Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15

At the arena…

The musicians were idly tuning their instruments, while the dancers were doing their routine pre-practice stretches. Wearing her dark purple two-piece practice dance outfit with matching leg warmers, Lluvia stood off to the side just staring out into empty space. Bardock shifted a little where he stood, growing extremely uncomfortable with her continued stoic silence, as were Adarath and the others.

Tristan, showing more bravery than many might have given him credit, walked over to his friend and asked point blank, "Yu-vee? What's wrong, babe? You haven't said boo since breakfast!"

"I can't talk about it, Tris. Leave it at that, would you?" she said softly.

"It's just that…well, this is so not like you!"

She looked up, saw the worried expression in her friend's light blue eyes and gave him a wan smile. Her hand reached out and tenderly ruffled his hair, just as she'd done numerous times when he was younger. "I just don't have any answers for you right now, Tris. As soon as I have it all hashed out to my satisfaction, I'll let you know."

But as the morning wore on her thought processes kept bouncing about in her head like a storm-tossed skiff. The group went through a few numbers, but where she usually would have interjected a word of suggestion, criticism, or praise, there was only a distracted quiet emanating off their usually ebullient leader.

From where he stood, Bardock tried to look as nonchalant as possible, but every so often he'd catch a side glance from her. He could have sworn that he was able to see the mental gears churning away behind her outwardly dispassionate gaze.

Lluvia's fevered ruminations kept fine-tooth combing through last evening's events, trying to piece together what exactly happened to her.

Let's see, Bardock didn't show up for our little rendezvous. Last I saw him, he was hanging out with his planet-purging buds, Toma, Ceripa, Raditz, and Totepo. And that was in the mess hall around 2300 hours. Same with the prince and his large crony, Nappa. I'm the first to leave the hall and so I take a side-trip to make sure Jen's resting comfortably before I call it a night. I make it back to my room and discover the welcome basket with all the goodies inside. The bottle is corked and everything else is wrapped up tight. After I take my shower, I pour myself a little drink. The wine tastes very potent and heady. The vintner must've added an inordinately large amount of herbal overtones, like a strong springtime wine…herbal? Wait a minute! Some herbs contain strong soporific properties and when added to a substantial alcoholic base…Oh no!

Lluvia's gaze went wild in her face. Her hand reached out to a nearby wall to steady herself, her being suddenly awash with an undeniably queasy sensation. The realization that she might have been purposely drugged and left defenseless impacted upon her like a ton of bricks.

Someone drugged me! But why? She whipped over her large accusatory eyes in Bardock's direction. And was hein on it?

The Saiya-jin was trying his best to look disinterested in the proceedings, hoping that nothing in his body language would give away the turmoil he felt inside. The visual daggers with which she swiftly skewered him caught him unawares. Before he could shield his own gaze, he caught the sharp glint of reproach in the back of her eyes.

Blessed Kami! She knows! I don't know how in the nine hells she figured it out, but she knows!

"Take five, everyone! No, on second thought…take thirty! Hell, take the rest of the freakin' day off! I don't care!"

Lluvia threw her hands up in the air and stomped back into the dressing room. Her stormy departure startled the dancers, who froze in various awkward poses in the middle of their routine on the arena floor. The musicians likewise stopped playing and looked in bewilderment at each other after her passionate outburst. Everyone, including Bardock, stared at the dressing room door for a few minutes, awaiting Lluvia's return to the main arena. After a couple of minutes more, she burst from the room, minus her leg warmers and wearing her running shoes.

"Addy!" She turned to her second-in-command, who came trotting up to her, anxiety written all over his dark face.

"Yeah, boss? What's up? Is there anything…?" She cut off his inquiry with a piercing glare. It was her "ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies" expression. Once she donned that look, Adarath knew better than to try and probe any further.

"I feel the need to run. Take over, Addy. I'll be back in a bit. I just need to clear my head and a hard, fast run is just the thing that I need right now."

"I understand, Yu-vee."

That garnered him another disquieting look as she replied, "No, my dear friend, I'm afraid that you have no bloody idea what I'm going through!" Leaving that puzzling remark suspended in the air, she spun around and sprinted out of the arena and into the surrounding countryside.

Damn him! Damn him to hell! Why can't he just leave me alone! I'm running because I want some space, away from him and all of these bloody, back-stabbing, over-sexed Saiya-jins!

Lluvia had kicked it into a higher gear when she realized that Bardock had taken to the skies and was following her from the air since her abrupt departure from the arena.

"Leave me alone, Bardock!" she shouted over her shoulder, knowing that, even from his lofty height, his superior hearing could detect the agitated tone in her voice. "Quit dogging me, Saiya-jin!"

Bardock was concerned about her state of mind and he wasn't about to let her run off on her own. Her ki level had even risen past 3,000, if the readout on his scouter was to be believed. It seemed that the angrier she became, the higher it climbed, and the thought that it could escalate even further made him more than a tad uneasy.

"Sorry, baka! But you are my responsibility and I am not letting you run off without an escort!"

Grrr! He could hear the angry growl under her breath as she pumped her legs and arms harder.

"TURBO!" With that shout, only a puff of kicked-up dust remained where she'd just been beneath his astonished eyes. Bardock hovered momentarily in mid-air and he scanned anxiously around. His left hand came up to re-activate the scouter and found that she'd just covered a huge measure of ground in a few seconds and was now quite a distance away. But her current ki signal was inordinately high and his scouter was easily able to pinpoint her exact whereabouts. Muttering some very colorful Saiya-jin expletives under his breath, Bardock fired up his own ki to a higher level and arced out in the direction of the elusive and speedy runner.

Lluvia was just on the brink of hitting her version of a runner's high when she found herself being scooped up off the ground. Bardock's patience with her shenanigans had worn about as thin as he could stand it. He was taking the bull by the horns (or waist) this time. She snarled furiously and twisted about in his powerful arms.

Her strength was being further fueled by her anger and he quite nearly lost his grip on her a couple of times.

"STOP IT, YOU BLOODY BAKA!" he barked into her ear.

"PUT ME DOWN! NOW!" she roared right back at him.

Trying to keep her immobilized and airborne was proving to be too much even for Bardock. He quickly descended and summarily released her from his steely embrace the second his feet hit the ground. She pushed away from him, snarling and baring her teeth like a wild animal. As soon as she established a few paces distance between them, she stood and faced him with fists clenched, ready to do battle.

They stood this way for a few moments, panting and staring each other down. Every time he made a small motion towards her, she side-stepped in just the opposite direction, maintaining the exact same distance between them.

"What the deuce is wrong with you, woman?"

Lluvia replied with a brittle laugh, "Don't be so bloody dense, monkey-man!" Her finger lanced out in a condemning point towards him. "And don't you ever insult my intelligence! You know precisely what is wrong! Playing dumb does not become you!"

Bardock pulled up slightly from his combative stance. The underlying pain in her voice was getting to him.

"So what was it, huh, Bardock?" she spat out his name. "I was waiting for you, you know. I was more than willing to give myself freely to you with no strings attached! Did you really feel it necessary to drug me first?"

The warrior audibly hissed at her assumption and replied through clenched teeth. "For your information, woman, I have never needed to drug anyone with whom I've wanted to sleep!" Upon receiving that heated affirmation, Lluvia drew herself up and she unclenched her fists.

"Then it was Prince Vegeta, wasn't it?" The question was softly uttered, almost lost in the breeze blowing between them. The fact that he hesitated in answering her confirmed the suspicion she'd been harboring all along. "So just where were you when I needed you, Bardock? Conveniently absent from the scene? Or were you just standing around waiting for your share of royal sloppy seconds?" The whispered words tore into his being like jagged shards of glass.

Her shoulders shook as hot salty tears began to track down her flushed face.

"Damn you to hell, you lousy bastard!"

In the space of a heartbeat, he was standing in front of her, gathering her heated, tear-stained face in his two hands and tilting it up towards his. Bardock's mouth came down to taste the angry wet trails on her face and then moved to capture her lips, the light brine of her tears mixing in with the sweet. Instinctively responding to his passionate kisses, Lluvia found herself struggling with the fierce emotions threatening to consume her from within. Her longing to be with Bardock was a primitive burning urge flooding through her veins.

What the hell is wrong with me? I've never needed anybody like I need him! Even after all he's put me through I want him so very much! Her arms twitched and started to rise, to embrace him or push him away she didn't yet know.

The warrior's inner self was also being besieged with ardent emotions long dismissed from his Saiya-jin psyche as foolish weaknesses.

This troublesome,ornery little baka…sweet, blessed Kami! I want her so badly!

He suddenly felt a fierce building of heat near his midsection. This was not the usual stirring of desire he felt under normal amorous circumstances. Perplexed, Bardock pulled back slightly and looked down.

A tiny, but intense ball of violet ki energy had formed in between Lluvia's small hands. When he looked into her teary but resolute face he saw a deep arctic fury reflected in her liquid eyes.

"Have a nice trip, you Saiya-jin sonofabitch!"

His sturdy body armor and resilient inborn constitution protected him for the most part from her concentrated ki blast. But the proximity and pure force of her onslaught sent him plowing backwards through a couple of nearby foothills. Dazed, but essentially unharmed, he eventually opened his eyes to find himself in an underground cavern several kilometers away.

Damn, he thought, admiringly. Forget about Frieza destroying Vegeta-sei! It's that crazy little female who's probably going to be the death of me! And so help me, I want her all the more!

When he shook the acquired dirt and gravel off himself and recouped sufficiently to return to the point where she'd blasted him, she was long gone.

"Attention, everyone!" All the entertainers' heads snapped up once Lluvia's authoritative voice was heard. "I've decided that we're changing the lineup for this evening!"

Tristan and Adarath looked at each other with some trepidation. Their director's demeanor had changed radically from her earlier seeming lack of interest in the proceedings to one of hard-edged resolve.

"What do you have in mind, boss?" Sylvane was the first to ask.

"So glad you asked, my man," she replied coolly. "Tonight, we're switching to the `A-List'."

Adarath swallowed audibly at this. "Yu-vee! I don't mean to question your judgment, darlin', but do you think it wise to tap into our `A-list'?"

The reckless look in her brilliant eyes gave him her answer. "I appreciate your concern, Addy, but I feel an overwhelming need to give these Saiya-jins the best bang for their buck, if you catch my drift!"

A slightly bedraggled Bardock returned to the arena a little while later to find the entertainers embarking upon a new series of musical and dance routines. Lluvia blatantly ignored his arrival back to the venue. She was busily coordinating the new routines via everyone's MAARCU's and putting her performers through their respective paces.

Lluvia's "A-List" was a collection of songs and dances that were guaranteed to make an audience either squirm in discomfort or writhe in ecstasy. In Lluvia's mind, it really didn't matter a tinker's damn one way or the other how it would affect the Saiya-jins. The stage had always been her own personal battlefield; a place on which she had proven herself to be the victor time and again.