Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Prince and the Pauper ❯ Ch. 5 ( Chapter 5 )

~~Chapter 5~~

As the welcoming roar of reform shook the people's foundations and began to uplift their emanciated spirits, Raditz gloried in the frenzy.

He relished it, absorbed the sheer force of their wild abandonment into himself as though it were something solid.

Oh, would that he could be up there, instigating the New Era with his brother.

But he couldn't. He had to remain in the shadows. All because he had been in the Saijyan Elite Army.

All because as soon as they saw his face, they would immediately conclude that Bardock was the betrayer to their empire as well.

He couldn't let that happen.

Not that he was exactly happy that Kakarott had to face them. If he remembered correctly, he was going to have Brolli do it, yet the boy had insisted that he be the one to strike down the Royal Brat. It had taken Kakarott over four months of planning in order to change his elder brother's mind.

The only thing that had changed his perspective on the issue was that Kakarott had threatened to tell their sire. Raditz had relented, albeit begrudgingly, disguising his brother with the most basic of ruses.

Though he looked very much like his father when cleaned up, his hair was covered in filthy rags and his face was even more heavily laden with dirt. True, it wasn't the most elaborate disguise, but it would do. No one would be able to distinguish his parentage or identity.

The only lingering concern that he still possessed was that Kakarotto still was much too young, too trusting, to be involved in the dark business of anarchy.

Raditz sighed tiredly beneath his ragged cloak as he inched further back into the shadows.

He shouldn't have been fool enough to let his baby brother do the dirty work. How could he live with himself if Vegeta HAD missed the blow, crushing dear Kakarott in his fingers?

He knew that he wouldn't have been able to.

But then again, Raditz chuckled, maybe I'm the one that needs to start having more faith in Kakarott.

Indeed, that seemed to be the case.

He'd known for years in the depths of his heart that Kakarott was a singularly, and uniquely strong child.

Stronger at the age of six than most of the Elite men he had ever come across.

He'd wanted so desperately to let his brother show that strength to the world, show that strength to the King and laugh in the domineering monster's face.

But he was fearful.

Fearful that when they did come to the realization of such power, and let alone a commoner possessing it, they would kill him, succeeding in keeping the impure bloodline of Vegeta upon the throne.

And his fears had proven not to be in vain.

There had been instances in which 'accidents' had occurred when his father, who at the time had still been one of the commanding generals in the army, had taken them out on a purging mission with him. Accidents that they had had a hard time explaining away as having nothing to do with Kakarott.

If he thought about it now, he believed that his father really didn't think they had anything to do with his sibling. Or if he had, he'd deluded himself into not seeing the light like the rest.

Yet luck must have been on their side, because thankfully, all of the Imperial Soldiers had been far too adle-brained to recognize the truth that had been staring them right in the faces.

All except of course, Vegeta no Ou.

What can you say? You don't get to be the King on Saijya by being a stupid man.

Oh he was a cunning sort, calculating. He was the type to turn a principle or idea around in his head and search for the holes.

His father always said that their grandfather had told him this new regime would bring a threat as it brought in the new king.

However there was one thing that Vegeta no Ou got wrong. Raditz thanked the gods everyday that he was too prejudiced by age to see past it.

The King Vegeta had known that there was another more powerful than he in their clan. He'd sensed it when his mother first began allowing father to take Kakarott with him on the palace grounds to train.

But it wasn't Kakarott that Vegeta had been intrigued by, but their father.

The only way Raditz could possibly ascertain as to why such an intelligent man wouldn't see that it was actually Kakarott who was the strongest, was his deep envy of Bardock.

The king had envied Bardock practically since the day they each took their first breath.

If it wasn't for his success on the battlefield, his skill in combat, or the general way he was liked and commanded such an easy respect from all that met him, it was for the king's one loss at his hands:

Shahar.

Shahar had been one of the most sought after females in the three lands. She was a female that was strong of mind as well as physical beauty. It had been said by many that when she was in her prime, she could make a male or female go into heat with just a flick of her tail, or the way that the sun would shine upon her pelt.

Shahar had not come from a wealthy family. Quite the contrary really, but that was of no consequence where Vegeta was concerned. The king was allowed to marry anyone that he wished. And he had most assuredly set his sights on her, and she him...but then there had been a chance meeting that would bring that dream soundly to a close.

Fate must have given a toast to Bardock that night, because on a whim as the soldier had rounded a corner, he'd collided with that dynamic lady. The pair ended up having quite a conversation, and as cruel destiny would have it, they'd pledged themselves to one another and mated two nights later.

The twosome had never heard of what the king's feelings were on the matter. He and Shahar's interest in one another had never been made official.

But despite not truly knowing what the Ou's reaction to the event was, there had been six Elites that turned up missing that next day, and though the announcement that they had simply been taken off of the force and had been transferred to another region of the kingdom had seemed to placate his subjects mind on the surface, there had been rumors.

Rumors that the king had gone out in the training room and murdered them in a fit of fury at what the two 'betrayers' had done.

It was only until Kakarott came around did the king become wary of Bardock.

Perhaps his envy of their father did shield the truth from his eyes.

Maybe the king had attributed his sensing of this large growth of power to his age, his maturity.

After all, it was not unheard of that these things could happen. It was just rare, since full blooded Saijyans often reached their highest potential when they turned sixty-five. Bardock quite possibly, was just a late bloomer.

Either way, Raditz had started versing Kakarott in a training of his own.

He'd taught the boy at a very early age how to hide his ki signature, how to diminish it, or keep it low and near untraceable from the scanners.

And wouldn't you know, he'd achieved it.

They had let very likely one of the most powerful beings in all of Saijya (if he wasn't yet bold enough to say the universe) slide past their noses that easily, for so many years, averaging only a pathetic and meager +500 on the power readings.

Raditz was pulled gracelessly from his thoughts by a crazed-looking Brolli shaking him by the shoulders.

"Your little bro sure knows how to stir them up, eh Raditzu?"

There was a strange light in Brolli's eyes. Almost unfamiliar, since it had been so long since he had seen it in its genuine form.

Happiness.

Raditz smiled benignly, eyes glittering with the implications of that statement.

"Yes, yes he does."