Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Step-parent Saiyan Blues ❯ Killing the Past Softly ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: Toriyama created DBZ, and Toei Animation Co and Funimation own it. I only own Fermi, Bohr and Stellari, my fan characters. This is for entertainment only and I make no money writing this.

 

Killing the past softly

By Trynia Merin

 

Thanks to Butterfly V for reviewing this story. I hope some of those questions will be addressed in this next installment. This takes place before the 'hunting lodge' scene around the time Raditz first starts training the twins. Italics indicate flashbacks and telepathic conversation.

 

***

 

Back in the present Raditz blinked open his eyes to look at his mate. Short sighed brown eyes regarded him with surprise at the shared memory between them. So recent it had been and yet they had mutually pulled it up from their separate lives to peruse at the same time. Slowly Raditz smirked at the implications. If a simple cue such as water displacement in the bath could touch off the same recollection, their bond was well on the road to completion.

 

"I won't underestimate humans quite in the same way again after that," Raditz snickered. Across his broad scarred chest he dragged the soap-laden loofa in small semicircles.

 

"Is your hair going to join us in the bath too?" she joked. Between them she reached to grab the bath notions tray in order to remove the barrier.

 

"Maybe I should take that shower," he grunted. Somehow the idea of immersing himself in used water didn't strike him as an efficient means of cleaning oneself.

 

"True," she nodded. Raditz reached down with strong hands pushing against the tub edge. Grunting he heaved himself out then strode towards the spa sized shower. From multiple places the water pelted his body and inundated his thick hair. He wasn't surprised to hear the dragging rasp caused by Stellari sliding the door open to join him. With one hand she snagged a handful of his hair dragging it into the full spray of the main showerhead. Stellari squeezed a bottle of shampoo, squeezed a dollop onto his hair, and tossed it aside. Purring, Raditz sat down on the ledge in the rear. She knew Raditz loved having his hair washed. In the interest of time they kept their ardor in check. It wouldn't do to keep the twins waiting for the sake of a small tryst they could save for later.

 

Self control was something Raditz had little of till lately. Yet he admitted that postponing pleasure to a later time increased its sweetness thereafter. Having something over and over again just cheapened the experience when one or two solid sacred times of coupling achieved the same result as an endless mating fest.

 

A half-hour later Raditz exited the bedroom wearing shorts and the T-shirt brought to him earlier. Stellari flared her ki to dry her shoulder length hair. She soon followed wearing comfortable jeans and a sweatshirt bearing her college football team. The scene that greeted them was preceded with laughter and shouts. Fermi and Bohr were tossing bits of lettuce, tomato and other assorted items into huge bowls. Rather some invisible force did the tossing while the twins rushed around the kitchen opening cabinets and the fridge.

 

"Training?" Raditz blinked at her.

 

"Rein it in boys!" Stellari shouted. "Mind powers are good but remember you've got hands too!"

 

"Sorry!" they chorused. "But it's more FUN this way!"

 

"Yes, but what good's a body that's not exercised either?" she called back.

 

"Training is good for their powers," Raditz suddenly spoke in her mind. "Would you not welcome the opportunity for them to exercise their control?"

 

"It defeats the purpose of chores…" she answered.

 

"Mind AND body take energy. Does it matter the form?" Raditz said aloud. Stellari glared at him, reminding him that there was much to discuss in the rearing of children that should happen behind the scenes. Accepting Saiyan customs did not negate five years of solitary parenting, which had been effective in the absence of a male figure.

 

"Does not your religion require the male to be head of the house?" he murmured.

 

"Provided you embrace similar beliefs yes, and love and provide for me, and give your life for me as He gave himself for his…" she answered.

 

"Hmm," he nodded. "More of this later."

 

Salad and multiple sandwiches later Raditz felt somewhat sated. Yet he knew that in a few hours he'd need to eat again. Later in the evening found him playing along in the pantomime of the two boys using 'action figures' of the world martial arts champions. In particular were the strange figure of 'Hercule the Great' and several others. Hercule warred with alien mutants from Bohr's collection, and several powered rocket ships. Raditz remembered Saiyan youths had little time for 'play' when returning from their purging operations. When he had returned from his first mission so many years ago he was greeted with his mother's open arms and his father's stern nod of approval. Then Father had left for another mission with his team leaving him with his mother's care and appraisal.

 

Not every child was sent away so young, but because of his higher power rating he'd been an exception. The trend to send mere babies to small remote worlds was a very recent thing. Only one generation had done so. Or one generation and a half. Raditz had pretended like most of the others that it was for the good of their society to do so. Now he realized the distortion of such things was not his true culture, but an aberration. Ghostly feelings dredged up at the feeling of Bohr climbing into his lap, precipitating the images of youths flashing through his mind. Did he have the strength to deal with such specters of his past by trying to do right by her children?

 

"Is this redemption?" he wondered. Having love and acceptance by a woman and children when his past was filled with hatred and destruction? Or was it an echo of the cancer Freiza's ilk had wrought on his people by making them his executioners and conquerors. Twisting a culture of warfare and hunting into an instrument of destruction?

 

He buried such thoughts in the immediate moment of the boy in his lap. Heavy arms held Bohr in place and Raditz swallowed the emptiness filling it with smells and sounds of the piece of heaven around him. Sensing the inner turmoil, Bohr leaned his cheek against Raditz chest. What right did this cherub have to embrace such darkness, Raditz wondered? His inclination was to recoil from it, but Raditz knew that was the mark of cowardice. He'd survived the tests of hatred and power, now could he survive the test of being loved? Would he wither and shrink away, or grow and move on?

 

Fermi climbed up and sat on Raditz' other side. Stellari got up from the chair she sat on, sandwiching her son between her and Raditz. Fermi rested an ankle on Raditz knee, and then leaned against his mother's breast while she flipped channels. Raditz fingers started to work through the curls of Bohr's hair, idly grooming to eliminate the howls of the past. Something tapped against his wrist and he realized it was Fermi handing him the remote. He blinked in shock as if he'd received a great treasure. In human society giving the remote to a male in the house seemed the ultimate acceptance. Swallowing hard he took the magic box and started to hit the up and down arrows. While he wasn't sure of what to watch, just being able to change the channel seemed amazing. Could he change the channels so easily in his life?

 

“Uh oh, he's discovered the 24 hour sports channel,” Stellari said, ruffling Fermi's head.

 

“No way, stop here, this is my favorite team!” Fermi protested.

 

“I like the Dolphins, not the Bears,” grumbled Bohr.

 

“Hmm, this seems adequate,” Raditz said.

 

He settled on a game she called `football', and rested his feet on the hassock to afford the child in his lap a better surface to recline upon. Bohr settled into a more comfortable position with his head resting on Raditz chest and his bottom immediately next to his brothers so only his side was draped across Raditz lap now. For a time he lost himself in the collisions of players and the deciphering of the jargon the two sportscasters were spinning. He followed the scribbled marker lines on top of the video stills of particular `plays' that were noteworthy, likening them to strategies long ago swapped among fellow warriors during mess at the canteen. Fermi and Bohr began to rattle off answers to Raditz questions about the sport, sharing the all time tradition of father/son communication. Stellari felt relief seeing something so `natural' developing.

 

Here was something familiar and testosterone laden he could relate to. Snatching onto the straw of football Raditz found an ideal distraction. So THIS was the replacement for latent male hostility, the sports world. Chock full of statistics, blow by blows and other things it seemed almost a Godsend. Granted Saiyans had sports, but theirs were far more brutal. But this Football was full contact charging, tripping, and dog piling like an all out brawl. Yet each teammate had his own position that made him indispensable.

 

“Zone defense… long bomb?” he chuckled. Fermi's answer was a small snore. He felt Bohr snuggling up to his warmth a bit more, then realized by the even breathing that the boy was asleep. Overtop the curly heads of the boys he regarded Stellari's face illuminated by the flickering lights of the game recap cast by the television.

 

“Let them wait a bit to see if they stay asleep before we take them back,” she cautioned him. What suddenly dawned on Raditz was the soothing quality to the television, almost like a hunting fire. No wonder Humans loved sitting together like this before that device.

 

“So what do you think of the game?” she asked.

 

“Mmm, I'd like to know more,” Raditz mumbled.

 

“I'd ask what you were thinking, but on this world that's not something a woman usually asks a man without him recoiling in fear,” Stellari said.

 

“Humph, it's the same for my people,” Raditz grunted.

 

“What sorts of sports are played on your world?” she tried again. “Anything like football?”

 

“Mmm,” Raditz grunted with relief, glad she found a topic he could answer. “Hunting games mostly. Target shooting, things of that nature. Like your species does with so called guns shooting at those `clay pigeons'. But using trackers and ki beams instead. There's Search, where two teams of opposing Saiyans hunt for a prize kill in a large desert environment. First one to get the kill wins. Then there's Scrimmage, a game much like your football here that involves tackling as many opponents to gain headway while getting all the spheres from your opponents team and carrying them to the end of a rather large X shaped playing space. If they get all of yours, you loose. If all five are placed at the opposite ends then it's considered exemplary. If all are captured and held… it's another way to win. Three population centers had their own best teams. It was played at the Saiyan war academy.”

 

“Any racing?”

 

“Of course woman. Flying and fighting tournaments were held once every two years amongst squads. And there is also the free for all… much like your old ancient Gladiatorial combats. Captives fought to the death, or young elites proved their worth to the royal family by who they could subjugate. One could get a scouter cast feed easily when in hibernation to see your favorite warrior,” Raditz chuckled.

 

Despite the banter, Stellari sensed something dark hovering behind the immediate words. Brooding was a Saiyan tradition as much as hunting and killing, she thought. Through the fledgling rapport she sent a small query. It was instantly answered.

 

"You live with a murderer and criminal woman," he thought quietly.

 

“Tell me something I don't know,” she murmured, losing herself in his eyes again.

 

"And your religion says that a husband and wife should not be unequally yoked.”

 

"The potential for change is there. Even now you are not what you once were," was her silent answer.

 

“Is it considered a habit to tame a wild beast, as I have said before?”

 

“Not tame, train. To a new lifestyle and realm of possibilities,” she said, reaching her fingers out to touch his, around the twin boys snuggled between them. Under her thoughts she slowly released a chunk of her own past. Something dark and equally hidden from behind the light in her soul.

 

Raditz eyes widened. “You… also…”

 

“Yes,” she nodded. He struggled to delve deeper, letting her send what she had dredged up.