“This is completely degrading.” Tayhei complained, and she leaned back in the kitchen chair, folding her arms across her chest. “We’re locked up here like prisoners, and not only that, but we have a babysitter. I don’t know about any of you, but I’m not all too happy about that lime green watchdog out there. It’s insulting enough that we had to stay here. They didn’t have to sick Mr. Pickle on us, too.”

Marron’s eyes widened. “I don’t think you should talk about Piccolo like that.” She looked warily out the entrance to the kitchen, then turned back to the table where the others sat. “I don’t think the King of Demons would really appreciate being called a babysitter.”

Tayhei snorted. “Well that’s what he is. An eight foot tall, freaky, green babysitter. I can’t believe I’m almost twenty years old and stuck here on this ship like a child.”

“I’m actually kind of glad I’m here.” Goten said with a sloppy grin. He spread a hand out to gesture at all of the food laid out on the table. “All of this food to myself. Besides, what they said made sense. We just don’t have enough maturity or battle experience to be out there trying to save Okaasan. If Tousan thinks I should stay here, then I’ll stay. He knows what he’s doing, trust me. He’s been in more battles than practically anyone.”

“I’m kind of glad too.” Marron agreed. “I don’t think I’d want to be out there fighting off a bunch of Saiya-jins. I mean, I’d do it if I had to help, but it would be kind of scary.”

Tayhei rolled her eyes at her. “You would say something like. Funny, you came all this way to defy your parents, to step out of line and break the rules and then you don’t even want a little bit of excitement?”

Marron glared at her. “Excitement is just fine, but I’m not to eager to die.”

Tayhei ignored her. “What about you, Trunks?” She stared at him with a challenging expression. “There has to be at least one person in this room that agrees with me.”

Trunks shrugged. “Of course I’d want to be out there fighting. I think I’m mature enough and strong enough to be out there with the rest of them. But….” He trailed off, and picked up one of the giant sandwiches that Goten made. “I don’t really have a problem with staying here, eating either.”

Marron picked up a cookie, and nodding in agreement, she nibbled lightly on the edge. “I think we have it better than anyone else right now. We’re warm and safe and have enough food to last us a lifetime.”

Tayhei placed her hands on her hips and sighed. “Well, I’m not just going to stand around here while everyone else has an adventure. If none of you will join me, then I’m leaving by myself.”

“No you aren’t.”

Everyone jumped at Piccolo’s deep voice, and he entered the room quietly, his eyes tense. There was a stranger behind him, a Saiya-jin wearing a long white lab coat, snow still stuck in his dark, dark hair. A long tail curled down behind him, twitching with excitement and eagerness. A tense look was on his face as well, and all four kids slowly stood up, perplexed looks on their young faces.

Piccolo nodded at them. “We’re all leaving. They’ve been caught, and we’re the only ones left to save them.”

There was a click at the cell door, and everyone raised their eyes. It was still for a moment, then slammed open with a loud clang, and a small, female Saiya-jin entered the room. Kuririn sized her up quickly. She was slightly pretty, in a way that was more dangerous than attractive, with short-cropped hair fell into her fiery eyes in tight chunks. Her mouth was set in a permanent scowl, and when she smirked at them, she revealed a row of perfectly white, straight teeth. She was dressed in black with full ebony armor that glinted in the dim light of the cell. A cape trailed down from her shoulders to the dirty stone floor, and it swept along the ground as she walked towards them. She was the girl that had originally attacked them: Pi. Her eyes were trained solely on Vejiita.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the prince of Saiya-jins.” She teased in a voice that was very cold and harsh. She bent down so that she was eye to eye with Vejiita, who glared up at her with fierce eyes.

Vejiita said nothing, merely glared as if to burn holes through her head.

“My guards have been telling me some very interesting things, Vejiita. You know what I was just informed of?” She smirked, and stood up, walking along the wall that they were chained too, examining each of the female prisoners closely. “Apparently, you have yourself a human mate.”

Kuririn’s eyes quickly went to Bulma, as her blue eyes started with fear. She looked down at the stone floor quickly, and avoided the girl’s gaze as she walked by again, sweat slowly dripping off of her temple. However nervous Bulma might have been, Pi gave no indication that she noticed, and she merely walked back to Vejiita and stood before him again, her hands clasped lightly behind her back. She closed her eyes haughtily for a moment, then met Vejiita's fiery gaze once again.

“Now, how is it that royal blood sought to mix with the pathetic human race?” She questioned. “And you call yourself a true Saiya-jin?”

“You don’t know what it means to be a true Saiya-jin.” Vejiita finally spoke in a voice that was more of a growl than anything.

“Oh, I don’t?” She snapped. “I beg to differ, Saiya-jin no Ouji. Because I know for a fact that any other Saiya-jin here would rather die than be captured, would rather kill themselves than be with a human mate. And out of all those who fight and think themselves worthy of victory, I know that I am above them. I am more Saiya-jin than any Saiya-jin that ever existed, I say. I live to kill. I exist merely for the thrill of ending another’s life, watching someone beg for mercy that would never beg of me before.”

Her fists curled and uncurled several times, and Kuririn could feel her ki steadily growing as she looked into Vejiita’s furious eyes. “I am the one deserving all the power here. Saiya-jin no Ouji! I laugh at the very name! You are a mockery, my prince, that’s what you are! All of you stupid, sniveling, pathetic excuses for Saiya-jins! My time is coming! I will not stand by and let anyone else control me again!!” From a sheath at her side, she pulled a sword out slowly, and tipped it up until it was pointing directly at Vejiita’s throat.

Kuririn strained up in alarm, looking back and forth between Vejiita and the girl. His first instinct was to call out, to call her attention away, to protect the warrior that had never shown him any sign of kindness before. It was strange, staring at Vejiita on death’s edge, then. Someone so strong, so confident as Vejiita, was never to be broken. He would have given up his own life to save Vejiita, he knew he would have, but he didn’t have to. Vejiita stared her down, crushing her confidence under the weight of his burning gaze, confident and cool.

“Beg.” She commanded softly.

“Never.”

She pressed the sword against his throat tighter, and it pierced the skin and drew a little blood, which pooled on the edge of the sword. Still Vejiita held completely still, his face calm and expressionless. He gave no sign of pain, or that his life was even hanging in the girl’s strong hands.

“Beg.” She commanded again, this time in an insanely furious voice. Everyone else in the room jumped at the sound of it, and as Kuririn’s eyes traveled to Bulma, he found tears running down her beautiful face. He knew what she wanted, what everyone in the room wanted then, no matter how much they had hated Vejiita before. They wanted Vejiita to plead for his life, they didn’t want any blood to be shed. But Kuririn also knew, that no matter what Vejiita was faced with, no matter how difficult a situation he was in, the Prince of the Saiya-jin would never, ever beg.

“I will never beg of you, brat.” Vejiita said calmly, and closed his eyes as if he were dismissing her then and there, like she didn’t even matter or exist. “Death itself is not a threat to me, and you are even less of a threat. You call me a pathetic Saiya-jin, but if I were in your position, my prisoner would already be dead. I never made people beg me for their life. Only someone as unsure of their power and of themselves would have their enemies beg of them.”

She stared at him in furious disbelief, so angry that all of the veins in her forehead were standing out in high relief, and her mouth was twitching into snarls, baring her teeth. “Beg, kisama!!!” She screamed, and pressed the sword tighter against his throat.

Though it drew blood again, and must have been painful, Vejiita still held his ground. “I will not beg!” He bellowed in a very commanding, very deep and threatening voice. Though the moment was frightening, Kuririn felt tears of pride pricking at the backs of his eyes. Vejiita truly was a prince. Someone with pride and spirit that come defeat anyone or anything. Everything could be taken away from Vejiita and he would be fine, but his pride was something that Vejiita could never, would never, part with. It was what made Vejiita, Vejiita. Kuririn stared at his amazing eyes, full of fire and spirit, stared at the regal lines of his forehead, and the perfect form of his scowl. And the first time in his life, Kuririn finally began to understand him.

The girl began to shriek incoherently, screaming profanity at Vejiita in a language that he wasn’t even sure he understood. With the sword still at his throat, Vejiita merely closed his and ignored her, which set the girl off even more. She shook and screamed so forcefully that she literally started to foam at the mouth, then took the sword from his throat and waved it about madly in the air. She lost her grip on it, and it went flying across the room, slamming harmlessly into the wall between Videl and Gohan, then clattered to the floor. The girl fell to ground then, panting heavily from the exhaustion of her angry fit. After a moment or two of intense breathing, she looked up through damp locks of dark hair and stared at Vejiita with so much hatred that Kuririn had to blink.

“If you will not beg for your own life, you will beg for the lives of your friends.” She snarled, gathering herself and stepping to her feet. She looked around the room wildly pointing at each of them. “I will cut off their heads, one by one, and we will see who you beg for!”

“Then cut off their heads.” Vejiita said casually. “What do I care what happens to a rabble of pathetic humans,” he looked at the jinzouningen. “and two tin cans?”

She stared at him for a moment, then walked to the far side of the room and ripped her sword away from the ground, sheathing it quickly at her side. With tears and anger in her eyes, she turned to glare at Vejiita, with a gaze that was nothing but pure evil. “I will get my revenge, Vejiita. And you will beg.”

She left the room quickly, her cape trailing behind her like a dark cloud, and disappeared out the door, slamming it with such force that it shook the heavy stone walls. Everyone in the room let out a breath of relief, and Vejiita simply lifted his hand and wiped away the skiff of blood along his throat. It was silent for a moment, as everyone gathered themselves after that very intense, very frightening encounter.

Bulma finally broke the silence, raising her legs as best as she possibly could, and proceeded to kick Vejiita viciously in the side. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” She screeched. “You could have died! And what if she really did cut off our heads, baka?! Huh!? What would you have done then, Onore!!??”

“Shut up, woman!” He yelled back, ignoring the kick. “I knew what I was doing!”

“The hell you did!” She screamed. “Next time you decide to fly by the seat of your pants and threaten all of our lives, would you let me know first?!”

Despite himself, Kuririn had to giggle. Slowly everyone else begin to crack smiles until even Vejiita was smiling slightly. After a time of such amazing tension, it felt good to laugh, and Kuririn did so until tears streamed down his chubby cheeks. Even Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou were smiling and laughing quietly, and Videl who had been silently crying most of this time was giggling along with the rest of them. The threat of danger was still very, very real though, and no matter how they all tried to ignore it and fight it, they all knew that behind there laughter was a furious storm of fear.

His laughter ceased and he leaned his head back against the stone wall, gazing at Juuhachi-gou. If life had to end, he didn’t want it to end in anger. He longed to hold her hand, to pull her into his lap and apologize again and again, but she seemed so far away from him now, so unreachable. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if she died angry with him, and he was never able to apologize. During the fight earlier, he had tried so desperately to protect this amazing woman who really didn’t need his protection. He had failed anyway, though, and they both ended up in captivity, certainly doomed to die. Don’t think like that! He scolded himself suddenly.

He had to keep up an optimistic mindset for everyone there, and for himself as well. They were in a lot of danger, sure, but there was always, always hope. And as he stared at her perfect blond hair, and her beautiful ice blue eyes, he was filled with a sudden rush of faith, and with love for her as well. If there was something that perfect, that amazing in life, then there was hope for just about anything. He had been given a very special gift, having a woman like Juuhachi-gou in his life, but somehow he had taken it for granted. Kuririn wasn’t too sure about anything anymore, but he knew one thing for sure: if they did make it out of this alive, he would never do anything to hurt her or let her down again.

Chapter 61
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