Protection the Raditz Way

Disclaimer: I don't own Raditz, Nappa, or DBZ. Akira Toriyama does. I only own Dr. Atomica Stellari, Fermi and Bohr. I don't get rich off this! It's for entertainment only!

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A slow mumbling came from the two boys curled up in the cured deer hide draped overtop. Stellari had realized it was far colder then she figured without her Saiyan to warm her with his ki. She glanced back to see Raditz tearing into raw meat because he was far too ravenous to cook it. Thankfully Saiyans possessed the necessary guts to digest meat like many carnivores on Earth. She hugged herself and shivered, hunching down to see her sons rubbing at their eyes.

"Mommy, is it morning already?" Fermi said.

"I don't wanna get up," Bohr complained.

"You can sleep in. I have no clue what breakfast will be, but I'm sure Raditz has thought of something," she said.

"Glad you're okay, Mommy," Fermi mumbled as she readjusted the fur around him and Bohr curled up to his brother. The activities of last night had tired them out, and she figured it was still quite early in the morning. She had checked her wristwatch, and it said seven in the gloom of the cave looming overhead.

Sure enough she heard a crackling noise and smelled smoke. Something roasting drifted into her nostrils and she turned slightly to see the fire had increased to a nice blaze. Raditz was turning an improvised spit with hunks of meat from his bear that he hadn't devoured. A pile of bones lay neatly stacked on one of the flat rocks, and she saw him cracking one open by smashing it with his fist. As if it were a piece of sugar cane he slurped at the marrow inside with his head tipped back. Stellari wandered forwards, hugging herself in the blood soaked capsule sweatshirt. She was quite annoyed she hadn't worn a bra. To one side on a low tree branch the hide and fur of the bear was hanging up to 'cure'.

"Sorry," she mumbled, thinking of the black bear that was just getting breakfast, and was now breakfast roasting merrily away. What remained of bits of dried fish and other things were piled near the bones he had picked clean. Thankfully Raditz must have eaten the guts of the thing because she only saw pieces of muscle roasting.

"Eat this," he said, grabbing a piece of flesh roasted on a stick and walking towards her. Stellari looked dubiously at the thing, realizing it looked suspiciously like a bit of entrails.

"Is that a HEART?" she shivered.

"I cooked the damn thing. Normally we eat it raw, but here," he said. Stellari saw the earnestness in his eyes and grasped the stick, groaning at what she was about to do. Squeezing her eye shut she tipped the stick and buried her mouth into something that was warm and tasty. Her first inclination was to vomit, but it DID taste quite good. She forced mouthfuls of roasted bear heart down her throat, hoping her mind wouldn't' register what it was.

"Better?" he asked, as she blinked up at him. To her shock she had eaten almost all of the roasted morsel, twice the size of her fist.

"Sorry… I don't know what came over me… Did you want the rest?"

"Idiot," he laughed, wiping blood off her cheek with one finger, then dipping it into his own mouth to lick it off. He took the stick with the remainder and finished it off in three bites like eating a Popsicle.

"I don't know if the boys will eat bear, but they'll be wanting food soon. Are you going back home with me or do you still want to play back to nature here?" she asked.

"You're cold," Raditz said, rubbing her arms with his hands. "Wait here. Sit down and eat some more."

"What are you doing?" she sighed as he nudged her to sit on a rock near the fire.

"Eat, the whelps need it," he said, snatching up another stick and pushing it towards her. Stellari shrugged and tried to eat the piece of roasted meat without burning her tongue. Instead she licked the juices dribbling down as it cooled. For a few minutes she hungrily devoured each savory mouthful. Morning sunburned the mist off, and she was glad for the heat of the fire radiating into her thin sweats. She heard Raditz from behind, and then felt something wonderfully warm draped around her like a blanket. Fur tickled her cheek and she realized it was a slightly stiff but mostly clean bears pelt.

"How did you get it cured so fast?"

"Ki," he shrugged. She gathered it around her, feeling the warmth of the bearskin. He had sliced it into smaller pieces, because her robe was just long enough to cover her without dragging on the ground. To her surprise he had sliced a hole in the center and she was wearing it draped over her like a poncho. Raditz gently urged her up, and then she felt him ripping the blood soaked clothes away.

"Hey!" she snapped. Raditz said nothing, and merely pulled the improvised poncho around her, then tied something at the waist so it covered her.

"Your clothes are flimsy and unsuitable. This will do till you return. I'll not have you shivering to death out in the cold," he said.

"I was hoping for something in leopard or saber toothed tiger," she said, head spinning with the realization that she had gone from modern day to stone age in just minutes. Although her arms were bare, the tunic she now wore covered her body and kept it quite warm. He had shredded her pants and retained only a bit to tie around her waist to belt it closed. Thankfully he had left her panties and socks on with her sandals. Another bit was draped around her shoulders like a cape so she could tug it around her and revel in the warmth.

"Not so different then what Saiyan ancestors wore," he said quietly. "You think we wore this armor all the time?"

"I'm not surprised," she said quietly, as Raditz leaned over. He seemed to be holding the sides of the tunic together and using his ki to seal the bearskin into a makeshift seam. Essentially it was like a shirt of bear pelt hanging to her knees and covering her slightly rounding belly. Bare legs he wrapped the other pieces around and tied them in place with the shredded capsule sweats like leggings. Still her bare toes poked out because the bottoms came just to the tops of her feet.

"This some Saiyan ritual?" she asked quietly. Raditz gave her an exasperated look, and she clamped her mouth shut. He still wore his armor, but he seemed annoyed at something.

"Female…"

"Thank you, it feels very warm," Dr. Stellari blurted out, afraid she had offended him. Reaching out to him she grabbed his hand and rubbed it to her cheek. This seemed to placate Raditz because he turned around and tucked strands of her long brown hair behind one ear. Carefully he reached his hand out to caress her abdomen.

"Very strong they are," he nodded.

"How long?" she asked. "I know I have asked before, but…"

"It takes a whole revolution of your planet around your sun to whelp a brat," he said quietly. "But since you carry a litter of two it will be shorter. But you've whelped two before. It's your propensity to do so."

"I was one of a twin," she said.

"Then it runs in families as it does on Vegetasei," Raditz nodded.

"But she died shortly after I was born. Her heart was not strong enough…" Dr. Stellari choked off the admission. She had dim memories of someone looking much like her. Another half that seemed to have departed. Why was her twin unable to live while she did? Something about a heart defect.

"Precious one?" he asked, as she sank to the ring of rocks. "Are you ill?"

"I hadn't thought of it in a while," she said. Raditz followed her eyes tracking downwards to her chest. He lay his hand there above her heart, where he remembered seeing one of many scars on her body.

"That was not a war wound t hen?" he blinked as she rested his hand there.

"A war wound? Depends on what you mean," she laughed bitterly. Raditz suddenly narrowed his eyes as he felt the bone a bit, wondering why she was having him touch her chest between her breasts. He had always overlooked the fact that there was a scar low on one hip, figuring it might have been from another battle.

"It looks the same age as this one here," he said, tracing his finger down her fur-clad body to just above her pelvis. "All your life since whelping?"

"That was where she was once connected," Dr. Stellari looked up at him with wide frightened eyes.

Raditz blinked uncomprehending. "What… you mean there are variations in your species where…"

"In your culture wouldn't you slay freaks that aren't strong enough to support the tribe?" she asked, moving back.

"You… I…" Raditz scratched his head. Her extreme discomfort told him things that her words didn't. Especially when he felt her mind open and strange images drifted through. Why she had never had any baby pictures of herself except of a few years old. There was one faded that he had seen in an album where she was swaddled next to another. He had long suspected she was one of a litter of two having seen that picture. Yet he figured it was not his duty to ask. Not till she was ready to tell.

"You ever had experience with Siamese twins?" she glanced up at him.

"I don't get it?"

"Conjoined is the PC term," she snorted. "When one egg doesn't completely separate after it splits… and the children are joined at some part of the body…"

"That has happened on Vegetasei because of inbreeding," Raditz slowly understood. "But since every baby was considered valuable, naturally such things would be fixed soon after whelping. Especially since the upper class would place the gestating whelp into an invitro tank. Any deficiencies could be 'fixed'. But third class… such offspring would be watched to see which one survived. But it is very rare for there to be two beings who are alike… most litters of two do not look alike."

"You mean identical twins don't exist?" she blinked up at him.

"No. Such a thing is considered almost impossible. I mean families do have incidences of looking like a cousin or parent, but never two whelps from the same seed," he snorted. "That only happens in legend. Saiyan bodies heal quickly and reject any 'weaknesses'. If such a thing were to happen, the stronger would absorb the lesser inside before birth."

"No wonder seeing my boys freaked you at first. The idea of identical twins is almost unknown," she swallowed. Indeed she had remembered being fused to a sister, someone that always seemed a part of her. Yet growing up she always felt as if that sister should be there, and she could swear it was at times. A doctor had decided who would live and who would die, and her 'parasite' had died soon after separation.

A freak of nature. She was a 'freak'. One hardly knew how the cards of fate would drop. If her twin had remained alive she might still be joined at the breast and pelvis to her other half. But she would NEVER be alone.

"You thought yourself a freak, little one," said Raditz deeply.

"You listen too much," She said.

"I thought the scars on your body were war wounds. But you survived while the other died. Don't think yourself evil for being the one that was strong enough."

"The choice was not made by me, it was made for me. The doctor's scalpel," she said bitterly. "You know what it's like to know that you're incomplete? That a part of you was ripped away? She was my SISTER. We shared a body, a heart… we were one flesh. She didn't ask to be killed."

"I don't understand," Raditz said quietly. "How could such a being live?"

"In human society in a freakshow perhaps? I was a 'freak' because my sister and I shared a fused body. Why do you think the Red Ribbon army was interested in me? They did all sorts of research on twins. Especially conjoined ones. Removing the twin is a matter of course. But both of us could have lived had the operation been done a bit later or earlier," she mumbled.

"You and I are 'one flesh' as your holy book says. Is that not enough to sate that loss?" Raditz said.

Dr. Stellari covered her mouth with her hand, choking on her next words. Raditz was correct. On her finger gleamed the gold ring he had given her. She had not asked for a wedding band, but this creature had insisted that it was tradition. A father may not share the religion of the mother, but the children must. Just where he had gotten the money was beyond her, but she knew Vegeta paid them a salary like other employees.
"The brats need food. Stay here and rest," he said. He grabbed more roasted meat and marched into the cave where she heard the yawns and voices of Fermi and Bohr. Their complaints turned to muffled chewing sounds and laughter. Apparently the idea of roasted bear had gone over far better then she thought. Then again Raditz didn't need to tell two hungry boys just WHAT they were eating. All they cared about was that it probably tasted like hamburger with barbecue sauce. Never mind it was blood and the natural juices of the flesh.

Dr. Stellari glanced up and saw either twin hungrily devouring the rest of the meat Raditz had roasted. She rose to her feet and paced the camp area before the cave. Packages of supplies lay scattered that Raditz and Nappa had taken from Capsule for their 'hunting lodge'. Prince Vegeta had told Bulma his men often needed a place away from civilization to be fully Saiyan. So Launch and Dr. Stellari had made certain their Saiyan males had what they needed. After hearing of Tien's treatment of Stellari, Launch had decided that Nappa was far more her sort of man then the martial artist could be. At least Nappa wanted her, instead of rebuffing her affections for his craft like Tenshinhan did. Besides which, Tenshinhan's affections were fully taken with his training partner Chiautzu.

Although Chiautzu resembled a boy, he was in reality a Konshin vampire. Ageless and forced to remain in a body that was forever young. His own desires were sated with the affection for a doll, but the intense mental bond he shared with Tien had lasting and unforeseen consequences. Both males were bound in a bond that hat little room for any others to share. To her anger Launch had discovered this.

"All right you joker, enough already!" Launch shouted. Dr. Stellari turned her head to see the blonde dashing through the trees. In one hand she carried a machine gun, and in the other she held an animal pelt around her. Nappa burst through into the clearing, seizing her by her waist and hauling her up by her to hang her over his shoulder.

"Entertain me!" Nappa laughed, swatting her backside.

"Don't make me warn you punk!" Launch responded.

"I know you like it rough, small one! Let's play!" Nappa responded. Few females could put up with his swaggering arrogance or large appetites. Launch was the only female on Earth that reminded him of a Saiyan. She was every bit as ruthless in her own way as he. Not to mention he was enormously strong and hopelessly addicted to her.

With careful experimentation she'd discovered sex with Nappa was possible. She liked rough, and he delivered. An illegally acquired ki booster around her neck increased her toughness so she could mate like a true Saiyan female. Nappa's eyes fell on the figure glancing up at him. Raditz female blinked and shook her head with laughter.

"Hey Professor, what's shaking? I thought we were gonna have the place to ourselves!" Launch rasped in his ear.

"Keep the fire lit, woman. We've brought our own kill! Hey whelp! Where are you?"

"Here! You said I'd have the place to myself!" Raditz shouted, striding up with two boys trotting behind him.

"Hi Uncle Nappa, Miss Launch!" the boys chorused.

"What's with the funny clothes mommy?" Bohr chuckled, seeing her in the fur outfit that Radtiz had whipped together.

"I think it looks cool,' said Fermi. Raditz grumbled a curse in Saiyan, and watched Nappa set Launch down carefully. He dragged the carcasses of two deer towards the nearest tree. Then he slung them up by their hind legs so they dangled.

"I'll gut 'em for ya," Launch said. "Just take the load off an' behave yourself in front of the kids!"

"Huh, I'll be," Dr. Stellari chuckled, seeing Launch pull the knife out of her belt and walk over to the carcasses.

"I want to watch how it's done," Fermi said. Bohr moved close to his mother, his arm around her waist as she hugged him. To Dr. Stellari's surprise she saw Launch waddling slightly, her own belly curving with the suggestion of pregnancy.

Raditz sat near the fire, watching as Launch expertly gutted and skinned the game animals. Fermi offered a hand, and eventually Bohr wandered over. Grumbling Dr. Stellari moved over as well because both Saiyan males were glancing pointedly at her. "Stupid pain in the butt," Dr. Stellari grumbled, in passable Saiyan.

"You gotta put more emphasis on the third word, sweetheart," Nappa laughed. "Doesn't have the same bite!"

"Leave my mate be. Is your woman not enough for you?" Raditz glared at him.

"Heh, this one's more then enough. Good thing I persuaded her that I was more fun then that three eyed loser freak," Nappa said to Raditz. The elder son of Bardock grunted, and picked up a large thermos from the side of one of the stones where he and Nappa sat. An outer ring of broad flat stones served as chairs for the Saiyan males.

"You look good in bear, Professor," Launch commented.

"What now, Ms. Launch?" asked Fermi.

"Put these over here. I brought some real food too, for us, cause knowing these two loudmouths this won't be nearly enough," Launch winked conspiratorially at the former Red Ribbon scientist. She tossed a capsule towards the scientist, who caught it after fumbling. A quick bomb revealed a few crates of foodstuffs that Dr. Stellari quickly opened. Flour, sugar, coffee, and pancake mix were present along with breakfast cereal and powdered milk. Even drinking water was contained in bottles.

"My thanks," Dr. Stellari said with relief. She started sorting the supplies into piles, watching Launch return to her bloody task. Seizing the box of pancake mix she motioned to Bohr. A frying pan was also in the nearest crate with plastic plates and baskets of silverware.

"Bohr, help you mom make some pancakes will you? Fermi, you can keep helping Miss Launch with the rest of what she's doing. You carry the pan to the fire, and I'll set up on that stone there.

Fermi grabbed a box of salt and started throwing it over the flat sides of meat that Launch carved off the bones. She had drained the blood into a mixing bowl, then cut 'bracelets' and a y incision up the front. He helped gather the handfuls of tripe and entrails to drop into other containers she motioned for him to grab. Dr. Stellari put a pot on one heated stone near the fire to heat up water for the flow through coffee bags. Bohr stacked dishes on a second flat rock further out, along with mugs. He handed his mother a mixing bowl. She dumped pancake mix and combined it with water and milk in a plastic-mixing bowl. Before long she set down the skillet with three legs like a spider and started pouring the batter into circles.

All the while Raditz and Nappa exchanged battle strategies while swigging on the contents of the 'punch' in the large thermos. It was some strange Saiyan beverage made from blood and fermented fruits. Non alcoholic but bitter with a spicy kick. It was called Ylavoric. An alcoholic equivalent was Ylavorian. Neither of them consumed alcohol save after a fight or a strenuous battle, Dr. Stellari noted with relief. She did not feel like arguing with the fact she was stuck with food preparation because she knew it was the only way she'd properly get breakfast into her sons. Raditz had prepared her roast meat, and she felt it fair to return the favor.

Soon she and Launch sat next to their respective males, sipping on hot brewed coffee. Fermi and Bohr gobbled pancakes off camping plates. Each bite was laden with syrup and butter from Launch's supplies. All the dishes and mixing items were tossed into a wash basin to soak till someone cleaned them. Talk varied from one subject to another. "So, where did you pick this up?" Dr. Stellari asked.

"Oh, brought some stuff from Capsule after Nappa picked me up," Launch explained. "He'd told me you were up here with Prettyboy, so I figured you and your kids could use some people food. Not to mention soap and fixings for a shower later. Bright eyes told me there was a hot spring here."

"I'd hoped to take the boys back soon," said Dr. Stellari. "They'll miss their martial arts lesson, and then there's school…"

"I'm sure they can fly back okay. I mean hey, it's not THAT far to Metro West. It'd leave you time alone with your man. And by the looks of it you'll need it," Launch said, helping herself to more pancakes.

"How far along are you?" asked Dr. Stellari, pointing to Launch's belly.

"Found out soon after you did. Can't say it was a surprise. I always wanted kids though. Didn't figure that their daddy would be some space monkey," said Launch with a laugh.

"Does Tien know?"

"That's what called it quits," she said with a growl. "That bum had the balls to be jealous after rejecting me al this time. Can't see what I ever saw in that guy."

"Nappa's good to you, I take it? I hardly ever see you," said Dr. Stellari.

"I've got my business to run. I've gone legit. Better then having the dang law on my tail," Launch said quietly. "Besides, money's good in trucking."

"I can't see you ever settling in one place anyway," Dr. Stellari nodded. She knocked back another sip of hot coffee gratefully.

"You know if you're gonna have a boy or girl?" asked Launch.

"What about you?"

"A boy," said Launch. "Nappa's insisting on naming him something dumb like Romain. But I kinda like Sauvignon. Goes with the whole theme."

"Wonder what Bliss will think of having a brother," said Dr. Stellari.

"She's already been told. She's thrilled of course," said Launch. "It ain't too bad. At least the big guy's chasing after me for a change. Kinda nice."