Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dominion ❯ Chapter 7

Dominion

Author: Xero Sky

Date: July/August/September 2002

Pairings: Vejiita X Bardock, Vejiita X Kakkarot, for now.

Warnings: Lemon, lime, language, violence, and ANGST. Maybe all at once! AU, therefore some OOC is probably inevitable.

Notes:

*....* indicates italics. /..../ indicates telepathic speech

Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective copyright owners. I intend no profit from this work of fiction.

Chapter 7

Bardock dreamed.

***Kakkarot, rising up in a scream of glory, wearing the colors of the king: yellow gold hair and eyes of sparking teal. Spiraling up into cloud, eyes sharp for his opponent. Power radiating from him in waves of angry heat. A terrible smile, full of rage and the pleasures of revenge. He finds his target and streaks across the sky. It is the king. It is Vejiita, turning around far too slowly to see what has come for him. Dark eyes widen, and then flash to teal as Vejiita ascends, but it is not enough, not fast enough. Kakkarot's fists catch him a horrifying blow, and the king loses his form, fading back into black and crimson as blood pours from his mouth and he falls back toward earth. A scream, a sound of fear and titanic rage, tears open the air . . . ***

Bardock was completely unaware of the alarms going off around him as his brain waves spiked off the chart. He did not know that his body thrashed violently in the regeneration tank, or that doctors hovered around the tank, prepared to haul him out and revive him if his life signals failed. He didn't notice when the thrashing stopped and his body slid back into the quiescent position it had been in before. The obvious relief on the doctors' faces when this latest episode ended escaped him.

He had been in the tank for two days now. Vejiita's fingers, seeking pressure points to make him unconscious, had damaged three vertebrae, shattering one and injuring the spinal cord. The doctors thought the wound entirely repairable, though serious. However they could not explain why he was still unconscious, or why the seizures kept coming.

Preparations were made again for the next seizure. Kakkarot watched all of this from his position near the door. His expression at first was unreadable. Then his lips pressed into a smile Bardock would have found entirely familiar.

In a little while, perhaps an hour, the alarms went off again, and the scarred body within the tank began to thrash again. Full of fear at what the king would do if Bardock perished, doctors scurried. His son watched again, his heart a stone.

Bardock dreamed.

*****************

"You're kidding me, aren't you?"

"We've been over this. Vejiita has already signed the transfer order. And you're the logical choice," Nappa said patiently. He was not a patient man, and the effort taxed him. He watched his subordinate from under furrowed brows, waiting for the inevitable storm.

Tsuriya drew herself up and glared. "I," she hissed, "am NOT a fucking nursemaid. If you want me to deal with this *and* my current workload, you're insane."

"The Radditz issue isn't your problem anymore. I told you Vejiita has assigned it to me. What are you bitching about, anyway? You've had apprentices before. No big deal."

"Has anyone even *told* him?" she demanded, power rippling around her. Nappa eyed her. He wasn't unsympathetic, really, but there were limits.

"You know, you're beautiful for someone who's about to be a stain on my floor," he said mildly. She didn't respond in any way, and he realized that she didn't know she was powering up. He'd seen her do that before, and it disturbed him. She didn't lack control; she just didn't notice.

"Enough," he said in the same tone. "Power down."

She blinked. Instantly her ki dropped to normal.

"He knows about his brother, and he's with his father now. He just doesn't know about the transfer yet," Nappa said, as if nothing had happened.

"He's going to think he's being set up as a concubine," she said, sulking a bit now

"He's better kept close now, with Bardock down and Radditz gone. He was raised here, he should know how it goes."

"His back . . . "

"Gods curse him, if he's old enough to fuck, he should know that rut brings madness. He and his father are lucky Vejiita didn't kill them," Nappa snarled.

"I wonder if he sees it that way?"

Nappa clutched his skull. "Who CARES?"

*****************

Vejiita stretched again. He felt better than he could ever remember feeling before, and he prowled the inlaid floor of his audience chamber as he snapped out instructions to his counselors and staff. He held his empire in a tight grasp, and very little of it had unraveled during the rut. There were a few issues to deal with, but nothing more pressing than a weak insurrection to crush. If he'd been able, he would have leaped at the opportunity to take care of it himself. There hadn't been near enough blood under his fists lately.

An image of tears streaming from dark eyes came to him, and he brushed it away. He couldn't keep thinking about that. It had been madness. It was all passed, now.

"Send for General Hauk," he ordered.

Vejiita squelched a purr as he looked out the massive windows over the city below. His senses were teetering on the edge of overload. He knew it was the tail end of the rut, the final hormones setting him on edge before they washed out of his body, but he was resolved to enjoy it anyway. His overactive sense of smell told him the emotional state of every saiyajin in the room. His hearing caught every breath. His fingers could count each thread as he brushed them over his tunic. He could see each and every one of the dust motes drifting with terrible slowness down before his windows. He could pick out each strand of the intricately woven ki that was the city before his eyes. And taste, ah . . . Try as he might to banish the thought, he could still taste the intoxicating sweetness of Kakkarot's blood on the back of his tongue.

Kakkarot . . .

/!!FATHER!!/

Vejiita swore out loud, startling those around him. There were a few knowing smiles, though. It was well known that the royal heir hadn't mastered the art of volume, not in any form of speech.

/Hai, Vegita?/ the king asked, trying not to sound as irritated as he was.

/ARE you WELL ENOUGH to receive us?/

Vejiita grimaced, but he didn't mind, not really.

/Hai. Come QUIETLY!/ he ordered, knowing it was useless.

In a very few moments, the doors to the audience chamber were thrown back, and a scowling five year old girl, wearing the armor of the royal house, stalked into the room. This was Vegita, the Saiyajin no Oujo, terror of the palace and heir to a proud father. She was both the eldest of his three children and the one with the highest ki; she'd been given a variant of his name with her title just last year. She carried the weight of her heritage on her shoulders, and she damned well knew it.

Behind her, with considerably less dignity, came the twin oujis, Rai and Juro. They weren't actually twins, but they might as well have been. Only four months apart in age, they were virtual copies of each other, with the same unruly mops of hair, long tails, and bright eyes. Just over three years old, they scrambled across the room, their tails hooked together as always, and spoiled Vegita's bow before their father by piling onto him without any preamble.

"Papa, are you pregnant?!" Rai squealed, climbing his arm to fight with Juro over who got to sit on the royal shoulders.

"Baka!" Vegita growled, upset by this lack of respect for her father. "Kings don't get pregnant!"

Levitating, she cuffed Rai's head, then punched Juro on general principles.

Vejiita no Ou caught his sons' tails before they could launch themselves at their sister and tugged them down into his embrace. "Enough," he said, cuddling them for a moment before setting them down.

He might be their father, but he was also Vejiita, and the oujis quieted, standing their ground for a few moments before realizing that they hadn't bowed yet. Tails waved in the air as they bent forward in tandem, and then promptly hooked together. Vegita touched her chest with one fist and bowed slightly, the gesture of a royal heir.

Vejiita nodded at them, pleased. Their mothers had gotten status from their pregnancies, but Vejiita had gotten his children, and he kept them close. They lived with him, in apartments connected to his own, rather than with their mothers. All three had been removed from the palace during his rut, and all three were delighted to see him. He might be stern and fierce much of the time, but he was their father, and none of them doubted that he loved them.

Juro, the youngest, contemplated his father. "Is Bardock-san pregnant?" he asked with an air of triumph.

"No one is pregnant, little ones," Vejiita said.

"But `Gita said you were pounding Bardock-san, and he's in Medical, and if you were in rut, why isn't there a baby somewhere?" Rai asked breathlessly, glancing at his brother. Obviously this had been a topic of hot discussion between the oujis.

An elegant brow arched over coal-black eyes. A young girl, despite her training, began to sweat.

"A rut may answer many needs," Vejiita said patiently, kneeling down to run his fingers through riotous hair. "No one is pregnant."

"Then what did you need?" Juro asked, scowling. He obviously felt that he was being kept in the dark about something insanely interesting.

His father would have to have been blind in more than one of his senses not to notice the instant attention this question got from his staff and those in attendance. That *was* the question of the day, wasn't it? The one that had the palace buzzing and casting supposedly sly looks at him. As if he knew any better than they did.

"Time will tell," Vejiita said softly to his children. "Now, all of you go: find your tutors. Obviously you need some work on basic biology."

He looked meaningfully at his heir, who glowered fiercely at the floor, bowed, and then stalked off, looking all too much like her father. The irrepressible oujis clasped tails briefly with Vejiita and then raced after their sister.

Vejiita sighed. Bardock was still in the tank, having his seizures. Kakkarot was healed but hostile. Radditz was missing. And for what? Rut was over, and there were no new heirs, and no resolution. An ordeal for everyone, and yet he felt so damn good . . .

He had been unconscious for two days as the effects of the rut had worn off and his body had returned to normal. It had been a sleep full of dreams, almost all of them of sweet, pleasing flesh, a slutty, playful lover who turned fierce and demanding eyes on Vejiita even as he reaped the rewards of his submission. Hands stroking his thighs. Golden flesh parting for him. An obedient tail held up, an obedient slave displaying for his king. Lust. Dominance. Sorrow as tears streaked a beautiful face . . .

He snarled, trying to clear his head. Madness. It had been madness.

Flawless skin parting under his touch, welling up scarlet black delight . . .

It was an unfortunate moment for General Hauk to arrive.

"General," Vejiita said, turning a sharp smile on one of his most senior military commanders. Fangs glinted. The royal tail, usually so controlled, snapped back and forth, and his aggression became plain enough for anyone with a decent nose. It remained to be seen if the general was so fortunate.

"Ou-sama," Hauk said, touching his chest with his fist and going down on one knee.

Behind him, Nappa loomed.

"In light of certain recent events, General, please tell me why I shouldn't just skullfuck you right here and now." Vejiita said pleasantly, his smile widening.

The general gaped at him.

*****************

"Kakkarot, son of Bardock?"

Kakkarot gritted his teeth. The woman knew who he was. Who else would be waiting in Bardock's tank room? She was just being polite, and Kakkarot had had just about enough of well-mannered, vapid courtiers who offered him everything and could do nothing for him. Idiots had been coming up to him and being polite all goddamned day, trying to see if there was some benefit in sucking up to the king's latest fucktoy. He was sick of it.

"Who the fuck are you?" he growled, not really caring, and not bothering looking at her.

Tsuriya shrugged, then punched him in the head, knocking him to the ground.

"Your new commanding officer, dumbass," she said by way of greeting. "Now get up so we can go find some dinner."

*****************

It was the end of a long day.

In his solarium, Vejiita and Nappa finished off the last of an extensive meal. Even knowing that Vejiita was still making up for the energy loss from the rut, Nappa was impressed with the amount of food that had just been packed away into that lean frame. The king had nearly out-eaten his Guard, and that was just . . . wrong.

Both saiyajins relaxed, their tails sweeping lazily back and forth as they sipped wine and discussed the events of the day.

"I doubt he'll be a problem," Nappa said, picking up their conversation from before the food had arrived.

Vejiita snorted. "He's lucky I didn't skullfuck him for real. Being sent out to the frontier should sort out his priorities for him. Let him try that kind of shit with Kula breathing down his neck."

"I'm still not sure what he thought he was going to gain from it . . . A clumsy power play. He's a beginner," Nappa said, musing.

"He thought I'd hear about it and, being crazy with rut, do anything to keep my lovers' family safe. Baka. Since when do I beg favors from anyone?"

Both men laughed. It was an unpleasant sound. The silence that came after was relatively comfortable, though. These two had been together since Vejiita's birth. When Nappa did start shifting uncomfortably, prior to saying something he wasn't happy about, Vejiita noticed immediately.

"What is it?"

"There's still no word on Radditz," Nappa said.

"I know. What's troubling you?"

"Kakkarot says that he can sense Radditz' ki, but he can't communicate with him. I gather that's unusual with those two. They have a strong brother bond."

Vejiita swirled wine around his glass. "So Radditz is being ki-restrained. That technology is an icejin favorite."

"Either he's being restrained, or he's been severely injured. Bardock might be able to sense more . . . "

". . . but Bardock's still having seizures, thanks to me," Vejiita finished.

"Vejiita, that's not what . . . " Nappa began, but Vejiita waved him off.

"Go on."

"Kakkarot's been transferred to the Guard, as you ordered. I've assigned him to Tsuriya as an apprentice. I sincerely doubt anyone will get to him through her. Not that we know if there's a threat yet," Nappa said.

"Good. I don't want him out of the palace, not until we find out more."

"I don't think he's going to like it much."

Vejiita stood up abruptly and went to the window. Sunset had passed, and clear twilight was bringing out the lights in the city below.

He had nothing to say to that. Kakkarot had served his needs and been far more hurt in the process than Vejiita would have imagined. If only he'd known about what had happened to the man before, he never would have drafted him as a partner for rut. Rut was madness, but this had been cruelty, and Kakkarot hadn't deserved it. Vejiita was often a cruel man, but never needlessly.

"Did you find out what I asked you about?" he asked quietly.

Nappa sighed. "Hai. It's what you thought."

Vejiita turned to look at him, and Nappa continued. "Bardock made his sons go through the regular army program, instead of having them pulled out as elites. He thought they would get more respect if they earned their own way. So they went into the regular barracks at their first off-planet post. Being Bardock's sons got them more attention than they needed. Right after they got there, a group of six soldiers gang-raped Kakkarot, broke his tail in several places, beat him, and left him for dead outside. He was the weaker of the two brothers then, you see."

Vejiita nodded impassively. "What happened to them?"

"Kakkarot healed up. Over the next week, Radditz hunted down each of the six rapists and gutted them. According to blood feud rules, he had the right to do it, and none of the rapists' families were stupid enough to challenge. After that, no one laid a hand on Radditz' little brother. End of story."

Vejiita stared at him. * No one but me . . .*

After a moment, he asked "What of Bardock? What did he do about it?"

Aware that he had hit a chord, Nappa said, "I don't think he even knew about it. I don't find any evidence that he was ever told, even by his sons. He certainly made no move to get them transferred from there."

"Ah."

There was another silence between them, not so comfortable as the first. Eventually Vejiita sighed. "What is it?"

"You won't appreciate this . . . " Nappa began, and Vejiita cut him off.

"I'll leave Kakkarot alone, if it makes you feel any better," he said gruffly.

"It would make things less complicated," Nappa said gratefully.

"Fine," Vejiita said, waving a hand at him in dismissal. But even as he watched the large warrior gather his paperwork and leave, he knew that he'd lied to him.

*****************

Radditz slept. Because of the pain in his tail, he had given up on clothing for the present. Like most saiyajins, he was comfortable with nudity, and it was hardly going to make him feel more vulnerable. After all, he was blind in sight and scent, his ki didn't work properly, and most of his tail was gone. A little nakedness, when balance against the agony of threading his tail through the hole in his bodysuit, was nothing.

His captor watched him. The saiyajin was sprawled out on his belly, his hair fanned out across his body and the bed. A handsome specimen, certainly. He was tall and well-made, with an arrogant and attractive face, even now when it was drawn with illness and fatigue. His captor ran his eyes over a broad back, sculpted ass, and thick, brawny thighs. The abbreviated tail laid like limp velvet down the cleft of his ass. Already it was regenerating. He'd cut enough off to make sure that it would, without triggering sudden, total regeneration. At this point, he didn't need the fool getting himself hurt.

He lifted a hand, thinking about running his palm over luscious curves, but decided not to. It wasn't the time for such play. Maybe later. Maybe after Radditz could see who and what was touching him.

With an unpleasant smile, the captor left his sleeping saiyajin alone. The boy would need his rest.

Hearing the door hiss shut, Radditz slowly opened his nearly useless eyes. *Kami, I've got to get out of here . . .*

tbc