CHAPTER SIX:

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Welcome to the Velvet Rope’s annual Family Night!”

A loud cheer arose from the crowded room, as everyone turned their attention to the announcer on the makeshift stage.

“This year is extremely special, folks, so you might want to have your cameras and video recorders out! We have many entries this year, people from all over the universe!” Waiting for the cheers to die down, the man continued. “That’s right folks, and I have a feeling that the competition is going to be pretty stiff this year! Let us take a moment to greet our judges for the evening!!”

Vegeta turned sharply on his seat to glare at Ayeka, who seemed to be enjoying herself. He hated the crowd, he hated the noise and quite frankly he was beginning to doubt that anything was going to be achieved by hanging around here much longer. If he was called ‘daddy’ one more time, he was going to blast someone or something to kingdom come.

“Let’s get out of here.” He whispered harshly to her.

“No.” Ayeka replied curtly, her eyes still pinned on the activities on stage.

“I do not see the reason for this…”

“I need the money, Vegeta.” She answered coldly, finally tearing her eyes to stare into those inky depths. “I need to take a good shower, buy myself some clothes and shoes and at least look decent.”

“Who cares?” Vegeta retorted. “You look just fine to me.”

Ayeka’s breath caught as the last sentence spilled out of his mouth. Did he really mean that or was he trying to get her to leave? The air around them suddenly seemed to thicken with tension and everyone and everything else was drowned out as they stared at each other. Vegeta felt himself stir again at the vulnerable look on Ayeka’s face and he cursed himself inwardly for being insensitive to her needs. Eventually tearing his eyes away from her, he mumbled out gruffly,

“Fine. Do what you like. I think they are calling you all backstage now.”

Ayeka shook her head lightly, as the mood was shattered. Rubbing her hands nervously, she licked her lips and stared at the announcer.

“And now if all our contestants can head backstage, we will get this show on the road!”

“Yay, Ayeka! Good luck to you!” Sasami chirped, as she gave her older sister a crushing hug.

Ayeka muttered out a soft ‘thank you’. Standing up, she took a deep breath.

“Here goes…”

She began following the line of other contestants and swallowing tightly, she gave one last look at her ‘family’, receiving a wave and a grin from Sasami and a curt nod from Vegeta, who had a neutral expression on his face. Smiling wanly, Princess Ayeka was lead into the waiting green room.

“Alrighty folks! Did I forget to mention what our grand prize winner is going to get?!”

A loud resounding ‘no’ was heard from the crowd and the announcer grinned.

“That’s right, I didn’t tell you! Our grand prize winner of the annual Velvet Rope competition, gets….a three night stay at the Venus Royal Hotel and the lump sum of a hundred thousand woolongs!!”

Vegeta gasped at the amount of money, as the crowd cheered in approval. A hundred thousand! Kami! That was more than enough for them and to add to that, there was the three night stay at some hotel. Glancing at Sasami he asked her in barely concealed anxiety. They had to win this money.

“Are you sure your sister can sing well?”

Sasami glared mockingly and then smiled brightly. “Uh huh! My father calls her the palace ‘nightingale’, so I guess that means that she can sing, ne?”

“She had better.” Vegeta mumbled, and sitting up on his seat, he waited impatiently for the competition to begin.

~*~*~*~*~

The competition had begun and according to her number she was the tenth person to go out. So far, her opponents had been lousy and the crowd was having a field day taunting and laughing them off the stage. She felt her mouth go dry and her hands tremble in fear. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do this anymore. Why had she volunteered? How could she have been so stupid? There was no way she was going to sing in front of a bunch of strangers. She was the Crown Princess of Jurai, for Kami’s sake, she couldn’t belittle herself.

“This is stupid.” She mumbled, “Vegeta was right, this is a useless competition. I will just have to back out.”

Standing up abruptly, she was about to head out of the room, when the mocking voice stopped her.

“Well, well, well. Look who the eastern winds brought to this side of the galaxy.”

Ayeka spun around sharply and stared into the cold eyes of the well-known bounty hunter. Dressed in her usual dark cloak, which covered her face, except for her eyes, the tall woman approached the princess slowly, her painted face breaking into a small satisfactory smile.

“Nagy.” Ayeka spat out coldly. “What are you doing here?”

“Same thing as you are, Princess.” The striking blue-haired woman said lightly, “Trying to enter a competition.”

“Do not lie to me!” Ayeka said harshly, earning a few glances her way. “I know what you are up to.”

“Oh, do you now?” came the taunting reply.

“I am not going back….right now.” Ayeka said.

Nagy shrugged non-commitally. “I don’t really care, Princess Ayeka. There is a reward on your head. About two million Jurian dollars for your return. Your father’s orders.”

Ayeka gasped at the amount of money. So her father thought she was only worth two million Jurian, ne?

“And I wouldn’t try to escape if I were you.” Nagy continued. “There are about a hundred or more Galaxy Police officers stationed around the universe, waiting for you and your little friends. So why don’t you make it easy on yourself and come with me. I promise to return you safe and sound.”

“Never!” Ayeka snapped, her mind working frantically now. This was not good. Stealing a quick glance through the parting of the curtain, she saw that Vegeta and Sasami were still in place. Sighing in relief, she glared back at Nagy. “I refuse to go…until the competition is over at least.”

Nagy raised an eyebrow at the request. “Alright then, after the competition. You and Sasami are to meet me outside the club. I will be waiting for you and if you try anything funny, dear Princess, I will not hesitate to use force.”

Ayeka bristled. Who did this woman think she was? But planting a winning smile on her face, she answered brightly. “Fine. Oh…it looks like it is my turn next. See you, later!” And with light steps, betraying the uneasiness she felt, she walked onto the stage.

~*~*~*~*~

Vegeta yawned. This was getting pretty boring.

“Hey, wake up!” Sasami squealed. “Ayeka is up!!”

Vegeta snapped his dozing eyes open and sat up as the Crown Princess made her way on stage. There was an audible gasp from some of the audience and Vegeta was no exception. She looked amazing….at least to him. Her hair wasn’t exactly in the neatest of buns, but the loose tendrils framed her perfectly shaped face, giving her a look of a carefree happiness that was rare. The tight bodysuit hugged every inch of the curvaceous body, displaying assets that had long been hidden beneath layers of clothing. She was on barefoot and that gave her an added look of wild abandon. A look that was slowly taking the Saiyan no Ouji’s breath away. The sudden loud announcement from the MC broke his dazed countenance.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, all the way from planet Earth. We have a remarkable look-alike to the Crown Princess of Jurai, Miss Mayuka!!”

~ Mayuka? ~ Vegeta and Sasami exchanged puzzled glances. Where had that come from?

“Performing tonight the smash hit song, ‘I Could Fall In Love’, give it up for Mayuka!!”

The crowd cheered loudly, as Ayeka made her way towards the microphone with a small smile on her face. Gripping the microphone tightly, her eyes wandered around the crowded room, scanning it slowly until her eyes fell on her smiling sister’s face, and then unto the unreadable obsidian depths of the man she was beginning to….

Coughing and feeling her face heat up, she swallowed tightly and nodded to the dj to begin the music. The soft, haunting tune of the popular love song began and the room seemed to fall into a hush as Ayeka opened up her mouth to sing. As her rich, soprano voice filled the room, she idly wondered why she has chosen this particular song.

I could lose my heart tonight

If you don’t turn and walk away

‘Cause the way I feel I might

Lose control and let you stay

‘Cause I could take you in my arms

And never let go

I could fall in love with you

I could fall in love with you

I could only wonder how

Touching you would make me feel

But if I take that chance right now

Tomorrow will you want me still?

So I should keep this to myself

And never let you know

I could fall in love with you

I could fall in love with you

And I know it’s not right

And I guess I should try to do what I should do

But I could fall in love

Fall in love with you

I could fall in love with you

The tune slowly faded out as the song came to an end. The entire room was as still as night and for a minute Ayeka thought that she had either sang rubbish or no one had heard her. Feeling herself get embarrassed, she was about to run off the stage when the clapping began. Stopping in slight shock, she watched as the entire audience began to rise to their feet. Catcall and whistles rang out in the air as they cheered and asked for an encore. She felt a smile creep up to her face and she found herself bowing and curtseying to the appreciative audience. This was amazing. She had never felt this good before. She raised her head and stared at her crew. Sasami was on her seat and was cheering the loudest, as for Vegeta…the same unreadable expression was on his face, but he was clapping as well. Grinning, she jumped off the stage and headed back to the green room, her happy moment quickly evaporating as she came face to face with Nagy again.

“Not bad.” She said, nodding. “Too bad you won’t get a chance to enjoy the prize.”

“Surely you can wait until the winners are announced.” Ayeka retorted. “It shouldn’t be too long.”

Nagy snorted and spinning around, she remarked. “I will be outside waiting.”

Ayeka stared after the billowing cloak that the bounty hunter seemed to always wear as her skin crawled in growing worry. She couldn’t go back. She didn’t want to. She had to get to Vegeta and fast.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!! Wasn’t that a great show?!! Let’s give it up for our contestants one more time!!”

Ayeka excused her self and pushed her way through the pressing crowd. She sucked in a breath as she noticed the uniformed men standing by the front door. ~ Oh, no. The Galaxy Police. ~

“Folks, the moment you have all been waiting for!! It is time to hear from the judges!! And now without much further ado, I present to you the third runner up…”

Ayeka finally reached her table, making sure that she kept her head down. Leaning into the bemused face of Vegeta, she whispered harshly. “We have to leave, right now!”

Vegeta gaped at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding? After that performance, you are winning this thing and besides we need the money, right?”

“Not anymore, we don’t!” Ayeka snapped back. “We have to leave. Sasami let’s go.”

“And the second runner up is….”

“Would you mind telling me what’s going on?” Vegeta asked coldly, his eyes glittering darkly.

“I am being hunted down.” She replied, her voice rising in growing panic.

“The final envelope, ladies and gentlemen!! And the grand prize winner is….drum roll please!!’

Vegeta snapped his head around, eyeing the eager looking crowd. “Who is?” he asked harshly.

“A bounty hunter and the Galaxy Police. Now, let’s go!” Ayeka replied and yanking his arm, she pulled him out of her seat and beckoning to Sasami, who was looking really puzzled, she began leading them out of the club through the back door.

“Miss Mayuka!! Please step up here and collect your prize money!!!”

The crowd cheered in approval as Ayeka’s name was called. When the purple-haired girl did not show up, the MC cleared his throat and called out loudly again.

“Hello? Miss Mayuka!! Come and get your prize….what the?”

“Thank you very much!” Vegeta said, flashing a quick grin as he grabbed the envelope from the startled man, before phasing out at super speed.

Appearing next to a stunned Ayeka and Sasami, who had been waiting for him behind the alley next to the club, he shrugged. “What? We won didn’t we?”

“HEY!! YOU!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!”

The trio spun around sharply at the loud cry and watched in growing alarm as the two uniformed Galaxy Police officers began running towards them.

“HAND OVER THE PRINCESSES! OR YOU WILL BE ARRESTED!”

Ayeka grabbed Vegeta and Sasami’s arms and without giving the officers another glance, she yelled out.

“Let’s run, now!!”

Vegeta wondered wildly how in hell he had gotten into this mess. The Police were now beginning to shoot and it was taking all of his control not to blast them. Hell, why shouldn’t he? About to spin around to perform the deed, another cold voice froze them in their tracks.

Nagy was in their way. Her face set in a chip of ice and pointing a massive looking gun in her hands towards the princesses. Vegeta grit his teeth. This was ridiculous.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked angrily. “Get the fuck out of the way!!”

“Sorry, bud.” Nagy said calmly. “But I believe you have my reward with you.”

And before Vegeta could blink, she had cocked the gun and was now pointing it at his forehead. Slowly forming an energy blast to knock her out, the sharp sound of a laser blast whizzing past his head caused him to gasp. The Police officers were at close range and they were now firing randomly. Raising his hands to fire the blast at the approaching men, he suddenly found himself encased in what seemed to be a shield. Glancing sideways, he saw Ayeka’s hands spread out to her sides. She was forming the shield and the blasts bounced harmlessly off the enclosed space. Her face was contorted in a frown of concentration and she was beginning to perspire with the effort. Vegeta glared at Nagy, who was ready and waiting for them and moving closer to Ayeka, he whispered softly,

“Do you think you could hold on much longer?”

Ayeka shook her head rapidly, her breath coming out in short gasps. There was no way to escape. She could hear the sounds of other officers approaching and Nagy…

“Have you ever flown before?” Vegeta asked, pulling Sasami close to him.

“What do you mean?” Ayeka asked in slight irritation. This was no time to ask dumb questions.

“I mean I want you to hang on to me.” Vegeta said curtly. “I am going to get us out of here.”

Ayeka spared a quick glance at Vegeta, her concentration slipping as another blast made its way into the slowly dissolving shield.

“What do I …?” she began, as another one went by, nearly taking her head off.

“Wrap your arms around my neck.” Vegeta said. “Hurry!!”

Ayeka did as she was told. Wrapping herself tightly against the prince, she pressed her face into his neck, her body now trembling with fear and slight excitement. Sasami hung on to his other side in very much the same position.

“Ready?” Vegeta asked, and without waiting for a reply, he exploded off the ground with an enormous burst of energy that sent the officers and Nagy toppling away for several yards.

Ayeka felt her head was going to explode as she raised it slowly to watch the ground disappear beneath them. Vegeta was flying pretty fast and if it wasn’t for the fact that they were being chased, she would have enjoyed the experience, but instead…

“AHH!!”

Vegeta nearly dropped the girls as he felt the pain sear through him.

“Oh, no! Vegeta, are you alright?” Ayeka asked, panic beginning to make itself evident in her voice, as she watched the color begin to drain out of the Saiyan’s face.

“He was shot, Ayeka.” Sasami said, her voice trembling with tears. “Nagy shot him.”