Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Abiding Bonds ❯ Seperation ( Chapter 1 )

Yeah, I spawned again. Mostly fluff this time though…kind of a hark back to the good old days of BOAP. I don't know where this story is going, or how long it's going to be. Right now, it's even rated PG 13. The rating WILL go up, there WILL be lemons though.

Lessee…alternate universe. Pairings? Vegeta/just about everyone. Trunks/just about everyone. NO shota. NO non-con planned. Much collars and slavery. Yummy. Some incest. Some het, though I don't plan on any het lemons thanks. Lots of Mpreg.

Disclaimers: I don't own Dragonball Z. I do own Sage in most of his incarnations. If you have to ask for permission to borrow him…here's a hint. Don't.

This universe was actually spawned by a discussion I had with Otana about how Vegeta would take responsibility for his procreation, and the joy I take in parading Saiyajins about in little more than ki-collars. *lecherous leer* Manawolf's Radditz again strongly influenced my own.

Always for Dasia. My muse in combat boots.

And for Manawolf and Otana for the inspiration.

Multi-layered chocolate and lemon thanks to my beta reader bakayaro_onna for beta'ing even though she's sick as a dog with the creeping crud.

I think that's it…my introductions just keep getting longer. So without further ado…please enjoy…

Binding Bonds

A Sagey Tail

By Talon

Chapter 1

Separation

Prince Trunks hurried down the corridors to his youngest…well…sort of youngest…brother's room. Long before he got there, he could hear the shrieks and sobs, and the hasty voice of his brother's body slave trying to calm the young princeling down. He could tell it wasn't working. In addition to looking like a carbon copy of their father, down to the last tuft of his flame-shaped mane, his brother also demonstrated a predisposition of the Vegeta line towards bull-headed stubbornness. But, of course, this was expected, as was the shrieking temper tantrum. Sage had just had his fourth birthday, and as such, he had been removed from his birth parent's care and awayfrom the slave quarters where he'd spent much of his life up to this point.

Trunks couldn't remember his own separation day, but his best friend and half brother, Goten, claimed to remember his. Their father would hopefully ignore everything until Sage settled down and accepted this. The King adored his children, all of them, but did not deal with hysterics very well. He had a temper that matched and exceeded all his children's, though Trunks privately thought Sage gave their father a real run for his money. He could hear snippets of words now. "Want MAMA!!!" and "Please, your Highness…" seemed to happen quite a lot. Slowing down a bit, he finally arrived at the ornate yet tasteful door where the clamorous noise emanated. The eldest Prince of Vegeta-sei took a deep breath and opened his brother's door.

The room inside was as lush and lavish as his own…as any of his sibling's. Toys, pillows, a bed designed especially for his little brother, softly painted walls, a plush, thick carpet, books, everything a child could possibly want…except the one thing a recently separated child wanted the most - his parent.

Nasu, Sage's body slave, looked harried as he tried in vain to comfort the screaming prince. "Really, Sage-sama, this is unseemly." And, "Your sebba would be very unhappy to know how you've been behaving…didn't he tell you to behave when you left?" Or, "If you stop now, we can read some stories, or play a game? Wouldn't that be fun?" And finally, "Oh PLEASE stop, Sage-sama, my head is killing me…"

Sage, to Trunks' secret admiration, didn't seem to even hear any of Nasu's pleads, threats, or bribes. His screams consisted of, "I WANT MY MAMA!!! TAKE ME TO MY MAMA!!" The tantrum was complete with kicking and pounding his head on the floor, his tiny face was bright red, and his blue-black tail was lashing and thumping against the floor.

With a nod to Nasu, and an audible sigh of relief from the elder slave as he retreated to his adjoining room, Trunks settled down on the floor and to wait for Sage to notice he was there.

It took awhile, but after probably ten minutes, Sage seemed to realize the frantic Nasu was no longer hovering over him. Slowly his screams diminished to sobs and sniffles, and he turned his head slightly to see his older brother sitting calmly beside him on the floor. "I want my Mama," he informed his older sibling.

Trunks shrugged. "I know. But you're too big a boy to live in the slave quarters now. You're a prince, and you have to start learning to deal with wanting what you can't have."

Sage opened his mouth to scream again, but he stopped when Trunks said very calmly, "If you start screaming again, I will leave. I've already told Nasu to leave for the night. If you want to scream, you'll do it alone."

Sage scowled and his breath hitched in his chest, but he didn't scream. He was a bright boy, conceded Trunks, and definitely one of his favorite siblings. His father provided for all his offspring, but the line for the throne was very short. All his children wanted for nothing, all had royal titles, but of the six or seven cubs he had sired, only two were in line for the throne at the moment - Trunks, as the eldest, and when Sage had been born, the Vegeta lookalike was added. Trunks often thought it was his father's vanity that had made him add Sage to the list of ascension, that combined with the fact Sage's sebba was his father's favorite slave, The King had been delighted when his favored one had finally conceived. Having an offspring who finally showed the strength of the Vegeta line without the offspring ever saying a word, or flashing a power level, was a potent statement.

"I want my Mama." Here we go again, thought Trunks to himself.

"I know you want your Mama, but you can't have your Mama."

"I wanna go home."

"You are home. This is your home; this is your new room. Papa had it made `specially for you. Don't you like it? Look, he even had new toys bought and put in here, just for you."

"I like my old toys an' my old room BETTER."

"But you had to share your room with your Mama. Now you have your very own bed…."

But that was a mistake. Sage didn't scream, but his eyes welled up with tears and his lip wobbled. "I don't WANT my own bed an' room!!" A far cry from his defiant screams and yells earlier, this was heartbreaking, even for Trunks, who had been through this with at least four other siblings.

"Sage, you know you haven't been taken away from your Mama forever. As soon as you settle down and accept this, you can visit him whenever you want. That's the way it go…" but it was too late. Sage was crying. Not screaming, not wailing, but crying. Trunks didn't blame the cub, separation was a difficult thing. But all the royal cubs went through it. And they'd all survived, right?

"I can't even hear him no more!!!" sobbed the small prince. Trunks sighed. All slaves were ki-collared as per royal law. The fact that none of them even unrestrained could ever hope to even harm his father did not change his father from (Trunks suspected) gleefully following the law. The collars were specially designed. The ones for the Saiyajin slaves had a bond filter built into the ki-restraint. It was a simple matter for the king, or the slave master to activate the bond filter for separation, punishment or other reasons. The few alien races in his father's harem could not telepathically bond with their children, and so did not have the filter. Some also could not use ki. Their collars were more for decoration than anything. His mother's collar for example.

Trunks suspected that was the real reason Sage had been pounding his head on the floor earlier. Sage's sebba had been in his head all his life, from his time in the carrying chamber until now. Reaching out to stroke his brother's velvet-like cub mane, Trunks said softly, "It's not forever. Just until you're used to things. That's all. And Papa's there…you can feel Papa…and me, right?" Bond-speaking to his little brother, and hoping he responded to it, the older Prince continued. "I bet you can still feel me, an' Goten at least…can't you?"

Sage's clear, high bond voice wailed in Trunks' head, "It's not the saaaaaaaame!!!!" Well, at least he'd responded. That was good. That was a good sign this whole situation was salvageable. It was the middle of the night, and if Trunks didn't get some sleep, tomorrow was gonna be a bitch. And if Sage didn't get some sleep, well, everyone else was going to be miserable. Like their father, Sage had that talent that seemed to make the old third class saying ring true, "If the King ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy." Only substitute "shrimp" for "King".

Trunks looked up quickly at the sound of the door, but it was only Goten, also in his pajamas. "I heard all the commotion…thought you could use a hand," he said, running a hand through his rumpled mane.

Trunks smiled at his brother, best friend, well, Goten was a lot of things to him." "Yeah, thanks…" over Sage's tears. "He's having a rough time of it." Gently taking Sage into his arms, he cuddled the tiny cub for a few minutes as Goten joined them.

Goten nodded and purred at the crying cub. "Saa na, Sage…it's all right…see? We're right here…" Petting his little brother gently, he wiped the cub's tears with the tip of his tail. "No reason for all this fussing." His voice was soft, and the undertone of the purr throbbed through it. "I remember when I was separated. I cried all night. But you know what? I saw my Mama the very next day. Your Mama's still going to be there, and he'll still love you, Sage." Catching Trunks' eye, he nodded slightly towards the bed, and Trunks, understanding nodded back. Get him into bed. Something the body slave couldn't do. No one could touch a prince forcefully, unless they had special permission…or were royal themselves.

Sage was still crying, but he was starting to look sleepy. "I wanna sleep with my Mama!!!" he cried pitifully as they tucked him in snuggly in the small bed. "I don't LIKE this bed…it don't smell right."

It wasn't because his brothers were unsympathetic, but no one could make this easier on Sage. And they simply tucked him in tightly, so he couldn't move around much, kissed his face and told him to go to sleep, and things would look better in the morning, and they'd see him at breakfast with Papa. They hadn't reached the door when the screaming started again. Goten paused, and made to go back, but Trunks shook his head and led him out of the room.

"I already told him if he started screaming again, he'd have to do it by himself, `ten."

Goten sighed. "But he really shouldn't be alone. I think this whole separation deal is unfair. But you already know how I feel about that." He was quiet for a few minutes as they walked towards their bedrooms. "Mama's carrying again."

That brought Trunks to a screeching halt. "Your Mama?" At Goten's nod, he continued disbelievingly. "Already?" Goten nodded again and Trunks leaned against the wall, his silvery purple tail bapping thoughtfully against his leg. "Does Papa know?"

"Yeah. He's got Mama off-duty now and in the medical bay. Seeing as how it's so close…well…"

"Yeah…I mean, he just lost the other pregnancy, what…two months ago?" Goten nodded. "Well fuck me. Another little brother." Grinning at Goten, he pulled himself up off the wall. "C'mon, I'll get you somethin' to drink, an' you c'n stay over an' tell me all about it." Falling easily into what was known as slave speak, Trunks and his only slightly younger brother vanished into his room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sage continued to scream and cry for a good while after his brothers left, before struggling out from under the covers. He'd never slept alone in his LIFE, and he'd be double damned if he was gonna start NOW. Screw that. Jus' because Mama said everything'd be all right, jus' because he'd been tol' he would be "separated" soon, jus' because he was supposed to be "prepared" for all this, jus' because he was supposed to be a big boy now, didn't mean he had ANY intention of taking this lyin' down.

Rubbing his face with his fist, and climbing down from the bed, Sage padded over to the door that joined his room to his body slave, Nasu's room. Pressing his ear against the door, he listened carefully; satisfied Nasu was sleeping, and carefully crept over to the door that led out of his room.

Reaching the door handle was difficult, but once he did, and once he maneuvered that big, heavy door into opening, he could hardly contain his gasp of relief. No guards - the hall was empty, or mostly empty. Guard stations were here and there, but that was to be expected, after all. Not a problem though. Sage was very used to not being seen. It was extremely handy to be invisible. Closing the door silently, he slipped into the shadows and began making his way back to the slave quarters.

When questioned the next day the guards between the Royal wing and the slave quarters admitted they thought they saw something a few times, or heard a strange noise, but never investigated simply because it happened only once or twice. Sage himself paused only once, holding his breath as three guards conversing casually walked RIGHT by him as he pressed into the shadows of the corridor.

The slave quarters were locked at night, not to prevent escapes, but to protect the slaves inside. They couldn't defend themselves very well without ki, and so they didn't particularly mind being locked in. Again, this was no problem for Sage, who made it a point to find out what the code was when it changed, every three days. Punching the code in, he waited for the door to slide open, then programmed it to close and lock behind him, and dashed inside, heading straight for his Mama's room to climb into the bed with him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Radditz hadn't really been asleep. He'd paced and worried and clawed at the door, and cried for his son who was growing up too fast. He'd pawed at his ornate, jeweled collar until he bled, just wanting a tiny mind touch from his only child. When he'd finally fallen into bed, exhausted, he'd tossed and turned and sighed and worried some more. He knew his son was safe; Vegeta would never let anything happen to him. Still, separation was as hard on the birth parent as it was on the child, and Radditz, who doted and spoiled his little princeling with everything he had in him, was no exception.

He thought he was dreaming when his door opened and the infinitesimal weight settled next to him. He was certain it was a dream when a miniature hand ghosted across his face, but his eyes jerked open at the soft trill. His arm automatically moved to his mouth to open a vein for his son, and he smiled and cuddled him close when Sage's small mouth latched onto him and began to feed. He wasn't sure if Vegeta would be angry in the morning, or proud, but for one more night, Radditz had his son in his arms, purring and content. And now…he could sleep.

To be continued…