Lost child. Ch 2 Part 2

LOST CHILD

CHAPTER TWO. PART TWO


When the spaceship hatch slid open, its occupants, three travelers of fierce appearance, stayed on the threshold for brief instants, squinting at the intense luminosity of the sunlight. Once their vision became adjusted, a quick scan of their surroundings revealed that they had landed on a slightly undulating clearing in the midst of what, by all appearances, seemed a tropical jungle.

The assorted array of greens of the ubiquitous, lush foliage was certainly a refreshing sight for eyes that had only experienced, during the endless journey on transport, the dull and sober metallic hue of the ship. But Vegeta, as per usual, was in too of a foul mood to appreciate the charms of Mother Nature and, flanked by his two guards, he strolled down the disembarking ramp, huffing; the lines of his habitual scowl growing deeper as his heightened senses resented the brutal assault of the overwhelming environment.

The air, saturated with a plethora of penetrating, heady fragrances, punched its way into his defenseless nostrils; the underlying stench of decaying leaves and over-ripe fruits causing his stomach to coil with nausea.

Thick beads of sweat oozed from his every pore at the stinging lash of the sultry heat. And the oppressive humidity of the atmosphere clung to every last inch of his body in an asphyxiating sort of embrace.

Everything in that primeval world was so intense, so sickening and insidiously intrusive that the prince, tightening more than usual his tail around his waist, contorted his features, briefly, in a snarl of disgust, suddenly longing for the roughness of his austere quarters at home.

His two companions, however, stayed apparently unaffected, as if suffering of a transient sort of sensory unawareness. Nappa, still immersed in a hazy state of ethylic intoxication, was too occupied trying to keep his balance and Raditz was too impressed with the information filtered trough his retinas to mind anything else.

“Amazing!” An utterly awestruck Raditz finally broke the silence. “Wow! I think this planet gravity is even weaker than Namek’s.” He launched himself up and stayed hovering in the air. “I feel so light!” He shouted out enthusiastically, but the others completely ignored him. Nappa had finally stumbled upon his feet, rolling all the way down the ramp to land onto the grassy ground with a heavy and loud thump, and Vegeta took the chance to vent out some of his pent-up frustration by kicking him roughly in the ribcage as a stream of the most atrocious invectives escaped his lips.

Shrugging off, Raditz decided to carry out a surveillance flight over the clearing. They had landed on the same coordinates where Kakarot’s spaceship had been pinpointed so it should be somewhere near.

His stomach fluttered as he flew; he was going to meet his baby brother at last and he barely could contain his nervousness. He had not thought much about it before, but now all of a sudden, a myriad of questions assailed him. How would it have been to live by himself, with nobody else around? What kind of person had his sibling grown to be in that solitude? Would he be able to adjust to the new life awaiting for him, among his kind?

A glint of anticipation danced on his eyes and a small smile dwelled his lips, all thoughts dissipating as he glided over a crater on which bottom lay the little pod, almost intact and partially buried under the muddy soil.

“Sire, I found it!“ He shouted, stopping in midair.

Vegeta booted the prone form over the ground one last time before walking purposefully toward the overexcited Saiyan. Nappa, either due to the anesthetizing effects of the gargantuan amount of alcohol ingested or simply out of habit, did not appear to be bother in the least after the rude treatment inflicted upon him; he simply picked himself up, staggering clumsily upon wobbling feet, and dusted himself off but made no attempt to approach his companions.

Vegeta waited at the verge of the big hole, with his arms securely crossed over his chest while Raditz crawled into the tiny pod for a closer inspection. One of the panels appeared blackened and with a big hole on its surface exposing multitude of tangled, charred wires. But the control panel seemed to be intact; however, when Raditz proceeded to switch on the central computer in order to monitor the extent of the damage nothing happened.

“It‘s busted,” he exclaimed, pressing frantically all the buttons.

“Really?” Came Vegeta’s scornful remark, then he added in an irritated tone, “Idiot! What did you expect? It’s evident that the damn thing was defective and that’s why it crash-landed on this forsaken planet in the first place. Now, can you tell me something I did not know already.” The frown on Vegeta’s face had been growing deeper as words burst out abruptly from his lips making Raditz wince and gulp down thickly.

“I…I’ll need some time to…uh… find where is the failure and what exactly happened…” He stuttered with vacillation.

“Forget it. That would only be a waste of time. Look for any evidence that the transmitter was manipulated recently. At least that would give us the damn certainty that your brother is alive.”

Giving Raditz some time to finish his work, Vegeta switched on his scouter in search for relevant levels of vital energy on the planet. He knew that Kakarot had been born with a combat power of two units. And that fact infuriated him even more. Why to take so much trouble for such a disgraceful saiyan? What would be next? Taking Bardock’s pets out for their daily walk?

With a lethal glare, he pushed his angry thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrated instead on the data he was receiving. Exasperatedly inconclusive. Too many signals similar or slightly higher than Kakarot‘s, more than likely belonging to the local fauna. It would take them an eternity to investigate them all.

“This makes no sense at all.“ Raditz exclaimed exasperated, disrupting Vegeta’s train of thoughts.

“Well?” Vegeta asked impatiently as Raditz floated upwards to land beside him.

“There are signs of a recent explosion right on the communication unit. I haven’t got the slightest idea how the signal could even get emitted because the equipment is fried.”

Vegeta rubbed his chin thoughtfully for some seconds before venturing a hypothesis.

“That recent explosion…possibly was caused by a shot-circuit…this place seems to have a tropical or semitropical weather. Rainstorms must be frequent. Perhaps, recently a lightning hit the ship and the intensity of the electric discharge sufficed to activate the transmitter before it got burnt.”



“So, it wasn’t my brother who sent the SOS after all…“ Raditz trailed off, the euphoria that had accompanied him since he learned of his possibility to meet Kakarot suddenly dwindling as Vegeta merely shook his head.

“But…that does not prove anything.“ The tallest of the two snarled stubbornly, in the same fashion as a begrudged kid. Then a thought crossed his mind, that revived his shattered hopes.

“He was alive, he is alive…” Raditz murmured with a nervous laughter.

Vegeta darted him a sideways glance through narrowed eyes. “What are you babbling, fool?”

“My brother…He survived to the crash. There was no trace of him on the ship, if he would have died we would have found his bones in there.”

“Not necessarily.” Vegeta replied in a neutral and aseptic tone, eyes cold and devoid of any emotion. “For all we know, he could have died or gotten severely injured and the smell of blood and fresh meat could attract a savage beast that dragged him to its lair to feed its cubs.”

Refusing to get his hopes crushed again, Raditz uttered weakly, “Or he might be alive.”

During the short period that Raditz had been serving under Vegeta, he had learnt one thing; the prince was very meticulous, above and beyond the call of duty, in the fulfillment of his assignments. But he had sounded so heartless with his graphic description of Kakarot’s possible fate that Raditz could not help the icy chill that rippled trough his spine, fearing that Vegeta would deem useless to continue the mission.

“But…we can not go home yet, we…we ..I. I mean, sire I beg you…” Vegeta smelled the fear in the air and gave an annoyed stare to the stammering Saiyan.

“Stop being so pathetic, Raditz. I may believe this is an utter waste of MY precious time but it doesn‘t mean I will give up so easily,” he snarled, “I will turn this damned place upside down if needed. If the only remainder of your brother is a fucking speck of dust, be certain that I will find it.” His severe tone, through clenched teeth, oozed so much venom for Vegeta suddenly recalled the, in his opinion, insulting arrogance Bardock had displayed when he had informed them of this new mission. But shrugging off his shoulders as if that way he could get rid of his anger, Vegeta turned on his heels, ready to start the search.

“But if the boy is dead, how are we going to find him?” Nappa asked with a groggy voice as he ungracefully loomed close to the other two Saiyans.

A mortified expression crept on Vegeta’s features and he chewed onto his bottom lip in an attempt to repress an urgent, murderous impulse to smash that ugly face. Instead, he grabbed a hold of Nappa’s collarbone and wrenched him down to spit on his face, scowling viciously. “Are you doubting my capacity, moron?”

But before the bulky Saiyan could give expression to his embarrassment, Vegeta, with his senses always in alert, swiftly shifted his gaze to the top of a nearby tree. An almost imperceptible rustle of leaves and a muffled whisper suddenly catching his attention. He switched on his scouter again and adjusted the coordinates to get the energy lectures. His eyes instantaneously widened and his mouth dropped open slowly in disbelief. The level was over one hundred, still unacceptable for a Saiyan. But it was impossible; in his previous scanning he had not found any signal over three units.

“What happened, Vegeta? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost or something.” Taunted Nappa. But, luckily for him, the prince was paying no heed and the huge brute turned to stare at Raditz, guffawing stupidly. “A ghost, Kakarot’s ghost perhaps, see Raditz, he had found your brother at last.”

The hairy Saiyan glared at him; the idiot had the nerve to treat their boss in such a disrespectful way and even to mock him; he was still too drunken or simply had lost his brains, there was no other possible explanation. What surprised him, though, was that Vegeta had not slain him by now.

“This stupid thing is broken.“ The prince yelled angrily, crushing the device between his fingers before tossing it onto the ground.

Raditz rolled his eyes and looked at Vegeta as if he was some kind of lunatic. That had been beyond bizarre, even for the grouchy prince. But then Vegeta, looking fairly more relaxed, curled his lips into an undecipherable smirk that left the shaggy saiyan even more baffled if possible.

“We don’t have to look for him, anyway. He has found us. Look over there.” He uttered, pointing at a certain branch several feet high above their heads.

Scarcely had the prince pronounced such words when a figure jumped with feline agility from his lofty perch onto the verdant soil before three sets of mesmerized eyes that seemed incapable to drift apart from the breathtaking apparition; a creature who could only be described as a demigod: A stark naked young man, evidently not yet in his virile plenitude, judging by his boyish features and the soft and sinuous curves still retained by his slender but beautifully chiseled body.

For a fleeting instant, Kakarot stood motionless; large, shining eyes gingerly flickering over each and one of the strangers. Apparently satisfied with the quick scrutiny, the youngster began to step straight forward, initially at a slow, cautious pace; his velvety skin glistening beautifully under the sun; his graceful movements causing the toned, lean muscles of his torso and thighs to ripple sensuously.

It was impossible to remain indifferent to such delicacy, a succulent feast for hungry eyes. And both, Vegeta and Nappa suddenly felt like burning as they cast lewd gazes over the oblivious adolescent. Raditz, on the other hand, had been rendered speechless, trying to assume the fact that he was really facing his brother.

But the trio stayed otherwise in unobtrusive quietness and Kakarot, once overcome the inevitable instinct of self-preservation, strode purposefully; his advance becoming bolder, more resolute with each step ahead. His puffy tail swaying loosely behind him rhythmically, in perceptible contentment, until he finally halted just a few inches away from the nearest of the three men, who happened to be Raditz.

“So we meet at last, my little brother.” He uttered once recovered from his stupor, smugly smirking at the boy.

Never having seen or heard a human being other than himself before, Kakarot recoiled two steps backwards, startled as the alien sound drifted to his ears; an expression of bewildered shock plastered on his face. But his adventurous nature and innate curiosity promptly took over, impelling him to edge closer to the tall man. He placed his hands tentatively on the front of Raditz’s armor and, flaring his nostrils, proceeded to sniff like a puppy would do to get acquainted with new arrivals.

Kakarot’s pupils widened in surprise as a sensation of déjà vu washed over him. There was something strangely familiar and soothing about that scent, something so powerfully evocative, that it sufficed just a mouthful of it to make him relive a long- forgotten memory, finding himself all of a sudden enveloped by a warmth that brought a smile into his eyes.

His tail wagged back and forth uncontrollably behind him as he breathed once and again in the pleasant smell, in a frantic attempt to prolong such delightful sensation for as long as possible. But after a while, the excessive hyperventilation caused him to become lightheaded and he paused, turning his head upwards to look into his brother’s eyes.

Taken aback by Kakarot’s strange behavior, Raditz had remained still, almost petrified, unable to articulate a single word. And when his little brother gingerly drew a hand up to his face, he just furrowed his brow in bewilderment.

But such response only served to encourage the curious boy, for he became bolder in his tactile inspection and suddenly all were but hands on Raditz’s face, tracing brows and eyelids, groping and pinching nose, mouth and ears, stroking cheeks and forehead. All the prodding accompanied by an unintelligible, apish chattering intoned excitedly, with chirping accents, and occasional squeaks of ostensible delight.

“Hey, cut it out, you little scoundrel!” Raditz snarled, irritated. But, undaunted, the clueless adolescent raised his hand to touch the scouter. Kakarot pursed his lips, giving a quizzical look under knitted eyebrows, all the time drumming his fingers on the smooth plastic surface of the strange object.

“That’s no toy, don’t touch it!“ Frowning, Raditz slapped the annoying hand away and Kakarot rose wide, questioning eyes to hold his brother’s sharp gaze just for a brief instant as if striving to fathom the meaning of the harsh utterance.

But Kakarot had too short of an attention span and his onyx orbs immediately dropped down and fluttered sideways; the protruding protectors over Raditz’s shoulders suddenly becoming the focus of his interest. He grabbed the extremity of one of them and, disregarding the huffs emitted by his brother, yanked at it repeatedly with increasing force, finding quite entertaining the flexibility of the material.

Soon he got tired of that game too and reached out for Raditz‘s fisted hand, but the tall man brusquely jerked it out of his grip and crossed tightly his arms over his chest, sighing loudly through gritted teeth and twitching; his mortified stare meeting a puzzled one.

Raditz was becoming more an more infuriated, the boy was but a nuisance with his unrelenting prodding and prying. And the chuckles that continually came from his other two companions, who had remained, to his surprise, discreetly apart as amused spectators, were not helping at all. But when Kakarot began to yank at his long spiky tresses, that was the last straw.

“Stop it, idiot! We’re here to take you home, not to gambol.” Raditz angrily snarled; his face suffused with the crimson of rage as he seized roughly his sibling‘s wrist, pinning him to the spot with a warning glare. Kakarot gasped, fixing narrowed eyes on the stranger and puckering his lips in what seemed an expression hovering between discomfort and resentment.

“Do not be so rude, Raditz. He seems to have taken a liking of you,” Nappa exclaimed, and with a lustful spark in his eyes, he added, “Hey, beauty! Come here, papa has a big present for you right inside his pants, you can come and touch it all you want.” The strident voice and the thunderous laughter that followed made the young lad cringe; a hiss of displeasure blew pass swollen rosy lips as large ebony eyes fell over the massive Saiyan for a brief instant before swiftly shifting toward the source of a sudden, enticing voice of dark and profound tones and sensuous cadence. “Pft, it’s just natural, he surely have recognized the scent of family, after all he is Saiyajin like us, you buffoon!” As the words slipped from Vegeta‘s lips, Kakarot let marveled eyes wander languidly, almost reverentlyover the prince’s figure.

Massive waves of power and authority rolled off with incredible force from Vegeta and for a brief instant, Kakarot found himself incapable to resist the call. His feet moved by their own volition, but restrained by the tight grip Raditz kept around his wrist, he could only venture a hesitant step toward the man whom each and every fiber of his body felt irremissibly attracted to. All the magic fled, though, the very moment Raditz cupped Kakarot’s chin, jerking his face brusquely toward him to have his full and undivided attention.

Since his younger brother made his entrance, Raditz had the vague sensation that something was amiss with the boy’s bizarre demeanor and reactions. And his incapacity to figure out exactly what, had been irking him to no end. His lips did not ceased twitching in frustration. But suddenly realization dawned on him slithering a frown across his features.

“Kakarot, tell me, where do you come from? How old are you?” He just shot whatever question came to mind, with increasing ire in his tone. ”Come on, say something. Why don’t you speak?” The boy merely blinked before eyeing the bulky man with evident perplexity, but no sound left his lips. A blood vessel began throbbing in the corner of Raditz’s forehead and he twisted rudely his brother’s wrist. When Kakarot yelled furiously a disjointed and nonsensical jabbering, Raditz clenched his teeth with such violence that his jaw hurt.

“What the hell? He cannot speak Saiyago. Why?” Raditz questioned angrily, looking in Vegeta’s direction.

Regaining his bearing at the warning raise of eyebrows Vegeta was giving him, Raditz added more softly, “I thought those space-pods were equipped to teach the babies all they needed to know…” He absently relinquished his grip from Kakarot as his words tumbled clumsily through the air.

“What an idiotic question!” Retorted Vegeta sternly, not deigning to glance at him, instead laying his gaze on the boy, who was rubbing his reddened wrist inattentive to his onlookers. “You had just surveyed the damage of the ship, the computer presumably got broken before any information could be conveyed into Kakarot’s brain. It’s a wonder that the life-supporting system continued functioning until your brother could make it to this planet.”

So saying, the prince arched an eyebrow in mild disinterest; but he could not help the shadow of an awkward smile tugging at his lips as he watched, amused, how Kakarot, with a glint of mischief dancing in his eyes and an impish grin settled on his lips reached up to snatch Raditz’s scouter. The boy avidly sniffed at the device as he quickly scampered some steps away; to his brother’s chagrin who could only bark an exasperated, “What the fuck?”

Paying no mind to the snickers coming from his companions, Raditz shot a withering glare in the direction of his bug of a brother and hastily moved right behind him. But before he could retrieve the device, Kakarot, after running his tongue over its surface to taste it, threw it to the ground with a grimace of disgust on his face.

“Dumbass, that‘s not food!” Raditz grumbled as he stormed off past the boy.

As soon as that massive cascade of pitch dark hair appeared in his field of vision, Kakarot fell in an hypnotic short of trance. It was, with difference the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. When Raditz bended over in order to scoop up the scouter, he launched himself up abruptly with sufficient momentum to land on all fours and with a strong thud, directly onto his elder brother’s back.

The violent impact caused Raditz to yelp as the upper half of his body buckled slightly. He mechanically brought his arm to the sore area, fighting to remove the heavy weight, simultaneously twisting his head to peek over his shoulder. A loud grunt rushed past his lips as his eyes met the little rascal petting the obsidian locks in transfixed ecstasy.

“You fucker! Get out of there!“ Raditz exclaimed fuming, endeavoring to regain his feet and reaching behind with both arms to pull his brother off. On which Kakarot, instead of letting himself drop, threw his arms around Raditz’s head, covering his brother’s eyes and wrapping his legs around the sturdy torso to avoid, that way, losing balance.

Raditz, momentarily deprived of his vision, stumbled rearward awkwardly, clutching at his brother’s hands, trying to tear them apart from his eyes while yelling a string of colorful insults.

Kakarot, on the other hand, strived tenaciously to keep the grip on his brother’s head but with the force Raditz was employing on crushing the bones of his wrists, the pain soon became too unbearable. With a few grunts, he removed his limbs from Raditz’s eyes to grab instead a fistful of locks into both his hands, simultaneously unwrapping his legs from the bulky body. That way he stayed hanging from the long mane causing Raditz’s head to abruptly jerk backward, which elicited loud screams of agony from the harassed Saiyan.

Frantically flailing his arms up in the air, Raditz finally was able to propel his head forward and stand back upright with his brother still suspended behind him. Then, Kakarot, flexing his legs, began dangling and swinging on Raditz’s long tresses in the same fashion he usually did on the jungle vines, as he gurgled and cackled joyously.

At this point, Nappa had burst out into a fit of hysteric laughter while the prince remained outwardly unperturbed, arms folded steadily over his chest, an inscrutable smirk settled on his lips and what suspiciously resembled a faint gleam of mirth dancing in the depths of his eyes.

“You asshole, stop laughing and get him out of my hair!” Raditz ordered at the bulkiest of his compatriots, while shaking his body spasmodically in a, seemingly futile, attempt to detach the unwelcome burden from his body, but only increasing his agony instead.

Sturdy arms slipped under Kakarot’s armpits from behind, firmly encircling the boy’s chest; but once said boy became aware of what was happening, he held the thick strands more forcefully and wrapped again his legs around his brother’s waist. And then there merged concurrently his angered shrieks with Raditz’s painful howls and Nappa’s loud volley of blasphemies in a crazed hullabaloo which caused the fauna of the vicinity to flee in furious stampede.

After several minutes of fierce resistance, (for Kakarot had turned out to be stronger than he appeared, and stubborn as hell), the brute force of the giant prevailed and the wild teen could finally be torn apart from his brother. Kakarot was panting agitatedly into Nappa’s tight grasp while a disheveled Raditz twitched, drawing uneven breaths into his lungs as his fingers frantically threaded through the rumpled and tangled mane to arrange the chaos created there by his brother.

“Easy, monkey boy.” Nappa sneered as Kakarot thrashed about into the giant‘s arms, shouting out an indignant gibbering and shaking his feet back and forth in the air attempting to kick at his captor. “Mm…taming feisty ones is my favorite sport.” Nappa whispered hoarsely; voice made raspy and heavy with lubricity as he pulled Kakarot closer, the boy’s back firmly pressed against his torso.

TBC