Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Little Slave Girl ❯ A Ray of Hope ( Chapter 12 )

Wrought with worry, Piccolo hadn't been able to still the storm of his mind in several days, his gaze kept wandering towards the skies, as if he could still sence the ship which took Ryven away from him along with the little slave girl they'd thought they had rescued from that life.

Standing on the ground outside the Son house, fists clenched at his side, the powerful namek looked upwards, frowning.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned slightly to see Goku standing there, little Goten and Trunks at his feet, Chi Chi standing behind them a bit near the front door to thier house. Goku did not have to speak. His look conveyed perfectly that he knew exactly what Piccolo was going through, yet he said; "We'll get them back, Piccolo."

"I know," Piccolo said, ebony eyes against emerald skin narrowing, "I have no doubt about that."

Turning, he left them to look after him in concern and fear.

At least Nail and Kami both were silent in his mind, for once, yet somehow, thier presence was a comfort to him.

~*~*~

"What's for dinner?" Vegeta asked his mate as he sauntered into thier house, slamming down into a chair and kicking his feet up onto thier dining room table, "I'm starving, woman."

Brushing past him, Bulma shoved his feet off the table and opened the freezer peering inside, "Your always starving, what's the difference now?"

She reached in and found what she was looking for.

"Well, I'm more so now, woman!" He growled, not looking behind himself at her, as her mouth turned down at the corners, "So, what are we having?"

A hunk of frozen, foil-wrapped hamburger meat conked him on the back of the head and fell to the floor with a thud. "I don't know, Dearest," She sweetened, "Why don't figure it out for yourself."

Jumping to his feet, fighting the urge to rub the back of his head, Vegeta spun around to face his seething wife. "What's wrong with you?!" He practically screamed at her, "That was completely uncalled for and your lucky I don't kill you right now!"

"Promises promises," She said, and moved past him, ignoring the musky scent of him which always sent her reeling, not now, she chided herself, I'm angry!

"Where are you going?" He asked, not looking at the chunk of frozen meat on the floor beside the kitchen chair he'd just vacated, "What about dinner?"

"Chi Chi's," She answered, grabbing her jacket on the way to the door, "And you can worry about stuffing your own face for once."

"But, I..." Just then, he felt something, a familar presence, and groaned loadly, "What does he want?"

"Bulma," Piccolo landed on the doorstep in front of her, she nearly ran smack into him in her rush to leave the house, he could sense the crackling energy minging of rage and desire that always seemed to surround the saiyan prince and his mate, "Wait for a moment. I need to speak with you..."

"Piccolo!" Bulma said, her blue eyes wide, "Have you heard..."

"From Ryven yet?" He finished for her, striding past her into the house, even though having walls around him to block out the sky and nature made him nervous, he quelled those feeling to ask Bulma what he needed to know, "No, that is why I need something from you."

"What?" She asked, she'd been a friend of Goku's since he was a little kid, and had known Piccolo for a long time, at least long in human standards, but still she found it hard to be at ease around him. Until she'd met Ryven, she didn't believe anyone, save for Gohan, could be really comfortable around the stoic namek.

"Can you fix the old space ship your father's been tinkering on for the past few years?" He asked, thinking that he could go after the girls himself he he as means to.

She tilted her pretty face and considered, brightening, since she loved to work on things, and nodded, "I can have ready in a day or so," She said, "Dad never really was too serious about getting it working again, it was more of a way to piddle around away from Mom."

Nodding, Piccolo said his thanks and that he would be back in two days, expecting results.

He didn't even aknowlege the smirking saiyan leaning against the wall just outside the kitchen.

~*~*~

The fever had come and gone, Ryven nursed Rowyn back to reasonable health as best she could, amongst always running and keeping one step away from capture. They were lucky that walls within the walls of ship were as vast and ebaborate as a labyrith and, sneaking out into the main ship afterhours had provided them with the essintials they needed to survive.

Dressed in a makeshift sleeveless dress out of ripped sheets and a tied at the waist with some cord, Ryven had found, Rowyn sat next to her against the wall chewing on a peice of bread they'd found left behind in the main kitchens when the cost was clear enough for them to scavage. "Do you think we're ever getting out of her, Ryven-san?"

Ryven, who had been studying her blade and trying to calm her thoughts, looked up, unshed tears in her eyes held back back pure will alone, "Of course I do," She answered, "Don't dwell on..."

She looked away, startled and closed her eyes. Rowyn perked up a bit, groaned due to the injuries inside that had not yet had time to fully heal and waited, she could feet something happening within Ryven, as if she were speaking, silently, to someone, or at least, listening. After a bit, she nodded and opened her eyes.

"Papa's coming!" She cried, happiness washing over her and reaching out Rowyn, she hugged her gently, "We're getting out of here!"

Crying, Rowyn sniffled and choked a bit on the stale bread, Ryven patted her on the back until she expelled the offending piece and said; "We have to get the information that tells where we are or, at least, where the ship is heading."

Rowyn nodded, "We need to get to the main bridge, and we need to get there unseen," She knew how dangerous a task that would be, coughing she added, "But I can't go with you...and you don't know the way..."

"I can if you show me," Ryven said, "Like we did when you showed me the panel in the wall and how to access it."

"I just..." Rowyn grabbed Ryven's hands over the sword in her lap, "If you...you don't make it..."

"That's not going to happen!" Ryven said, sternly, shaking her head, "Papa's coming for us and we will get out of here. Both of us!"