Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ True Torture ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9 He wasn’t thinking of anything for the ten minutes he had to wait. In fact it was only seven minutes till the time they were supposed to get there that he noticed the two dots in the sky just ahead of them. He’d guessed correctly then where they would be coming from. Considering it was the direction of the canyon he’d kidnapped the woman from, he’d figured as much. It only took a few minutes for the boy and Saiyan to become visible to Vegeta, but still he didn’t think of anything, didn’t even twitch as Kakarott landed just in front of him, dragonball clutched under his arm and Gohan beside him. While Gohan looked curiously around, the two Saiyans’ eyes did not stray from each other. “Where is she?” Vegeta moved then, sliding one foot and then the next to the side to give the other an unobstructed view of the open hatch. “With Frieza—and the rest of the dragonballs.” Goku took a step toward the hatch, then paused and looked at Vegeta—and it looked as if he was actually looking at him. “Gohan told me—” “Whatever the brat said is most likely true.” A smirk lit his features as he waved a hand out mockingly toward the hatch’s opening. “Your future awaits you. You better not be late.” Goku’s face creased with a frown as he walked ahead toward the hatch. As Gohan moved to follow him, a gloved hand came out and gripped his arm. He opened his mouth only to have Vegeta’s other hand pressed against his lips. Eye narrowed, Vegeta silently shook his head and then pointed commandingly at the ship’s top. Watching this, Goku nodded when Gohan looked at him, then his eyes darted toward Vegeta. His brow creased and Vegeta walked toward him, releasing the boy and pushing Kakarott over the lip of the hatch with no warning. Goku corrected his short drop and landed in the middle of the room, eyes taking in the inside of the ship. Dragonballs just past and to the left of Frieza, Bulma kneeling to the right of the foot of the—strange thing Frieza sat in, Vegeta dropping in to land slightly behind. He could feel the other’s eyes boring into his back. “Welcome, welcome. Kakarott is it?” Goku’s lips thinned as he felt the other shift behind him slightly. “Goku.” Frieza’s eyebrows rose. “Ah, I see. Do you know of your heritage then?” Goku nodded shortly, eyes darting toward Bulma who was not looking at him. “I do.” “My name is Frieza, but I really prefer you address me as Lord or Master. Those are my—preferred titles.” Goku shook his head lightly and hefted the dragonball into his hands. “You want this. I want Bulma.” Frieza’s smile took up the whole of his face and looked anything but pleasant. “Of course. We must keep things simple and straightforward, correct?” Goku tensed as a clawed hand ran through blue hair. Bulma didn’t even twitch. “I, however, am in full control as of this moment. Being in full control, I’ll say when we—seal this little deal. I’m curious....” Goku’s grip tightened and then loosened around the ball in his hands. “About?” “About how Vegeta seemingly landed on your planet, enslaved it, as he says, and left you living—and yet you don’t seem to show any—what’s the word, Vegeta?” He could practically hear the growl from the man behind him. “I’m not sure what you mean, my lord.” “I mean that I’m beginning to think you’re still plotting against me. All this seems much too easy for you. And look—the dragonballs are all gathered together. A risky plan—but a plan nonetheless. Are you hoping to call the dragon and get a wish before me?” “My lord—” Frieza waved a hand, his head tilted away from Vegeta. “Never mind. I’m sure it’s just a crazy idea your master has come up with. I know you would never betray me.” His head turned and red eyes locked menacingly on the other. Bulma did look up then, at the one sentence that began to echo through her mind. At the weight of despair and—the hint of death it carried. Not Frieza’s.... There were no thoughts of vengeance in the voice. Just—a statement of undeniable fact. ‘It’s finished.’ She stared at Vegeta, stared into his eyes. Her hand sneaked out, and those eyes met hers, noted her movement. His own widened slightly, just enough for her to know he knew what she had done, or had an idea at least. A smirk turned the corner of Bulma’s lips upward and she sent back clearly to him, ‘Not yet.’ Bulma’s fingers caught and found the wires she had picked out of the panel right where she was kneeling. The wires she had selected while Frieza spoke of this and that—mostly plans he had for her, places he would touch her, what he expected Vegeta ‘having his way with her’ would be like. “Now—I believe we can start nego—” At the side where Bulma kneeled there came a sharp report, a cloud of smoke. And that was all the warning anyone had before the blast rocked the hover-craft wildly to the side, turning into a mass of flames and black smoke that billowed over the rest of the craft and Frieza himself, who gave a bellow and was quickly lost to sight. Bulma could feel herself flying the other way, could feel the pain of burned skin, the breath taken from her completely as she closed her eyes and waited to hit something hard— —and instead found herself caught in two arms. She opened one eye, shoving the fact that she couldn’t open the other from her mind. She felt something warm going down her face. Vegeta was frowning down at her, checking to see that she was still alive, and then snapped his head over to where Frieza’s craft lay on a broken heap on its side. There was no sign of the lizard himself, but with all the smoke still coming from the craft and drifting up through the hatch, hardly anything could be seen. It didn’t take long for the whole room to take on a murky air, smoke obscuring everything to a gray tint. Vegeta’s eyes narrowed as he kept his stare trained on the darker blot that was the hovercraft. His eyes snapped down as a hand grabbed his arm. Bulma’s brow was creased and the one eye that was open was staring up at him in confusion. “Why?” He knew what she was asking, and it was a difficult thing to answer when he was trying not to ask himself that. He shrugged and smirked down at her, wondering how she would react to the fact that she would probably be blind in one eye for the rest of her life now. “You said you wanted vengeance on me. You’ve hardly gotten it.” “You—” Vegeta’s eyebrow rose and he actually chuckled. “Aware na onna. As far as I am concerned you and I are even.” Bulma’s grip loosened as Vegeta turned back to the hovercraft, watching as it tipped onto his side and all the way over, revealing a form that straightened slowly. Vegeta felt rather than saw someone else by his side. He thrust the woman into Goku’s arms. “Get your son to get her to safety and then to come and collect the dragonballs. We will distract him.” Black eyes met his with raised brows and Vegeta snarled. “What are you waiting for? Get the fuck out of here!” “Oh, Vegeta, Vegeta. What a carefully thought-out plan this was. Sending a beautiful viper into my nest of eggs.” Vegeta chuckled and turned to watch the dirtied form of Frieza stalk toward him as Goku flew off, turned to watch red eyes piercing the gloom where he was. “I couldn’t think of any better way to get rid of such an ugly pest.” He could hear the tail scraping the floor behind the lizard, hear the gritted teeth. “Do you know how much I’m going to make you hurt?” Vegeta smirked and waved a hand for Frieza to come after him. “Well, we both know how much of a masochist you think I am.” There was a crack as Vegeta’s head was whipped to the side by something. Vegeta couldn’t see what hit him, or even that Frieza had moved. He only felt the double pain of his cheekbone cracking under the blow and his body hitting the metal wall of the ship to bounce onto the floor. “—was really very foolish of you.” Vegeta shook his head, pressing a hand to it and wincing as he jarred broken bone. He shoved a hand to the wall and felt the indentation he had made there. He winced again and waited for the ringing in his ears to fade. He could feel the other standing above him, knew he wouldn’t be able to even move before the other struck, and tried to rise despite that. The foot landed in his middle and lifted him from the ground, blood splattering from his mouth as he felt wind rush past him. Gods, he’d never imagined this sort of strength from the other. He knew he was strong but— Thoughts were scattered as his back collided with the domed ceiling. He heard himself cry out, felt himself falling, knew he wouldn’t be able to stop his headlong rush into the floor. He felt something catch him, cradle him and set him gently on the ground. He saw orange. “Kakarott....” The word was uttered with all the venom and pain he felt at the moment. “You were planning on saving some of him for me, right?” Was the bastard mocking him? He felt the other move away and struggled to prop himself on his elbows. Frieza’s tail was twitching back and forth, back and forth, as he watched the other. “So—this was a conspiracy, hm? The Saiyans revolt.” “I’m human.” Vegeta grimaced at the words and rose to his feet, grasping the wall beside him until he could lock out his knees. A sure way to go back down, but it was all he could do to keep on his feet at the moment. He just needed a breather.... They just needed time. He almost jumped at the hands that suddenly fluttered at his side. “Ah, I thought you were here.” His eyes were wide as he stared at the woman beside him, practically blind in the dense air. “What the hell—” “You’re right. I need my vengeance. I can’t get it if you’re dead. Goku can hold him off; we can get the dragonballs.” He growled and tried to shift away from the woman only to realize he was depending too much on the wall to do so. “That brain-dead idiot can’t—” Vegeta’s head turned at the crack that filled the air only to see the other Saiyan amazingly blocking a blow from the lizard’s tail. He could feel the smugness from the woman beside him. He whipped his head toward her, snarling. “You’re wasting time, woman!” Bulma sobered and nodded, grabbing Vegeta and pushing him away from the wall. Vegeta stumbled before he reluctantly relented to the woman’s aid, correcting their course so that they were aimed for the dragonballs. He could already see Kakarott’s son waiting for them. Gohan’s eyes lit up as they approached him and Vegeta snorted, shaking off the woman’s hold. “You were supposed to get rid of her. She’s a liability.” “There are three of us and seven dragonballs. At the most now we only have to make two trips. Just how long did you think you and Goku could hold out against Frieza with only one person gathering two dragonballs at a time?” He waved a hand in the air, watching a smoke moved in swirling patterns around it. “Never mind! Let’s just grab them and go!” Vegeta shoved two dragonballs under one arm and managed to roll another under his other arm. He watched as the others grabbed two each. He huffed and bent over slightly. “Grab onto my neck, hold tight, and don’t choke me.” He felt her slim arms go around him and clench. As he rose into the air, they tightened. “I said don’t choke me!” He heard a nervous chuckle behind him. “Believe me, if it’s a choice between choking you and falling, you’re going to be out of breath.” He rolled his eyes and continued up and out of the ship, hearing a sharp cry as Frieza scored a hit on the Saiyan below him. “Dad—” “Worry about the dragonballs, brat! Your sentimentality will get us all killed!” He could see the boy’s lips compress as they exited the ship, but ignored it for placing the dragonballs on the ground, dropping them to the ground at the same time he twisted his body. Bulma fell from Vegeta’s back, and with both hands full she couldn’t catch herself as she landed hard on the ground. She set there for a few minutes, the aches and pains of the explosion that had practically been on top of her coming back with the loss of adrenaline. “Are you alive, woman?” She glared up at the scowling form of Vegeta as he stared down at her. “What does it look like?” He made a short noise and looked back toward the ship. “Find the Ginyu Force’s ships and hotwire them. I’m sure you know how. Then get the boy, get the balls, and get the hell out of here.” She winced as she tried to stand and found herself hauled upright. “We have no where to go, Vegeta. And I’m not leaving Goku here!” Vegeta’s grip tightened before he noticed her look of pain and loosened it. “If Frieza gets his wish you’ll have no place to go. Right now you have plenty of places to go. Crack into the database on the ships’ computers and find a planet not run by Frieza. Maybe one just monitored by him.” “I’m not leaving Goku.” “Yeah, I’m not leaving my dad.” Vegeta grasped Bulma’s head, forcefully wrenching to stare at Gohan. “You see him? Kakarott, the soft-hearted freak, would want you to get him off this planet. He won’t leave without you. As for Kakarott,” he sneered, “since you have such a high emotion for the bastard I’ll make sure he gets out alive. I’ll send him running after you.” Her head was wrenched back around to come inches within Vegeta’s, his black eyes boring into hers as his hot breath hit her face. “You’d better make a damn good wish on those dragonballs. Your precious Kakarott isn’t even damaging Frieza—and we both know it.” She worked her jaw as she was suddenly let go, pushed backwards at the same time and barely catching her balance. She glared at the Saiyan for a moment before it suddenly lightened. “What about you?” Vegeta barked a laugh. “What about me, woman? I still have vengeance to exact—and this one is more pressing than the one you have against me.” Before she could even form a protest, Vegeta had taken off, his path a short, blue ki trail back into the ship that was only lightly smoking now. “Bulma—we have to—” “Do what Vegeta said.” “But—” She turned on the child then, in his face and expression serious. “We have to get the dragonballs away from Frieza. That means off this planet. That is our job. I can’t do it by myself. Besides, Vegeta said he’d look after Goku.” Gohan started, almost shying back from the angry and determined look of the other. “You—trust him?” Bulma laughed and picked up two of the dragonballs. “No. But I trust him to not want Goku to kill Frieza. He wants to kill Frieza. Come on. Help me out.” Nodding slowly, though he hardly understood half of what was going on, Gohan picked up two dragonballs and followed Bulma.

A/N: O.o Don’t look at me that way. This story is—well, I have no idea where it’s going, but it’s getting there fast.... lol Review. Yes, please review.... It would be so nice. ^_____^ NEXT