Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Accidental Redemption ❯ RADITZ' PROTEGE ( Chapter 3 )

Well guys and gals here it is at last. I just have to warn everyone that this chapter contains a graphic evisceration scene and a cursory reference to rape, so don't read it if you're squeamish about that kind of ting.

Give it up for Meliza Mac, SSJ NaCoBe and Kyra Fable who were kind enough to beta this thing and a big "thank you" to everyone who posted reviews for the previous chapters. It really is inspiring to hear that folks are reading this and actually liking it so please keep the inspiration coming!

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ACCIDENTAL REDEMPTION

By Evil Saint

III. RADITZ' PROTÉGÉ

*Do you remember the stain?

Do you remember the pain?

Do remember who caused all the blame?

Do you remember me?

Do you remember us?

Do you surrender your dreams and your trust?

It was late in the afternoon and the shadows were starting to stretch across the landscape, creating merciful islands slightly milder in temperature than the lingering scorch of the sun's abating rays. Snow-capped mountains rose to the north with the swaying verdure of a rural forest begging sanctuary in their shade as the eye of heaven burned white from above. The single sound of a raptor's cry floated down from the highland and threaded through the trees on the back of the wind, serenading the resting training ground of a motley band of warriors bound solely by the tactical truth that one's enemy's enemy is your friend…

The small group was camped out in a clearing by the crystal water of a mountain spring, succumbing to the lazy atmosphere of high summer. The fighters were essentially done with their training for the day and, for once, they allowed themselves to simply trust in the serendipity, pledged in the languor of the ebbing heat.

Nurami sat on a boulder ~ a safe distance away from the meditating Namek ~ staring absently at Goku and Gohan as they wrestled feverishly within the depths of the pool. Her chest plate, flank guards and gauntlets lay discarded beside her in surrender to the sweltering humidity, leaving her dressed in the standard-issue black leotard and boots of Frieza's disbanded military. Her back was still sore from a particularly hard meeting with a cliff-face during the morning's sparring session and her long, wavy mane of bronze and gold was shifted aside, granting her fingers access to the bruised flesh. She'd already had two senzu beans in as many weeks, compared to just one for her tauntingly durable male counterpart and tempted as she was to ask Goku for a third, pride won over sensibility and she suffered in silence, not wanting to appear weak in the eyes of her ilk.

The girl's unruly locks shone as a bold beam of light peeked out from behind a lonely cloud, dancing over her shoulder and across her face, causing her amber eyes to flutter dramatically at the invading brightness. Languidly she shifted her position to halt the sun's assault on her retinas, still massaging her tender skin as her attention returned to her brethren's friendly ruction.

The pair was rowdy, even for Saiyans, and their seemingly limitless gusto never ceased to astound her. They looked more like brothers engaged in a rough bout of sibling rivalry than father and son and it was a marvel that neither had drowned yet. At that point in the fray Goku was trapped in a strangling headlock, coughing and spluttering as he struggled to keep his head above water. In turn, Gohan yelped in protest as his father's elbow repeatedly tenderised his exposed ribs. Neither was showing any signs of relenting however, and Nurami knew from experience that the fight would carry on until the opponents either got tired ~ which could take hours ~ or were distracted by hunger ~ which would be a whole lot sooner considering their Vegetan roots.

Watching the two roughhousing, her thoughts strayed, taking a trip down memory lane to visit another ebony-maned Saiyan who had been so much like a father in her own eyes. A man who'd been dead for three years already; killed by the very people she was camped out with. She sighed sadly, her brow creasing as she felt the guilty resentment of old bubbling up inside her. They'd killed Raditz ~ her liberator, her teacher, her friend ~ and she was fraternising with them as if they'd committed no crime whatsoever!

The little half-Saiyan stopped kneading her abrasions and folded her arms over her drawn-up legs, resting her chin on her knees. The terracotta fur of her newly sprouted tail dusted abstractedly across the mossy rock she was perched on, her honey-hued gaze passing sightlessly across the scenery as the events leading up to her keeper's untimely death replayed before her mind's eye…

~*~*~*~

Saiyans weren't known for strong family ties, but blood tends to thicken when a man's entire word is incinerated in the blink of an eye. Raditz refused to accept that he, the noble, the royal and possibly her anonymous father were all that remained of their mighty genus and his ardour was unshakable in searching for other survivors.

It was during one such sleuthing for clues in the digital library of Frieza's ship that he stumbled upon the name of a class-five world, deep within the folds of "Dark Space" as the remote, untravelled reaches of the void were known. The relatively small planet, called Earth, had been marked for purging over two decades earlier, but there was no clearing confirmation on file.

The omission tweaked the soldier-turned-detective's curiosity and it was with mild interest that Raditz looked up the details of the team charged with terminating the planet's life forms. Great was his surprise when he discovered the name of one Saiyan infant, officially listed as missing in action only weeks before the Saiyan Empire went to war against Frieza. Landing logs were documented, meaning that the cub had reached his destination; yet the pod's scanners hadn't reported any significant changes in the world's ecology beyond the moment of planetfall. This puzzled the warrior intensely, seeing as the inhabitants of a class-five world were supposed to be virtually defenceless and incapable of mounting resistance against even the weakest Saiyan in his Oozaru form.

Intrigued, Raditz continued studying the information on the screen and his surprise quadrupled when he investigated the boy's genetic statistics and recognised the name of the brat's paternal parent as that of his own father: Commander Bardock of the Sheruak Clan! For several excruciatingly long moments, Raditz could do nothing but stare agape at the screen in front of him as his usually lightning-quick wit wrestled with the fact that the missing cub was none other than his long lost half-brother, Kakkarot…

Prince Vegeta was sceptical about the possibility of the boy's survival and would hear nothing of pursuing the information. Deep Space was a precarious place and brats were left at its nonexistent mercy during the long treks to their assigned worlds. It wasn't unheard of for babies to die on route to a mission after contracting some long dormant, abyss-bound virus through the craft's filtering system, or to asphyxiate due to life-support malfunction, or to fall victim to a variety of other misfortunes. The pods operated on the instructions of an automated pilot that would direct the ship to its destined coordinates as long as the vessel was capable of propulsion, regardless whether its cargo was alive or not, and Vegeta reasoned that the pod's successful voyage was irrelevant when the failed purge provided clear evidence of the cub's ill fate.

Fate however, had her own ideas and a fortnight after Raditz' find, Frieza set his sights on enslaving Ta'iu Vakhor ~ the homeworld of a fierce race of shape-shifters ~ and it wasn't long before the Saiyans were ordered to try and succeed where dozens of other squads had failed at the price of their lives. It was during the mission briefing at Frieza's main base on the frozen Tartarus of Dargad Prime, that Raditz grabbed his chance and risked life and limb to present the information about the missing cub to the Emperor himself. Putting his infamously sly tongue to good use, the soldier softened up the megalomaniacal lizard, stroking his ego with a few well-chosen words before casually noting how much easier it would be to conquer Ta'iu Vakhor if only a fifth Saiyan's fighting strength could be added to their ranks.

After much debate and teeth grinding from the prince, the third-class' arguments still managed to prevail and Raditz was given permission to track down the castaway. Vegeta was livid at his subordinate for going over his head on the matter and spitefully forbade Nurami to accompany him on the expedition. The prince ignored her iterations that her guardian might need backup, saying that the reptile granted Raditz alone leave to depart on the "frivolous waste of training time" and that he wanted her and Nappa to be in top shape when they finally went up against the Vakhoraji.

And so it was that she remained stranded at headquarters with reluctantly contained frustration while Raditz went off on what she believed to be a splendid adventure. She wasn't truly worried when he left, though. He was an expert space farer as well as a capable combatant with a shrewd head on his shoulders. Raditz had carried out innumerable reconnaissance missions in his life and she didn't doubt that he would return safe and sound, maybe even with a new comrade to welcome into the fold…

Several months passed without incident. Raditz was travelling well and making excellent time. It was very early in the morning, with the polar winds howling like spectral entities as they sailed across the frost-bedecked wilderness surrounding the base, when the transmission came: He had made landfall on Earth and was zeroing in on a power signature that was undeniably Saiyan in its magnitude. Despite the prince's initial condemnation of the search, the news sparked a rush of anticipation in the Saiyans' barracks and the cadre of mercenaries were out of bed and huddled together in a flash, hanging on every word spoken by their distant comrade.

Even Nappa who never expressed an interest in anything that didn't involve stuffing his face or bloody massacre ~ which was often one in the same thing ~ tuned in to his scouter com-link and in an uncharacteristic show of generosity the prince allowed Nurami to listen to the communiqués via his scouter, since her body count was still too low to "justify" one of her own.

They waited as Raditz sped through the air to the pinpointed area, unanimously holding their breaths in excitement as he closed in on the location. Then they heard Raditz' voice speak up, crisp and clear in the native tongue of the secluded planet, addressing whoever was present at his destination. It took a moment for their translator-implants to process the foreign language, but soon enough the peculiar audio emanating from the com-link mutated and morphed into sounds, then phrases and finally words that they recognised and the trio listened intently to the dialogue taking place hundreds of light-years away.

Lo and behold, Raditz had found the renegade Saiyan alive and well! But the man was claiming that his name was Goku and that he was a human, indigenous to the backwater world he was supposed to have cleared in infancy. From the heated conversation it was deducted that he'd reproduced, siring a half-breed with a local female and that the brat and a number of Earthlings were with him as several unfamiliar voices sounded in the background. The warrior's odd behaviour was finally explained as an insight from Raditz to query him about a possible head-injury uncovered the reason for the botched mission as well as the man's un-Saiyan attitude: He'd been knocked half-witted in a fall as a baby and the resulting amnesia had him living in blissful ignorance of his origins as well as the dark purpose behind his presence on Earth.

Kakkarot or "Goku" sounded deeply disturbed by the revelation that he was in fact a member of a destroyed race of destroyers and an alien to the world he knew as his home, but his reaction was nothing compared to Raditz' outrage at his brother's disgraceful renouncement of his heritage. For the first time in the three years Nurami had known him, Raditz was allowing his emotions to overrule the sharp methodical guile that had kept him alive for so long as he snatched up his still untrained nephew at a speed that had the humans gasping and cursing in horrified awe, saying that he would not allow the boy to go astray as his father had and that he would teach him the meaning of being a Saiyan. His brother wasn't about to let his son be kidnapped without a fight, though ~ proving that he had some Saiyan spirit left in him after all ~ and he set off after Raditz with an audible burst of energy, hell bent on reclaiming what was his.

For minutes on end the roar of the rushing wind was all that could be heard through the link ~ aside from a sporadic sob followed by Raditz' growled exhorts "to hold still and shut the fuck up" ~ as the Saiyan and his load raced back to the relative safety of his spacepod. They weren't destined to reach it however.

"Let my son go!" The maverick commanded, his voice thick with belligerence as he intercepted the other's course.

"I came here for reinforcements Kakkarot and unlike you I do not abscond from my duties!" Raditz sniped with equal scorn.

"… This planet is already dead! It's long overdue for purging and it's only a matter of time before the order is carried out. There is nothing you can do about that, but I'm offering you a chance to redeem yourself, brother; to save yourself and your son by enlisting with your own people and becoming the fighter you were born to be. Surely you wouldn't risk your own life and the life of your cub for the sake of these pathetic human-creatures?" Kakkarot gave no answer as another voice interjected before he could speak.

"This world will remain intact alien, and you will leave its inhabitants in peace or you will not leave at all!" A deep, even baritone met their ears, which didn't fit either of Bardock's sons, although both Saiyans seemed to know the speaker.

"Piccolo?!"

"You?!" This doesn't concern you friend, but if you have a death wish by all means, stick around!" Raditz' sibling sounded both glad and apprehensive at the newcomer's arrival, while a barely discernable hitch in Raditz' own voice told his crewmates that he was not as undaunted by the warrior's threat as he would've liked; although that didn't stop him from tossing away the crossbreed and lunging straight into bloody conflict with the two men anyway.

Nurami ended her staring-contest with Raditz' unused bunk and construed the faces of her comrades worriedly, feeling her stomach flip-flop with the terrible look of foreboding that met her eyes. Raditz was outnumbered three to one counting Kakkarot's brat, and though the scouter-transmissions showed that independently the fighters posed no threat, their combined strength could very well be enough to overpower the lone third-class.

The girl cast her gaze back down to a spot on the bed and listened quietly to the raging battle, powerless to affect the outcome.

It was hard to keep score with only muffled swearing and scuffling as indicators, but to Nurami's intense relief it sounded like Raditz had gained the upper-hand and was on the verge of levelling the playing field by sending his brother to the Next Dimension. She was about to breath an alleviated sigh, when symbols began to dance on the scouter's powerlevel-gauge as the up-until-then-fear-paralysed brat was abruptly galvanised into action. The sigh stuck in her throat when the reading concluded that the half-breed's rage-driven strength rivalled his uncle's and her canines sank painfully into the inside of her cheek, stilling her woeful howl as the cub turned his phenomenal energies full force against her unprepared warden…

The boy's temper tantrum was short-lived and his powerlevel fell again as quickly as it had climbed, but not soon enough to save Raditz. The damnable brat had managed to free his father and weaken Raditz sufficiently for the man to commit the ultimate act of mutiny. Grabbing hold of Raditz from behind, the traitor pacified the warrior long enough for his crony to power up and unleash a powerful energy blast that bore through Raditz first and continued to burn a hole through the younger of Bardock's children, fatally wounding both Saiyans in the end.

Nurami listened with bated breath, blinking back tears as the sounds of the battle died down; clinging to the childish hope that the gods would intervene and that Raditz would be alright…

But it was not to be.

Her blood ran cold upon hearing her guardian's wheezed plea for vengeance as he struggled to breathe, drowning slowly as his pulverised lungs filled with blood.

"Idiot peasant!" Nappa sneered unsympathetically, ripping the scouter from his ear and tossing it down onto his bunk before setting out in search of breakfast, leaving Nurami and Vegeta alone in each other's company. They stood in shocked silence, unable to face each other as they struggled to make sense of what had come to pass.

The prince had never been amicable in his dealings with his third-class subject, but through the years Nurami had sensed an unspoken brotherhood between the two men, an unlikely camaraderie forged from a common loss and a burden shared. For a single, harrowing moment after Raditz' voice had faded into eternal silence and only those of his assassins remained, Vegeta's mental walls faltered ever so slightly, letting her know that she was not alone in her grief…

~*~*~*~

Nurami was jolted back to the present by a miniature tsunami breaking against her bolder as Gohan came crashing down in the shallows a few meters from where she was sitting. She jumped to her feet, hissing like an angry cat as her blue and white combat boots were soaked with icy water. Her attention was quickly diverted from her footwear however, as a localised shower started pouring down overhead.

The girl's eyes shot up in fury to see her drenched fellow hybrid hovering right above her, utterly oblivious to her discomfort as he scanned the lake's surface for Goku's location, eager to get on with their scrimmage. With an irritated growl, Nurami manifested some energy into a baseball-sized orb in the palm of her hand and hurled it forcefully at the unsuspecting boy's back, the impact sending him stumbling forward a few paces in the air to drip over the lake instead of her.

Gohan whirled around in a defensive pose, startled by the unanticipated attack and looked around in confusion, searching for his assailant before his ink-black eyes met Nurami's furious golden ones.

"Watch where you're dripping moron, or I'll flay you alive and use your hide for a drying cloth!" She chided in her eerily inflectionless tone while gesturing to her damp clothes. Gohan, relieved that he was not under fire from some undetectable attacker, only stared at her unconcernedly. He'd gotten used to the girl's threats a long time ago and no longer paid them any mind.

"Sorry." He apologised quickly, before rocketing back to his father whose head had just re-emerged into view, probably to check the delay in his son's retribution. Nurami dropped back down onto the rock with an annoyed snort and flared her energy to rid herself of the unwanted moisture. Her gaze flicked skyward and she found herself unable to stop the small smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth as she watched the saturated pair now going at each other above water.

"It would not be fair to judge them too harshly." She conceded with a soft sigh. They were also of her sort and unduly generous to her. She had been living and training alongside them for seven months now and had become bizarrely at home with the odd triad, who less than two years ago had been her mortal enemies. Goku's light-hearted optimism was a balm to her worn-out soul, while Gohan had become a friend and kindred spirit she'd never hoped to find and for the first time in her life she was content.

She was still skittish around Piccolo, though. By now she was fairly certain that she didn't have to fear the green-complexioned alien, but his enigmatic immunity to her Xel Alar abilities sustained her caution. That was after all the very reason he'd come so close to killing her once before. Her features darkened slightly as she stole a glimpse at the seemingly oblivious goblin, coiling her tail instinctively around her waist as she recalled her hostile first encounter with the Namekian fighter…

~*~*~*~

The squadron had spent a year in stasis traveling to Earth, though to Nurami it seemed as if mere days had passed since she and her battle-kin had listened to her guardian's final moments over the scouter com-link. Leaving Frieza's base in search of Earth's wish-granting Dragonballs was a risky decision at best but the lure of power, profit and revenge was tempting enough for each of the three Saiyans to make it worth their while.

They had arrived as planned and were immediately drawn into a violent confrontation with the planet's Special Forces. Vegeta was in show-off-mode and had ordered her ~ the weakest of his charges ~ to take out the strongest of the human defenders.

She had yet to learn about the technique of sensing powerlevels without a scouter and relied greatly on her Sirithian side to give her an edge in battle. Nearly all of the girl's formidable psychic abilities were self taught, seeing how her mother, a Veshari priestess of the Order of Xel Alar, had abandoned her to Nuchraa slavers without any instruction whatsoever. As a result, Nurami was rather clumsy when it came to advanced skills, like mind reaping or securing long-range telepathic channels and she wasn't keen on in-depth mind probes either. Her lack of safeguards meant that the bridge could easily be crossed into her own mind and she simply didn't like playing with those odds. Not that she was too bothered by her shortcomings. Her mental powers were still superior to a decent majority of Universe's population and her deftness at reading an opponent's emotions ~ a natural talent for anyone with Veshari blood ~ worked well enough to identify threats and predict tactics.

She hadn't registered any strong feelings from the intimidatingly huge, emerald-skinned warrior and merely assumed that he wasn't particularly concerned about the fates of his allies; Vegeta and Nappa certainly couldn't care less what became of her.

"Might makes right" according to Saiyan belief. Hence if she didn't have the strength to hold her own in battle then she didn't deserve to live and she knew quite well that the two elites would happily watch her perish if she couldn't ward off the Earthlings' attacks. She had no fear of dying however, and she was certain that Vegeta and Nappa would be more than able to punish Raditz' killers for their audacity if she couldn't. Honour in death was after all a warrior's greatest achievement and for the lower caste Saiyans, that meant winning the respect of their superiors by showing bravery in battle...

She followed the prince's orders at once and commenced her assault, deciding to target a particularly nervous fighter first. The tall, dark and handsome human's fear was concentrated upon the adult Saiyans though, and he was not very intimidated by the tenuous, haggard-looking child when she first lunged at him ~ the very reaction she'd been hoping for.

Her time as a prize-fighter in the Slave Ways of the Kilanrad galaxy, had taught her a thing or two about energy manipulation and she instantaneously suppressed her strength, intending to trick the Earthling into letting his guard down. But to her dismay, the human didn't seem very willing to fight her at all, and she was compelled to reveal more of her power than she'd intended, throwing several precisely calculated kick-punch combos at key areas of his body to coerce him on the offence. Nurami would've liked a bit of a challenge for Vegeta's benefit, but her misguided opponent persisted in his insulting attempts to pacify her with minor onslaughts. He was obviously blinded by the fact that he was fighting a cub and his stupid scruples just wouldn't allow him to inflict serious damage on her scraggly little frame.

Nurami on the other hand, had no reservations about the Earthling's imminent demise as she toyed with him amongst the clouds. She had always loved the hunt and drew out her pleasure by playing with her victim as a feline does with its prey before dealing the final blow. Each assault was a flurry of strikes and counters, a blur of weaving, swaying bodies as the girl dodged and parried most of the man's attacks. Using only basic kata-movements to keep the fight going, she danced around him like a ballerina, allowing the fighter his last moments on the mortal plain to revel in the fantasy of his superior strength…

Before long though, the Saiyan got bored with the little charade and as she swayed to turn a straight-handed chop to the neck into a glancing graze, the heel of her left hand drove up to feign a potentially incapacitating blow to the Earthling's throat. As anticipated, he swerved and reflexively brought his arms up in a defensive block, leaving his torso unprotected for a fraction of a second. Nurami took full advantage of the opening and at last revealed her true potential as she moved faster than lightning, drawing back her right arm and punching forward with all her might, implementing brute strength as her energy-shrouded hand slashed like a blade through cloth, skin, muscle and intestines to impale her opponent upon her outstretched arm.

Her movements were faster than the man could detect and she felt his confidence melt into abject horror when he saw that she had moved within centimetres of him without his notice. Nurami couldn't help smiling in amusement as the wet heat of the alien's organs pulsated against her fingers.

"The damned fool is about to die and he doesn't even realise it!" She though, sneering in victory and gestured with a nod of her head to draw his attention to the horrendous reality his shock-numbed nervous system seemed unwilling to acknowledge. The colour spilled from the man's face like water from a shattered glass when he saw her arm imbedded in his gut. He looked at her in disbelief and opened his mouth as if to speak, but instead of hearing what he had to say Nurami concentrated, channelling her energy into a ball around her immersed hand and let it explode inside the fighter's abdomen. The force ripped through his unshielded insides with the sickening squelch of tearing meat, blasting his body apart and strewing his cindered remains down upon the onlookers below.

She wasn't given much time to savour her triumph as a quick glance in Vegeta's direction told her that he approved of the bloodbath and wanted her to continue her campaign of devastation. She was still riding her murderous high and all six her senses were precisely aligned to serve her brutal purpose as she hastily examined the remaining Earthling fighters and decided to go after Gohan next. She knew that he was half-Saiyan, but her qualms about culling her peers were greatly overshadowed by her desire to exact vengeance upon her mentor's murderers and from what she'd heard over the scouter com-link, she believed the boy to be one of them. She opted for a frontal attack and screamed a bloodcurdling Saiyan battle cry as her power escalated to its highest level, preparing to charge in headlong in an effort to "scatter the herd" and isolate her mark.

She'd kept the true extent of her strength hidden from her adversaries while fighting their comrade and they clearly had faith in his ability to survive, not bothering to interfere in the battle. However, now that they'd bore witness to his grizzly fate, she no longer had the element of surprise on her side and had to be heedful of numerous warriors attacking in unison. The girl had scanned the reactions of the fallen fighter's battle-kin at the moment of his dissolution to foresee any attempts at reprisal and, sure enough, she detected a mixture of terror, disbelief, disgust and hatred from the assembled Earthlings ~ with the exception of the Namek.

There was clearly no love lost between the green-skinned fighter and the rest of the Earth's Special Forces, leading Nurami to the conclusion that they were only fighting side by side to avert a common threat. She didn't expect the Namek to go out of his way to help any of the others and felt secure in the assumption that he'd leave her alone as long as she didn't tackle him head-on.

She made a grave mistake as she charged straight at the other semi-Saiyan, silver energy ablaze around her. She was cautious of the triclops and the bald, orange-clad midget, having received the strongest response from them at the other's death. She wasn't anticipating any reaction from Piccolo though, and failed to pay special attention to his movements as she prepared to make quick work of her second target.

The girl was totally bewildered when the huge alien suddenly fazed into being right in front of her, landing one of the most vicious roundhouse kicks she'd ever endured, full against her temple. The force of the blow sent her flying quite a distance before crashing to the ground and skidding to a halt several metres further. The impact left her dazed and she rose to her hands and knees, her eyes shut as she shook her head in a desperate struggle to regain focus.

Recovery was not a luxury afforded to her though…

"Special Beam Cannon!" The Namek's booming voice echoed across the desolate battlefield and her eyes flew open in panic with the realisation that she'd heard that attack announced once before… moments before it killed Raditz!

She wanted to scream, but was rendered mute as the charring-hot beam collided with her side, scooping her off the ground and launching her through hills and stone formations until she'd lost enough momentum to get pinned against a particularly stubborn spire.

Tears of agony leaked from her eyes as the smell of scorched synthetics from her rapidly dissolving armour mingled with the stench of singed hair and burning flesh as her tail ~ which had been around her waist and directly in the line of fire ~ disintegrated beneath the searing energy. The tables had turned and she gasped helplessly as the stream of light tore through her skin, melting away muscle and sinew as it bore into her from the side. She felt her strength disperse into the atmosphere through the growing wound, the rock-face crushing her mercilessly from the opposite side. The pain continued to intensify until it crescendoed to an unbearable level and her mouth filled with blood as she tried to voice her anguish. She fought to escape the encroaching darkness, but to no avail as her senses drained away, the pain receding as she slipped helplessly into the black oblivion of unconsciousness…

She awoke some time later in a sterile white room with a bunch of harassed-looking human physicians skittering about at her bedside. She was shocked to have lived past the Namek's attack and even more so that the Earthlings were treating her wounds, considering the circumstances of their acquaintance, but she quickly decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. For the moment her number one priority was to find her ship as fast as possible and get the hell off the planet! She was alone behind enemy lines as far as she could tell and she didn't want to tarry a second longer than she had to.

Keeping her eyes closed not to attract attention to her wakeful state, she tried her best to keep her fidgeting unnoticed, but as she reached down in search of her pod's remote controls she found that her armour had been replaced with an absurd excuse for a dressing gown and that all her equipment was missing. In true Saiyan style, rage instantly replaced prudence and she sat bolt upright, frightening a couple of nurses out of their wits, and demanded to know what had happened to her belongings and the rest of her crew.

The last vertical human fighter ~ the short cue-ball called Krillin ~ had apparently been appointed to guard-duty alongside a host of mechanised sentries and was fast to oblige, filling her in on everything she'd missed with a copious amount of smug embellishment.

Nurami took a slight jab to her ego when she learned that her survival wasn't wholly thanks to her own resilience as she'd thought, but due to a combination of force-fed senzu beans and a pack of rampant Saiba-men the prince had set loose on the Special Forces, distracting the Namek before he could finish her off completely. She listened disinterestedly as the compact male told her of his friends' eradication and described Nappa's damning defeat with an odd hint of solemnity in his voice before carrying on about how Vegeta had turned tail and ran after being beaten by the revived traitor and his half-caste spawn.

Having heard enough of the prince's humiliation much sooner than the human tired of telling about it, she forcibly steered the conversation toward the whereabouts of her ship, dreading the answer even as she voiced the question. And sure enough her fears were realised as the human informed her that Vegeta had activated the self-destruct sequence of her and Nappa's pods to prevent pursuit, thereby leaving her solidly dependant on the charity of Earth's denizens.

The obnoxious little alien seemed strangely affected by the fact that Vegeta had slain one of his own men, but the news didn't exactly shock her. Nappa had always been more trouble than he was worth and Vegeta had been looking for a reason to dispose of his so-called bodyguard for a long time. The man had the fighting power of a Saiyan elite, but lacked the intelligence to be truly valuable as an ally. His temper made him erratic and difficult to control and this resulted in the near ruination of many missions in Frieza's service, always leaving Vegeta to bear the brunt of the Ice Lord's wrath.

With the blundering slaughter of Earth's Nameks and the resulting disappearance of their wish-fulfilling orbs, a clash with Frieza over the last remaining set on the Namekian homeworld became inevitable, and Nappa's knack for disobedience instantly made him a liability in the eyes the young Saiyan Prince. Everyone who knew Vegeta knew that he was a firm believer in tying up loose ends and the execution of his former guardsman was merely that: a strategic elimination of an unfavourable variable.

Although at that stage the prince was still certain that Goku would join him, not even considering the possibility that the third-class would dare oppose him ~ let alone succeed in his defiance…

The girl promptly clipped that line of thought. She had far more pressing concerns to deal with and resolved to refrain from fretting over the wisdom of royal gambles for the time being. She'd learned the importance of negotiation from Raditz and she knew that it was time to haggle when she heard that the humans were also planning to join the hunt for the Namekian Dragonballs, hoping to wish their expired companions back to life.

The Earthlings were impressively resourceful and had managed to dig up a ship of their own ~ of ancient Namekian origin no less ~ to transport them to the Dragonballs' homeland. The star-charts were sorely outdated however, as Nurami learned from the appointed captain, a jade-maned woman of Earth's science-caste, and being the planet-locked race they were, the humans were clueless about the politics of interstellar travel, presenting the young soldier with a valuable bargaining chip in her dealings with her former foes. Grasping the opportunity with both hands, the girl called a truce with the Earthlings and struck up an arrangement, agreeing to guide them through the solar system on a course that would keep them away from hostile factors such as hijackers, regulation patrols and the like in exchange for a lift to Planet Namek were she was sure to find her prince ~ though that wasn't something the Earthlings needed to know as far as she was concerned. She also conveniently "forgot" to mention Frieza and his plans for the Dragonballs of Namek, lest she dissuade her new shipmates from their quest and rob herself of her only ticket off the technologically challenged crap-hole that was Earth…

In the end however, Nurami was as ill prepared as any of the humans for what transpired on Namek and she cursed her mother with hexes from every culture she'd helped to annihilate for not teaching her how to block the all-consuming torrent of emotion that streamed from Vegeta in those horrible minutes before his death at the Ice Lord's feet.

She was standing with the Earthlings some distance away from the fight, staring dolefully at her liege's broken body, unaware that her earnest sorrow was causing the breakwaters of her mind to tumble, leaving the psychic receptors in her brain uninsulated against the tide of emotion flooding form the dying prince. Intuition drove her to reach out to him in empathy, and before she knew what was happening their minds were locked in a mental vice grip and she was entering his psyche with a ferocity that blurred her vision and turned her legs to liquid as Vegeta's torment became her own.

His emotions began pouring into her; inundating her so completely that she couldn't distinguish between her own feelings and those belonging to the waning prince. Soon she was witnessing memories that weren't hers, reliving turmoil she'd never endured. She saw his suffering and felt his impotent rage at the Iceling's power over him, overtaken by his fear and solitude.

She cried out as the images intensified, her mere will proving inadequate to numb her brain to the relentless barrage of thought and feeling being projected from the dying elite; stripping away the facades of arrogance and pride to reveal the most guarded reaches of his being to her unwilling scrutiny. She beheld his perceived failings and experienced the contrition and gnawing self-recrimination that consumed him ~ only dimly aware of the Earthlings calling to her from far away.

She looked on inertly, unable to sever the frightful link as the darkest depths of his soul were laid bare, the tidal wave cresting with a deep, shameful sense of worthlessness evoked by his own scalding hatred for the monster that he was. Made to kill billions in the service of a tyrant, he was revered and feared across the Cosmos but essentially unvalued beyond his skill as a conqueror, unworthy of the acceptance and love that all beings craved.

It was then, in the churning tumult of Vegeta's final moments that a sentiment bloomed within her that neither she, nor the prince had ever felt before: the need to console another. Her limbs acted of their own accord, lifting off the ground and carrying her to Vegeta's side where he lay, gasping his last breaths in a sticky concoction of earth and coagulating blood. All she could think to do was leave him with the assurance that he was not as he saw himself ~ a failure ~ but a bastion of strength to his people; a martyr who would be remembered for as long as Saiyan blood surged through sentient veins. She collapsed against his crimson-soaked chest, shutting out the Iceling's cackling laughter and sobbed as she recited the Ilra Kai Han ~ last rites of heroes ~ while a lifetime's worth of pent-up tears flowed freely from the prince's dimming eyes.

She lay clinging to Vegeta's lifeless form until Goku lifted her off him and handed her to a recently re-embodied Piccolo. Through the haze of her exhaustion she watched as the pureblood knelt to bury the empty shell of his nemesis and sovereign, laying the tortured man to rest before embarking on a battle that would ultimately see a Legend reborn; the violent death of a peaceful world; and most importantly, the end of Frieza's power.

When Nurami was wished to Earth along with the resurrected prince, humans and homeless Namekian natives, her molested psyche could withstand no more intrusion and she immediately fled into the woods like a coward. Raditz would've been so disappointed in her if he knew how she'd disregarded her duties, abandoning her liege in adverse territory ~ although Vegeta appeared too enthralled with the high-strung female pilot to mind too much...

Nurami found sanctuary in a large rainforest called "the Amazon" with only animals for company, giving her the comfort of other life forms' closeness without the constant invasion into her traumatised mind. She did not return to her post until she sensed the Icelings' despicable power descending upon the planet and hesitated only for millisecond, fearful of a reoccurrence of the previous showdown against the Ice Emperor, before forfeiting the asylum of the trees for the theatres of open war.

Her joy knew no bounds when Goku came to the rescue, materialising out of the blue using the Instant Transmission technique he'd learned on the Planet Yardrat where he'd retreated after Namek's explosion. She even let herself cheer jubilantly with the humans and allowed Gohan to smother her in a spontaneous hug when his father unceremoniously despatched Frieza and King Kold, this time ensuring that it was for good.

But like all good things, her elation was fleeting and the uncertainty settled soundly back into her chest after the reports of Koola's coming were confirmed. She was relieved when Vegeta gave her orders to prepare with Goku and the others for the monster's arrival instead of with him. She still had a hard time facing the prince, although she doubted whether he was aware of what she'd seen on Namek. She wouldn't have lived if he knew. The Earthlings thought that he wanted her to spy on his rivals, but that was not how the Prince of all Saiyans conducted affairs. She understood perfectly well that he desired her absence simply because he had a low tolerance for cubs in general and viewed her as a potential hindrance on his path to Super Saiyan…

~*~*~*~

Nurami's reminiscing was interrupted as an all too familiar odour accosted her nose, followed shortly by a buoyant male voice calling her name. She'd detected some decreasingly subtle changes in Goku's scent over the past couple of days, and he'd probably be going into a rut once the night got underway. She looked up to see the pureblood trudging toward her through knee-deep water with Gohan catching a ride on his massive shoulders and frowned in surprise.

"Dinner time already?" She thought, for the first time taking in the evening twilight. The gold and red of the setting sun was slowly melting into the lake, transforming the water into liquid fire as flaming waves lapped at the shore.

"What's up, kiddo? You look like you're a million miles away." The burly Saiyan asked when he reached her, tousling her hair in the same way he often did his son's. Nurami pulled away with a warning snarl, startling Goku slightly and he quickly snatched his hand away.

Normally she didn't mind the contact all that much. Goku was one of a handful of people in the Universe who'd earned some measure of her trust. He'd managed to breach the barriers a life of bondage and violence had necessitated and she knew in spite of her inveterate cynicism, that his actions had no ulterior motive… usually. But the situation was far from "usual" as the scent of his approaching Moon Fever, or "Unrak Nagul" in the Saiyan tongue, ebbed off him in waves and cranked her deep-rooted paranoia into overdrive. Goku had a female and the absence of a satellite sedated his urges to a large extent ~ he probably didn't even notice that he was going into ruts ~ but the memories of Nappa's unwanted advances during his ruts was bad enough to make her steer clear of any and all horny males.

Unlike Raditz and Vegeta, Nappa was Bonded when their planet was destroyed and his mate had been obliterated along with the rest of the populous. Raditz had told her that the irremediable loss had unhinged the man and all that mattered to the older elite was that she was part Saiyan and the closest he could come to replacing his dead spouse, never mind the fact that she was barely beyond infancy. Raditz had tried to protect her, even Vegeta had stepped in on a few close shaves, but in the end it was Nurami's Xel Alar abilities that saved her from the bold giant's perversion.

It was during one particularly ferocious assault that she entered his mind out of pure desperation, exploiting the weaknesses she found tucked away in his subconscious and summoned up his worst nightmares; forcing the warrior to relive his most agonizing memories until he was reduced to a weeping, quivering mass, trembling on the floor. Nappa's fever-driven attempts at ravishing her didn't totally cease after that, but his determination did depreciate significantly.

The elite's aberration aside, she understood that ruts were a necessary evil, incorporated into the Saiyan genome to ensure the survival of the race by distracting males temporarily from their insatiable lust for fighting and warfare to focus on more procreative matters. On Planet Vegeta the mating season came around annually and was quite intense, although that was usually the only time you'd be able to interest a non-Bonded man in intimacy of that sort. The lunar cycle that triggered the hormonal changes was far shorter on Earth however, and even though the moon was no more, Goku's physiology didn't seem to notice and he was experiencing his ruts on a monthly basis ~ much to Nurami's vexation, since her overly wary nature wouldn't allow her anywhere near him during his fevers.

He was a Super Saiyan after all, and his telepathic prowess was remarkable considering his seemingly limited IQ, giving her a miniscule chance of survival, let alone escape, if her Saiyan blood seduced him somehow and he did get it in his head to take her.

"I'm not going back with you." She stated non sequitur to Goku's inquiry and stood, stretching as she did so, before bending to gather up the heap of grimy combat gear.

"… I won't be using these for a few days so see to it that your mate cleans them." The girl instructed with trademark Saiyan arrogance and held the pile out for Goku to take. He only shrugged in agreement as he took the bundle off her hands. He'd become accustomed to her periodic respites from training and assuming that it was a "girl-thing," he didn't want to ask too many questions.

"Suit yourself…" He said, smiling with vacuous innocence "… but you're missing out. Chi Chi said we're having tonkatsu tonight." Nurami merely grunted in return, but she felt a pang of regret at Goku's words nonetheless ~ Chi Chi may have been insufferable, but her cooking was to die for!

"See ya." Gohan said as he slid off his father's shoulders and skipped over to the ever-meditating Piccolo to inform him that they were going back to the Sons' cabin for the evening meal.

"As if he doesn't know exactly what's going on." Nurami thought, saluting the others in a parting gesture before drifting up toward the south-western boundary of the forest. When she reached the edge of the woods she stopped and took a moment to admire the flawless beauty of the night.

"… I'm glad we didn't purge this world." She admitted quietly to herself, watching the stars sparkling like diamonds on a backdrop of rich, black velvet, a choir of crickets chirping from below.

Needing a heading, she tentatively spread out her awareness in search of the planet's other warriors and found that Vegeta wasn't at the Briefs' residence as she'd expected. In fact his signature was so far off that in all likelihood he wasn't even on the continent anymore, giving her a hunch that Goku's hormones weren't raging in isolation. Only with no mate to sate his need, Vegeta would have to find some alternative means of distraction and by the way his energy was slightly suppressed, she imagined that he was out hunting something large and toothy.

That female technician, Bulma her name was, had invited both her and the prince to stay at her dwelling while they prepared to fight Koola and with Vegeta gone, maybe she'd be able to spend the night there instead of in the forest as she usually did. Not that she minded the forest, but Gohan had been particularly peppy during the day's training and he'd taken a lot out of her. Besides, only a fool would choose a hard cave floor when a nice soft bed was well within reach and with her mind made up, Nurami zoomed off with a spurt of energy. Destination: Capsule Corp.

_______________________________________________________________ _______

* `Bad Blood' by Ministry

Next Chapter: Nurami shows up at CC.

I just want to point out that Goku and Vegeta's ruts don't always coincide. Goku grew up on Earth. His biorhythms are adjusted to the planet's lunar cycle and that's why he ruts on a monthly basis. Vegeta though, is a completely different story…