Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Empire ❯ Home Sweet Home ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own dbz or any of it's characters...I just like playing around with it.

A.N: Okay, not many warnings for the first chapter. Just a few hints of abuse.

The city lights were dim, but ambient against the bluish gloom of early evening. Kakarott strolled casually down the damp sidewalk between the rows of run down buildings. His hair was limp and wet and his jeans and t-shirt were soaked and clinging to his skin.

He had not been able to escape the rain earlier. His older brother, Raditz, whom he lived with, had practically kicked him out of the house for the day when he'd heard that a commander from the Royal Guard was coming to interview him. He was obsessed with being accepted into the Royal Guard, a feat rarely accomplished by low level soldiers. He had been livid when their father had dumped Kakarott on him just as he had entered the Guard Academy. Kakarott lived in the aftermath of his brother's bitterness.

He shivered slightly against the sharp evening breeze and stuck his ands into his damp jeans pockets as two soldiers passed him, speaking excitedly.

“--Should we do tonight?” one of them asked, pulling off his chestplate.

“Man, I know this place a few blocks from here: booze, girls, you name it, they've got it.”

They both laughed heartily.

Kakarott walked on slowly, watching them disappear beyond the lit shopping district. He turned down the left street at the end of the block and started towards the dark rows of dilapidated houses that belonged to Planet Vegeta's lower class population.

As he approached the first house on the right side of the second block down, he vaguely wondered the time. Thick light was spilling out onto the porch from the two front windows. Kakarot climbed the stairs and knocked heavily on the rickety screen door.

After a minute or two, the front door opened and Raditz stood in the doorway, looking as surly and annoyed as ever. He moved aside to let his younger brother into the house.

At first, Raditz didn't speak to Kakarott and he assumed he was dismissed. However, as he began to climb the stairs to his room, he heard his older brother's gruff voice call him back.

He descended the stairs and went back into the well lit living room. He noticed that papers with the Guard Academy seal on them were strewn all over the coffee table.

The moment he came to Raditz, his older brother gripped his upper arm and backhanded him sharply across the face. Kakarott looked up at him in confusion, his eyes tearing from the blow.

“What day is today, Kakarott? Refresh my memory,” Raditz asked quietly.

For a moment, Kakarott's mouth worked, but no words were produced. Raditz shook him violently.

“W-Wednesday,” he managed, not looking at his older brother. He realized what he had done wrong.

“And what are you supposed to do on Wednesdays?” Raditz asked in the same terrifyingly calm voice.

Kakarott looked down at his feet until Raditz jerked his arm painfully.

“I'm-I'm-I'm supposed to-to go to Rice's for training,” he replied, willing the tears of fear and pain not to fall. He didn't want to make his brother any angrier.

“I will not tolerate you slacking in your training, as meager as it is. I will not allow you to become any weaker than you already are under my watch. You will go to Rice tomorrow and apologize for your forgetfulness.”

Raditz released him. Kakarott rubbed his arm in the place where his brother's fingers had probably bruised him. He could feel his cheek stinging and knew he'd probably have a bruise there tomorrow as well.

He gripped the railing of the stairwell and started to ascend the stairs to his room again. He paused briefly to look down into the living room. Raditz was sitting on the worn sofa, going through the Guard papers. For the first time in a long time, he actually looked happy.