Chapter 50

" … And so this recent attack was a connected hit from our good friend Kagato. He hired some Class A criminal called Kain who has a bad case of hating Juraians. His motives are showing through way too clear now, obviously he was not expecting failure on both fronts or me to still be able to make these deductions, big mistakes on his part." She kicks and swings her long legs about as she finishes explaining the actions of their mysterious enemy. Washu is smiling in self satisfaction that it is another question she has found an answer to and can put a name and a face to the man who hired the hit-man who nearly killed her. The screens on the inside of the healing tank close down on her command. Just as she herself does, Kagato cannot help but leave certain signatures on his own handiwork and she found them within the beast's DNA which was proven beyond any doubt by the motives of the second assailant.

Normally sequencing a genome would not be difficult for her however he was crafty and had coded several complex strands of program within his creation. Security breaches are not common for Washu, bar the physical ones of Vegeta and the like, and she had to act quick when her computers compiling the data from the cells had inadvertently begun to write a virus that could have compromised her whole system. This meant she herself had to do a lot more work to double check everything being read was not another virus or spyware and then when it came to all the artificial DNA Washu had to figure out what all of it coded. It was a project that kept her occupied for over a month, though she could have sped it up if she were not also working on many other projects simultaneously and getting distracted by her budding romance with Yamcha. Kain was infamous enough that she just had to run his details through the network to get his files and Kagato she has no need to, she knew him back before she had to flee her planet.

"So this Kagato used Kain to try and kill both you and Jurai, but allowed Sasami safety from the attack?" Vegeta telepathically communes with the scientist sat before his floating and naked body. He has to give respect to someone who built a creature that forced him to kill himself and caught Goku off-guard, he also has to repay them by giving them their own taste of death. The details of this Tuffle called Kagato concern him little, once Washu finds him he can and will easily crush him like the puny insect he is. If he had another creature at his disposal he would sense its power but there is nothing and so he has nothing to fear in regards to this foe. He asks the question of why a killer would voluntarily allow prey to elude him, if there is a want to attack Jurai it makes no sense to only target his fiancée and not also the younger princess.

"You weren't here so you wouldn't know but that was one of the very few occasions I left my lab. His options were limited to attacking when the powerful Saiyans were away, I was out of my lab and in the open and your son and Yamcha were not close enough to protect us. Kain figured 2 out of 3 targets was decent enough and the pressure of you guys returning was enough to force him into not waiting for Sasami." This is the basic logic that Washu has deduced of the events that led up to her near death experience, when she left to fix Ayeka's window she was accompanied by Yamcha and so was guarded. It was a stroke of luck that Sasami was safe for the ordeal, both for herself and for Ayeka. Bubbles drift up through the blue gel as Vegeta nods. He can understand a tactical call like that. His mating season and that of the others had technically ended and so at any point they could have returned. Washu stretches her legs and arms and jumps up off her seat. She is a busy woman, there are a few things she wants to check on whilst conversing with her saviour of a Saiyan.

" This Kagato wants Ayeka and Sasami dead for the same reason you hold a grudge against them then? That Jurai offered no aid to the Tuffles?"

"Yep, got it in one. He wanted me gone as I can oppose him and I am on good terms with both Jurai and Saiyans now, a traitor in his eyes, and he never could handle me being so much smarter than him. Jurai dead for said reasons and you dead because he has not got a chance to meet you and see your charming personality for himself yet. I will find him. It will take time, he is smart and careful and is in most probability moving constantly. I'll keep you in the loop if anything new comes up, and then you can come and save me again." In a light hearted and joking manner she answers Vegeta's psychic queries and taps on the glass of the healing tank. Black eyes stare down at her.

For modesty's sake she has kept up a part of the glass' black tint, though it is not a large area and she has perfect scans of Vegeta's body anyway. Her holographic laptop proclaims extreme unsuitability for light hawk wings in the designated patient, she then moves it on to a hypothetical test subject and the results become more interesting for her. Vegeta's sperm was not necessary for conjuring up this hypothetical Saiyan-Juraian mix but for it to start being a reality it is. Washu can see potential for this project if Vegeta and Ayeka were to wed and have a child. She saves the data and skims through that of a dozen or so of the other predicted genomes the hybrid might hold.

"Just tell me this is not some lover's quarrel from aeons past. I deal with enough of them as it is." Vegeta is becoming restless in the tank.

He has had time to calm down from Ryoko's beating but his patience is still being tested by Washu pushing the boundaries of what he is comfortable with by leaving him virtually naked in front of her. The scientist has no interest in him in that way and so has no issue, seeing him in the pragmatic sense of a patient and test subject his nudity is nothing she cares for. He sees Washu's shoulders move at his little joke as she chuckles to herself at such an outlandish possibility. Her emerald eyes look up at him. She can see he wants to escape now, and she does not want another thing in her laboratory broken. Washu presses a button to evacuate the healing gel out into the biohazard plumbing and Vegeta removes the rebreather mask.

"Ha. The answer to that is a resounding 'Hell' and 'No', not that misogynistic woman hater. Kagato is just some genius I tutored for a while at the academy and tried to compete with me on several occasions. You can go ahead and kill him if we find him, I don't want people associating Tuffles with him and he did make things quite personal for both of us."

"I planned to with or without your permission. His hand has been shown and his best cards played, it is about time I killed a Tuffle myself."

His rejuvenated body levitates out from the healing tank and lands on the cold metal tiles. One hand clenches into a fist, the other covers himself. Vegeta turns his head to look behind him at Washu and she has an unimpressed smile on her face at him stating his want to kill her species. He continues looking at her as he dries his body off with ki. She shrugs at him and tells him that his laundry is not done yet and Yamcha's clothes are too big for a man of Vegeta's height. Her own clothing has the ability to expand and contract to allow her to change her age and body size at will and she makes the offer but he stubbornly refuses to wear women's clothing. He uses Piccolo's technique to spawn him a new training outfit of a lighter shade of blue than its predecessor and a pair of boots but no gloves. Looking down at his chest he can see the near imperceivable outline of a hand-print with a thumb either side. Washu waves and says goodbye to the empty air as he vanishes and then she promptly starts going back to her Yamcha for some more love and affection.

Closing the wooden door to Washu's lab the Saiyan is greeted by the glares of Kiyone and Mihoshi. Their opinion of him he does not care about in the slightest, he looks about to check for Ayeka however she is not in this room. Vegeta concludes she must want to be alone and hence gives her the solitude she wants and enters his training room to squeeze in whatever training he can get. He hears Sasami enter the front room as he exits it and feels her angry stare turn to him also. Her he does have an invested interest in for her culinary skills and for her elder sister. Training is more important. He can mince words with the young girl when his gravity training room is being modified. No longer having to worry about his leg snapping in two, Vegeta is quick to turn up the artificial gravity to its extreme and flashes into his ultimate form. He practises each punch and kick a thousand times before moving onto the next one, utilising his high speeds to accomplish this in very little time. His body has not felt this well rested and healthy in a long time and so he goes all out in testing its limits.

In the back of his mind one worry lingers on: Ryoko's threat. An hour drifts by and he cannot shake this thought of how long Ryoko's patience will last before she goes through with her threat, which he has no doubt she will. For all his want for power he cannot risk his wife's grave or her parents. However, going to Ryoko with no plan will not aid him. There is also a delicate balance he can sense with Ayeka. Vegeta can see that she found what he did for Ryoko comforting and reassuring but he is not naïve enough to think that she will not get jealous if he goes to too great a length to appease the woman he tortured. He thinks on a solution as he exercises in the infeasibly high gravity. All too soon his trail of thought is lost when he hears a faint knocking on his large metal door. He shuts down the main console and the gravity and answers the knocking. The sombre face of Ayeka greets him. In as few words as possible she tells him that it is time for lunch. He nods and sees a glowering blue haired girl behind her sister.

"You have to cook your own lunch. I do not cook for mean bullies, not even sister Ayeka will cook for you." The freckled faced child declares the arrangements for this lunch and how her stance towards him has not changed since this morning. Someone who upsets her sister to such a degree is not someone she will easily forgive. She sees there is little she can do to interfere in these adult problems but this boycotting is within her power and should not cause any additional woe to her beloved sister. Her tiny hands get placed on her slim hips and she turns her chin up at the Super Saiyan 3. Vegeta expects as much and is not surprised, though he does not understand why Sasami mentioned Ayeka cooking. He exits the training room and descends back down to his base form.

"Hush, Sasami, there is no sense in being pointlessly aggressive. You have the right to decide who you grace with your cooking but this is still Lord Vegeta's house and we are still his guests … his wrongs do not defer us from showing some respect to him." Ayeka does not want a repeat of this morning where Sasami offends Vegeta, she quietens her younger sibling down. An angry or offended Vegeta is not something she could deal with at all. She does not look him in the face before she turns to leave for the kitchen with Sasami following.

As the three women and the girl eat their lunch Vegeta makes and consumes his own. Mihoshi is unnerved by his presence and her attempt to lighten the mood by joking about the weather falls flat. The two policewomen finish their meal promptly and Kiyone warns Vegeta that the only reason his crime has not been reported is due to the wishes of Ayeka and the potential political fallout that might be caused. Vegeta ignores Kiyone and eats as she and her partner leave the kitchen. His eyes of coal wander across to the two Juraian princesses, Ayeka listlessly picking at the light salad on her plate and Sasami scowling back at him. After being healed and feasting in the morning his need for food is not that high and so it only takes him a few minutes after Mihoshi and Kiyone leave for him to finish having lunch. Vegeta goes to place his dishes in the sink as he thinks on what he can do for Ryoko that will not require him to pay Washu another visit and whilst he ponders this a smash rings out through the kitchen. In his hand he holds shards of ceramics and twisted metal. A confused look arises on his face as he looks down at his hands, he cannot have been so lost in thought that he stopped repressing his power and neither was he angered, there was no cause he can see for this accident. All he was doing was posing himself the question of what he can do for Ryoko and thinking on her ominous threat. The tendons in his fingers tense and contract. Sasami is scowling as she sees the mess she supposes she will have to clean up.

"Lord Vegeta, what is – is something the matter? You appear troubled." Ayeka is quick to spot and react to Vegeta's unusual behaviour, just having been told about how he has to control his power she is unnerved seeing him lose said control. She is on the edge of her seat, a chill running down her as she sees Vegeta just standing there staring blankly at his own hand. Her uneaten meal gets forgotten about as her dark ruby eyes flash from the Saiyan's face to his tensing and relaxing fingers. She can see that he is rapt in thought and this is worrying her, she wonders if the stress of the past few days is affecting him or if this is what he looks like when guilt hits him.

" Many things trouble me, constantly, incessantly. … This is a rarity. I do not fully understand." He shakes his head as he dismisses Ayeka's concern. This is confusing him, he does not understand why his body is reacting the way it is, this body he has honed and perfected and is a master of. Ryoko should not be having this effect on him and neither should her threat he knows he can stop since he can sense her power. He lets the few shards of plate in his hand drop to the floor as he fully clenches his fist.

Vegeta exhales a deep breath and turns to fully face the two Juraians. The mess on the floor having disappeared as they hear a clatter in the bin. He heard the slight fear in Ayeka's voice and can see how on edge she is. Proudly standing there and crossing his arms he goes to show her that there is nothing wrong with him and he has everything under control. Sasami's big eyes widen first before Ayeka's slowly do the same. She moves a dainty hand to cover her mouth as she gasps.

"By Tsunami, you are trembling. Did the healing not work? Or … are you scared, Lord Vegeta?" Her words alarm the prince. There are faint jitters in his arms which are noticeable due to how his muscles shake his outfit. She has not seen this sort of behaviour in him and even if he is not scared this is beginning to scare her. Sasami looks to her sister in confusion for she does not understand any of this either.

Biceps tense. Vegeta's head darts down as he observes this continuation of involuntary motions and a deep frown furrows his brow. The trembles stop. With baited breath, Ayeka watches as he snarls at this weakness he is showing. She needs an answer as to what is happening to him and if there is any chance of danger. An indignant scowl is sent her way as the proud prince, having quelled this rebellion in his arms, now bristles at her insult of saying that something has afflicted him with fear. With a haughty tone he begins to instinctively refute the very notion of such an idea.

"Scared? The prince of all Saiyans does not - … I do not fear. I … I … Bulma …"

All too quickly his words spoken due to pride falter and halt as dots connect within his head. He looks down at his hand again and sees the predicted reaction to his thoughts. It is illogical he knows but somehow Ryoko's threat at destroying his wife's body is severely affecting him. He can stop her, he will stop her if he has to and there is no chance that she will succeed in any destruction, however this is not changing the fear inside him. The fear of losing even this last remnant of his wife, the place he tortured himself by spending a night at, he cannot afford to lose this. Vegeta clenches both his fists and begins throwing slow and steady punches in the air to disguise any more involuntary motions of his body that will reveal this weakness to the princesses. His face becomes stern and set in stone. Enough emotion has leaked out of him. Ayeka takes a moment and then nods at that name. It all makes sense to her now. She might be holding his monstrous actions of attempted rape against him but that does not mean she cannot empathise with a widower and the grief he stores within himself and never dares to release.

" Your wife, it is Ryoko's threat that is frightening you. I-I have never seen you scared before."

"I will not fail my wife again. I shall not fail her in death. Lady Ayeka, how far is too far when it concerns Ryoko?"

Vegeta continues to throw punch after punch at the air as he replies to the timid maiden. He will not tolerate fear. He will not let himself become a slave to such a pathetic emotion. The cause is his wife and there is little he can do about his feelings for his dead lover. There is a powerful urge within him to protect her even after death and he does not like the fact that he is being bound to a corpse, the Saiyan side of him is intensely disliking this weakness he cannot hide or deny. His blood boils for a want to train, to strengthen himself against this weakening, for some challenge worthy of his warrior heritage. However, he knows he has to face Ryoko and quickly before any more signs of vulnerability escape him. His black eyes turn to the princess as he fires a rapid question back at her. Rules of engagement are not things he normally troubles himself with before jumping into battle but here he can tell that any carelessness will viciously come back to bite him.

"Too far? You should be doing everything within your power, you promised me that you would do all that you could. What is the point in this question?" Thin purple eyebrows turn down as the regal Juraian fails to follow his line of questioning. She is not open to any negotiations concerning Vegeta not giving his all in solving this, he has to do it all, he has to make it up to both of them and she will be strict in enforcing this. On the other hand, Ayeka is somewhat liking this show of emotion from Vegeta. Now that her fear of any potential danger to her or her sister is abating she is finding it comforting to see this depth of worry in him for his wife. Vegeta might detest showing his vulnerable side but it pleases her. For her it is this tender part of him that she needs to see.

" The point is I am not blind. You have a kind heart but that never stopped your jealousy before, what would you deem a level at which my actions towards Ryoko would cause this envy?" Vegeta lays it out clear before Ayeka, no minced words or euphemisms. There is a lot swirling around in his mind right now about what he could possibly do to partially appease Ryoko in any sense or at the very least calm her down into a less hostile state and for that he needs to know the boundaries. He is not dense enough to overlook how some actions towards Ryoko might cause more harm on Ayeka's end than he ends up clearing up on Ryoko's side. Ryoko needs large actions and he has to know how large he can go before consequences of jealousy begin to arise. Ayeka's face hardens. This she deems insulting towards her.

" I appreciate your concern for myself but I do not approve of this thought that I would be so petty and selfish as to restrict how you help Ryoko. She needs you. Her need for your aid is much greater than my own, go to her and ease her suffering." Seeing that he is thinking about her and her feelings she will not use this as her first opportunity to ban him from training, yet Ayeka does not like him blatantly calling her a jealous woman or treating her thus. It would be dishonourable for her to handicap Vegeta by only thinking of herself when she is not the direct victim of his crime. She also is smart enough to predict that Ryoko will certainly not be in the mood for Vegeta to do anything romantic and so there should not be anything to rile up her envy.

" Do not say that I did not give you a chance then, for I predict that Ryoko at this point will only listen to the largest of gestures and offers from me. You will dislike what I might have to do, though if you say that you dislike it less than me restricting myself for you then so be it. … Before I go, when your mother arrives it may be in our interest to discuss with her the engagement she arranged. I will not be telling her to revoke it or the like but … well, there is much we have to discuss."

Believing himself to have calmed down, Vegeta stops shadow boxing and folds his arms across his chest and sees Ayeka hesitantly nod at that suggestion. Him saying that even given the opportunity he will not do anything to terminate the engagement to her that he never wanted does appease her and she can tell that he is using it to work into her favour. She will not let herself be won over that easily, she has warned him before against using the term fiancée against her as she has no defence to protect herself from that word. She lets out a long sigh and arranges her cutlery to show she has finished her meal. Vegeta stays stood where he is, thinking on how best to approach Ryoko and what he can say to her that she will listen to. His attention gets drawn to a chair being pushed back as Sasami stands up. She looks back to her sister and then faces Vegeta, this conversation might be going a bit over her head but she wants to make sure her sister knows that she is on her side and she saw that Vegeta said something that Ayeka did not like.

"Sister Ayeka is nice and kind just like mummy is. Mummy says that Juraians are good people and they don't get jealous, that's what she said once." Trying to stay within what her sister told her earlier about not being confrontational and rude towards Vegeta, Sasami stands up for her sister in the only way she can currently think of. Vegeta just lets out a sigh at this young girl distracting him from his thoughts. As much as he enjoys Sasami living in his house due to her diligent housework and exquisite cooking ability, this naïve and kind hearted innocence does always awfully remind him of his despised rival.

"And Lady Ayeka is not one who upholds all the views and opinions of the Juraian royal family, much to her own credit. You are young and have not formed your own opinion on many things, nor do you notice that Jurai is not the only culture to exist."

"I can speak for myself, Lord Vegeta, and there are more important things you should be doing than 'educating' my sister. We can talk about Juraian customs later, tomorrow or later today in fact, and you are delaying going to see Ryoko. Is this also an act of fear from you?" Ayeka does not want this discussion to change to her stance on incestual political marriages, arranged marriages or polygamy, none of that is important today, she swats Vegeta's words aside just like he did with Sasami's. She throws in one last insult at the end to hurry things along and stop him from trying her patience with any more nonsense. Vegeta does not react to her outing his fear again. Currently he is teasing with the idea of whether he could get away with only sending a multi-form to talk to Ryoko, he doubts it would be a good idea. Sasami takes her sister's half full plate to the sink.

"No. This is an act of me stalling for time so I can construct a strategy. I will be going now, and Lady Ayeka, if my choice is you then your view on bigamy will be mirrored back at you. If you are mine then make sure you never plan on any foolishness like a second husband. That was a joke before you get too flustered, I know you would never do that. Goodbye." He repays Ayeka for calling him scared and then disappears from the kitchen. A faint redness graces Ayeka's cheeks at that teasing. That was not a pleasant set of parting words, she can understand there is no seriousness to his joke but it is still an affront to her affection to him by insinuating she might become what she deems unfaithful whereas most of Jurai would not. If he had not left to see Ryoko she would have been in good mind to bar him from training for an hour.

Gentle rain falls on Vegeta's raven spikes as he finishes instant transmitting to Ryoko's position, or more precisely to one of them. He was surprised to sense that she had used her own multi-form ability and that one of them was patrolling the skies of West City. If he is to face Ryoko he would rather not do it in the place where she can attempt to enact her threat if things were to turn sour. His white boots land on the damp grass of a large and open plain. Several deer take off at his sudden arrival and flit away as their hooves churn up the soggy ground. He senses the disappearance of the secondary Ryoko as she reforms due to his presence. Steam boils up from a large brown rock in front of him and cyan hair rises into view. Ryoko stands up on her vantage point and the clinking sound of a bottle breaks the natural sound of the rainfall as it rolls down and thuds past Vegeta onto the wet earth. The rain fails to flatten her wild hair as her ki wards off the elements and evaporates all precipitation touching her, she glares down with her golden and feline eyes as she surveys this man who has finally come to visit her.

"How long?"

"Approximately an hour and a half."

Her eyes narrow. Patience is not a virtue she holds. With more coordination than anyone who has drunk as much as she has has any right to have, Ryoko kicks up a clear and half full bottle which she snatches out of the air and drains in one gulp. Making a sound of disgust she half-heartedly throws the bottle at Vegeta. The shattering of glass does not affect him in the slightest. Alcohol, loathing and brooding have kept her occupied whilst she awaited his arrival. A full 90 minutes though is longer than she intended to wait and she would have much preferred it if he was immediately following up with heartfelt apologies and pleads. The rain dampens Vegeta's black hair and slicks some of the lighter spikes down into his face. With the severity of his forehead and widow's peak lessened this wet fringe takes years off of his physical age.

" … I should not have been so patient, consider yourself lucky I don't have a watch. … So, what kept you? There is no way healing took this long, unless you made Ayeka kiss it all better, not a wise move with her sharp teeth. What kept you, why was I waiting? I dare you to say you were training, go on and put me behind that damn room again." Straight off the bat, Ryoko goes straight to a seething tone as she aggressively questions why it took him so long to get to her and what he found to be more important than her. Her infernal jealousy burns bright as she mentions her rival. Ryoko is not recognising it as jealousy though, for that she would have to also admit to herself that there exists a faint and frayed red string of fate binding her still to this Saiyan. She lets her red aura flame about her to express her rage and show that she is perfectly willing to begin beating on him at the drop of a hat.

"I did train for an hour, and trust me you wouldn't have wanted me coming here without that time to cool off." Her display does not scare him and he will not lower his power so that she can pose any semblance of a threat to him or his wife's tomb. She growls through gritted teeth as he says he once again trained instead of coming to see her. As her threatening behaviour goes ignored so does Vegeta's.

With one stomp she smashes the boulder beneath her feet and hovers down to the opposite side of the debris. A ball of orange glows in her hand and she points it straight at Vegeta. She lets loose the blast and she does not even manage to see the deflection as it arcs off into the overcast sky instead and punches a small hole through one of the many clouds. Her hand then darts to the back pocket of her jeans and pulls out a loose cigarette, she holds it out as a warning to Vegeta. His black eyes lock onto the small cylinder of paper for a few seconds before he chooses to ignore it. He cannot let any more weakness from himself be shown, he will not allow himself to react to her provocative actions. Ryoko unsuccessfully lights the cig with her ki and incinerates it into a puff of smoke and ash. Her predatory eyes go back to the Saiyan.

"I don't trust you though. And you aren't the one who needs some time to cool down, you need some more time grovelling on your hands and knees, monkey boy! Go ahead and threaten to hit me, I can see you're dying to play the big strong man, the Super-Duper Saiyan prick, I ain't caring much for being cast in the role of weak, abused woman. You even try to threaten me and it will be your fucking blood again, oh, but of course you should be considering how- h-h-how lucky you are that I, Ryoko the common little whore, let you live and how n-nice and kind I am for war-warning you!" Ryoko struggles as she tries to turn his words of apology against him as she screams vehemently. She flares up her aura again and steam billows into the sky. Neither of these killers from the stars want their fear or vulnerabilities to show to the other.

Hissing, she paces restlessly from side to side as she keeps a watchful and harrowing eye on Vegeta. Ryoko waits for some sort of rise or reaction from the man who broke her. He does not give her the satisfaction of becoming irritated at her words and this frustrates her. She stands alert as he moves and keeps up a defensive posture as she watches him pluck a few specks of glass from his outfit, she notices that he has has not got a replacement pair of gloves as he uses his bare hands to groom himself. Spheres of dark amber illuminate her hands as they hover about and coalesce into blasts which she then disperses and reforms again. His blue training outfit darkens as it gets soaked. He blinks out some water from his eyes and another one of his black spikes droops down.

"Ryoko."

Vegeta says her name, speaking clear and with a calm tone. Her motions stop as she stands stock still, no longer charging blasts, and glares right at him. Slit-like pupils pierce him as she tries to work out what his plan is, what direction he will attack from, what he will say to hurt her or weaken her. Ryoko stands rigid and tense. Her elfin ears stick out, listening attentively. Vegeta crosses his arms and repays her stare.

"Ryoko."

"What?! You want a medal for figuring out what my name is or for not saying that bitch's instead? What? Your tongue's only bitten not removed, speak!" Ryoko spits venom at him. She will not play his game. She will not let him inside her mind. The mud under her bare feet bakes and hardens and the wet grass chars. Her blazing sword appears in her hand and she levels it at Vegeta, she can tell he is purposefully using her name to get at her and connect with her.

"I have 3 words to say to you."

He shows three fingers to Ryoko and upon hearing his words she instantly phases and flies back several metres with a glint of fear showing in her eyes. Her sword is forgotten and drops to the floor, sizzling in the rain as it dissipates. Ryoko wraps her slender arms about her chest in a protective manner. She does not know if what he says is supposed to be threatening or not but those words, and the potential of the words he could say, have struck her and unchained some terror within her bosom, amongst other feelings she chooses not to notice. A lone shiver runs down her spine as her mind races and stumbles over itself, the alcohol in her system long since burnt out of her. He is supposed to be here to make her feel better but all Ryoko can think of is how those three words could utterly destroy her and engulf her in suffering all over again. Her toes lightly touch the damp ground. She summons a new sword by her side and sneers at Vegeta as she hesitantly walks back towards him.

"Hell, if you even dare to – you better be real careful 'bout what those words are. Do not say those three. It ain't true! And I will, I really, really will, kill you if you say it. J-just because I couldn't then don't mean I can't kill you now." She swipes viciously at the air with her sword as she warily approaches Vegeta, warning him not to do it and not to say that one certain combination of three words that would so utterly undo her. Her golden eyes dance about the scene and the man. Ryoko crushes her sword in her hand. With her heart in her throat she awaits these dreaded three words.

"Ryoko, I am sorry."

Bowing his head, he apologises to the woman he has wronged. His black hair falls forward and then back as he raises his head again, a loud and shuddering breath rips through the atmosphere. Ryoko shakes her head. Partially relieved that her worst fear did not come to pass, she completely rejects Vegeta's words. There is no way she can accept his apology, she cannot let herself be swayed by such simple and meaningless words from a man who broke his promise to her.

"Really? Is that it? That all that- … no smart words coming from super Simian. Well you can go and shove that sorry up your own damn arse for all I care. Saying sorry doesn't undo a thing."

"It cannot be undone. Even if I got Washu to build a time machine it has been proven with my son from the future that it will not change a thing in our timeline, the only other ways to erase it are the dragonballs or some memory deleting device. Neither I feel to-"

"Sure, go on more about what you feel, don't even bother to ask me. Yeah, you might be right I ain't no coward who'll take those options. I … Go on and say what you came here to before I make up my mind to hurt you again and again."

Locking him with a deathly stare and spewing insults at him as she converses with this penitent man, Ryoko does not give an inch. She keeps her aggression and her anger, she keeps her defences raised and she keeps her distance from the Saiyan prince. The rain has flattened Vegeta's hair against his shoulders and back. There is no noise coming from the plains around them, every creature having fled from this enormous tempest of danger they sense brewing from these two not of their world. Vegeta's own patience is waning. He can see nothing that he can do to placate Ryoko, his words are unheeded and if he were to take action it would only serve to scare her and make her even more aggressive. A calloused hand raises and rubs at the bridge of his nose and then runs up through his wet hair.

" What would you ask of me to do for you, Ryoko?"

" And there we have it, just like yesterday you can't even be bothered to think on it yourself, pathetic little-"

"As if you would accept anything I would offer you at this point. My money is worthless to you, as are all my possessions, there is nothing physical I can do for you after that, you don't want to be near me so that really narrows down what I can offer you. Before it was tokens of affection that you sought but now I hardly see them working. You wouldn't accept not having to sleep in the corridor any-more."

"Hmm, sleeping right next to the man who tried to rape me does sound so enticing. No. I won't, I ain't even gonna sleep in your house, never-mind your room. You can't bribe me into forgetting this. No dates, no kisses, no nights together, nothing of that is what I want! I don't wanna be the slightest bit near you. Spend a little effort, Vegey, how about you just try for once in your life. This can't be the first time you had to beg a woman to forgive you." She turns her back on Vegeta. He is correct in that there is more or less nothing he can give to her, however she knows there are some things that she currently desires that he could yield to her, one of which would be letting her mangle and maim his body again. Her shoulders are stiff and tense, she does not know what to do with her hands, and that all too familiar pain within her is rising again from Vegeta's presence. She closes her eyes. He has not said anything to improve matters or help her and she hurts. Mentioning his deceased wife is a double edged sword for her, it will wound him but she never gets the words out without some damage to herself. Her sensitive and long ears hear a sigh from behind her, an attack on this weak spot drew a reaction.

"The things I could do for my wife are quite separate from my options here."

"Because … you don't love me, and I don't love you."

The rain keeps falling as silence descends heavily between the two. Vegeta's whole life is about surpassing limits but this limit is one he made himself, he cannot do for Ryoko what he did for Bulma. The majority of those things are actions she would recoil from in her current state, even so she holds this against him. Ryoko counts the seconds as they drearily tick by. She does not want him to follow up her statement with the dangerous truth he said as she beat on him, all it would take is one slip up whilst arguing with him and her strength and spirit would come crashing down around her. Ryoko hates him, and that is all that she has to tell herself. She drops her ki and allows the water spilling from the heavens to fall on her. If this is to keep up and the agony inside her is not going to dull its sting then she will need this rainwater to hide her emotions. There is a squelch in the mud behind her and the sound of rocks moving. Vegeta is approaching her now that her power has dropped. Her eyes open and look ahead at the grassy wilderness. There is no blue sky, only clouds of differing greys.

"Lady Ryoko."

Elfin ears twitch.

"Oh God, you really thought that'd work?"

" After your fight with Ayeka you came to my room and spoke of the preferential treatment I give her and the title I call her. You are giving me little to work with here, and you hate me because of a name I said ..." Vegeta is running with whatever idea he can think of on the spot. He needs to find the angle Ryoko wants him to work, for he knows there is one. She would not tolerate listening to him if there were not something she wanted, he just has to find it. Vegeta might be stumbling around blindly in the dark searching for it but he will search all the same. A snarl breaks through Ryoko's pursed lips as she hears her rival's name. Small amounts of steam rise off her body before she lets the rain dampen her again.

"I can't tell if you're being serious or you want me to start pummelling you again. … I am not some stuck up elitist pig like the rest of you. ... Enough. I'm going to do it now."

It is over. Ryoko is sick and tired of it all and she needs the pain to stop. She has reached her limit and she has to act. Her open palm is placed upon Vegeta's wet forehead, her eyes glaring down at his and a couple of trembles run through her. The Saiyan is unimpressed, he has been in this position before and defused it effortlessly, he sees no reason that it will not turn out the same again.

"Are we back to this? It is pointless, you will not kill me." Vegeta senses ki flowing into Ryoko's hand and can read the murderous will written across her face. He has not a single doubt in his mind that there is no threat to his life. Ryoko hates this confidence, she still would love to see terror and pain break him. She smirks down at the prince. There is something she knows that he does not. She holds a card that he did not think was in the deck.

"And who said anything about killing? There is one thing you can give to me now and I am going to take it. It ain't your life, such a shame, but it is damn near close, Vegey. I'm gonna take your mind."

During her time away she has not been idle. As her mind was on the single track focus of hurting Vegeta she found herself searching out the only person that it made logical sense to go to. Last night whilst she was recovering she sought out Goku after he arrived back on Earth and without telling him anything more than he could guess she got him to teach her. Goku is the reason she came to Earth in the first place, wanting to cash in on the bounty placed on his head, and he was reminded of this as she screeched at him and how it is his fault she ever had to meet Vegeta. In exchange for her teaching him the phasing technique she taught Vegeta, she had the man Vegeta despises tell her how to read minds. Over a month ago in a bath she found out her prince had this technique and who he mimicked it from, and now it is hers. She cannot trust a word from Vegeta's mouth, his pride, his boasting and his lies cloud what she seeks. Ryoko will find what she wants, she will find her own answers, and she will make good of her experience as a thief.

A boiling lake of rage and fury greets her as she enters Vegeta's mind. So much anger and hatred swirling about just below the surface, everyone he knows has a claim to some part of his anger, be it small or large. Goku holds the majority, yet as she explores the first image she sees is that of Goku laughing with his wife and sons before it transitions into the Super Saiyan 3 that Vegeta cannot surpass. An image out of reach, a taunting goal that will always stay beyond his fingers' grasp. The next largest she assumes to be for Frieza but it is actually Vegeta's own self hatred she finds. Every time that he has failed, that he has been bettered or shamed, this pool of loathing has grown and fuelled his motivation to improve. Ryoko examines this patch of Vegeta for she finds it amusing to see how much the man who hurt her hates himself. Her fun comes to an end when Bulma's death rears its head. The keystone propping up all the other factors that disallow him to accept himself, the death of his wife is presented to Ryoko and she enters it.

Blue hair, a pale and still face, a body unmoving. Darkness consumes it all. A skull and a stone. The grave has a hand-print on it, she saw that happen. A female voice echoes saying that she will just rest for a while. Cold skin presses against her hands. Trunks wails and the sound assaults her ears as it rips at the fabric of Vegeta, his child is crying and his wife is dead and in all of it there is nothing he can do. So much blackness and loneliness. Ryoko's phobias remain dormant for these are not her feelings. A ghostly visage of the woman Vegeta married smiles, in life it would be warm but now there is only death upon those ashen lips and her blue eyes project accusation and blame. She hears Bulma's voice as it calls out to Vegeta for him to save her and screams, tortured screams of a woman dying alone and the space around her begins to crumble and constrict.

Then, light. She is in the pit of a colossal crater with an afternoon Sun burning overhead, pebbles and dust levitate a foot from the ground. Ryoko's digging has unearthed a treasure that she desires. Roars shred the air, lightning and plasma burns all around, the very earth quakes and cracks apart as the Sun gets eclipsed by a light far brighter than it. The small stones hovering evaporate into atoms. Long and wild blonde hairs flails and billows at the eye of the storm. His tremendous aura pulsates and fluctuates as it contracts to a second layer of skin and then fills the entire crater. Roaring and screaming, Vegeta lets out all his emotions as raw power. Over the deafening cacophony of Vegeta's thunderous yelling, a female voice whispers clear as day.

" That power is not yours."

Silence falls as the golden illumination switches off. Ryoko watches as Vegeta crumples to the ground, his knees buckling as his hair shortens and darkens to its natural charcoal. His mouth opens and closes but only throaty rasps escape. He cannot speak, he cannot argue back. Gloveless fingers claw at the ground. Vegeta is left powerless. The third Super Saiyan transformation is not something he earned, he cannot use it. It belongs to Bulma for she gave it to him. The woman's voice continues to whisper, laying soul crushing amounts of blame on the selfish man who let his wife die and never acted to save her. It taunts how Goku would have seen it and saved her, that he knows the symptoms of the heart virus and would not have ignored her. Vegeta collapses head first into the rock, one scarred hand reaches up into the air. His hoarse voice utters the name of the woman he loves. Ryoko sees moisture fall onto the dusty and burnt ground.

Vegeta cries for his wife.

Ryoko watches without pity as she absorbs this scene she has been after. Here is the broken man she wanted to see. Vegeta grieves over his widowing and weeps in solitude at the bottom of a hole he made for himself. His fists pound the ground and shake it as anguish destroys him from the inside out. Ryoko hovers about the scene as she examines every facet of this crying man. She wants to relish this scene as much as possible, however she cannot bring herself to smile at this. There is a truth here she finds unpleasant. Ryoko cannot break something that is already broken, she cannot cause him more pain than he feels for the passing of Bulma. She watches and listens and observes. Throughout all this there is an oddness which she cannot place. It is distracting her, there is something more to this and she does not understand it.

"Wow, whoever gave you permission to be this fucked up?" Ryoko surfaces from Vegeta's mind and sees his disgruntled and embarrassed face before her own. She has found a way to pry into the vault that holds all his secret and private moments. His pitch black eyes stare up at her. She grins down at him. Vegeta did not and is not stopping her, he is giving her what she wants at long last. She will take this for all that it is worth and extract every morsel of value whilst she can.

"The prince of Saiyans needs permission from no-one, and wh-"

" Yeah, yeah, don't you think I know how little you care about consent. Now shut up whilst I have fun exploring in your twisted little brain. You're too shit at talking and lie too much, so I'm finding some truth for myself." She silences Vegeta with a quick retort. Inside his head lie the answers she wants, his pain she can watch and that mysterious something else that is enticing her and pulling her in. Ryoko needs to know what that thing she sensed inside was. All of his emotions she can place, the love, the heartache and the agony, but not that one thing on the edge of her perception. Ryoko closes her eyes and dives back into the warped psyche of Vegeta.

The scene replays itself as Vegeta tortures himself over his failure, the death he blames himself for and his pride disallowing him from shifting its weight from his broad shoulders. Ryoko's predatory eyes fix on the pitiful and grief ridden man as she focuses her mind on that thing hovering at the edge of her periphery. She moves on past the pained Vegeta and follows this tantalising lead as best as she can through Vegeta's sadness and depression. Rosy lips fade into view, they smile but their sweetness turns bitter. Ryoko does not understand what this is, this is Vegeta thinking about his wife but why is this what she was after. The lips part and she relives Vegeta's sensation of kissing his wife. This is uncomfortable for her, she does not care for the feel of Bulma's mouth, her lips or her tongue.

Ryoko's golden eyes snap open and she gasps. Her hand stays firmly pressed to Vegeta's widows peak as she looks about with her mind racing a mile a minute. The hand not touching the Saiyan rises to her face and strokes her lips, her eyes dart about before locking onto Vegeta. Her breaths are quick and shallow. Her own lips birth a small but important smile, the first smile she has allowed on her face that has not been brought on from sadistic joy.

"Ve-Vegey? Was-was-was that taste? Was i-it taste?" She hesitantly asks as her tongue moves hungrily within her mouth, not caring for how she appears towards the Saiyan who wronged her. Her mind has become captivated. Having been born with no taste-buds she has never experienced this sensation before, even if it is not her own experience. This is the second sense that Vegeta has shown her, first the ability to sense ki and now he has unwittingly blind-sided her with taste. Her smile widens as Vegeta nods at her. He has figured out what is going on now, his mind contains his memories and his memories are made of his feelings and his sensory information thus allowing her to have her first ever experience of what taste is.

She eagerly demands of him to show her more of this sense she is deprived of and Vegeta nods again, he prefers this to her prying into moments no-one but himself should know of. They both close their eyes and Ryoko sends ki into her palm resting on Vegeta's forehead. Ryoko is lucky in that Vegeta's strong sense of smell greatly enhances his perception of taste as she gets 'shown' the fruits of Sasami's frequent culinary labours. She is overwhelmed by this bizarre sensation and enjoys every second of Vegeta's memories of food. Her own mouth begins to salivate as she gets to see what the word delicious actually means. Ryoko then gives him another demand for taste, with her tone changing, as she opens her eyes and swallows her saliva. Vegeta does not hesitate in revealing this memory to her. Lips are locked and tongues passionately duel. Ryoko experiences Vegeta kissing her from his perspective and discovers how she herself tastes. Not dwelling on that feeling for too long, she retracts her hand from Vegeta and takes a step back from him, severing their connection.

Taste had distracted her, she had become very sidetracked from her true goal yet she cannot get upset over it for that was a truly wonderful experience she just had. Luckily she came to her senses before she let that last bit of curiosity escape her. Ryoko coughs and swipes her cyan fringe from her head as the rain has flattened it down whilst she was inside the Saiyan's mind. She lowers her hand that was reading Vegeta's mind and uses it to cover her chest, the rain water has drenched her clothing as much as it has Vegeta's and her red t-shirt is clinging to her in a fashion she does not want Vegeta to see. She turns her head to the side to look away. Her own questioning has stirred up emotions within her that she will deny. Ryoko just had to ask though, like a blind man being able to see the first thing she asked for was a mirror. If she were in a far better mood she would jest about feeling how good she is as a kisser first hand but she cannot bring herself to comment on that at all. She knows what taste is now. Many things she tried to make dormant have been awoken. Butterflies flit in her stomach as a vice tightens around her heart.

"You get Washu to make me taste, Vegey. You owe me and she owes you. Heh, and I ain't gonna forget how she was the one to get all your fingers inside her." She jokes, if she can turn it into a joke then it becomes something she can handle. It is in her head now though and she cannot rid herself of it, her kissing Vegeta whilst he did his facade to keep her away. It was a lie, an act, however part of her wants to re-enter his mind to see for himself how much was an act. Ryoko cannot. That memory has stirred up too much and after finding herself asking to see that she can no longer trust herself if she were to read Vegeta's mind. There are places in there she might get lost in that will hurt her. She will not relive her suffering from his viewpoint, she will not see herself foolishly and blissfully smiling and laughing with him as they danced or taste his blood when Ayeka bit his tongue. It is a danger she cannot risk any-more. Her chest aches and her ears droop in contradiction to her jest. She wishes she had not asked to taste herself, it would be so much simpler and easier for her.

"I can do that. Also, I am getting Washu to make for me some medication that should either downplay or stop my mating seasons." Vegeta is glad his mind is now his own again, giving Ryoko taste is something he can get Washu to do, this is a step in the right direction. He can tell that what she saw is causing a conflicting turmoil within her, she hates and detests him for all that she can and has just gone through the sensation of kissing him. Vegeta states his plan for decreasing the danger for all future mating seasons and shows Ryoko he is being proactive even when he is not with her. He prepares himself for what he knows will come next.

"That is too late. Why? Why now and not back then?" Unlike Ayeka, Ryoko is quite interested as to why this precaution was not put in place to stop her torture from ever happening. This cannot be a new idea to him, he is cunning and had the time to concoct this strategy whilst he was busy warning and threatening her. He said he did everything he could to save her, Ryoko sees this to be another lie for he did not do this. A drug from Washu could have saved her and he chose against it, thus, in her eyes, condemning her to this wretched fate.

"I did not think I needed it then. I had faith in my actions and yours."

"You thought your retarded plan and lies were all you needed! You … you were wrong." Ryoko shouts back at Vegeta. He will not worm anything from her by saying he had faith in her, she knows how to play people and she will not fall for these basic ploys by him. She knows it was his pride. He would not ask for help as he is too proud, that is the reason not him putting his trust in a reckless plan that he did not like. Her arm covering her chest squeezes tighter around her. The urge to teleport away from here is growing, to fly away to safety, to get away from Vegeta. A heavy raindrop lands on her ear and causes her to flinch.

"I was. I acknowledge that. On the other hand, Washu needs time to test the drug, time I will have when training for a year. There is a chance even if I did ask for it the same would have happened anyway." Vegeta states what he can on the issue. The vulnerability of the woman before him is growing with every second he is in her presence and her anger has substantially decreased since she entered his mind and witnessed what she wanted to. She has lashed out for days on end now, attacked and provoked and raged and now it is all so tiring for her. Her lowering hostility is a good sign to Vegeta, he can make more headway when she is more open to conversation and less likely to try slicing at him with her sword.

Ryoko looks down to the ground and absently kicks at the dirt and rocks from the boulder she stomped apart. They are still within her, wanting to be freed and she can sense that Vegeta is trying to worm his way towards them and weaken her again. She hates it. She hates him, she does not want any other emotion, no other connection to Vegeta. It is humiliating and so utterly painful this parasite within her heart that she subconsciously feeds has not died, it withered but endured. He tried to kill and ravage her whilst enjoying every moment he hurt her. Ryoko cannot hold feelings for a man who does that to her, she shakes her head and her wet hair whips about as she denies it to herself. There is too much pain, she cannot and will not forgive him, but there are things she wants from him that she should not. She wipes the rain from her face.

" Y'know, those three words you said? Say them again, and more."

"I am sorry, Ryoko. I did wrong. I hurt you. I am sorry." Vegeta gives her the comfort she seeks, the apologetic tone she needs to hear. Ryoko does not stop looking at the ground. A large guest of wind rushes past them, Ryoko sorts her hair out and closes her eyes as she thinks. The Saiyan stands as he plans.

"How about … no, not yet. Vegeta, tell me … would you have preferred Ayeka to have been there or not? No lying, I can find the truth for myself so don't waste my time." Knowing that he did call that name to hurt her, Ryoko still wants to know whether there was any truth behind what he said. That was the blow that crippled her. She shakes her head to herself and stomps her feet. Weak and pathetic, asking that question makes her feel so pitiful and feeble, but she really, desperately wants to hear him say it to her. The pain in her chest swells. Ryoko wants it gone, if she can make him say that he did want for Ayeka and discarded every shred of his promise to her then she thinks she might be able to do it. She wants him to answer and cut this insidious affection from her before it kills her. Biting her lip in anxiety she sees Vegeta pondering how to phrase his answer. Her bare feet fidget in the dirt.

"From my standpoint right now, where I am not under the influence of those damn hormones, it is easy for me to say that you were preferential to Ayeka. If I did to her what I did to you then she would be dead, and I suspect there is a chance she might be dead not by my hand but her own even if she survived. You are strong, far stronger than she is in many regards and can deal with sexual situations whereas she cannot. … From the other perspective, she is a ripe target for abuse and pain, you had weaknesses though that were equally easy to exploit, fears to use. You would resist and fight back more and challenge me, like any Saiyan enjoys. You are sexually appealing in your appearance and mannerisms, making you desirable. Ryoko, my other side was not caring for your infertility or off put by it. If my body cared so much for procreation then my mating season would only be directed at my species and not women in general."

A large tremor convulses through Ryoko as she nearly loses her will. Her knees shake like leaves in a gale. Vegeta's brutal honesty is not what she wanted to hear, she wanted him to side with Ayeka not give in and strengthen the monstrosity plaguing her mind. She growls as she shakes her head again. Her elfin ears lay flat to her head. He has no right to say those words to her now. They were cruel and harsh and those were the ones where he seemingly spoke in favour of her and dared to say that she was preferential to Ayeka. Ryoko's breathing speeds up. It hurts. She teleports.

There is no escape to be had for her, Vegeta remains the same distance in front of her even as the scenery changes around them. Plains and rain give way to the open ocean beneath their feet before Ryoko vanishes and reappears back by the broken boulder and shards of glass. She cannot flee. This time he is not going to let her retreat when he is hurting her. A lance of crimson sputters into existence and then winks out. It is far too much for her.

"3 words again. Continue what you are saying about my appearance. Feed me some more of your soulless and half hearted compliments if you can, monkey." Her voice comes through louder than it should as she throws back her shoulders, thrusts out her chest and makes a terrible show of appearing confident and in control. Rain runs down her cheeks and into her eyes as she shivers before Vegeta. She will push him, continue to back him into a corner, give him unreasonable demands of things he will not do for her. Then he will lash out, then he will show his true colours for the cold hearted bastard he is and she can have her release. She needs him to do this. Her breaths come out as shudders, she could really do with a mind numbingly strong drink.

" You are beautiful. … Long, supple legs. Perfect womanly figure. … Breasts are firm." Having been goaded and insulted many times in his life, Vegeta can notice there is a difference between her behaviour and when she was destroying one of his testicles. He can smell the ripe fear wafting off of her. This aggression is a weak charade, not even thinly veiled, he sees right through it. Shrugging off the racial slurs she calls him in hopes of antagonising him, Vegeta lists her physical features as best he can given only 3 words to do so with. He has complimented her before, and called her beautiful once to trick her, it is not so hard for him to do so again seeing that she is challenging him to it. Vegeta's calculating mind is careful in its wording to lure her into a trap of his own. A comment on her breasts is the bait he sets for her to set him up. After what he did to her chest she is not going let it slide past without remark.

" I don't need you talking about my tits, shithead, how about-"

"Better than Ayeka."

Checkmate. Ryoko's voice fails her as her eyes open wide and stare in abject terror at him. If it were not a highly inappropriate thing to do, Vegeta would smirk at how easy that was to pull off and how the ball is falling within his court now. A choking sound comes from Ryoko as she stumbles back away from Vegeta's very dangerous words. The rain water steams off her body in a flash. He spoke words she has been longing to hear for so long as a coup de grace to throw Ryoko off balance and seize the upper hand. Vegeta will not push it or take any offensive, he will wait and act off of Ryoko.

" … You … Y-you … T-tell me, is that true?"

"Ayeka is not yet fully developed as a woman. I prefer your body to hers. Simple as that."

The timid voice of the pirate barely makes it through the downpour. He has managed to get a hook inside her, its cruel barbs burrow into her damaged heart and Ryoko is struggling. She cannot ignore it. The hidden emotions have been unchained and have grown stronger from Vegeta's careful words, they run rampant, they disorient and confuse her to the extreme. He called for Ayeka and broke her but now he is saying to her face that she is better than Ayeka, that he thinks she is more beautiful than her rival and even with her infertility issue he is still choosing her body without any hesitation. Ryoko lets out a soft mewl which transforms into a snarl and then lessens again. She cannot do it. His kind words are ripping her apart. All the wounds she bandaged with her justified rage and hate are being re-opened and the bleeding is drowning her thoughts. She does not know what to do, she tried to run away but can't and she cannot face this domineering man when he is doing this to her.

Her throat feels as blocked as it did when he throttled her and her chest is pumping out pain with every heartbeat. She hates Vegeta. A blast ricochets off of the Saiyan. Ryoko shakes her head in denial. A rabid expression grips her face as she looks about for some way to stop all of this and to save herself. She will not let him do this to her, she is not going to be won over by his cheap words, she can feel him pulling her strings and the wires are biting into her flesh. The only answer she can see is to go further, to push Vegeta until he has to snap and hope that she can last until he does.

"Why do you keep both of us about?" Ryoko's mouth moves before her brain does. That was not a question she wanted to say. She cannot provoke him with that. Horrified that it is all slipping out of her grasp and into Vegeta's control, she throws a dozen more blasts at him.

"I am Vegeta, I am a prince and I am selfish. This is me keeping my future options open until my opinion on that decision is not neutral or equal." The unadulterated truth is a powerful weapon that Vegeta is wielding. He is not going to deny his purpose for keeping both Ryoko and Ayeka in his company. Sensing the desperation in Ryoko, Vegeta begins to wonder how far her limit is and whether she will push herself past it. He is playing a dangerous game with a high risk but he cannot stop now, the stakes are what they are and he will not forfeit this chance he has. Ryoko screams.

"Bullshit! There is nothing- no- nothing equal about any of this. When have you ever treated me like you treat her? Never! You … you have never done right by me, you treat me like some mangy mutt to be thrown scraps whilst you-y-you always are so-so kind and careful towards h-her. You always protect and defend her. You attacked and tried to rape me! To kill me! To rape me! What the hell do you think is equal? Nothing is equal! Nothing at all! She was right, you choose to be with her whilst I had to fight for every damn second with you! You are not good to me, you don't treat me right!"

Heavy pants explode out of Ryoko's gritted teeth as she seethes at Vegeta. He will not get away with any of this. She hates him and reaffirms it in her yelling: disgust, rage, those are her emotions not the dead husk he was fishing for. Bright red glows all around her. Her power surrounds her and blazes out in an aggressive display. She watches Vegeta. If he is to make any motion towards her or try and speak like that to her again then she promises that she will make an attempt on his life. He does not move. For half a minute he stands in the rain looking at the furious inferno. Then the mood shifts and plummets. A small chuckle flutters out of Ryoko's lips. It warps into a dark laugh as she finally sees what she has to do to win this. His advantage has been expelled from her, she can take this last step now to finish it all and claim her victory and freedom. A hot lance materialises in her hand and points straight and true at Vegeta as a rabid violence grips Ryoko's golden eyes.

" Vegeta, make it equal. Make it fair and neutral like you want. … Th-there is – there is one main difference. Not my in-infertility, not that. One … one difference, big one, get rid of it, Vegeta. Same footing, no differences. Equal. That's what you said so put your money where you mouth is, monkey breath. Make me - make – m-make me your -your fiancée." She laughs to herself after forcing out those taunts and vomiting out that impossible request to Vegeta. Her arm is steady as she holds her sword. Here she will end it. She saw into his mind, she saw all his scars and pain and all the things that tie him to his dead wife, there is no way that he can win against her now. Vegeta takes a step back in surprise. Unstable to the extreme, Ryoko does not notice the tears cascading freely down her face as her aura abandons her.

"... Ryoko, this-"

" Do it! Say no. Just say no. For fuck's sake get it over with! No cheap words, no dancing about making excuses. Say no, decline it, say what you want to, I know you want to. You don't love or care for me at all! Stop cruelly stringing me along for your own amusement. Get it over with. Let me go. Say no and free me from this. Decline, I will leave, I will go back away from this hell and never have to see your ugly face again. Just – please, say no so I can escape and it will stop, stop the pain, say no. Reject me. You were going to anyway. Reject me! Get it over with now, make it better, make my pain stop. Say no, release me, stop it." Her tears fall heavier as she yells and screams with every breath in her body for her victory. Ryoko will not listen to any clever words or excuses or ploys from her hated foe. She has her plan and she will make it so that her pain will come to an end. A grin splits her face from ear to ear as she watches the Saiyan deliberate. His chains will be rent from her. She will fly again, without him. All he has to do now is say the words.

"I, Vegeta, prince of all Saiyans, accept."