Wow… It has been awhile… since I last updated… I'm a dead fangirl… *looks at other stories*… oh no… O~O'

Chapter 6

Shasta stomped angrily into the training room at the palace to find her king waiting with some of his guard.

"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded, walking straight up to him unopposed and unafraid.

Vegeta only smiled at her, "The cause of your little depression came to me suddenly and I've decided to fix the problem."

"By humiliating a low-level?"

"We're simply fighting for your shoulder, Shasta. What is a fight between two males over a female? It's in our nature-"

"Nature or not it is a massacre when one male is infinitely more powerful than the other."

"Then we shall know who will win."

"And there is no point to this fight."

"No, no. We can't afford to be bias. Let him have his chance."

Frustrated, she turned away from him only to turn back quickly, "If you think this is going to settle my depression then you're sadly mistaken." She stormed out of the door only to run into Bardock.

She gasped as the intimately familiar body came in contact with her own. She looked up to his face to see that his eyes were wild and anticipating.

"You're looking forward to this?" She asked angrily.

"You know I'm always looking for the beautiful death." He said with a wicked smile.

She growled, "If only I could be so lucky. You both are foolish." She growled as she finished her exit.

He frowned as he watched her go.

"So you're the low-level that got to her first?" The king said.

Bardock tensed and his fists clenched at his sides, "I am." His tail flicked wildly from around his waist.

"Tell me, Bardock, is it? Do you know the penalty for touching a mate that isn't yours?"

"She was mine when I touched her."

"Yes, of course, but technically, things can change rather quickly."

"Technically, according to your law, she still belongs to me." Bardock turned to glare at the king, "So you're allowed to make the rules but you don't have to follow them?"

"I am the king, I do as I please. And as for not touching her when she belongs to me, I believe you are indeed mistaken."

"What?"

"You have touched her a total of 7 times since I've marked her."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm the king. It's my job to know and to enforce the laws." He signaled to his guard and two of them were suddenly flanking Bardock on either side. They grabbed his arms and prevented him from moving.

A grin slowly formed on Bardock's face and he laughed, "If you think this is punishment then you don't know me very well."

"SILENCE!" Vegeta landed a vicious punch to Bardock's chest, "If you think you're going to recovery after this then YOU don't know ME very well."

Bardock sucked in a sharp breath as the king punched him again.

Blow after blow rained down. Upon him and he welcomed each one like it was salvation, angering Vegeta more with his lack of begging for mercy.

"Beg, low-level, and I might stop." He said.

"Are you kidding?" Bardock asked, "I'm enjoying this."

"Fool!" The King tried his hardest to wipe the smile from the low-level's face, but did not succeed.

Even Bardock began to see double; tasted blood in his mouth; could feel the pain radiating from every pore in his body, he welcomed the blows.

Frustrated, Vegeta used a chi beam and almost blasted a hole through Bardock's chest.

This pain was different. This pain was unwelcome. It made everything worse; intensified every mental and physical pain he was experiencing. Bardock could not hold back the cry of agony.

The guards dropped his arms, which immediately wrapped around his chest as blood spilled from his mouth.

"That's more like it." Vegeta growled, walking up to the low-level and yanking him off of his knees by his hair, "I should kill you now."

"Do it!" Bardock challenged, "Make my day." He sucked in a quick breath nearly choking on the crimson liquid, "You don't deserve her anyway."

"And you don't deserve relief from your punishment." The King used more energy to blast at Bardock's chest and send him into the nearest wall, "You'll stay alive."

With his pain intensified again, Bardock writhed with the agony. Not even a scream could make its way out to give him relief.

"Get this garbage out of my sight." Vegeta growled. He turned to leave the room as the guards carelessly dragged the low-level from the area but his eyes immediately fell on the queen who looked furious.

"I'm glad to see that he got a fucking chance." She hissed sarcastically.

"He got more than he deserved." Vegeta justified himself.

"Just like you do every day." She countered, shocking the rest of the Saiyans within the room. She pivoted quickly, knowing she would pay for that statement later, and followed the guards to Bardock's room. When the door opened, they simply threw him inside.

"I don't think so." Shasta growled, "Pick him up and put him on the bed."

"Majesty, we-"

"Do it." she snarled, producing a small ball of energy in one hand.

Quickly, they picked Bardock up and placed him on the bed.

"Good. Now get out." She commanded.

The guard retreated immediately.

Not a moment later, Kane walked in and cursed, "They wouldn't let him into recovery would they?"

Shasta shook her head, "Vegeta mutilated him."

"I'm not surprised. He's going to be out of commission for days."

"He's a quick healer."

"Not with this." He walked over to the dresser within the room and pulled out a syringe and a bottle of sedative.

"You're putting him to sleep?"

"It'll make things easier. And honestly, Majesty, you should probably just go now. You're only making it harder for him to let go by staying here." He stuck the needle into the sedative bottle and pulled the plunger, filling the syringe with the clear liquid.

"Leave? But I-"

"Look, Princess, I'm not going to sugar coat the truth here. You're bad for him. You have been from the start; even more so now. So just stay away from him and nothing will happen. You got that?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Looking down at Bardock's face, she touched his cross-shaped star. He was already mostly unconscious, but Kane gave him the sedative anyway and stared at her expectantly.

Slowly rising, she looked back to Kane, "You're a good brother to care for him like this."

He sighed and kept his eyes on his twin, "Shasta... It's not that I don't like you. It's that I don't like what you bring out in us."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused by his statement.

"We're a warrior race, Shasta. You should know that as well as the rest of us. We feed on fury and hatred. But you're different somehow. Before you showed up I would've denied any statement declaring that there was a compassionate Saiyan who was powerful and emotional. It just didn't happen. Bardock was one of the best of the low-levels; well on his way to becoming elite, but then you came into the picture pulled all of these... these... emotions out of him. It brought him down; made him weak. And now, because of all of this bullshit that's going on, he's unfocused, but worst of all, he's letting his opponents best him. Shasta, he's enjoying the pain and I think it's because he'd rather endure the punishment from battle than the mental slaughter you've caused him."

"Slaughter?" She choked on the word, feeling her throat tighten.

"Today on our assignment, I don't think he realized he was doing it, but his arms were around his chest the whole time; his eyes wouldn't leave the ground. It was like he was trying to hold himself together and the rest of the team saw it. If it was any other female; any other mate, I bet he couldn've handled it a lot better than he is now but because you're an anomaly in the system that, for some reason, we have a weakness for, his reactions are off and, believe it or not, I honestly think he's going to get himself killed before it gets any better."

She swallowed and looked down. He was right, of course. He was entitled to that, and, though she was reluctant to do it, she knew what she had to do, "I'll come back in about a week." she said, "To... to say goodbye. I owe him that much." she could feel the tears threatening.

Kane inclined his head to her, "I guess I can allow that. But I can't say if this is better or worse."

"We never can, Kane." she replied, "And we never will."

So here's this chapter… I uh… heh heh… I am sorry about the long wait *gulps at angry fan peoples*…

LOVE YA!

-Andantino *dashes off quickly*