Unwanted: The Final Battle

Unwanted


Chapter 1 - The Final Battle


"Must you go?" she questioned softly while burying her head in the crook of her fiancé's neck. As much as she desired an end to this ten year long bloodbath, she knew how dangerous this final conflict would inevitably be. Not more than one in two men who set foot on the battlefield was expected to survive; a statistic she could not bear his being a part of. "One more man will not make such a serious difference, even if it is you."


With a heavy sigh, Kakarrot reluctantly pulled back from the woman he had vowed to marry so that she could see the honest regret within his eyes for making the decision that his honor demanded. "Please do not make this any more difficult than it already is, Bulma. You know I would do anything you asked of me, but it cannot be this. In an ordinary skirmish, perhaps I would forfeit my presence, but this is the final stand against Nappa's last wave of forces. It's the end, Bulma, an end that I have been fighting for since I was eleven years old; I have to see it through."


"Pride," Bulma hissed as she turned away from the determined man, "You are beginning to sound just like your brother." She knew better than to hit him bellow the belt with such an unfair assertion, but her head and heart were simply not matching up on this matter. This was possibly the last time she would ever see him alive, how rational could she be expected to act when his life was hanging in the balance?


"I am not Vegeta," Kakarrot refuted her claim adamantly as he walked in front the brokenhearted woman to gently grasp her arms. He had to calm her worries. "Bulma, I swear to you that I will not take any careless chances with my life. I have too much to live for." He slid his fingers up her silky arms before stopping at her neck. Erasing with his thumbs the few stray tears that had fallen from her bottomless blue eyes, he leaned in to place a slow kiss upon her forehead. "Nothing can keep me from coming back to you," he vowed while pulling her back into his embrace. Nestling his head against hers, he slowly stroked his fingers through her long tresses, "Especially not some damn war that is long overdue for its conclusion."


The promise seemed just enough incentive to lift Bulma's spirits. She knew the experienced fighter he was, he had survived ten years of war with no more than a few scars to show for it. She had faith that if his determination was half as strong as he insinuated, before the close of the season they would be husband and wife.


"Highness," the impromptu interruption by one of the castle guards effectively served to break the serenity between the pair, "Please pardon my interruption, but if you wish to see the battle's commencement, we need to leave immediately."


"I'll be right out," the avowal was enough to give the pair a few more moments of peace before having to separate indefinitely. Turning back to offer his final goodbye, Kakarrot was abruptly stopped as he watched his fiancé detach a necklace that had been hidden under her dress. It was a plain looking jewel with a quarter inch thick band that at its focal connected a locket.


"I had this made for you months ago," she began with a deep breath, trying desperately to dam the tears she expected would inevitably begin to flow. "I was going to give it to you as a wedding present, but I think now might be more appropriate." She reached out to grasp his hand. Placing the trinket in his palm, she slowly dragged her fingers away so that he could uncover what was inside. A smile graced his lips as soon as the treasure was unveiled to him.


"How well you know me," he softly chuckled as he unreeled the long braided lock of Bulma's azure hair. He had never made a secret of how much he adored her exotic locks: the color, the length, the silky consistency, and the scent. Bestowing upon him a sample would ignite all his senses to form a more vivid reminder of what he had to look forward to upon his return. "As long as there is breath in my body, this shall never be severed from me," he vowed gently as he pulled the token around his neck. Once it was neatly situated, he wrapped his arms around his love for one last chance to feel her in his arms. "I will be back," he promised finally as he ran his lips over hers. The desperate kiss that followed was filled with all the suppressed passion invoked by the deadly circumstances that would be faced. The fear of possible death, of never seeing one another again too potent to simply be expelled in one kiss, but time would not allow them any more. "I have to go."


The words were painful to hear as the warmth that had just encompassed her was so cruelly whipped away. "Be safe," she ordered after the strong figure departed from her, only stopping to nod his head briskly before closing the door behind him. Once she was left alone, Bulma fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself as she silently prayed for the safe return of her fiancé. They had lived too many years in fear of death to lose their battle for a safe future now.


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"The day has finally come, Nappa." Vegeta took a long breath as he scanned over the supply report he had just been given. He was taking one final check before launching into the battle he had waited years for, the day he would finally avenge his parents and reclaim his birthright, the day he would set right all that had gone wrong ten years ago.


If the war could have been given a title, it would have been Hestia, the once Saiya-jin queen, and Vegeta and Kakarrot's mother. Since young adulthood, Nappa and King Vegeta had admired her beauty and strength, both pursuing her attention like moths to a flame, a flame that would ultimately set the planet ablaze when she chose royalty over the life of a soldier's wife.


Nappa had believed the choice was solely an economic one on her part, that if he had more power, more prestige, she would more than willingly come to him. And so in his cold and calculating pursuit of a warped form of justice, he spent sixteen years plotting the manner in which he would get her back, the day he would overthrow the Vegeta Empire.


The attack came on Prince Vegeta's fifteenth coming of age celebration. Disguised among the guests were hordes of loyalists to Nappa, men who had been promised power and unfathomable wealth once the king had been overthrown. And he was, much too easily, being so caught off guard.


The room was quickly demolished as the innocents scrambled to the nearest exits. However, not all made it out of the hall with their lives, Hestia being one of them. A stray arrow had struck her in the heart, a detail that was clearly not a part of Nappa's plan.


The sheer distraction of the event was just barely enough time for the royal family to escape through secret passages. Though retreat was not the Saiya-jin way, King Vegeta and his two sons agreed to live long enough to see victory against the man who had stolen their title, their home, and more unforgivably, their wife and mother. Yes, revenge had been on the forefront of all their minds, but regrouping was necessary before such a course could be laid. So they had chosen to escape to Lord Toma's estate.


When they arrived, the full extent of Nappa's insurrection was finally made clear. In a matter of weeks, what was once a global monarchy had split into three separate territories. Though Nappa's intention had been to divide the planet evenly, taking the northern sector for himself, and giving the southern sector to his bastard son, Nexus, a mere boy of fourteen, one quadrant had proved to be more difficult than all others.


The northeastern sector was filled with loyalists to one of the most feared men on the planet, Lord Toma, a dangerous mercenary who alone summed more wealth than the royal family itself. However, he never chose to challenge the king's authority out of a life debt. Vegeta had once spared the man from being run through with a sword; ever since, Toma and the King were the strongest of allies.


Using Toma's rebellious lands as a stronghold, plans were immediately made for a counterattack. For one year, King Vegeta and Lord Toma led the assault to take back the territory that had been stolen from them. Then tragedy struck, and both men lost their lives in an ambush Nappa had personally led. They were beheaded, and their faces put on display for all who might consider joining what was left of Vegetabatsu rebellion.


Nappa thought he had achieved his victory that day. The former King was dead and thus in his mind the rebellion had been crushed. But he had never been more wrong. Enraged over his father's murder, the former Prince Vegeta had taken the responsibility of continuing the fight. Between the disgrace of his father and the instability of his troops, he felt trapped with no other choice than to take drastic measures to pursue his victory.


Vegeta's sense of morals and ethics were completely obliterated once his father died. As if something finally snapped in him, he found himself walking down a path of ruthless violence. For four years he adopted a policy of no mercy. Innocents were killed, villages burned, and men brutalized under his watch. He quickly developed a reputation as a monster, a heartless, soulless warrior who would stop at nothing to see Nappa's blood on his hands.


What had started out as a mission to reclaim his honor had turned into one for blood. His honor had been long lost, just as any hope of returning to the respectable man he had once been. At least that was what Vegeta believed until the night she came to him. The night he learned the full extent of his inhumanity. The night she showed him the monster he had allowed his hate to force him to become. The night he changed at a permanent cost to an innocent woman.


Closing his eyes, Vegeta tried to force the images of that night away. Of all the horrible actions he had taken throughout the course of this war, that was assuredly the most dishonorable. For the last half of this war he had worked to change his ways, to do as she had begged of him that night, to stop the unnecessary violence. It was the only atonement he could offer. Not that it would ever be enough to right his actions. What he had done to her, taken from her, was unforgivable.


Opening his eyes to finish reading his report, Vegeta tried to crush the image of her tearstained face from his mind. Today was not the day to dredge up the past. Today, ten long years of fighting finally ends. Today he would claim the final piece of land that had been taken from his family, the Vegetabatsu fortress.


The former palace of Vegeta's family was now the most heavily guarded plot of land on the planet. Nappa, his father's murderer, the man responsible for the hell he was living in, was its current owner. But that was about to change. Now it was finally time for Nexu's defeat. Vegeta was finally, after so many long years, going to take the life of the man who had killed his father. And no one was going to steal that pleasure from him, especially not his half brained younger brother.


"You're late," Vegeta's tone was filled with censure as he lifted his eyes from his report to see his younger brother stroll into his tent two hours later than he had ordered. Though he had taken the time to relax in contemplation, propping his legs up on the table in front of him as he leisurely indulged in food and drink before facing the battle ahead, he was not a man to be kept waiting. "I was beginning to think you would not come." He lowered the document to rest on his lap as an almost sinister smirk spread across his lips, "Vacationing can make a man soft. I suppose those harem women kept you busy." The comment was meant in jest, Vegeta was fully aware of his brother's prudish nature when it came to women, but the remark was not taken so lightly.


Clenching his fists, Kakarrot pulled out a seat across from his brother as he responded with restrained anger, "Unlike you, Vegeta, I happen to believe in waiting until marriage before becoming intimate with a woman, because unlike you, I want love and affection, not an easy fuck, like you."


Fresh from reliving his shameful memories, Kakarrot's words had stung. But Vegeta was not about to show any diversion as he released an amused chuckle and mocked, "You know I almost feel sorry for you, Kakarrot. You were too young when this war started to have known the bliss of indulgence in the fairer of the species. I however," he leaned back in his chair and threw his arms out before intertwining his fingers to support the back of his head, "Vividly remember the hordes of women beating down the castle doors, vying to become the next Saiya-jin queen. How foolish they all were. One after another visiting my bed, all thinking I would be tamed by their feminine charms. Of course not a single one of them was called back for a second night. That, my dear brother, is the weaker sex."


"You are wrong," Kakarrot insisted as he thoughtlessly grasped the token around his neck. "My greater fear is that she will bore with me long before I ever would with her. She's smart and generous and passionate and beautiful," he paused as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes half closed in reflection, "so beautiful, Vegeta. I could never find a female easier on the eyes or the soul."


"She?" Vegeta's brow rose in confusion, lost by his brother's train of thought. "I was speaking generally, whom are you referring to? Tell me you have not let some witch entrance you."


Responding with a bemused look of his own, Kakarrot questioned, "I thought you had heard? I have asked Bulma to marry me once this war is over. She has accepted."


A long impenetrable silence followed before Vegeta cleared his throat and emotionlessly nodded his consent. "A wise choice; your marriage will secure an indefinite unity between the Tomabatsu and our own. It should help to maintain the peace once this war is over."


Crossing his arms, Kakarrot scowled at his brother. "I am not marrying her for political reasons; I am marrying her because I love her. I mean, she's beautiful, intelligent, genteel, pure..." Vegeta stopped listening after that, the knot tying in his stomach too distracting to continue paying attention as Kakarrot continued his rambling about the perfections of his fiancé.


Reaching a point where he could hear no more, Vegeta snapped, "Oh please, if you spew one more word I think I will be sick. Honestly Kakarrot, are you so entranced in her spell that you have forgotten whom you are speaking of? This is the little brat who used to kick a man's shins and drop dirt in his water supply. She caused mischief and ruckus everywhere she went, cursing with the tongue of an aged soldier. There is a term for the type of women those kinds of little girls grow into, and I assure it is none of the ones you are referring to her as."


"Come now, Vegeta, she was just a child as young as ten during those first few years you speak of. And she was forced to follow her father to the front lines of the war; considering the things she had to witness, I do not think her behavior was terribly inappropriate."


He was right of course. Toma should have never allowed his daughter to stay with him, he should have sent her back home to her mother, Seripa, the moment he learned she had stowed away among one of the supply carts, taking drastic measures to stay with her father. The battlefield was no place for a young girl, regardless of how fearless she claimed to be.


But Toma had let her stay. A partially selfish decision, it was well known that even the most powerful of Saiya-jin men could be turned into piles of mush under the soft pleas of their female offspring. Toma never stood a chance.


Spirited was perhaps a meek word to describe the girl's disposition. She seemed for some time completely detached from the happenings around her. She and Kakarrot had quickly become friends, being the only two in their age bracket. Together they caused much ruckus, both perhaps trying to escape the reality of what was happening around them. But when the battle came to the forefront, Kakarrot took arms, as would any member of the army, and Bulma followed the wishes of her father and remained sheltered from the skirmish, at least until the day he died.


No child should ever have to watch a parent executed, especially one so young as Bulma, but she did. The day of the ambush, she had been Toma's first priority. He had tucked her away in an underground compartment, hoping that if the worst happened, she would not be discovered. And she was not, fortunately, as Vegeta realized once he arrived on the scene. He was too late to do any good for the men stationed there, including his own father.


He had heard a faint sound of whimpering the moment he had stepped into the dilapidated tent. As he moved closer to the underground cul-de-sac, he could hear her crying. Lifting the fallen debris that had trapped her inside, he opened the latch and found the sobbing girl with her head buried in her knees. When he tried to pull her out, she had started kicking and screaming at him, her first instinct clearly that he had been the enemy, an instinct he wished she would have followed nearly four years later.


After drawing blood from biting into the palm of his hand with her fanglike teeth, he had had enough and used pressure points to knock her unconscious. Once she became more compliant he carried her back to his horse and set off for her home, where Toma should have returned her to from the start. When she finally came to, she had refused to speak to anyone about what she had witnessed. It was not until Kakarrot arrived two days later that she opened up, and the military state of their forces was made clear.


Seripa had taken full control of her daughter's life after that, banning her from the battlefield; she vowed to make her only child live to become a proper young lady. Bulma scarcely disagreed; her father was gone, so there was no reason for her to return to the blood and violence. She had all the time in the world to do nothing but mend, at least until Vegeta returned to administer some fresh wounds over the ones that had just begun to heal.


"Will you not be happy for me?" Kakarrot's question quickly broke Vegeta from his musings. How long had his brother been babbling on about his love for this woman?


"Yes, happy, right," Vegeta replied flippantly; if his brother wanted to marry her, all the better. Bulma deserved a man who could treat her properly, respecting her mind, soul-and above all-her body. Vegeta was certain Kakarrot could do all that; he would condone the man's actions. "Enough of this emotional drivel," he snapped while pushing himself off of his seat and walking across the room to grab his armor. "We have a battle to worry about first." He would not allow unexpected developments or lingering nightmares from the past to soil his victory. Today was his day to make all the pain and suffering he had lived through mean something. He would avenge his parents, reclaim his honor, or at least as much as was left of it, and nothing was going to stand in his way. "Ready yourself, brother; we spill Nappa's blood tonight."


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"My Lady," Bulma's long-time servant Lena thrust open the door to her mistress's chambers and ran to her side to deliver her pressing message, "His highness is here, he is waiting in your study, he demands to see you at once!"


The news brought such a sense of relief to Bulma's aching heart that she failed to hear any other advisement from her companion as she ran from her room to heed his call. After three long months of no word, Kakarrot had finally come back to her. The lack of communication had caused her mind to spin the most terrible possibilities, but now it seemed her worries were all for naught. He had finally come back to her as he had promised, and not a moment before she was prepared to go out searching for him herself!


Arriving outside his place of waiting, Bulma took a moment to compose herself. She did not want to seem too thrilled to see him return after not corresponding with her for so long; her cold disposition would certainly teach him a lesson about leaving her to worry! Grasping the door handle, Bulma took a deep breath before stepping into the room. "Well, how nice of you to finally pay me a-" her throat choked mid-sentence as her eyes fell upon a man she had not seen in five years, a man she had never wanted to see again. "What the hell are you doing here, Vegeta? Where is Kakarrot?" she slammed the doors behind herself, her mind not allowing a moment to contemplate what his presence meant.


"I will take full blame for your being kept in ignorance for so long. I wanted no one to alert you of what had happened before I had the chance to tell you in person." His voice was deep and his demeanor cold, just as she so vividly remembered him the last time they crossed paths.


"Tell me what?" she would not give him the satisfaction of hearing her voice quake as she asked. She would never fall victim under this man, not again. After waiting for what felt like an eternity to hear his answer, when it finally came, her mind failed to register it. "I am sorry, what did you say?"


"I said," she could hear his teeth grind together, clearly annoyed he had to repeat himself; he voiced his announcement slowly and articulately so that the reality of each gut wrenching syllable could sink in, "Kakarrot is dead."


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Translations:

Batsu -Clan

Vegetabatsu - Vegeta's Clan

Tomabatsu - Toma's Clan