She hadn’t slept at all. Hours and hours passed and another whole day, after she had finally dragged herself in to the cold and hard bed although she thought if she lay there, under the blankets, she might begin to feel sleepy, she never did. She just lay there and hated herself. Then a while ago, the rest of the building seemed to awaken, and she could hear loud shouts and what sounded like explosions outside her window, and any hope of falling asleep was banished from her mind.

There was another loud bang down the hall, and then her door was flung open , and light poured into the dark, cold room.

ChiChi sat up straight in her bed and looked at the doorway in fright, pulling the covers closer to her chin. What looked like a stretcher appeared then, followed by two Saiya-jins, dressed in the same colors as the others, black and red, but lacked any armor. One was slightly younger looking than the other, and he had long black hair that was, surprisingly enough, tied back at the nape of his neck. He looked at her momentarily, with a face that had less of a scowl than any Saiya-jin she had seen so far, save for Gokuu. There was a long, diagonal scar across his left cheek, which looked like it was very old, and once, very painful.

They both began poking at the stretcher-like contraption and looping belts through holes and propping it up further, and then looked ChiChi’s way when they had finished.

Are they going to strap me to that thing?

“Oh, no. Please.” She said softly, and backed up closer to the edge of the bed, away from them, still holding the blanket up to her chin. “Please, You don’t have to strap me to that.”

Both of them began approaching her, from either side of the bed, and with a cry, and she jumped off the back and threw one of the pillows at the one approaching the left side. The pillow bounced off of his head, and he didn’t even blink, continuing towards her. He reached out to grab her and she spun away, only to run into the Saiya-jin with the scar. This time he managed to grab her firmly, but gently by the arms, and the other one tried to grab her legs as she kicked and thrashed around as much as she could.

“Get away from me!!” She howled, and bit down hard on the hand of one of her captors. He dropped her and she fell to the floor with a plop and rolled away, trying to dodge their hands. The door was still open, and she stumbled to her feet and ran towards it as if it were the Holy Gates.

Just when she thought she might reach it, and her breath began to quicken in anticipation, she felt something warm and furry wrap itself around her throat and start to squeeze. Her hands reached up and tried to pry it off, but it only squeezed harder, and then she was picked up from behind and her arms were pinned to her sides. The Saiya-jin released it’s tail from her neck and she was thrown down hard on the stretcher. Straps were tossed over her and locked down hard over her feet, her middle, her shoulders and each of her hands as she still fought to move, crying out occasionally in pain.

A hard looking face with sharp features and a permanent scowl appeared before hers, and she felt him move his tail over the full length of her leg, pausing momentarily at the top of her thigh. Her heart stopped as she stared at him with her eyes full of fear, and he licked his lips slyly.

“I can see why Sukuashi likes you.” He spoke in a rough voice. “You’re feisty….And yet, amazingly easy to subdue.”

She felt his eyes roaming her body, and suddenly felt very sick to her stomach. There was no telling what could happen in a place like this. She had never thought a whole lot about things like rape and harassment, because Gokuu had always been there, and she had taken it for granted that she was protected. But now, there was no one to protect her, and she was strapped down and unable to protect herself.

The other Saiya-jin, the one she bit, looked up from his bleeding hand. He was the one with the scar on his face. “Stop. We have orders to take her to the infirmary. Not have our way with her.”

He didn’t move at first, leering down at ChiChi, with a big grin on his ugly face, but finally straightened up and looked at the other one. “You’re right, Potuto. Sukuashi would have a fit if we ruined his nice, pretty little Earth woman.”

She sighed in relief, and closed her eyes for a moment, thanking the young, scarred Saiya-jin for what he had said. It would have been so easy for him to just watch her be….

Don’t even think about it!

There was a slight push, and then the stretcher began to move slowly out of the room and into the hallway. She couldn’t see much of the building, strapped to the stretcher, but she did see large, odd shaped lights pass above her, over and over again down a long and narrow hallway as they wheeled her away. And every once in a while, the face of Potuto, the scarred Saiya-jin, would appear over her, as if to make sure she was okay, or still there, or breathing. The noise that she had heard earlier in the morning was fading away now, and they seemed to be going somewhere at a downward angle.

“We’re taking you to the infirmary now.” Potuto explained. “To get your shots. I’m a doctor.”

Koronu had mentioned it before, the shots to take away the cold. She didn’t think of it then, but it sounded like a marvelous idea. Instead of layering on clothing, and using up electricity with heating, they simply gave a shot that numbed the feeling of cold. It was brilliant. Especially for Saiya-jins, who Vejiita had once referred to as an intellectually inferior race.

Again, it felt like they were sloping downhill, only this time even more so. She felt like her head was almost at a straight down angle. Potuto seemed to notice her distress and confusion, and motioned to the hallway.

“The castle is built like a cylinder with hallways corkscrewing all the way around it. The top part is where the Sukuashi and the Council live, and the middle part is for high ranking officers and special foreign prisoners.” He looked down at her. “That’s where you were. We’re heading down to the infirmary now, it’s on one of the bottom levels.”

She nodded as best as she could being strapped down.

“You talk to much for your own damn good, Potuto. She’s a prisoner. Not a tourist.” The other Saiya-jin complained, as he opened a door on the left and led the stretcher inside.

The odd lights that were out in the hallway filled the ceiling in the room, and she had to squint it was so bright. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked as though the whole place was filled with machines, all a stark white color. Both Potuto and the other Saiya-jin walked away from the stretcher then, and for a moment, she thought they were just going to leave her down there.

Then Potuto appeared in vision again, this time holding a very large, very threatening needle in his gloved hands.

ChiChi almost screamed and had an urge to thrash around like crazy until the straps broke, but reason calmly explained that if she wanted the cold to go away, she had to be brave and get through the shot. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, counting to ten. Just as Potuto was about to prick it into her arm, he pulled back and glanced at the other Saiya-jin, who was standing nearby.

“Numb her arm first.”

He laughed cynically. “Why the hell would I want to do that? She can take a little pain. I got that shot when I was only barely out of the womb. If I could handle it as a child, she can handle it as an adult. Just do it and get it over with.”

Potuto’s expression changed to a snarl and he grabbed the other Saiya-jin by the collar of his uniform. “If you aren’t going to do your job, then get the hell out of here. I told you to numb her, and that was an order. We have no idea what an Earthling’s pain tolerance is, and I’m not going to find out by experimenting with Sukuashi’s new mate.”

The other Saiya-jin picked up a nearby cloth and wet it down with something in a brown bottle, rubbing it roughly onto ChiChi’s arm while grumbling incoherently. Her arm immediately began to tingle, then a calming cooless took over and it felt like the limb wasn’t even there at all. She watched the needle go in, and watched the liquid drain into her body, and felt absolutely no pain at all. After only a few seconds, he pulled the needle back out, and handed it to his grumbling assistant.

“That was an antidote for the cold: Nairb. It was invented when we first came to this planet….A long time ago.” Potuto explained to her in a professional voice. “It was one of two shots you will be getting today.”

The assistant began preparing another needle, which looked much bigger and more threatening than the first, and was filled with dark red liquid.

“The second shot will be a shot of compressed Saiya-jin blood.” He gave a half smile as ChiChi’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. “It won’t turn you into a Saiya-jin, exactly. You won’t have a tail or be able to transform in moonlight, but you will have some of the accelerated speed, strength, and appetite of a Saiya-jin.”

“Why are you giving me this shot?” She inquired. It sounded odd that they would want to pump up all the qualities of a prisoner for no reason.

Potuto was handed the needle, and he held it in his hand while explaining. “Many in our race are competitive and violent. If you wish to survive among us, you have to at least be able to hold your ground. Also….” He trailed off, knowing that this might not please her. “You will be Sukuashi’s new mate and in order to produce the strongest offspring possible, it would be wise to make you part Saiya-jin.”

The assistant stepped into her view. “We aren’t sure if it’s going to work or not though. We have injected members of other races with the blood before and been successful, but you will be the first human that we tested it on.” He grinned. “You just might die.”

How lovely. And only on my first day here. ChiChi thought sarcastically, while closing her eyes momentarily. The strain of the leather straps was beginning to make her feel very claustrophobic.

“Why am I strapped down like this?” She asked. “I am not about to fight the two of you. Can you just loosen the straps and let me off of this thing? It’s very uncomfortable.”

Potuto shook his head. “You’re strapped down because the reaction to the Saiya-jin injection is usually violent. You will most likely go into a seizure or have outbursts of strength within seconds of receiving the shot. And because of the delicate lab equipment in here, we can’t have anyone causing damage. I’m sure you understand.”

She gave him a horrified look. “Seizure?!”

“You’ll probably be sick for a few days also. As the weeks go on though, and we inject more and more, your body will eventually grow used to it and you won’t have that reaction. The dosage will be increased each time….It usually takes about four shots before you start to feel the effects.”

She had always thought of what it might be like to be a Saiya-jin when she looked into Vejiita’s eyes. He had a deep and uneasy, restless feeling about him, and what looked like a longing to be something more, to kill. Although it was fitting and almost usual for Vejiita, she did not want to look like that, that wasn’t how she was. As if dragging her to this strange planet and forcing her to be some strange man’s mate was not enough, they were now trying to change her into something that she was not, nor had ever wanted to be. She was not going to become a Saiya-jin, or anything like it, not today, tomorrow, or four shots from now.

“I don’t think so. I am not taking that shot.” ChiChi said indignantly, while raising her eyebrows threateningly. Of course, there wasn’t much she could do while strapped to the stretcher, but she could always try intimidation.

Potuto frowned and looked a little disappointed in her. “You have no choice. It isn’t an option. You will take the shot, and the shots that follow.” He ordered.

And with that, he plunged the needle into her arm before she could even make an attempt to escape. Unlike the first shot, she could feel this one pierce her skin and sink in. Painfully.

It started out slowly, a deep burning sensation in her arm, and then it grew wildly, and flashed in succession throughout her body. It felt like she had been set on fire then, and she struggled out a small cry, closing her eyes tightly to will the pain away. She could practically feel the angry Saiya-jin blood mingling with her own, and overtaking it and making it theirs, throughout her whole body, her fingertips, her legs, her cheeks, were all consumed with the burning. She opened her eyes again, and looked straight into Potuto’s. He looked sadly down at her, watching her struggle through the pain. And then the pain increased and she closed her eyes again as the burning because almost unbearable. There were several flashes of red, then a bright light filled her vision and disappeared.

And she saw nothing.

Chapter 6
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