Jaded

Disclaimer: I don’t own DB/Z/GT or any of the characters found in this fic. They are the property of TOEI ANIMATION in Japan and FUNimation in the U.S.A. I am not making any profit from this.


Rating –NC 17
Warnings – For the whole story: Language, whips, chains, knife play, character death (of a main character), torture, non-con, yaoi, M/M. OCs. Lemons, limes. OC/Goku, Goku/Vegeta, Goku/OCs, Kakarott/Vegeta, Vegeta/Goku.


A/N: THANK YOU PIXELGODDESS FOR BETA’ING!

Another easygoing chapter; calm before the storm you could say. Life goes on outside of the room; this is just another snap shot.


Jaded 6 Stretch Break

2 years, 8 months 13 days A.P.


“Daddy! Come see what Grandma is showing me!” Bra said in excitement as she grabbed her father’s hand and started pulling him down the hallway.

Vegeta grunted, but allowed himself to be dragged by his little princess. Bra made a sharp corner as they came to the nursery. He shaded his eyes for a moment as the sunlight coming through the wall of glass blinded him.

“Ah, Vegeta. Come see what your daughter has learned. She’s very talented,” Vegeta heard his mate’s mother say as his eyes finally adjusted to the light. The humidity in the room was oppressive and the smell of upturned dirt filled the air. Bra finally led him over to one of the raised tables, where there were two small trees, with bits of clippings scattered all around.

“Look. Bonsais!” Bra shouted. Then she climbed up on a chair. “This one is mine,” she explained touching the tiny cedar with affection Vegeta thought was a bit much for a plant to warrant.

Bunni smiled at her granddaughter, “She amazes me. When she wants to, she has enough patience to rival time.”

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, not certain what was so exciting about two saplings. Bunni saw the look, “It’s an art form. Most people mistakenly think it originated in Japan, but it actually formed in China. The practice varies from person to person. Some use it as mediation, listening to what the tree is telling them it wants to be, which is the easier practice. You don’t have to fight to form the tree, so it doesn’t take as long. Others use it to draw out a design from the tree, bending it to their will. That practice can take generations, although the dwarfed trees are highly prized, and can be sold for millions, if someone is willing to part with them after it has been in the family for so long.”

Bunni’s mention of ‘will’ got Vegeta’s attention, “You use ki?”

Bunni laughed, “Oh, no silly,” Vegeta’s frown went unnoticed, “There are several ways to make a young tree grow the way you want it to. The easiest, and most natural, is to put the baby tree in a shady spot with a readily available source of sunlight near by. The tree will grow in the direction of the sunlight, which makes its trunk bend. I’ll show you one.” Bunni headed away from the working table as both Vegeta and Bra followed.

“Here,” Bunni said, pointing at a small tree with an ‘s’ curved trunk. “With this one, I let it grow one way towards the sunlight before turning it around and making it grow the other way to reach the sunlight, and then back again.”

Vegeta frowned, “Seems highly unnatural.” The fur on his tail puffed out briefly and he had to consciously think to settle it. He wasn’t too certain about this being something he wanted his daughter to learn. It wasn’t combat…although Bra was still too young to start teaching her, yet. It wasn’t business. It was…well, it was a formalized, socially acceptable form of mutation, conveniently masked with the harmless names of ‘art’ and ‘mediation’. He had his own ideas about what meditation was supposed to entail, and something about this offended him…greatly.

“Ah, but that is the beauty of the art - to make the tree look like a miniature adult tree would in the wild,” Bunni exclaimed, thinking Vegeta had finally seen what she was meaning to explain.

“What would happen if you planted this tree outside?” Vegeta asked.

“Oh, no…it’s been acclimatized to this environment. It would never live outside on its own now,” Bunni said, “Besides, they are for me and my company to enjoy, here, indoors, during the winter,” she smiled proudly, and Bra echoed her smile.

“But…if it were to survive, would it grow? Taller? Bigger?” Why was he so concerned about a damn tree? This conversation should have been over long before now. Why didn’t he just walk away…like he usually did?

“I don’t believe so. I have been working with this one for years. It would stay this size, just get shaggier. Now, something like the one Bra has just started working on, that one would grow. It’s only in its first year. It hasn’t been trained properly yet.”

Vegeta grunted. It was amazing what his mother-in-law had done, even if it was sort of disturbing, “You said this was the most natural? How else would you make a tree bend?”

“OH!” Bunni was pleased Vegeta had seemed to warm up to the subject, at least he was asking questions. And this also gave her a good opportunity to reinforce some of the things she had already told her granddaughter about the Bonsai process. “Well, there are all sorts of ways. Some people will tie the young tree to a post, bending the trunk until has grown long enough in that direction, it will stay on its own, before releasing it. Sometimes wires are used, to pull certain branches to the ground, while others are allowed to grow up. And then you can always gently break the branches, so the bark stays intact, but you can twist the branch to grow in a 180 degree angle from its original destination. That’s still something I have yet to master. I usually end up having to cut the limb off…but one of these days, with lots of practice…” she grinned at her hopeful accomplishment.

“If you can break branches, how about the trunk?” Vegeta asked.

“Why would you want to do that?” Bunni didn’t know what Vegeta was getting at.

“The one with the ‘s’ in the trunk? If you broke it and then reset it, would it grow straight again?” Vegeta didn’t even know why he was bothering to ask. It would just make the woman continue to talk.

Bunni looked thoughtful for a moment, a very strange look on the woman’s face, “I suppose one could do so. It would take a terrible amount of patience and skill. Probably more time would be involved than what it took to get it to bend in the first place. Lots and lots of attention, patience and an extremely sunny and healthy environment. Even with all of that, it would probably never be perfectly straight.”

Vegeta scowled. “Who would have thought up such a thing? It seems like a waste of time. My daughter could be learning to read, or even cook,” he pointed out, trying to include other subjects he knew the elder excelled at.

Bunni’s thoughtful gaze faded, “Well, I suppose someone who couldn’t get outdoors much, and wanted the beauty of nature brought inside. Or, if you wanted to get more cynical about it, I suppose someone could have just wanted more control over something in their life, even if it was a tree. Chinese women really didn’t have much say in anything else that went on in their lives,” bitterness tinged her voice.

Bra didn’t care for the direction the conversation was leading. This was supposed to have been something fun to share with her father. “Dad…I am hungry,” her young mind thought of the quickest distraction from the way things were turning out.

Vegeta picked his daughter up, “Well, I guess we should go and get some lunch then. That is, unless your grandmother needs you to help clean up?” he said, asking Bunni indirectly.

“Oh, no, I’ve got everything covered,” Bunni said as she headed back to the worktable, “You two go get something to eat. She has been here for a couple of hours now.”

Bra squirmed to get down from her father’s arms, wishing to walk on her own, “I hope Trunks hasn’t eaten all the pizzas.”

Vegeta shook his head, but remained silent as he let his daughter lead him away from the room and towards the kitchen. He was grateful his daughter didn’t seem too determined to break the silence. He was accustomed to her talking about whatever, but he was in a more than usual pensive mood.

Bra’s sigh as they entered the kitchen alerted the prince to the fact that there were no pizza boxes, which meant the cleaning bots had tidied up after his oldest was done. “Sandwiches?” he asked as he reached for one of the loaves of white bread sitting on top of the fridge.

Bra frowned that her first choice had been taken away from her, “Yeah,” she caught the loaf of bread as her father tossed it to her. She climbed up on the counter and waited while he opened the fridge to grab meats, cheeses and condiments out. She smiled as his tail waved back and forth as he ransacked the appliance. It had become a lot easier to read what emotions her father was feeling since he had gained it back...and it looked so soft.

“Mom says you had to have had some sort of trauma to your tail stub in order for your tail to have regenerated,” she commented without thinking. She realized her error as it stilled in its happy movement before wrapping around his waist. She sighed as her father grunted.

Vegeta tucked the jar of mayonnaise under his chin before backing away from the door and using his heel to shut it gently. He frowned at his daughter’s unhappy expression, “Why were you and Mom discussing my tail?”

Bra shrugged her shoulders; “I asked if I could get mine back when I grew older.”

Vegeta grunted as he set his burden down on the counter. If he hadn’t been away when his daughter had been born, this conversation wouldn’t be taking place, “If it comes back, when you are older, then you can decide whether or not you want to keep it.”

Bra nodded as she twisted to the side to open the drawer with utensils in it. She pulled out a butter knife for spreading the condiments, as her dad pulled a platter out of the cupboard below the built in marble cutting board.

“So it was trauma that caused it to come back?” she asked.

Vegeta scowled, but answered, “Yes.”

“Did it hurt much?” Bra felt she needed to know. If the process was painful, she wasn’t certain she wanted it back.

“Very,” was all Vegeta wanted to tell his daughter. He opened the cheese and started slicing through it with ki.

“Can I try?” Bra asked.

Vegeta turned the block so his daughter could get at it. She placed her pointer fingers at the edge of the block, and ran a tiny thread of ki between them before drawing her hands down, “Not too bad,” Vegeta commented. The slice was a little thicker than what he cared for on his sandwiches, and slightly burnt because she hadn’t ran her fingers through fast enough, but he was delighted at the control his daughter had shown. His tail unwound from his waist to show his approval on her second try. By her third, she was slicing just as thinly and quickly as he had been, “Well done.”

Bra smiled and picked up the piece she knew was too thick, and started munching on it, giving her father a toothy grin. Vegeta shook his head at her antics and went to work slicing the rest of what they would need. He was just wrapping the block back in its plastic as he came to a dead stop. A purr rumbled through his chest before he could stop it, and he turned wide eyes towards his daughter. She had gently caught his tail and was petting it softly. She dropped it quickly when she noted her father’s bizarre actions, “I am sorry, Daddy. I should have asked.”

Vegeta shivered before he recognized his daughter’s distress. He flicked the tip of his tail under her nose, causing her to giggle, “It’s alright…just surprised me,” he acknowledged quietly. Bra took that for an invitation, and gently captured it again, running her tiny fingers through the fur. After the initial…shock…and Vegeta decided it was pleasant, he resumed his purring along with the making of their lunch.

Two dozen sandwiches later, Vegeta was quite comfortable with his daughter handling his tail, “Does Mom touch your tail?” Bra asked curiously.

Vegeta shrugged, “She hasn’t had the opportunity…”

“I think she would like it. It feels like satin; no, nicer than satin,” Bra interrupted him with her thoughts on the matter.

Vegeta smiled at the innocent complement before pulling his tail from her hands, in order to get the remaining sandwich makings back into the fridge. He turned back to the counter and hefted his daughter into one arm and the platter of sandwiches into his free hand before walking around the counter. He deposited his daughter feet first onto one of the dining room chairs before setting the platter down. He grabbed at a pastrami sandwich before he took a seat himself, and the two of them ate in silence.

Bra finished eight of the sandwiches before she was full. She gazed at her father’s profile while he continued to eat. He was eating awfully slowly…almost as though he was, relaxed, “Did your dad have a tail?”

Vegeta faced his daughter, “Yes.”

“Did you ever touch it?”

“No”

Bra frowned…the way he had said it was as though the thought would have been unthinkable, “Has anyone else touched your tail?”

Vegeta grunted as he stuffed half a sandwich in his mouth.

“Was it Trunks?”

Vegeta frowned and shook his head.

If her mom hadn’t, and her brother hadn’t…who would her father be comfortable enough with to let them touch his tail? Bra knew it was special that she had been allowed to, “It wasn’t Goten, was it?” she asked, jealousy creeping into her young voice. Vegeta was her dad. Goten had one of his own…somewhere.

“No” her father answered rather harshly, and she knew she was in dangerous territory.

She changed the subject; “I won’t work with Grandma on the Bonsai trees any more, if you don’t want me to.”

Vegeta’s eyebrow rose at that, “If you are enjoying it, you should do it.”

“But you didn’t seem happy about it…”

“She said you were showing great patience while working with the trees…” Vegeta trailed off, hoping his daughter would fill in the void.

Bra frowned. She was happy with it…now. It had taken a couple of weeks for her to see one of her changes take affect, but now that she knew what to expect… “It takes a lot of time.”

“A lot of things take time,” Vegeta answered after he finished off his last sandwich.

“Like super sayian?” Bra asked.

Vegeta nodded, “Like super sayian.”

Bra pouted, “Both Trunks and Goten are already super sayian.”

“Yes, but it took Goten seven years. How long before you saw changes in your tree?” Vegeta pointed out as he picked up the platter to take to the kitchen sink.

“Two weeks. Changing trees is easy then,” Bra thought through the timing quickly, “Super sayian is harder.” Vegeta grunted his acknowledgement. “How long did it take you?”

Vegeta closed his eyes as he leaned his weight onto the counter, “Almost 33 human years.”

“Wow…” Bra didn’t know how else to answer. It was longer in time than she could think, “You had a lot of patience.”

Vegeta snorted. He had been anything but patient about it.

“Grandma says that cedars can live for several hundreds of years, if handled properly,” Bra’s randomness threw Vegeta off. “How long do sayians live?” she had never received a direct answer from her mother about this.

“I don’t know,” Vegeta told his daughter truthfully.

“What’d’ya mean?” Bra inquired. She had thought her father knew everything in regards to sayians.

“Sayians die in battle,” Vegeta answered as he came back to the table. His daughter’s bewildered expression said she didn’t understand, “As far as the history books I was ordered to read were concerned, there never was a sayian that died of old age.”

Bra’s face scrunched up as she thought about this, “So…how old was the oldest sayian when he died in battle?”

Vegeta had to actually stop and think. He closed his eyes, trying to picture the words in an almost foreign language, “250 years? But he was insane, and it took several hundred sayians to kill him.”

“Why?” both numbers were outrageous to the four year-old.

“He had achieved the legendary state. He was perpetually ascended,” Vegeta told what little he understood of the tale.

“Why was he insane?”

“I don’t remember,” Vegeta said quietly as he tried to remember the rest of the story.

“Oh” Bra answered. “Then…you were just a young tree when you became a super sayian,” she equated her father’s memories with her grandmother’s teachings, “And Trunks and Goten were just seedlings. It was probably the environment that made the difference.”

Vegeta leveled an amazed look at his daughter, “It probably was.”

Bra smiled before a yawn forced itself, “I think I need a nap,” she told her dad as she hopped off the chair.

“I think I need to meditate,” Vegeta said as he followed his daughter out of the room, but parted ways in the hall.

~o0o~


Quote: To appreciate and find pleasure in curiously curved, potted trees is to love deformity.