Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ RipTide ❯ 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11

That night, Adrian and Hitomi sat indoors with mugs of tea in the living room. Hitomi sat at the window while Adrian sat before the fireplace.
"You know we'll have to take them back beloved," Zafira said she cuddled into the arms of her mate while the stars shone brightly. Sdhoirm inhaled the sweet scent of her hair, "Yes, but it will have to be the night after the next. The harvest moon is approaching."
Zafira sat up, "I had almost forgotten. I only made enough potion for us to fight it off, what about the cubs?"
Sdhoirm smirked and Zafira noticed, "Sdhoirm, we can't just let them--"
"Why not? It's plain to see that those two are attracted to each other--"
"Attracted, Sdhoirm, not interested. Besides, you heard the girl. She probably thinks the idea of going into heat is animal-like. Couples normally work things out after they've mated, but I don't know about those two. And this is the prince we're talking about. Once they're--" Zafira stopped and looked at him with a knowing smile.
"Once they've mated, they'll have to go back home. She'd certainly be expecting once it's over." Sdhoirm smirked, "Exactly. And I think these two have been through this situation before. Just let the moon's rays take them and they can sort it out the morning after."
Zafira rested her head against his chest as he tightened his arms around her, "Of course, we'll have to send the two outside during sunset." Sdhoirm nodded. After a brief silence, he spoke up, "Why don't we skip on the potion this time? We haven't bonded in a long time and I'm starting to miss the feel of your body underneath mine..."
Zafira chuckled before he kissed her, "Sdhoirm..."
"Those two must be very happy," Hitomi said with a smile as she turned away from the window to face Adrian. He looked up from his mug, "Yeah, I can see why they chose to stay here. No disturbances, no conflicts, just peace and quiet."
Hitomi's expression slowly turned to a frown, "What will you do after I'm gone? S-Sent back home, I mean." Adrian looked up at her, his expression solemn, "You know, I've been meaning to talk to you about that."
He got up from the rug and sat down beside her, their backs to the window, "Given all this time to sit and think about it, I think I'd be kind of lonely, traveling in space all by myself. I wanted to ask if you--" The door slowly creaked open and the elder couple returned. Adrian slowly pulled away from Hitomi with a disappointed grumble.
"We can talk about it tomorrow," he bid them all a goodnight and headed for his room.

~*~
Adrian was still recovering from the effects of the poison that still lingered in his aching arm. His sleep was troubled, though...he kept tossing and turning in dream.

He was in the forest back on his own planet...damp, cool, and streaked with sunlight. Everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful...but then he heard the echoes of laughter in the distance.
He followed the sounds through the light mist that lay over the forest floor until he saw the sources. Three young boys who couldn't have been more than eight years old were gathered around a big tree. Two of them were swinging from its branches, and they were laughing happily.
One had spiky brown hair that stuck straight up and at the same time in about fifty different directions. He reminded Adrian of his father. The other looked so much like his soul-father Kakarrot that for a minute he wondered if they were one and the same. But this boy's skin was darker, and he was a little shorter.
But it was the third boy who caught Adrian's attention. He had wild spiky black hair and big black eyes, but he was scrawny and thin, as if he hadn't eaten well in months. His clothes literally hung off of his limbs; they were much too big for him. His wide eyes were shadowed in his head, and they seemed to Adrian like they held traces of past fear too terrible to endure. He stood silently near the base of the tree, watching his companions laugh and climb, but reluctant to join in the fun. Adrian felt a trace of pity...a little boy who didn't know how to play.
Suddenly, the brown-haired boy stopped his ascent and stared down and the quiet one. He yelled up to his other friend, "Bardock, wait a minute!" Then he started to climb back down.
The other boy's voice drifted down from the treetop, "Come on, Vegita, hurry up! You can see EVERYTHING from up here!"
Adrian gave a start as he realized who they were. Bardock...that was Kakarrot's father. That meant that the Vegita he was talking to had to be Adrian's own paternal grandfather as a boy. Then the third little child would have to be...
"Sdhoirm, what are you waiting for?" Vegita asked lightly, jumping down from the lowest branches and approaching his friend. "Come on and climb up with us. It's a great view from the top."
Sdhoirm gazed at Vegita with his huge eyes, but his mouth remained clamped shut. His eyes drifted to the tree, where Bardock waited high in the branches. But still he didn't move.
Vegita gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay, it's really easy. I'll help you." He offered his hand.
Sdhoirm shied away and flinched as if expecting to be hit. Vegita pulled his hand back in surprise, and looked at Sdhoirm with apologetic sympathy.
"Come on," he said softly. "It'll be fun. You like it, I promise."
Sdhoirm looked uncertain and terribly shy and his eyes remained wide, but he slowly nodded his head. "Okay," he agreed in a whisper so soft Adrian could barely hear it.
Vegita smiled. "Great. Here, I'll help you. Just grab onto the first branch and pull yourself up..."
As Sdhoirm followed the instruction cautiously and slowly, Adrian noticed the mist beginning to swirl around him. It was rising and growing thicker and thicker, until it was above his head and he couldn't see a thing..

.
Adrian awoke from his dream. He thought about what he had seen...the childlike apparitions of his soul-father's father, and his own grandfathers. He remembered Sdhoirm...small and almost skeletally thin, with huge frightened eyes, practically scared of his own shadow. This was nothing like the grandfather Adrian knew.
Mystified by his dream, Adrian got out of bed and went to find someone to talk to. His arm hurt and he didn't think he would get any more sleep soon.

~*~

Hitomi was in the living room, clad in some thin, white nightgown that Zafira had kindly lent to her. She was sitting on the sill again, gazing out at the stars. She frowned, folding her arms, her back to the prince, unaware he was around. She was concerned about Adrian. Once they found a way to get her home, that would be it. She'd go back to Vegetaseii, back to the palace...no, back home. She had already made it crystal clear that she wouldn't stay in the palace. It would remind her too much of the prince. She wanted to stay with him, but she knew already that it wouldn't work out. He can't make a commitment, which is odd for a prince. Of course, that kiss back in the trade bunker did spark something. She shook her head lightly and sighed. She'd have to get him out of her head. She was right about men. They weren't worth it and now she had experience to back up her fears. She held herself and leaned her head against the sill. So this was what it was like to love someone.

"Hitomi?"
She turned around to see Adrian standing by his bedroom door, clad only in his pants and the bandage around his arm. He looked shy.
"I wanted to talk to you...about this whole space thing..."
Her frown only seemed to deepen as she pulled her legs up to her chest and leaned her back against the sill, "What is it?"
He walked over and leaned his back against the other side of the window so that she was facing him. "Like I was saying before...it'd probably get lonely, all by myself...and I was wondering...I was hoping..." He took a deep breath, avoiding her eyes. "...Would you come with me?"
Before Adrian could even react, she jumped on him, hugging him tight.
"You moron, of course I'll come with you! It's not like I'd have anything else to do back home!"
Adrian was completely surprised, but a slow smile spread across his face and he folded his arms around her, happily hugging her back.

~*~
The next morning seemed unnaturally hot...well, at least for the saiiyans that is. Sdhoirm and Zafira had informed the teens that it would take a few weeks before they'd have a ship ready for them to leave for space, so the two would just stay with them until then. At the moment, the two were sitting on a hill a few feet away from the cottage. The house felt unnaturally stuffy for the two, so they were sitting under a tree. Adrian was stretched out on the grass in nothing but a pair of shorts, his hair slightly matted on the green carpet. Hitomi sat up against the tree trunk in a pair of shorts and a white A-shirt. What was going on? Why were they the only ones suffering from this heat? Even Sdhoirm and Zafira said it wasn't that hot.
"Man, I'm gonna fry at this rate," Adrian mumbled.
"I think there was a lake out in the forest somewhere. We should head over there," Hitomi said. Adrian gladly agreed and the two headed over as quickly as their legs could carry them. Unfortunately, neither had packed swimsuits, among other things, and were forced to go in the buff.
"Don't let me catch you peeking either," Hitomi called to Adrian, who had to stay at a 20 foot distance from her in the water with his back to her.
"Come on Hitomi! What kind of guy do you take me for?" Adrian called back without looking.
"Uh huh." Adrian merely grinned sheepishly. After a few hours of basking in the cool lake's waters, the two were sprawled on the grass again in their towels.
"Where would we head to?" Hitomi looked at him curiously, resting against a trunk. Adrian, on his stomach and elbows, looked up, "I actually haven't thought of that. Maybe a bunch of populated planets. Grandpa's made a lot of allies from his travels and I think it would be cool to do the same."
Hitomi sighed and leaned back, "What about mapping territory? We could find some uninhabited planet or plot of land to call our own."
"Yeah, where you could do more of your crazy experiments," Adrian smiled, looking up.

Hitomi shrugged, "Yeah, of course I'd have to have my own lab and all."
"And you know I'd come to bother you when I didn't have anything else to do," Adrian smirked.

Hitomi looked at him with a smirk of her own, "I'd have security bots to keep you at bay."
"I'd blast them," Adrian sat up.

Hitomi cocked a brow, "You wouldn't be able to take them."
"Oh really? What makes you think some pieces of scrap metal could hold off the saiiyan no ouji?" Adrian said in a smug tone. It seemed to be getting hotter.

Hitomi scoffed, "You'd be surprised at what science could come up with. And besides, with my brains and knowledge, they'd be too powerful for you."
"What? Afraid to take me on yourself?" Adrian tried to bait her into a verbal spar.

Hitomi gave him a look, "Please. Why would I waste my energy on the likes of you?"
"Because you know you'd lose."
That was Adrian's last sentence before she pounced on him, sitting on his abdomen, "Is that so oh mighty ouji? I think I should knock that grin off of your face. I bet you couldn't take me down now."
Adrian's smirk seemed to grow less smug and slyer before he rolled over on top of her and pinned her wrists above her head. He inched closer to her face, "Let's see you try it."
Hitomi grunted and struggled, but Adrian chuckled, knowing she couldn't escape his grip. Either that or she wasn't trying. He got in her face again, "Admit it, you could never defeat me. You can't even evade me now."
She smirked, "Maybe because I don't feel like it. You're a bully and I'm too hot to do any sparring."
"Well I guess we could stay like this," Adrian grinned. Hitomi started struggling till she got on top of him again.
"Ha!" The tides were turned once again as he rolled on top of her and pinned her wrists above her head again. Hitomi gave him a sly, but intimidating glare, "Let go of me you big oaf."
Neither realized when it happened, or cared, but they were soon kissing each other roughly and tugging at the other's towel. Hitomi wrapped her arms around his neck while he wrapped one around her waist and unfastened her towel. He was on the verge of ripping it from her body when he suddenly felt himself being roughly pulled from her. He didn't know why it was happening, but he knew that he didn't like it.
"Let go grandpa!! Give her back!" he yelled and struggled as Sdhoirm pinned his arms at his sides and kept him from his prey.
"Ugh! Let me go!!" Hitomi screamed as she tried to pull from Zafira. Neither one was loosening their grip.
"I told you it was a bad idea, Sdhoirm. If we hadn't shown up in time, we would've been great-grandparents a little early," Zafira commented. Sdhoirm shrugged innocently, "I'll take the boy this way until he calms down."
Zafira nodded and dragged the struggling and kicking Hitomi back to the cottage. Adrian was none-too-happy with this and started struggling harder until Sdhoirm pulled him far away. That's when his body suddenly started to cool down and his thoughts became less cloudy.
"Grandpa, what the hell just happened?" Adrian blinked. Sdhoirm chuckled and released his grandson.

"Oh my God. I can't believe what I just did back there," Hitomi was sitting on the couch back in the cottage and back in her clothes. Zafira smiled and pulled up a chair beside her, "It's very simple, my dear."

"You two just recovered from the madness back on Vegetaseii," Sdhoirm explained to the prince.

"But because of completely different moon phases on Perilin, it's moon is moving into position and neither of you have claimed or have been claimed," Zafira said as she placed a moist cloth on Hitomi's head.

"You're going into heat again."

"Oh." Adrian lifted his eyebrows. "That's...well...hmm. Okay, thanks. I have to go now." He started off toward the cottage.
"Oh no you don't." Sdhoirm reached out and grabbed Adrian by one shoulder, lifting him off the ground completely. "You're gonna stay here until those raging hormones of yours cool off."
"But Grandpa--"
Sdhoirm sighed. "Y'know what? Don't call me that, kid, you make me feel old. And no buts. Just try to show a little self-control for once, no matter how hard it is for your bloodlines to handle."
Adrian made a face.

~*~
Hitomi grumbled as Zafira dropped her on the couch again and walked over to the windows to close the curtains.
"You're going to stay put until you can calm down," Zafira said as she walked back over to the teen that was sitting on the couch with a pout. Zafira had to resist a laugh, "Certainly you can show a little self-control over a boy."
"Of course I can!" Hitomi nearly screamed, but then frowned, "Just not now."
Zafira looked at her.
"I've never felt like this before. I tried to resist, but I can't. I've finally learned that guys aren't all that bad and I'm going to go see one right now.." Hitomi ran for the door, only to be grabbed by Zafira and placed back on the couch. Zafira shook her head. Things were so much easier when it was Vaya and Vegeta. She and Sdhoirm just locked the two up in their royal chambers until it was over.
"What'll happen to him out there?" Hitomi looked to the curtains. Zafira smiled, "Sdhoirm will keep an eye on him until you two can control yourselves."
Hitomi folded her arms and gave a long sigh.