True Torture
Chapter 7
By: Kahlan Nightwing
Her mind wouldn’t stop running over
what exactly was going to happen.
Vegeta’s little pictures he had run in her head told her—it wouldn’t be
pretty. Hopefully Vegeta’s plan included getting them out before—all
that happened.
‘Woman? Just listen. When I give my
signal get the hell out. I want you
to make a beeline for Kakarott. Get the dragonballs and go back home. I
don’t want any arguments and no—heroics.
‘I don’t care how strong you think
your precious ‘Goku’ is. I defeated
him the first time around and no matter how much stronger he’s gotten
since then—Frieza is ten times stronger. I don’t care if you have to
knock the idiot out, get him, his brat, and yourself off this fucking
planet. It’s bad enough Frieza will be hot on your tail the second he
finds you and the dragonballs gone.’
Bulma’s wide eyes slowly narrowed
until they furrowed in the middle.
‘And just how are we supposed to get the dragonballs if Frieza has them
all?’
There was a pause, a feeling of
surprise then reluctant admiration, and
he spoke. ‘He doesn’t have them all. He sent the Ginyu Force after
them.... If Kakarott’s out there then he likely—hopefully—has one
dragonball. All you have to do is wait and the other’s will come to
you.’
Bulma sent a wave of doubt Vegeta’s
way and heard a chuckle in her
mind. ‘You don’t trust me, woman? Good.’
Turning off the shower, Bulma stepped
out of the shower and carefully
toweled off. ‘What’s your plan?’
“Hurry up in there, woman! We don’t
have all day—or night rather.”
Bulma sighed and threw open the door,
pulling on her shoes as she
walked and making sure to give Vegeta a good glare as she walked past
him.
The glare slid off Vegeta as he
strode into the bathroom, closing the
door with a clicking finality.
Gohan looked over at Bulma. “Bulma?
What’s going on? What’s going to
happen?”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she
motioned Gohan closer to her and
helped him get his clothes straightened. “Everything’s going to be
fine, Gohan. You trust me, right?”
He craned his head around to look at
her and nodded. “It’s Vegeta I
don’t trust.”
She tilted her head to one side. If
someone was listening, there was no
way to tell him anything. “Your dad was right.”
His eyebrows rose as his eyes
widened. “Huh?”
A grin suddenly suffused her face. “I
don’t think anyone can change if
they can’t do anything.”
His brow crinkled before he nodded
slowly. “I guess that’s true...but—I
have no idea—”
“Are you two ready? Someone will be
here for us in just a few minutes.”
Bulma’s head snapped up to—cover
Gohan’s eyes as Vegeta walked
completely naked into the room, aiming for the clothes he’d left out.
He raised a brow at her in confusion. “What are you doing, woman?”
“Don’t you have any decency?” Her
face was practically red as she tried
to keep her eyes above his chest and—failed miserably. Her eyes flashed
back to his face. “You could’ve used the towel!”
He raised both eyebrows at her as he
put on his clothes in no real
rush. “For what?”
Sighing, she turned her head to the
side, only peeking every once in a
while to see when he was actually dressed. At least, she told herself
this.
By the time Vegeta was dressed, Gohan
was squirming under her hand, and
she let him go gratefully. “Jeez, Bulma. It’s not like I haven’t seen
it before.” Her thought veering in the direction those words had taken
her, she was relieved—very—when he continued. “Dad does that all the
time at home. Mom always gets mad at him. I don’t know why.”
“Enough talk! Stand up and ready
yourselves. When our guide comes to
the door, we head out.” Black eyes met blue ones for a moment before a
beeping sound at the door drew Vegeta’s attention away. He scowled and
turned on his heel to the door.
When it hissed open, his scowl turned
into a sneer. “Kiwi.”
A purple-skinned alien with ears that
looked like boxes stuck to the
side of his head placed both hands on his hips and sneered right back
at Vegeta. “Vegeta. I heard you were stuck on Earth. Receiving some—”
here his eyes trailed over Bulma who was craning around Vegeta to view
the stranger. “—services?”
Vegeta scoffed and waved a hand back
at Bulma, who scowled at his back
and pulled Gohan closer to her. “She’s hardly worth my time—but she’ll
be perfect for Lord Frieza—and he has indeed shown an interest in her.”
His smirk widened. “What have you done for Lord Frieza lately, Kiwi?”
Kiwi’s face settled into a scowl
before he grinned wickedly and twisted
to the side, making an elaborate bow with a arm leading into the
hallway that was wholly mocking. “Why—I’m delivering his favorite to
him.”
Vegeta growled lowly before turning
and motioning sharply to the two
behind him, pointing forward and ignoring Kiwi’s stance. “Come on. We
don’t have all night.”
Kiwi chuckled lowly as he
straightened and Bulma and Gohan hurried past
him. “Especially you two. You won’t last the night.”
“What do you mean?”
Kiwi sneered at the young boy before
glancing at the stiff-backed
Vegeta. “You mean he didn’t tell you? Why I wonder why the finest who—”
“Really, Kiwi. I doubt Lord Frieza
will take lightly to delays. All
you’re doing is—delivering us. Don’t tell me that’s too much for you.”
Kiwi strode forward and took the lead
from the Saiyan Prince, making
sure to aim his look back at him as he walked. “Don’t tell me you’re
jealous, Vegeta? Afraid the boy will be better than you?”
Vegeta scoffed. “Hardly. Afraid he’ll
be ruined before I can use him.”
He smirked lightly at the other.
Kiwi turned his head, brow furrowed
as he continued walking. There was
a few seconds of silence. “What do you mean?”
Vegeta made a show of inspecting his
nails. “Oh nothing. Just—things I
know. Things you don’t know. Things Lord Frieza will find interesting.”
“Oh? Like?”
Vegeta shrugged and continued walking
as if bored. “Things.”
Vegeta smirked openly into the
other’s face as he was suddenly pressed
against the corridor’s metal halls, Kiwi’s breath hot on his face.
“Start talking Saiyan. You don’t want to appear before Lord Frieza—a
mess.”
Vegeta chuckled as Bulma and Gohan
stiffened in the hallway that was
empty of soldiers. All of them were searching out the dragonballs.
“Why, Kiwi! Why such hostility?”
The air left Vegeta as a fist plunged
into his gut. He managed to grin
through the gasps he made and heard his quickened breathing echoed by
the woman. “Shove it, Saiyan. Start talking or you’ll limp into Lord
Frieza’s chambers.”
Wheezing laughter, Vegeta nodded,
putting his hands up as Kiwi seemed
to ready another blow. “I give up! I give up before your might, Kiwi!
I’ll talk!”
He shoved the Saiyan into the wall
one last time and released him. “So
talk.”
Vegeta made a show of straightening
his bodysuit, wiping invisible
grime from it. “The boy can sense ki.”
Kiwi huffed out his laughter. “What?”
Glaring at the chuckling man, Vegeta
reached out and grabbed Gohan by
the shoulder, wrenching him away from Bulma with a pointed look and
toward himself. “Tell him.”
Gohan’s wide eyes suddenly narrowed
and his lips compressed thin.
Vegeta shook him and raised his free hand toward Bulma, lighting it
with ki. “Tell him what you told me or I’ll hurt her. You don’t want to
see her hurt do you?”
Gohan hurriedly shook his head,
biting his lower lip so hard the flesh
turned white under his teeth. “I can sense ki.”
Vegeta grinned triumphantly and let
his hand fall slightly, the ki
still lit in it. “Good boy. You see, Kiwi, they’re all searching for
the dragonballs...unsuccessfully. Now why is that?”
Kiwi’s eyes narrowed as he stared at
the boy held tightly in Vegeta’s
grip. “Someone else has one of them. We have all but one.”
“Right. Well, lucky for us, we just
happen to have a little trick up
our sleeves. This boy,” he again shook the boy for emphasis, grinning
as Kiwi’s eyes stayed glued to him, “is that someone else’s son. He can
sense his ki...they share the bond of father and son. Isn’t that
touching?”
Kiwi nodded absently, and the cogs
could almost be heard as they turned
in his mind. “So—you plan on telling Lord Frieza this?”
Vegeta nodded. “Oh yes. What better
way to earn back what is my right
as his favorite? His favor. Now—should I tell him before or after
the—activities? I mean, I take a chance waiting until after—and yet
before, I might incur his wrath. What do you think, Kiwi?”
Kiwi’s eyes snapped up to Vegeta’s
face, a grin suffusing his features.
“Do you know what I think, Vegeta?”
Vegeta’s eyes flickered beyond Kiwi;
then settled back on his face.
“What’s that?”
“I think you’re going to give the boy
to me and fuck your idea.”
Kiwi moved fast, but Vegeta moved
faster. The one who had once been
stronger than the Saiyan Prince now found his head shoved forcefully
into the wall of the ship behind Vegeta, the metal denting as a loud
crack filled the air.
“You dare! Lord Frieza will have your
head for this!”
Kiwi stumbled away from the wall,
clutching his head and blinking at
Vegeta in confusion as the other moved away where Kiwi had been. “What
are you—?”
“Traitorous bastard!” Those words
were growled, but the sneer on
Vegeta’s face spoke differently than his tone. Kiwi grunted and shook
his head before charging again after the other.
“Are you crazy? A ki blast in here?”
Kiwi stopped short at Vegeta’s shout
and watched with wide eyes as the
Prince himself turned the hand still filled with ki behind him, letting
it go in a blast that careened them all off their feet.
As Kiwi struggled to regain his
balance, Bulma found herself suddenly
and forcibly lifted up and pushed toward the new opening. ‘Get, woman!
Take the boy and run like hell!’
She turned her head toward Vegeta
only to find Gohan thrust into her
arms. He was wide-eyed and looking as bewildered as she felt. “Vege—”
‘Get out of here, aware na onna!’
Kiwi held one side of his head and
looked at his hand as it came away
bloody from a cut on his forehead. His eyes widened as he watched
Vegeta, grinning at him manically, run a ki-filled finger down his own
thigh, tearing through cloth and skin and bringing up a well of blood.
Behind Vegeta, the boy and woman were running away from the ship as
fast as possible.
Kiwi tensed and stared incredulously
at Vegeta. “What game are you
playing, Vegeta?”
He watched with disgust as Vegeta
grimaced and went down on one knee.
“Game? You think serving Lord Frieza is a game?”
Kiwi blinked and then chuckled
sharply. “I think—”
“Yes...do tell us what you
think—Kiwi.”
Kiwi turned his wide eyes as Frieza’s
pale form leaned against the
wall, one eyebrow raised as he locked ruby orbs onto the purple-skinned
alien.
Blinking, Kiwi looked from Frieza to
the self-injured Vegeta to the
hole in the wall and gulped. “M-my Lord, I can explai—”
Blood spattered onto the wall behind
Kiwi as a blast of red energy shot
through the alien’s chest. Kiwi stumbled backwards, hitting against the
wall as he gasped for air suddenly deprived of him. His eyes locked
onto Vegeta to see him stumbling to his feet, smirking at him with a
glint in his eyes.
Set up. He’d been set up. Set up by a
monkey....
Kiwi’s world faded to black as his
slid down the wall, leaving a trail
of red in his wake.
Vegeta inclined his head slightly as
Frieza pushed himself off the wall
and walked contemplatively toward the dead body. Frieza stared down at
the other for a few silent seconds in which Vegeta patiently waited,
watching the thick white tail move back and forth, swishing on the
metal floor.
Finally he turned from the dead body,
his tail shoving it to lie
obscenely on its side, wide eyes staring at nothing now. “It seems
this—idiot has allowed something very valuable to escape, Vegeta. We
don’t have time to search for them and find the dragonballs, but you
say the one can sense ki.”
Vegeta widened his eyes. “Yes, my
lord.”
Frieza nodded and walked toward the
Saiyan, leaning down and inspecting
his injured leg before swiping his fingers through the blood there. He
stuck those fingers in his mouth, amused when the other wouldn’t look
him in the eyes. “You know what this means?”
Vegeta forced himself to meet the
lizard’s eyes. “I—no, my lord.”
“It means I’m at a loss of one man
and three toys tonight...and no
dragonballs. This does not make me happy.”
“I’d—imagine not, my lord. Do
you—require me—?”
Turning on his clawed feet, Frieza
waved a hand languidly as he walked
away. “Of course not. I don’t like to get my sheets messy. You know
that.”
Vegeta bowed low at the waist even
though he had his back turned to
him. “Of course, lord. Is there anything in particular you wish—?”
“I wish to have all the dragonballs.
Can you accomplish this for me,
Vegeta? I’ll—let you have the woman for a night before I take her. She
seemed quite interested in you.”
Vegeta’s eyes darted nervously before
staring fixedly at a spot on the
floor. “I would be delighted to serve you in this way....”
Frieza suddenly turned on his heels,
a smile turning the corners of his
painted lips upward. “I’m sure you would be. Just remember that not all
games are safe to play, monkey. We wouldn’t want any more fatalities
now would we?”
Vegeta covered what was in his eyes
by again bowing. “Of course not, my
lord.”
He waited until he heard the other
moving away, until the huge ki he
had sensed coming toward them—that he had timed this whole thing on—had
faded before he rose.
Grinding his teeth together, he
stepped toward the opening and
carefully walked over the sharpened shards of metal that were all that
was left. The dragonballs were on the ship. He was quite sure of it.
Now—he just needed to get them and somehow get them to where Kakarott
was.
He had to tread carefully. Frieza was
right about one thing. This game
was not safe to play.
Then again, Vegeta reflected as he
took off into the air, what game was
fun if it was safe?
A/N: Ah, here’s where you send me
your reviews. ^_____^ I hope you all
enjoyed. What next? No idea. ^_____^;
Next
Back
Home