Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 19 ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter 19

From that point forward, Frieza's second-in-command just couldn't peel his eyes off of the lovely dancer. And from the numerous glances, surreptitious and overt, that were cast in their direction, neither could the majority of the guests. They were all wondering just what this unpredictable ningen female would end up doing next.

The sleek, shimmering fabric of her dress seemed to cast off a myriad of tiny constellations, reflecting and absorbing the surrounding light with each minute movement she made. The stark contrast of lilac-pale skin and white-gold hair against the midnight-blue material made her the most exotic creature there.

But she was his dinner partner, damn it! And they could look with their envious eyes all they wanted! Let these Saiya-jins eat their collective hearts out, Zarbon thought smugly to himself.

Lluvia's thoughts were on a different plane altogether. For the moment, she mentally shut out all the outside distractions, while her slender fingers delicately peeled the thin skin off of a grape-sized fruit she'd procured from a nearby serving platter. Once the skin was removed, she stopped to reverently consider the revealed anisette-flavored pulp, turning it back and forth between her right thumb and forefinger. The pulp's hue was of deep ebony, reminding her of the intense color of Bardock's eyes. Staring fixedly at the fruit, she allowed her mind to wander further from the obligatory gathering.

Bardock, sighed Lluvia to herself. I can hardly wait until this stupid dinner party is over and done with. Then I can finally be with you!

A private smile curved the side of her rosy mouth as she envisioned the face of her handsome Saiya-jin.

Observing her contemplative profile, Zarbon was mystified by her expression. What exactly is so bloody fascinating about that particular piece of fruit all of a sudden?

"Lluvia?" The curiously inquiring tone of Zarbon's voice made her tilt her head slowly toward the sound.

Lost in thoughts of her Saiya-jin warrior, Lluvia's pink tongue licked her slightly parted lips as she remembered the taste of Bardock's kisses. Half-closed in the memory of their shared desire, her eyes gleamed with an inner light.

Now there's a face just begging to be kissed! Mistaking her dreamy expression for one of unspoken invitation, Zarbon bent his head towards her.

Huh? "I'm sorry, Zarbon. What did you say…." Lluvia's eyes shot wide open upon finding Zarbon's face within an inch of her own.

Gak! What the devil does he think he's doing? He's not…I can't let him kissme! Not here in front of all these people!

Right before his lips could make contact with hers she leaned back and swiftly popped the peeled fruit directly into his partially open mouth. It was filled with a savory sweetness, but not quite the one he'd hoped for from his anticipated stolen kiss. His amber eyes flew open as the nectar from the juicy fruit dissolved in his astonished mouth.

"You cannot possibly be that hungry, Zarbon!" she teasingly admonished him.

He secured her hand in both of his large ones before she could retract it.

"You have no idea just how ravenous I am for you, my pale jewel!" he heatedly whispered, while kissing the tips of her captured fingers.

"Zarbon!" she scolded him under her breath. "Acquit yourself with a little more decorum, man! People are watching!" She abruptly reclaimed her hand, and, hoping to change the subject, she inquired, "So, what are you opting to have for dinner?"

He replied in sotto voce, "You, of course!" Lluvia rolled her eyes.

"For the love of Kami, you are absolutely impossible!"

Once he'd made his presence known to Tristan, Bardock wisely opted to loiter outside of the infirmary rather than be inside. Jenika's vociferous cursing and agonized groans were strident enough to raise the very dead, of that he was sure!

"Bardock!" The Saiya-jin glanced up as Lluvia's friend made his way out of the infirmary to approach him.

"Is it over?" Despite the lack of noise coming from the infirmary, Tristan shook his tousled head to the negative.

"Nope, 'fraid not. She's in the home stretch, though! At least, that's what the med techs keep telling me!" A huge grin split the younger man's face, belying the dark half-moons under his fatigued eyes. "Gosh! I'm so excited! I'm going to be a dad soon!"

The late dinner had already made its plodding way through several courses. Lluvia mentally noted that the quantity of foodstuffs consumed by the participants at this single sitting would have fed the population of a sizeable city almost anywhere else. She was relieved that Zarbon's table manners were quite a bit more refined than most of the Saiya-jins', but he certainly managed to choke down his share of the offered consumables.

After what occurred last evening with the tainted wine, Lluvia was exceedingly leery of anything placed directly before her. Employing her chopsticks and best sleight-of-hand techniques, she was able to discreetly trade a few morsels back and forth from Zarbon's plate to hers. She figured that nobody would be bold or stupid enough to tamper with the food intended for Frieza's right-hand man, but she wasn't about to take any more untoward chances, leastways not until she got safely off of Vegeta-sei for good. When the wine was poured into her crystal goblet, she waited for an opportune moment when Zarbon's gaze was diverted elsewhere (which wasn't often!) to pull an undetectable switcheroo of their wineglasses. To the casual eye of anyone in the room, she was enjoyably partaking of the dinner, albeit in no way near the volume of the immediate company.

When is this damnable soirée going to end? she repeatedly asked herself as the seemingly interminable minutes dragged on. The surrounding conversations were getting more contrived and mind-numbing by the second! And if the tail of this soused Saiya-jin general sitting on her left tried to make its way up her skirt and around her leg just one more time, she swore to herself that she was going to tie his intrusive appendage into a knot even Kami himself couldn't undo! On top of it all, keeping up the façade of being even remotely interested in her dinner date's none-too-subtle declarations of affection was wearing her patience wafer-thin. She surmised that Zarbon's inane "sweet nothings" were in no small part inspired by the amount of wine he'd tossed down his gullet up to this point in time.

"So, Lluvia..." Her ears perked up as King Vegeta's deep, commanding voice cut through the drone of muted conversations and laughter. "I would very much like to know the name of that unusual kata maneuver that you incorporated into your last dance routine." All other pockets of conversation died off as everyone's ears cocked forward for her response.

"You are most observant, your majesty! My late sensei, Akira Masaki, named that particular martial arts movement the 'windmill of the gods', for obvious reasons. It was considered to be one of his most renowned kata techniques."

Fortified by several glasses of wine and feeling an overwhelming need to confront this little upstart, Prince Vegeta sniggered mockingly. "Are you telling us that you, a dancer, apprenticed under the infamously reclusive Master Masaki? Everyone in this sector of the galaxy knows that he rarely, if ever, accepted students! You really are quite the yarn-spinner! I expect that the next thing you will claim is that you were his star pupil and he passed down his katana to you!" A few snippets of laughter circulated around the tables.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, King Vegeta silently fumed his displeasure at his son's patent disregard for proper etiquette towards one of their invited guests.

Lluvia merely smiled over at Prince Vegeta and patiently waited until the last of the diners' mirth played out. "It is most curious that you, of all people, should mention it, your highness, but indeed he did! The Dragon's Kiss was given to me as a gift by Master Masaki when I came into my majority at age sixteen."

She dipped the tip of her right middle finger in the wine and began to run it in a lazy circle atop the goblet's thin rim. This deliberate action caused the fine crystal to emit a low, steady and, to most of the Saiya-jins' sensitive aural receptors within range, a very disconcerting buzzing.

The royal heir glowered at her from his seat across the room. "You'll have to forgive my skepticism, but I just don't believe it!"

"Regardless, your highness, it is the truth!" She did not raise her eyes to meet his scornful gaze but continued to casually run her finger around the lip of the crystal, coaxing the buzz into a higher and more irritating decibel level. "Since that very day, the katana has been in my possession. In fact, one might say that I never leave home without it!"

The low-range vibration continued to permeate throughout the room, causing the hairs on most the Saiya-jins' tails to involuntarily bristle in response. And just as Lluvia had suspected, its fine pitch and tone was particularly wearing on the nerve endings of a certain arrogant young prince.

Payback's a bitch, she thought, smiling to herself. And her name is Lluvia Celestri!

Vegeta could contain himself no longer. "YOU ARE LYING!"