New Laws

Anime Gal: Why thank you! I\'m glad you\'re enjoying it!



AN: Apparantly, I misread the species name "Tufle" as "Turle". So, from now on, I will be referring to the Tufles correctly. Gotta love re-watching season one for fun, and being corrected. Pwned. :B

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Sighing as his eyes focused on random stars above, Vegeta cupped his head in his hands. How was he supposed to be who everyone wanted him to be, and still be himself, as well as honor the gods? It was a vicious circle. If he honored the people, he would dishonor the gods. If he honored the gods, he would dishonor his father. If he honored his father, he would dishonor the people. But, all three paths had their gifts and their hurts. The path his father wanted him to be on would cost him the favor of the gods, and possibly Kaana\'s life. The path his people would have him be on would cost him Kaana for sure, as well as his own honor, as what they truly needed would cause them to hate him. And finally, the path the gods would have him on would cost him his Kingship, his rank, his honor, and what little respect his father had left for him - but it would keep Kaana, and the gods\' favor. What was more worthwhile - losing himself, his woman, or his throne? Or even perhaps all three, assuming he didn\'t pull off these trials with aplomb and perfection?



He needed to organize his values. He wasn\'t willing to go against the gods, but obeying their laws, in this instance, would cost him almost everything except the girl, whom he hadn\'t even chosen - his father had. Perhaps the gods had used even his father to orchestrate their will in his life. His eyes shifted down to the lake before him, across the water to the falls that fled from the melting mountainside. Soon, those falls would freeze over, and reveal the cave in the cliff behind the basin, which would be a frequent hide out for the homeless. Perhaps he and Kaana would have to flee here for a night or two before fleeing the planet. If things got that bad, then that would be the only way that they would live.



He knew he had to do the right thing - but each of the paths before him had equal levels of \'right\' and \'wrong\'. Honor his father, honor his people, or honor his gods. There was no way to honor all three, short of killing his father and paying penance for his sin against the gods. But then, he\'d also have to slay the entire council, and a few of the men still loyal to his father. He could do it, but one unguarded moment away from Kaana, and they would kill her.



A faint glimmer interrupted his thoughts. First, he felt the energy. Then, he spotted the bright, baby pink ki that was brightening on the horizon. His brows furrowed in confusion. As far as he knew, only the strongest Ki could be in the red hues, and the only one with a pink like that was himself - only this was a softer pink, much closer to the purest color - white. He wasn\'t aware of anyone on the planet in the elite class with that color of Ki - and no one in even first class had anything red. He crossed his arms over his chest after standing up. Who the hell?



"...Geta!" called the voice behind the ki. \'Oh, hell no...\' he thought, staring at the growing light. \'Please tell me I heard that voice wrong...\'



"Vegeta!" she called again. Her ki began to flicker softly, her energy waning from the sudden use of her Ki after so long of not being used, as well as the force she needed to maintain to hold off the inevitable of passing out from the slight dose of cyanide that she\'d inhaled.



"What the hell woman?!" Vegeta exclaimed, clenching his fists. "Are you insane? Did anyone see you following me?! Do you have any idea the position you\'ve put me in if ANYONE finds out you have Ki?" he barked, his figure glowing with anger. Kaana slowed down as she came closer to him, not sure if she would land properly.



"No time to explain! There\'s..." Kaana began, and lost control of her Ki. It began to flicker off more quickly, and the poor girl couldn\'t fly any more. She flew into the ground and slid along, leaving a trail of upturned ground behind her in the grass as she slid to a stop, halfway into the edge of the lake.



"There\'s always time! You had better explain yourself, before I lose my temper! Do you have any clue what you\'ve done if anyone--"



"Cyanide..." she spat out, interrupting him even though she knew she wasn\'t supposed to. His anger wasn\'t important right now.



"What? What are you talking about?"



"...In the food...someone put it in the...food..." she choked out, and promptly passed out.



"Cyanide? Who did it? Did you see? Why would anyone..." Vegeta trailed off. He frowned, stepping over to her. No sense yelling at someone who had fainted. He hoped that she hadn\'t swallowed any, but if she had, not even her Ki would have brought her here. As angry as he was, it would have taken a great threat to force a woman with Ki to use her powers. Not only would her own life have a price on it, but so would the man\'s life who trained her. She wasn\'t playing a game with him, in any case. He swallowed his anger, and plucked her up in his arms. He should get her back to the castle. She had to have known exactly what cyanide was and what it smelled like, otherwise he\'d be carrying a body instead. The planet had only discovered the poison on a planet they\'d conquered and sold a few years ago, and the poison had been acquired and discovered by sheer luck of a keen and educated eye. How Kaana, a peasant woman, knew about such an expensive and deadly poison, he didn\'t know - but he was grateful for it. Though her death would be a might bit simpler for him, he didn\'t want her to be removed from his life - at least not yet.



He flew in through the window of his room, and placed her on his bed. The first thing he noticed were the glasses smashed on the floor, and the quickly evaporating puddles of juice on the floor. He picked up the bottom of one glass, which had a few drops of the accusedly poisoned fluids within it. Careful not to smell it, he placed it gingerly back on the table. Sure, it wasn\'t much, but it was enough to test it to see if there was any real poison in it. He believed her when she claimed there was cyanide; but one couldn\'t make accusations on the claims of a sexual servant who happened to see something fishy.



"Guard." he spoke, turning his head to the door. A man dressed in regular soldier\'s armor poked his head in the door. "Go and bring me a doctor, maid, and a Tufle Lab Technician." The guard perked a brow as he glanced around the room.



"Yes sire..." he replied, then vanished. Soon, he would have one piece of evidence as to what the story was here - but he needed more. Then, a glimmer of thought shone in his eye as he flicked his glance from the door, up to the corner of his room. Of course, the camera! He smiled evilly. His father was at least useful for something. Thankfully, he hadn\'t been buggered to rip the damn thing down yet.



"Father, if you\'ve deleted anything, I will have your hide!" he spoke, staring up at the tiny lens staring back at him. "You bring me that tape old man, if you have any iota of respect and honor for your throne." Whether his father was watching or not, he didn\'t know; but he might eventually see the message. He crossed his arms over his chest, and sat on his bed beside the still naked Kaana, awaiting the arrival of the servants he\'d called for.



* * * * *



"She will be just fine, sire." the old, grey-haired Tufle doctor explained, hopping his small three and a half foot mass off the bed. "Just let her sleep it off and feed her as soon as she\'s awake, and she\'ll be alright." he explained, shuffling his white-coated figure out of the door. Vegeta snorted; the man wasn\'t dismissed; but, he was a doctor, and had many other saijins to look at. The maid silently cleaned up the broken glass and scattered food all over the floor, dressed in what acted rather like a full hazmat suit.



Vegeta glanced expectantly down at the Lab Tech, whom was taking notes on a note pad while a little machine whirred with the small sample of juice within it. After a moment, the machine beeped, and the Tufle flicked the note pad in his pocket. His blue eyes whirred over the data on the screen.



"Mhm, mhm. Dihidrogen oxide, Calcium, Sucrose, Glucose, fructose, polysaccharides, malic acid, and--"



"Cut the fucking chemical names, manwhore! What does that mean?" Vegeta barked, quickly loosing his patience with the man.



"It means apple juice, and after you interrupted me - HCN. Hydrogen Cyanide. At that concentration, one sip, you\'d be dead in two hours - the whole glass would have killed you. Though, it would have made more sense to put that in milk - then one would assume it\'s almond milk. But that\'s neither here nor there. I\'ll copy this data to my notepad here, and give it to you. Will that be all, sire?" the Tufle explained, linking his note pad wirelessly to the little machine.



"Yes, that\'s it. Hurry up and fuck off with you." The little man handed the notepad to Vegeta, and picked up his machine, skittering out of the room as ordered. The maid had swept the last bit of mess into a bag, and was working on the food on the table when the door was slammed open.



"Vegeta, I don\'t appreciate you making demands upon me like that!" exclaimed King Vegeta, a rather irritated expression mounted on his face. "But, given the circumstances, I forgive you. But should you EVER snap at me like that again, I will remove your head where it babbles! There\'s a copy of the tape, on this note pad. I assure you, despite your obvious suspicions, I had nothing to do with this. I will order the council to suspend their testing of you, while we deal with this investigation."



"No, you won\'t. I\'m going ahead with it. Whoever did this obviously doesn\'t want me to live long enough to take that test; if I keep going, it might flush the bastard out." The prince replied, snatching the note pad from the King. With one pad per hand, he might just have enough evidence to kill whoever it was who decided to betray him. "I\'m taking this to the council immediately. Get out of my room."