Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Velut Luna ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Velut Luna, Chapter One
Title: Velut Luna
Pairing: Turles/Kakarotto
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Heavy Lime, character death, AU


Kakarotto frowned at the smoking sphere in front of him. It used to be his pod. Used to be. Now it was a broken down hunk of junk. It had been a cheap model that had plodded along for three whole years, but now it was just plain useless. He wouldn't even be able to sell it for spare parts.

Kakarotto did the appropriate thing for one who was in a situation such as his; he reared his leg back and kicked the pod as hard as possible. It sailed gracefully into the distance, landing out of sight.

"That's what you get for marooning me here," he snarled when it was gone.

`Stupid pod,' he thought bitterly as he stalked away from the landing site. `Stupid. Stupid, stupid. It couldn't die on a purge or anywhere I could just snatch up another spaceship. No, it has to go out on me here, where I have to pay for it with money I don`t have.'

He headed west towards the low-income housing district. `Five years. It's been five whole years since I spent more than a week here. I remember I almost went insane trying to get myself out of here the last time.'

`It's going to take a lot more than a week to get enough money to buy myself a new pod, too.' He reached the place he called home when he had no other options, Fava district housing section 1-C, a slum for lower-class soldiers. It was dirty, raggedy, and just plain nasty from top to bottom. And it smelled. `It's depressing to even look at the place,' he thought.

He floated up slowly to the level he lived on, floor 5. Since the majority of Saiyajin could fly, most buildings on Vegetasei did not have stairs or elevators, and Fava 1-C was no exception. Instead, there were doors every few feet on every level that opened to the different hallways which led to the apartments. Those who were too weak or could not fly for some other reason were stuck on the ground floor or left to struggle for themselves. Such was the nature of Saiyajin culture.

He swiped his card key and pushed the door open. His nose crinkled. It smelled like mildew. Still. The door automatically swished shut behind him as he flipped the light switch. It was just like he left it: a tiny room with a table, two chairs, an empty food storage unit, and a rickety bed. The bathrooms were down the hall. He checked the storage unit to make sure it was empty. It was. He sighed in general frustration and leaned against the wall.

`Well, all this negativity isn't going to do me a damn bit of good. Being planet-side for a while won't be that bad. I mean, after the Tsufuru War, people were stuck planet-side for a long time. If they could handle it, so can I. I can get in some good sparring, do some odd jobs, and maybe Radditz and Papa will let me visit for a while if they`re around.'

`I think I was supposed to go for some med check-up or something a while back, too. I think they call it the ARsomethingorother Screening or something like that.' He paused and considered for a moment. `Nah, when the med-people start using letters like that they usually want to give you a shot. I hate shots. Better steer clear.'

He peeled off his armor, flopped on the bed, and rolled onto his side, unwinding his tail from his waist. `Better get some rest. After some sleep, I'll feel refreshed and ready to see what I can do about this.

Thus Kakarotto spent his first night on Vegetasei in five years.

-------------------

Kakarotto woke up hungry. Very, very, hungry. He re-checked the food storage unit, just in case he had missed something or if something had made its way there during the night. Even if this something was of questionable origin, it didn't matter. When he was this hungry, he stopped being picky. Unfortunately, it was still empty.

This was one of the reasons he hated being planet-side. On a job, he could just find something relatively tasty-looking, kill it if he hadn't already, and then eat it. Not here though. Here, one had to actually buy food, because hunting had become outlawed to prevent the extinction of every species on the planet that wasn`t Saiyajin. He didn't even have enough money to buy a day's worth of food because the money from his last job had been spent on fuel and various expenses. It'd be a cold day on the surface of the sun before Papa or Radditz would be willing to feed him, but he could maybe snatch up something to eat when they weren't looking. Then he could go job hunting.

He opened the door to the outside and saw the twin suns high in the sky, feeling the pleasant humidity of the air during a Vegetasei afternoon. 'The weather's always so much nicer here,' he thought. He still hated being stuck there, of course, but a part of him would always love it because it was his home. Nothing could change that. It wasn't the planet he resented, after all.

He flew west towards the district where his father and brother lived. Well, where they last lived as far he knew. He hoped they didn't move somewhere without telling him because the last time that happened, he almost never found them again.

He watched the people as they went about their business. Some were flying somewhere like he was, some were lounging and staring at nothing, and others were fighting, talking, eating, and doing dozens of normal, everyday things. 'It feels odd to see so many people like me in one place. I guess I'm just used to being on planets and space stations and stuff that are filled with aliens and being the only Saiyajin around.'

He suddenly spotted the top of a familiar, spiky head below him standing and talking to another Saiyajin. Surprised, he dropped down behind him, and shouted, "Papa!"

Bardock whirled around and, seeing who it was, said simply, "Boy."

Kakarotto belatedly sensed something was wrong with the way that his father stood and the way he darted his eyes left and right; he seemed tense. Kakarotto assumed that he had interrupted what had been a very private conversation. 'Well, he can't go blaming me this time,' he thought. 'It's not my fault he can't go have his private conversations in a private place.'

The man with whom Bardock had been talking-Kakarotto hadn't met him before-blinked and asked, "This is Radditz?" He sounded like he had just found out that Radditz was a rock or a vegetable or something.

Growling, Bardock turned to him and snapped, "Don't be a fool. This isn't Radditz; it's my other son. His name is Kakarotto."

Papa's friend looked utterly mystified by the revelation that Bardock had another son. 'He probably just doesn't know Papa very well,' thought Kakarotto, but he knew that wasn't really the case. He and his father had never been all that close.

Bardock turned back to Kakarotto and growled, "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

'This was a bad idea,' thought Kakarotto dejectedly. 'Papa isn't going to do anything but growl at me. I shouldn't have said anything to him in the first place. I should just cut my losses and go find Radditz.'

"Kakarotto."

He turned to see who had called him and saw a man a little less than a head taller than him walking down the street towards him. His skin was darker than his, with his hair styled similarly to his and Papa's, and he wore the uniform of a second-class guard. He seemed to be happy, for some reason. When he reached him, the man gave him a pat on the back that took him off-guard and almost knocked him to the floor.

"You remember me, don't you?"

Kakarotto didn't. At least he thought he didn't. Could he have met him before and forgot? He usually wasn't on Vegetasei long enough to talk to a whole lot of people, so that couldn't be it. A space station somewhere, maybe? 'When could I have met someone that would remember me good enough to want to talk to me and like this? People don't yell "Kakarotto" like that here on Vegetasei unless it's really important.'

The man seemed amused by something. "From Lassangina? The space station Lassangina?"

"You know this man?" broke in Bardock. Kakarotto he could hear the low, dangerous tone in his father's voice, and he could even smell the distrust and tension his father was feeling. He was practically radiating aggression and anger. 'Better try and remember who he is before Papa gets even madder,' Kakarotto racked his brain trying to remember the names of any Saiyajin he could have met on a place called Lassangina.

Suddenly, it hit him. "Turles! That's right. I met you a while back at that station. We were the only two saiyajin there, so we stayed together for a little while." Kakarotto remembered staying in Turles' room for a night or two; he was really nice and he even paid for both of their meals. It was great.

"Stayed together? Meaning what? How-?" Bardock narrowed his eyes and looked from Kakarotto to Turles and back again. "How long ago was this, exactly?"

"Oh, it was about six years ago, wouldn't you agree? You've grown up a lot since then, Kakarotto."

Kakarotto was confused. Turles had an odd expression; he looked sorta predatory, though he didn't smell it. He smelled good actually. He had a happy sort of scent that Kakarotto liked. Kakarotto had absolutely no idea what it was that had his father so upset. 'Why doesn't Papa ever tell me why he's mad? All he would have to say is "he's an asshole, he did such-and-such once. Stay away from him," and then I would.'

"You were just a little cub back then," Turles continued, "but now look at you! Such a fine young man." He leaned forward until his face was inches from Kakarotto's, then asked softly, "Tell me. Do you have a lover?"

"That's enough!" Bardock pushed himself in between the two of them, growling and bearing his teeth in anger. His stance was tense: tail wrapped tightly around his waist and his hands balled into fists, ready to strike. He was pissed. Seriously pissed. `I-am-about-to-kill-you' pissed. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you can keep the hell away from my son! What I want to know is what you got up to with my son when he was-"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Kakarotto blinked. Everything was happening so fast, and he had no past experience to tell him exactly what was going on. 'Papa couldn't think Turles is my lover or something, could he? Wouldn't I remember him if he was? Besides, I was too little to have a lover back then.'

"He let me sleep in his room, and we ate and did things like that together. It was only for a day or two. It was so long ago that I don't remember too much specific stuff. The food was pretty good, though. The aliens who ran the station smelled kinda funny, like medicine. They were okay, for aliens, anyway."

Bardock stopped growling and regained a more normal, albeit stiff stance. "I'll have you know my son has only been of age for a short while," he narrowed his eyes, "and who is his lover is none of your concern. You presume too much, Turles."

"Mm-hmm," said Turles, staring at Kakarotto and clearly not listening to him.

Bardock growled. He hated being ignored. 'Cocky bastard,' He looked over at his son, still being his typically oblivious self. Just like his mother. 'I should leave him to his own devices and let the boy learn the hard way, even if that bastard is a guard,' he thought. 'It's high time he learned to use sense.'

A gurgling, growling sound erupted between the three of them.

Turles laughed again. "Skip breakfast, Kakarotto?"

Kakarotto laughed nervously, "Yeah, I kinda did. My food storage unit was empty and-," he managed to stop himself before he could say 'and I'm dead broke' in front of his father.

"Well then, we can go and get something to eat and then catch up. It'll be my treat. How does that sound?"

Kakarotto blinked, unable to believe his good fortune. "Did you just say 'my treat?"

----------------------

Bardock watched Kakarotto and Turles leave. When they were out of sight, Bardock motioned for his companion to follow him and left for a more private area. "Stupid boy," growled Barkdock as he walked. "Never had any damn sense, going off with a damn guard. What if that bastard uses him to blackmail us? All of us could be ruined over that little idiot and that horny bastard."

They ducked into a alleyway, and then a small shack hidden in it. A few other saiyajin were lounging about inside. Most did not acknowledge the newcomers, but one raised his hand in greeting.

"Ahh, Bardock, you're always so pessimistic," replied his companion. "How do you know that it'll turn out so bad?"

Bardock paused in mid-step and began to sway dangerously where he stood, his eyes wide and staring. Everyone rushed towards him to catch him as he fell. He began to convulse rapidly, his eyes rolling back into his head. One Saiyajin began to shove the others aside, yelling for them to give Bardock room. He picked Bardock from the ground and held him close as his body shook.

Suddenly, he stopped shaking and lay still as if dead. Slowly, Bardock began to regain his senses, and the one who had separated him from the rest knelt by him, supporting his head. He looked up at the other saiyajin with unfocused eyes. "Toma," he said faintly.

"What did you see?" the other saiyajin asked simply.

Bardock instantly snapped to attention, he pushed himself away from Toma and stood up. He addressed the rest of those present. "It's not safe here anymore. We need to get off-planet as quickly as possible." Growling under his breath, he added, "We may already be too late."

----------------------

Turles led Kakarotto to a restaurant he had never been to before. He said that the food was really good and that they would be able to get a nice private booth so that they could catch up without anyone bothering them. On the way, Turles told him how he had been doing the last few years, that he had been promoted a few times and was currently doing fairly well for himself. Kakarotto wished he could say that he was doing half as well. Turles told him that he was young and that he was about the same way when he was Kakarotto's age and that he would do better later on in life. Turles said that he was special, so he might even do better than he did. When Kakarotto asked what it was that made him so special, Turles wouldn't answer and only said that he would realize what he meant by it some day. Kakarotto was slightly annoyed by the non-answer to his question, but he was too excited about the prospect of free food to care too much.

"So you need a new spaceship," he said, after they sat down. He watched Kakarotto intently as he spoke. "Have you looked for a replacement yet?"

Kakarotto leaned back in his seat, hoping that the food would be quick in coming. He was hungry. He was beginning to wonder why his father had taken exception to Turles so, as well. `Papa sure seems to have something against him. I mean, he doesn't really like anyone except maybe Toma and Radditz, but he looked ready to rip out Turles throat. What did he do to make Papa so mad?' Kakarotto realized that Turles was staring at him expectantly. `Oh right, I still haven't answered him.'

"Actually, I haven't even thought about it yet. I just got back last night, and I know I don't have the money for even the clunkiest, bottom rung, hunk of junk. I figure it's a waste of time to even go looking for anything until I can at least afford a down payment. I'll do a few jobs here and there and then go take a look."

Turles was looking at him from the corner of his eyes, with his head turned to his right as if he were looking somewhere else. Kakarotto realized it was the first time he'd turned away from him since he had left Papa and friend. "Perhaps I can give you some work to do myself. I could see to it that you have a new ship in no time."

"Really? What kind of work do you have in mind?"

Turles smiled at him, showing sharp glittering canines before shifting his gaze to the left, towards the waiter walking stiffly towards them. He had a tray in his hands, holding the first course of their meal, the grilled ribs of some unfortunate animals imported from obscure part of the galaxy. It looked unbelievably delicious to Kakarotto. He was practically drooling. "Let's wait until our meal is through to discuss business," said Turles.

The food was great. It had to be the best food Kakarotto had tasted in his whole life. It tasted even better to him since he hadn't eaten in so long. Kakarotto ordered seconds, and then thirds, and Turles didn't seem to mind. When he finally started to slow down on his fourth plate of meat, Turles asked him what he wanted for desert. 'This has to be some kind of incredible dream,' he thought happily.

By then he had forgotten his father's anger entirely. After all, he had good food, the promise of a good job, and even dessert. What else was there?

Finally, he finished eating and leaned back patting his stomach in satisfaction. It was easily the best meal he ever had in a long time. For a while, he just sat there, enjoying the feeling of a nice, full, stomach. Turles didn't eat nearly as much as he did, but then again, he probably had a good breakfast before meeting him.

"So, what was that work you were talking about?" he asked finally.

Turles smiled again. Kakarotto couldn't help but think that he sure seemed happy about something. "Tell me, how close are you to your father?"

"You mean Papa?" Kakarotto shrugged. "I dunno, I guess not very. I don't get to see him so him much, and he doesn't really like it when I visit sometimes. He gets kinda grumpy with me sometimes."

"Is that so?" he laughed. Then Turles leaned across the table "So, did he know what he was talking about when he said you're too young to have a lover?"

Kakarotto felt the little hairs on the back of his neck stand in surprise. He must have blanched, blushed, made a funny face, or something because Turles began laughing like a loon. 'Is he just kidding around?' Kakarotto tried not to look nervous. It wouldn't do to get bent out of shape over a joke, after all. It would be even worse if he was serious.

"Don't tell me an attractive young man like you hasn't got anyone to spend his nights with," he laughed again. "Don't you know you can't fight well if you're too frustrated?"

"Don't make fun of me!" Turles didn't listen and only continued to laugh. Frustrated, Kakarotto stood up from his seat and started to leave. When he passed by, he felt Turles grab him by the wrist, and he was suddenly lying on the floor, pinned by him. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' thought Kakarotto. 'I shouldn't have been caught so easily. I should have seen that move coming!'

"Don't you know why I wanted to be seated in private?" he asked. "So very naïve." He traced a finger along Kakarotto's jaw keeping his hands pinned with the other hand and felt a private thrill in seeing him shiver at the touch. "But at least you have your good looks to look after you, right?"

He leaned in closer so that his body covered Kakarotto's, and his lips were next to Kakarotto's ear. "You are as beautiful as the moon," he whispered. "You look and smell like paradise itself. What man in his right mind would not want you?"

Turles suddenly got off of him and turned away, as if this statement had been a great admission of guilt or treachery. He had flirted shamelessly with him the whole time, though Kakarotto had been too foolish to realize it, but now he chose to turn away. He cleared his throat to speak.

"My offer is this," he said evenly, still keeping his back to Kakarotto, "I want you to spend five days and five nights with me, no more and no less. During that time you will not leave my side, no matter what. If you can do that, I will buy you any kind of spaceship you want, it will be paid in full and completely fueled up."

There was a pregnant pause. Turles sat with his back turned to Kakarotto. Kakarotto began to sit up, watching Turles in case he decided to pounce again. Finally, Turles spoke again, "So, what do you say?"

Still there was only silence. Finally, Kakarotto stood, and turned away from him. "Goodbye, Turles." He left without another word, and did not look back.

----------------------

Afterwards, he walked quickly and quietly, without looking to his left or his right, as if he had some great purpose or plan that needed carrying out immediately. The truth was, he had no destination whatsoever. He was merely walking to get the emotion out of his system. He had learned at a very early age that a person couldn't just blow up at someone in Vegetasei, especially not at a higher ranking soldier. It was a one-way ticket to get oneself beat up and then thrown into prison for a long, long time. Long enough to consider oneself lucky to ever get out alive.

He sat down on a dusty bench and tried to get his thoughts in order. 'What now?' he thought. 'I don't think Turles is going to take `no' for an answer. He's going to be after me until I can manage to get off-planet and out of his reach, which I can't do. If I go to Papa, he'll just say "I told you so" and call me an idiotic boy. Maybe I can go see Radditz; he might help. He's older and probably had to deal with this kind of thing before.'

Already partly convinced that his older brother would be able to solve all his problems, he started heading back to Papa's and Radditz's apartment. It wasn't far, so he decided to walk. He noticed that the sky was becoming a little bit stormy with big black clouds in the distance. He walked faster to try and beat the oncoming downpour.

He reached the building that they lived in to discover a troop of guards gathered in the hallway to their apartment. He quickly ducked out of sight behind a turn in the hallway and watched quietly. The hall leading to their apartment was very dimly lit do to some eternally broken light fixtures, and all he could see were the dimmest of shapes kicking and stomping some poor person on the ground. The guards were laughing and grunting with effort to hurt the poor guy as much as possible. Kakarotto felt a pang of pity for the guy on the other end of the guards' punishment and wondered what he had done to deserve such a beating. After a few moments, two of them grabbed the person up and dragged him out of the building, leaving the other way, never detecting Kakarotto's presence.

When they were gone, Kakarotto stepped out from his hiding place to try and understand had happened. As he got closer, a trail of dark blood on the floor began to become visible, and he realized with dawning horror that the trail started at the door to Papa's and Radditz's apartment. He ran over to it and saw that the door to it had been broken down.

He slowly walked in and hit the lights, fearing what he would see.

The lights were intensely bright, and for a moment, Kakarotto had to blink away bright spots from his vision. The apartment was white faded into dusty gray from not being cleaned. Blood was spattered and stained over every surface. Furniture was broken and strewn across the room. There was so much blood. 'No one could bleed this much and not die, so Radditz must still be alive, right? Some blood from the guards must be here too. He wouldn't go down without a fight…' He finally understood that it was his brother that he had seen being beaten and dragged off. He wobbled dazedly to the other end of the apartment. There were clumps of long black strands with bloody hunks of meat lying in a heap there.

"His hair," he said, his voice choking with emotion. It hit him hard. If Radditz wasn't dead yet, then it was only a matter of time. His only brother… Why did they have to do that his brother's hair? Everything began to become gray and fuzzy around the edges-

"Kakarotto," a voice came from the doorway, startling him back to reality. It sounded frightened, and just as disturbed as he was. "Oh, shit, I'm too late."

Kakarotto remained where he was. 'Who's that?' He felt a pair of arms grab him by the shoulders and whirl him around. He was being lead out of the apartment and into the dim hallway stained with his brother's blood.

It was the man he had seen father with earlier, the one who had known about Radditz but not him. 'I never even learned his name,' he thought. He looked terrible, as if he had aged fifteen years in just a few hours. "They've got Radditz, they're looking for Bardock and Toma, and they'll be looking for you, too, because they think you might know something. You have to find somewhere safe. It doesn't matter where; just find it and stay there, and don't leave until you can get off of this planet. They can't touch you on interplanetary territory. Remember that."

"B-but they killed Radditz." His mind kept repeating it over and over. Radditz was dead.

"They have no problems killing you either," he growled back. "Look, just stay hidden for the next few days, okay? Just long enough for them to stop monitoring the launch stations. As long as you stay alive, that's all that matters in a time like this. Understand?"

His words were beginning to sink in, and Kakarotto was slowly beginning to recover from his shock. He looked at him and asked simply, "Why?"

"Nothing good you can get from that, kid," he said. "Just lay low and everything will be okay." There were shouts coming from the other end of the hallway, and two guards appeared. "Sent to surveillance the place for us and get rid of evidence, are they? Get out of here, Kakarotto, and I'll hold them off for you."

Kakarotto shook his head no. There was no way he could just run at a time like this, even if he was just a third class and they were first, even if it was ten against just two, he had a score to settle.

"Like hell," the other Saiyajin replied. "Bardock sent me here to make sure his other son lived, and that's what I'm doing. You have no chance if you fight right now, but if you live long enough there will come a time when you will."

"But you're not strong enough to fight them alone," yelled Kakarotto

"I know," he replied, "that's why you need to get out of here now."

He shoved Kakarotto down the hall and away from the guards, and without another word; he fired a ki-blast and ran to meet the guards head-on.

Kakarotto staggered backwards and ran out of the building without looking back. He hated himself for being so cowardly, for not fighting to the death like he should have, like his brother did-

But his father wanted him to live. He knew that if he wanted it so badly, there must be a good reason. And the man his father had sent to save him was right; he would grow strong enough to find out what had happened and avenge Radditz someday.

But he still felt like he was running away.

He couldn't go home, and he couldn't think of any other place to go that would be safe. Then it hit him. The only one who would possibly take him in. His only chance for survival.

Turles.
---------------------