Tooku. A primitive world of peace-loving savages. Two days, Frieza had said. I want it ready for its new owners in two days.
       It shouldn't have been a problem. But somehow it had turned into one.

Someone was crying.
       Through a haze of pain he could hear the sounds of grief. A child... A child was crying somewhere...
       The sound faded as he came back to consciousness and lay still for a moment, gathering his strength.
       He tried to move, gritting his teeth and refusing to moan: pain stabbed through him as the jagged ends of the broken bones in his arm grated together. Under his armour his shoulders began to bleed again. Three days and the wounds still hadn't healed. And there were other parts of him that hurt worse. But he refused to think about them. As always. It was the only way he could function - by refusing to acknowledge the pain...

But what the hell had happened here? One moment he'd been lording it over the cowering people of the insignificant little huddle of primitive dwellings its inhabitants called a 'village' - the next, someone, or something, had impacted hard just below the small of his back, forcing him to bite back a scream as it ground against the base of his tail and slammed him viciously into the solid stone wall of the largest hovel.

Vejiita raised his pounding head and glanced around, eyes screwed nearly shut under the pain pulsing through his body. Who had dared attack him so?...

The village was silent and empty, the dwellings little more than smoking shells. In the distance he could hear the familiar rasping whine of ki blasts - Nappa was obviously still around, bringing fear to the remaining villagers, even if Radittsu had moved on to another area. The young prince knew a moment's relief that the neither the giant idiot, nor the long-maned warrior with the tightly-coiled anger simmering within him, were here to see him suffering - then tried to pull himself to his knees, biting back a curse as he moved his arm carelessly. He gritted his teeth as the broken ends of the bone tore at his flesh. Ridiculous! There was nothing on this miserable excuse for a planet that could possibly have had the power to inflict this much damage! Not on him! Not on the Saiya-jin no Ouji!

He forced himself upright and staggered slightly, head reeling, clutching his injured arm. He bit his lip, forcing himself not to cry out. Very well, obviously there was something here that could inflict that much damage. And it hurt. More than such a simple injury had any right to...
       No - his ki was low, that was it. After his last... encounter... with Frieza the creature hadn't allowed him the use of the regeneration tank: he'd been forced to heal himself, and he'd had neither the time nor the leisure to recuperate properly. He'd had to rely on Nappa and Radittsu more than usual on this assignment. Well, leave them to carry on for now. Nappa at least could be counted on to cause the maximum amount of destruction even without the prince to hold his leash.
       Vejiita took a step and fell to one knee, grimacing with pain. This was ridiculous! At this rate he wouldn't even be able to make it back to his pod without help.
       "You're hurt?"
       He turned sharply towards the voice, biting back a cry as he jarred his arm. A child stood a little to one side of him, a little boy with wild black hair, his expression open and ingenuous.
       "What does it look like? Of course I'm hurt!"
       "Let me help you."
       The child wrapped an arm around his waist and took some of his weight, then looked up, black eyes bright and innocent as he smiled.
       "Mama and papa will be able to help you. Come with me."
       Bewildered, with no idea why he was allowing it, Vejiita let the child lead him into the forest surrounding the village.

In a clearing stood a sort of cabin, walled on three sides and open at the front, built of wood and thatched with moss. A fire burned a little way from the open side, a fire tended by a young woman. A large clay cooking pot was suspended above it: steam and a variety of appetising smells wafted through the air. As the child approached the cabin, Vejiita leaning heavily against him, the woman looked up, then hastened to his side. Wrapping her arm around the prince's waist she looked a question to the child.
       "I found him at the village. He's hurt."
       She inclined her head, frowning, and the child blushed.
       "I know, I know. I'm not supposed to go there. But there was something exciting happening and I wanted to see." He bit his lip. "Am I in trouble?"
       The woman glanced at Vejiita and smiled, shaking her head, and the youngster grinned. He looked up into the prince's face.
       "My mama can't talk. But she's very good at making things better. You'll see."

Vejiita winced as the skilful fingers swiftly manoeuvred the broken bones back into their correct position, gently moulding a thin strip of sodden wood along his arm and binding it into place with strips of soft fabric. The woman looked up, an apology for hurting him on her face, then frowned as she took a good look at the weeping clawmarks on his shoulders. She reached for them: Vejiita slapped her hand away, but more gently than he'd intended. She regarded him sombrely, then smiled and sat back on her heels, gesturing to his arm. The wood had dried out already, and stiffened to form a protective cast that would keep the bones immobile while they knit. The pain had dropped to a dull ache, easily disregarded.
       The woman held her hand before her, palm up, and mimed eating gestures. The prince nodded, and she rose gracefully and left the cabin, returning moments later with a large bowl of some kind of meat broth, crude but wholesome. As he was finishing it a call came from the forest, and the woman beamed widely. The sound of voices grew louder, and moments later a man appeared, the child perched on his shoulder chattering excitedly.
       "Greeting, stranger. Chuui here tells me you were injured at the village. Well, you'll be safe here."
       Vejiita regarded the man suspiciously as he swung the child to the ground, slapping his backside lightly and sending him scampering for a bowl of broth. Were these fools completely naïve? Apparently so. The man smiled. "I'm Inochi. This is Kaji." He hugged the woman to his side, kissing her cheek. "Who are you?"
       The prince grinned, mirthlessly. "You can call me Shi."
       The man's smile faltered momentarily, then he shook his head and laughed. "Welcome, Shi."

They'd made him comfortable on a padded mat, given him another bowl of broth, then left him to rest as they went about their normal business. He watched, reluctantly curious, as the woman prepared vegetables, stopping frequently to exchange hugs with her son and kisses with her mate. The little boy played happily with a small, long-tailed creature that - to his great annoyance - seemed to take a liking to Vejiita, bounding into the cabin at irregular intervals to lick his hand if he couldn't snatch it away in time. And the man sat in the shade outside, skinning the small furry animals he'd caught, singing wordlessly under his breath. The only sounds were birdsong, the wind in the trees, and happy laughter...
       As the sun set Inochi added resinous, slow burning logs to the fire, and unrolled a large sleeping mat, tenderly settling the yawning Chuui onto one corner - then turned to Vejiita, smiling.
       "Kaji usually plays for a little while before we sleep."
       Vejiita's eyes widened as he recognised the case the woman produced from a small box in a corner. He had one just like it, hidden away where no-one would ever find it. Something caught in his throat as Kaji raised the iirlanth to her lips...

The young prince watched, forgetting his wonder as to how the Relkaen instrument had made its way to this gods-forsaken backwater in the sheer stunning beauty of the music. Kaji was extraordinarily skilled, pulling magic from the air, the complex sounds pure and vibrant in the sunset, weaving a tale of mystery and passion, her eyes closed as she swayed and moved with the music she made. Her mate sat gazing up at her, the naked love in his face shocking to Vejiita. He closed his eyes to shut out the sight.
       Was this what 'family' meant?
       He cursed himself for the tears he felt building behind his eyelids. And the hateful memories that rose with them...

The broken ribs grated, stabbing into his flesh: all he wanted was to sink into the oblivion of a regeneration tank and forget about the nightmare that was his life, at least for a little while. But he knew he couldn't. Frieza would want a report. He fought down the panic that threatened to choke him. Six days. It had taken them six days to purge the planet, thanks to that idiot Nappa. Frieza had given them four...

"I am displeased. You overran your deadline."
       Nappa scowled. "Hey, we did what you wanted. Not our fault they were tougher than they looked."
       "Nappa!"
       The giant backed down at the snapped word, and Vejiita lowered himself to one knee.
       "Lord Frieza - my men are weary. May we have your permission to leave?"
       He saw the glint in Frieza's eyes, the beginning of a cruel smirk, and quailed inside.
       "They can go. You - you will stay here."
       Frieza waited until the other two Saiya-jin had left, heading for the regeneration tanks, then beckoned to the prince. Vejiita moved slowly and unwillingly to his side; Frieza stroked his face, leaving fine clawmarks down his cheek.
       "My dear friend..." the voice was low, and would have been seductive had it not been for the dangerous tone underscoring the seemingly harmless words. "You know it pains me to have to punish you. But what can I do? You were given four days and you took six. I cannot have you think me soft..."
       Vejiita stood silently, his whole body tensed in an effort not to tremble, not to reveal his fear, his tail wrapped so tightly around his waist it hurt. Please... please... not again... Frieza smiled and turned towards the door.
       "Come with me."

He gritted his teeth, eyes tightly closed, retreating into that place inside himself where he could pretend that... this... obscenity... was happening to someone else. Became just a body, not a being that felt and thought and suffered. Willed himself to be silent, not to give voice to the pain. It was the only way he could survive.
       Frieza paused, buried deeply within the prince's body, his claws idly scoring patterns on Vejiita's back, blood trickling down his sides.
       "Ah, sweet prince..." He cooed, then pulled out sharply, and Vejiita bit his lip to stifle a cry, hands clenching on the edge of the console as Frieza's hands roughly rolled him onto his back, lifted and spread his thighs and slammed into him again.
       "Open your eyes."
       He tried.
       He couldn't.
       His head whipped sideways as Frieza's tail slammed into his cheek.
       "I said open your eyes."
       He forced them open: Frieza leered down at him. A clawed hand stroked roughly against his face, adding to the burning pain of the tail lash. Frieza thrust again, his hands moving to the prince's chest, claws digging into his skin.
       "Tell me you love me."
       Vejiita's eyes widened, his mind dragged forcibly from his precarious inner refuge, staring at the creature above him in horror and disbelief.
       No... oh no...
       Unconsciously he shook his head, and the claws sank deeper as the heavy tail pressed down on his throat.
       "What? You dare deny me?"
       Frieza began to move, pounding harder into the prince's body, pressing down on the broken ribs. Vejiita's eyes screwed shut as he fought for breath, unable to hold back tears of agony as Frieza tore him, tore into him, over and over again.
       Finally Frieza hissed, rammed violently one last time and came hard in long ice-cold gushes that burned Vejiita's torn and bleeding tissues. The creature collapsed on top of the prince for a moment, panting, then yanked himself out and stood upright, heading for his inner rooms. At the entrance he paused and looked back over his shoulder. "Clean up and leave. You are not to use the tanks. Heal yourself. And do it quickly - I have another task for you. A planet called Tooku..."

Vejiita lay still for long moments, trying not to breathe too deeply, his throat bruised, his back and tail numb where they pressed against the sharp edge of the console, his body aching and burning. The awful sense of defilement threatened to choke him, and he wept silently, unable to control himself. So close to breaking. But he had to move, to be gone before Frieza returned...
       He slid from the console, tearing the lacerations on his back and landing in a crumpled heap on the floor, gasping, arm around his chest. Reaching up he gripped the edge of the console and hauled himself half-upright, whimpering as the broken ribs stabbed at his lungs, then limped slowly to his clothes, lying where he'd dropped them when Frieza had ordered him to strip. Pulling them on was agony, but he couldn't let the others see his body. Not now, with Frieza's clawmarks clear on his skin, his thighs streaming with his own blood ...
       He forced himself to keep his mind blank, not to think, just to move. There was blood on the console, blood mixed with a foul, stinking, slimy grey liquid. His hands shaking, he ripped a strip from his shirt and wiped off the worst of the mess, cleaning the rest with a glove then dropping the filthy cloth into the waste incinerator. Then, pulling himself as much upright as he could, he headed slowly for his own quarters, settling his youthful features into his habitual expression. The proud scowl that hid so very, very much...

Tooku spun below them, a lifeless globe. Frieza leered down at the Saiya-jin kneeling before him, unspeaking, enjoying his silent torture of the prince. Finally he spoke, releasing Vejiita.
       "Very well. You were on schedule this time. You may all leave."

Nappa had accompanied him to the recovery room, bragging as usual about his part in the mission. He'd found the prince by scouter the following morning, after an all-night killing spree that had finished the task Frieza had set. As the giant had landed in the clearing Inochi had spread his arms in welcome - only to be blasted to atoms. Kaji had tried to shield her son...
       Vejiita had watched helplessly as Nappa had killed them, knowing he shouldn't feel anything, torn between relief that at least it had been quick for them and agony that something so... precious had been destroyed.
       As he settled into the regeneration tank he remembered Kaji playing the iirlanth, his heart tight in his chest. It had been so beautiful... He hadn't played in so very long. There was no point. No point in remembering: it only hurt. There was no beauty in his life. Only darkness. There had been nothing else since the day his father had given him to Frieza. He closed his eyes as anguish flooded through him. There must be something else. Surely there must. This can't be all there is...

He lowered his head and wept in the darkness of the tank, where no-one could see.