Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Akki no Onna ❯ The Ceremony Part 1 ( Chapter 13 )

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"It's time Dende," Piccolo announced suddenly. They had been simply standing in front of the Time Chamber for nearly all of the last two days- waiting for the moment they would be called into action. Popo had retrieved all of the ceremonial garments quickly enough and both Nameks had changed in silence. Now Piccolo strode forward, Dende following more slowly behind holding the most treasured garment, which was meant for Pan, out in front of him.

The entered noiselessly, nothing but their lowered kis giving away the fact that they had done so, but the two fighting figures broke apart as soon as Piccolo's foot touched the ground. Vegeta looked no different then before he entered the chamber, as always. He was like a rock- timeless, changeless. The other figure, however, took their breaths away. When she had entered the time chamber she was six years old, not even beginning to show signs of womanhood. And although both Nameks could care less about any such changes, the fact that seemingly overnight she had turned into this…woman, surprised them. They had prepared themselves for a drastic change, but not this drastic.

They could barely recognize her. Her chubby face had grown more pointed during puberty, but it was still soft and showed signs of perfection that only youth could hold. And although her skin was still its yellowish hue, she seemed softer…more feminine. There was a definite innocence in her face and posture, though there was something else neither Namek could quite place hidden under this feminine beauty. She was clad in blue spandex- the type Bulma had modeled off of Vegeta's own suit and only the Saiyans had worn.

It was obvious that neither Vegeta nor the Nameks had considered the fact that she would grow and she was therefore forced to luckily find a spare one that Bulma must have left. The outfit only emphasized the changes her body had undergone, her figure blatantly obvious and consequently all the more alluring. Her hair seemed to have a life of it's own- uncut for the past twelve years and therefore longer then any being's hair should rightfully be.

"Well?" Pan cleared her throat, her voice sweeter then could be imagined. She had definitely turned out more feminine then anyone could ever have guessed under such circumstances. Almost too feminine. "What do you two want?"

"Have you forgotten?" Dende asked, surprised. "We're here to perform the ceremony."

"Ceremony?" And then there was a spark of recognition in Pan's eyes. "Oh….But is it really necessary?"

"It's necessary to complete your training, or have you forgotten that too?" Piccolo snapped as if coming out of a daze and grabbed the garment from Dende's hand before shoving it at her. "Now put this on and we'll get this over with!"

"I'd forgotten how pushy you are," Pan rolled her eyes at him, and accepted the offered robe. "And no, I didn't forget about what you taught me- Vegeta actually let me practice on him."

~

"Can we fuse now?" Trunks gritted his teeth as Bura slammed her elbow into his head, a chastise for his split second lapse of attention. Goten caught him right before he impacted into the ground, glaring at a Bura who wasn't there. Before either boys knew what was happening they were both sent plummeting into a group of rocks a few hundred yards away. Akki spared the two a glance in disdain, and then dodged her grandfather's punch.

"Are you going to answer him?" He asked.

"Who?" Akki asked confused. They paused for a moment, facing each other a few feet away. During the last few days the only time Akki could allow herself to rest was during these pauses and had perfected the art of stalling. She understood that the only reason why Gokou allowed for these temporary lolls was because they amused him. He knew that all he had to do now was to lift a finger and simply because he willed it she would explode. She was that weak at the moment. Fighting for days on end without sleep or a long rest can kind of do this to you.

"Can I kill them yet Go-kun?" Bura asked, suddenly appearing at his side, her small body draped over his. "Please? They're no fun anymore."

Gokou considered this for a moment and then turned his attention back to Akki, "I'm giving you a chance."

"A chance?" Akki asked, trying to sound a bit nervous, but knowing that her acting had ended in a disaster, she rubbed the back of her head and blushed.

"If you're going to fuse. Do so now," He grinned. "Otherwise I'm not wasting anymore of my time."

"They're out now," Bura giggled. "There's no reason to put up with you three now."

Akki, not having been aware that there was a reason- though she should have known, sighed, glancing at the two figures still in a heap. Even fused they wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. She doubted either of the two had much energy left. Especially considering both were unconscious at the moment; normal.

"I'll wake them up for you," Bura said, following the other girl's gaze. "If you want."

"No," Akki forced a smiled. "I'm fine."

`Shit, shit, shit,' She gritted her teeth. She had sensed Piccolo and Dende enter the time chamber, but was unable to spare a moment to wonder why this had happened. The duo in front of her obviously understood. Everything.

Lovely. She was left with coming up with a plan to spare herself and two other idiots for about an hour or so until Pan and Vegeta arrived- hopefully with the ability to….fix this situation. This was never exactly her thing. Even before when Buu came- she had been the one where everyone laid their hopes in. No one ever told her how much harder it was to be the one to stall.

"Have you decided?"

Akki sighed- well if nothing else works there is always brute force.

With a burst of energy, she powered up to her fullest extent for her final time and charged. For a few precious seconds she was in control of this entire mess for the first time in days. And then she was falling, desperately out of control, and the ground was hard. Too hard.

"You broke her," Bura accused her mate.

He poked Akki with his foot in disdain, "Don't worry- she's still alive. Barely. She was being foolish- I taught better her tactics then that. What a waste. I should have never bothered to allow her to follow me around like that. What a waste."

~

Standing on the lookout Pan frowned, "He's going to kill her- we won't make it in time."

"Stop worrying," Vegeta snorted. "We'll make it."

Pan said nothing, only shot an impatient glance back at Piccolo and Dende. They had insisted that the last few parts of the ceremony must take place outside of the chamber- in "this" dimension. She didn't really understand why the time chamber was considered to be in a different dimension, but she knew that if she asked Vegeta then he'd only snap at her, saying it was trivial.

He was always like this- acting as if he didn't care when he really did. And she knew what he wanted….what he was planning. He couldn't keep his plan secret from her for very long- not after the bonding. He cared. If anything perhaps a little too much.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed, "I said stop worrying."

She frowned, but hid her expression from him. To her he was like a book that she alone could open. She knew that it was partly because of the bond, but another part- a large part- was because of Piccolo's training. She understood him only because of this.

Vegeta, however, was never able to get into her mind. He was blocked for some reason, and Pan was certain that he did not know why. She had learned all about her Saiyan heritage with the use of her little `technique' and there was no report in the past about a male- especially of the royal lineage- who could not read the thoughts of his mate more clearly then she his, let alone not read them altogether. It was strange.

But then their relationship- if you could call it that- was even stranger. After Vegeta bonded with her he had left. He hadn't even bothered to pick her up and carry her back to her bed. Instead she had spent days lying in the middle of white emptiness, disorientated and forced to deal with both trying to stand up and what had just happened at the same time. She ended up wandering around in a vain search for the entrance or Vegeta. She remembered being incredibly weak- too weak to notice that the gravity was getting heavier and heavier; too weak to realize what this meant; too weak to know when she finally collapsed and was only dreaming about walking into the whiteness.

When she finally awoke though she was sleeping in a bed, Vegeta sleeping peacefully in the one next over. It was like nothing had happened and for a while she thought she caught some type of fever and hallucinated or something. Vegeta was the same as always and upon seeing she was awake had demanded for her to make a meal.

After she had cleaned up, he was gone, standing a few feet from the patio stretching. Ever since then he hadn't tried to touch her at all besides when they were fighting. She would have decided that she had dreamt the whole episode if she hadn't discovered two marks on her neck- scars from the bonding. It was only after that where she was able to slowly begin to read his thoughts and find out the truth- what he had exactly done and why.

"Are you ready Pan?" Dende asked softly, breaking into her thoughts.

"It's about time," Pan frowned. Was it just her imagination or was there a slight smile on his face?

~

Bura bent low over Akki's body, her small still-pudgy hand tracing her face lightly. "Wake up sleepy head. It's not as much fun without your feeble attempts to win."

"G-get away from her B-Chan!" A wobbly voice ordered. The duo turned simultaneously to see Goten attempting to stand up. Bura smirked from her crouched position and ran her hand lightly across the unconscious girl's face once more. Goten took a shaky step forward, "I told you to leave her alone."

"What are you going to do about it?" Bura giggled. "You can barely even stand up."

"I'm sorry B-Chan- sorry that I wasn't here to protect you," Goten gritted his teeth as he straightened, and then with a bright flash he was transformed to Level 2 and smirked at the small girl. "But you really shouldn't touch my girlfriend."

Bura frowned, annoyed, "I thought you were with brother now."

"Did I forget to mention this?" Goten said through clenched teeth. "I love Akki."

"You have a nice way of showing it," Akki said, and stood up, Super Saiyan 4. Bura didn't even have a chance to lift her foot before Akki sent her plummeting towards Goten who caught her deftly and then dropped her in surprise. Akki rolled her eyes in disbelief, "You know Goten- when I send the enemy flying towards you, generally you should try and hit her."

"Sorry," Goten apologized, but barely glanced up. Instead he was staring down at the little girl. Bruises littered her body and he knew that neither he nor Trunks had inflicted them. They weren't strong enough. These must have been from before they showed up- when Akki was at her full strength. He wondered how she could do it- after all Bura was not only just a little girl but her sister.

"She doesn't care about me," Bura said brokenly as if she were reading his thoughts. Goten didn't seem to notice anything strange about the sentence besides it's meaning. "She hates me. She's always the one everyone pays attention to! She has everything and she won't even give me five moments of her time. She didn't even save me. She could have- I know she could have. I called for her- I called for everyone. But no one answered. Do you understand that Goten? No one's ever cared about me. Not daddy. Not Akki. Not my mother. Not even you. Only Gokou has. Only Gokou loves me. And now I'm his."

"I don't even want to ask what she's talking about," Akki rubbed her head and turned to Gokou accusingly. "Not only did you bond with her but you also brainwashed her?!"

"Brainwashed?" Gokou asked, confused. "No. She's speaking the truth- I heard her."

"I didn't hear her," Akki said, turning away. "I didn't hear anything that night."

"She screamed loud enough."

Akki closed her eyes for a moment, trembling in rage and self-loathing. When she opened them again, she was sober, "I'll kill you for it."

"And it will drive her even more insane," Gokou shrugged and then smirked. "Don't fool yourself Akki- there's nothing you can do to make up for what happened. Your mistake- no one else's. Remember that."

"I know," She said solemnly. "It was my fault- I should have protected her better. But your wrong about it only being my fault."

Gokou lifted an eyebrow, "Enlighten me."

"Where did you hear that- in a movie?" Akki frowned annoyed.

"Uh….maybe," Gokou said rubbing the back of his head. "What were you going to say?"

Akki frowned. "You can't just blame what happened to her on me- I mean; you were the one who did it."

"Oh….right." Gokou said, still rubbing the back of his head, and laughed. "It's not like you could have stopped me anyway. During a bonding-."

"Don't need to know the details," Akki said quickly. Before….before any of this she would have been eager to hear anything about her culture- even something like this, in which she would find out someday anyway (hopefully). But now….especially hearing it from the man who had actually committed this heinous act of her LITTLE sister, it disgusted her.

"Fuse or don't fuse- choose," Gokou commanded, breaking into her thoughts.

Akki sighed- it was now or die. "Goten. Wake Trunks up. There's half an hour left."

"We don't-."

"I know," She said grimly. "Do it anyway."

~

"Half an hour?" Pan gritted her teeth. "You're telling me it takes a half an hour to complete the last step?! What could possibly take that long?"

"A test," Piccolo said. "Be grateful- normally it takes a few days."

"No one ever mentioned Dende had to take a test when he became Guardian," Pan pouted.

"Only happens when there's already a Guardian."

"What are you?" Pan asked dryly.

"When you fuse with someone you're techniquely becoming a different person. We weren't ordained as the guardian," Piccolo allowed a small smile. "So no one techniquely was there to ordain him. Besides- he was needed."

"And I'm not?" Pan asked attempting to sound hurt. In truth she couldn't give a shit about some stupid test- she just wanted to get this over and done with so that she could save the world. "It's not like you don't need me- I mean I'm supposed to wake up Gokou for you- doesn't that count for something?"

"Just take the test."

"Akki, my uncle, and Trunks are about to die down there and you're telling me to take a test?" Pan asked indignantly.

"Pan- just take it," Vegeta growled. "You know how foolish these Nameks' can be."

~

"Finally," Gokou rolled his eyes. "I mean- how long does it take you three to fuse? Of course I have to give Akki credit- no one would have thought to try a three way fusion in the first place. But then no one would stand their boyfriend cheating on her with her own brother. I suppose….she's just special like that. Oh the things you give up for tactics."

"What did you give up?" Gotenki asked dryly. "Your intelligence?"

Gokou stared at them, unamused, "Ready to die?"

"It's a little pathetic don't you think?" Gotenki smirked. "The only reason you've waited all this time to kill us is because you wanted to see me. And now look at you- you don't think it was worth the wait, do you?"

"I'm leaning towards Akki's the more dominant one in this fusion?" Gokou guessed.

"Bingo!" Gotenki said, still smirking. "Wanna test my powers?"

"One second- if you're dominantly a girl then why don't you have any boobs?" Gokou asked, extremely curious.

Gotenki frowned at him, "Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that physically I'm male?"

"Oh," Gokou said, nodding as if it was all clear now. "Okay then, let's fight."

"Are you sure you don't have any more questions? Do you wanna know if I have a dick or not?" Gotenki asked. "Because I'm just here to appease you. Give me a nickel and I'll answer almost anything."

"No, I'm good," Gokou said. "Let's just fight."

~

Ack; I forgot the ending I had planned which would have ended it THIS chapter and have been an epilogue the next chappy, but I don't know how that would work. Actually I replaned the ending out and had thought that I would get a lot further in this chappy and would only have to add another chappy in, but that didn't happen. I was going to keep writing, but I have a feeling that it would be five more pages and it ends well here….so *shrugs*

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