Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9

Lluvia stared at the rapidly retreating Tristan, who was beat-feeting it through the mess hall doors and looking very contrite. Although throughout the reaming she'd given him he continued to grin like a fool, just like always. She sighed in frustration and shook her head.

His careless, off-hand comment almost got him killed by that huge warrior, Totepo. A stupid incident which could have compromised the safety of their company, her company. Her body fairly vibrated with the exasperation she felt toward her friend. Her hands rested on her hips and her left boot agitatedly tapped on the floor, as if the repeating motion alone could feed her barely contained anger into its smooth surface.

"Blessed Kami! Why in the nine hells does he keep doing this to me? Every fardling place we go, he manages to stir things up with the locals! Why, oh why do I continue to bail out his sorry ass?" She threw up her head and hands in supplication to the heavens, ranting aloud to the great unseen god/goddess of the universe. "I swear, one of this fine days, he's going to drive me to serious distraction! That…that…" She paused as a sufficiently descriptive expletive eluded her for the moment.

"Baka," said a deeply resonant male voice behind her.

Her hands came down to delightedly applaud the interjection, a musical laugh bubbling forth from her lips.

"Baka? Baka! HA, HA! Abso-freakin' perfect! That word suits him to a 'T'!"

"So, female, why exactly do you keep him around?" The unfamiliar voice spoke directly into her back.

"Because that dumbass just so happens to be the best damn synth-guitar player ever born and I am loath to 'cut my nose off to spite my face' should I ever toss him out on his little rump! Truth is, our company has been carefully honed to be the penultimate collection of entertainers and he has been an integral part of our success from the get-go. However, I do thank you, master wordsmith, for your timely input and…"

Lluvia's face was beaming as she pivoted around to acknowledge the speaker. The irises in her large midnight eyes shrank in slightly, now on the same level with a very sizeable jeweled medallion. The massive piece of faceted jewelry rested upon an even larger white and maroon breastplate, which had the royal Saiya-jin insignia emblazoned in red over on the left side. Her agile brain immediately registered the identity of the speaker and she dropped into a polished dancer's curtsey at the Saiya-jin monarch's booted feet.

King Vegeta watched the animated smile on the alien woman's face freeze for a split second, her eyes widening as they focused on his considerable chest and the royal medallion glistening there. The king of all Saiya-jins permitted himself a small, amused smirk at the adroit way the light-haired female recovered her presence of mind to show him the proper courtesies.

He had left the arrangements of hiring the off-world entertainers to a trusted lackey and had up to this point not bothered to make himself known to the recently arrived visitors. What he had not anticipated were the reports he'd gotten of significant amounts of inherent ki energies these visitors had brought with them. Those reports also revealed that the highest concentration of individual ki power out of these entertainers happened to abide in the bent figure before him. He certainly had not anticipated the magnetic aura of her otherworldly beauty, quite unusual by Saiya-jin standards, to enchant him so with its allure. The virtual image contained in the hol-vid he'd watched earlier had truly not done justice to the real thing. The tightly fitting cream-colored leather outfit and thigh-high boots she was currently wearing only added to her appeal.

I can see now why Bardock and Toma were so taken by this one, he thought, looking her over.

Then he called to mind something else. Toma had inadvertently blurted out that just the proximity of the female had triggered one of Bardock's rare catatonic spells when they had initially encountered her on Theta Seven.

"A thousand apologies, your majesty! I did not realize that it was you behind me! I am terribly sorry if you were disturbed in any way by my outburst!"

He responded to her with a regal nod. "Arise and tell me your name, female."

She slowly stood up and kept her eyes cast downward, her gaze trained on the tips of his boots. "Lluvia Celestri, your majesty. I am the artistic director of The Shadow Entertainers."

A large, white-gloved hand reached out and caught her chin, tipping her face up to look directly into his fathomless black eyes. The upswept flame of dark rusty-brown hair made him look even taller than he was. The sardonic curve of his mouth was framed by a moustache and a goatee-type beard, the color of which matched the hair on his head.

The lilac tint of her pale complexion against the bleached material of his gloves intrigued him. The purple-black lashes and eyes reminiscent of deep blue star sapphires only added to her pleasing countenance. While he scrutinized her facial features, she balanced her stance on the balls of her feet, inwardly praying that this little encounter would soon be over and she could flee at first opportunity. There was something in the way the Saiya-jin king was looking at her that made her stomach twist into a knot.

"I understand that you have quite an unusual amount of energy residing within you."

She managed a minute nod, her chin captured in a light, but steely grip by his thumb and forefinger. "So I've been told."

"Do you spar?" His query was rewarded with a couple of astonished blinks.

"Spar, your majesty? You mean like…uh…fight? I'm just a humble entertainer by trade; singing, dancing, with a little storytelling thrown into the mix. My skills in the martial arts are somewhat lacking since my training was cut short by the untimely death of my sensei several years ago."

My research about the Saiya-jins told me that the royal males like to spar with females to whom they are attracted in their own bizarre version of sexual foreplay. Kami, please get me out of this!

"So there you are! My sincere apologies, King Vegeta. This troublesome baka female had momentarily escaped my attention. I hope she wasn't bothering you too much!" The warrior dropped to one knee in front of his sovereign ruler, his fist resting on the floor, the dark spiky head bent forward in practiced deference.

A little annoyed by the interruption, King Vegeta reluctantly released his grip on Lluvia's chin and pulled back his hand to rest by his side. Lluvia closed her eyes in silent gratitude to the deity for sending her escort to run such a timely interference.

"Bardock?"

"Yes, my liege. You assigned me to keep an eye on our visitors, remember?"

"So I did. You may get up, Bardock." The warrior rose to his full height at the command then turned to speak in displeased tones to his wayward charge.

"Female, did you not say earlier that you needed to physically measure the venue area in order to adjust the PA system for optimal acoustic delivery?"

Lluvia's strawberry-tipped head nodded rapidly in reply. "Uh, you are correct, Bardock. I thank you for reminding me!"

The tall ruler returned his dark-eyed gaze to Lluvia. "I have some unbreakable commitments which supercede my attending your group's performance on the morrow, but I will be there for the second show the following evening. I am looking forward to the diversion you and your company will be providing."

With a swirl of his magnificent purple cloak, King Vegeta turned to resume his royal stroll down the central promenade area. He stopped after taking a few steps and looked back over his shoulder at Lluvia. "So, we Saiya-jins have `short-wired' tempers and `run on hair-triggers'?" He let out a small chuckle as Lluvia gasped aloud realizing he'd overheard her dressing-down speech to Tristan. "It is gratifying to know that our reputation as the single most-feared warriors in the universe remains…intact!"

The king receded into the distance, followed by a scribe, an attending slave/lackey, and a couple of burly warrior bodyguards. It reminded Lluvia of a large predatory fish being trailed by a school of ever-orbiting remoras, seeking the scraps drifting in its ponderous wake.

She looked over at Bardock and gave him a huge grateful smile. "Whew! Thank you, Bardock!"

"For what, woman?"

"For arriving in the nick of time, that's for what! I was starting to feel like the daily 'blue-plate special' and his royal majesty was eyeing me like he hadn't had a decent meal in a long time!"

The tall Saiya-jin warrior adjusted his deep red armbands as he spoke. "You should feel flattered by the king's attention." The words were casual, but inwardly Bardock hovered between bristling and cringing. It was obvious that the King wanted her and if his own interest in her became known, it could mean his life.

Lluvia's smile was quickly replaced with a look of incredulity, followed by a scowl. "Well, Bardock, I'm not! I don't know what you may think of the scruples of entertainers in general, but that's not what I'm all about! Neither wealth nor rank stands as the most important requirement for my choice in a bedmate!"

She stalked in a huff back to the entrance to the mess hall, stopping just shy of the doors. Her angry gaze captured his for a brief moment before she pushed the portals open. "Your monarch has no need for you to be promoting his royal agenda in that respect! You'd do well to speak up for your own self, Saiya-jin!"

Adarath had kept a watchful eye out on the double doors ever since Bardock had departed the mess hall to retrieve Lluvia. After a few minutes, she re-emerged and motioned for the return of her MAARCU before exiting once more. No words were exchanged. Addy was attuned enough to Yu-vee's moods to know well enough when to keep his mouth shut. This time, anyway.

Lluvia followed Bardock's lead and headed up a nearby tower's spiral staircase until they emerged from the topmost doorway onto the rooftop. She brushed past him, adjusting the fit of her MAARCU back over her left ear and eye, and scanned the area for the promised transport. Not volunteering any information, he retreated to lean with his back to the wall and arms folded across his chest. His amusement grew a few notches as he watched her pace in frustration from one side of the rooftop to the other, obviously searching for a mechanical form of transportation which wasn't there. She walked over to the far ledge, stood on tip-toe, bending from her waist and leaning precariously over the lip to scan down the side of the building. The view of her upraised backside fetchingly draped over the ledge with the tight stretchy fabric outlining her curves was unexpectedly enticing, the effect of which took the Saiya-jin by surprise.

His growl broke into the silence. "Just what do you think you're doing, female?"

Lluvia abruptly pulled herself upright. "Why, I'm looking for the transport you'd promised to arrange for me, Bardock. I figure with your vast technology at the ready, you might have an invisible hoverplane secreted around here somewhere. That is, unless you're just plain messing with me which, I assure you, will mightily piss me off!" She stomped back over to glare up at her so-called escort/guide and shouted into his smirking face, "So just where is it, anyway? I'm on a tight schedule here!"

"It's here already."

Exasperated, Lluvia spun around to face the rooftop once more, throwing her arms open to encompass the empty space. "Oh yeah, smart guy? Where exactly?"

Before she could utter another acerbic word, Bardock's right arm snaked around her torso and he leapt into the mid-afternoon sky. They were airborne in a less than a second and heading toward the arena situated in a southeasterly direction, fifty kilometers from the large city center.

The unexpected onrush of air against her body took her most of her breath away, but not before she gave out an astonished yelp. The heat of his aura enveloping her came in a close second to absconding with the remainder of her ability to breathe. It was a dizzying sensation, flying so high in the air with her back pressed into the Saiya-jin's powerfully built form.

Bardock felt her taut stomach muscles involuntarily tense up further under his forearm. His fingertips were touching the exposed satiny skin resting between the bottom of her leather bustier and the top of her pants. The surprisingly cold, almost frigid, feel of the thin metal chain encircling her seemed to absorb his body heat through the palm of his hand.

The streets of the sprawling metropolis below them were laid out in a shimmering grid pattern, the sides of the whitewashed organic-looking buildings painted by the slanted rays of the mid-afternoon sun. It was a magical, giddy sensation and Lluvia's initial apprehension ultimately gave way to wonder at this unconventional mode of flight and the panoramic view of Vegeta-sei's vast topography.

For his part, the Saiya-jin commander was quietly enjoying the physical contact she afforded him for the duration of the all-too-brief flight out towards the arena. The delicate scent wafting off the light hair fluttering under his face in the breeze was teasing his sensitive nostrils to no end. The softness and warmth of her skin under his hands was equally pleasurable to him. Her hands gripped his armbands and her legs wrapped themselves backwards around his legs as she was not quite as accustomed to this unusual style of transportation. In a reflexive effort to assuage Lluvia's sensed anxiety, his long tail securely entwined itself around both of them; a thoughtful gesture which surprised and inwardly pleased her.