Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ By The Moons ❯ Ring of the Seven Moons ( Chapter 1 )

Title: By The Moons

Chapter One: Ring of the Seven Moons
Author: Stygian
Rating: R: Not for long, though! *Cackles.*
Warnings: Yaoi/Slash. A little violence, confusion, and angst.
Notes: I haven't written DBZ in a while, actually, but I had the sudden urge to play my favorite character: Vegeta... and have him screw a little virgin nekojin senseless... But that comes in the next chapter. ^_^ *Laughs.* It all works out, right?


Everything that happened was so sudden, so fast that he hadn't known what was going on. Why was his family running? Why were the kittens crying? It was utter chaos, he could feel the fear, anguish, and anger from all the others- but he ran in confusion.

They had all been sleeping in their den, recently having feasted with other families around a grand fire. His mother and father, aunts and uncles, brothers, sisters, and cousins all nested together to share their warmth against the cool night chill. Amongst the naturally dark complexion and features of his family, and most nekojins, he stood out against them with his pale skin (which remained so no matter how long he bathed in the sun), long flowing platinum hair, and shimmering pools of liquid silver that were his eyes.

His sleep had been fitful, dark and mysteriously horrifying. He could not see his dream's tormentor but he could feel the presence, so threatening and merciless. Feral howls echoed within the confines of his dreams and jolted him into awareness with a start. He woke many times drenched in sweat, staring through the darkness tautly until the blood no longer pounded in his furry white ears. Then he listened to the Visionaries outside, speaking in hushed tones as they remained around the fire. They were held in high regard for their wisdom and capabilities in interpreting the meanings of dreams, sometimes seeing into the past, present, and future. The glimpses were fleeting but meaningful and the elder Visionaries did their best to decipher them.

Many of the clan had been fearful that the line of Visionaries would break lest one was born soon so the elder's knowledge could be passed down to him or her. That was why he looked so much different from his brethren. He was one chosen by the Great Father in the sky to keep safe the Earth Mother with his `powers', just as the ones before him had been able to keep peace with the other creatures that lived in the wild forests around them. He was the only one in account that had been born at such a sacred time of the moons and sun, when they all lined up and shadowed the planet with darkness.

He could no more understand his dreams than see the evil creature within them, and the last time he woke it was with a cry, his nightmares doubling as a great fire engulfed the ones he had known all his life and loved as his own blood, but the cry was drown out by an awful roar that sounded like thunder. His family had all woken and stared in disbelief as if their ears had deceived them. Then one of another family outside gave out a piercing warning cry… and many others joined in.

Then his family was running, gathering what they would need to survive in the woods without their protective den. His mother carried many of her sisters' kittens as she ran from the burrow with many following. The alarms were still being called out from the top of cliffs of their enclosure-high ledges and tall hills surrounding a small valley in the woods.

He ran to one of the elder Visionaries that still stood with the others around the steadily burning fire. Each aged nekojin resembled him in stunning features worn by age. In their youth, they had all been radiant and beautiful, blessed by the Father and Mother to be praised by their people. There was no confusion in their old, wise eyes as they gazed at him with warm love and hope; knowing fully that his time would come although they had had very little time training his powers and his understanding for them.

"I felt a beast in my dreams!" he cried out over the shrill alarms. The old nekojin's hands cupped his face and he could vaguely hear the man pray in their purring, smooth native tongue. It was a prayer for protection and guidance through hard times, asking the Father and Mother to shape him into their proud son.

"They come, my son! We shall say prayer for your safe keeping, for our time is closing, young one." The man was not shaken in the least and the others began their smooth chants around the fire, and the single elder regarded him for a moment, "Care for our people. There might be a leader amongst them, but you are their spirit." He explained before touching his fingertips to the boy's forehead, cheeks, and chest before he pushed him gently, "Now flee! The demons come!"

Immediately he ran toward the forest through the narrow between two high cliffs, heated tears threatening to spill over his smooth cheeks.

There was a scream of terror above and behind, and he looked back to see the alarming nekojins scrambling down the cliffs in panic. Brown appeared above the top of the trees on the other side of the edge, unmoving with the wind; and then red gleaming eyes appeared, promising death with its gaze. A lighter colored snout emerged from the tree and cliff line, white fangs gleaming. The creature was gigantic, looming over the small, peaceful valley, a stiff tail swaying behind it. It seemed to have a covering over its chest that was a dull blue, ribbed and flexing with each movement.

The fleeing nekojins seemed so small and insignificant beneath the beast. A feeling washed over him; fright, pain, realization. His dream… flames had destroyed-

A cry left him, a scream piercing the multi-mooned sky above all else, and at the same moment the beast's dripping jaws opened. A light swirled in the back of its throat, before a beam burst forward and vaporized whatever it engulfed. In a matter of seconds, the small glade and valley was nothing more than dirt. Ancient, sacred trees thinned as the forest died, the field of grass an ocean of flames.

Tears were already streaking his cheeks when he opened his eyes and looked over what had once been so beautiful. No sign of life was there, the Elders chanting around the fire had vanished along with all other life. The dark sky grew cloudy and began to weep as well, torrents of rain soaking the dusty planet to mix and instantly make mud from the ash of existence.

More beasts appeared with the other and they bellowed to the sky with ferocity. The sound alone chilled the boy to the bone, feeling nothing but grief and pain as the last survivors rushed past him and into the woods to hide from their attackers. His memories lingered there with the invisible environment that he had lived in: the fire around which him and other cubs had been told old tales, the huge ancient trees they had played around and climbed to pray, the den in which he was born and raised, the nekojins that were his family and friends… all taking years to create and characterize, vanished with the blink of an eye. His life had been taken from him.

He turned away from what was once his home, those ghostly memories seeming no more than fantasy of something long past. Emotions raged within him. He ran, blinded by the tears of pain the wash of events and feelings had created. For a while, he was not aware of which direction he was running or how long he did, but soon his black tipped ears perked and he slowed his movements to listen.

Sure enough, a cry for help reached him through the pattering of the rain against him. He ran closer to the sound and came upon a figure he wouldn't have recognized beneath the layer of mud coating him, had it not been for the rain washing clean the one red ear littered with white speckles.

"I'll get you out, cousin!" he exclaimed and approached the slippery muddy ditch. A whimper escaped him as he slipped and slid down the sides of the ditch and sunk into the mud. He then crawled to his struggling cousin. The other nekojin was older and much larger although his lower half was invisible, sucked into the pool of thick, wet dirt.

"The only thing you've achieved is getting yourself stuck. Don't move or you'll sink further." His cousin mumbled over the splatter of rain around them. He was obviously tired, exhausted from his own experience in struggling.

"We'll be okay, Tarkan, won't we?" He didn't dare tell the other of their demolished sacred grove, only held him close and gazed up at the crying skies above.

"Yes, Ring of the Seven Moons, we will be okay," the older nekojin replied softly and closed his eyes, resting into the smaller one's arms in relief.

The young Visionary remained silent for a few moments longer, simply taking what pleasure he could get from the feel of the fresh rains washing over them, cleansing the land and feeding it for a new season. A tremor passed through both of them and he tightened his hold on the only known kin he had left, "If we die, we'll die together, our hearts as one with the Mother."

Then they slept huddled together beneath the glowing moon and sprinkling rain, until the morning light chased away the clouds and warmed their mud covered bodies. Tarkan woke first, rousing from his sleep due to the sound of footsteps drawing closer. Silently he shook the younger nekojin to wake him. It was not like the nekojins to make noise when they walked and wandered the forest, especially not when they were endanger of unknown foes. Not even the inujin were bold enough to walk with unchecked stealth.

"You look silly, Tarkan…" the boy murmured sleepily while looking at him in the morning light, dry mud making both stiff.

The older one hissed faintly in warning and listened intently as the footfalls paused and then continued. Their breathing ceased- held as both gazed up, meeting the dark eyes of strangers. These people had no furry ears, snouts, or fur other than that of their waist wrappers. He had never seen them before, or all creatures on their planet were nekojin or inujins. They spoke in a language very foreign to him and he stared in wonder as only one of the three floated down to them. And they were lifted effortlessly by the arms.

He held onto his cousin for dear life while suspended in air, struggling very faintly while Tarkan remained rather limp. Worry etched his features as he watched the larger nekojin fighting to even stay awake as he was carried. Silently his mud stained tail curled around his own leg tightly to squeeze as if a reminder that this was his reality and all he held dear were close to extinction if those giant beasts appeared again.

When he looked at the foreigners again, he saw their features were scowling and fierce, apparently claiming themselves the dominant over his nekojin race. All were dark haired and eyed, perhaps black in both regions although the angle of their faces and other features identified them as individuals. They reminded him of the furless creatures that he had seen in cave paintings done by ancestors and other peoples before them. No large ears, or tails. But as the history progressed, fewer and fewer of the Furless were drawn, weeded out by the blossoming cultures of nekojin and inujin… until; at last, none of the Furless were drawn at all.

A shocked squeal escaped him as he was suddenly dropped, only to be caught by the strong arms of another stranger. Instinctively, he gripped onto the stout man and mewled in distress from the piling emotions still trapped within. With a gasp, he noticed they no longer stood on the ground, but were flying far above. The scenery blurred below them and he only vaguely noticed his cousin was beside him with the other stranger. This element of flight amazed him, only having seen birds capable of such weightlessness, but these unknown people had no feathers and did not move their arms to keep themselves afloat. And there speed was incredible.

In a few moments they were on the ground again and set down before a large object with a gaping opening and ramp used for the loading and unloading of people or things. He tilted his head and smiled as he recognized more of the nekojins of his clan, running over to be embraced by many of them. They chattered in their own purring language as more strangers watched silently, muttering to themselves occasionally. Then he noticed a line formed of the clan and some inujins from packs they had lived peacefully alongside.

"What happens there?" He asked, motioning to the device the neko and inujins were instructed to stand in to have wires attached to them. Blinking lights flashed and the ones swayed slightly with their eyelids fluttering, but then it finished and the next one walked forward.

"These foreigners teach their language with that tool. Many of our own clan walk around speaking the language!" Came the reply.

He was stunned momentarily and stared in direction of the device. He gathered his courage and strode past, walking along the line with curiosity gleaming in his eyes. It had taken his people so long to learn even the language of the inujin although they lived close together and in the same territories. This… was fascinating. He could hear his clan members speaking the foreign language he had yet to learn by means of this tool.

When he neared, he was grabbed, startling him out of his musings. Roughly he was placed to stand still as some mud was flaked from his skin to let little shining things be placed against his temples as they had been for the people before him. His wide chrome eyes were mixed with fear and wonderment as he looked at the remote in one foreigner's hands. And then there were flashes of images, so rapid and blinding. Yet, new knowledge washed over him, enlightening him to ways he had never dreamed of, peoples he had never seen or heard of, and possibilities outside their planet's orbit for new places and other planets.

But the joy of the knowledge darkened just as rapidly when flashes of fighting and war filled his mind. All time ceased in those fractions of milliseconds as he saw the bloodshed and corpses, ruined worlds and starving people. What did it mean? Why were they showing them such horrific glimpses of wicked nature? And how did his nekojin brethren walk away unaffected?

A defiant, half frightened, half disgusted, yell erupted form his throat as he ripped the cool metal from his temples and threw them to the ground. His head pounded with a pain he had never known and his hooded eyelids drooped farther as he frantically looked around. He hadn't heard himself shout out in the stranger's language, screaming for no more pain and suffering, or the slaughter of innocence and helpless.

His world began to darken as he fell into the dirt, still muttering his protests, silent tears slipping to the ground. All vision was then lost to Ring of the Seven Moons as his conscious fell away and he could only think of one word again and again until he no longer thought or felt.

Saiyajins…