Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Variations of Fate ❯ Antipathy ( Chapter 8 )

Zarbon knelt before Frieza, head bowed in fealty although his face showed nothing of awe or respect as he flipped the thick braid over his shoulder in irritation. He was worn, bruised and scowling deeply at his feet, his mouth twitching with a burning inner anger.

Frieza's eyes twitched in a similar manner to Zarbon's mouth, wine sloshing gently in the glass he twirled contemplatively between his fingers.He scowled as well, his lips pursed for a moment, then his whole face was pursed, distorted. He calmed himself and lifted a brow, his stance unreadable save for that one brow and the agitated slosh of the wine. "Yes, Zarbon?"

The twitching stopped as his teeth clenched and ground. "His power increases, my Lord."

The sloshing wine stagnated in Frieza's tightly clenched grasp, and, as he shook with rage, ripples broke the stillness of the burgundy liquid. His brows furrowed and jerk-twitched above his narrowing eyes as he dictated in his arrogant intonations: "Send word to my father; I am occupied. It seems as though our experiment has not worked..."

Zarbon's expression was a facial snarl, eyes mere slits at that simple statement: their careful planning had not worked. He managed to say "Yes, Lord Frieza," as he left, but as he walked through the door, he could be heard muttering: "damned Saiyan..."

There was a liquid crunch as glass shattered and dropped to the floor, clinking wetly against metal.

Sukena smiled at her reflection in the mirror, wavy black hair pulled back above deep black eyes, her curvy figure clad in the usual tight Saiyan training uniform that formed itself to every curve and muscle. Muscular, lithe, feminine, flawless tail intact -- she was the epitome of Saiyan beauty and she knew it. Always turning, twirling, whatever in front of the mirror, and checking out and making sure that everything was right with her appearance in her many outfits. It almost always was, of course.

"Mmmm," she purred to herself, a smirk curling the corners of her mouth as she began to laugh heartily, deep down from her belly as she glanced back at the short-haired, red-headed human slave who had -- almost always -- waited on her for nearly seven years, "Mm. So, human, have you heard the prince is returning?"

Ava nodded, her eyes shutting as she bowed her head in acknowledgement at the oft-repeated fact. "You have told me today, yesterday, and so on. It pleases you that he returns."

"Of course it pleases me," Sukena snorted; arrogance grated along with the carefully cultivated sensual tones the Saiyan female spoke. She waved her hand imperiously, "Go and get, oh I don't know... one of those formal things I ordered. Oh, get all of them! I want to see how I look..."

"Yes, my lady," Ava replied passively, inclining her head in submission to Lady Sukena's wishes.

As Ava returned, Sukena smirked. The smirk Sukena gave her, that simpering expression that was irritating to anyone who saw it, had always been an irritant to Ava, although she remained, as always, fearless and passive. Ava bowed and hung the gowns from the stand beside the mirror, careful not to wrinkle them; that was something Ava had learned not to do -- the hard way.

"Which color looks best on me?"

"I believe, Lady Sukena, the lavender would look good on you. Or, perhaps, the black with the red trim?"

"Hmm..." Sukena eyed the two gowns and slipped out of the training uniform, "The black one. Assist me."

"Yes, my Lady," Ava suppressed a grimace and held out the dress, which was snatched from her, "Here, step into it."

"Zip up the back!" which Ava immediately did and then went and got something for her mistress's hair. When she returned, Sukena was already admiring herself in the mirror, swirling sensuously in the satin. The Saiyan smirked at her; "I look excellent, of course?"

"Yes, my Lady. Let me assist you with your hair," Ava bowed her head and undid the ponytail, then brushed through the hair and put it into a French twist, a few wavy tendrils flowing downward "Hmm...I believe Prince Vegeta will be pleased when the time comes for you to wear it. And yet, you need to wear something else when you go to meet him ... something that accents your strength and power."

"Yes, I believe you're right," Sukena's brows furrowed and then she swung past Ava and gathered her training uniform up, as Ava followed her so she could unzip the dress.

There was a buzz from the com-sys and Savoya could be heard: "Sukena! King Vegeta requests your presence immediately!"

"I'll be there in a moment!" Sukena barked as she changed into her uniform. She pointed a finger at Ava as she made her way to the door; "Make sure you've everything straightened up before you leave!"

King Vegeta paced in his throne room, awaiting Sukena's presence. His guards stood quietly, although with the King's strength, they were unnecessary. The stopped abruptly as the doors creaked open and Sukena stepped through.

"You required my presence, your Highness?" She knelt before him, her ponytail swishing behind her.

"Stand up!" he snarled; Sukena scrambled to her feet and then stood calmly at attention. King Vegeta cleared his throat, glaring down at the female, "You need to be training, Sukena! You are not so strong as you think -- the others are close to being able to rival you! You must train harder and you must remain the strongest and best! You are the best possible match, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Sukena narrowed her eyes. "Permission to speak freely?"

The king gestured calmly for her to speak, and she did, demanding: "Who is the closest to my strength?"

"Lady Kalepa."

"How close are the others?"

"Not as close as she is."

"May I challenge and kill her when Prince Vegeta returns, sire?"

King Vegeta merely smiled.

Bulma slammed the door as she entered the Briefs' slave residence, anger written clearly across her dirt-smudged, grease-streaked features. She hurled her bag down, "Mother! I am so sick of these damned Saiyans! Who do they think they are, trying to ... to grope me like that! I may be a 'slave' but I'm not a pleasure toy!"

Mrs. Briefs looked up from whatever she was doing and sighed, "Bulma, you are an attractive young woman..."

"Yes mother, I know, and Saiyan males have an eye for beauty!" the last part was said with a tone and expression of mimicry as she huffed down into a seat. She sighed, "Where's Cuff?"

"Oh, he's washing up. Dinner's soon, you know. I just wonder where Ava is?"

"Mother, Ava will be fine. Savoya's Sukena's guard, and Savoya always watches out for us, no matter what."

"I know, I know ... but Sukena is..." Mrs. Briefs trailed off with a grimace, having had her own problems with the Saiyan female while in Vegeta Castle. She gave Bulma a look over, "Bulma! Go wash! Right now! What did they have you doing? Tuning up their space pods again? You need to stop getting yourself into trouble! You know those Saiyans are the worst kind!"

"Yes mother, actually they did." Bulma flounced up and stomped out of the room, ordering Cuff out of what could best be described as a bathroom.

"Moooooooooomm!!!" the voice of a little boy cried as he scrambled out, "Bulma's being mean again!"

"Cuff, I told her to go wash up. And she's quite a bit more dirty than you are." Mrs. Briefs said calmly and continued with her work.

Cuff, his brown hair tousled, sighed and sat down on the floor. "Mom, can I have a toy space pod? It would be soooo cool!"

"No."

"Puh-leeeaaaze?"

"No, and that's final. Where'd you learn about toy space pods anyway?"

"I met this really, really neat friend today! He says I'm really strong and that I have a lot of potential to be a good fighter! Kakarot is sooo cool! He promised me he'd train me! Isn't that great? Mom?"

Mrs. Briefs dropped her book and paled. "Cuff ... would this friend happen to be, a Saiyan?"

"Well...." he looked down at his feet.

"Cuff?"

"Yes, mommy... but he's really nice!"

"Cuff, he's a Saiyan!"

"But y'all are Bulma and Ava are friends with Savoya..." The door from the outside creaked open and Ava walked in.

"Did I hear my name?" Ava smiled and the door clicked behind her.

"Mommy won't let me have a Saiyan friend!" Cuff whined.

"Mom why can't he, I mean, Bulma and I are friends with Savoya."

"Ava! He's too young. Maybe when you're older Cuff. Just wait a few years and maybe, just maybe..."

"But Mom!" he was still whining.

"No! End of discussion. Ava, go check on dinner. It should be ready soon." Mrs. Briefs turned to look at her adoptive daughter.

"MOM!" Cuff started to whimper and was full-out bawling a few seconds later.

Mrs. Briefs sighed, rubbing her temples. "Alright. Ava, I'll fix dinner. Please, please deal with Cuff."

"Yes ma'am." Ava sat down on the floor next to her brother, pulling him onto her lap and rocking him back and forth, "Cuff, it's okay. Why are you crying over a Saiyan? Hmm?"

"You'd cry if mom wouldn't let you see Savoya!" He sniffled, rubbing his eyes with fisted hands.

"Awh, I know, but Cuff, maybe she's right..."

"But she doesn't know Kakarot! He's really nice! He's kinda dumb, but he's nice and he's my friend! I don't think the other Saiyans like him, cause they say he bumped his head or something and it caused him to go wrong!" Cuff sniffled and Ava hugged him tightly.

"I'll tell you what then, Cuff, but you've gotta be real quiet! When we've got a day off, I'll take you to see him, okay?" she whispered, and in return was given a great big bear hug by the little boy. "Okay, that's enough..."

"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Briefs announced, "Bulma, you'll just have to get yours later!"

It was later that evening when Ava addressed her concerns to her mother. "Mom, he's just a boy, it can't hurt him!"

"Ava, you don't understand. I don't want him to have Saiyan friends. I would forbid you and Bulma to see Savoya, but both of you work around her and she protects you! We don't know anything about this. Carroto, or whatever his name is!"

"But mom! He's just a boy and he needs friends!"

"He has friends!" Mrs. Briefs said stoutly. "And a Saiyan isn't a wise choice as a new one!"

"The other children don't like him, and you know that mom. He's not normal! There's something weird ab--"

"There is nothing strange about your brother, Ava, and don't even try to say that again! He's a perfectly normal child named Cuff Briefs!"

"Sometimes I wonder, mom. Sometimes, I wonder if I should calculate the date of his birth to the date of dad's death. It makes me so suspicious sometimes! You're so much stricter with him about Saiyans than you are or ever were with us! Why? Why is that mom? Do you have some dirty secret? A fling with a Saiyan?"

Mrs. Briefs paled, and then flushed with anger, "Saiyans are dirty bastards! I don't know how many times I've told you that! I try to protect the three of you, and now you, Ava, can't even trust me?"

"Oh! Mom ... I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to, I --" Ava looked away from her mother.

"I have my secrets, but that isn't one of them!"

"Mom! I'm sorry!" Ava replied, and turned to the room she shared with Bulma. She was all apologies, but as she lay down, she still had her nagging little suspicions.