Scarred and Beautiful

Disclaimer: Do not own it. (Damn Damn) Own the plot.

Scarred and Beautiful

By: Keaira Akuji


Chapter One: Memories

Seven Years Later

Goku sighed, it was time again- time to make the trip to see his brother in the northern lands. The journey was not what made the dread settle over him. It was seeing his brother. Goku grimaced at the thought. The man he was about to see was not his brother. His brother died during the two years he was held prisoner by Freeza. The man he was about to see was cold and cruel, nothing like his brother.
He turned and watched Chi Chi climb towards him. She was beautiful, even with the large swelling of her tummy. Their second child was on the way. Her raven hair blew across her face, she never looked more lovely. He had met Chi Chi when he was competing in Vegetasei’s fighting tournament: Tournament Del Sol. This tournament let all in the kingdom of Vegetasei compete to become the king’s private guard.
An arrogant smirk crossed his face as the memory played in his mind. He and his twin had been best friends with Vegeta since childhood, and had trained together. He knew he was going to win the tournament. Every year he competed to prove his worthiness. He and his brother discovered something at a very young age. They could control ki. Now, every warrior worth his boots could manipulate ki into their weapons: swords, daggers, shields, arrows, the list goes on. Any soldier could manipulate the ki into their weapons to increase their strength, but Turles and he had discovered how to control ki, just ki, no weapons needed. They could make what they term “ki blasts” with pure energy!
No one in their small village had seen anything like it.
Even the prince had not discovered such a feat. This was the beginning of their friendship. The two twins were instructed to train the prince. The three had begun a long journey of trail and error, until they mastered the art of controlling ki. No one but they, the king and Bardock (their father) knew of their skill. It was to be kept a secret. They became the secret weapon. They thought they were the only ones, until the Eastern kingdom of Freeza had attacked. It was this ability that warded off the attack, but lost him his brother. Goku shook his head, tired of the memories which he could not change. He had a journey to make, and with a nine-month pregnant wife, it was bound to be a long journey.

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Vegeta deepened his thrusts, and Bulma moaned appreciatively. She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist. She was close, he could feel her walls start their rhythmic contractions. He growled deeply, his tail swishing back and for the steadily. His muscles tightened his own release close. She cried her release and he let go, emptying his load into her womb. She rubbed her face against his chest, mumbling something.
He leaned back and looked at his queen. She was gorgeous. The most beautiful woman in the kingdom. She was six years his junior, and she was beautiful and vibrant in her youth. He pumped a few more times, enjoying the clouded look in her eyes, as little aftershocks ran through her body. She was the daughter of the richest lord in his kingdom, Briefs. He smirked. Obtaining her was a challenge. She had a mouth and brains very uncommon in a female. Females of his kingdom and race were raised to be demure and gentle. Bulma was loud, and sassy, but he knew that is what made him love her so. Of course, he would never tell her that.
She wiggled underneath him, settling into a more comfortable postion for sleep. Her slightly rounded tummy brushing his abdomen. It would not be long now. Their first child and heir to the throne was only two months away. The thought constricted his throat. He was going to be a father. The thought made his heart heavy and soar all in the same beat. He wanted to be like his father- strong and determined. He wanted the best for his son and wife, he wanted to be deserving of their love. He wanted his power to drown out his shame.
It was shame that made him tremble in the night and cry out. He knew Bulma never said a word, she just held him when he awoke in a cold sweat. The monster that ruled the eastern lands had almost taken him. And in a feat of cowardice he let another go in his stead. He shut his eyes tight and clutched Bulma to him. Goku would be on the way to visit him now, the lost Saiyan. How the people in his kingdom fear him so. He ruled over the largest estate in the north, even the people their feared him as they did the devil. No one would venture inside the palace walls except the king and Goku. All the merchants did their trading in the market and the surrounding shops. No one wanted to see the lord. Scarred inside and out they would whisper. Cruel and cold, violent at the very best. Vegeta sighed, it was his fault the man was a monster. He was so afraid to be taken seven years ago, so afraid.

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Alexia shook out her cape and settle it over her shoulders. These northern lands were freezing! It reminded her of home. She shook her head to dislodge that thought. She had no home. She was a wanderer. She was free, independent, strong. She was every a woman was not to be. It had taken her seven long years to be that way.
As she mounted her horse she remember the day she was cast out of her home. She only had the clothes on her back and a dying horse at her side. She was weak from blood loss and she was sure infection had settled into the wounds on the backs of her thigh and her shoulder. Everywhere the skin had been stripped was oozing and bloody. Walking, riding, even breathing pained her so. Pain, it had encompassed her the last six days. It was her life, her death, her savior, and her curse. It was the pain that made her go on, and the pain that held her back.
The first few weeks had been the worst. She was starving, cold, and very weak. Even at fifteen she had been beautiful, with the curves of womanhood not far away. She noticed that men would follow her walk, and she was alone. She had cut her hair one night, in the barn of a farmer that was close to the village ruled by Lord Nappa. It was the hardest thing to do. Her mother used to love her hair. But she had cut off the curly mess, until only a few inches remained on her scalp. She used her dress to bind her small budding breasts, and adorned the stable boy’s clothes. She dirtied her face, and transformed herself into a boy.
She laughed out loud as she turned the horse even farther north. A boy! She grinned at the memory. A daughter of a lord turned into a stable boy. She knew her mother must have turned over in her grave at that one. But turning into a boy had its advantages, not only it is stop the advances of men, it gave her the opportunity to work. Alexia turned into Lex, the orphan. As Lex she was able to work as a farm hand for three years before she was discovered to be female. Again, she had run. She was chased all through the village, but she escaped into a nearby village’s marketplace.
She ran into a blacksmith’s cottage. There she had learned to make weapons, and how to fight. The blacksmith had no wife or children of his own, he was sterile and under the laws of the kingdom not allowed to take a mate or train to be a warrior. He seemed to find cruel irony in teaching a woman to fight. She was already very strong for a woman from her life on the farm. Fighting came natural to her. It was a hard life, but rewarding. She had trained with the man, learned to manipulate ki, learned metal working, and was given food and a bed. It was the blacksmith that had seen her scars and laughed. She remembered that the tears ran down her cheeks at his laughter.
“Do not cry, Alexia.” He said, “I do not make fun, I just see these scars different than you. You were scarred because you killed a warrior that tried to take you. They removed a pound of flesh. Yet, it is you that has become the warrior.”
Sniffling, she replied, “But no man will ever want me now, I am ugly and scarred.”
“But you will have freedom from men always now.” He laughed.
“Freedom is not free, I will now never be wife or mother, just as you will never be husband or father. I see the pain it brings you.”
The blacksmith’s laughter died immediately. Alexia was afraid she said too much. “You are right, little one. That pain will always follow us. But if the scars bother you so, why not change them?”
“What do you mean sensei? How do we change scars?”
“Come here, look.” he said as he lifted his shirt. Curiosity claimed her as she walked towards him. There on his left chest was a tattoo or a dragon.
“It is a tattoo, so? All the warriors of this village have them.” She huffed.
“Look closer, what is under the tattoo?” He said. She looked at the man’s chest again. The dragon was covering up two large scars!
“I…..it….covers them.” She mumbled. “But my scars are much bigger.”
“Yes, Alexia, they are, but they are in a pattern. We can make that pattern beautiful. Then you will be a true warrior of this village with the tattoos to prove it!” He laughed. “No one will ever see them but you and I. We color the scars black and turn them into tattoos. They will no longer be ugly to you will they? They will be something you decided to have, not those people in your village that forced you.”
“I want it, I want you to change them into tattoos. Make me not feel ugly anymore.”

Alexia sighed, if only it had worked. The blacksmith died two years after that. So she was once again on her own. But she left with much more, the blacksmith left her with everything before he died. She had to flee, no woman was allowed to own property or a business if she did not intend to take a mate. Women were just too hard to come by in these lands. Most women gave birth to men. Females were always in short supply. But the last two years had taken her many places. She had two horses, a full suit of armor, and several weapons. The coin she had from her sale of all the other belongings of the blacksmith had taken her far.
Far enough to meet Lord Nappa’s son Vengeance. He was the reason she was now on the run, again. He had snuck up on her one day while she was bathing, and tried to force her. She had maimed him for his efforts. The one legged man would never again sneak up on any female. She growled at that thought. Females were expected to be weak. Vengeance thought she would be an easy lay, did he not see her markings? She was not a female anymore, she was a fighter. Well he learned!
But now, she was running from Nappa’s warriors. They would track her until death. They were all known as a persistent lot. So she decided to follow the rumors. She was headed to a kingdom in the north, where all are afraid of the lord. Nappa’s men, though diligent, valued their lives and would not follow her into his kingdom for long. She planned on meeting this great man, or monster, as he was made out to be, and ask (more likely beg) for his protection. She had numerous skills: farmhand, blacksmith, and fighter, anything he needed she was determined to be. She needed a place to stay until this blew over. She had sacrificed too much in life to let it end by the hand of Nappa’s men or his son.
She would go to this lord and make this monster listen to her. She really didn’t have any other choice. If she kept running, they could keep tracking her. She was determined to be free.

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