Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Even the Ruthless Fall in Love ❯ The Stutter-Fest ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: No matter how much I pray or wish, I do NOT own Dragon Ball Z, or claim to own it, or any of it's characters... What do you want from me?!?!

EVEN THE RUTHLESS FALL IN LOVE: Chapter 2 - The Stutter-Fest

I wrote this before I could get any of your helpful comments, for I was banned from the internet after being caught up at 2:30 A.M. typing up the first chapter.. Ugh. *^_^* Here I am, flushing in embarrassment. My mom's friend gets to be my mom this week, and she's very easygoing and is letting me sign on long enough to type and post this. I don't know how it will turn out; reviews, suggestions, comments, and criticisms are all

welcome!

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Almost out of breath, he used his last small amount of energy to dive for the creature. Pinning the enormous beast to the ground by one if it's rear legs, Radditz slowly made his way onto the monster's back as it snapped and roared at him. The boy angled himself perfectly, then impaled the animal's skull with a small, mild energy blast. Climbing off and turning the creature over, he began the slow process of skinning it.

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After they had dressed her in the village's traditional attire, the population gathered to hear Khune's story. She openly relayed it picture by picture, followed by the occasional thought; she began by telling them about Vegeta-sei. Avoiding a few of the more gruesome aspects of her race (for she had noticed these people were sensitive and seemed to be very sheltered), she sent out the first image of Frieza. Shocked and frightened gasps echoed through the crowd; he was not exactly a chilling sight, small in stature and not too frighteningly ugly, but they definitely could sense his immense power and the evil that went with it. She explained to the best of her ability how he operated, and how he wanted to eradicate them. This sent another series of shocked gasps through the crowd, and she began to debate whether she should tell them of her involvement in the whole plot.

That's when the first question appeared, solving her dilemma. She didn't know who it was from, but it asked quite candidly,

So why are you telling us this? Khune pondered for a moment before responding. She decided it would be best to tell them the truth. These people seemed to thrive on honesty, because hiding things when your only means of communicating was telepathy ended up being exceedingly difficult. At first they were shocked at the revelation that she had been sent to destroy them; Khune described how they had been classified as hostile, but she made sure to explain that now she knew otherwise. Finally, she relayed how Frieza would send forces to investigate the failed eradication and described her plan to scare them off and hopefully use the tyrant's superstitious nature against him. After this series of revelations, Khune added that she would do whatever she could to protect them.

She wasn't sure of why she cared at all. It was against her Saiyan nature, the nature that wanted her to simply destroy them and move on, maybe even return home to her closest friend. But something needed to be done here; maybe Sensei had influenced her more than he could know.

By this time, the aliens had realized she was much different than the cold-blooded killers she had portrayed the Saiyans to be. Suddenly, the creatures began throwing their arms up in the air and making a trilling sound that resembled cheering. Khune grinned and pushed herself off the ground, rising into the air, much to the amusement of the aliens. The trilling became so loud the ground shook and several tents collapsed.

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Radditz had already finished cleaning the skin and had it draping over his shoulders as he began to cut open the flesh. He searched for the illustrious vital organs, withdrawing a tied bag made of tailskins. After stuffing two stomachs, three hearts, half of the remaining undamaged brain and a few other lonely organs into the parcel, he promptly took to the air and returned home.

That very night he was due to be sent off. It was a few weeks after Khune's departure, and he was in the process of wishing her a happy birthday when his father approached him, bearing an unreadable expression.

"Son, I have the…" he paused, considering his words carefully. "Obligation of informing you that Khune is presumed dead. Her Sensei just thought you would like to know." Bardock examined the boy's face as he delivered the news. The teenager's eyebrows lowered and his arm trembled slightly before he silenced it by squeezing the muscle with the opposite hand. His father gave him a lopsided smirk and took the bag of bloody organs from him.

"You're a man," he said, leading his son towards the departure station.

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Radditz had never felt himself cry before. No one could see him out here in space, so he let the tears flow freely. He hated everyone, everyone hated him. He was irritable, not exactly feared but strong nevertheless, and only one person saw past that. Now she was gone. He saw her bright green hair, her lively emerald eyes. Wearing her buff armor, her tail flicking behind her, he imagined Khune charging at him.

"Put 'em up!" Stepping backwards a few steps, she raised her arms in the air

submissively as he powered up an energy ball. He looked down to see the ball of blue energy forming in his palm, a mistake he soon realized when he looked up and she was gone. Cursing, the boy frantically searched for his female opponent, and discovered her location behind him too late as she got a good punch into the back of his head. Rolling forward, he held his neck and turned around, growling.

"What was THAT for?!" He demanded. She smirked.

"For calling me a pussy the other day," the girl responded, flying up to him so her face was right in his. He began to stutter "buts" when she grinned like a mischievous little demon, which she was. His evil glare faltered as she poked him in the face with her tail. Catching him off-guard, she got him thoroughly in the stomach with her knee. "And THAT was for apologizing afterwards!"

He laughed at the memory. Sleep soon began to overtake him.

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Goons were a dime a dozen and just as easy to pound mercilessly into the ground. The new arrivals became few and far between as time progressed, and some of the later arrivals even presented a minute challenge… rarely. Khune came to the village she had first arrived at often, but began to travel the relatively large world for pleasure. Rarely did she have to explain herself to inhabitants she had never met before; either she had been very open with her initial presentation or word traveled very quickly, for she was greeted with open arms everywhere she went. Hundreds of animal species and types roamed the vast expanses of unpopulated grassland, but it would take a millennia to write about them all.

Khune wasn't worshipped, but they recognized her almost like a god, the guardian of their planet. They had no idea she was just a child at the time, although a few commented on her short appearance. When she saw the images passed from individual to individual, she had transformed to be depicted as a tall, gorgeous creature with a huge tail that created sparks in the air wherever it went, and had beautiful green hair that cascaded about her figure. For this reason, she refrained from haircuts and only closely associated with a few leading individuals.

Within four or five years, the attempts of Frieza's goons to destroy the planet disappeared. When she did run into one, they would be thrown into shock and start shrieking, "THE KAMI GHOST!!" and attempt to escape before she blew them into oblivion.

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Rumor had it that planet NX29F4 was haunted with something called the "Kami Ghost", a creature so strong that it could dispose of any opponent instantly. Frieza's goons had never returned from that mission, and this fact was literally driving the tyrant to the brink of insanity. Wait, Radditz thought to himself. The brink of insanity? He fell off the cliff a long time ago.

Vegeta-sei had been destroyed by a meteor after Radditz had been sent off, where he made quick work of his assignment. He was informed of the news several days after its occurrence via his hopelessly attached scouter, but his reaction had been quick and reflected his non-emotions. Not like anything was lost to him there. Two or three other Saiyans were left alive, but he could care less and switched the channel to Caspian International Television, where the space pirates were broadcasting brutal boxing matches.

He had pounced on his eighteenth birthday (by Earth years, again) and used it as an excuse to take a few days off. He really had no desire to go "conquer and destroy" on his time off, so he took a break and went in search of this illustrious "Kami Ghost." He personally didn't wish to die or anything, but it might be a pleasant change in pace to meet it head-on. Supposedly, one goon had returned from the planet alive and had described the creature as a huge, green-haired monster that had made quick work of his four companions while he had made a run for it. Radditz had chuckled to himself at the image that time, but now he took it slightly more seriously when some of Frieza's strongest goons hadn't returned. Setting coordinates for the assumed planet of location,

the Saiyan climbed into his pod and took off.

The planet was a shining green marble, beautiful even to the wretched Saiyan's tastes. As he neared the planet, he felt an unusual shiver run down his spine. Perhaps this creature

would be a match for him after all.

The pod came to a harsh landing, for there was not much atmosphere to speak of. The entire expanse was covered in grass, disappearing in every direction and looking utterly limitless. Radditz stepped out of the ship, examining his crater before clicking his scouter to life. His black hair had grown long, and his widow's peak had receded. This was strange, being that he was still in his teen years. The scouter picked up a small reading in the distance, and gradually increased. )^[]>/, it flashed.

"A power level of 500?!" He screeched out loud. Suddenly, a shape appeared in the distance. It was followed by an immense white trail, and was definitely green… an oddly familiar shade of green. As it came closer, it wore olive and brown armor obviously constructed of natural resources and appeared more efficient than his own. The planet had no sky; it faced into the blackness of space. Damnit, the planet has no moons!

Oh well, he sighed and took off into the air. The figure instantly appeared in front of him, tackling him much faster than he had expected. It landed punch after punch mercilessly before backing off, forming a large green energy beam in its hands. Recovering, Radditz regained his composure and stared at the "Kami Ghost." Its face was hidden beneath that huge mane of familiar green hair, and a brown, furry tail flicked back and forth dangerously. "What the hell…?" The building energy ball quickly disappeared, leaving Radditz to stare in confusion.

"RADDITZ?!" Came a feminine voice. She pushed her hair out of the way…

Saiyan features, jade eyes, a tail. Radditz went white, and she slowly flew towards him, examining the still, stone-faced figure from all sides.

Ohmigawsh.. His eyes were wide in shock, as her utterly familiar face shoved itself into his view. His tail was sticking straight out behind him, bristling, while the hair on his neck was standing on end. She examined his widow's peak then backed off, putting a hand on her chin.

"It HAS to be Radditz, for you smell just as bad as he does!" She laughed, obviously amusing herself.

"I… I never thought I'd see you again," he confided quietly. His tail recovered from the shock and she drifted closer, their tails wrapping around each other for comfort.

"Here I am," Khune replied, giving him a genuine smile. That action was no impossible for him, so he smirked as best he could. Her eyes lit up and she burst out laughing, tackling him. They tumbled to the ground, and upon recomposing themselves, got to their feet. Radditz brushed himself off and Khune easily removed her light, grass-and-wood woven armor. His jaw dropped at her amazing figure, but quickly returned the joint to its rightful position and turned his head arrogantly. He tried to resist, but he couldn't avoid looking back as she grinned at him with a familiar but semi-battlehardened face.

Khune was appalled at how much he had changed. He was immensely tall, and long black hair spilled about him from his greatly drawn back hairline. He was covered in scars, his eyes were permanently set in a dangerously angry fashion. His muscles had filled out immensely since the last time she had seen him, and his tail was large and powerful as it wrapped itself like a furry belt around his waist. He wore the same armor as all the other goons; the trademark of Frieza.

"That has GOT to go," was the first thing she said. Raising an eyebrow, his scouter signaled a drop in the power eminating from her. "I've learned to hide my power to take Frieza's goons by surprise, now it drops on its own," Khune answered, judging his first question before he had a chance to ask it. "Your armor. You'll scare the villagers half out of their minds wearing Frieza's mark," she continued, indicating to his armor. "You are going to hang around, aren't you?" She was talking faster than he could keep up.

Frustrated, he contemplated how to best put it into words;

"Shut up!" Radditz exclaimed suddenly, and she stopped dead. He calmed down and she sensed the overreaction from his quick response. His voice was completely non-committal and not entirely serious, she knew instantly.

"Excuuuuuuse me! I haven't to anyone in five years, give me a break," she groaned, her tail sagging behind her. She turned and began to walk, Radditz taking up step beside her. He looked at her inquiringly and she gave him a classic half-smirk, the image of her as a rude, jumpy twelve-year-old appearing in his mind at the glance.

"The creatures here are peaceful. This planet had been classified as hostile, probably because Frieza wanted it cleansed without a second thought. The Letas, as they call themselves, communicate by telepathically transmitting images and thoughts to communicate to one another. I usually only speak briefly to Frieza's goons before I blow them to smithereens," Khune told him, grinning mischievously at her last sentence. He grinned back snidely and his tail waved free, feeling that there wouldn't be any threat here. He stopped and turned to look at her.

"I… I missed you," he admitted, his cheek twitching. She brought a hand to his face and grinned, then, he punched her in the arm.

"Ow! What was THAT for?!" She demanded. Radditz sneered.

"THAT was for when you called me an asshole the day you left," he grabbed her by the neck and gave her an immense noogie. "And THIS is for when you apologized afterwards!" They laughed and continued walking, tails winding around each other.

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Every villager in sight disappeared into their huts when they caught sight of Radditz. Khune had to lure out the leader, also her good friend. She explained that he was a fellow Saiyan, and was a friend that was not to be feared. The extremely trusting villagers stepped out of their tents, leaving Radditz oblivious to the exchange.

Khune relayed an image of her companion dressed in fine, village robes similar to hers, and three female aliens hurriedly surrounded him. He growled and raised his arm threateningly, but his friend's icy glare stopped him short and the three creatures dragged the helpless Saiyan away.

There was much commotion from the tent he had been tossed into, and soon after his armor came hurtling out the tent flap, closely followed by a few strands of hair and a ripped blue spandex suit. Just as quickly, Radditz was shoved out of the tent and stood, shocked.

He was adorned in a long, off-white robe with black, lighting-shaped streaks that uniquely matched his hair. His boots were replaced with oddly but efficiently designed sandals, his gloves removed to leave his strong, amazingly scar-free hands revealed. Radditz stood before her looking so shocked, she had the urge to turn around and check for a possible monster looming behind her. Khune grinned.

"You look-"

"Like a fucking flamer," he finished. She burst out laughing but he grunted and crossed his arms. She shrugged and turned to the largest tent, heading towards it.

When she realized he wasn't going to follow her, she added, "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to eat alone!" Radditz jumped after her, grinning.

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Between courses, they struck up conversation. If the village had found it difficult to feed one Saiyan before, two was another story. Radditz still couldn't grasp the concept of communicating with the Letas, so Khune didn't push it.

"What do you think Frieza will do when he finds out I'm here and what's been going on?" She asked, fingering a lock of her long green mane. Her friend shrugged, leaning back and sighing deeply.

"I really don't know… You should watch your back, though. Frieza's just about given up on this planet; my only fear is that he'll either send one of us Saiyans to try and sort things out, or he'll come himself," he pushed back his long black hair.

"Well, that shouldn't matter. You and I both know Frieza's too damn lazy. I say we go in for the root of the problem," Khune said, tapping the table eagerly with her fingers. She had finally converted the Letas from using flat-backed beasts as eating surfaces to building small, wooden tables. Radditz shook his head.

"How? Everyone thinks you're dead. They'd definitely look at you funny if one day another Saiyan showed up at Frieza's doorstep." She shook off the confusion that his statement of "another Saiyan" gave her, and she leaned back with her arms crossed behind her head.

"Well, Frieza didn't register us back then, back when I was sent off. We were just "extras", probably still are," Radditz twitched, then stopped and corrected himself, allowing her to continue. "It's simple. Tell him you found me stranded on a planet, bring me back, and I'll use my old dirty tricks to hack into the mainframe and delete the Letas' files from the system." She grinned defiantly and her friend raised an eyebrow. Did the wonders of her brain never cease? Saiyans were trademarked as incredibly stupid, man, how she would show the universe. If there was anything left to prove.

"Awesome idea," he said tersely. Khune tilted her head and watched him, trying to pinpoint the cause of his distant expression. Finally, he turned his head. "I have to tell you something." She nodded, and came closer, as if she had to hear some sort of whisper-whisper secret. "Vegeta-sei was destroyed; by a meteor. You, me, and two or three other Saiyans are the only ones left." Her eyes widened.

"Even Sensei? Bardock? Our brothers and sisters? All gone?" Khune blinked rapidly, followed by one of his slow nods. "Oh no, fuck, no," she crumpled, and Radditz gently pulled her towards him with one strong arm.

"Shh… You've still got me. Now eat, our third course is here."

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"First, we have to do something about the hair." Radditz circled her, examining and calculating.

"My… hair?" She squeaked, grabbing onto a lock of her green mane possessively. He nodded solemnly and gently removed her hand, stepping back and bringing the tip of his tail up to the wild green waves. He stood back and swung with blinding speed, the furry appendage shedding the excess hair, trimming it to a small green bob as the remains fluttered to the ground in defeat. Khune dropped to her knees and began trying to collect up the hair, when Radditz put a hand on her shoulder and she gave up, rising to her feet

again.

"Now stop smiling. They'll think you're ill or something if you don anything except smirk and growl," he told her. Khune was about to laugh when she realized he was serious.

"I can handle that," she said out loud, but it was more of a self-assurance.

"Atta girl." He poked her face with his tail and she was about to tackle him when a message entered her thoughts. Tee, the village leader, called her.

"I just got a summons, it appears they're waiting for us outside," she said, taking him by the arm quickly and stepping out of the tent. Every villager was waiting on their knees, prostrating before her. Khune told them to rise and she sent Tee a questioning expressison. His significant other, Elle, stepped up to address the village.

[[Now, if y'all don't know, "prostrating" means to bow close to the ground (nothing sexual!) very humbly, like y'all should be doing to me!]]

"Open your mind," she whispered to Radditz. Elle began, describing how Khune had come to them, had fought off Frieza's minions valiantly (with a few exaggerated depictions), and was now leaving. A series of murmurs and disgruntled trills echoed through the crowd, but Khune waved her hand, bowed, and took off into the air, leaving messages of "thank you" in their minds and dragging along a still semi-clueless Radditz behind her.

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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Radditz asked as they flew away from the small village. "Those aliens really appreciate you."

"Yes, I'm sure. They're on their own now. When I wipe their information from the main frame they shouldn't be in danger anymore," she assured him, being careful not to smile as she considered him with soft, emerald eyes. He "hmph"ed as they came to the crater where he had crashed so… gracefully.

"You've become soft," Radditz commented as he got the pod going. Dusting off the clear, memory-ridden portal on the door of the ship, he leaned against it and glanced at her.

"My pod was ransacked by some grass beasts," she said, avoiding the subject. "They crapped all over it." He chuckled nastily, gaining him a smirk.

"We'll make it, but first, let's discuss protocol." Khune flopped to the grassy ground, supporting herself by locking her elbows behind her. She had acquired the bad habit from roaming the planet on one of her bouts of boredom during the quieter times. Radditz rolled his eyes and began to pace.

"Don't smile, don't talk (excessively anyway, but knowing you, just try to keep your mouth shut), don't let your tail free and don't argue unless I tell you to," he stopped and turned, bending down and looking into her deep, jade eyes added, "And for all they know, we're not friends." He smiled and helped his stunned companion to her feet. Radditz put an arm around her shoulders and tapped her cheek with his tail affectionately, bringing her back to reality.

"Yessir," she replied dully. He pressed the hatch, giving her a noogie as it opened. Radditz climbed into the pod and Khune followed, sitting on his lap. She tapped a few buttons and the door closed. Her Saiyan chair reached past her and padded in the coordinates, putting his arms around her waist to keep her from flying forward as the pod blasted into space. Slowly, their tails went limp as the two perfectly fit creatures drifted off to sleep.

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MAN was that fun writing! ^_^ And it took like, NO time at all! I did the last few parts while sitting in a Thai restaurant gulping down old, flavorless chicken wonton soup, but that stuff sure does make for a cute ending = ) Email me with your comments and suggestions, reviews and criticisms at maxchick@mad.scientist.com!

PLLLEEEEAAAASSSEEEE R&R!

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Chapter 3: The Tyrant, The Mission, The Kiss?!?!