's timorous voice quavers as she gives the prince before her a command. His bow is not humble enough for someone seeking forgiveness. She knows he has great pride and this will be a test to see how committed he is to repenting. Vegeta's back arches and his knee gives slightly before completely locking in place. He was accustomed to bowing when he had to, for Frieza, but he died to escape that bondage and he cannot go back to that state. His knees are not bending. Ayeka is a royal, she is of a similar high class to him, he lowers a few more inches but again comes to a grinding halt. She watches, feeling disheartened that this is all he can push himself to for her sake and is about to ask him again to prostate himself properly when she feels a quaking. Vegeta has compromised as best as he can. Using his ki he has created a small crater beneath his feet which he stands in bowing.
" Maybe if this were tomorrow I could push further. I am deeply sorry, Lady Ayeka." Ryoko's affront to him is still fresh in his mind, coupled with his tiredness and pride he simply cannot comply with her command. Even if she caught him in an exceptionally rare good mood he is not too sure he could prostate himself like she wants him to, there are simply things that as a prince he cannot do. Bowing his back in a crater is humbling enough for him, still he apologises to Ayeka. He can practically smell the reek of cold sweat and dread rolling off her trembling self. Vegeta keeps his head facing the ground as he awaits for the fragile maiden to muster the courage to speak again.
" I … I understand, and thank you for the part you played in rescuing us. You … y-you don't seem to be in a good mood." Ayeka sniffs and quietly says some words of thanks that Vegeta was not expecting. She might be mad at him, terrified of him and wounded by what he has done but he did help to save several lives today. He has done wrong to her but that is no reason for her to do wrong to him by not appreciating the rescue from the black dimension. In the position he is in she can also now see a large patch of dried up blood covering where his tail should be, the same area he was scratching on their date. She listened to what he was saying, unlike Ryoko, and she has heard the sincerity in his apologies. However, she also heard many other facts that have hurt her further. Vegeta rises and steps out of the pothole, her eyes are averted from him and she still trembles.
"I haven't trained for 3 days, I went 3 days without seeing my son, and nor have I eaten or slept much at all. Though, that is not what's important. Ask the question."
His piercing eyes are frightful. He could not bow and show the proper respect to her, though she knows this is Vegeta she is dealing with it still saddens her. She glances towards the doorway to the house half out of a want to escape and half out of checking to see if her younger sister is still listening. Ayeka is finding it incredibly difficult to hold this conversation, the whole topic is abhorrent to her and this man has betrayed her faith in him. She crosses her slender arms in a defensive manner across her chest. There are many questions she wants to ask him, but after a certain revelation there is one incident she needs to know about. Very hesitantly she tries to phrase it as best as she can, but the words shame and embarrass her as she tries to utter them.
" There-th-that-what … You said … T-the beach?"
"Ryoko needed to be shown something to dissuade her, the ploy was an effort to make my lust seem like something she did not want and so she would stay safe. I had to replicate those actions with you or she would not have believed them." Vegeta knew that her first port of call would be the actions he took towards her, he still has the wound on his tongue to show how much he terrified her. He answers truthfully. She closes her eyes and winces at this confirmation.
Her second time kissing him was done against her will, without her consent and for a harshly pragmatic reason that did not involve her. She was forced to share a level of physical intimacy with him she did not want and could not stop, he sullied her and spoilt an otherwise perfect date. Ayeka can see that the protection of Ryoko's life ranks higher than him merely kissing her but to her kissing, and especially kissing with tongues in a manner she deems highly inappropriate, is still a very big deal to her. She was pinned to the ground in a revealing outfit with his bare chest over her and his tongue invading her mouth and she was driven to having to bite him. Her precious body was used, and then he went on to use and abuse Ryoko's body making it all for naught. It took a lot of trust from her to even agree to the date in the first place after he warned her of his impending mating season, and yet he disregarded that and took advantage of her.
" You could have told me." It is a simple request. Some or any prior warning would have been appreciated. She does not see why she had to be kept in the dark and he felt he had no option but to trespass her lips. Ayeka's wide eyes beseech him in the gloom for an answer. Just like before when she was abandoned in a blizzard he has made a choice that he can say was in her and everyone's favour but she is sure that better methods were available, though available only if he were to talk to others and accept some aid from them.
"The fear I saw in you then was not something you could have acted out to Ryoko, she would have seen through it if you did not believe it to be real. Think on how she saw through it anyway. It was cruel of me to push myself on you like that but I did it thinking it would save Ryoko's life." Vegeta stands by his decision. It is obvious to him that after he left some form of conversation occurred between the two for Ryoko to have learnt about his gentler treatment of Ayeka, he is not too sure how much Ayeka would have been willing to say but she could not have lied convincingly about something that she can barely talk about. He is well aware of Ayeka's issues concerning physicality and she likewise appreciates how he normally is considerate of this, but Ryoko is Ryoko and he could not afford to take any chances. It took effort on his part to even go through with this plan, his loyalty to his wife rearing its head at the thought of him showing passion to other women. He had to make Ryoko not to want to go to him.
" I understand your reason. … It … you could have asked me for a better plan. That was- … you scared me so much then."
"And I needed you to be scared so Ryoko would become scared or put off. Lady Ayeka, you would not have given me a plan. You are a smart woman, you would not hold a discussion with me concerning that though. Ryoko pestered me for days, trying to learn whatever she could, pushing this want of hers onto that time. I talked with her about it and she never listened to what I said. She was far too caught up in your rivalry, in me, in this idea that I would succumb to her. She is lucky to still have her life, simply put. At the mere mention of it you got the correct idea, but a mention is all you could manage."
" That … that is true. But, Washu … surely there is something you could have asked her … "
" Washu could not keep me restrained for 3 days. She could keep Ryoko restrained for that long, however that would be very damaging for her and Ryoko would then want to kill her. Ryoko hates chains or imprisonment, our ki wards off the effects of drugs and teleportation … teleportation is not an easy ability to work around. I made my choice. What's done is done, it will never happen again."
"Was … During that- … I-i-i-it could h-have been me. You would have d-done the s-same to me. Wouldn't you?" Ayeka is struggling immensely to maintain her composure as best she can. His words might make some logical sense but it is doing nothing to dissuade the fear within her. She put so much trust in him on that day. He told her that he would leave before anything happened for the sake of her virtue and it was a lie. She even went so far as to undress on the beach and now she could never do that. Ayeka has been at his mercy and she cannot ignore this thought in her head that at any given moment he could do whatever he wanted to her and there is nothing she could do to stop him. This acidic thought horrifies her. It was an act and it terrified her but if it were not an act she could not even comprehend her vulnerability. That threat that Ryoko made to her about sending her there has stuck in her mind. She cannot look at her prince the same way thinking on how great a threat he is to her maidenhood.
" If it were you there instead of Ryoko you most probably would have died. You would have had no way to escape and since you are weaker … My blood dictates what it does, I am a Saiyan and I cannot alter that fact." Vegeta will not lie to her. What he says is nothing she wants to hear but they are the cold hard facts, if she were there she would be dead by his hand. Ayeka gasps in horror at his appallingly stark words. Her gasp soon turns into several wretches as she shuffles away from him. Her fiancé just plainly said that he would have killed her. The man she loves would have murdered her and would have probably taken as much enjoyment out of it as he did from breaking Ryoko. Tears falls thick and fast from her face.
"You can! You already have, you just choose not to, not to work hard enough at it. Thi-th-this- all this, this apology is not Saiyan. That … The date you took me on was not Saiyan. You fight your blood when it suits you. … Are you evil?" She shrilly screams at him.
Her composure has broken at that harsh truth and she cannot hold back her emotions any-more He is her prince and her fiancé and she does not want this to be true. He has admitted how much he enjoys causing suffering and death, he has tried to rape Ryoko and his past speaks volumes but Ayeka clings to those meaningful conversations she had with him. She does not want her love to be for a devil, not for a man capable of those deeds. It took her a long time to partially get over his past and now he has basically relapsed back into that barbaric state, sorry is not good enough for that. She needs desperately to hear him say it, he would always flatly deny it before but she needs him to say that he is a good man now. She needs him to assure her this is a one off, that he will not walk this path of darkness ever again and he repents for his sins.
" I enjoy what I enjoy, you know what I live for, you know my past. … I will tell you what you want to hear though. When fighting Buu a wish was made for all the 'good' people killed to come back to life, and my life was restored to me. If that answers your question …"
The princess falls silent. He is being brutally honest with her, saying no lies and making no excuses for himself. She was half expecting him to derail the conversation onto how good or evil do not come into play when it is his biology and his base nature, or how his stubborn pride will never allow him to identify as anything but the Saiyan warrior. His pride is absolutely playing a part in all of this and how he is not going to say some pretty white lies to ease her woes, but he has just given her some evidence she never knew. Ayeka knows of his past mostly through the recordings she watched and that was interrupted part way through him holding off Kid Buu, she was never told that Shenron judged him as a good person. It is a hard thing to make heads or tails of. She has the wisdom to understand that there is no black and white for morality and that Vegeta's recent actions cannot be deemed as anything except for evil, but it does mean that deep down she was right. What she saw in her prince is correct, the tenderness and warmth are true.
She wipes at her face with the back of her sleeves. His words have reached her and at least calmed down that one worry that she was being a delusional fool blinded by love and that she had fallen for a monster. Truth be told by any rights he is a monster, but a monster that there is hope for. She tries taking some deep breaths to calm herself down but they do not work. Ayeka feels so much despair over this fall from grace, she has seen first hand the cruelty he can inflict and there are many insidious and treacherous thoughts running through her head. Lie after lie after excuse swarm inside her mind. Her devotion towards Vegeta trying to cut a path through herself and towards his forgiveness. Thoughts of being duty bound to him as his fiancée, of the racist mocking she did at the primate house, that this will never happen again, that she owes him her life, that it was only towards Ryoko and it is her fault for going there in the first place. She cannot allow any of these voices to hold any merit despite how much she wants them to. It would be easy for her, but wrong, so wrong. Those words Ryoko shouted at her about her not even loving the true Vegeta help her stave of these excuses born for the one she loves.
Ayeka clears her face of tears, stifling them back with sheer willpower and glances again to the doorway. Even if her sister is not there she has to act properly, she is a princess of Jurai after-all. Struggling to ward off the comforting blinkers that her affection ever so desires her to wear, she quells her emotions as much as she can and looks at her prince's face. He is asking her for forgiveness and apologising to her, and she knows the proper way for this to be done.
"Confess. Confess your crimes to me, and ask." Acting as her birth and status demands, Ayeka controls her voice and wild emotions with a vice grip as she speaks in an authoritative tone to the sinner. If Sasami is watching she has to set an example, to be a role model for her sibling by showing her strength and how as a royal she should handle this situation. She keeps that reason running through her head to give her the strength to do this.
"I, Prince Vegeta of the Saiyans, sexually assaulted Ryoko, I caused grievous bodily harm to her with malicious intent and I have shamed my fiancée, Princess Ayeka Masaki Jurai, with my actions. I ask of her for either my forgiveness or my punishment." Without perceptible hesitation, Vegeta takes up position bowing inside the crater he formed as he goes along with the way Ayeka wants to play this out. He adds the part about shaming her to show that he is fully aware of how his failure to control himself has gravely impacted her as well. He hears stifled sobs from above him. Looking up he sees that Ayeka has lost out to the pain. She simply could not cope with hearing him speak to her about his crimes and him calling her his fiancée. Ayeka breaks and snaps, she lets it all loose.
"Sh-sh-shame! You dare speak of shame to me after all this damage you have caused. You used my name as a weapon. I have been soiled and dirtied by you pushing your filthy actions upon me, there was no consent. There was no consent for those actions you forced on me! You … you nearly killed Ryoko for sport. I am your fiancée and you tried to rape another woman. My pride, your pride, it is gone now because of that, you have destroyed it! I have been tarnished by your depraved filth, you have betrayed both of us, caused so much hurt and … and if any word of this got out my entire family would be dishonoured and shunned throughout the empire because of your abhorrent actions. I … I know that you tried to stop it, I know that you had some stupid plan to prevent this, but you failed. If – you have to show me – if you cannot control … control yourself then-th-then you are no prince. If you cannot control yourself then you are a … you are no better than a monkey. Please. Please, Vegeta, right now you have done so much damage. Damage I really hope is not irreparable. I am -I-I-I am trying so ha-hard right now. For – for me, f-for y-y-y-you and … and for us. I do not seek retribution and retaliation like Ryoko does, I want recompense. You have a debt, an astronomical debt to us both that you have to pay. I don't want to be a fool. I don't want to sound foolish but I … I want you to put more effort into fixing this than I am right now, more effort than you devote to your training regime. Vegeta, you … you can write over this black page with actions of decency, kindness and … Please. Let good overwrite your evil."
Ayeka pants, her breath quivering with every inhalation, as she stands there sobbing after releasing it all. She has said it now. Her flooding eyes beseech and implore her prince with this simple wish, for him to undo the bad with good. The words sound stupid as she says them but it is what she believes and what she wants, she needs him to offset this sin with a large amount of good so she can believe in him and trust him again. Her hands clasp together in front of her face as if she were praying, and she is – to both this Saiyan and whatever gods there are in Otherworld. He has to take responsibility for his actions and make amends to her, she has told him how much he has hurt her and how hard she is forcing herself to stay civil and fair towards him and he has to pay that back likewise. Ayeka feels weak, that her words are weak and that her punishment is weak, yet she cannot let herself fall to vindictive actions. Ryoko showed her how pointless it is to try and gain vengeance on this man. She needs him and she needs him to sort it out and make himself worthy of her affection again. If there were a shoulder to cry on she would take it but she cannot dare to touch Vegeta, she cannot lower herself to his level or be soiled by his flesh again.
" That I can do. I have every intention of paying this debt back to the both of you." He rises and calmly states his acceptance of Ayeka's generous terms. Vegeta nods in a reassuring manner to the distressed princess that he will put in the effort she desires him to. This all came about due to him failing and he will make damned sure that he will not fail again. She closes her red eyes and weakly nods back at him. This simple promise from him means a lot to her. It is only a first step, but a step in the right direction and down a path Ayeka needs him to walk.
"Good, good. This … This is all really, really hard for me. I … make it easier, please. Make it so I am not some delusional girl holding onto a fantasy, give me something to stand on, please. Make it right. I … I will need a lot of time to accept your apology, this cannot be swept under a rug and I-you-I … I do not think I can even talk to you now." So much pressure, so much anxiety and woe is weighing down on her with every word she shares with this man that she honestly feels that she cannot even bear to simply talk to him. Ayeka has exhausted herself after that justified rant. She is spent and it is taking far too much effort to look at and speak to Vegeta for her to think she can do this any-more She still wants to hear him say kind words to her though, for him to apologise and reassure her but she does not think her delicate and fragile heart could take it.
" You are making a large effort. This will not be solved tonight. I can sense great fear in you because of me so rest assured I will not be spending the night here. There is one last woman I must apologise to."
" You are going to your wife? … We will – we have to talk, but later. This is too much right now. Before … Before you go, I know this might sound silly … Mother Funaho always said that fighting and reconciling helps to build and strengthen r-r-relationships?" Ayeka messes with one of her side locks of hair as she nervously throws out this saying to Vegeta. She needs confidences and reassurance, she needs to know that they can make it through this and that her first love will be able to endeavour through this great ordeal. It pleases her to know that Vegeta is going to his wife's grave, and not just for the reason that it will be distance between them for she feels guilty at driving him from his own home. He has to care deeply for his wife. She witnessed how hard it was for him to visit her grave last time, and even though he knows of what exists after death he is still taking the time to go to her place of rest and apologise to the woman whose memory he has dishonoured. This is effort on his part, like she wanted, and she knows he was planning to do this regardless of his promise.
"That sounds like a very Saiyan idea: fight, survive, heal and grow. My marriage had more than its fair share of arguments and conflict, truthfully enough to call it a constant war of attrition, and … our bond was strong." He has to agree with her words. If there is anything his life has taught him it is that basic philosophy and if Ayeka wants to use it for comfort then she is welcome to it. Ayeka shuffles away from him by a small amount to signal the ending of their talk. She nods at him, liking that he humoured her with that and giving her this hope that if he works tremendously hard then her love will not be in vain. For a while she stands there, thinking, pondering, and then looks upwards at the starry night sky.
"I am not trying to blind myself with made up excuses. I am trying to give you a fair chance, even if – if you might not deserve it. You have a side to this tale and you are clearly regretting this failure. Lord Vegeta, I am judging you very harshly now. For this failure and- and I suppose this is an outlet for all the other wrongs you have committed also." Her voice is quiet and demure, regaining her royal composure as she lets him understand that she is giving him as much of a chance as she can allow. She lowers her eyes from the celestial bodies to her prince. There is still much pain within her but she has it under control for now, venting it all onto him has helped and she wants to remain as calm and reasonable as she can lest her own actions begin to shame her.
"You are a very forgiving and kind hearted woman, if this were Bulma I would be looking at divorce papers right now." It is no joke he makes, his wife knew how to handle him and she made her limits perfectly clear to him after he turned Majin. Any misstep like that again and she threatened that he would have to find a new planet to live on. He sees Ayeka shy and turn her head from his compliment. She shakes her head slowly.
"Thank you, however I am not in the mood for flattery. … If … Go see your wife. Farewell, Lord Vegeta ." With that she promptly turns her back on him and lets out a long exhale. She walks with a steady gait back towards the house. As the elder sibling she will now have to go and deal with Sasami and what she heard. She knows that later on tonight she will be crying again over this but once Washu, Yamcha and Kiyone return back to the house she will have company to keep herself occupied with.
"If Ryoko does return make sure my son is about if you hazard talking to her. Once again, my apologies, Lady Ayeka." Vegeta says sorry one last time to Ayeka's back as she reaches the doorway, she stops, pauses and nods at his words without turning around. He senses that Gotenks still exists though that will not be for much longer, if his son wishes to talk to him then he will know where to find him. Moving two fingers to his forehead he instant transmissions outside Capsule Corporation headquarters.
Vegeta knows these grounds well. His bare feet trample the grass of the gardens as he walks the few metres he needs to, they grow heavier with each step. The lights are still on within the large building behind him, his old home. Vegeta stops before the stone. He stands there stock still and looks down on it, on the name, on the fresh flowers and the molten hand-print he left the last time he was here. For two hours he stays stood up looking down at his wife's gravestone. He stands without caring for the noise of the city at his back, without caring for whatever made an attempt on the women who live in his house and for those few hours without caring about Goku. This current situation is his failure and this grave is his worst failure. Vegeta never speaks a word to his wife's remains. Everything he wants to say to her he does so internally. After those few hours of standing over Bulma's grave he sits down and within minutes he falls asleep on the well kept lawns beside his wife.