Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 29 ( Chapter 29 )

Chapter 29

"So…you're really leaving?"

Bardock turned away from his opened space pod to find Lluvia standing a few strides away and regarding him with an outwardly unreadable expression.

The incredible night they had spent together was still fresh in his mind. By all rights, he should've been beyond exhausted. To his great surprise, he felt lighter and stronger than ever before. His muscles were definitely sore, but, unlike the physical after-effects of a lengthy battle, it was a soreness that he pleasurably relished. Throughout the night, Lluvia had made love to him with the same intensity that she put into her dancing, with her whole heart and soul. Now, he truly understood what the term `being ravished' meant.

His warrior's mindset also gained a new appreciation as to why Saiya-jins, as a whole, did not openly support bonding among the lower ranks. If an opponent/enemy became aware of the depth of a particular bond, they could exploit it as a weakness. Once joined permanently, a bondmate would automatically place the life of his/her chosen mate first, above king, country, and everyone else. Bonding with ningens would further compromise a Saiya-jin's loyalties and, as such, prove to be a double liability. The lower ranks were earmarked strictly for fighting and anything that would jeopardize that needed to be avoided.

Lluvia, on the other hand, was fondly remembering the sure touch of his hands and mouth, as they laid claim to every square inch of her body. Even that tail of his seemed to have a life of its own, as it continually tickled, stroked, and complemented his ardent lovemaking. Last night, their combined attentions rendered her into a state of exultant breathlessness, over and over again.

Today, she was wearing hip-riding pants tucked into ankle-high, black leather boots, which matched the cropped jacket she'd slung over her left shoulder. The cap-sleeved top had a high mandarin collar, secured all the way up her neck, and effectively concealing the bonding mark he'd made upon the left side of her lower neck last night. The entire ensemble was made of a slinky, gradient material, embossed with tiny, silvery-gray reptilian scales, which caught the daylight in a rippling pattern as she moved. Her pale midriff was exposed from just below her ribcage down to her hips. As usual, The Dragon's Kiss was draped in its familiar silvery chain form around her lower waist.

My very own bondmate, he thought to himself. Mine for all time! Kami, this last excursion can't end soon enough for me!

He had already decided that this mission would be his last; after it was done, he would leave Vegeta-sei forever and go to Theta Seven to be with Lluvia. He still wasn't sure how to explain it to Toma and the rest of his team, but he'd cross that particular bridge when he came to it.

Bardock was wearing his customary, form-fitting Saiya-jin battlesuit with deep crimson leg warmers and matching armbands. A mock-necked, short-sleeved dark blue undershirt was added to his attire for the same reason as her high-necked top. The additional piece of clothing was chafing him a little, but he didn't want to reveal her corresponding bonding mark on his neck to the Saiya-jin population at large. But once his mission was over and they were reunited for good, then he wouldn't give a flaming rat's ass who knew about it!

"Yes, I am slated to take on this mission. My crew has already departed Vegeta-sei and my launch window for Meat-sei is rapidly narrowing."

Lluvia couldn't stop herself from mentally undressing him, remembering the awesomely sexy body concealed by all the layers of clothing.

((Don't you dare look at me that way, baka! It's hard enough to keep my hands to myself now that we have life-bonded!)) He had to fight to keep the corners of his mouth from curling into a smile at her.

She responded with a hint of a grin at his transmitted thoughts. "I'm curious, though. I was wondering what I should be saying to you now. You know, what the proper send-off phrase should be to someone heading off on a planet-purge. Would it be 'Have a nice purge', or 'Don't let the nasty ningens bite', or how about…?"

He glowered at her half-hearted attempts to crack a joke. ((Lluvia! You cannot possibly believe that I am going to actually enjoy this? Not after what I now know about us and how we first met?))

Momentarily abashed, Lluvia lowered her eyes and silently stared down at the ground between them. ((Sorry, Saiya-jin mine! But it's taking all my emotional strength not to totally dissolve into a puddle of teary mush under all of these prying eyes! I want you to come back to me safely! Please, promise me that you will take care of yourself! I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you!))

The Saiya-jin commander's features relaxed as his mind listened to her passionate plea. "I will be returning, and soon. This mission to Meat-sei will probably turn out to be a routine exercise and, if it runs true to form, my crew will most likely have it in the bag long before I even touch ground there. What about you? What are your plans?" ((Will you be all right?))

Lluvia lifted her head to meet his down-turned gaze. "My gang is packing even as we speak, and we're all scheduled to depart for Theta Seven within the hour."

((You're dodging my question, woman! Will you be all right?))

Her lopsided, but undeniably sad, smile cast a shadow on the carefree expression she was trying so hard to maintain. ((Don't you fret your pretty little head about me, Bardock! After all, what could possibly happen in less than an hour?))

Bardock's eyebrows again knitted together in consternation when he heard this.

((What indeed! That is precisely what concerns me, my little baka!)) So far as he knew, Zarbon had yet to depart Vegeta-sei, and there was the king and prince with which to contend…

"Commander Bardock! Pardon me, sir, but your launch window is closing and you need to take off immediately," cautiously interjected one of the launch pad attendants. He'd been standing off to the side, listening to the casually spoken conversation between the Saiya-jin warrior and the pale female and, for some reason, was reluctant to interrupt them.

"Well, then," said Lluvia, taking a few steps backward and offering up a shy one-handed wave as she departed. "I guess I'll be seeing you around sometime, Bardock!" Bardock gave a single nod of his head and a small smile as he settled into his pod. Then the hatch closed.

Bardock's spacepod took off into the sun-splashed midday Saiya-jin sky. Sighing, Lluvia stood watching its departure with her hands cupped over her eyes until the spherical vehicle was swallowed up by the upper atmosphere. Unhooking her MAARCU, which was hanging from one of her jacket clips, she slowly walked towards the awaiting transport on the other side of the landing surface. She was detained momentarily on her way there, hailed by a few Saiya-jins who wanted to compliment her and her group on their performances of the past two evenings. When Lluvia finally arrived a few minutes later at the transport, she adjusted her MAARCU over her left eye and ear as she stood at the bottom of the portal's entrance.

"Helloo, the ship! Permission to come aboard, sir!" she hailed brightly into the hatchway.

"Hello there, Yu-vee! How'd it go?" asked Willard, the pilot, as he poked his head out of the open hatchway to greet her. He was the owner/operator of Theta Seven's premiere space charter service, which the Shadow Entertainers had employed on several occasions for traveling to their engagements throughout the quadrant. Willard enjoyed hearing about their experiences and about the various audiences for which they'd performed. This was his first charter to Vegeta-sei, and he was dying of curiosity about the fearsome Saiya-jins and how they reacted to Lluvia and her group. "I'll bet you guys brought the house down!"

Just as she began to give him a condensed run-down of the past few days, a frenzied chirping in her left ear cut into her recitation.

This can't be good, she thought with a stab of foreboding.

At the palace…

"King Vegeta…uh, your majesty?" A cautiously inquiring voice broke into his distracted reverie. The Saiya-jin monarch had been smiling in apparent agreement to the ongoing discussions, but his thoughts were far away from the current meeting with his royal advisors. They were all scrutinizing his face, trying to get a bead about what could possibly be on his mind. He had appeared to be weighting the offered inputs with his customary deliberation, when the one questioner realized in horror that the king was actually woolgathering for once, instead of paying attention to the proceedings. The gently offered question gave him, and the advisor who spoke, a chance to recover without appearing foolish in front of the rest. King Vegeta looked down from his throne to see his advisors intently peering up at him with varying expressions on their faces.

"Yes…as you were saying, Captain Apio," he prompted.

The gathered advisors would have been quite scandalized if they actually had a clue as to what was preoccupying his thoughts...

The king couldn't help but go over the last evening's conversation, if one could properly label it that, with his mulish son. Once he'd cornered Prince Vegeta and Nappa, the prince inasmuch confessed to the drugging and near-rape of the dancer. He'd also stubbornly insisted that he'd felt justified in exacting his revenge on her, claiming that by not immediately identifying herself to him, she'd played him for a fool; and in public, no less! While the prince spewed his heated testimony to his father, Nappa just kept nodding his large, bald head in mute agreement. The king listened to his son's diatribe against Lluvia for as long as he could stand it, then cut off Prince Vegeta's rant with an impatiently bellowed "Enough!"

The king lambasted his sole offspring, informing him that he did not appreciate his son's behavior towards a person (even if she was a ningen) already declared off-limits and under his royal protection. Furthermore, in his opinion, Prince Vegeta's attitude had deteriorated to a new low under Frieza's influence and that he, his father, was sorely tempted to recall his son permanently back to Vegeta-sei, so that he could regain what was left of his discarded manners before he would be deemed fit to assume the throne. And lastly, King Vegeta issued a clearly worded warning that Lluvia and her fellow entertainers were not to be harassed any further, or there would be hell to pay!

After the antechamber's door closed behind his son and Nappa, King Vegeta remained behind to pace for a while around the room in order to work off his agitation. Prince Vegeta had been so determined to"get even" with Lluvia that he hadn't stopped to realize she could have created a truly distasteful scene at the dinner party by publicly denouncing his near-attack on her. Such an accusation, voiced in public to their fellow Saiya-jins, would not only have caused a great loss of face for the Prince, but would have most certainly reflected badly upon the King, as well. It was an established, albeit unwritten, code of conduct, that no Saiya-jin need ever debase himself or herself by sexually assaulting an unwilling partner. Instead of openly humiliating the prince, the dancer had paid him back, using judicious discretion, and without uttering a single word in the process. The other attendees hadn't the foggiest idea what had nearly transpired right in their midst. No doubt most of them had written off her actions as inexplicable; for how could anyone hope to understand what went on in a female ningen's mind anyway?

An admiring grin pulled at a corner of the king's mouth, as he recalled Lluvia's wordless and stately exit from the dining room.

A most formidable female, he mused. Elegant, entertaining, witty, resourceful, and quite beautiful. What did Zarbon call her? Ah, yes…a pale jewel. A most rare one, to boot. Having such a woman by one's side, and in one's bed, would prove to be an enviable asset, impressive to both friend and foe alike.

The king slowed his pacing down and began to meditatively stroke his goatee. From their stations, his two bodyguards watched as their king's small grin broadened into a full smile.

Of course, he pondered, struck by an inspired thought. A ningen, no matter how many unique qualities she might have, would never be accepted by the general Saiya-jin population as a suitable mate to one born of noble blood, but it would not be the first time in Vegeta-sei's recorded history that a Saiya-jin king had taken a ningen as his royal concubine. Now, if he could just figure out a way to get her to spar with him first…

Once curtly dismissed from his angry sire's company, the prince went out in futile search of some female company to aid him in effecting a release from his anger. On top of everything else all of the palace courtesans were already otherwise engaged, which left him, the Prince of all Saiya-jins, dateless and frustrated. In his opinion, this night had started out fairly tolerable and deteriorated quickly from bad to worse.

The old man had chewed him out numerous times before, but nothing to this extent! And it was all the fault of that dancer bitch! Prince Vegeta wasn't blind to the fact that his father's notice had strayed an embarrassing number of times towards Zarbon's date during the dinner party.

So, his dear sire had designs on that one as well, did he? A devilish smirk curled his mouth, as a devious scheme began to take root in the fertile soil of the prince's hubris.

Perhaps I could concoct a means by which she'd have to reveal her true battling strength and,at the same time, cause her to remain permanently on Vegeta-sei as, say, a giftof appeasement for my father?