Quote Originally Posted by Sub-Zero MKA View Post
I'll remember that!

It was the most demonstrative Sarada had ever heard the Oni. There was something... ugh... cute -barf- about how she just randomly blurted out that she would remember that Sarada liked meat buns. At least, she assumed that was what she was talking about. Either way, it meant that Sarada had plenty of good food to look forward to, even if she wasn't around when Zaofan worked his magic in the kitchen.

"Hehe. Sounds like a good deal. Though, I guess I don't really have a favorite, so just make me whatever you like whenever you like. Odds are, I'll eat it." If her future delicacies were as good as these meat buns, then she had no doubt that she wouldn't be starving for food any time soon.
In the end, Sarada didn't have a favorite food.

Instead, all she wished for was Ishtar to make whatever she liked, whenever she wished to. Which ... was nice. After all it meant that the Oni could worry less about crafting what it was her lover wished for time, and again, and set her focus on experimentation. Exotic dishes from distant world, Sarada said she would try it. All Ishtar needed to do was make sure it tasted good.

"I can do that."

Leaving such thoughts of food, and where to begin her search for recipes however, the Oni found herself setting aside her food so that she might turn and listen to what Sarada had to say of her time spent on Vocado- and the other worlds she visited- in earnest. And what she heard, was well worth the attention; and even the wait.

In an awkward and jerky shift of subject matter, Ishtar wished to learn of Sarada's three months on Vocado. She nodded; she was excited to tell her all about it. "For the most part, training and relaxing with friends. Totoma told me that his mother taught him that hard training combined with complete relaxation was the way she gained so much strength. That was how I managed to get so strong so quickly without training all that much. Much of my time was spent at the tribunal hall."

In hindsight, she was surprised she had the stomach to go through with it. Being that close to him, day in and day out, it was a nightmare. She had nightmares every day during the tribunal. Horrifyingly real dreams; they felt like she was back in his damned bedroom above his ice cream shop again, being subjected to every sick desire he could come up with. Not a night went by when she didn't jerk awake in the middle of the night, mouth yawned open by a soundless scream, face drenched with sweat. It was horrible. Not a morning went by when she didn't want to not just stay in bed, but stay as far away from the tribunal hall.

She didn't know how, but she nutted up and forced herself to attend every single day of the tribunal. She was glad she did; because of it, she made many friends after hearing the testimonies of so many just like her. And because of it, she got to witness Dashir's confidence melt away bit by agonizing bit, until there was nothing but a broken man serving a short sentence before his life would come to an end.

"The man who molested me," she started much more easily than she could months ago, "who dozens of other victims over the span of a decade. He had gotten careless and let his last one -- a six years old -- managed to escape and was found by her father. He was arrested, then the World Police asked us all to offer our testimonies at his tribunal. I was among those that did, along with over a hundred others. That was all the prosecutors needed to get a guilty verdict. A few days later, he was sentenced to death."

She grinned widely. With those words, her nightmare was finally over. No more being terrified of even thinking about the Meat Market, even if its horror had been reduced once slavery was eradicated. Her and 156 other young Saiyans could finally breathe and sleep more easily at night without worry if he was lurking in the shadows.
Dashir, the Saiyan predator who had stripped the innocence from over one-hundred Saiyan children, was no more. Even more than that however, this ... beast- for it had had long since lost its right to humanity- had been treated to the same slow torture it had inflicted on so many others; the sheer amount of evidence smothering any and all hope as it awaited the final verdict: Death.

In many ways a fitting end, for one who had destroyed the lives of so many others.

And in a way, Ishtar had already known this.

She had felt as much after all, those echoes of restlessness, and pain. And the nights of panic and mounting dread, with days fraught much the same. The golden-eyed Oni had even offered what comfort she had been able, given the distance. Yet in the end it had not been the offered comfort or the well wishes of others that had seen this matter settled. It had been Sarada, choosing to- instead of slaughtering the beast herself- turn him in to the World Police. And then, despite what the Oni had felt every day for over a month ... despite that fear, and those feelings of helplessness that had been a constant undercurrent day, and night; the Saiyan had forced herself to wake up and drag herself down to the Tribunal to see it finished. And had then- on her own merits- forced herself testify in front of a world that had for so long treated the things she had felt every day for eight years; as weakness.

And because of that, Sarada had paved the way for the others ...

A thing Ishtar was quite sure had been missed by her lover, so wrapped up as she was in the pure elation of the result; over the ramifications of her own actions. Yet was a thing not to be discounted. After all, it was the formative steps- or perhaps the catalyst that cemented the progress already made- toward another change for the betterment of the Saiyans as a species.

It was finally over.

"My eight year nightmare is finally over. The little girl I was eight years ago is dead, but she can finally rest in peace." She smiled tearfully, but didn't cry. The others were nearby, after all.
When the recounting reached its end, Sarada sat teary eyed.

Ishtar however, simply sat in silence. Allowing the connection shared between them to speak for what was not shown by the Saiyan. And what a statement it was! Feelings of joy and relief, and hope, and light that spread through Sarada's body from the very core of who she was, and with such an intensity that it seemed as if that light shone through her very skin.

... And along with that- wonderful- feeling, too, was how this all affected Ishtar.

The Oni has experienced it herself, after all. The same atrocities that Sarada had suffered for three days ... and even as an echoing remembrance of events, the feelings of violation, and shame, and pain- so much pain- that had been experienced had left its mark. So to feel that the one who had suffered it firsthand, was now free of the burden?

As the Oni sat in silence beside Sarada, the tears of joy the Saiyan did not shed found themselves eventually trailing their way the the curve of Ishtar's cheeks; from golden eyes.

"... What a wonderful thing this is, to hear in full ... Sarada."

The Oni managed finally, reaching a hand out gently to wipe away a tear that threatened to betray Sarada's calm- if joyful- demeanor, before gently cupping her cheek.

"I wish I had more to offer than that ... Sarada," Ishtar said then, "but I do not know if any words I might manage, would do this moment justice."