Well, look...a new chapter!!! Wheeeeee!!!

Warnings: slavery, abuse, rape, mpregs, LEMON, angst

Rated NC-17 for later chapters.

Disclaimers: I own Sage. *shrugs* Don’t fuck with him without my permission. And I suggest leaving Black Dragon Sage alone...he quite clearly belongs to Herself. And she tends to be quite protective and possessive of him. Kami only know why…

Always to my beloved tsuin...Oh no mummy…don’t!! *sniggers*

And to bakayaro onna, my tireless and perpetually unthanked beta’er...well I do worship the groundhogs you tread upon dear danglemate!!! Here…have a Sage!!! *smirks*

I won’t beg for reviews...unless he makes me...*grins* Enjoy!!!!!!!

Restraints and Liberations

By Talon

Chapter 2

Trapped

The boy awoke slowly, swimming in the rich, heady scent of Saiyjin sweat and spicy musk. He sighed, contentedly and reached out, expecting to find and poke another warm, sleeping body. He frowned; his eyes still closed when his fingers met nothing...where were his siblings? Even if the twins were up and about as per usual, his younger brother Gohan didn’t usually get out of bed until he did...

In a cataclysmic mudslide, the events of the past three years caved in on him, leaving him breathless and terrified. His eyes flew open and he sat up with a gasp. He wasn’t in his quarters in the slave house, nor in his Master’s bedroom...where...

“Ah, you’re awake then.” The deep vibrant voice startled him into a panic. In a fluster of confusion, he fell onto the floor, still tangled in the bedclothes. He struggled to extract himself from the mess, but unexpectedly a sharp, burning pain raced up from the base of his tail through his spine and exploded in his head.

When he next awoke, the voice instantly soothed him, encouraging him not to move. He opened his eyes, and cringed slightly as ebony orbs regarded him worriedly.

“The injury to your tail is pretty extensive. I’m no medic, but I do have some suitably rendered gel on board. It just has to finish...calibrating, I guess...tail flesh is so different from other flesh on our bodies; it should be ready to apply in just a few minutes. Lie still.” The boy obeyed, cold sweat beading on his skin as a whisper of the pain he had recently felt snaked along his tail. He set his jaw and commanded his body not to move. There was a quiet beeping in the back ground and Turles rose and left, leaving the slave to look around at his surroundings.

The ship wasn’t large, nor luxurious. He was set in a sort of alcove on the wall, in which a largish bed had been placed. In front of him across the room was a sort of kitchen/sitting area, and beyond that, through the open doorway, he could catch a glimpse of flashing lights and stars, which must be the cockpit.

Turles returned and saw the cub looking around curiously. “Not much to look at, I know, but she’s mine, and I don’t require a great deal in the way of comforts.”

The boy shifted his gaze to the oblong object Turles held in his hand. He noticed and smirked. “This is a gel capsule.” He paused. “I was going to just apply the gel, but I think it would be better if you bathed before I do so. I know it will hurt, but I’d rather you be clean before-hand.”

The boy nodded, and started to sit up, but was stopped by a hand.

“First things first. We’re not planet-side anymore, and it is just going to be the two of us for awhile. I can order you to tell me your name, I do still technically own you after all, but I would like it much better if you would tell me of your own volition. And before you refuse, you should know I’ve already done a full body scan on you so the ship’s security system will recognize you as belonging here. I can use that to find out who you are. But I haven’t.” He looked dead-on into the boy’s eyes. “I want you to trust me, child. I am not going to hurt you. Please...what is your birth name?”

There was a long silence, and the child’s inner conflict was apparent in his scent, and in the twitching tip of his tail. Turles waited, outwardly patient, but inside, every nerve was stretched to its breaking point. If the child was who he suspected...

A tear leaked out of one large eye as the boy turned his face away and whispered, “My birth name...” he stopped and gulped hard. “Please...don’t,” he pleaded. “Don’t make me tell you...”

“I need to know, child.”

Three years of forced submission warred with his previous life, but in the end, his most recent conditioning won out. He could not refuse the request of the one who owned him, he had been painfully taught the futility of that resistance, and so reluctantly he managed to speak, “My birth name is Sage,” before his control broke and tears cascaded down his thin cheeks.

“So it IS you,” breathed Turles. He knelt beside the bed, his head bowed, one fist over his heart in the traditional posture when declaring loyalty to the crown. “My Ouji,” he said respectfully. “I am, of course, yours to command.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Turles sighed and stretched, yawning hugely. It was about time for a sleep cycle, he thought. His eyes wandered to the prince who was sitting quietly in a chair at the table, his hands in his lap where Turles had suggested he sit hours ago. He hadn’t moved nor spoken since the meal they had shared after gel had been applied.

The boy’s response to Turles’ gesture of loyalty had shocked the elder Saiyjin. He had been frightened, and had actually retreated to the furthest corner of the bed, as far away from Turles as he could get, seeming not to feel the pain in his tail.

“Please don’t, please don’t, I’m not…” had been all Turles had been able to understand from the boy’s…Sage’s choking sobs.

“Your Highness?” Turles had been stunned beyond words. He had of course met his cousin’s eldest child on more than one occasion, and watched the happy, genki baby grow into an intelligent, self assured, if somewhat arrogant and thick skulled, boy, conscientious and dedicated to the royal house and to his people. A fitting choice for the title of Crown Prince. But this…

“Don’t…don’t call me that, please, Master...I am not a prince, not anymore...can never be a prince again...please…”

Turles fought a brief battle within himself as he considered what to do. On the one hand, Sage was quite clearly his superior, on the other, he was also family, by marriage anyway, and on another, completely different level, he was subservient to Turles, a fact which made the spiky-maned Saiyjin distinctly uneasy. Finally settling on following his instincts, he approached the child, his hands out, speaking soothingly and slowly enveloped him in his arms, his tail slipping over the skin left bare by the scant vest. He purred loudly, and hum-crooned, silently willing the child to relax, settle, be safe, be calm…

And slowly, Sage’s tears stopped, though his posture remained tense against Turles. He twitched involuntarily and Turles immediately released him, giving him his space, watching him carefully.

Sage knelt before him, his head bowed. “Please forgive me, I did not mean to disobey you in such a manner.”

Turles felt like banging his head into the nearby wall in frustration. He could understand the child’s confusion over his role, but that didn’t make it easier to deal with.

“Sage,” he said quietly, realizing for at least the time being, he would have to give the child instructions. He couldn’t be expected to act as Turles thought of him...as a prince...as one used to giving orders, not one waiting to be given them. “You did nothing wrong child. Come, sit over here on this chair, and I’ll get that collar off.”

Looking up with frightened eyes, Sage obeyed, shivering slightly as he moved over to the chair and sat, tentatively. Turles noticed and wondered absently what he had in the way of clothes for the boy. He himself wasn’t cold, but Sage was painfully thin, and his ki was suppressed...it was no wonder he was cold. Not to mention he wasn’t wearing any clothing to speak of...

Removing the collar was a long and fiddly process...Turles knew how to do it, of course, had the proper tools, but all collars were slightly different, and this one was oddly complex. The worst part of it wasn’t the length of time it took, but the fact every time Turles made a mistake; it wasn’t him who got a shock of ki throughout his body.

When the collar was finally removed, an angry, bruised welt wound all around Sage’s neck where it had been. Hn…it hadn’t fit as well as it could have then, mused Turles, touching the indented skin carefully. Sage did not flinch at the light touches, hadn’t moved during the removal, except when Turles had slipped up, and had actually answered some of Turles’ casual questions, like “When was the last time you ate before I bought you,” (A day or so) and “Was that the planet you were on the entire time?” (No.)

He knew better than to question the child too enthusiastically just now, the boy was in shock, and frankly, Turles was worried about him. He hadn’t considered, before he removed the ki collar, how much the child’s ki would have increased in the three years he had been enslaved. The ki restraint didn’t erase the wearer’s ki, merely pushed it down, made it so the wearer could not access it, weakening him. But three years of being beaten and raped...well, that would only make Sage stronger in the end...and the boy, once renowned for his exquisite power and control at a young age now had no clue how to manage his newly restored strength. The fluxuations were dizzying, and that, thought Turles, was probably why he had been sitting so still for so long...

Once the collar had been removed, Turles had led the boy into the bathing chamber, where he proved to be incapable of bathing himself. The sensation of being finally completely freed from his suppressive restraints was overwhelming to the chibi, and he had turned to Turles with pleading eyes as he swayed on his feet.

Turles had just shaken his head, ran some hot water into the tub and instructed the child to disrobe. He had done so, without hesitation, something which troubled Turles, but he pushed it away for later consideration.

“Can you get in yourself?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Sage, please, don’t call me that...”

Sage swallowed hard and asked quietly. “What would you have me call you then, cousin?”

“You do remember me,” said Turles, almost accusingly.

“Hai, I remember, but...” he seemed unable to speak further.

“Call me Turles, or if you can’t manage that, I suppose you can call me “sir” if you must, for now. You need to realize, Sage; you are no longer a slave.”

Sage bowed his head, but did not answer, and Turles sighed. “Well, get into the tub. I won’t leave you, don’t want you drowning on me.”

He had gently helped the boy bathe, washing wounds he hadn’t seen until Sage had undressed, and carefully, VERY carefully and gingerly cleaning the injury on his tail. The child nearly jumped out of the water when Turles moved his tail, and he was reminded, and ashamed he had forgotten the broken bone.

“We’ll take care of that too,” he promised as he rubbed cleanser into Sage’s short hair. The hair, he mused...that was another question, and one he decided to ask about then. After all, it was the hair, or rather lack of it that had thrown Turles off the scent initially. Saiyjin manes came in all lengths and degrees of wildness, but Sage’s had been distinctly royal, sweeping up into a cobalt streaked flame of blackest midnight, mirroring his sire’s and Grandsire’s in all but color.

“What happened to your mane?” he asked as he rinsed the short, uneven spikes with clear water.

“Was the first thing they did,” murmured the boy.

“Who? The kidnappers?” asked Turles.

Sage hesitated. “No,” he said finally. “The slavers. The first ones they sold me to. Said it was too distinctive and cut it down. Then after that, they marked me with the first brand.”

Turles growled low in his throat as he was caught up by a sudden realization. “You couldn’t have known...the kidnappers?” Sage turned his eyes up at that. “They were all slaughtered when your father’s squad caught up with them and discovered you weren’t there. That’s one reason they didn’t find you right away. In the midst of a bloodbath, no one thought about the fact they were killing everyone who knew where you had been taken.”

A faint smile flittered across Sage’s face, so quickly Turles wasn’t at all sure he had actually seen it. Choosing not to mention it, he stood and grabbed a drying cloth, and helped the child up, wrapping him carefully in it and carrying him into the main compartment of the ship.

Setting him back down on the bed, he instructed Sage to sit there for a minute while he rummaged around for something for him to wear.

Mumbling to himself, Turles went through all his clothing compartments. Bodysuits were out, he only had adult suits. Forget armor. And no shoes or boots either. Good thing he didn’t rely on body suits and armor for clothing in his line of work. Finally, he dug out a dark blue long-sleeved tunic that looked as though it would cover most of Sage, then came up with a pair of loose brown trousers which he cut down with a bit of ki. They had a drawstring, so they could be cinched to fit. It wouldn’t look terribly fashionable, but he would be covered, and kept warm.

“You’ll have to roll the sleeves up, but other than that it should fit you ok,” he said, returning to the bed where Sage sat, waiting. “But first, take off the towel and roll onto your stomach.” Sage’s eyes got huge, and his ki spiked wildly in his fear. Too late, Turles realized what he thought was going to happen.

“No no...Sage, it’s all right...remember the gel? That’s all I am going to do, I swear it, child! I am going to apply the gel and set your broken tail-bone.”

Sage still looked frightened, but he obeyed, his ki lowering somewhat, though it spiked every time his fear scent did.

Sighing, Turles covered Sage’s top half with the towel, trying to keep his damp body somewhat warm, talking him through the procedure, telling him about the gel as he applied it.

“Now it is going to sting for a few minutes, but I need you to hold your tail as still as you can until it hardens,” he said as he ran the capsule over the mutilated flesh, watching the clear gel ooze out and crawl over it, covering all of the injury. “It only takes a little while, and it won’t harden completely, it just…congeals…it won’t be too heavy, and it will have some give to it. The gel on the inside continually refreshes itself, and the individual molecules attach themselves to muscle and bone and nerve cells, providing building blocks so healing is drastically accelerated. It ought to completely restore your tail to what it should be in a few weeks. And you should see the stuff calibrated to re-grow skin...you can actually SEE it working, because the gel is so clear...there. Just sit still for a moment, and let me get a splint for your broken bone, ne?”

A few minutes later, the tail had been splinted, and the gel had hardened into its normal, resting state, covering the bared and damaged skin in a clear, thick, somewhat bumpy, rubbery coating, and Sage sighed with relief. Turles handed him the clothes and instructed him to put them on, he’d get some food ready.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That had been hours ago, and Turles yawned again as he double-checked the autopilot and set the watchers and alarms to wake him if there were any significant changes. Stripping off his own tunic and pants, he paused and looked at the chibi still sitting in the chair. The child was nearly asleep, his chin nodding towards his chest, jerking upright every so often, his eyes unfocused, but still half open.

Like most Saiyjins, Turles habitually slept in the nude; however he thought it might make Sage nervous considering what he had just come from. Gently shaking the child’s slight form, he said quietly, “Come on, it’s time for bed now.”

Sage startled, but Turles had already turned from him, dumping his tunic and pants into the clothes refresher, pulling on the bottom half of a short bodysuit and crawling into the only bed on the ship.

The lights were dimming, and Turles frowned as he realized Sage hadn’t joined him. “Well?” he said, his fatigue making his voice slightly irritable. A soft noise alerted him to a presence beside the bed. He looked down, his eyes adjusting to the fading light, his voice stilled in his throat.

Sage was kneeling beside the bed, completely naked….his head bowed and trembling. His scent was terrified and hurt, and before Turles could say anything, Sage’s small voice crept up over the edge of the bed and whispered against his ears.

“What do you wish of me,” a hesitant pause, “sir?”

Turles was flabbergasted. Damn him all to hell, he had completely forgotten...of COURSE the child would think...he reached out and cupped Sage’s small, shivering cheek with his hand.

“Child, I only wished for you to be comfortable...I know it has been three years since you have had a proper bedmate...Saiyjin cubs should not be expected to sleep alone. But please believe me; I have no desire to rape you, to hurt you, or to have you service me in any way. This is the only bed on board, and I thought...I had hoped you wouldn’t mind sharing it. If it makes you uncomfortable, I will sleep on the floor...”

“NO!!” Sage’s shout was deafening. His eyes were wide. “You…you…it is your bed...I will sleep on the floor…I...”

“Sage, look at me.” And as Sage turned his eyes to his cousin, Turles turned back the blanket, exposing his body, clearly outlined by the skintight material of the bottom half of the bodysuit. To Sage’s palatable surprise, Turles was completely limp, not aroused in the slightest...his gaze was curious as it met the elder Saiyjin’s.

“Chibi, you have been away from your own kind for too long,” said Turles, hiding his amusement as he flipped the covers back over his body. “You are years from your Awakening...your scent is unripe, and unarousing to adult Saiyjins. It invokes protective reactions, not predatory ones. You are safe from me in that respect, I give you my word.” Sage appeared to think that over.

Finally, he whispered, “May…may I put the tunic back on, please?”

“Of course.”

Sage stood, retrieved the garment and pulled it over his head, pushing the sleeves up when they covered his hands and beyond. He approached the bed, his scent, nervous, but...pleased? Expectant? He stopped at the edge, hesitating...looking at Turles again for confirmation, permission...Turles nodded, waiting for the child to make his decision and smiling when the boy climbed into the bed and lay down cautiously next to him. Turles gave the blankets a twitch so they covered Sage as well and made sure to give him plenty of room as he lay back and breathed deeply, enjoying the sensation of the child beside him. He didn’t particularly enjoy sleeping by himself, though in his line of work, he did it often enough, so it was pleasant to share his bed with Sage. Saiyjins were a pack-minded people, and disliked being alone. He suddenly caught a glimmer of what it must have been like for Sage...alone, separated not only from his people, but his personal pack...his sebba, (though Turles remembered his cousin laughing about the boys calling him “mama”) his papa, his brothers, his grandsires...

Turles frowned in thought. He had wondered why Sage had never been found, despite the continuation of the search. It had never faltered, searching systematically when leads petered out. There was never a lack of volunteers, the Ouji never had to order anyone to a search team, and Turles himself, as well as every single other trader he knew had always been on the lookout for signs of Sage in their trades and travels. But the bonds that should have led his parents to him, hadn’t. He supposed, it could be the fact Sage had been so severely ki-restrained. But...looking over at the child, who by now was deeply asleep, perhaps Sage had done something, something at his end of the bond...something to keep his parents from finding him.

Turles sighed. Even to him, that sounded farfetched. But, there was that response, that first response to his asking about his birth name...”That is no concern of yours. Leave me alone.” And his response to Turles’ declaring his loyalty...something about not being a prince, never being able to be a prince again...

It was confusing, and Turles doubted if the boy himself completely understood what was going on. He breathed deeply again, inhaling the finally relaxed scent of the boy snoring gently beside him and settled to slumber himself. He was surprised to discover a deep purr escaping his chest as he burrowed into his pillow, and even more surprised as an answering, sleeping high-pitched purr vibrated beside him.

To be continued...