Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Live Well ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Live Well

Prologue

Kakarotto was hushed again for sneezing. The cool air of the night was bothering her cold more and more as they walked through the streets. As the moon rose higher into the sky, so did the temperature drop from the day's sweltering heat.

She considered stomping on her mother's foot, and running back home, but that would dishonor her, and her father would have been waiting back home anyway. When she sighed, her mother shushed her again before she mostly ignored Kakarotto, their steps quickening from the sight of one of the Night Watch turning on a streetlight. It would not do for them to be caught when the moneylender's mansion was just in view.

Just before she had been born, her father had borrowed money from the lord of their region. As a captain of the Night Watch, he was a well-respected figure, but even so, it was hard to put food on the table with respect alone. When her mother had been near to starving while carrying Kakarotto in the womb, Bardock had gone to the lord, asking for a pithy sum to feed his mate and unborn child.

The lord had agreed to loan them the money on one term. His lordship had his own newly born daughter to think of, and she had been betrothed to the five-year-old prince upon news of her healthy birth.

He knew it was likely that the already violent young prince would only become more barbaric as he grew older, and he did not wish to lose his own precious daughter. Bardock's unborn child had been discovered by the doctors to be a female, and because of that, it was the only reason that the lord agreed.

On the eve of the wedding, their daughters had to switch places in the secret of the night - thus saving the lord's precious daughter, and Bardock's mate. Kakarotto was merely a sacrifice to a horrendous god-like being.

“Mama,” she whispered when they ducked into an alley for a few moments.

She answered when there were no heard footsteps, “Yes, baby?”

“Radittsu told me that the prince is going to eat me.” The girl - still only fifteen years of age - peeked up at her through her bangs, “Is he really, Mama?”

Sighing, she knelt down to face her better, “If you do as you are told by your new mate, all will be well. Just be as good as you can, and you'll live longer.”

While Kakarotto thought those words through, her mother took her hand to pull her down the sidewalk, the door to the mansion only moments away. She could remember Radittsu's somber laugh after he had told her that, and then he would not talk anymore about it, shoving her aside when she would ask for more information. Bardock had laughed when she asked if she would be the prince's meal, and gave her some rather coarse counsel for their wedding night.

This had been the night before last, and, whenever she had tried to get information on this from her mother, she had continued to claim, “Not now, baby. I'm busy.”

She had never called her Kakarotto except for sometimes in the presence of strangers or introducing her to others. She was always 'baby' or 'little love' or even 'darling.' Her mother had never been given the chance to name her own daughter as custom required. Bardock's newborn was named so because it had been the name of the lord's daughter.

They hadn't wanted any confusion to arise if Bardock's mate had been allowed to name her daughter something else. It had left a strange impression on their daughter however, when she learned what was to become of her. If the real Kakarotto was the lord's daughter, then who was she in truth?

Sniffling, she wiped at her nose with the sleeve of her dark cape, and paused when she heard someone else sniffle. Upon raising her eyes, Kakarotto saw her mother's shoulders start to shake as she approached the front gates.

She whispered again, “Mama? Are you crying?”

The woman didn't answer, and only pulled on Kakarotto's wrist harder. Clamping her mouth shut, she didn't mention it again and finally stepped in front of the gates. The guard on their side looked back and forth down the street for a long while, looking for people who might see them as a guard on the other side opened the gate.

Here, the woman knelt down again, and clasped her arms around Kakarotto tightly; murmuring into her ear, “Don't be afraid, baby. I'll always be here for you. Don't forget me.”

Biting her lip, she buried her face into the crook of her mother's neck, “Okay, Mama.”

She pulled back after a few minutes, checking her over before she smiled softly, and said as she brushed aside an errant strand of hair, “My baby's going to be a princess. I'm so proud of her.”

“I love you, Mama.”

Her smile began to shake, “I know, baby … I know. I love you too.” She blinked away tears, wiping away a few before she smiled, and poked Kakarotto's stomach, “When the prince takes you to his bed tomorrow night, you have to scream as loud as you can, okay? Remember that. Those palace maids told you he likes women in his bed to scream, okay?”

She nodded dubiously, “But not when we're sleeping.”

"Exactly, baby," she finally dabbed at her own face with the rough cloth of her cloak. “You might be scared tomorrow night, but don't worry. It's normal. Just do as he says, and you won't get hurt too much. It'll get better with time - you'll see.”

“Okay, Mama,” she nodded.

A guard grabbed Kakarotto's shoulder then, and her mother stepped back as she was lead past the gates, and into the mansion.

The darkened courtyard was ominous as the gate shut behind her, but she didn't look back, trying to get used to the grandeur that was around her. Surely, the palace would be no different from even this mansion. As the guards opened the wide double-doors, she did then look back over her shoulder, but her mother was already gone.

When they brought her to the Lord and Lady's Council Room, she was wearing only her rough, dark robe, and the heavily weighted linen dress that her father had specially made to help strengthen her. The Lady turned up her nose, and claimed that she stank, at which, the Lord ordered her to be bathed, and dressed into clothes more suited for the soon-to-be Princess Kakarotto.

She hadn't had the time to protest, but then, Kakarotto didn't think she would want to smell herself either after having done all of that last minute training. As such, she couldn't smell anything because of her cold anyway, and she figured that since she always felt a little better after bathing at the Lord's, she might rather enjoy it.

The luxury of a sweat bath was rare for commoners - never mind a poor peasant such as herself - but since she was to become a princess, the Lord had made it so that she was used to such things.

Public baths were the only way for commoners to bathe unless they had the money it took to construct their own sweat bath. The common materials for the building and maintaining of a sweat bath was often more expensive than the water used to create the hot steam. Wood was a commodity that was only found off world, and metal - while cheaper on their world where it was abundant - was dangerous to use, and sometimes resulted in horrible burns if not built right. Children were known to suffocate in metal sweat baths that weren't built correctly.

Therefore, it was not the sweat baths that she would have griped over, but the clothes. Apparently, the princesses of Vegeta-sei wore hefty, burdensome gowns that would make her legs ache, and her arms tremble even when lifting up a pen.

Bardock had kept her in heavy peasant dresses to help her grow accustomed to the gowns she would soon adorn. Whenever she was being trained in the Lord's estate on etiquette or other such things, she was put into what Noblewomen would wear. Noble gowns were much lighter than a Saiyajin Princess' gown; yet, they were still ten times heavier than the plain weighted dress that she was currently wearing.

It was all simply preparation for the Royal Robes that were awaiting her at the palace.

The traveling frock that they were putting her in was one of the lighter of the different kinds of gowns that she would come to wear, but it still put a Noble evening gown to shame. Her knees were close to buckling after the attendants had put on a shift, a corset, stockings, a chemise, and three petticoats. Kakarotto still had one more petticoat and the overdress left to adorn.

Before they brought her to the Lord and Lady of the estate again, they primped her hair to get rid of the scraggly appearance of her mane, and her eyelashes pressed to give them a flat appearance, which was the current style. During which, she had to stay perfectly still else she would be burned by the irons used for her eyelashes and hair.

Thus, when she finally stepped before them, she was exhausted. She was told to stand when she arrived however, and she bore it with an inner grimace as she attempted to stay upright. It was made a bit easier because her corset was bolstered with stiff reeds to aid in keeping her shape.

“Your task is daunting already, isn't it?” The Lady stated - it was not truly a question anymore. Kakarotto's palms, sweating under the heavy laced gloves, were finally coming to her attention. She would have looked at her much more interesting feet if she were able to see them under her skirts. “You must now pay a heavy price for the life you have lived now. To save my daughter, you will be wedded to the Heir of Vegeta-sei, the Grand Duke, and our Crowned Prince Vegeta. Princesses that are married into the Royal Family do not last long - especially if they are the Honored Princes' first wife. It would do you well to die soon.”

“To your family,” the Lord spoke, “you have already died. Your `corpse' is a Tsufurujin slave that cost merely twenty-one copper coins. That is what your life is worth. The nineteen animals slaughtered to help your pregnant mother safely rid you of her body are what your life is worth. They cost only an extra eleven copper coins.”

“Your father gets to keep his mate,” she said, “by disposing of you.”

The Lord leaned forward a bit as he emphasized, “Though you may be worth only thirty-two coppers, that is further lightened since the dowry paid for my daughter is more than triple this estate. In actuality, you really did cost nothing.”

“Die soon, and die well.”

She was quavering awfully when they finally packed her into a sky-skiff. Though she was at last allowed to sit down, her body persisted to shake as she held back the tears she realized that she had been suppressing for years.

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Water, wheat, seasonings, bitter herbs, a pot, a spoon, a shield, and a spear were what made a family prosper.

This was what had been taught to Vegeta since before he could walk, and while he could not grasp the other elements, he knew that he could bring the spear and shield into the mix just fine.

For Royalty such as himself, water was aplenty - very much unlike the rest of the populace on the desert planet. Grains and other foodstuff were never in demand in the Palace, and the Royal Chefs had plenty of spoons and pots to work with when cooking.

As such, he knew that his new wife would bring in nothing since - as a Noble Lady - she had not been taught to cook, and she would not fight because she would not have the need with him to fight for her. Vegeta realized she would only be one more mouth that had to be fed, and, as his wife, she could only bring in even more mouths to feed since it was her duty to bear him heirs.

Noble wives, he concluded, were a waste.

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All right, this'll be a pretty long project, but I want to do it, so … -shrugs- I figured that I ought to do the customary `If Vegeta-sei were still around' shtick myself, and - while I haven't been researching that much into it - I've been trying to put some authenticity into the whole deal. XP;;;; Like I always do.

Hope you enjoy.

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