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Slightly disoriented from teleporting for the first time, Princess Serenity could only shiver and stand there silently when a room full of Saiyan warriors immediately turned their heads to study her. Heart pounding erratically, she couldn’t stop herself from trembling and the tears that formed in her eyes when the second tallest of them approached her steadily, his lips twitching up in a smile. Whether it was purposely smug was beyond her knowledge, but something told her that the king of the Saiyans was actually trying his best to seem welcoming. “You actually kept your word, Highness,” the king stated with mild surprise. That immediately got the terrified look out of her eyes, and Serenity’s back straightened as her anger washed away her fear. “Are you accusing me of having no honor, Majesty?” “Pht, no, girl. I honestly thought you would have simply been so horrified at the prospect once you’d had some time to think it over,” he replied smoothly. “Which only tells me that you have no idea at all what you even offered me.” “I offered myself in exchange for peace,” Serenity ground out impatiently, her little fist balled up as the king loomed over her. Gods, why did they have to be so damned tall! “What you do with me doesn’t matter, so long as my home and my people are left in peace.” “You have to admit, Vegeta, the girl has the bravery of a Saiyan,” the tallest man in the room rumbled from his post beside the throne. “Yes, Nappa. I’ll definitely give her that much credit. But the question of what to do with her still stands. And who to give her to,” he added thoughtfully. “Tell me, Highness, just how scared are you of being pairbonded to a Saiyan heathen? I’m sure you went over for days what you thought would happen the moment you arrived, how you would immediately be taken to a bedroom and used as breeding stock.” The truth of his statement must have shown on her face, because the king frowned deeply and more than a few warriors along the walls growled or grunted at her disapprovingly. But as much as their contempt for her scared her to the bone, Serenity was every inch her mother’s daughter and swallowed her tears as she tried to stare down the king and his Elite as fearlessly as possible. “You swore on your tail that my people would be left unharmed by the armada and by the Planet Trade Organization,” she finally stated after several moments of silence while she tried to ignore the way all of those flinty eyes were boring into her. “The fact that I was warned by my mother and my court about how I would be poorly used by your warriors matters not, Your Majesty,” she added in an icy tone that was a direct result of the way everyone was eyeing her. “Whether or not you will keep your word is all that matters to me.” “Oh, I’ll keep my word, girl, you can bet on that,” Vegeta ground out slowly as he fought down the urge to blow her to pieces for such an insult. “The only question that remains, though… is who to give you to. Nappa, do you want her?” While the rest of the Elite snickered, the general only studied her seriously, his arms folded over his massive chest as he seemed to contemplate the prospect in earnest, patiently reflecting that the princess knew absolutely nothing about his people and therefore could not be held at fault for her assumptions. Perhaps he could be the one to prove her wrong…? But he hadn’t felt a tug when he’d made eye contact with her, so… “No,” he finally stated. “I’ll admit that I’m beyond flattered that you’d offer her to me first, Vegeta, but I’ll continue to wait for the pull. Though I’ll admit, Highness, your beauty damned near tempted me,” Nappa added with a hint of a smirk and a quick, nearly undetectable wink. Stunned by the compliment and the scrap of kindness he’d just thrown her way, Serenity curtsied his way as she somehow managed to sustain eye contact with the tallest man she’d ever laid eyes on. “I’ll admit, general, something tells me that you might have made a fine husband. I’m sorry I couldn’t tempt you further.” “Who is tempted?” Vegeta grunted, and without even turning, he added, “put your hand down, Raditz, I know you’re practically waving it around and fighting the urge to scream something that I’ll find ridiculously funny.” Blinking owlishly at the long-haired warrior standing beside three scowling, spikey-haired lookalikes, Serenity almost forgot her surroundings and giggled at the boyish grin he flashed her, followed by a waggle of his eyebrows before he once again took on the typical, stony expression that the Saiyans were so famous for. I could have lived with going to him, Serenity mentally sighed. If anything, his eyes are kind and he seems like he loves to make people laugh. “No takers other than Raditz… I’m not surprised after you insulted the lot of us, girl,” Vegeta snorted. “Taking that into consideration, I suppose you’ll just have to go to one of our strongest warriors. After all, it’s only fitting that you go to strongest… since you’re to be used as breeding stock. Poorly, at that.” Serenity was unsure how exactly she’d insulted them so deeply by her assumptions when the Saiyans were some of the cruelest, most efficient killers in the universe, but she had the decency to blush as she looked away. “As I said before, King Vegeta, my only concern is for my people. You may do with me as you wish.” “Our two strongest warriors are unmated still, aren’t they, Nappa?” “Yes, Vegeta, they are,” Nappa replied with another hint of a smirk when one of those warriors practically vibrated with excitement, his tail quivering around his waist as he fought down his beast to keep it from swishing happily. “And Kakarot seems extremely eager to be chosen.” Daring to look up from the floor, the moon princess flushed brightly at the sunny, genuine smile he was giving her, every trace of the scowl he’d been wearing long gone. I think I could live with being his wife as well, she thought as her own lips quirked up slightly in response to the way he just wouldn’t stop beaming at her, his black eyes glittering with his joy. He’s rather nice looking as well. Perhaps this won’t be as horrific as everyone thought. “Yes, Kakarot’s always eager to do anything for anyone,” Vegeta snorted. “He won’t be difficult to find a mate for. The strongest of us, however…” There was no suppressing a cruel little smile when the princess practically wilted in place; had it not been for her insult against the Saiyan people, Vegeta would have immediately paired the girl with Raditz or Kakarot, who were without a doubt the most suitable matches for someone who wasn’t used to how outwardly cold Saiyans could be. “I think that the strongest of the Elite should be rewarded for all of his efforts on behalf of our people, don’t you, Nappa?” “Loyalty and fealty to the crown should always be rewarded, Majesty,” Nappa replied automatically, though on the inside he was facepalming and praying to the gods that Vegeta would not actually be stupid and prideful enough to do what he thought he was going to— “Broly. She’s yours.” Unable to hold it in, Nappa uttered a little groan. Yup, he’d done it... and hopefully Raditz would explain to the king how unbelievably stupid he’d just been by pairing the crown princess of the moon with a warrior whose beast was ridiculously unstable. The rest of the room had fallen even more impossibly quiet as Serenity trembled and snapped her gaze up to the king with wide, terror-filled blue eyes, her hands shaking visibly as she balled them into fists as her sides to keep from wringing them. “B—Broly?” The Green-Eyed Monster. The Golden Death. There were plenty of names that were just as fitting for the most ruthless killer in the history of the Saiyans, but those were the only two that Serenity could remember as the warrior in question stepped up from Raditz’s right without even looking at the king, his face emotionless as he stared at her.“M’yo?” He asked in Saiyan, his tone sounding almost confused as he continued to just look at her.“Yes, Broly, she’s your mate,” the king replied casually in Solarian, which was translated quietly by Raditz. “Take her to your quarters and claim her.”Still seemingly unsure, Broly appeared to wait for someone to contradict what he’d just been told before he finally addressed the trembling blonde that was the center of attention. “K’sha m’yo, ra’dir p’ue m’yo?”“He’s asking you to come to his room with him,” Raditz translated seriously when Serenity only looked at them blankly. “And Majesty,” he added softly in Saiyan, “after I’ve acted as a translator for the two and escorted them to Broly’s chambers, you and I need to have a word in private.”“You might be as dear to me as a brother, Raditz,” the king responded just under his breath, “but don’t push your fucking luck.” He nodded towards the door then. “Go on, Highness,” he said, switching back over to her language. “Raditz will go with you and act as a translator until you reach Broly’s rooms.”No one missed the way that Serenity immediately went to Raditz’s side rather than her mate’s, and the room collectively held its breath until Broly just grunted softly and walked out of the open door leading from the throne room, his expression not once revealing whatever he was thinking about the slight.“A long word in private,” Raditz hissed at the king in Saiyan before offering the Lunarian his arm and following the strongest Elite down the hall.“Broly can’t wear a scouter,” he explained as soon as they’d caught up, trying his best not to yell at her for the way she shrunk away from the younger Saiyan and leaned into the older of the two as some means of futile escape. “His ki level’s too high to wear one without it blowing up in his face, so you’ll have to make do without understanding each other unless he marks you right away. And he won’t hurt you,” he added as gently as he could despite his desire to rant and rave. “What you’re doing is so unbelievably insulting to him that I can’t even think of a way to word it in Solarian. So stop clinging to me before his beast decides to destroy me, his only friend.”“Oh. I’m sorry,” the princess whispered, completely separating herself from Raditz despite the fact that taking an offered arm was acceptable to his people. She was unaware of that, however, and could only concentrate on the fact that Broly had gone on ahead a little bit and had stopped at an ornate door, his black eyes locked to hers. “Is… um… is this his room?” She asked nervously.“Yes it is,” Raditz replied, only to stop and focus on the slightly shorter warrior when he asked him something in their native language. “Broly would like to know if you’re hungry,” he finally stated in Solarian once he’d said something to Broly that sounded comforting. “Just nod and make him happy, ok? He’s trying to provide for you.”“Oh… um… I’m not very hungry, but I guess…” A little eye roll from Raditz shut her up and she just finished her statement with a nod. “Yes, thank you,” she whispered.“Ra’dir, k’sha. P’ue m’yo,” Broly answered, his voice soft and monotone as he opened the door and gestured for her to enter. “Buh’tir?” He added when she hesitated.“He’s inviting you into his room, woman,” Raditz sighed. “And very politely, at that.”“She’s nervous, Broly, forgive her,” Bardock’s oldest son added in Saiyan once Usagi had squeezed past Broly quickly and into the room.“She’s terrified,” he replied evenly. “Why is the king giving me a woman who’s scared shitless of me? Did I do something wrong? Am I being punished? I don’t want a mate that’s afraid of me, Raditz.”“The king isn’t punishing you, Broly,” Raditz snorted, glad that the Legendary wasn’t furious. Up until that moment, he hadn’t been totally sure what Broly’s thoughts had been—hell, no one did unless the kid voiced them. “The princess implied that she’d expected to be gang raped once she arrived, and it pissed the king off.”“Oh…” Raditz didn’t miss the sadness in his friend’s eyes when Broly sighed, his shoulders drooping a bit. “So I’m to be the punishment, then.”
Oh gods this is going to be such a long, private talk with Vegeta… and it’s going to get loud. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep myself from screaming at that stupid, arrogant jackass for this.
“Kio says that he’ll send the king to Hell in a handbasket if he expects us to prove her assumptions correct,” Broly said blandly as he just watched the princess fidget against the far wall nervously. “He says that he’ll use Vegeta’s blood as fingerpaint and he’ll draw a picture on the throne room floor with it. He also says that she’s very pretty, and if the king only meant to give me a mate that will grow to accept me, then he appreciates the gift.” Finally turning his gaze to Raditz, he lifted a brow. “His Majesty wasn’t asking me to hurt her, was he?”The flecks of green in Broly’s eyes only tacked even more onto the list of things he was going to scream at Vegeta, but Raditz didn’t let his ire towards the king show as he rolled his eyes and snorted. “Kio, don’t be stupid. I’m sure the king intended to give her to the fiercest of us just to teach her that even the Legendary Super Saiyan would never harm his mate. Now… if I were you, I’d go on in there and lay on the fucking charm,” he added with a little grin and a nudge. “Oh, and her people like to kiss each other on the mouths. Try that for starters and remember to be gentle, ok?”“Ki level as low as I can manage, and… wait, do her people kiss like we do?” He inquired innocently. “Because I’d like to do that. She smells nice.”“Hey, if she’ll let you, I say go for it,” Raditz chuckled. “Kio’s going to be patient with her, right?” He added hopefully. “I’ll bet my hair that she’s a virgin too. I told you that it hurts for women their first time, didn’t I?”Broly processed that for a moment before nodding. “Kio says that you said to use your fingers and a lot of kisses to get a woman ready to mate. Will that be enough to make it hurt less?”With a quick, brotherly hug, Raditz nodded into his hair before slapping him on the back approvingly. “Good to know that someone actually fucking listens to me,” he joked. “Now go on in and see if you can’t convince her to go to bed with you. I’ll have food left in the sitting room for you, buddy.”Serenity didn’t know what to say, do or think when a shadow suddenly loomed over her and she looked up to find the subject of billions of Lunarian and human nightmares just staring at her, his face an empty mask. So she just swallowed and fought down a scream when he closed the gap and bent his face to hers, claiming her lips.That first kiss was a bit sloppy, and while a small part of the moon princess appreciated his effort, she was too busy grasping at her gown to keep it from falling any further when he suddenly slid it down her shoulders, exposing her from the waist up. Up until that point, Serenity had steeled her nerves in an effort to just take whatever came with as much courage and grace as possible, but being bared like that and the sight of him discarding his own clothing made her lose what little composure she had left.“Please don’t,” she whimpered as she began to weep openly, her hands trying in vain to cover her breasts and hold her dress up simultaneously. “Please, I’m sorry, I know I promised, but please don’t hurt me!”Attempting to purr comfort for a female for the first time in his life, Broly immediately knelt before her when she crumbled to the floor in a sobbing heap. “Ah?” He asked in alarm. “M’eh ah au? K’sha m’yo, mah’ni… buh’tir, mah’ni, k’sha m’yo.”But she only continued to cry, and no matter how he tried to assuage her fear that he was going to harm her, she only seemed to cry harder whenever he spoke to her in Saiyan. Never mind that he actually had some semblance of emotion—albeit mostly panic—in his voice for the first time since he’d been a child.Listening to his unstable beast—Hell, who else was there to listen to!?—Broly ignored the little princess’s struggles when he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed, only the set her down as carefully as possible at the head of it and scoot himself towards the foot. “Ve’ho?” He inquired helplessly when she only continued to sob. “Buh’tir hi’nah? Tapa’or heu… r’et m’eh?”Thankfully for Serenity, Broly was extremely patient and just bided his time there at the end of the bed until she finally stopped soaking the pillows with her tears a half hour later. And when she looked up to partial surprise to find herself in a bed—she remembered being moved but it had seemed so surreal—she could only stare at the giant, naked warrior sitting on the other end, his knees tucked to his chest, his arms resting on them comfortably, and his chin perched right on top. “Um… thank you,” she managed in the barest of whispers as she looked for her dress, only to find it on the floor by the wall.Cheeks burning like a sunset, the princess shucked back the top cover and immediately wrapped herself up in it, surprised to find that Broly hadn’t moved an inch in the meantime. He was still simply watching her, his black eyes seemingly curious. “Thank you,” she said again, her voice a little stronger. “Thank you for not just taking me, Broly.” He perked up at the sound of his voice, and even though he’d been quite the unexpected gentleman so far, Serenity could only tremble as he unwound himself from around his knees and came over to sit in front of her.“K’sha’or?” He rumbled, his eyes hopeful as his beast began to purr seductively for the first time in his life. When she just stared at him blankly, Broly sighed, counting his blessings as he focused on her lovely hair and lifted a thick streamer to his nose. At least she wasn’t screaming or crying, and so far she seemed ok with his beast getting a whiff of the sweet scent she was emitting. But the moment he cupped her face in a calloused hand, a few fresh tears slipped free of those accusing blue eyes, and the Legendary warrior visibly wilted. “Ve’ho, m’eh f’ri ah au. J’ha nava m’yo. Au k’sha m’yo, ve’ho. Ge f’ri ah k’sha.”“I don’t understand you,” she finally replied, her voice soft and shaky as she dared to look him in the eyes again. Despite his non-expressive face, Serenity was surprised to find that his eyes were kind and almost gentle, and when he cupped her face again and began to trace her tear tracks as if he’d never seen tears before, she managed to only flinch a little bit.Screwing up his face a bit as he thought, Broly managed to recall what little Solarian he had command of and worked his tongue around a word awkwardly as if he was chewing a giant wad of gum. “Joo?” He asked, touching her cheek once more. When she was silent, he studied her thoughtfully before touching his chest. Perhaps she didn’t realize he was trying to speak in her language. “M’eh Broly. Joo?” He asked again, the touch to her face more like a caress as he wiped at another tear.“Oh,” she squeaked in genuine surprise. He’d said ‘you!’ “Usagi,” she said without thinking about her formal name. “Muh-ay Usagi.”“M’eh,” Broly corrected.Was that a little smile on his face, or was she seeing things? “Muh eh.”“En’go,” he snorted as he dared to scoot a little bit closer. “Joo Osa’ge. En. Osa’ge en k’sha ih Ki’po.” Wow, that definitely was a smile playing on his lips, but those lips were drifting towards hers, and Usagi wasn’t sure whether or not it would be in her best interests to stop him when he kissed her. At least this kiss wasn’t sloppy like the last one had been, and she had to admit that the sound of his purr was actually kind of nice as he simply continued to press his mouth to hers without moving. The princess decided that she was ok with that; kissing was definitely fine by her, especially since she assumed he had the rights under Saiyan to law to do a lot more than just that to her whether she consented to it or not.With that in mind, Serenity wondered if he’d ever kissed anyone before her and broke it for the briefest of moments, only to kiss him again. She wasn’t keeping her mouth still, though, she was moving it over his gently and slowly, her eyes slipping shut when his purr hitched in momentary surprise, followed by a low, male groan of excitement. She only pulled back when he unexpectedly nipped at her lower lip, sending a shiver of pleasure through her in reaction, and her blue eyes were wide as he just observed her quietly, his black orbs half-lidded and smoky with desire. “Kiss,” she whispered before pointing first to her lips, then to his.“Kiss,” Broly repeated hoarsely, unable to stop his beast from using his tail to tug at the blanket she was wrapped in. “Moar?” He asked hopefully, hoping he had the right word. “Kiss moar?”It was only when the coverlet was stripped from her that Serenity realized what he was doing, and she trembled as he pulled her to him, half terrified of what was surely about to happen and half appreciative of the way his bare chest felt pressing to her breasts. But when she expected him to go further, he didn’t; Broly only kissed her lips one more time despite the hard length pulsing against her stomach. “F’ri ah au, Osa’ge.” he sighed, his eyes clearly telling her that he wished she could understand whatever it was he’d repeated countless times.“I’m sorry,” she whispered shakily, “I wish I could understand you, too, Broly.”Broly just huffed and kissed her a final time before using his tail to return the blanket to her, and he shucked back the rest of the covers and slid in, motioning for her to do the same and patting at her pillow. “M’kor,” he urged. He wouldn’t claim his mate while he could smell fear on her; his beast was even shaking its head mournfully at the very thought despite his desire for the curvy blonde, and they were in a rare state of agreeance. If she was afraid, they wouldn’t mate her, no matter how badly they wanted her. But his beast still wanted… “Osa’ge?”Only just settling under the covers, Usa focused her attention on the naked man lying only a couple feet away. “Yes?” His only response was to beckon her closer, and sensing no ill intent from him, she hesitantly scooted closer, squeaking in surprise at the feeling of his tail wrapping around her. And then his arms. And his legs.A long, happy sigh filled the air as he buried his face in her hair and just held her, and Broly’s purr conveyed his contentment when she gradually relaxed into the embrace. He couldn’t have her because of her fear, but he could still hold her as if he’d just mated her, right?Apparently it was, because he felt his little mate grow heavy against him after only ten or fifteen minutes, and Broly snuggled the hell out of her when he realized she’d actually trusted him enough to fall asleep in the embrace.If she trusted him that much, maybe she would trust him enough to mate her in the morning.
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“OH DEAR GODS YOU ARE SUCH A FUCKING DICK! AND NOT ONLY THAT, YOU’RE A STUPID DICK! DID IT EVEN FUCKING OCCUR TO YOU THAT SERENITY COULD DECIDE TO JUST TELL BROLY TO KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF US AS SOON AS THEY’RE MATED!?” “I am so glad you managed to close the door before you let that fly,” Nappa snorted, his entire form trembling from the urge to burst out laughing. “As am I,” King Vegeta drawled. “And Raditz, while the mating bond is a powerful thing, I doubt Broly would just unleash Hell upon his own people because his mate told him to.” “Dear fucking gods, you are as stupid as you look,” Raditz breathed in utter shock. “ARE YOU SERIOUS, VEGETA!? THE BOY COULDN’T EVEN GET LAID DURING THE BURNING! AND NOW HE’S GOT GUARANTEED PUSSY AND SOMEONE THAT WILL UNDERSTAND HIM AND LOVE HIM UNCONDITIONALLY AND YOU ACTUALLY THINK FOR A SECOND THAT HE’LL RISK LOSING HER OVER US!? YOU… YOU IMBECILE! YOU STUPID, EGOMANIACAL TWAT WAFFLE! WHAT IN THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR BRAIN THAT YOU CAN’T POSSIBLY SEE THAT SHIT HAPPENING!?” “Anything to add, Nappa?” “Phhht… hehehehe… hahahahahaha… oh gods, I’m going to fucking die if I can’t laugh soon, Geta… and no… nothing to add… hahaha… I think Raddy just said it better than I ever could!” “His vulgarities are more creative than yours, at any rate.” “And I’m not even CLOSE to being done yet, you PIG-HEADED CUMDUMPSTER!” Taking a couple deep breaths, Raditz leashed his beast and just stared the king down. “He wanted to know if he was Serenity’s punishment for insulting you,” he spat out. “And he made it abundantly clear that if that was your intention, he’d paint the throne room in your blood. So I suggest you both wipe those smirks off your faces and pay attention to what I’m about to advise.”########################################Princess Serenity wasn’t sure exactly what she expected when she woke, but it was definitely not her expectation to wake being held by a naked, purring man that was lightly exploring her face with his fingertips. At least she managed not to panic and remembered where she was quickly, stiffening only for a moment before going limp against him and emitting a little sigh of relief that he hadn’t hurt her the night before like she had assumed he would. When you really thought about it, she’d gotten downright lucky, and she couldn’t stop her lips from twitching upwards even as she felt a calloused thumb run over them. Who would have thought that the Green-Eyed Monster was actually a decent creature!? And so young, too… Cracking her eyes open hesitantly, she found him gazing down at her with a seeming lack of emotion, but now that she had the sense to employ her empathic abilities, she knew that he was feeling both hopeful and curious. And more than a little bit confused. “Good morning,” she managed with more than a hint of shyness. “En sh,” Broly replied, knowing that she was likely greeting him. “Osa’ge k’sha.” “Usagi,” she corrected lightly. “Usa.” Broly blinked at that in surprise and frowned. Oh, he’d gotten it wrong? “Oooosaaah.” “Usa.” “Usa,” he tried again. “Good,” she giggled, only to gasp when he dipped his face to hers and gave her a single kiss. Unable to keep himself from smirking a little at the sight of her immediate blush, Broly pulled her a little tighter to him, making sure that she felt his aching arousal pressing to her inner thigh. “K’sha’or, Usa?” The fear was back in her eyes at that, and Broly didn’t bother concealing his disappointment when he and his beast both sighed heavily as he settled for just running his fingers through all of that beautiful, golden hair. He’d undone her odangos in the night, and he hoped she didn’t mind that he’d taken such a liberty, because he and his beast really, really loved her hair. “Na’uch. T’uh au, Usa m’yo.” “I really need to speak with someone about getting me some sort of translating device that doesn’t also read power levels,” Usagi said thoughtfully. “If I’d had any sense, I would have brought one with me…” She sighed sadly at the thought of home and wondered if her communicator would reach that far through space. “I really shouldn’t have left like I did, but it was the only way. Gods, I hope they forgive me.” Flicking her eyes up at the heavily scarred warrior running his fingers through her hair, Usagi couldn’t help but reflect that he was awfully handsome… once she got past the fact that he’d slaughtered millions of Solarians single-handedly, including one of her guardian Senshi. That thought, all on its lonesome, was what made her suddenly stiffen against him, her eyes hardening even as they filled with tears. “You killed Mako,” she choked out as the tears began to fall and she shied away from a look of concern and a caress to her cheek. “Don’t touch me.” Gods damn it, what did he do now!? Frustrated by the language barrier, Broly huffed as he felt his beast rising to the surface, but he fought Kio down with the promise that he’d let him speak with their new mate soon enough. The last thing they needed was scaring the life out of her when she was already emotionally fragile. “Usa, ra’dir,” he coaxed gently, unsure how to handle her sudden anger. “M’eh ah au?” He added as he leaned up on his elbow and studied her for a moment, looking for an injury. Maybe his petting hadn’t been as gentle as he’d thought and he’d left a bruise? No, he couldn’t see anything marring her flawless skin, but apparently she was really mad with him about something, because she was practically yelling at him now, repeating the same thing several times as if he’d somehow magically understand her if she continued to shout it. “Hi’nah,” Broly finally sputtered in frustration, rubbing at his sensitive ears. That was when he felt a slap to the hand massaging his right ear, and he blinked in astonishment. That blow had been meant for his face. It took him a full five seconds to process that, along with the fact that his mate had actually just hit him. Sure, it hadn’t hurt him in the slightest—truth be told, he’d only felt it because he was trying like hell to keep his ki as low as possible so that he wouldn’t hurt her—but her intention had been to harm, and when a second blow for his head flew, he caught her wrist with his tail. Broly actually sent his beast a wave of thanks for that intervention; something told him that if he’d caught her hand with his own, he would have broken it instantly. “Hi’nah,” he repeated, his tone a mixture of concern and disapproval. “K’shau f’ri ah k’shau.” If looks could have killed… The door to his bedroom opened then, and neither Broly nor Kio was sure whether to be upset over the intrusion or to be downright grateful when Raditz appeared and moved with Saiyan speed to catch Usagi’s left arm when it swung back for another strike. “Are you trying to get yourself killed!?” Raditz snapped down at the moon princess, actually so incensed that he was oblivious to the fact that she was fully exposed. “What in the fucking hell happened!?” “HE KILLED MAKO!” Usagi replied as she tried in vain to free either of her hands. “DOES HE EVEN KNOW THAT HE KILLED MY SISTER!? DOES HE!?” She stopped struggling then, her eyes boring into Raditz’s as she sensed a wave of guilt from him mixing in with his anger and surprise. “Tell him,” she spat out. “Tell him that he killed my big sister. Tell him that he killed Mako. And then you can tell him that I hate him,” she added in a choked sob as she tried once more to free her hands. Surprisingly enough, they both released her, and as she regained some semblance of her composure, Usagi drug the sheet off the bed and wrapped herself in it before heading towards what looked like a bathroom, slamming the door behind her. “The queen of Jupiter was her sister,” Raditz rumbled in Saiyan the moment the moon princess was out of sight, only to sigh heavily when Broly just shrugged and stared at him blankly. “You wouldn’t be pissed as hell if she’d killed your father in battle? Or me?” “Wait… she’s mad at me for killing someone that openly challenged me to single combat? And… for killing her when she was clearly trying her very hardest to kill me?” The pure confusion on the younger Saiyan’s face didn’t surprise Raditz, but it frustrated him to no end, and he found himself just wanting to tear out his hair as he tried to think of a way to explain it. “Alright… would you be mad at Serenity if she killed me? And I wasn’t trying to kill her or hurt her,” he added quickly. “Yes. If she killed you for no reason, I would be upset,” Broly replied slowly after he’d mulled over the question for several seconds. “I’d be extremely upset, in fact. Kio would be, too.” While Raditz was ecstatic to hear that even Kio liked him that much, he fought down the instant urge to hug him in favor of explaining what was going on with the blonde in the bathroom. “You have to remember that she’s not Saiyan, Broly. To us, death in battle is the way of things, and we don’t hold ill will against someone for killing another in self-defense. But to her people, there is no difference between what you did and killing someone in cold blood. To the Solarians, it’s all the same. Killing is killing, no matter what the reason.” “Oh.” Scratching at his head thoughtfully, Broly eyed the bathroom door and winced at the sound of Usagi crying softly on the other side of it before finally sliding out of the bed and nodding towards Raditz. “How much of a blood price do you think she’ll require? I don’t want her to hate me and I don’t like seeing her cry. When she cries… it makes my stomach feel strange. Kio says he doesn’t like it either. At all.” Going to a drawer, Raditz went about the business of helping Broly dress for the day, and made a mental note to have some things made for Serenity as well. “It doesn’t work like that with Solarians, Broly. She’ll forgive you in time. Hopefully soon, since the circumstances of her sister’s death in battle are cut and dry with thousands of witnesses.” Apparently Kio was more than annoyed by that statement, and Raditz calmly stepped back and huffed when Broly’s hair shifted to gold and he grew a little in size. Even when he was stared down by emerald eyes, the youngest advisor to the king just folded his arms across his chest patiently and waited. “In time?” Kio ground out. “How much time?” “However much it takes. Now, are you going to get dressed, or are you going to walk around the palace all fucking day with that thing hanging out?” “Jealous?” Broly’s beast snorted. “Not really, since I at least know how to use mine,” Raditz countered smoothly. “And don’t play like you got laid last night, either, Kio; my nose works just as well today as it did yesterday. Now here, get dressed, and then you can help your mate dress for the day. And you might want to let Broly assume control again out of consideration for Serenity.” “Hn… you might be right,” Kio admitted. “The Solarians have always found me a bit intimidating.” A bit was an understatement, but Raditz just shrugged and offered the clothes to the seventeen year old while he waited for him to return to normal. The clothes were accepted with a grateful nod once Broly took over again, and Raditz quickly helped him with the gold accessories he typically wore before backing off and pointing at the door. “Go on and try to comfort her, I’m going to go see about finding a scouter that will translate without trying to read power levels. Oh, do you want me to clear out the breakfast you ordered before she woke…? Or do you want me to leave it?” Unsure whether or not his mate would accept anything from him, Broly just shrugged. “I don’t know, Raditz. Leave it, I guess? What would you do?” Pleased to be asked for advice, the older of the two beamed. “Leave it so she’ll know you did it. And since it’s getting cold, she’ll know you ordered it before she was mad at you. She’ll still be mad at you, but it might soften her towards you a little bit.” “Thanks, Raditz,” Broly said gratefully, even though his voice was its usual monotone and his attention was focused on the bathroom door, which he knocked on as soon as he was alone. “Usa?” He asked, raising his voice only just enough so that he would be heard. There was no reply and he could no longer hear her crying, so out of concern for her, he opened the door and gave a little sigh of relief to find her huddled up in the corner, hugging her knees around the sheet that she was wrapped in. “Usa.” When she didn’t reply, Broly wasn’t sure what to do, so he decided that if she wanted to beat the hell out of him, he’d endure it just to make her feel better. He knelt in front of her then, and the only sign that she even knew he was there was the way she flinched when his hand rose from his side. Apparently she thought he was going to strike her for hitting him earlier. “Usagi, I swear on my tail that I’d never hurt you,” Broly murmured as he cupped her cheek and wiped at her tears with his thumb. “Please, come on,” he urged as he used his free hand to tug on one of hers while nodding towards the tub. “I bathed before you woke, so I won’t join you or anything; I just want to take care of you. I want to be a good mate.” There was still no response from her, so Broly scooped her up into his arms as gently as possible, his mouth turning down in a frown when she made no protest about the sheet falling to the floor. There was nothing he could do about her sudden submission, though, so he settled her in the tub before cutting the water on and plugging the drain. Broly wanted more than anything to climb into the tub with her just to feel those wonderful curves pressing against him, but he knew that that was out of the question, so he got to work with a washcloth and started with her back. Her hair came second, and while it took Broly forever to wash it well and rinse it with a spray nozzle, Usagi still hadn’t uttered a single word and hadn’t moved a muscle. The only indication she was even still awake were the fat, endless tears streaming from her closed eyes, and then Broly began to gently wash the rest of her, sighing in surrender when his beast began to purr happily over being able to touch his mate. Kio behaved, though, and other than letting his hands linger a moment at her breasts and hips, he kept the wash-up fairly platonic. A kiss to her cheek was what finally made her respond, and Usagi could only stare wide-eyed at the Saiyan Elite in surprise when he gave her a soulful look, his thumb caressing her face as his hand cupped it gently. “I want to call Momma,” she choked out despite her determination to never speak to him again. Yeah right, like that had ever worked before in her entire life; Usagi just couldn’t effectively do the silent treatment with anyone, not even with the man who had killed her sister—the man she was already considered bound to. “Ma?” Broly inquired softly before holding up a single digit in a signal for her to wait a moment. Apparently the word for ‘mother’ was universal, and Usagi couldn’t help but gawk a bit when he returned in moments with a device that looked an awful lot like a Lunarian communicator. It wasn’t quite the same and it had Saiyan glyphs on it instead, but before she could even realize that she couldn’t understand the letters, Broly was sitting down and fiddling with it. “I know this thing will reach that far,” he muttered in Saiyan to himself as he mashed the buttons that he was pretty sure would hail the Moon Kingdom. “It worked,” he grunted in surprise when someone came on the screen. “Is this the Moon Kingdom?” And of course, the person on the other end just went white as a sheet and started yelling something to someone off screen in his mate’s native language, and Broly could only huff and grumble while he heard the phrase “Golden Death” over and over in Lunarian. Apparently he’d caused quite the hubbub, since several voices were now discussing him without anyone thinking to put him on hold, and Broly just sighed in frustration as he continued to wait for someone to return to the screen. “Mah’ni, Usa,” he added towards his mate when she seemed quite interested in whatever was being said over the communicator. “Au t’uh?” He inquired when she seemed to momentarily reach for it, only to draw her hand back and think better of it. That was when a brunette that Broly definitely recognized from several battles came on the screen and scowled at him, her eyes sparking with flames that were likely just banked below the surface, and he tried his best not to scowl in return out of habit. “T’uh kot’ka,” he rumbled. “Po ge, buh’mor kot’ka ve’sh t’au?” “F’ri,” she replied flatly. “R’es ve’ho m’yo? Serenity t’ai?” “F’ri, sh,” Broly snorted. “T’ai Ren-tee.” Turning his head to look at the woman in question, he found trails of tears gracing her cheeks once more and Broly sighed heavily before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers in an attempt to comfort her. “Cha’dra m’yo, hi’nah shi’or. Au at’rot sh’fr t’au. F’ri v’nu shi, g’in?” “Wait, she’s there!?” The brunette called out loudly over the communicator, having heard his words in Saiyan and correctly deduced whom he was speaking with. “Usagi! Usagi, it’s Rei! Gods damn you, Saiyan, put my baby sister on the line!” The queen of Mars commanded hotly. While every ounce of her wanted to snatch the com from Broly’s hand, Usa just swallowed hard over what she was about to do before she leaned in and pressed her mouth to his gently. “Please?” She asked softly, her lips still touching his slightly as his free hand caressed her jawline and he purred with desire. “Please, Broly… I’d give anything to talk to my sister.” “Au t’uh moar kiss?” He inquired, followed by a light nip to her lower lip. Funny, he thought she wanted to talk to her family, and now she suddenly wanted to kiss him? Gods, females were so confusing. He hadn’t understood her offer, but she didn’t know that, and the princess of the moon assumed that he was negotiating. But she decided that some kissing was a fair exchange; after all, he could have asked for an awful lot more than that. “Rei,” Usagi managed in reply, drawing back a little and holding out her hand. “I’ll let you kiss me some more if you let me talk to Rei.” “G’re,” Broly said with an utterly confused shrug as he handed over the communicator. “You’re baffling the hell out of him,” Rei snorted the moment she saw Usagi, only to frown at the tears in her eyes. “Has he hurt you?” “No,” Usagi replied after a long moment of just gazing at her older sister, wishing like hell that she could just go home. “But… but he killed Mako,” she managed tearfully. “I… I can’t believe that the king… he gave me to… to him!” “YOU LEFT THE MOON AGAINST OUR COUNCIL, SERENITY!” Rei snapped at her loudly. “You’re lucky you’re not dead, damn it! Do you know how hard it’s going to be to rescue you from Vegeta-sai!? Do you have the slightest fucking clue!? What in the gods’ names was going through your pretty blonde head when you decided to just LEAVE and offer yourself up to the Saiyans!?” Wiping away fresh tears, Usagi just shook her head and found herself unable to meet Rei’s eyes. “A—Ami… I didn’t want to lose her too,” she finally managed. “She would have died, like Makoto.” “Oh gods damn it,” Rei muttered. “I should have guessed.” Taking pity on the sobbing moon princess, Rei softened her tone and sighed. “Usagi, don’t cry, I understand why you did it. But you have to remember that it’s our job as your Senshi to protect you and the solar system. What you did... it was awfully counterproductive. Now they have you and a ginzuishou all their own.” “But… b—but they promised peace if I was added into the bargain!” The blonde protested hotly. “They’re Saiyans, Usa. They’re a warmongering race that’s likely not going to care about promises and treaties once they’ve got the greatest weapon in the universe in their possession.” Gods damn it, why did Usagi have to be so naïve!? “Look, Minako’s planned a rescue mission that we’ll all likely survive, so I want you to—“ “No.” The unshakable resolve in Usagi’s eyes floored her, and Rei could only gawk for a moment before swallowing and shaking her head slowly. “Usagi, what are you—“ “I said no,” Serenity repeated solemnly. “I won’t let anyone else die for me. And… the Saiyans may break their promises, as you said, but I won’t. My word is my bond, and I gave it to the king, Rei. I…I’m sorry, but this is the way it has to be.” That stubborn glint was in the queen of Mars’s eyes then, and Usagi knew that if Rei kept at it, she’d be talked into whatever plan her sisters had made, so she just shook her head again. “I love you, Rei. Tell Mother, Ami and Minako the same for me. Goodbye.” “Ma?” She’d forgotten that Broly was still in the room, and Usagi handed the communicator over once she was sure she’d hung up properly. “No, no Ma,” she whispered, heartbroken that she hadn’t been able to talk to Queen Serenity. “She’ll only try her hardest to talk me into coming home, and I can’t let that happen. I won’t let any more of my sisters die… even if that means that I have to marry the man that killed Makoto.” It didn’t take a genius to sense that his mate was on the verge of bawling her eyes out, so Broly lifted her out of the tub and dried her with a gentle pulse of his ki before settling down on the bathroom rug with her in his lap. “F’ri shi’or, k’sha m’yo. Moar Ma?” He managed in Solarian, offering up the communicator. Even Usagi had to admit that he was being unexpectedly sweet; he had been since she’d stepped foot in his rooms, and she managed a quiet ‘no’ in reply as she leaned into him and tried to wrap her brain around the fact that the man holding her was supposed to be her husband. Even if he’d killed Mako, Usagi knew she still had a duty as a wife to him, but she hoped he’d continue to show the same amazing level of patience that she’d witnessed so far, that he’d allow her some time to acclimate to her new home… and to him. “Usa?” Broly tried his best for a little smile when she opened her eyes. “Me… me… mah’ni. Joo… sh’fr Makoto. Mah’ni. F’ri v’nu shi’or. Joo… goot? Jesh?” “No, Broly, I’m not,” she whispered tearfully, still a bit surprised by his kindness when he reacted to her choked-up voice with a nuzzle to her hair and a low, comforting purr. “But with enough time, maybe I will be.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Staring at the massive spread of food laid out on all of the end tables and the coffee table in the sitting room, Usagi could only gawk and wonder if so much food was truly meant for her, and she dared to turn her head to look up at Broly questioningly. Adjusting his hold on her, the Saiyan in question’s lips twitched up in a brief smile, and he nuzzled her throat before settling her down onto a plush loveseat, taking his place beside her after gesturing towards the food. “Ad, k’sha m’yo.” Fiddling with the robe that was far too large for her, Usagi was grateful for it for the millionth time since he’d draped it over her shoulders; it was obvious that it was his, and it was well-worn and a comfort she didn’t expect. “It’s all for me?” She asked hesitantly, gesturing towards all of the trays. An emphatic nod was her answer, and Usagi slowly began to fill a plate, afraid of insulting him should she refuse the food. Oh, who was she kidding—she was upset, but she was still hungry, so what would be the point in refusing him just to make some kind of a statement? Moving slowly due to her ignorance of Saiyan customs and her worry that she might accidentally offend him, Usagi took a ladylike portion of fruit and something that looked similar enough to granola, constantly glancing back up to make sure she was meeting his approval. But when she finished, he just frowned and tipped his head towards the table again. “What? Am… am I supposed to eat something in particular?” She asked nervously. “Moar,” Broly intoned slowly. “Moar ad.” “Well, I don’t want to offend him,” Usagi said with a touch of nerves under his unwavering gaze. “Should I eat like I would at home?” When he grunted and nodded encouragingly towards the table and then to the side tables as well, she took that as a sign that she should eat her fill and forget about being ladylike, and she added something similar to pancakes to her plate as well as several pieces of what could only be bacon. “Better?” “Buh’tir?” Broly in confusion, briefly scratching his head. “R’en buh’tir? Joo k’sha, m’eh t’uh au ad.” Apparently he thought she’d said something in Saiyan. Waving her hands, Usagi shook her head and smiled and pointed at her plate. “No, not better. Good? Is this good? Is it enough?” “Huh.” Well, at least she understood that, and as Broly studied her plate and then the tables surrounding them, it was clear before he even said anything that she didn’t have nearly enough food on her plate for his liking. “F’ri, moar ad,” Broly grunted, gently taking the dish from her to pile on more bacon and a huge piece of steak, using his ki to heat the food until it was at the proper temperature. “Joo… f’ri ten,” he elaborated, using his hands to gesture around her frame and especially her belly as he spoke. “T’uh ten k’sha. Ten k’sha goot. Tar ten br’atu.” Eyes wide, Usagi could only nod and try not to choke at his easily translated pantomiming. “Fat wives make healthy babies. Got it,” she squeaked. “Wait, no,” she protested when Broly relinquished her plate but not her fork, holding a bite of pancake to her lips. “No, Broly, I can feed myself. Really, I can!” She insisted as she tried to dodge the fork by bobbing and weaving her head around, only to make him chuckle at her vain attempts as he used his Saiyan speed to meet her every movement. “Ad,” he urged her when she finally stopped trying to dodge, scooting closer and then grinning widely before lifting her into his lap, his loud, ecstatic purr vibrating the couch. “Buh’tir, k’sha m’yo. Ad.” Sighing loudly, Usagi obligingly opened her mouth, but she resisted the urge to grumble when she took the bite and he immediately began to zealously nuzzle her throat, his tail stroking down her spine, making her shiver. “Goot ad, k’sha m’yo,” he breathed against her neck before kissing it.“Moar.” Another morsel of pancake was pressing to her lips the moment she’d swallowed, and even her lingering anger and sadness from the incident in the bath was pushed aside at the way his eyes sparkled down at her joyously. “Me goot k’sha ih joo,” Broly whispered when her lips parted for the food, her gaze still locked with his as she chewed dutifully, wondering just why he was so happy about feeding her.There was no way she could ask him, though, so Usagi submitted to being fed and managed a watery smile whenever he gently nuzzled or kissed her throat, obediently taking a sip of juice when he offered it. “Aren’t you going to eat?” She finally wondered aloud once the pancakes and the eggs were gone. “You… um… ad? Eat?”“Eeet,” Broly intoned, glad to know the word for it in her language. “Me eat…” At a loss for the right words, he gestured to the table, then to her. “Joo eat. Joo k’sha me.”“K’sha… does that mean ‘wife?’” Usagi wondered aloud.“Joo k’sha me,” Broly grunted, pointing to her, then himself. “Me k’sha joo.” His hand touched her shoulder then, followed by his own.“Oh. K’sha is ‘mate.’ Mate,” she repeated. “K’sha.”Broly seemed to process that for longer than necessary, but it became clear that he was forming a sentence to answer her question about eating. “Joo mate me. Joo eat. Me eat… jesh?” He asked, hoping that she’d understood him.“I eat… and then you eat. I think I’ve got it. But… why can’t we just eat together?” Usagi inquired, plucking up a piece of bacon and holding it out. “I don’t mind sharing, Broly.” Instead of taking the bacon with his fingers, he dipped his head and retrieved it with his teeth, giving her a brief, mischevious grin as he devoured it, his purr reaching a whole new level while he chewed and swallowed. And then he was drawing her fingers to his lips, licking the bacon grease from them, her cheeks turning the color of a sunset in reaction when he sucked one into his mouth with a little groan. “Um… Broly?” She squeaked as she felt his tongue briefly curl around her fingertip.“Me eat joo?” He chuckled, his eyes flickering green for a moment. Usagi stiffened at that and stared, trembling slightly at the glimpse she’d caught of his fabled beast, and if it hadn’t been for a laugh behind her, she might have wound up running from him.“Found a translator,” Raditz snickered, tipping them both a wink. “Maybe I should have waited though, it looks like you two are getting along just fine without it. Other than the smell of fear from you,” he continued with a bright smile. “He can’t understand me, don’t worry, Highness. But I’m telling you now, get that fear under control. Broly won’t hurt you.”“I… um… his eyes,” Usagi replied, quickly glancing back and forth between both warriors as Broly’s smile faded.“Kio?” The younger Saiyan sighed knowingly, not surprised when Raditz confirmed with a nod that Usagi was scared of his beast. Well, it was to be expected; after all, he’d killed her sister while he’d been in his Legendary form. “Kio f’ri ah au,” he purred reassuringly before daring to steal a gentle kiss.“He said that Kio won’t hurt you,” Raditz translated before rolling his eyes at himself and offering up a little box. “Here, I dunno why I keep telling you what he’s saying when I have these. They’re translators that don’t do anything else but translate, so they won’t fill your face with shrapnel whenever Broly’s power level spikes. Put it in your ear, princess,” he instructed when she opened the box to find two ear pieces.“D’in m’yo, Raddy,” Broly told him brightly, unaware that he was the happiest that Raditz had ever seen him, his smile lighting up the room as he took his translating device and fiddled with it.“I’ve never seen him this happy,” Raditz informed her before Broly could understand Solarian. “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” he advised. “Not only is it nice to see the kid smile, but it’s good for his beast’s stability.”“He’s been happy ever since he took my fork from me,” the princess replied absently as she affixed the piece of tech in her ear, having turned it on already. “I think he likes treating me like a baby… or he just wants to do everything for me?” She wondered aloud.Easily guessing what had happened, Raditz chuckled and switched to Saiyan to make sure her translator was working. “Feeding your mate is a Saiyan tradition, Serenity,” he informed her, nodding in approval when she blinked in surprise. “It’s a display of willingness to provide and care for the female. Did you feed Broly in return?” When Broly beamed and nodded, Raditz couldn’t help but feel awash in warmth for the kid, glad that he’d finally found some small morsel of joy in life. “Think of it as a wedding feast of sorts,” he added as Usagi just listened and made various faces. “Now talk and make sure that Broly’s translator is working, and then I can go away and leave you kids alone… hopefully to consummate this happy union.”“Um… hi?” She asked a little shyly, attempting in vain to scoot out of his lap, her efforts thwarted by his arms encircling her as he returned to raining slow, open-mouthed kisses along her throat. “C—can you understand me? Broly?”“Mmm… my Usagi,” he sighed as he hugged her tightly, his purr overpowering Raditz’s chuckles at the sight of the dazed look on the princess’s face. Broly’s tail pheromones probably had something to do with that, as his tail was swishing about happily in reaction to being able to understand his mate. “I’m so glad that you can understand me, now! Thank you for bringing the translators, Raditz, and please thank your father for putting them together. I’m sure it was him.”“Yup, I’ll be sure to let him know! Now, you two kids play nice, and I’ll make sure that lunch is brought in a few hours!” Raditz replied as he headed towards the door, not willing to cockblock Broly.Broly pulled back at the sound of the door shutting and smiled at her, gazing into her crystal blue eyes as he pushed her loose hair off of her face, but when she flinched and jerked back a bit, he knew that his eyes must have turned green for a moment. “Kio won’t hurt you,” he assured her gently. “If he wanted to, he already would have. But he likes you… a lot, in fact. That’s why he hasn’t come out yet; he wants to give you some time to adjust before you’re forced to deal with him.”“Oh…” Usagi had to admit that she appreciated the gesture, and she attempted a grateful smile in return. “Thank you… both of you, I guess?”“Kio says your welcome.” Broly briefly gnawed on his lip as he contemplated a dozen questions he wanted to ask her now that they could converse, but the nervous look in her eyes stopped him and he smiled again for her benefit, reflecting that he’d smiled more in the last hour than he had in his entire life. “Are you still hungry? Eat,” he offered, picking up the fork and holding a piece of fruit an inch from her lips. “You need to be healthy and strong if we’re going to start a family… and Kio says that he thinks you’re too skinny to carry a Saiyan baby.”“I’m not skinny,” Usa protested hotly, folding her arms over her chest and looking away from him indignantly. “I’ve been fighting for the last several years, so I’m simply not fat! I’m toned up!”With a slight blush, Broly grinned sheepishly at that and fiddled with the tie of her robe as Kio echoed his own thoughts. “I didn’t say that we don’t appreciate the way you look,” he amended with a touch of shyness as he tugged the tie open, the redness of his face matching hers when he parted her robe a little to bare a ribbon of creamy flesh from her neck to her navel. “Kio and I definitely agree that you’re the most beautiful thing we’ve ever seen,” Broly added in a whisper as he pressed his lips between her breasts, both of them shivering at the contact, his tail swishing once more from his arousal.Judging by the bulge she could feel growing against the back of her thigh, Broly wanted her right then and there, and Usagi was reminded of her promise in exchange for using the communicator. “I um… I did promise you more kissing, Broly.” “Oh. You did?” He asked in confusion. “Not that I’m refusing or anything; I’d love to kiss you some more! I’d never done it before, but my beast and I liked it a lot!”“I was your first kiss?” Usagi asked with mild surprise. “Wait… so that means that… really?” She asked, jumping right to the question without finishing her thought aloud. “But… you’re so handsome and you’re the strongest warrior in the armada! How is it that you’ve never been with a woman?” She regretted the question the moment Broly looked down, his smile fading, and despite being a little scared of what his reaction might be, Usagi was more broken-hearted on his behalf than anything. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” she whispered gently. “What did I say?”“My kinswomen are afraid of me,” Broly confessed. “That’s why I don’t have a mate. The only woman that was willing to fuck me was Celes, at the whore house, but that was during the burning. Kio likes her, so he turned her down out of concern for hurting her on accident.”Usagi wasn’t sure what to do or say to that; she didn’t have a problem wrapping her brain around why Saiyan women were terrified of her new husband—hell, she still had a nice, healthy fear of him!—but so far, in private, he had treated her as gently as a newborn kitten and hadn’t even once raised his voice to her. “Even your own people are afraid of you?”“Yeah,” Broly sighed wearily. “Kio, my beast, he’s pretty unstable. It’s because I was born with such a high power level. It was too much for me to handle when I hit puberty, and it made me… well… crazy. And I still am, if you consider myself and Kio to be one person. I thought that Raditz had warned you,” he admitted, flinching at his next thought. “I thought that you had already chosen to stay.” He swallowed hard at that, having a difficult time choking out the next words, but they needed to be said. Even if she was a captive of sorts, she still had the right as a woman to leave him, to choose not to mate with him and seek a more suitable match. “If… if you don’t want to stay with me, I’ll understand,” Broly stated as evenly as possible, though his eyes were begging her to stay and let him prove that he could be a good mate to her.“But… I’m a captive,” Usagi replied in simple confusion. Was this some sort of trick? Had the king put him up to this to try and see if she would run so he could break the treaty and launch another attack on the Sol system? “And… the king gave me to you. Doesn’t that make me your slave?” Judging by his expression, her assumptions were laughable. “Or not?”“You’re a slave, yes. Technically,” Broly informed her. “But you also possess the ginzuishou, don’t you? Here on Vegeta-sai, any prisoner of war or slave can be free if they can take their freedom.”Oh, so she just had to fight him and win?“I promised not to hurt you, though. I swore it on my tail,” Broly continued, his voice a soft lament as he nuzzled her throat. “If you didn’t already know, you’ll come to learn that no Saiyan would ever break such an oath, nor would a warrior ever harm his mate. So if you want your freedom, then you’re within your rights to go,” he finished. “If another warrior tries to claim you for himself, then I’ll protect you, since I swore that to you as well.”She was going to leave, now. Surely she would reject him because he was damaged goods—not only had he killed her sister, but he wasn’t suitable to mate or reproduce with, and even Kio couldn’t wholly blame her if she left out of concern for any future children they might have.Her empathy made it impossible not to know what he was probably thinking; his emotions were so dark and bleak that it was obvious he could only be thinking about her rejecting him and asking the king to choose a different warrior for her. And while the thought had crossed her mind multiple times, Usagi knew that such a thing would never happen even if she asked for it. That… and she just didn’t have the heart to do it, not now, not knowing that he was probably as emotionally battered as Ami when it came to the opposite sex.With Ami in mind, Usagi decided right then that she had to make it work. If she went back on her word or went home, the deal would be broken as well as the peace treaty, and then her remaining sisters would die. Not only that, but Broly had actually given her a choice, something she hadn’t expected from any Saiyan in a million years. Mako would have done it in a heartbeat and accepted whatever came with a smile if it meant that we were all safe and happy, she reflected. And something tells me that she would have genuinely liked Broly, even if he wasn’t her type. That nearly made her giggle—Makoto had always preferred her men on the surly side, and Broly was actually quite personable. “You said that Kio won’t hurt me, right?” She asked once she’d made her decision.Broly’s head turned at that, his eyes wide with surprise. “N—No, of course not!” He stammered out. Did this mean that she was going to stay!?Usagi couldn’t help but jump and scramble out of his lap when his eyes suddenly turned green and his hair shifted to blonde, and she pressed back against the armrest of the love seat, staring up at him owlishly. “K—Kio?” She squeaked out nervously, realizing too late that his eyes were locked to her chest, where her robe had fallen open.“Don’t,” he purred seductively when her hands moved to close the robe, his lips twitching up in a little smirk when she immediately complied. “I like looking at you, my mate.” Licking his lips, he managed not to roll his eyes when Broly hammered away at him not to scare her off—like he was really that stupid?—and he kept him movements slow as he closed in on her, coming to a stop once he was hovering over her on his knees, his hands resting on either side of her head. “So… you’ll stay with me?”“You’re technically my husband under Saiyan law already, aren’t you?” Usagi managed to ask with only a slight tremor to her voice, proud of herself for staying calm in the face of her sister’s true killer. “Even if you killed Makoto, I made a promise before I came here. The king could do with me as he wished… and he made me your wife. You might not be my husband under Lunarian law, but you are according to Saiyan tradition. So yes… I’ll stay.”“As horrible as you might think I am, Usa, I won’t hurt my mate. Let’s get that straight… as well as the fact that refusing your sister’s challenge would have been not only cowardly on my part, but an insult to her as a warrior. And while I’m at it, your sister was the best damned opponent I’ve ever faced,” he added with an approving growl. “Did you know that no one’s ever even lasted five minutes against me? She lasted over a half hour and even at the end she was trying her damnedest to rip my throat out. If she hadn’t been my adversary, I would have loved the chance to be her friend. Don’t cry,” Kio breathed, his voice gentling significantly as he wiped at her tears with his calloused thumb. “Honestly, moonbeam, if I could go back and do it differently just to spare you the pain, I think I actually would,” he whispered, his voice full of wonder at how true his words were.Other than his father and Raditz, Kio had never held someone in such high regard, but her bravery was truly awe-inspiring, maybe even more so than her physical beauty, and that in itself deserved his respect, even if the fact that she was his mate demanded it. “I want you to be happy, Usagi.” He had noticed the note of disappointment in her voice when she’d mentioned her people only a minute beforehand, and in a stroke of genius, Kio smiled, sat up, and fiddled with the clasps on his earrings until they were unfastened. He couldn’t let her go home, but maybe he could give her a taste of home. “Your people wear rings when they mate, right?”A little nod and a shrug confirmed that for him, and while he wanted to stare at her delectable breasts some more and maybe even taste them, Broly’s beast closed her robe to keep her lovely assets from distracting him. “Give me your finger, r’sha,” he coaxed, his cheeks coloring at the sound of that word leaving his mouth.Blue eyes wide at the romantic gesture, the moon princess did as she was told and held out her left hand, using her right to indicate her ring finger, and she watched in amazement as Kio crumpled up one of the thick gold hoops as if it was paper, only to use his ki to heat it and soften it a little before shaping it into a ring. It took several minutes, but Usagi kept quiet and simply observed until he put it on her finger, only to shake his head and go right back to it in order to get the size right.“There,” he finally grunted. It wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t even close to being a skilled jeweler, either, so Kio and Broly both accepted that it was as good as they could make it. “We’ll take it to a craftsman tomorrow to have it smoothed and polished,” he promised as he slipped it onto her finger, pleased that he’d at least managed to get the size right.“No,” Usagi replied with a little smile, touched by the gesture. “It’s perfect; you made it for me, so I’d rather keep it as it is. Thank you, Kio. And Broly.”“You’re very welcome, my little moonbeam,” he breathed sincerely, caressing her jawline before starting in on his own ring, which didn’t take nearly as long since his skin could withstand the heated gold, making the shaping process that much easier. “There,” he finally said as he examined the finished product. “Anything else to make it official? Or is it just the rings?”“You don’t have to,” she insisted quickly as she fiddled with the unfamiliar weight on her left hand. “Really, you don’t, this was way more than I ever expected.”“No. I want our pairbonding to be legal among both of our peoples, so tell me what else you require. Hrm… the boy wants to speak,” he added just before his hair and eyes shifted back to black.“I want you to be happy, moonbeam,” Broly explained, his purr rolling contentedly as he ran his fingers through her unbound hair. “Tell me what else you need me to do to make me your mate.”Well, he asked for it… “A couple exchanges vows to love and honor one another, along with the rings,” she explained, fully expecting him to call it a silly, pointless tradition. Saiyans were hardened warriors, they didn’t have a place in their society for nonsense like romantic ceremonies and tender words of love.“Oh. Hm… is there something in particular I need to say to you?” Broly wondered as he continued to pet her, pleased that the scent of her fear had receded so much that he could hardly smell it anymore, even with him touching her freely.“Lots of people just say their own vows, rather than the traditional ones,” she offered, touched by his willingness to do things in the way of her people. “I can do mine first to give you something to base yours on, if you’d like.” Cheeks heating brightly, Usagi sat up straighter when he nodded, and grasped the hand that wasn’t still running idly through her hair. “Ok… I, Princess Serenity Usagi of the Moon Kingdom and the Sol System vow to love you—““No,” Broly grunted, frowning disapprovingly. “Don’t lie, Usagi. Don’t make vows that aren’t true, and don’t ever promise me anything lightly. I know you meant well,” he added, softening his tone as he squeezed her hand, keeping her from pulling it away, “but mates don’t tell each other lies… not even little ones.”Embarrassed beyond belief, the blonde blushed brightly, but she blinked away a few tears when he gave her an understanding smile. “Sorry, Broly.”“Try again.”Mulling over her choice of words, it took Usagi a minute before she could speak again, but when she did, her voice held far more conviction than it had on the first try. “I vow to try to be a good wife to you, a good mate, and to be understanding about Kio. I vow to try and forgive you,” she added quietly as she thought of Mako, “and to try and accept your ways and customs. I vow to try and keep an open mind about your people, and to always remember that where I thought to only find misery, I found kindness and a friend—a friend I hope that can love me one day so that I may learn to love him in return.”“Was that anything at all like your Lunarian vows?”“Not even close,” Usagi giggled despite her blush. “But then… I can’t honestly promise to love and obey, either.”“I don’t know if I want a woman that obeys me all the time,” Broly mused as he put together what he would say, holding up a hand for silence when she laughed and tried to speak again. “Hang on, my turn. I, Broly, Legendary of the Saiyan Armada, vow to provide for you, protect you, defend your honor, and to never do you harm intentionally. I vow to do my best to always make you happy and to put your happiness before my own. I vow to love you once the pairbonding is complete, and I vow to become worthy of your love in return,” he finished with a deep breath, his cheeks bright red throughout the entire last sentence. “Saiyans don’t usually say that word in reference to actual emotions,” he explained nervously, reflecting that her genuine smile was worth it. “So… anything else?”It was Usagi’s turn to blush hotly—even though they’d kissed before, his lips were already awfully close to hers, and she wondered if he would press her for more before she was ready to give it. But then again… they were legally wed now, even in the ways of her people, so denying him her body filled her with a sense of overwhelming guilt. “The couple kisses at the end of the ceremony,” she confessed. “And then… they usually go to bed together.”Kio was practically howling in triumph at that, but Broly stopped him from coming to the forefront, scenting a touch of fear in the air. “You don’t want that.”“No… not yet. I mean, you’re my husband and it’s your right to but—“ Usagi’s eyes went wide when he silenced her with a tender kiss, and while she initially went stiff at the contact, she gradually relaxed when it became clear that he wasn’t going to press her for more.“I vowed not to hurt you,” Broly breathed once he’d broken the contact, his lips just shy of hers as he spoke, their bodies pressed intimately together against the armrest of the couch. “And I don’t care if it’s my right or not, moonbeam; if you don’t want me inside of you yet, then I’ll try to wait until you do. But… until then, may I still kiss you?” He asked, teenage nerves mixing in with his sincerity.“Thank you,” she whispered gratefully, relaxing beneath him, deciding to trust him not to take a little making out too far. “And yes, Broly, you can kiss me all you want,” she added, her lips twitching up in a brief smile before they were claimed by his.The still-foreign sensation of a mouth moving against his made Broly groan softly, his groin grinding down into hers. But he was the one that was surprised by the results of the action, not Usagi—her ensuing gasp of pleasure opened her mouth slightly at the same time his lips parted, and her tongue flicking out over his sent a shock through his spine to his tail, making both him and Kio growl with pleasure. “I liked that,” he panted as he momentarily broke away.“Kissing with tongue?” Usagi murmured, in a daze from a mix of his tail pheromones and the way he was holding her tightly.“Yeah. Can we do more of it?”“Mmhmm,” she consented, pulling him back down to her, squeaking when he emitted a growl that mixed in happily with his purr, melting at the way that wonderful scent in the air grew stronger as his tongue stroked over hers—shyly at first, then confidently as she returned the action. That slow, exploratory kissing continued for several minutes, punctuated every so often with a thrust and a groan from Broly, followed by a whimper from Usagi, but when she felt a warm, calloused hand suddenly cup her bare breast, she stiffened in his arms and broke the kiss. The brief caress of his thumb across her nipple felt amazing, and Usa found herself wanting to surrender to the pleasure curling through her and building a fire between her thighs. But despite the delicious scent in the air and the way it clouded her senses, she knew that this was too much, and too fast. “Broly… no,” she managed, her voice choked with desire, the word ‘no’ coming out almost as a sob.The speed with which he withdrew his hand startled her, and the princess blinked silently as he adjusted her robe, his face red with embarrassment as Kio surprisingly didn’t whine too much about the lack of sexual contact. “Um… sorry. I should have asked to touch you. And I didn’t mean for my tail pheromones to do anything but relax you.” Judging by her lack of reply and the way she was staring at him, she was surprised that he’d even stopped. “Would… um… you like to finish eating?” He suggested with a hint of shyness. “And then maybe more kissing?”That got Usagi’s mouth working again, and she tried for a smile as she sat up and cleared her throat. Nevermind clearing her head—it was still swimming in desire from his pheromones, but she was sure that that would pass with time. “Sure, Broly, let’s eat.”“Will you feed me?”The hope in his eyes did her in, and Usagi couldn’t help but giggle when she picked up a fork and he opened his mouth for the first bite. “Sure,” she repeated, “I can do that.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A pair of calloused hands wandering her body lightly woke her, and while she immediately blushed at the contact, she didn’t flinch or pull away from it, marveling that Broly was always awake before she was. Not only awake, but awake and not trying to take advantage of her. During the five days she’d been on Vegeta-sai, he’d never used the fact that she was groggy when she first woke to his advantage, and while he was always petting her and touching her just about everywhere, it spoke more of tender affection than seduction. So when his hand trailed southward and cupped her intimately, Usagi jumped more in surprise than protest, her eyes cracking open to regard him with anger-free shock. “B—Broly?” “Mah’ni,” he whispered shakily, even though his hand stayed put and he palmed her gently, making her gasp in reaction at the way his fingers were delving into her folds and stroking her with intent. “Joo… joo go po’sh,” her Saiyan husband continued with a little groan, his pupils dilating as she continued to gasp with every little caress of his fingertips between her thighs. “Po’sh?” She questioned with a squeak, fighting the urge to rock into his touch and failing miserably, her hips rolling demandingly into his next caress. What is he doing…? Gods, it feels so good and I don’t want him to stop, but… but then he’ll want… Even though Kio was growling with need just beneath the surface, Broly was deceptively calm as he continued to remind his beast that Usagi wasn’t quite ready for mating yet, that they needed to and had agreed to ease her into the idea when she’d married them in the way of her people. “Po’sh iz… br’at. Beebee,” he purred as he recalled her word for infant, proud of his ability to recall the Solarian words he’d learned from her over the last several days despite his own raging desire for her at that very moment. “Po’sh… vant make beebee.” “I don’t… understand,” she stammered out, too busy reeling from the waves of pleasure rolling through her and the heat spreading from between her legs to pool in her lower belly, growing in intensity as his fingers stroked her harder. And then she found herself whining in disappointment when he jerked his hand away suddenly, bewildered by the loss of contact and the hard, unrelenting ache inside of her for more. “Broly…?” Now visibly shaking from the driving need to mate her, Broly buried his face in her hair and drew in her scent in an attempt to calm his instincts, crushing her to his chest and panting heavily from the strain. “No vant herd joo,” he rasped. “I sorree, Usa mine. Peez, I sorree. Forgiff.” “You didn’t hurt me,” she replied breathlessly as she linked a shapely leg around his and marveled at the way her body ached for more when his throbbing arousal pressed to her core. Would there be pleasure in their actual joining like there had been from his hand? Or was it just a way to make up for the pain when a man touched a woman between her thighs? She wasn’t ready to mate yet, but Usagi concluded right then and there that she definitely didn’t want him to stop what he’d been doing. “Broly… I… I didn’t mind,” she whispered with a hint of shyness into his chest, followed by a kiss to the sleep-warmed skin. Dilated black eyes were suddenly looking down at her in awed surprise, and Usagi could only turn even redder at his stare before giving him a brief, unsure smile. “Is that ok? It… it wasn’t wrong to like it, was it?” “No, iz goot,” he whispered, still surprised that she wasn’t angry with him for touching her intimately without permission. “Joo… joo vant moar?” He questioned hesitantly, deeply terrified of making her angry with him, that she would leave as was her right, even though she’d promised not to. “Vant mate me, r’sha?” Her blue eyes wide, Usagi shook her head, but Broly noted the hesitancy to it when she took several seconds to respond. Clearly, she’d actually thought it over and wasn’t completely against the idea. She just wasn’t quite ready for it yet. “No mate. Joo vant rada.” “Rada?” “G’in. Jesh,” he corrected himself as he wondered for the millionth time if she’d noticed his effort over the last three days since they’d married that he was making an enormous effort to learn her language, that she needed to wear a translator less and less in his presence. “Rada,” he clarified by cupping her sex once more, resuming the gentle caressing of her clit for several seconds, only to stop when she let out a moan of surrender and clutched at his lower back. “Vant moar rada…?” He inquired again, the words half statement and half question. “If you don’t mind,” Usagi whispered hopefully, her eyes slipping half-shut once more when she felt his hand instantly return to her aching mound, a trembling moan leaving her lips when he started rubbing her gently. She clutched at him tightly then, her lips seeking his, and rewarded him with a slow, burning kiss that had his purr stuttering for a moment and his body rolling on top of hers as his tongue danced in her mouth and his fingers moved harder. They had practically perfected kissing during the last five days, and Usagi’s head was spinning from it and the pleasure building between her thighs, so delirious from it all that she didn’t protest when he moved the delicate hand gripping his hip and placed it between his thighs. “Peez, Usa mine,” he groaned, giving a little thrust as her fingers wrapped around him compliantly and gave the throbbing flesh a squeeze. “No mate,” he added between kisses. “Vant rada.” Hazy from the overwhelming scent of his tail and the building fire inside of her, Usagi vaguely acknowledged that that was a fair request, even though her hand was already moving before she’d thought it, drawing long, low growls from the warrior pinning her with his body, the sound vibrating in her mouth as he kissed her furiously. It didn’t take Broly long at all before he was shaking from the strain of fighting against his first orgasm with a woman, trying hard not to come before she had, but lucky for him, he didn’t have to wait long. Usagi was right behind him, her free hand digging its nails into his back, the sharp pricking causing just enough pain to heighten his pleasure, the scent of his own blood throwing his beast into ecstasy overload. They came together, Usagi moaning loudly and Broly purring and growling low in his chest, her nails raking down his spine just as he spilled his seed all over her belly and gave a final thrust into her hand. Both of them were panting hard as they came down from their shared nirvana, and Usagi blushed shyly just as he grinned and chuckled, though she relaxed into the kiss he gave her as he withdrew the hand between her legs and continued to purr. “Was worth waiting for,” he sighed in Saiyan when he rose above her and slid off the bed, snagging a towel from on top of the dresser to clean up the mess they made. Blinking in confusion as he wiped at her belly, it took Usa a few moments to realize just what he was wiping up, and she turned bright red as soon as she did, only to receive a smile in reply that warmed her from the inside out. “I’m glad you enjoyed it too,” she whispered bashfully. “It felt really good.” Mulling over an earlier thought, she reached for her translator, put it in her ear, then lifted an eyebrow as she pointed between his legs. “Um… will that feel good, too? Or will it hurt?” “It’ll hurt the first time, but after that it should feel amazing. Even better than what we just did,” he assured her. “No pressure though, ok?” “Thanks,” she replied gratefully, rolling out of the bed to find her clothes, giving the door a hopeful look just as she had for five days. Sure, Vegeta-sai had scared her at first, and she was still a little afraid of the thought of dealing with Saiyan warriors that weren’t Broly and Raditz, but being cooped up in Broly’s quarters was beginning to take its toll, even if they were quite spacious. “Broly… I know you said no until we were mated, but… please?” She asked softly, pointing towards the door that would lead out into the sitting room and then the hallway. It wasn’t so much Broly that was against the idea—it was Kio—but in the wake of such an intense climax, the hopeful, pleading look in those innocent blue eyes completely unmanned him and he ruffled his hair a bit before nodding. “Only for an hour, though, ok?” “Really!?” Usagi squealed as she dove at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, only to blush brightly at her outburst and the result of it when she felt him purring hard and nipping and licking at her shoulder. “Um, uh… sorry,” she giggled before dropping back down to the floor. “I’ll go shower really quick and—“ “No,” Kio protested immediately, Broly’s eyes turning green as he took over, only to flicker back to black just as quickly. Anyone but Raditz or Usagi would have missed it—she’d become something of an expert on knowing when Kio was in control due to her five day sequester with him. Usagi also knew that questioning Kio was pointless, especially when he was giving her exactly what he wanted, so she just shrugged and smiled, and knew she’d chosen the right reaction when his purr stuttered to life once more. “Kay, I’ll just get my shoes then. Button me up in the back?” She asked with a tiny smile. There were a million things they’d learned about each other so far, and one of them was that Broly loved any excuse to help her or to touch her—helping her dress or undress fed both of those desires, and the princess wasn’t above allowing him to do so since he’d been so unexpectedly kind and patient with her. It wasn’t a surprise that he was taking his sweet time with it, either, brushing his fingertips over her warm skin as he fastened each button, occasionally kissing the back of her neck where she was holding the tumble of floor-length hair to the side for him. That was another thing he loved doing for her ever since she’d arrived; he loved brushing her hair, and even though he wasn’t very skilled in styling it, he’d nearly purred himself to death the first time she’d let him braid it for her to help keep it out of her face. And Broly was doing just that as he finished with the buttons—it was messy in places since it hadn’t been brushed out yet, but it would serve its purpose and keep her hair above the floor so that it didn’t drag, and it would stay out of her eyes as she tried to navigate unfamiliar hallways. “Thank you,” she told him, standing on her toes and pulling him down a little to press a kiss to his lips. “You’re very welcome, my mate.” Broly was simmering with pure happiness as he led her through the sitting room and out into the hallway, but after passing several doorways, he wondered where he would take her. It came to him quickly though, thanks to Raditz’s words from the third day, when Broly had left for an hour to bring her a courting gift. Girls like Usagi like pretty things. That first courting gift had not gone over well at all; Broly had gone out and killed a wer’kha using his bare hands and had brought it back to her as a gift, but she’d only cried upon the sight of it, big, fat tears rolling down her face as she’d pressed her hands to its luxurious fur and had filled it with her healing light. But it had been too late to bring it back to life—it was definitely dead and well beyond saving, and that had only made her cry even harder, with a perplexed Broly scrambling to comfort her, his mind reeling over the fact that he’d inadvertently made his mate cry. Even her customs and belief systems were bizarre to him—she hadn’t seen the fact that the wer’kha was bloodless, that he’d choked it out using only muscle and temper, that such a thing was a testament to his strength and his willingness to protect her. Nor did she care about how sweet its meat would be or how warm its fur was; he had demonstrated his ability to provide her with only the best, but she’d only wept over the body as if he’d killed her best friend—or her sister. She didn’t even know that a wer’kha was a fiercely vicious and formidable opponent; any Saiyan over the age of five would have seen those teeth and talons and would have instinctively known that to face such a large, well-armed enemy without using ki was an impressive feat. But she hadn’t seen any of the things that Broly had meant for her to see, and instead of being impressed or pleased by his effort, she’d only mourned for the loss of life. So it went without saying that he hadn’t brought her anymore courting gifts, and Broly had even made it a point to give the meat and fur to Raditz so as not to upset her further. Raditz had joked about being courted by Broly, of course, and had batted his eyelashes and jokingly hugged him and thanked him, but even he had kept the ribbing to a minimum since he’d witnessed Usagi’s meltdown firsthand, as well as the younger Saiyan’s floundering to fix whatever mistake he’d made in her eyes.That was when Raditz had imparted the sage advice that she might like something pretty, so Broly was now leading her to the largest garden on Vegeta-sai, which was only beginning to bloom due to the end of the hot season.Her reaction was all he could have ever hoped for, her eyes widening and sparkling in the sunlight the moment she saw the flowers blooming, and Broly sighed happily when she jumped up to peck him on the mouth before she darted off to examine a bush of white blooms she’d never seen before.Kio and Broly were both high on her happiness as they followed her, grinning as she went from bush to bush, exclaiming over this or that while he kept his distance enough so as not to intrude on her joy.It was only when she stopped at one bush in particular that he drew closer, paying attention to her change in posture as her shoulders slumped and her smile vanished, tears welling up in her eyes. Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, she was crying again! “Usa, what’s wrong?” Broly asked gently, unsure whether or not he should try and comfort her. When he’d done so over the wer’kha, she’d gotten angry with him and had pushed him away, and had refused any form of comfort he’d tried to give her for the entire day.“Mako,” she breathed, even though she wasn’t paying attention to him as she brushed her fingers delicately over a rose blossom.Oh shit? More like ‘oh fuck’, Kio groaned.“I… I’m sorry,” Broly whispered despite Kio’s insistence that this was one of those times where it would be better to leave her alone and just let her cry it out. “Please don’t cry, my Usagi.”“Go away,” she choked out, her eyes flashing with rare anger. “I’m not yours.”“Looks like I have great timing as always,” a voice sighed from behind them both, revealed to be Raditz when Broly turned. “The king’s summoning you, Broly,” the older Saiyan added with a tiny shrug. “He says it’s important, but I know it’ll only take a moment.”“Fine,” he sputtered, stepping close to his mate to take her hand, intending to lead her back to his quarters. Only she jerked out of his reach and bared her teeth at him in a primal signal that he understood clearly. “Usagi, let me escort you back to our room.”“I’m not going anywhere with you—and don’t touch me,” she snapped between pants for air as tears continued to roll down her face.“Broly, she reeks of you, and only guards venture into the gardens. We’ll only be a minute, just leave her be and give her some time to cool down,” he advised gently. “Let her have her space.”The fact that she was covered head to toe in his scent was the entire reason he’d been willing to allow her out of his rooms, as well as the reason he hadn’t wanted her to shower, so Broly finally nodded slightly. “Please don’t leave the gardens,” he requested quietly. “I’ll return in a few minutes, I promise.”When Broly maintained eye contact with her and refused to turn away, Usagi ground out a terse “fine” before putting her back to him, only turning back around when she heard his and Raditz’s footsteps leave the gardens.What Broly couldn’t comprehend about her reaction was that she just needed some time; she was on the path to forgiving him for her sister’s death, but it wasn’t something she could completely forgive him for overnight. She needed time and space whenever she was reminded of Mako, and while she understood and even appreciated his attempts to comfort her on a certain level, she just couldn’t accept a hug and a kiss from the man that had killed her sister, not while she was grieving, anyway, and certainly not from any Saiyan.“You’re not stuck with him, you know,” a low voice rumbled from behind her, making Usagi spin around in shock and gape at the intrusion. Gods, all of these Saiyans were so quiet when they moved! “He hasn’t marked you.”“No, but we’re married,” Usagi sighed as she thumbed the ring on her finger, her emotions at war as she felt warmth in response to the memory of him making it for her. “I made a promise.”“Here,” the guard offered, extending a handkerchief, staying completely still as he waited on her to make the decision of whether or not to accept it. “Bega,” he introduced himself with a nod once she’d accepted the offering and just as quickly backed away from him, wiping at her face with the cloth. “I can smell him all over you, you know. Did he force you?” “Force me to…?” Usagi asked in confusion, only to immediately blush and shake her head. “Oh, that. No, he hasn’t harmed me,” she insisted gently, touched that the first new person she’d come across seemed so concerned for her well-being. “Broly has been very kind to me.”“Then why are you crying?” Bega asked. “And if he’s had you, then why hasn’t he marked you? I find it very unkind of him to use you for his pleasure, only to refuse you a mating mark that would guarantee your safety.”“Safety…?” Usagi inquired slowly.“Why do you think he hasn’t let you out of his quarters?” The guard snorted as he pulled his tank top to the side to bare his shoulder. “There, a mark like that, woman. I was mated before the war took her from me,” he explained, his jaw visibly twitching at the thought of his mate’s death.“I’m sorry for your loss,” she whispered sympathetically. “But… maybe Broly has a reason for it. I’ll ask him.”“And he’ll come up with a convincing lie, I’m sure. Broly’s a monster—you know he has to be when even his own people say as much. Hell, even our women have avoided him out of fear for feeling the pull for him,” he continued mournfully. “It’s a wonder that the king allowed him to live past infancy. That display of mercy was the biggest mistake he ever made.”“Broly isn’t all bad,” Usagi stated firmly, surprising herself by her immediate defense of him. “He hasn’t hurt me, and as I said, he’s been very kind.”“Yet he’s insulted your honor by leaving you unmarked,” Bega huffed, pointing at her shoulder. “I would have never taken a woman I intended to mate, only to leave her markless.” Frowning deeply, the guard shook his head slowly before taking a step closer. “In fact… this whole thing is stupid. No woman should be forced to be his hostage to avoid war. Your intentions were honorable, princess, I won’t deny that, but no female should be made to suffer as Broly’s mate, marked or not. Come along, Highness.”Staring at his outstretched hand, Usagi took a step back and shook her head in confusion. “Come along where?”“You only belong to him officially if he’s marked you. We don’t have much time, so just come with me and I’ll fill you in on the way.”“No. I’m sorry, but I’m not going anywhere with anyone that isn’t Broly or Raditz. Not without an explanation first, at least,” she insisted, taking another step away when he moved forward, even though his gestures were non-threatening and his intentions seemed good.“I’ll mark you as mine,” Beta sighed, fidgeting when her eyes hardened in response to the suggestion. “You misunderstand, princess. I would mark you as mine to keep anyone else from holding you hostage. As my mate, you would essentially be free. No one could stop us from just going to the moon. I know it sounds cowardly,” he continued, “but since I lost my mate, I’ve wanted nothing to do with this war. I just want out. So that’s the exchange; I bite your shoulder, making you mine, and you take me with you when you go home.”“No one’s keeping me from teleporting anyways,” she replied, fluffing her hair absently. “I’ve stayed because I made a promise to. If I go home, the treaty is broken and my people are at war all over again, Bega. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” Usagi turned her back to him then, heading towards the doorway that she’d come through with Broly. Her heart was sinking at the knowledge that someone was hurting but she couldn’t do anything to help them, but when her arm was suddenly grabbed from behind, she reacted instinctively as her Senshi had taught her, driving backwards into her assailant and throwing back her leg to catch him in the balls.“What the fuck!?” Bega yelled at her as he released her, powering up with his ki in reaction to the pain as he clutched at his groin. Thankfully for him, she’d only grazed him, but that didn’t erase the fact that she’d hurt him and he was growing angrier as the moments passed and she just glared up at him.“You shouldn’t have grabbed me from behind!” Usagi yelled. “You scared me and you got what you deserved!” It was when he growled down at her and his ki spiked visibly around him that she reacted and transformed into her Senshi uniform without even thinking, having been in enough battles during the war to spook at a moment’s notice whenever she saw someone’s ki surround them. “Stay back,” she warned softly.“I’m getting off of this rock, princess,” Bega ground out. “I was trying to be nice, but then you had to hit me in the nuts, so I guess I’ll just have to sink my teeth into you and take you via transport. I am leaving Vegeta-sai today, with you, whether you like it or not. I’m done with the king and his bullshit warmongering and I’m done with this planet!”“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Sailor Moon ground out as she shifted into a fighting stance. “Please just go away. I don’t want to hurt you, and if you just back off, I won’t even tell Broly about your attempt to kidnap his mate.”“Not a chance, princess,” Bega snorted just before darting forward and swinging at her in a feint, grinning in triumph when she countered and left an opening that allowed him to snag her around her middle. “Don’t want to hurt you, woman, so cut it out,” he grunted, only to release her when she caught him by surprise in the teeth with a headbutt.“Ow,” Usa hissed out, rubbing at her forehead, making a mental note to tell Haruka that headbutts hurt like a bitch. It had bought her the time she needed though, and his statement about not wanting to harm her told her that he would likely try to apply holds and throws in a fight rather than punches, which gave her a huge advantage over him. She didn’t want to hurt anyone either, but she was more than willing to make an exception to avoid being kidnapped back to the moon, which would only endanger her people.He was coming at her again, too, and Usagi read his kick as a feint, just as the punch had been, and stepped into it, throwing him off balance as he tried not to make forceful contact. Grabbing his leg, Usagi threw her weight into her elbow, driving it into his stomach, and took him to the ground with a loud thump that knocked the wind right out of him, then backed off just as quickly, resuming her fighting stance. “My sisters taught me well,” she advised him. “Like I said, just please go, Bega.”He didn’t even reply except to stand and shake off the way she’d put him in the dirt, but when he came at her again, the Saiyan guard wasn’t faking the swing, and when Usagi stepped into it to throw him to the ground like the last time, she caught his fist in the cheek. It was a glancing blow compared to the power at his disposal, but it still stung like a bitch, and Sailor Moon yelped loudly just as the ginzuishou surrounded her in its powerful aura in reaction to her injury, shielding her from the next punch and counterattacking on her behalf.The silver light pulsed around her at the violent contact, and Bega was thrown into one of the low garden walls as a result, groaning from the blow to his back as he picked himself back up and glared daggers at her.It was the last look he gave anyone as a full-throated roar of pure, unadulterated rage filled the garden and a flash of golden light streaked past Sailor Moon before she could even cover her ears from the head-rattling sound… or even shield her face from the vapor of blood that filled the air less than a second later, coating everything in a fine sheen of red.It was only then that Usagi noticed the small throng of guards gaping at the scene, and she realized that they hadn’t just arrived—they’d been watching the fight between her and Bega… and they hadn’t stopped it.“YOU LET HIM HARM MY MATE!?”“Shit,” Raditz breathed from behind her, hesitating to lay hands on her, even to lead her to safety, especially while Kio was in control and raging harder than he’d ever seen him. “Usagi, come on, back to your room before—““No!” She shouted as she darted forward, running full speed at the guards just as Broly vaporized one of them in a cloud of blood, just as he had done to Bega. “BROLY, NO! STOP!”“SON, PLEASE DON’T! PLEASE STOP!” Came another voice from behind her as she panted for air, sprinting as hard and as fast as she could to the other side of the garden.“NO, PARAGUS! GODDAMNIT USAGI WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?”“PRINCESS, HE COULD KILL YOU!”She wasn’t stopping though, and as Kio grabbed the second cowering guard, Usagi dove onto her husband’s back and let the ginzuishou’s power loose, filling the courtyard with silver light that drowned out everything else and temporarily blinded even her.Usagi rolled to her feet as Broly’s hair shifted to black and he shrank in size, and when he went down like a sack of rocks, she was on top of him, shaking him vigorously, her eyes filled with tears of horror and worry. “Broly! Broly, are you ok!?”“I don’t know what you did, woman, but let me out,” Kio growled up at her, surprising everyone around them and making the guards flee in terror of him.Blinking down at him owlishly, Usagi was a picture of confusion as she tried to understand his meaning. Surely the ginzuishou couldn’t overpower him… could it?“Let me out, Usagi!” He snarled up at her, his hands clenched into angry fists, his voice insistent even though he wasn’t actually raising it towards her. “They stood by and did nothing while that spineless bastard tried to kill you!”“Actually,” Usagi corrected softly as she continued to ponder just how in the world her powers were subduing him, “he was trying to kidnap me and mark me as his.”That only enraged Kio further, and he gave a token struggle beneath her but didn’t buck her off, mindful of how easily he could hurt her on accident. “You’re mine,” Broly’s beast hissed. “Now let me ascend, goddamnit!”“No!” She snapped down at him, surprised by the force in her own voice. Apparently it surprised Kio as well—he’d flinched at the shout and his green eyes were wide as he stared up at her in amazement. “But if you learn how to behave… I just might consider it.”He swallowed hard at that, choking down a retort and the urge to yell some more, and finally relaxed beneath her. “There. Am I behaving sufficiently, my mate?” Kio drawled out in a mixture of mild annoyance and mirth, licking his lips slowly as it dawned on him that she was straddling his groin while wearing one of those short warrior skirts that the females of her people wore. “…or shall I behave a little differently? Would that satisfy you?” He added with a little smirk as he felt himself hardening against her. Judging by her gasp, she felt it, too.Turning bright red, Usagi quickly shook her head. “Um… uh… I just want you to promise me that you won’t go after those guards and hurt them. Or kill them,” she added as she regained the confidence she’d lost when he’d become aroused.“He hurt you!” Kio argued hotly as he squinted his eyes shut and fought down Broly, who was attempting to regain control of his own body. “Would you have me step aside whenever someone’s attacking my mate!?” When she nodded, he could only gawk for a long moment before sputtering loud and long. “You’re fucking insane, woman.”“And I can handle myself,” she added softly as she slid off of him, but maintained a solid grip on his wrist, effectively shackling him when he half-heartedly tried to shake her off, yet again not giving it a real try since he was worried about hurting her accidentally. “No, Kio. I’ll let you go, but only if you promise me that you won’t do something like that again.”“I can try,” he growled, grinding his teeth at the very thought, relinquishing control to Broly when she only gave him a hard look in reply.“Finally,” Broly sighed heavily, sagging as he blinked down at Usagi wearily. “Are you ok?” He inquired softly as he stroked his fingers down the bruise forming on her cheek, smearing the blood speckled left there when Bega had been vaporized.“I’m fine,” she replied just as quietly, though she released his wrist and stepped out of his range, her eyes hard and unreadable, her hands trembling as everything began to sink in. It was when she noticed the blood covering him that she looked down and saw that she was splashed and speckled with it everywhere, and that was what sent her running past him at full speed, headed for the only room she really knew.“No, Broly,” Raditz said quickly, his voice gentle and soothing as Paragus dared to step in as well and lay a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder.“She’s shaken, that’s all, son. Just give her an hour to calm down, and I’m sure she’ll be alright,” Paragus advised.“Alright,” Broly whispered, hanging his head and briefly pulling at his hair in frustration. He’d fucked something up yet again, and he honestly hadn’t a single clue how to fix it, but he would go with the older two Saiyans’ advice and let her have some time alone. “I’ll give her an hour.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
He’s a monster, she thought to herself as she glanced up at the locked bathroom door for the millionth time, then back down at the knife in her hand—one of the throwing knives that Mako had given her to protect herself with during a battle that seemed decades ago, rather than months. Usagi had tried to return it after the fight, but her sister had just smiled and told her to keep it, that Makoto had plenty more where that had come from. “He’s a monster,” she repeated aloud, her voice the barest whisper. It wasn’t terrified, though, it was surprisingly calm, but then again, she was likely still in shock from the slaughter in the gardens. The hand gripping the blade was spackled with blood, as was the rest of her, but the moon princess was focused only on the knife and the memory of Broly rampaging and slaughtering Bega, and then that guard, stopping only when she’d incapacitated him with her healing light. “Can I even do it?” She wondered. “Can I kill him?”I could kill myself, she acknowledged. It wasn’t the first time she’d thought about it since locking herself in the bathroom, but she knew without a doubt that her death would likely trigger the restart of the war, only it would be her people initiating the conflict instead of the Saiyans. But if I called Mother or Rei beforehand and explained… if I told them that death was better than living in constant fear…The doorknob jiggling broke her from her reverie, and Usagi bobbled the knife when she jumped in reaction, the well-honed blade slicing her inner wrist, and she winced at the pain. At least it wasn’t deep. “Go away,” she ordered softly when the doorknob moved again.“No,” Broly’s voice grunted from the other side. “Please open it. I don’t want to have to break the door.”“I said go away,” she repeated, trying for a firm tone, only to have panic edge its way into her voice as she scrambled for a towel and held it to her dripping wrist. “Shit,” she gasped when she laid eyes on the fresh trail she was leaving on the floor, the bright red a stark contrast to the dried blood she’d tracked in.“Usagi, are you alright?” Broly asked calmly from the other side, jiggling the knob once more. “Usa… please open the door,” he added, his monotone voice taking on a beseeching note. “Please… please let me see that you’re unharmed.”A full five seconds passed while she was trying to stanch the bleeding in her wrist, and when the brass doorknob snapped away from the wood like a piece of kindling, she shrieked and skittered back against the wall, her eyes wide and terrified when Broly stepped over the threshold and regarded her quietly, his face giving nothing away in regards to his emotions. “I smell blood,” he finally whispered. “Yours. Are… are you hurt?” He asked slowly, flinching at the words as he looked her up and down, searching for proof that he’d—“Usagi, did I hurt you?” He blurted out, his hands shaking at the sight of her horror.Only that morning, she’d been smiling, she’d been happy in his arms and she had trusted him implicitly… and now, she was afraid of him. “I’d never hurt you on purpose, Usa, and Kio wouldn’t, either. If we did, then show me. You might need medical attention.”It was only when he tried to close the gap and she turned to leave that he saw the freshly stained hand towel and the knife, and when he put two and two together, Kio was suddenly pinning her to the wall and growling down at her angrily, snatching up her hand to assess the damage. “You’d rather be dead than with me,” he ground out as he wiped at the blood on her wrist and then cast the towel aside in favor of a clean strip of linen torn from the excess on his pants. “Hold still!” He barked when she tried to jerk her hand back, even though Kio was trying his damnedest not to snap at her. He was hurt and upset, not angry, but he knew all too well that those things translated to anger unless he explained himself. Even his father and Raditz couldn’t distinguish between them unless he voiced it. “Don’t move,” he added with a more subdued grumble as he tore more linen from his pants and wrapped her wrist tightly to stop the bleeding, but not so tight that she would lose feeling in the limb or use of it.“Good, you’re done, now let me go,” Usagi said the moment he’d tied off the cloth, trying her best to jerk her arm out of his grasp and failing miserably against his superior physical strength. He didn’t have to use ki—when she suppressed it with her light and his hair melted to black, he still didn’t relinquish his hold on her and pressed her tightly to the wall for good measure.The blade pressing to his throat in retaliation surprised them both, but rather than withdrawing it in shock, Usagi held it firmly and glared up at him as best as she could despite the terror running through her at the murderous look in his emerald eyes. She knew without a doubt that if she backed down, he would kill her, simple as that.But his next sentence surprised her so much that she could only gawk.“Do it,” he rumbled softly.“Excuse me?” She squeaked.“You heard me, woman. Do it. Take your vengeance for your sister if it’ll finally make you happy. It would be far more fitting to take my life than your own.” When she narrowed her eyes and focused on the knife, Kio waited for the pain, but more than anything, he was honestly a little grateful for the sweet release that would follow.No more anger, no more of that unquenchable thirst for blood, no more of that unbankable Saiyan rage that everyone was always so terrified of him for. And no more rejection… from her or anybody else. “Do it!” He barked when she hesitated, hemming her in with his arms to make her feel trapped, to make her fear him and push her to just put him out of his misery. “Do the gods damned universe a favor and just do it, Usagi!”He was trembling with what Usagi perceived as barely banked rage, but despite the pounding of her heart and the fear running through her, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had killed before in self-defense on the battlefield, but this was different; neither Broly nor his beast had ever harmed her—hell, they’d never even raised a hand to her. But if she didn’t, surely he would kill her for this—an attempt on his life couldn’t be ignored, especially not by Broly and Kio.“You’d have me continue to dishonor you instead?” Kio asked bitterly. He’d spoken to the guards briefly once he’d calmed down—or rather, Broly had—and they’d told him all about what Bega had said about dishonoring her by not marking her. Surely that wasn’t what she thought, was it? He’d thought Usagi had wanted to wait, and he’d merely been trying to give her some time, but maybe…She’d been about to withdraw the knife to take whatever he had in store for her, but a caress to her cheek made her freeze in place again, and she jumped when he kissed her suddenly, only for him to jerk back and clutch at his throat for a moment before removing it and revealing a thin red line. “That’s it,” he encouraged her as he resumed his intimidating position and pressed her tightly to the wall once more. “Go on, Usa, do it.”The look she gave him was one of panic, and Kio half-hoped she’d strike when he kissed her again, intending to get the same reaction out of her, but to his surprise, she held completely still. “Do it,” he breathed before kissing her a third time, flicking his tongue out over her lips as he boldly slid a hand up her bare thigh and beneath the short fuku.Maybe this is about her honor, Broly wondered in their mind.“Usagi… if you don’t take your revenge for your sister or your honor, then I’m going to make you mine in truth,” he informed her in a last ditch effort to make her kill him. “So do it,” Kio whispered as he trailed his hand to the junction of her thighs and tore the cloth away.She didn’t jump at that, but her eyes widened when she felt his fingers touch her like they had that morning, the gentle stroking tearing a gasp from her, building that wonderful pressure low in her belly. “K—Kio… what…”“Do it,” he repeated. “Kill me and give your people justice. If you don’t… hell, holding a knife to my throat can be construed as an invitation to mate. So do it before I fuck you.”Blue eyes went as wide as they could go at that statement, but even when a thick finger slipped inside of her and made her tremble, she couldn’t bring herself to kill him, not even to stop him from what she was sure was going to happen if she didn’t. It was such a simple thing, to push the knife forward and draw it across his throat—his ki was suppressed from the ginzuishou, so there was no way he could shield himself from the blade—but no matter how she tried to argue with herself about it, she couldn’t do it.Not even when he began kissing her again and her traitorous body rebelled against her and she found herself returning the kiss. Not even when her hips briefly rolled against his hand when the finger inside of her was joined by a second and both digits began to pump inside of her leisurely.Not even when he suddenly wrapped an arm around her and lifted her against him, his mouth devouring hers slowly, his fingers withdrawing only to be replaced by something hot and wide breaching her entrance.The slow, loving rhythm of his purr was what decided her, and Usagi sagged into him in surrender, dropping the knife to the floor as she broke the kiss and pressed her lips to his throat. The moment she opened her empathy to him she could feel his turmoil; the loneliness and despair that she could never love him, that he would be alone for the rest of his life, labeled a freak and a monster. He wasn’t angry with her… he was sad. And that broke her tender heart on his behalf.“I was wrong,” she whispered more to herself than to him, “you’re not a monster.” He’d treated her with only kindness since her arrival, and despite herself, she’d grown to care deeply for him in only five days. So if this was the one thing that would make him happy—make him whole—she could give him that. After all, it was a small price to pay for his mental stability. She was still afraid of him on some level, but maybe with time, patience and love, they could make this work, and she could ensure her people’s safety by honoring the treaty. But to effectively do that, Usagi knew that she would likely need to formalize their union with a mating bond.“Tell me to stop,” Broly begged her softly. “Moonbeam, I don’t think I can unless you say the words.”“Don’t stop, Broly,” she replied gently. “Really, it’s alright.”I’m all for fucking her right here, boy, but the bed would probably be the more considerate option, Kio rumbled.“Wrap your legs around my waist,” Broly instructed before hauling her out of the bathroom and to the bed, shrugging completely out of his pants along the way and coming down on top of her immediately to kiss the daylights out of her as he tore her entire fuku away in strips.The moment her shoulder was bared, Usagi yelped at a flash of pain, but buried her fingers in his hair to hold him close when she realized that he’d marked her. “Hurts,” she whimpered, only to gasp and hold her breath when he began to suck at it and she felt the strange sensation of his concious thoughts in the back of her mind. The mark no longer hurt, it felt amazing, every little suck sending a rush of pleasure through her that had her curling her toes and arching into him instinctively, seeking out the hard cock that he had withdrawn upon carrying her to the bed.“Not yet,” Broly panted as he released her shoulder and licked her blood from his lips. He was planning on doing what Raditz had told him to, to prepare her for him, but when he heard her reasons for mating with him through the bond, his eyes went wide and he sagged against her. “Cha’dra,” he sighed as he remembered their translators and plucked them from both of their ears. “You don’t have to do this just to make me happy. It’ll likely stabilize Kio, yes… but I want you to want me. I want you to love me,” he added shyly, his cheeks burning bright red. “Like I love you.”Usagi gaped at the confession for a moment, and while her first thought was that he couldn’t possibly love her, she could feel it coming from him through the bond, warming her from head to toe and wrapping her in a cocoon of contentment and safety. He loved her. Broly, the scourge of the universe, the green-eyed monster… was very deeply, truly… in love. With her. Closing her eyes, the moon princess drew in a deep, shuddering breath as she sensed his true reasons for wanting her to kill him—it hadn’t just been an effort to make her happy, it had been her perceived rejection. He’d honestly thought she’d tried to kill herself.“I’d been considering it,” she admitted in an ashamed whisper. “But I didn’t try to. I only bobbled the knife when you knocked, that’s all. The cut was actually an accident, Broly.”“If you want to leave me, Usa… I won’t hold you to your promise. But if you do, please… I’m begging you, spare me the pain and just kill me first. You’ve given me a taste of what it’s like to be accepted, to be trusted and loved. To be normal. And I’d rather be dead than have to give that up, than to be the freak of my people again. A physical death would be better than what I’d suffer without you. It… it would kill everything good left inside of me.“I know I’m asking a lot of you, Usa. And I know that even with the bond, you might not love me… not like I love you,” he choked out, mortified when his tears dripped onto her face. Gods, not even his father or Raditz had seen him cry since he’d been a child.Wiping at his tears, Usagi felt her own welling up on his behalf as she witnessed all of the pain and hardship he’d been through for as long as he could remember. He had so few happy memories that it was frankly the saddest thing she’d ever known; how had he not just ended it years ago? How in the world had he somehow managed to hold his head high and carry on through all of the anger and depression and rejection?She couldn’t reject him, she knew that now, and with trembling hands she cupped his face and kissed him tenderly, linking a leg around his and rocking her hips in permission. She could give him this, she could let him have her body, and hopefully, if the gods were kind, her heart would follow soon enough. “It’s ok, Broly,” she assured him. “Shh… no, I mean it. I’m yours.”“If we do this, Usagi, I won’t be able to let you go,” he warned her gently as he rested his forehead against hers and the crescent moon that was glowing softly in the darkened room. “If you change your mind and leave, I’ll hunt you down and bring you back. I will never, ever be able to give you up once you’re mine, I swear it on my tail.”“I know,” she sighed. “And I won’t leave. I can’t. For better or worse, we’re stuck with each other. I can’t kill you or myself, and if I leave… no,” she stated firmly as she heard his thoughts, “even if you could keep the king from retaliating against my people, Broly, I still made a promise. It’s a matter of my honor. But I thank you for the offer,” Usa added with a tiny, hesitant smile. “It’s sweet of you to offer to do something like that for me.”“I’d do anything for you, cha’dra, don’t you understand that?”With the half-bond present, Usagi did finally understand that he truly meant those words; Kio had no moral compass whatsoever, and Broly’s was only marginally better because Raditz and Paragus had tried their best to teach him right from wrong, but Broly would honest-to-gods participate in wholesale slaughter just to make her smile.Whether the Fates had intended it or if it was just common luck, Broly had at least wound up with a woman that wouldn’t take advantage of his power, who wouldn’t wind up using him for her own gains or for universal domination. “No more killing, Broly,” she whispered as she reached up and pushed his hair out of his eyes. “With certain conditions, of course, like self-defense. That alone will make me happy.”“Yes, r’sha,” he promised before kissing her. “Anything you want, I just want you to be happy.” His lips were on hers then, and while he was going slowly, he was kissing her deeply and thoroughly as his hands stroked and teased, willing her to relax for him.And she was, losing the remaining stiffness in her limbs as she returned the kiss and decided to trust him, twining her legs intimately with his and arching into him when he ground his arousal against her clit, which was starting to ache from the scent of his idly waving tail. “It’s alright,” she encouraged him when he finally broke the long, deep kiss to trail his mouth over her throat, his hips still rocking against hers in a quest for friction even though he had yet to enter her.“Not yet, cha’dra… not yet,” he answered hoarsely, fighting down the urge to accept her invitation even though Kio wasn’t trying to make him take her. In fact, he and his beast were one for the first time in a very long time, and Broly savored the feeling of completeness as he took a pert nipple in his mouth and suckled his mate lovingly, his fingers slipping between her thighs to stroke her.She was already so wet for him that he knew she was ready, but Broly also knew that he wouldn’t last long. Sure, he’d come that morning, but something told him that being engulfed in her tight warmth would be a hell of a lot more arousing than having her hand wrapped around him, and he likely wouldn’t be able to hold out for her pleasure, especially since it was the first time for both of them. “Come for me,” he urged her as he switched to the other puckered nipple, groaning softly when she emitted a soft moan and arched into the slow thrusting of his fingers.Usagi was going limp beneath him in surrender when he released her nipple and began trailing his mouth down her stomach, his warm, moist breath going lower and lower until it was hovering right over her sex, and when she felt his tongue graze her clit she moaned and arched into the friction, her hands bunched tightly in his hair. “Oh…! Broly, that feels good… even better than your fingers…”On cloud nine at the sound of her pleasure and approval, Broly’s eyes rolled back in rapture when he did as Raditz had instructed him and began to gently suckle her between her thighs, taking care not to pull too hard. The result was everything he’d dreamed of—his mate let loose a soft cry of his name, her thighs winding around his shoulders to hold him in place, and the wave of utter trust and ecstasy coursing through the bond had him convinced that he must have died and gone to heaven. I love you so much, my moonbeam, he breathed through the mating bond as he lovingly continued to please her with his mouth and fingers, purring loudly at her positive response when she whimpered and clung to him with a quiet plea for more.He happily gave her more, carefully increased the pressure of the thrusts of his fingers and his lips, curling his tongue over and around her clit with every slow, wet suck, and when he felt her suddenly tighten around his fingers and she keened softly and bucked in his embrace, he groaned loudly as his cock throbbed painfully in response. “Moonbeam, I want you so badly it’s starting to hurt,” he breathed as he continued to move his fingers, then dipped his head again to lap up the results of his handiwork.“It aches inside of me, Broly,” she confessed with a whimper, her cheeks heating up at the admission. “I think… I might be ready.”Crawling back up so that he was resting on top of her, Broly kissed her once, tenderly, and drew one shapely thigh up around his waist with his tail as he pressed his entry. “I’ll go slow, I promise,” he breathed hoarsely. “Tell me if it hurts too much; I won’t be upset if you need me to stop for a minute or two.”With a brave little nod, Usagi wound her other leg and her arms around him and tried her best to relax her inner muscles when he pushed forward just a little, his eyes intense as they watched her carefully for the slightest hint of discomfort on her part. “It’s ok,” she gasped out when she felt something near her entrance stretching as he eased further into her, the wide shaft of his erection now pushing into her.She suddenly felt a popping sensation inside of her and squeaked in pain, biting down on her lower lip to keep from crying out more in surprise than anything, but she was grateful when he immediately stopped and simply rested inside of her, his pulse so strong that she could actually feel it between her thighs.“You’re doing so well, my mate,” he encouraged her gently, resting on his elbows as he pressed tender kisses to her throat and chin in an effort to comfort her. “You took that like a little warrior. I’ve heard of Saiyan women crying their first time, but you didn’t even yell.”“Kissing me between my legs probably helped,” Usagi admitted, shy at the unexpected praise and feeling a little proud that she’d apparently done even better than a woman of his own race might have. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she added with a blush. “I can feel it through the bond that it feels really good for you, so if you want to keep going…?”“Kay…” Broly was the very definition of patience as he eased more of his impressive length into her, but when she tensed a bit and he felt her flex around him, he froze for a second time and waited as he murmured more sweet encouragements into her ear, his hands and tail petting her sympathetically as he reached through the bond and saw how full and overwhelmed she felt from his invasion. “Only a couple more inches, atti, you’re doing great,” he purred when she signaled that she was ready for him to continue. “I’m so proud of you, my mate, you’re doing so well.”“Just give me the rest,” she whispered bravely, blushing shyly at the praise. “It’s alright, Broly, really, it is.” Usagi sighed and relaxed as he kissed her while he did as she’d bid him, and when he locked himself inside of her to the hilt and she didn’t wince in reaction, Broly paused for only a moment before daring to move, withdrawing slightly and groaning as he pushed back in.“You feel so good, Usa,” Broly whimpered helplessly as he broke the kiss, already red-faced and panting from the level of restraint he was exercising. “Tell me what to do to make it feel good for you too. I won’t last long, but…”Rolling her hips against his, the moon princess just gave him an unsure smile and shook her head. “I don’t know, but don’t stop, Broly. It… it doesn’t feel like your mouth did, but I like it,” she confessed shyly, unable to explain how she was immensely enjoying the warmth of his body and the wonderful intimacy of it all, even if she wasn’t feeling much physical pleasure. However, there was so much emotional pleasure in the act that it made up for it, and when he began to move inside of her as if he thought she would break, Usagi clung to him and savored the love that she could feel through the bond along with the wonderful sensation of being surrounded by him physically.The feeling was beautiful, and as she felt him erupt inside of her and he emitted a soft, choked groan against her lips, she kissed him of her own volition and continued to move slowly in time with him until he stopped, breaking the kiss and breathing heavily into her chest. “Broly… are you alright?”“Did you…?”She caught the rest of that sentence as a thought and shook her head a little, but she smiled when he huffed in displeasure and grumbled unhappily. “Broly, it’s ok. I’ll probably have to learn how to enjoy it, that’s all. I’m just glad it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I’d thought it would. Thank you for that,” she added softly. “For going slow.”“But you didn’t come,” he mumbled in annoyance. “Raditz always says that a woman should come at least once during mating.”“Broly, it was your first time, too,” Usagi reminded him. “You didn’t seriously expect two virgins to be perfect at sex their very first time, did you?” A disappointed shake of his head made her sigh in sympathy, but when he moved to roll off of her, she stopped him and held him tightly. “No... I like this,” she said with a hint of returning shyness, hoping that he could feel through the bond how much she was enjoying being held so lovingly. “Just a little while longer? Please?”Immensely pleased that he could do something right, the Legendary gladly acquiesced and relaxed, letting his mouth roam absently over her flawless skin as he pressed his bare skin to hers and let himself savor the closeness, just as she was. “Anything for you,” he finally replied. “Name it and it’s yours, atti.”“Just this, Broly.” A full minute passed like that as she thought seriously about their relationship and how they’d wound up in the bed together, and it dawned on Usagi that she was still speckled in dried blood from Bega’s death. “Oh gods,” she breathed in horror, shoving at the wall of muscle pinning her to the bed and rushing to the bathroom the moment he shifted off of her, sensing her urgency through the bond and immediately following her to the tub.Not only was he helping her into it and running the water for her, but without even using any words, Broly was showing her just how useful and wonderful a mating bond could be as he soothed her through it silently, his hands petting and stroking her in understanding as he hurriedly helped her rinse the red flecks from her skin and hair. “No more killing,” he breathed from behind her once she was clean and fresh water was running to replace what was going down the drain. “I swore it and I keep my promises. I’ll do anything you want me to do, r’sha, just please don’t hate me anymore.”“I never hated you, Broly,” Usagi replied softly, hanging her head as she willed herself not to cry. They’d just shared something so beautiful and intimate that she couldn’t let herself cry; she knew that if she did, it would hurt Broly’s feelings. And crying was pointless, anyway, she was beginning to see that as her time on Vegeta-sai wore on.Tears didn’t solve anything; they only gave her red eyes and blotchy skin, and they upset Broly to no end, as she was learning. “I was afraid of you,” she continued. “I still am a little, to be honest.”“I’d rather have you hate me than fear me,” he sighed wearily as he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her mark, purring soothingly as he flooded the bond with his love for her and his determination to keep her safe and happy. He climbed in with her then, perching her in his lap, and tried to relax when she hesitated to snuggle into him for a moment, settling for stroking her and purring softly as she tried her best not to balk. Sure, they’d just mated, but the fact that she’d been covered in Bega’s blood was fresh in her mind, and it had renewed the memory of just how violently Broly and Kio had killed him.He could hear her thoughts and feel her emotions now, and he was honestly grateful for the ability even if he could sense her lingering fear of him. It hurt knowing that she was afraid, but the fact that the bond was there was calming his beast, making easier for him to think, giving him a sense of clarity that he had never known before. “Usa… I know you can’t just stop being afraid all at once,” he finally rumbled into her hair when she was finally just relaxing into him without replaying the events in the gardens over and over again. “But can you let me love you?” He tried for a smile when she turned a bit in his arms to look up and him, relishing the way her skin was sliding over his in the water. “That’s all I’m asking. Just let me love you. No more killing—even Kio promises to try his very best to be good.”“I can’t promise not to if someone hurts you,” his beast broke through, “but I can vow to try. Killing that little bastard didn’t harm you physically, but it still hurt you. It made you afraid of me all over again. And I don’t want that.”Hearing his thoughts, Usagi nodded slightly and sighed in surrender, sagging into the embrace when he wrapped his arms and tail around her and he kissed her chin in a sign of submission. He meant it; he’d do whatever she wanted, however she wanted it, just as long as she stayed with him and tried her best not to be afraid of him. Just so long as she let him love her. “I can do that.”
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“Again?” Usagi murmured groggily when she woke to the lovely sensation of Broly’s hands caressing every inch of her he could find, his mouth gentle as it explored the back of her neck and the length of her spine, his cock throbbing against her for more. “Want you,” he rasped in reply as his lips became hungry, finding her mark and raking his teeth over it. “Need you.” Blushing at the raw longing in his voice, Usagi nodded ever so slightly as she rocked back into him in permission, gasping in surprise when he shifted away and rolled her back to climb on top of her. She had to admit that she was genuinely flattered and impressed by Broly’s zeal for her since she’d mated with him twelve hours prior, but she was beginning to seriously doubt her previous assumptions that he would eventually tire out and let her sleep. “Last time,” she breathed just as he kissed her, a long, low groan erupting from him and blending with his seductive purr. Kio and Broly both understood her meaning through the bond and gave her a nod as they continued to simply pet and worship her lovingly. “Love you,” Broly sighed happily as he broke the kiss to trail his lips down her throat, rumbling in approval when her chin tilted back automatically in a sign of trust and submission to him and his beast. It was then that he felt her ginzuishou responding and he gasped, freezing in place all but for his rolling purr filling the room. “I swear… I’ll never get used to that,” he whispered, his eyes full of love and awe as he just watched her and basked in the glory of being whole. “You don’t have to make love to me just to make that happen,” Usagi reminded him with a shy smile, blushing under the worshipful gaze that always made her feel so humble. “You just have to ask, Broly.” Trailing her fingers through his hair, she noted the same phenomenon that had occurred over the last twelve hours whenever her crystal had reacted to his inner turmoil through the bond—his eyes were green and his hair black, but rather than Kio being in control, it was both of them.Warrior and beast were one.Wondering for the millionth time if such a miracle would be permanent when she finally returned the bite mark, Usagi let her eyes slip shut as she basked in his joy, but when he lowered himself onto her and pressed his entry, she couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit disappointed. “But Broly…”He chuckled in her ear at that before nipping at it gently, withdrawing the head of his arousal and rising up to grin down at her teasingly. “Do you want me to kiss you, my little goddess?”“You know I do,” Usagi huffed, her cheeks coloring brightly at the sound of her own annoyance and the hint of demand in her tone. “At least until we can figure out… you know,” she finished with a little shrug.“I talked to Raditz while you slept.”His excitement was practically tangible through the bond, and Usagi lifted a single golden brow in inquiry. “What did he say?”“He told me what to do to make you come while we mate.” Daring to press his cock into her once more, Broly licked his lips in anticipation, waiting for her permission to take her. “If it doesn’t work I’ll gladly kiss you until you’re satisfied, Usa. You know I won’t leave you wanting.”Her mate had been more than considerate since she’d given him her virginity, so the moon princess decided to let him try, his eagerness to try and make her come while he was inside of her so overwhelming that she was beginning to feel excited as well.Usagi was surprised when Broly pushed into her and didn’t immediately kiss her as he filled her—during the dozen or so times they’d made love, he had kissed her with something akin to desperate gratitude the entire time he’d been inside of her. But this time was different; his lips were at her throat, making her hum with pleasure, trailing over her collarbone and finally resting on her mark when he locked himself in her to the hilt. “Broly?” She gasped when he traced the ring of teeth marks with the tip of his tongue, sending shocks of unexpected pleasure skittering down her spine as a familiar warmth began to build low in her belly. “Oh… oh wow…”A husky growl escaped him when he began to move and Usagi immediately moaned in reaction, her hands leaving the sheets beneath her to clutch at his back, her hips rolling against his with every slow, careful thrust as he continued to gently worship her mark with his lips and tongue. “I can last as long as you need me to,” he informed her, pleased that he was finally desensitized enough from all of their previous joinings so that he could actually last more than two minutes.Ok, fine, he’d lasted longer than two minutes, but he definitely hadn’t gone for more than five whenever they’d mated, and he’d been overcome with aggravation at himself when she hadn’t really enjoyed having him inside of her. Broly had it figured out now, though, and if her soft mewls of approval were any indication, Raditz had been right about the mating mark giving pleasure.Broly lifted his head to watch her as he continued to move, but her fingers were suddenly in his hair and jerking his mouth back down to her mark, drawing a laugh from him at her eagerness. “Damn, moonbeam, I think I like it when you’re demanding.”Blushing at her own wanton behavior, Usagi managed a tiny shrug even as he gave the bite mark a lazy open-mouthed kiss and the sensation of his tongue tracing the half-ring his upper teeth had made had her shivering. “Hey, you’re the one that wanted to wake me up to try this,” she giggled. “I’m just keeping you from getting distracted.”“Would you rather go back to sleep?” He countered as he dared to move just a little harder, followed by a suck to her shoulder.“No,” Usagi moaned, her nails digging into his back. “D—do that again…”More than happy to oblige, Broly began sucking at the bite and stiffened in surprise and pleasure when he felt her flex around him tightly for a couple seconds. She hadn’t come yet—he could sense that through the bond—but she was practically on the edge of doing so and trembling beneath him now, her lips exploring his throat encouragingly as she continued to move in time with him. “Please,” she breathed in his ear, “please, Broly…”The Legendary had wanted to build her pleasure a little while longer, but that whispered plea for more had him sinking his teeth into the mark, growling and purring loudly in triumph when she immediately cried out and bucked beneath him, her motions erratic as her climax crashed over her forcefully.The way her walls tightened around him ripped a groan from his throat, and Broly’s tail tingled in warning, heralding his own climax despite his confidence that he’d be able to last for as long as his mate desired. “Gonna come,” he whimpered in a mixture of ecstasy and embarrassment as he panted for air and forced himself to keep his movements slow and careful, fighting the urge to thrust harder and deeper that he’d felt every single time they’d made love.“Don’t stop,” Usagi gasped, jerking his mouth back down to her mark yet again. “Please… please Broly, it felt so good…”Shaking from the strain of holding out for her pleasure, her mate clamped down on her bleeding shoulder and began to suck, losing control and bucking into her harder when her hips rolled against his forcefully. He immediately dialed it back out of concern for hurting her, but Usagi was moaning and clutching at him tightly instead of wincing. “Again,” she begged hoarsely. “Do it again, Broly…”“Tell me if I hurt you,” he groaned between sucks, his eyes rolling back when he finally dared to move harder and deeper and her sex immediately responded by clamping down around him for a second time. Her loud cry of pleasure confirmed that he wasn’t hurting her, but despite Broly’s wish to make her come like that a third time, he was emptying into her, his moan of pleasure twining with hers as she continued to flex and squeeze him, milking him of every drop of seed he had.Usagi was the first to speak after he’d slumped down on top of her in a breathless, satisfied heap, her voice filled with awe and contentment as she trailed her fingertips along his rippling back. “Please tell me that that’s something we can do every time,” she sighed, her blue eyes hazy from the wonderful mixture of fulfillment and relaxation.“Mmm… Raditz said that’s why your version of kissing was foreign to Saiyans until recently… we’re usually too busy biting each other to do anything else while we’re mating.” Grinning down at her, Broly noted how sleepy she looked, but the rosy glow to her cheeks and the glaze to her eyes had him hardening inside of her again and his smile became sheepish. “I don’t suppose you’d let me do it again right now?” He asked hopefully.“Brooolyyyy,” she whined into his neck when he flexed his hips a little, “I’m tired! Please just let me sleep? I promise if you just let me sleep for ten hours, we can do it again when I wake up, ok?”“J’ha nava t’au?” He snickered as he withdrew from her and rolled so that he was snuggling against her, rearranging her a bit so that she could use him as a pillow like she had for several nights. “Hm… I wonder what other promises I could wring from my mate in exchange for some sleep?”“You’re about to wring a promise from me about kicking you in the balls if you don’t let me sleep,” she retorted as she fished around blindly for the covers, only to feel Broly draw them up around her and kiss her tenderly.“Good night, r’sha,” he chuckled when she cracked open one eye and glared up at him.“Mmm… that’s what I wanted to hear.” Sighing happily and drawing deeply of his scent, Usagi knew she’d drift off in no time, but when his purr changed its pattern to something sweet and soothing, she leaned up and kissed him in return. “Goodnight, k’sha… m’eh t’au.”It wasn’t r’sha, but Broly’s heart soared at the acknowledgement of him as her mate and could hardly contain his happiness as he nuzzled her and held her close, settling for running his fingers through her hair since further petting would only keep her awake. He tried dozing as well, but after an hour of not being able to sleep and wondering why he couldn’t, he realized that he had never been so genuinely happy in his entire life. Sure, he’d been happy the last few days, but that emotion paled in comparison to the overwhelming joy he felt right then and he simply couldn’t sleep while he was overflowing with so much positivity.After another ten minutes he finally extracted himself from his mate, laughing silently at her loud snores, and when he realized that even a Saiyan war cry wouldn’t be able to rouse her from sleep—let alone the sound of him talking—he grabbed his scouter and dialed the only person he hadn’t spoken to that day.Bleary-eyed and confused, Paragus just stared at his son’s face for several moments before he recognized his smile for what it was and panicked. The last time Broly had smiled like that, he’d wasted an entire solar system. “Broly,” he started slowly, “what happened? Is… is the princess alright? No one tried to take her again, did they? Did you two maybe have an argument?”“Huh?” Broly asked in confusion, his smile faltering before Kio roared with laughter in his mind and explained Paragus’s train of thought. “Oh. Oh, no! I just… I’m happy, Father! And well… I’m not used to it so I couldn’t sleep. Sorry,” he added with a mischevious grin as Kio continued to howl hysterically at Paragus’s reaction to Broly smiling. “I didn’t mean to wake you, either, I just… I’ve bothered Raditz enough for one night and…”“You just wanted to share the happiness,” Paragus rumbled in understanding, visibly relaxing as his own mouth turned up in a smile. “It brings me more joy than I can ever express to know that you’re finally happy, boy. And the princess… is she happy as well?”“Heh… now that I finally let her sleep, yes she is!” Sighing in contentment, Broly glanced back at the snoring pile of golden hair, and his father didn’t miss the love in his eyes as he did so. “I finally pleased her, too.”“Raditz informed me that you’d had some trouble with that during the actual mating; I’d planned on giving you a talk tomorrow if you hadn’t figured it out by morning,” he chuckled. “I’m glad to know that the princess was satisfied.”“Dad…?” Broly asked hesitantly. “I… I want to do something for her. To show her how much I care about her, but… I’m afraid of another incident like the one with the wer’kha. And after the gardens… it seems like everything I try is only doomed to become an epic failure.”Warming at the sound of being called “dad” for the first time in a decade and fighting the urge to cry and fall to his knees and thank the gods for finally giving his son some happiness, Paragus’s smile was the biggest his son had ever seen it. “Have you tried just asking her, son? Ask her what she wants to do; listen to her, and if what she wants doesn’t sit well with you or Kio, then maybe try to compromise with her on it. That way you’re both happy and she knows that you’re making an effort.”“Alright, I’ll do that in the morning. Thanks, Dad.”#############################################“Usa?”Her eyes were closed as she simply basked in the afterglow, but she stirred on top of him after several moments and gave him a wobbly smile, cracking them open to reveal that her blue eyes were still glazed from the half-dozen orgasms he’d just given her. “Hm?”“I wanted to give you something to make you happy, but I didn’t want to make you sad like the last two times.” Purring softly, he continued to thread his fingers through the hair he adored so much and just drank in her beauty for several moments before continuing. “Father said that I should just ask you to tell me what would make you happy. So… that’s what I’m doing.”“What would make me happy?” She mumbled, the last word contradicting her thoughtful frown. “I… huh…” Usagi honestly couldn’t think of anything right off the bat; she was a princess yes, and by no means a minimalist, but everything she wanted or needed was right there in Broly’s quarters.Anything she wanted to eat was ordered and brought to her right away, and it took a lot of effort not to be wasteful and order more food than she needed sometimes. After learning that Vegeta-sai experienced regular famines, she was relieved that she’d never given into the temptation to go overboard.She had plenty of clothing, too, and the jewelry that was automatically given to her as Broly’s mate was nice as well, but Usagi was happy with the accessories that she had brought with her in her subspace from the moon—“Home,” she whispered, her eyes flashing at the sudden epiphany. “Broly… would… would you let me—““No,” he sighed immediately, grimacing as his heart clenched in reaction to her nod of understanding and the wave of sorrow he felt from her through the half-bond. “Usagi, I’m sorry, but I think that’s the one thing that I’ll never be able to give you unless I accompanied you.”“You think I’ll run,” the princess whispered sadly as she pushed off of him and slipped out of the bed to find some clothes. “You don’t trust me to come back.”“No!” Kio and Broly both protested together, eyes flashing green as they became whole for a split second all on their own. “I trust you, Usagi, but I don’t trust them! I know that’s the reason you haven’t called your sisters or your mother again—you’re afraid that they’ll try to talk you into coming home and that you’ll be tempted to break your promise. But I know you won’t,” he finished softly, his tone gentling as he sat up and used his tail to tug her back to him. “I trust you as much as I love you, Usagi. I’m just terrified that once you’re there, they’ll keep you from coming back.”Usa stared down at their linked hands and nodded slightly as she felt the truth of his words through the bond, but that didn’t change the fact that she dearly missed her family and would trade all of the pretty clothes and jewelry just for an hour with them. “I understand, Broly. And you’re right… they would try to keep me on the moon. But… I wish you would realize that there’s no way for them to trap me there without removing the ginzuishou from my body; so long as I possess it, I can teleport.”She could feel that the very idea of losing her scared him to the bone, so she decided to drop the subject as she filled him with her light and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Can we at least leave the room today?” She asked hopefully. She expected another refusal, but Broly surprised her by nodding and kissing her once more, his hold possessive as he purred and fought down the urge to drag her back on top of him for some more lovemaking. “Of course, r’sha m’yo, we’ll go anywhere you want.”########################################“They’re looking at you funny,” Usagi whispered up at Broly as she observed the stares and odd expressions on the warriors’ faces when they entered the training ring and took a seat near the front.“Males don’t typically show so much affection in public,” he admitted with a shy blush before dipping his face to hers for a soft, sweet kiss, the action drawing more stares and wide eyes. “But I don’t give a shit what any of them think,” he added once he’d drawn back a little to admire the pink stain to her cheeks and the way her blue eyes glittered up at him with happiness. “Your opinion is the only one that matters to me, and the rest of them can go fuck themselves.”“Except me, of course,” Raditz purred from Broly’s left, grinning ear to ear when the younger Saiyan turned his head and rolled his eyes instead of growling at him for sneaking up on him. Yeah, Broly was definitely more relaxed and laid back than he’d been only a few days ago! “How’s Kio?”“Sleeping,” Broly sighed happily as he turned his attention from Raditz to kiss his mate again. “Usa’s light soothes him.”“Good to hear. I swear, seeing you so normal is honestly the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Raditz chuckled, flashing Broly a teasing grin when the Legendary glared at him, knowing that he was likely the only warrior that would ever be able to get away with such a comment. “Aw, you know I’m joking, so smile! You’ve got a beautiful woman leaning on your arm, you just got laid, and you’re about to watch Turley get his ass kicked by Dad!”The promise of battle definitely drew Broly’s attention, and he didn’t realize until just then how much he’d missed sparring. Sure, the bloodshed yesterday morning had been the kind of fun his beast loved to participate in, but there was something fuller and richer about sparring. It was a challenge whenever he sparred—even though the only other Saiyan that could keep up with him in the ring was Kakarot. The seemingly dim-witted Saiyan possessed a cunning in battle that rivaled even their prince, and Broly had found himself on the ropes more than once against him whenever he’d mistakenly let his guard down. +“Heh… I know that look,” Raditz chuckled. “Get settled in, princess,” he advised with a wink, “something tells me that once my baby brother shows up, shit’s going to get real.”“You’re not going to hurt anyone, are you?” Usagi immediately asked, ignoring the chuckles of the Saiyans around her. “I… I would rather that you didn’t, Broly. I don’t like it when people get hurt.”Broly’s jaw went slack momentarily at that and he had to physically shake himself at the idea of never sparring again ever, the notion rocking him to the core. “But… but Usagi…!”Thank the gods for Raditz, who was somehow managing to keep his laughter suppressed as he grinned at the exchange, unsurprised to see actual tears forming in the Legendary’s eyes as he swallowed and gazed at his mate beseechingly. “Princess, the Saiyan definition of ‘hurt’ is a far cry from yours,” he chuckled, patting her on the shoulder. “And any injuries either of them sustains are healed up quickly in the medtank and are rarely ever life threatening.”“This is sparring,” an older man with a mustache explained gently as he sat down directly on Usagi’s left. “I’m Paragus, Broly’s father,” he added when she looked at him in a mix of confusion and recognition, clearly trying to place him. “I’m sorry that we haven’t formally met, but I thought it best to give you some time to settle in and for both of you to get to know each other without any other people as buffers.”Thinking that she would have definitely clung to a buffer of any sort when she’d first arrived, Usagi understood his reasoning and managed a little smile before nodding towards the blur in the air that was Turles and Bardock. “You say that that’s just sparring?” She asked quietly, all too aware of the many warriors listening in, a blush staining her cheeks at the knowledge that she’d likely embarrassed Broly by her protests. “No one gets seriously injured?”“A typical spar might yield a few broken bones, ho’sh m’yo, but very rarely anything worse than that. A spar with Broly and Kakarot even looks much worse than it actually is, but I don’t think either of them has ever sustained a wound that could have killed them,” Paragus described patiently. “Well, not during a spar, anyway.”“You’ve fought each other for real!?” Usagi squeaked out in alarm, her blue eyes wide and horrified as she looked him over for any injuries, only to stop herself and turn a brighter shade of red when she realized her error.Puffing up with pleasure at the sight of his mate’s very real concern for him, Broly nuzzled her throat and purred comfort for her as he soothed her through the bond. “Saiyans get stronger whenever they nearly die and are brought back, so Kakarot and I regularly do just that, usually when one of us starts burning, since the violence helps stave off the drive to mate.”“Sparring is fine,” Usagi stated evenly in a no-nonsense tone that sounded just like her mother’s, her hands defiantly on her hips as she noted all of the scars on his chest and it dawned on her that they’d probably all come from Kakarot. “But no more beating each other to the brink of death. Understand me?”“I think I can compromise, my mate,” Broly sighed as he continued to purr, drawing in her scent, uncaring about the dozens of warriors watching the exchange and thinking less than flattering thoughts about Broly. Let them think he was whipped—he didn’t give two shits about it, so long as his mate was happy.“No more trying to kill each other?” Usagi confirmed.“So long as you promise to get me through the burning yourself,” he purred into her ear, nibbling at it when he sensed her slight arousal through the bond as well as her curiosity. It’s a mating drive that lasts for several days without stopping, he chuckled in her mind. Mated couples usually hole up in their rooms for the entirety of it and then a week just to recover from the exhaustion that follows. “Well… after last night and this morning, I don’t think I’d complain about such a challenge,” Usagi murmured, her face hot as she made the admission. Three days straight of what he’d given her during the last twelve hours? Where did she sign up!?“I’m not due for another eighteen months or so, but I’d be happy to give you a preview if you don’t mind staying cooped up for half a week,” Kio growled out seductively, having woken to images of them tangled together floating through her innocent head. “In fact, I don’t think I’d mind putting off fighting altogether if you’d let me just stay inside of you for the rest of our lives.”The Saiyans surrounding the immediate area were politely trying not to listen in with superior hearing once the couple started discussing bedroom activities, but the moment they heard Kio state that he’d be more than willing to give up fighting altogether under any circumstances, heads turned and wide eyes stared in pure shock.The only two that weren’t totally surprised were Raditz—who was just grinning and leaning back nonchalantly in his seat—and Paragus—who was just smiling softly and silently thanking the moon goddess for sending what could only be one of her true daughters. Surely, only a daughter of Cha herself could quell the darkness in his son, who was believed by many Saiyans to be a son of Dra in spirit.“Paragus? Sir? Um… Poppa? Are you alright?”The soft, gentle voice of the very young woman he was thinking of broke Paragus out of his reverie and he actually had to fight down tears at the sound of her sweet voice calling him ‘Poppa.’ “G’in, atti. Mah’ni, I was thinking a little too deeply.”“Oh, what about? Is everything ok?” Usagi asked in quiet concern. She’d been trying to alert Paragus to Broly’s departure into the air; the moment Kakarot had appeared, the two warriors had beamed at each other, and Broly had shot into the sky after giving her a slow, deep kiss and a devilish grin, promising that he’d be just fine.“Well… I don’t suppose Broly’s exactly taken you to one of the temples yet and exposed you to some of our culture?” The look on her face confirmed that and he chuckled. “I know, he hasn’t even taken you out of the palace yet, but perhaps he would be agreeable in letting you accompany an old man into the city. After his spar, of course. Broly doesn’t believe in the gods, but I think you’ll find one story in particular very interesting.”
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“This is the temple to Cha. It’s fuller when it’s closer to the full moon, but since it’s mostly empty that means that you can take your time to look around without wanting to be polite and move out of the way for others to worship or pray,” Paragus explained, leading Usagi towards the altar. “Though to be honest, your resemblance to her is so striking that they likely wouldn’t dare say a word to you out of fear of angering the goddess,” he added with a chuckle, waving her forward when she stopped a few feet away, a respectful distance from the altar and the statue. “Go on, we Saiyans like to get up close and personal with our gods. There’s no taboo about touching the altar or going behind it.” “Are you sure?” Usagi asked carefully as she absently touched the crescent moon on her forehead while she studied a relief carved into stone depicting the different phases of the moon, topped by a beautiful, tall woman with incredibly long, golden hair. “I wouldn’t want to offend your goddess since I’m descended from one.” “So there’s truth in that tale?” King Vegeta rumbled thoughtfully. “Your grandmother was really a goddess?” “Mmhmm,” the princess confirmed as she dared to go around the altar to gaze up at a statue of the same woman that had been in the relief. She was beautiful; Saiyans didn’t have much interest in the arts, but whoever had carved this statue had an eye for detail and had created a real masterpiece. “My grandmother was the goddess Selene, and her power was passed down through the ginzuishou when she decided to ascend to the stars, leaving my mother as the new moon goddess.” “You have the crystal, though,” Vegeta pointed out. “Doesn’t that make you the goddess?” “Yes and no,” she replied without thought as she studied the statue, tempted to touch Cha’s hair to find out if it would feel real. It certainly looked real, as did her face—Usagi honestly wouldn’t have been surprised to see Cha open her eyes to inform the princess that staring was rude. “I haven’t accepted the mantle of the moon goddess and I never will since I’m not on Earth’s moon. I’m a goddess, yes, but… not the moon goddess. It’s complicated. That and the power of the ginzuishou is also a complicated thing; to take it all would have been to kill my mother and I was certainly not going to do that, so I wished on the crystal the night before I came here, and I begged it to fix everything.” “But it didn’t,” Paragus rumbled. “I don’t know… maybe it did,” Usagi ventured softly. “I’m still deciding whether or not my wish worked. It didn’t eradicate the Saiyan army, it didn’t erect a force field around our galaxy as I’d hoped, and it didn’t even give me half of its power as I thought it might. Instead… it created a second ginzuishou. My mother and I each have one now, both of them equally powerful.” “I’d wondered what had happened,” Vegeta admitted softly. “When you arrived here, you felt just as powerful as your mother, but I knew there was no way that could be possible unless she was dead.” Reminded by her arrival on the planet, Usagi grimaced and turned slightly towards the king, curtsying deeply even when Broly told her through the bond that what she was about to say wasn’t necessary. “Your Majesty, I would like to apologize for the offense I caused when I first came here. I didn’t know what I was saying, but it was still an inexcusable accusation.” “You were terrified,” Kio chimed in with his usual rage for anything and everything—except for Usagi, who had become the calm center of his storm whenever he was riled—his eyes glittering towards the king as he silently dared him to offend his mate. But then he felt Usagi’s very real, practically tangible annoyance towards him and that cooled his ire, even if only a little bit, wilting slightly when she folded her arms over her chest and waited for him to speak. Waited for him to dig his own hole, was more like it; he could hear her telling him through the bond to be nice, even though Kio didn’t do nice… but for her, he could try. “I know what you felt, r’sha. The king’s a dick.” For him, that was nice. “And you’re one to talk?” She shot back casually, lifting an incredulous golden eyebrow while everyone observing the conversation cringed and waited for the explosion of unstable Legendary beastie. “I hardly think you’ve got room to call anyone a dick, Kio,” she added with a tiny wry smile. “I stand corrected, my mate,” he chuckled before retreating, his anger evaporating into pleased amusement because she’d actually stood up to him without a hint of fear. “Yeah, I’ve got you dead to rights, Kio. Now behave,” Usagi ordered nonchalantly before turning her attention back to Vegeta, who was staring at her in quiet awe. “As I was saying, I apologize for my behavior, King Vegeta. As Kio pointed out, I was terrified, but if I’d known what a heavy insult I was throwing around, I wouldn’t have said it. I didn’t realize that even an unstable warrior is incapable of such an atrocity.” “There’re some that are capable of it,” Raditz informed her, “but they don’t survive long after the fact.” He smiled then, the only one in the temple that wasn’t stunned by Kio’s automatic deference to her, and gestured towards the statue. “If you’d humor me, Highness?” When Usagi shrugged, he came closer and guided her closer to the likeness of Cha and nodded towards their goddess. “Touch her.” Apparently Raditz was the only one that expected the sudden glow that emanated from both Usagi and the idol, but Paragus was the quickest to recover and hurried forward, putting himself between her and several priests that had previously been standing back and far out of the way. Now they were approaching Usagi with identical expressions of surprised awe and beatific glee, putting Broly on edge, his growl emanating warningly throughout the room.Anyone that touched his mate was going to die, without question.“I don’t think it would be wise to come any closer,” he advised them gently, gesturing to Usagi that everything was alright when she looked at him with wide, fearful eyes and leaned into Broly when he embraced her, unaware of how she only glowed even brighter when he made contact with her. “But… but she’s the goddess’s daughter made flesh!” One of them exclaimed with tears in his eyes. “Cha!” “She’s Cha’s child!” “And your son, Paragus! Look… I mean, just look at him!” The king’s advisor turned then but found himself even less surprised by his son’s appearance than his new daughter’s—Broly was glowing as well, but the light was dark, rising from him like black flames in a stark contrast to his mate’s ethereal silver glow. “Dra,” he whispered. “I was right… all these years, I was right. My son… Broly… you’re a true child of Dra,” Paragus added gently as he approached them both, marveling at the power he could feel playing through his fingertips when he touched the light. While he was glad that his father had finally confirmed the reason for why he and his beast were split so badly and constantly at odds, Broly could only shrug, concerned for the fear he could feel coming from his mate. “No one will touch you, Usa,” he assured her softly, nuzzling her mark when she relaxed into him like it was the most natural thing in the world, her total trust in him to protect her rolling through the half-bond. “You’ll come no closer,” he added towards the priests, his voice taking on its usual dangerous monotone. “My mate’s afraid of you.” “Goddess,” one of them assured her quietly, “we mean you absolutely no harm. We’re only surprised and blessed to be in your presence and wish to pay homage to you properly.” “I’ll be the only one here that pays homage to my mate,” Broly snorted in annoyance. “Back off unless you’d like to pay homage to your gods in person.” “Broly,” Usagi whispered sharply as she felt his anger building through the bond, knowing that he regarded them as a threat to her for some unknowable reason. “Broly, I’m a little scared, yes, but they won’t hurt me, right? There’s no need to threaten them.” “He’s afraid that that they’ll try and take you from him,” Raditz murmured from beside her, knowing Broly and his reactions better than anyone else in the room, including the Legendary’s father. “We would never separate Divine Mates,” the high priest sputtered. “We only wished to offer Cha’s daughter food and drink and to answer any questions that she might have… and to ask some of our own, of course. If that’s alright with her and Broly.” “Well, I do have a lot of questions,” Usagi admitted as she looked up at Broly, giving him a gentle smile and awkwardly sending a wave of comfort to him through the bond, still unused to accessing it to communicate with him. “And while I’m sure that you, the king, and Poppa would be more than happy to answer them, I think that my inquiries would be best explained by the men that have dedicated their lives to the answers? Please?” The priests were beside themselves with elation by her request, but they had the common sense not to get overly hopeful when Broly cast a dark, threatening look in their direction, his eyes flecked with green as he stared them down. “I suppose that we could take our lunch here, r’sha,” he said slowly, once he was positive that the priests of Cha wouldn’t try anything stupid. At least Kio was sufficiently entertained by the way they instantly scurried to put together a meal worthy of the gods, ushering them over with many bows and ‘pleases’ and ‘thank you’s’ that weren’t necessary in the least. He took a seat though, staying quiet when Usagi urged him to be nice, gracing him with a genuine smile meant only for him and Broly when he obeyed and just sat and nuzzled her shoulder once before settling in. “I didn’t mean to raise such a fuss,” Usagi murmured shyly once the food was served and Broly dug in, while she sat there wide-eyed under the priests’ watchful gazes. “I only came to the temple because Poppa and the king promised to tell me the story of Dra and Cha and explain to me their suspicions about Broly and me.” “Broly’s never believed in the gods,” the priest reminded her, “but we’ve suspected for years that he’s a son of Dra, due to his constant conflict with his beast. Dra is our sun god, Your Highness, and as you know, Cha is our moon goddess. But it wasn’t always that way. Before our people were borne of the gods, there were two sun gods. Sh and Ta. And they were always battling each other even though they were siblings and stuck with each other for eternity.” “But why?” Usagi asked sadly. “My sisters and I never fight like that. Siblings shouldn’t.” “Because the goddess Sh and the god Ta were both infatuated with the moon goddess,” the high priest answered softly. “Sh was the goddess of life and Ta was the god of death, and they both vied for her favor whenever they crossed paths with her during an eclipse. Then one day there was an eclipse of the moon by both suns, and overcome with jealousy, they attacked each other as usual. Only this time it was in Cha’s presence. Unwilling to watch them fight each other, Cha threw herself between them and was impaled upon their fiery swords.” “But… but that’s horrible!” Usa exclaimed, tears filling her eyes. “They killed her?” “Yes, goddess. And since they’d spent most of their powers during their weeks-long battle, neither of them could revive her, not even the goddess of life. So they put aside their differences in favor of their love for Cha and joined, becoming one entity forever—Dra—and revived Cha with their combined power. Cha knew them instantly even though they were now one god, and she was so touched by their devotion that she mated with Dra. From their union the Saiyan race was born,” he continued, smiling gently as he watched Broly wipe at Usagi’s tears and kiss her lips. “And every once in a while, a true child of Dra is born. A child of Cha follows, and they always eventually mate. The last pair lived over a thousand years ago.” “What were they like?” Usagi asked curiously. “Were they like us?” “The daughter of Cha was a foreigner, like you. Daughters of Cha almost always are, since Cha herself wasn’t a warrior like our sun god. And the son of Dra was plagued by an unstable beast that always fought him, just like Broly… only the last son of Dra wasn’t anywhere near Broly’s power level.” “I’m not a son of Dra,” Kio finally huffed, breaking through to express his annoyance. “We’ve been through this a million times, old man, so stop trying to fill my mate’s head with fucking stories.” “I like stories,” Usagi replied, her tone slightly cold as she elbowed him. “If you don’t want to hear it, then you can go home and I’ll stay and listen. That’s what I thought,” she finished when Kio retreated grumpily and Broly visibly relaxed in his seat, going back to his meal. “Cha was never afraid of her mate, either,” one of the younger priests chimed in. “And Dra always deferred to her whenever she put her foot down.” “Your Highness, if I might ask a personal question?” The high priest ventured carefully, waiting for her nod before continuing. “I know of no way to put it delicately, but… when you two mate, do Kio and Broly become whole?” Blushing hotly, Usagi turned her attention to her food, but when Broly growled at the feeling of her embarrassment through the bond, she stopped him from getting out of his chair. “No, Broly. It’s ok… I’m just not accustomed to speaking of such things with near-strangers. And… the only way I can really answer that is to show you this,” she added softly as she summoned her inner light and cupped Broly’s face in her hand, kissing him once when he started purring right away, a dopey smile curling his lips up. “It’s my light that makes him whole. Nothing else.” “Mmm… yeah, it does,” her mate sighed happily, nipping lightly at her shoulder through her gown before he held a bite of food to her lips, just gazing at her adoringly without a care for what the other Saiyans thought, exactly as he had in the ring. “I wonder if the effect of your light might be permanent when you return the mark, Usa,” Paragus rumbled thoughtfully. Feeling her embarrassment through the bond again as well as hearing her paranoia that she would upset his father if she explained why she hadn’t marked him yet, Broly shot his father a warning glare. “Usa will mark me when she wants to and not before. And if anyone has a problem with that, then they can meet me in the ring for a discussion.” “That’s not what I meant, son,” Paragus huffed. “I was only wondering if it would stabilize you and Kio for good.” “It might. But then again, it might not,” the high priest chimed in. “The last daughter wasn’t a moon goddess in her own ri—what, Usagi?” “Actually, I’m the goddess of love,” the princess murmured in embarrassment. “My mother’s the moon goddess. As I was telling the king before, it’s complicated. When my mother dies, centuries from now, I’ll still be a love goddess even though I’ll officially succeed her. Goddesses are born into their powers. They don’t simply inherit them. Like I said… complicated.” Usagi shrugged at that, not sure how to further explain it, going back to her meal so as not to seem rude, knowing how the Saiyans abhorred wasting food. “At any rate, you’re a goddess,” the high priest stated. “The last daughter wasn’t, and her son of Dra was never fully whole, but they lived happily and her presence always soothed his beast. So maybe with your powers, Broly will be completely whole in the end?” “If he is, then that would be good,” Usagi answered diplomatically. “However, we won’t know that until I return the mark.” “And I don’t want you to before you’re ready, Usa m’yo,” Broly repeated. “Come on, let’s go home. Don’t worry about the leftovers, someone will eat them,” he added when he sensed the reason that she was still bent over her plate. “Al—Alright,” Usagi replied, standing as she felt Broly’s anger rolling through the bond, wondering what she’d done to upset him so badly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered once they’d left the temple and she was in his arms, holding onto him tightly as he flew them back to his quarters in the palace. “I didn’t mean to make you angry, Broly. I just wanted to stay and hear the story, that’s all.” “I’m not mad at you,” the Legendary murmured into her hair, “I’m mad at them. I get enough reminders every day that I’m not normal, and I didn’t appreciate the way they kept talking about me finally being whole. I’m not whole… but I’m fine,” he finished with a grunt. “As long as I’ve got you, I’m fine.” Afraid that her light would ruin his ability to fly, Usagi waited until they were in their rooms to kiss him gently, feeling him relax into her as she used the crystal, his purr rolling loudly, echoing off the walls. “They were trying to subtly pressure you into returning the mark,” Broly said calmly as she continued to use her healing light on him. “They wouldn’t say it outright, but that’s what they were trying to do… and I wasn’t just going to sit there and let them try to make you bite me before you’re ready, Usa. You’re mine, yes… but… but I want you to love me.” “I know,” Usagi whispered, her voice sad as she wished that she could just give him what he wanted, that falling in love with someone was as easy as that. Unsure what else she could say without it sounding like a lie—“I’m trying” or “I’m falling” wasn’t a lie, but at the same time she knew it would sound patronizing—Usagi wordlessly tugged him toward the bed, hoping to give him the next best thing to her love, hoping that he’d see the offer for what it was and he wouldn’t be upset by it. “No,” Broly stated slowly when she stopped and blushed, coloring with lingering shyness as she pushed the sleeves of her gown off and the dress fell to the floor. “I don’t want you if you think you have to, Usagi.” “I want to,” she assured him gently, tugging him towards the bed again. “What… you don’t want me?” She asked in surprise when he wouldn’t follow her lead, sitting down on the edge to look up at him worriedly, wringing her hands nervously. “Really, if I did something to make you angry, please just tell me. If I know what I did then I’ll know not to—“ A kiss silenced her, and Usagi relaxed as she felt his love for her rolling through the bond, his hands caressing and exploring lightly as he tipped her onto her back and he straddled her waist. “I always want you, my moonbeam,” Broly finally answered once he was simply resting on top of her, his own clothes lying crumpled up on the floor, his erection pulsing against her inner thigh. “But I never want you to feel obligated to share your body with me just because you’re afraid I’ll be angry or because you feel some sense of duty to me.” Touched by the depth of his love for her, Usagi smiled even as she sighed and shook her head. “I just thought to make it better, that’s all. To make it a good day again. We were having such a good day until I insisted that I wanted to talk to the priests.” “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to talk to them and learn about my culture, princess. Don’t worry about it. I just don’t like the priests, and I more than dislike the gods. They’re the ones that did this to me, so… yeah,” Broly muttered. He kissed her again briefly, but surprised her when he rolled off the bed, gesturing for her to wait a moment as he strode across the room to a closet and opened it up. The massive white fur he pulled out made Usagi sigh and fluff her hair, and as he brought it over, she wasn’t sure how to gracefully refuse it, thinking of the poor animal he’d killed to obtain it. “Broly… I thought I’d made it clear that I don’t want—“ “It was my mother’s,” Broly said quickly in response to the sadness he could feel coming from her—sadness over what she thought was a recent loss of life. “Father had it cleaned and gave it to me; he said that Raditz told him about your reaction to the one I killed and he didn’t want you to go without the mating gift. That you might not know what it means, but that we do and he wanted you to have it.” “Oh,” Usa whispered, feeling guilty about her initial refusal of the wer’kha fur now that she could feel how very important it was in their culture. “I’ll accept this one. And I’m sorry I refused the first, Broly. I… I didn’t realize how much it meant to you.” “It’s alright, Usa. I wouldn’t change a thing about you,” Broly replied as he tugged her to her feet and laid the massive fur out on the bed before gesturing for her to lie back down on top of it. “The wer’kha fur was the raiment of the moon goddess,” he explained, “and the beast it came from was one of her fiercest, most loyal guardians. Once, on one of her many adventures, Cha was close to freezing to death. So her wer’kha guardian sacrificed herself to save her mistress and gifted the goddess her fur to keep her warm. This displayed unmatchable loyalty, devotion and love to the goddess, and the wer’kha fur is a symbol of all those things even to this day. It’s why Saiyan warriors always face the wer’kha in fair combat. No ki is allowed during the fight, just brains and muscle. We respect them not only as warriors, but as companions of the moon goddess, and we also value facing them equally so that a gift to a mate will have more meaning.” “Oh. I understand, now,” Usagi murmured, “but I’d still much rather you don’t kill anything, Broly. Alright?” His nod came so quickly that she couldn’t help but smile, and the princess reached out to him as she laid back on the fur, waiting expectantly for him to come to her. “We’re supposed to make love on the fur, I take it?” Using his tail to fish around on the floor for his pants, he located them and fished out a small bottle of oil. “Yes, but first… lie down on your stomach and just relax.” “Mmm… what are you doing?” Usagi murmured when she felt something delightfully warm being dribbled down her bare spine as she did as she was told and relaxed on top of a lovely snow white fur.Other than a chuckle and a kiss to the back of her neck he was silent, and now he was trailing more of what felt like oil over her pert backside, his wonderfully calloused hands gentle once he began to smooth it over every inch of exposed skin. “Not that I’m complaining…” “I just want to make you happy,” Broly sighed, his love and total devotion to her rolling through the half-bond. “And I love touching you and knowing that you enjoy it, so… I just thought that this might please you.” “I was only going to say that you don’t have to do this,” Usagi giggled. “That… and I’d rather not ruin the fur. I have to admit, I really like it. It’s like lying on a warm cloud.” “I’ll get it cleaned afterwards, then, since I’d really like to mate with you on it,” Broly said with a hint of shyness, blushing when she turned her head and he heard her wondering if there was a particular reason for his desire. “When a warrior brings his mate a wer’kha fur, they typically mate on it. It’s um… supposed to be good luck. And a fertility thing, too. After all, it’s a symbol of the moon goddess,” he explained, looking down at his hands as he nervously fiddled with the bottle of arousing massage oil he’d gotten from Raditz, the kind that would make Usagi’s body sing with pleasure and hopefully assure her multiple orgasms. Broly so did want to hear her crying out in ecstasy for him long and often, and he wasn’t above asking one of his only real friends for advice and help in that department. “Fertility…” It was Usagi’s turn to blush, and she swallowed hard, her hand fluttering to her stomach briefly at the thought of getting pregnant. “You… you don’t want to wait, Broly? I mean, we hardly know each other, and I… gods, it sounds so horrible no matter how I try to word it…” “I know you don’t love me,” he mumbled, unable to look at her, not wanting her to see the pain of rejection in his eyes, unwilling for her to feign an emotion for him that she didn’t feel. “I just… I asked Raditz about it, and he thought that it might be a good idea if we wanted your mother’s acceptance. I don’t know if that’s the best solution, but I want you to be happy… and going home to visit would make you happy. My father said that grandchildren fix everything for parents that disapprove of a union, that they’re more willing to accept it in favor of seeing the child happy. I guess it was a dumb idea,” he sighed. “Broly,” Usagi murmured, “come here.” Unwilling to deny her anything, Broly did as he was told and immediately sighed and purred when she sat up and pressed her lips to his, her hands gently stroking through his hair and petting their way down his back and chest. “Your intentions are wonderful,” she finally said once she’d pulled back to give him an understanding smile, “but I’d like to wait before we have a baby. Just be patient and we’ll get there before you even know it, ok?” When he nodded, she pulled the Saiyan communicator from her subspace and fingered it nervously, grabbing a robe as well and putting it on. “Are… are you going to call your mother?” Broly asked in a mixture of hope and trepidation, terrified that Serenity or Rei might upset her to the point that Usagi wouldn’t speak with them again. “Yes, if that’s alright with you.” She waited for him to nod his approval before he backed off awkwardly, clearly not knowing what to do with himself while she made the call, caught between wanting to participate and hopefully speak with his new in-laws, and not wanting to piss off the people that loved Usagi—and hated him with every fiber of their beings. “Broly,” Usa said softly after hitting a series of buttons that Raditz had considerately marked for her in her language, “it’s going to be ok. That I can promise you.” “Princess!?” Apparently the man on the other line had been listening and gawking for several seconds before he’d yelled her title, but Usagi managed what she hoped looked like a nonchalant smile and a shrug. “I was hoping to speak with my mother?” She asked gently. “I’m afraid I had to end my last call sooner than expected, and I really miss her. I’d like to let her know that I’m safe and happy.” Broly couldn’t help but puff up at the sound of her saying she was happy, and he noticeably relaxed and took a seat out of the line of sight of the screen, knowing that seeing him naked in the background would only kindle her mother’s anger. “Yes, of course princess! Patching you through right now!” The screen went blank for several seconds, but Serenity picked up almost immediately, her eyes wide and full of tears, the fingertips of one hand covering her mouth as she choked out a sob and the fingers of the other caressing the screen. “Usagi,” she finally whispered. “Oh gods… my baby… I thought I’d never see you again!” Wiping at her own tears, Usagi just smiled and shook her head. “He never forbade me from calling you, Momma. I just needed to wait until I was sure that no one would be able to talk me into going back on my word. I have to stay, you understand that, right? That I can’t go back on my word,” she said gently even though she needed to be sure that no one would try to rescue her or attempt to convince her to leave. “He’s mated you then,” Serenity sobbed broken-heartedly. “Has he?” When Usagi nodded and bared her shoulder, her mother surprised her by glaring furiously and suddenly throwing something across the room, the sound of a vase shattering crashing through on her side. “I’ll make him pay for hurting you, Usagi, I swear it. He’ll suffer for forcing you to submit to his perversions!” “Oh gods… Momma, no!” Usagi protested. “You’ve got it all wrong! Broly has been nothing but kind to me since the moment I arrived! I mated with him willingly, I swear! Broly would never hurt me,” she added when her mother only gaped at her, clearly disgusted by what she was hearing. “Momma, he loves me with all of his heart, I can feel it through the bond. He’s been nothing but sweet and gentle to me, even when I’ve been angry with him or shut him out. He would die to make me happy… in fact, my happiness is the only thing he wants in life.” “Gods, Usa… they’ve brainwashed you,” Serenity whispered sadly, tears filling her eyes again. “Nothing of the sort, Momma,” Usagi sighed, shaking her head as she considered hanging up. “I came here expecting to be raped and used in exchange for our people’s guaranteed safety, and while another Saiyan might have treated me unkindly, Broly has shown me nothing but patience and love. I’m not brainwashed, Momma, I promise you that. I… I want to come home to visit, but I need you to promise me that you won’t try to make me stay on the moon. Broly’s willing to let me visit if it makes me happy,” she added softly, hoping that that would convince her mother that he wasn’t all bad. “He’s not welcome here,” Serenity choked out through her tears. Usagi could feel Broly’s turmoil through the bond and looked away from her mother to find Broly’s eyes narrowed in anger as he contemplated whether or not to let her go on her own, and when he spoke in Solarian by utilizing the bond, the princess blinked in surprise. “Joo can go,” he rumbled, his fear of her never returning tangible through the bond. “Ren-Tee, I vant my mate back. Three days,” he directed towards the communicator as he shrugged on some pants and came over to regard the queen of the moon. The look in Serenity’s eyes when she laid them on Broly was nothing short of furious, but it was clear that she was fighting down the urge to scream and insult him in favor of taking his offer. “I couldn’t stop her from returning if I wanted to,” she finally huffed after staring him down for a long minute. “She has a ginzuishou all her own, remember?” “I… jesh. But… tah’kha’or Usa.” Before her mother could open her mouth and tell him to stop speaking in Saiyan, Usagi intervened. “’Love’ is difficult to pronounce in Solarian,” she explained. “They don’t do the ‘L’ sound very well. Broly was telling you that he loves me, Momma; he’s afraid that you’ll keep me from returning to him. I know it would make him feel better if you just gave him your word.” “Vant Usa happy,” Broly added softly as he looked away from the screen to nuzzle her hair and draw in the scent that always succeeded in calming him. Placing his tongue carefully on the back of his teeth, he spoke the word in Solarian for the first time. “Love Usa,” he added tenderly, saying it in her language just to please her mother. Blushing brightly at the sound of him saying it in Solarian, Usagi tried her best not to giggle, especially since Serenity was glaring daggers at him and clearly wishing him dead right where he sat. “Broly, focus,” she snorted, elbowing him lightly. “Not in front of my mom, ok?” “Sorry,” he said quickly, backing off as he sensed through the bond that a lot of contact with her in front of her mother was taboo. Back on the moon, Serenity was watching the exchange and wondering if it was all just a trick or an act, but Broly’s body language told her that he was either telling the truth… or he was a superb actor. He had just deferred to her daughter, and instead of looking angry or annoyed by the little jab from her elbow, he only blushed and backed off… and then genuinely apologized. He’s very young, the queen realized. It didn’t lessen her hatred for him, but it made her wonder if maybe Broly was the one that had been influenced, rather than her daughter. Rei once said that it was impossible not to love Usagi… maybe that was truer than any of us realized. Maybe he really does love her. “For the sake of argument… if Usagi didn’t return, what would happen?” The heartbreak and fear in his eyes wasn’t an act; there was no possible way that anyone could have possibly faked that look, and Serenity relented as she shook her head and sighed. “She’ll return in three days. You have my word.” “D’in m’yo, k’sha Ma,” Broly said, hoping that she would recognize his sincerity. “Ven joo vant to go, r’sha m’yo?” He directed towards his mate. “Now?” Serenity asked hopefully. “Tomorrow,” Usagi said, hoping her mother wouldn’t be upset by her choice to stay another day. “Broly just brought me a really beautiful present and it would be rude of me to take off, Mom.” “Usa,” Broly added nervously. “Can… can I send guard? Peez?” “I…” Mulling over the idea thoughtfully, Usagi wanted to agree, but finally turned to her mother for permission. “Mom, he’s afraid that someone might try to attack me for willingly marrying him. He wants to ask Nappa to accompany me as a nightguard—it’s a Saiyan tradition and a high honor to trust another warrior with someone’s mate… huh… Broly, why not Raditz?” “Phhht… Raditz vill try to fuck joor sisters,” Broly chuckled. “Nappa vill behave.” “Oh, fair point!” Usagi giggled, only laughing harder as she imagined Rei setting Raditz on fire for hitting on her. Seeing and hearing Usagi’s laughter despite the fact that she was mated to the most brutal Saiyan in existence simply floored the queen, and she was too surprised to even consider disagreeing as she nodded. “I expect the general to behave while he’s here, and I’d warn him that there will likely be a lot of hostility directed at him. If he can’t handle that, then you should choose another.” “Kakarot,” Broly said simply. “If no Nappa, joo take Kakarot.” “Kakarot’s a sweetheart,” Usagi explained, giggling as she remembered the flowers he’d brought her to welcome her to Vegeta-sei once she’d gotten settled. “He’s as strong as Broly, but he wouldn’t hurt a flea, Momma.” “As… as strong as…?” Visibly swallowing, Serenity just shook her head, her eyes wide, too stunned to even give Broly a condemning look when he continued to purr and nibbled at her daughter’s throat… at least until he growled out something in Saiyan that sounded angry. “Don’t you get that tone with my Usa!” She snapped at him. “Usa m’yo,” Kio corrected her possessively, his green eyes flashing in anger. “Um… Momma, he wasn’t being mean,” Usagi said, guessing accurately at why she’d yelled. “Everything in Saiyan sounds like someone’s mad, even when someone’s saying something nice. Broly was just asking if I could hang up soon so he could spend the rest of the day with me before I needed to leave.” All too aware of how Broly would likely spend the rest of the day with her daughter, Serenity tried her very best not to look disgusted as she nodded, trying hard to remain diplomatic since he’d been so unexpectedly accommodating and was actually letting Usagi come visit. “Of course. If what you say is true about Broly, I hope you enjoy your day with him, Usa… I’ll see you in the evening tomorrow, my time?” “I think that’s right,” Usagi agreed as she tried to work out the time change in her head. Math had never been her strong suit and that hadn’t changed in the least. “Please make sure that the girls won’t try to kill Nappa?” “I will… and Broly?” Serenity asked hesitantly. “Jesh, k’sha Ma?” Broly asked, pleasantly surprised to be directly addressed without any cursing involved. “Thank you. If Usagi is truly happy and you’ve really been treating her as kindly as you say… thank you. And my apologies for assuming the worst,” Serenity added, clearly chafing at the fact that she was apologizing at all to the man that had killed Makoto. “And Usagi… I’m so happy that you’re safe. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” she added with a genuine smile. “Me too, Momma. Bye,” Usa said before she could get drawn into more conversation, sensing through the half-bond that Broly really wanted her attention if he was going to be forced to give her up for three whole days. “Oh please,” she giggled once she’d stowed away the communicator, “you’ll just spar with Kakarot the whole time and forget I’m even gone.” “I’d never forget you’re gone,” he murmured into her throat as he ran his lips along it and savored her scent, trying his very best not to tip her back and take her. No, he wanted to finish what he’d started, he wanted her singing with pleasure before he even entered her. “Lay down on your stomach again,” he finally urged her once he and Kio had gotten their libidos under control. Usagi slipped off her robe before obeying, her cheeks hot as she felt his eyes practically searing her skin from the way they eagerly roamed her body, his desire for her obvious. Hell, it was always obvious, even when they were fully clothed and discussing the most mundane of subjects. Even then, she could feel him keeping that need for her banked while his eyes still drank her in, as if he was memorizing every little detail of her and at the same time waiting for the moment that she would suggest that they go to bed together. And then he would make love to her, and even as he came, she could still feel his need for her, like a bottomless well that could never, ever be filled. “You’re giving me a massage,” she murmured after she’d complied, gasping in surprise when the hands gliding over her oiled back immediately sent fireworks shooting straight to her groin. Was she just more aroused than usual, or was there something in that oil? Gods, it felt like every nerve was right at the surface wherever he touched her, drawing soft, choked moans from her, alternatingly making her sag in surrender and arch into his hands for more. “Yes, I am,” Broly breathed in her ear as he leaned over her briefly, turning her face so that their lips could join for a moment. “Let me know when the pleasure becomes too intense,” he added as he slipped a well-oiled hand between her thighs and gently but thoroughly massaged her mound and then her inner folds, working his way to her clit where he methodically rubbed the oil into it until she was quivering beneath him and panting for air. “Too much?” “No,” Usagi replied with a whoosh of air when he withdrew his fingers and moved on to her thighs, drizzling more of that slick warmth down her legs before continuing on to her calves. “It just felt so good, Broly. Everything tingles, too, it feels so good. Is this normal?” “I wanted tonight to be special,” he replied with a soft, happy smile. “Because we’re mating on the wer’kha fur for the first time. So I asked Raditz what I could do and he gave me this bottle of oil. It’s arousing massage oil… and yes, I know how it feels since I coated my cock in it a couple minutes ago.” “Heh… I guess we can suffer together, then,” Usagi teased. “Oh, you’ve got it all wrong, moonbeam,” Broly chuckled as he slid his hands back up to her thighs and stroked her folds once, a smug little smirk playing at his mouth when her legs instantly fell open for him and she clutched at the fur. A soft moan that sounded like music was falling from her lips as he pressed into her from behind, and when he nudged forward and stretched her wide, his own voice joined hers in harmony. “Oh… holy shit, Usagi… you feel so good…” His voice had taken on a breathless quality that she hadn’t heard before, and as he covered her like a warm, muscled quilt and rocked deep, the princess flexed around him and gripped the hand that was beside hers and bracing his weight. “You too, Broly,” she whispered as she ground backwards to take all of him, marveling at how big he felt at this angle, how very, very full she felt as he moved slow. Always slow, she thought absently. Never hard, never fast… he was always so concerned that he might hurt her. “Broly…? I won’t break,” she assured him as the waves of pleasure began to intensify and she trembled from the intensity of it. Shivering at the images he could see through the bond of him taking her harder and faster, Broly had a difficult time fighting down the temptation to give her what she wanted. “I don’t ever want to test that theory, Usa. Because if you’re wrong, I’d never forgive myself… gods… come for me,” he finished with a whimper as he felt himself quickening, swamped with pleasure thanks to the oil he was steadily coating her inner walls with. “You didn’t… didn’t hurt me… last night,” Usagi argued weakly, teetering on the precipice of oblivion. “P—Please, Broly… harder… just a little bit? I need you,” she whimpered helplessly. That warm tingling that was shooting sparks of delight through her back with every movement of his chest as he rocked inside of her was now blooming along her tight sheath, and when Broly choked out a groan of surrender and thrust a little harder, Usagi instantly flew. “Yes!” She cried just before she couldn’t think to speak from the overwhelming ecstasy, moaning loudly and clutching at the hand that was still joined with hers as she felt him follow her, spilling into her and growling and purring in her ear. “F—fuck,” Broly stammered out after collapsing on top of her in a heap of satisfied warrior, kissing her mark as he tried to keep most of his weight off of her. “Hurt you?” A giggle answered that, and he replied with a chuckle of his own. “Love you, moonbeam. Gods… love you so much. And… I’m sorry I came. I swear didn’t mean to,” he added with a note of gravity that Usagi didn’t miss. “Shit,” she breathed as she read his surface thoughts like a neon sign, “Broly, why didn’t you drink it like the other nights?” His reply came in the form of thoughts and pictures rather than words this time, and Usagi sighed worriedly as she saw and heard him thinking about taking his contraception right before she’d decided to call her mother. That had distracted him, and then he’d been so swept up in emotion at the idea of letting her go for three days that something of such enormous importance had actually slipped his mind. “I’ll drink it right now.” Broly cringed as he withdrew from her, waiting for the anger that would surely come as he quickly mixed the birth control he’d been taking since the second day she’d been on Vegeta-sei. But it didn’t come, and he didn’t sense any anger from her at all, just worry and the mildest annoyance in the universe. And her worry bothered him far more than her anger ever would. “I’m sorry,” he repeated when he came back to the bed and stretched out beside her, kissing her chin in submission as he ran his fingers tenderly through her hair. “Please don’t worry, Usa.” “It was just the one time, and I’m not going to let it spoil our night, Broly. Not right before I leave you alone for three days,” Usagi replied evenly. “But,” she added tartly, “you’re waiting the full thirty minutes for that stuff to take effect, you hear me?” “Heh… yes, ma’am,” he replied with mock seriousness, his lips twitching back and forth from a fake frown to a tiny grin before he lightly nudged her onto her back. “I’d planned on massaging the rest of you anyway. I’d only meant to get that oil inside of you and to make you come, that’s all. I really hadn’t meant to come, too.” “I know, Broly.” Which is why she’d forgiven him so quickly. Shoving aside her concern, she smiled and rolled onto her back. “Well, get to work,” she giggled. “Yes, Highness,” Broly stated with mock seriousness, grabbing the oil to liberally spread some over her chest and stomach, his lips twitching up when he began to rub it into her nipples and she immediately clutched at the fur. “Does that please you, Your Highness? I do so want you to be happy with your servant.” “Phhht… haha, you’re my servant, now?” Usa replied, laughing when he nodded. “You’re playing one of those games that Raditz mentioned the other day, aren’t you?” “Maybe, maybe not. Do you want me to pretend to be your slave, moonbeam?” He continued with a promising smile and a twinkle in his eyes. “Give you whatever your heart desires, follow your commands to the letter and—“ “But you already do that,” Usagi countered with a grin, mildly surprised at how easy she’d felt with him lately, even though her cheeks were heating up in anticipation of saying what was on her mind. “If I were to tell you to kiss me between my legs like you did last time, you’d do it in a heartbeat and you know it.” “Mmm… maybe I would, but not right away. Not this time,” he chuckled as he slipped his hand to her folds and rubbed some more oil into her clit. “If you want that…” Broly continued to stroke and rub, waiting to hear a soft, breathless moan leave her mouth before he finished his sentence. “…I want to hear you beg for it.” “Then you’re definitely not my servant,” Usa whimpered, her hand moving to his wrist to keep it in place. He didn’t continue, though, he only pinned her hands behind her head while flashing her a mischevious grin, his eyes flickering to green. Kio was now in charge. “Please, Broly? Kio?” She tried in vain. “No, my moonbeam,” Kio whispered in her ear. “That’ll end it too quickly. You said that I had to wait the full thirty minutes for the contraceptive to kick in, remember? Heh, I’m just teasing, r’sha,” he snickered when she whined and squirmed, arms jerking briefly against his hold. “I’ll give you what you want as soon as I’m done massaging the rest of you.” True to his word, he loosened his hold on her wrists, beginning the massage right there, working his way up to gently knead the small muscles in each hand. Usagi could feel her clit throbbing in time with her pulse and gave Kio a look of pure disbelief, shaking her head slightly. “I don’t think I’ll make it that long.” When he only grinned in response, she wondered what would change his mind, and as she willed herself to relax beneath his touch, she racked her brain for a solution, keeping her thoughts to herself so he wouldn’t read them through the bond. An answer didn’t dawn on her until he’d completely massaged both of her arms and had moved on to her breasts, and as he teased her nipples and even bent his head to gently suckle one, Usagi whimpered helplessly and moved against him wantonly. “Please,” she breathed in his ear. “Please, r’sha? It’s starting to hurt. I need you.” Broly’s neck ached from how quickly his head snapped up in reaction to those words, his dilated pupils matching his mate’s even as Kio took over again and slid his hand between her thighs. “There… that’s it, atti, does that help?” He whispered hoarsely as he switched to massaging her hard nub in tight, concise circles. Her little nod and the way she clutched at him was all the answer he needed, but when she started speaking heatedly in Lunarian, Broly’s beast nearly melted right then and there. Gods, he loved it when he broke her back to her native language. “That’s right, moonbeam. I won’t make you suffer,” he purred as his touches became more deliberate and he rubbed her clit firmly. “I live to make you come, you know that? I love you.” It wasn’t lost on Usagi that that was the first time that she could remember Kio uttering those words, and even as she moaned at the mounting pleasure, she was tugging him down to her for a desperate, thorough kiss, humming in approval when he instantly began to devour her. “I love the way you kiss me,” she sighed once he’d drawn back with the intention of watching her climax. “Would you kiss me… um… there?” She asked hopefully. “Heh… I know when I’m being played, Usagi,” Kio chuckled, even though he was already sliding down to give her what she wanted. “But I have to admit, I don’t mind it one bit.” He found her clit swollen with desire when he removed his hand to replace it with his mouth, and even though he was going to give in to her, he couldn’t help but torment her a little, giving it a single, open-mouthed kiss before he only slightly ran his tongue over it. “Does that help, moonbeam? Are you enjoying my kiss?” He teased, grinning in satisfaction when she wiggled beneath him, whined, and dug her fingers into his golden hair. Kio rewarded her with another kiss then, his tongue slow and lingering against her clit before dancing around it, and when she let loose a moan of approval he began to suck. This is what you wanted, yes? YES! Usa answered enthusiastically, too caught up in the searing ecstasy rippling through her in hard, fast waves to keep her volume down in his head. “Please don’t stop,” she begged aloud, her fingers trembling as they gripped his hair and her hips rolling instinctively in time with every warm, wet suck. The oil had super-sensitized every nerve ending in her body, and her sex was no exception, so Kio kept his attentions gentle even when she pleaded with him for more, worried that he would hurt her accidentally if he gave in. As a result of this, Usagi hovered on the edge for nearly ten minutes, sobbing from the force of the pleasure overwhelming every other sense, both reveling in it and begging for an end to at simultaneously, her breaths coming out in rapid puffs as she dug her nails into his shoulders and added new scratches to the ones she’d already left. “Please!” She choked out in a high-pitched, desperate whimper when he switched back to licking at her zealously, his purring and eager growling vibrating her core and intensifying the pleasure while somehow not shoving her into orgasm at the same time. “Please, Kio, please let me come!” I’m not denying you, moonbeam, Kio chuckled despite feeling sympathy for her, trying not to laugh at how wound up he’d gotten her, how desperate she was and how she was thinking of shoving him down on his back to take what she wanted from him. He would welcome it, too, if she actually ever did that, but he wouldn’t say it. If she was going to decide to use him, Kio and Broly both wanted it to be her idea, not his. Painfully hard from the very idea of his mate topping him enthusiastically, Broly’s beast groaned into her folds and began to suck again, no longer quite as gentle, and when Usagi let loose an actual scream and nearly strangled him with her thighs, he gripped her tightly and bore her through her climax forcefully. “G—Good g—gods,” she stammered, her voice soft and weak once she could finally command it again, staring at the non-pattern of spackling on the ceiling as dark spots bloomed like roses and then vanished before her eyes. She’d nearly passed out and was still on the verge of doing so, and when Kio chuckled and suddenly loomed over her, a nice big, beautiful black flower bloomed over his forehead before winking out of existence, only to be replaced by another on his shoulder. Kio wasn’t ignorant to that and waggled his eyebrows knowingly, running his fingers through the spun gold of her hair while he reflected that she’d nearly pulled his from his scalp there at the end. “When you’re no longer about to faint, Broly wants to assure you that he can hold out long enough for the contraceptive to kick in.” “If you still want me,” Broly added with a sheepish smile, his hair melting to ebony when Kio relinquished control. “Something tells me that I might have worn you out.” “You did,” Usagi admitted with a weak giggle, “but I think I’ll survive some lovemaking… especially since the oil’s still making me feel all warm inside.” “Mmm… I think I can give you the relief you need, r’sha,” Broly assured her, purring happily as he got some more oil and returned to gently massaging her legs as he gave her some time to recover from the most mind-blowing orgasm he’d given her so far during their short marriage. “Just let me know when you’re ready.” “I’ll be ready after you stop tickling my feet!” Usagi cackled, struggling even as she laughed and tried to free her leg from where his hand was doing just that to her lovely little toes. “GAH! TICKLES!” She squealed. “STAAAHP!” Panting for air when he released her foot, Usagi found him gazing at her lovingly when she finally opened her eyes. “What?” She asked, suddenly serious. “I just love making you laugh,” Broly sighed, his smile one of complete and total contentment. “I could listen to it forever.” Usagi was touched by his emotional honesty—it was certainly refreshing when she lived among a strange people that never admitted their feelings openly—and suddenly no longer cared about the fact that she still felt a little faint. “Come here, Broly,” she commanded him gently, beckoning when he hesitated. “Are you sure?” He asked even as he cupped her and nuzzled her throat, even as his cock throbbed for release, more than willing to ignore it for her sake if she wished it. “I want you, Usagi, but I also don’t want you to pass out. “Yes, I’m sure. Don’t stop,” she encouraged him as she tried to pull him down to her with her legs, aching thanks to the oil coating her inside and out. But he suddenly resisted and shook his head, bracing himself on his elbows to keep her from joining their bodies. “What’s wrong?” “Kio wants you,” he whispered hesitantly, hushing his beast’s unexpected urging to ask her if he could assume control for once. “Can he…? He says he won’t if you don’t want it, but he wants to be in control, even if it’s only this one time. He doesn’t want you to use your light, either.” Despite her desire for him, Usagi shivered at the mere thought as she locked eyes with him, caught between her own lingering fear of Kio and her own curiosity about him. More than once she’d found herself wondering about what it would be like if Broly lost his tight hold on his beast or if her light failed to restrain him during sex, and this time was no exception. He’d said before that he would never hurt her and he certainly hadn’t as he’d loved her with his mouth, but what if he couldn’t control himself during the actual coupling? I’ll be just as careful with you as Broly is, Kio promised softly through the bond. Let me make love to you, Usagi. Just once… and if you don’t like it, I’ll never ask for the honor again. “But… you make love to me every night. You feel it, don’t you?” Usagi asked slowly, slightly confused by the request as she felt Kio shift into control and she gazed up into emerald green eyes and ran her fingers through golden hair. “And… you get a lot bigger when you’re in total control, Kio. I have a hard enough time taking all of Broly,” she added shyly, glancing at the long, thick arousal that she’d come to enjoy as often as possible since he’d taught her how to appreciate sex. “I won’t power up, moonbeam,” Kio assured her as he hesitantly nipped at her mark, afraid he’d accidentally scare her and she’d tell him not to touch her. “And yes, I feel every bit of your perfection, but it’s not the same as being in control. Just once?” He asked gently, leaning up to look her in the eyes, cupping her face in his hand as he waited for her to answer, hoping that she’d let him truly make love to a woman for the first time in his existence. Following his train of thought through the bond, Usagi blushed when she realized that Kio was still technically a virgin. Sure, he knew what she felt like, but he’d never actually called the shots whenever her and Broly had made love—her light had kept him subdued the entire time, had kept him from being able to so much as move a hand or initiate a kiss. “Alright,” she consented shakily, fully banking her light so that it wouldn’t restrain him at all. “So long as you won’t hurt me… you can have me.” Usagi honestly didn’t expect Kio to be gentle with her and was bracing herself for him to be too rough, preparing herself for the moment she needed to open her mouth and tell him to stop. She didn’t think he would hurt her, no. Not on purpose. Never on purpose. But accidents happened, and to be honest, Kio was like a walking accident waiting to happen, even if he never meant her any harm and would readily give his life for hers. What would surprise her later on, was not once did the thought ever cross her mind that this was the man that had killed her sister. She was worried about how rough he could be and of him losing control of his ki, but not once did the thought occur to her that he was the one responsible for Mako’s death. He was just her mate, who was kind to her, who loved her with every fiber of his soul, even if he sometimes didn’t know his own strength.Kio surprised her by kissing her first, his nervousness palpable through the half-bond, his cock nudging briefly at her soaked entrance. It’s ok, she found herself telling him as he deepened the kiss and their tongues danced, her legs winding around his waist in encouragement as she lifted her hips to urge him to continue. She felt his groan echoing into her mouth as his purr strengthened the moment he pushed into her and she responded with her own noise of pleasure, her arms and legs flexing around him to pull him closer as her sex drew him deeper. “Don’t stop,” she whispered between kisses when he paused, trembling against her, his breaths coming out in shaky pants. “It’s ok, Kio.” “So much trust,” he answered hoarsely, deeply moved by her acceptance and the emotion he could feel being directed at him through the bond. “I… I don’t deserve you, moonbeam.” Kio was about to say something else, about to repeat that he loved her, but Usagi was pulling him deeper with her legs, her tight, hot walls squeezing him perfectly, completely rendering him unable to do so much as think. “Gods… oh gods… Usa, my Usa…” “Don’t stop,” Usagi repeated gently. “Make love to me, Kio… I… I want you to.” With a shaky nod Kio complied and began to move, his eyes rolling back from the overwhelming pleasure. Sure, he’d felt it before, but he was in control—and that alone was enough to make his toes curl and set him to purring louder than ever. “Mine… all mine,” he groaned as he dared to move harder, a growl escaping him when Usagi whimpered and arched into him for more, her sex tightening around him briefly. “You like that, Usa?” “Yes… don’t stop,” she whispered, digging her nails into his shoulders when his lips suddenly crashed into hers and he kissed her roughly, his mouth insistent, hot and demanding as he thrust hard and deep, his hands gripping her tightly when she moaned in response. “Doesn’t hurt,” Usa assured him quickly the moment she felt his worry through the half-bond, dragging him back down for another soul-searing kiss as she began to move in time with him. You tell me if it hurts, my little goddess. Even if it’s only uncomfortable, Kio managed through the lust that was overcoming him as he began fucking into her hard and deep, his pace the only thing he kept in check, his hips moving slowly even as he was loving her roughly. Definitely doesn’t hurt, Usagi replied, delirious with pleasure as she began to spiral up, moaning loudly into his mouth as she came, her fingers moving to his hair to tug on strands attached to a still-sore scalp, the mixture of pain and pleasure making Kio growl in appreciation. Breaking the kiss so that they could both get some air, Kio rested his forehead to hers as he continued his hard, merciless thrusting, and when he locked eyes with his mate, he was floored by the emotion and desire in her eyes. Sure, she’d just come for him, but his heart ached at the knowledge that she had not only accepted this side of Broly, but was enjoying the wildness of his beast, meeting him thrust for thrust and matching his intensity. “Gods… I love you so fucking much, Usagi.” She was falling and wasn’t quite there yet, but Usagi damned near said it as she climaxed yet again and huffed with every rough movement of his cock inside of her. “Kio… gods yes… don’t stop…” A nip to his shoulder surprised the hell out of him, and Kio responded with a groan just before sinking his teeth into hers, trying his best not to come when she tightened once more in an explosive orgasm that was right on the heels of her last one. “No,” Usa protested softly when he suddenly gentled his movements and pressed tightly to her, worshipping her throat and breasts as his hands wandered her with a mixture of reverence and possessiveness that was staggering. “Please, harder—I loved it, Kio.” “I’ll come if I do,” he admitted hoarsely. “I’d love nothing more than to fuck you into the floorboards right now,” he assured her as he licked and nipped his way back up her throat and stilled his hips against hers to give himself a break, “but I won’t make it another minute if I do.” He’d given her what she’d wanted from Broly for the last several days, and Usagi found herself wanting more of it, more of him, more of that rough love that she knew she could handle so long as he didn’t go overboard. But a glance at the clock told her that—“it’s been twenty-three minutes, Kio. That’s long enough, right? And then you get can aroused again right away? Broly’s done it a few times, so surely you can—“ “Heh, I swear to Dra, I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Kio snickered as he rested his forehead to hers and tickled her ribs, teasing her good-naturedly. “I never thought you’d actually be begging me for my cock, Usagi.” He erupted into a deep, throaty genuine laugh when she slapped his arm half-heartedly, well aware that she wasn’t mad at him. And even if she was, her eyes were still delightfully glazed with lust and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t ask him to stop even if he’d pissed her off. His suspicion was confirmed when she nudged his hips with hers in a clear request for him to continue, but Kio shook his head slightly as he regarded her seriously, nipping at her lower lip to silence a protest that he knew she was about to make. “I know Broly already came in you once tonight, I can hear your thoughts, Usa, and I can hear you thinking that once more won’t hurt. But it might. I want you to understand that before you ask. You know there’s a chance I could get your pregnant, so think about it first.” “It’s only seven… six minutes, now, Kio. I think we’re safe. Go ahead. Please?” Usagi added, giving him her best impression of puppy dog eyes when he frowned and still didn’t move. “I’m still burning up inside from the oil. I want you,” she finished softly, her cheeks heating up under his intense emerald gaze. “Alright, moonbeam,” Kio finally consented, purring happily when she kissed him forcefully and moved against him before he could even withdraw to thrust into her. But don’t blame me when I knock you up.
We’ll be fine, Kio. We’ll be just fine.
I sure hope so, Usa.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Promise me you’ll come back to me.” “Hm?” Usagi half sat-up on her elbows in the dark, blinking her eyes open in surprise. She’d thought he was fast asleep, but apparently he was just as wide awake as she was. Wide awake and worried as hell. “Promise me, Usagi. Promise me you’ll come back?” The note of frightened helplessness in his voice made him sound a decade younger, so instead of being offended by the request, Usa sighed, laid down, and snuggled into him tightly. “You know I will, Broly. Do you really think I’d break my promise to stay with you? Seriously?” “No… I don’t think you’d intentionally break a promise to me. That… that’s not what I’m afraid of,” he and his beast admitted together, joined and whole thanks to the light she’d filled them with in an attempt to soothe them. “I’m afraid that you’ll go home and see your sisters, see your mother… maybe even see that asshole. You’ll see them and remember what you had to give up when you came to Vegeta-sei, and it’ll break your heart to leave them again. So you’ll stay… because you’d be out of your mind to give up your family a second time for someone like me. No,” he added quickly as he heard her thoughts about her promise and how the war would start again if she didn’t return to him. “No, Usagi. You’re not stupid so don’t act like you are. The war… you know that’d never happen again. I wouldn’t let it.”His words were harsh but they were true, so Broly only softened them with a tender kiss instead of recanting them, his purr non-existent thanks to his anxiety. “You know the war won’t start again if you stay on the moon. You know it won’t. The only thing tying you to Vegeta-sei is your sense of honor. Nothing else.” The second half of that statement was the biggest lie she’d ever heard, but Usa kept her mouth shut for the moment in favor of fully appreciating the first half of it and the message barely concealed by his harsh words. Broly was telling her that he loved her so deeply and truly that he would never allow the king to wage war on her people again. Even if she left him. She could even see flashes of images in his mind, possible scenarios where she stayed on the moon and he was forced to kill the royal family and all of the Elite to keep the Saiyan Armada from being sent to the Solarian system. Scenarios where Vegeta would try to coerce Broly into trying to fetch her back… along with the ginzuishou that the king wanted to keep on Vegeta-sei in order to keep his people safe from the Planetary Trade Organization. That last bit was news to her, and for a moment Usagi was distracted by it, surprised that King Vegeta had had a genuine motive for wanting her as a hostage that didn’t include his pride or that all-encompassing Saiyan hunger for more power. Funny, though… Broly didn’t have that same power lust that the majority of his people did. He just wanted to be normal. And he wanted her, and for her to be happy. So he would do that for her. He would let her go… and then he would continue to defend her even after she was gone. Just so she could be happy. I think I’m in love with him, Usagi thought privately, her heart pounding as she cupped his face in her hand and kissed him with every drop of that wonderful, sweet new emotion welling up for him in her heart. “I’ll come back, Broly…” Another reassuring kiss to his lips, just as sweet and loving as the last, followed by a sigh of longing for him… and she wasn’t even due to leave for another six hours. “…in three days. I swear it.” She wasn’t sure that she could say it just yet, not while it was still so new and fragile, but she opened the bond enough for him to feel what she felt as her hands trembled and she kissed his shoulder. “Lay back,” she breathed after grazing her teeth over the ruddy flesh, giving him a little push when he didn’t comply right away. He was too stunned by her sudden attention to his shoulder and the strong emotion he could feel coursing through the bond—it wasn’t exactly what he felt for her, but dear gods it was close—so when he landed on his back and she rolled on top of him, Broly could only stare up at her in the dark, his expression a mixture of adoration and confusion. “Usa?” “No,” the princess whispered when he tried to sit up, “lay down. Let me make love to you for once, Broly. You too, Kio,” she added as she let her light recede and she sensed warrior and beast becoming two separate entities again. Separate but cooperating and sharing control of Broly’s body—something they seemed to do more and more often without even realizing it—Broly and Kio both groaned softly when she slid down and wrapped her lips around his flaccid cock, her motions hesitant and unsure thanks to her lack of experience. The fact that she’d never performed a Saiyan kiss on him before didn’t matter to Broly, however; he was rock hard in moments and purring loudly as he fisted her hair in encouragement and tried not to move when she took as much of him in her little mouth as possible. “Usa… cha’dra m’yo… na’ge m’yo… I won’t last like this…” It had only been a minute since she’d begun, and already he was quickening as her lips twitched up in a smile at the reminder that he was just as inexperienced as she was and that it didn’t take much at all to set either of them off. “I’ll give you the full kiss when I return from the moon,” she promised softly when she released him and slid back up to take him inside of her, shaking her head and shoving him down into the plush wer’kha fur when he tried to roll on top of her. “F’ri, r’sha… k’hir ih m’eh,” Usa whispered shyly, her cheeks blazing hot when he groaned in reaction not only to hearing ‘r’sha’ leaving her lips… but by her very unexpected insistence that he submit to her. “Let me make love to you,” she breathed as she leaned down to press tightly to him, experimentally moving her hips as she topped him for the first time. They’d made love repeatedly all night, and while Broly hadn’t been on top every time, Usagi had yet to assume the dominant position, more than willing to let him take charge, especially since he seemed desperate to have her as many times as possible before she left in the morning. He’d even taken her from behind twice—something she’d enjoyed just as much as he had—when Kio had assumed control, and then once against the wall of the shower when they’d both gotten impatient and aroused while washing each other. And then again against the bedroom wall on the way back from bathing… and then on the bedroom floor when Broly had lost his balance and they’d fallen over in a giggling, laughing heap of nakedness that still hadn’t lessened their passion for each other. Now Usa was on top, her body taking over for her brain as she slowly rolled her hips and savored the pleasure that she was instantly rewarded with. “You feel so good, Broly,” she sighed as she moved lazily and kissed him, keeping it soft and sweet, every touch and movement reflecting the love that had budded only recently and was now blooming under the light and nourishment of his gentle, unconditional patience with her. “Tell me you love me,” Usa whispered shakily when he offered her no words and only gazed up at her with complete adoration and total devotion, his hands gripping her hips as he groaned and gasped with every slow roll of them and the feeling of her lips worshipping his throat and shoulder. His voice was raspy and strangled as he answered, but Broly gave her what she wanted without hesitation, his green-flecked eyes meeting crystal blue and gazing emotionally into her soul as he spoke. “I love you, Usagi. I love you… more than the battlefield loves blood… more than any warrior loves the feeling of life leaving his enemy… more than… more than the… the sun loves the moon… more than… gods, Usa, I’m gonna come… I—I love you more… m—more than…” A kiss silenced him and Usagi dared to move a little harder, smiling as her tongue stroked over his, slightly amused by the stark difference between the violence of Saiyan poetry and how lovingly they were mating on top of the snowy fur that Paragus had gifted them. She finished him with a soft, pleased moan, happy that she’d so easily gotten him off even though she hadn’t come with him, and Usagi worshipped his muscular shoulder with her lips and tongue as she rode him through the climax, her hips still moving just as slowly and lazily as they had from the start. “No,” Broly groaned when he felt her teeth tighten around the muscle and he heard her in his head, thinking seriously about marking him. “No, Usa, no… not yet,” he panted when she drew back, her face contorted in confusion and… was that rejection he saw and felt through the half-bond? Gods damn it, no! He’d never reject her! “Usagi, I want it more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life,” Broly rumbled sincerely, kissing her firmly as he pushed his love for her through the bond. “If… if you still want to when you get back… then we’ll complete the bond in three days. But not right before you leave me. Usa, if you bite me… I don’t think I’ll be able to let you leave the bed for a week,” Broly explained with a hint of shyness, his cheeks heating up at the admission. “Oh. Ok,” she replied softly, mollified by his reasoning, her fingers playing over the definition of his chest as she began to move her body against him again. “Again?” He murmured in surprise as he raised up on his elbows and wrapped his tail around her waist. “Well, I’d kind of like to come, too, if that’s alright,” Usa whispered shyly as she concentrated on keeping his softening cock inside of her, careful not to move too far back or forward, lest it slip out and give them trouble trying to get him inside of her again. With a little grin, Broly reversed their positions easily, chuckling when she squealed in surprise and tried to protest that she wasn’t done making love to him yet. “You can get back on top in a minute, moonbeam,” Kio purred as he slid out of her and moved down to kiss her mound, not minding the taste of himself. “Just as soon as I make you come, that is. And then after that, I’m going to fuck you from behind again… unless, of course… you mind?” “Actually… I really liked it,” Usagi admitted for the first time out loud, her cheeks crimson in embarrassment. “I liked it a lot, Kio.” “Good,” he rumbled before parting her folds and licking her once. “I want you to enjoy everything we do, atti. Now… come for me so I can fuck you,” he added with a teasing grin and a wink before diving in and licking and sucking at her clit, his mouth immediately ravenous, unlike every other time Broly had slowly built her up to it. Oh no, Kio was intent on making her come hard and fast; he wanted her on top of him again, loving him slow and sweet like before. He’d loved watching her ride him and he and Broly had both fantasized about it for days. If it wasn’t for her enthusiasm for being taken from behind, he’d be content to let her ride him all night. Kio had barely finished that thought when Usagi gripped his hair and tightened her thighs around his face, her voice calling out his name in ecstasy, her hips bucking and her mound bouncing up against his mouth as she climaxed hard. “Holy shit,” she whimpered when he finally released her. “That… that was fast, Kio.” “I’d love to do it again,” he sighed happily, his purr rolling so loudly through the room that he had to respond through the bond as well to be heard. Would you like me to, Usagi? I’d gladly stay between your thighs and lick your delicious cunt for the rest of my life. A light smack to his head made him laugh, and as he slid back up to kiss her, he couldn’t stop himself from grinning even when she sputtered and rolled her eyes. “Do you always have to ruin it by being so vulgar, Kio? Really?” Usa chastised him, turning her head when he moved in for a kiss, denying him with a frown. “I’m just teasing you, r’sha,” he snorted, more than willing to nibble and suck at her neck instead of her lips. “What? I can’t pick on you anymore? You know that I only tease the people I actually like. I kill the rest.” “Phhht, if that was the case, everyone except me, Raditz and your father would be dead. And maybe Kakarot and Nappa,” Usagi replied, trying her best not to smile when he laughed again and nodded. “But seriously… do you have to say such things while we’re making love?” She pressed. “I’m not going to be all sappy and flowery like Broly, Usagi,” Kio stated, though his tone wasn’t harsh as he pressed against her and eased his cock into her sopping entrance. “But it doesn’t mean I love you any less than he does. Look at me, Usa.” Once their eyes met, he gave her a rare, genuine smile, his green eyes lighting up in a way she hadn’t seen before. “I love you. And I don’t mean to offend you. But… I am what I am… and I’m hoping that you can love me, warts and all.” I do, she thought wholeheartedly before she could keep the words contained in her own mind, blushing hotly when his smile fell and he gazed down at her in complete surprise. “Usagi…” “Kio, I… I… I just… damn it,” she sighed, her cheeks aflame. Usagi couldn’t finish her sentence, it was just too awkward for her to try and explain that she thought she was in love with him, but it was so new that she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of saying it yet. But Kio and Broly had both heard her, and they were one as calloused fingers lovingly traced her face and warm lips pressed to hers. It’s alright, Broly whispered in her mind as he wound his tail around her and held her tightly, moving slowly inside of her, savoring the growing love he could feel through the bond. You’ll say it when you’re ready, Usagi. I love you. We love you… and we can wait forever if we have to. Damn right we can, Kio chimed in. You’re a gift to us; more than we’ve ever deserved. We’ll take whatever scraps of affection you care to throw our way, little rabbit. So much for riding him again that night—both Kio and Broly now had every intention of loving her gently until they were exhausted, focused solely on the soul wrenchingly pure love for them rolling through the bond. It was more than they’d ever deserved… and more than they’d ever dared to dream of. She loved them.################################## “Here,” Broly murmured, his eyes troubled as he opened his closed hand to reveal a silver pendant on a chain. “I… I know you won’t be happy with this, Usagi, but… if you’re in trouble and you can’t reach your communicator or wake me through the bond…” “It’s a panic button,” she sighed knowingly as she turned and lifted her hair out of the way for him to drape the gift around her throat. “It’s alright, Broly. I know you’re just worried.” “I trust you, moonbeam,” he whispered as he closed the clasp and kissed the back of her neck. “Please understand that. I only… I don’t trust them. If I were them, I’d find every possible way to keep you on the moon, to never let you leave again. I can’t blame them for hating me and for thinking you’re miserable here and unsafe with the enemy as your mate. I can’t blame them for wanting you to come home… for wanting you all to themselves. I know what that feels like,” he murmured as he held her tightly from behind, drawing in her scent and memorizing it for the two sleepless nights to come. He’d never tell her, but he knew without a doubt that he wouldn’t sleep a single hour while she was gone… not even with his face buried in her pillows. “Broly… it’ll be alright,” Usagi reassured him gently, trying her best to send him comfort and love through the bond as she relaxed into his possessive hold on her. “Momma wants my happiness just as much as you do. She won’t keep me on the moon… and I definitely won’t be staying longer than three days. I’ll keep my word, I swear it. And… something tells me that I’m going to miss you just as much as you’ll miss me,” she added, her cheeks heating up at the confession. “Hn… don’t think that’s possible,” Kio grumbled unhappily into her hair, “and if it is, then you should stay… wouldn’t wish that kind of misery on my worst enemy.” At that, Usagi turned in his arms and kissed him tenderly before gazing up into a pair of miserable emerald eyes. “Kio… stop being such a big baby.” “Don’t pick on me, cha’dra m’yo,” he muttered, his tone persistently despondent. With a little smile, Usagi pulled him down to her, but instead of claiming his lips with her own, she turned her head to briefly close her teeth around his shoulder. “If I don’t pick on you, Kio, it means I don’t like you,” she teased as she nuzzled the spot that she’d repeatedly wanted to sink her teeth into every time he’d loved her the night before. “But if you find yourself getting all down in the dumps and talking to me through the bond doesn’t make you feel any better… you can always just think about how hard I’m going to bite your shoulder when I get home.” While that was definitely an uplifting thought, it wasn’t what brought a smile to Kio’s lips, nor what made his eyes twinkle with a hint of happiness. “Home, eh? You mean when you return from home, moonbeam.” “Broly… Kio? Home is you,” Usagi replied without thought, nor without the knowledge of how those words lit his very soul up with hope and endless love for her. “Now, come on,” she continued before kissing him one more time and squirming out of his arms, oblivious to how he was now even more smitten than he’d been five minutes ago. “Nappa’s waiting for us.” So was her entire family, but Usagi didn’t say that as he basked in the glow of a warm smile from her and he followed along like an obedient puppy when she grasped his hand and headed out the door of their quarters... their home. Her home. Dra help me, I love her so much, Broly thought privately as he followed along. You and me both, boy, Kio sighed contentedly. You and me both. “Finally,” Nappa grunted when they entered the throne room. “I’m not cross,” he informed Usagi when she gave him a helpless smile and a shrug, “I’m well aware that the delay was his fault, not yours. If I’d just mated a woman as gorgeous as you, I’d hate to let her leave me for any amount of time. Now come on,” he added with a wink when the princess blushed in response to the compliment, “let’s get this show on the road before your mate comes to his senses and drags you back to his room.” “I’ll admit, I’m tempted… but you already know that,” Broly sighed as he pulled her into his arms one last time and kissed her tenderly, blatantly ignoring the Elite in the room and the reaction he knew they’d have in only a moment. “I love you, r’sha m’yo,” he whispered tenderly when he broke the kiss to find her smiling up him, her eyes brimming with the love she had yet to admit aloud. That was fine, though… he knew she’d say it when she was ready. “Oh, can it!” Usagi snapped at the Elite when a few in the room that weren’t stunned to wide-eyed silence by Broly’s words began to tease him. “There’s nothing wrong with not being as emotionally constipated as the rest of you, you know that!?” Those that had been stunned to silence by Broly were suddenly shaken out of it by the sound of Broly and Kio’s combined laughter… and the sight and sound only stunned them further, along with the Elite that had started picking on him for saying ‘love’ out loud.“Goddamn.” The one to speak was Nappa, whose lips twitched up in a grin at the sight of Broly, his eyes flecked with green, belting out a series of genuine, heartfelt laughs in reaction to his mate’s outburst. “Shit, now I don’t think I want to let you leave, princess. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Broly laugh before.”“Not unless he’s been drenched in the blood of a thousand enemies,” Kakarot chuckled from the line of Elite guards, exchanging a grin with his eldest brother and a nod as he stepped out of the line and approached the warrior that shared his birthday. “Come on, Broly! You and I are going to go play,” he chuckled.“Huh? The fuck, Kakarot?” Kio ground out. “I’m not saying goodbye to my mate! Fuck off!”“Then give her another kiss, say goodbye, and then go beat on my baby brother for the next three days,” Raditz ordered as he made a shooing motion at the other long-haired Saiyan. “I knew last night that if someone didn’t intervene this morning, you’d wind up dragging her back to bed for a few more hours, then drawing out another goodbye later on, only to result in the same! So consider this your intervention!”Giggling at the three of them and the face that Broly was making—an odd combination of pissed and touched—Usagi nodded and stepped into his arms to kiss him on the lips. “They’ve got you dead to rights and you know it, r’sha,” she teased. “Now go play with your friends, ok? I’ll be in touch through the bond as often as possible, promise.”Friends…? Broly and Kio both started at that and looked around for a moment, dumbfounded at the grins he found on Nappa, Raditz, and Kakarot’s faces… and the smile on his father’s. Huh… I have friends. When did that happen?When perfection walked into our lives, Kio rumbled thoughtfully, taking control of and focusing Broly’s eyes on the golden goddess standing before them. “Cha’dra… if you find yourself wanting to stay for an extra day or two… just let me know through the bond,” he murmured before kissing her, his lips twitching up at the feeling of her astonishment through the bond… followed by a tart smile of her own.“Sorry, Kio, but you’re not going to get rid of me that easily,” she snickered even as she was deeply touched by his selfless offer. “Now… go play with your friends. Kakarot, Raditz… ja’ta,” she added with a smile directed at Paragus, “I trust you’ll take good care of him for me.”“Heh… the best,” Kakarot chuckled. “We’ll both be black and blue by the time you come home, princess.”“No,” Kio snorted, “just you. But I might spare my mate for a minute to heal your stupid ass.”“Aw, you’re just besties, aren’t you?” Usagi giggled as she parted from him, her giggle dying to be replaced by a gentle, understanding smile when she watched his hand flex, reach for her, and then withdraw as he frowned and she felt his disappointment and fear through the bond. “I will see you in three days, Broly. I don’t break my promises,” she reminded him.“I know,” he sighed. “Be safe.”Taking Nappa’s hand in hers, Usagi nodded at Broly and smiled, her face reddening as she prepared to say what she’d wanted to since last night. “I will. And… I love you, too.”And then she was gone in a flash of light.“Did… did she just…?”No surprise, the Elite standing guard were all just as stunned as the strongest of them all.“Heh… yeah, she did,” Raditz answered a wide-eyed Broly. “And something tells me you’re going to make her regret saying it for the first time just before she left you.”Unable to help himself, Broly actually grinned. “I don’t know, Raddy… I don’t think she’ll regret what I’m planning for her return. Now… come on, Kakarot. I need a distraction for the next three days, and I think pounding on your face just might fit the bill.”“Pounding on his face?” Raditz snickered. “Wow, you’re missing Usagi quite a bit—OW!”“One more innuendo about my mate and I’ll pound on your face,” Kio huffed as he watched Raditz clutch his bruised stomach. “And I promise that you won’t enjoy it.”Unfazed, Raditz proved that while he was the weakest in the room, he still possessed bigger balls than any of them. “I don’t know about that, gorgeous, I’m into some pretty kinky shit.”“Phhhhht… shut up, Raditz,” Kio snorted.