Postpartum (Open)

It had been a hot minute since Nasu’s spaceship had finally landed upon the lands of Namek. The man had not stepped out yet for he was taking a nap, in reality, in the beauty of his bedroom. Thankfully the ship was way too large for his own good and therefore he also managed to allow himself some luxuries, most of them which went unused. But that did not matter much to him, as long as he had a place he could lay back when he was done with the day. The man soon enough stood off the bed, yet shirtless and bare. His body left the bed and headed off towards the bathroom.

As the man began to bathe each and most parts of his body anew, and his very face began to loosen up from the soreness and tiredness of a good night’s sleep, he also began to notice one of the holographic panels upon his very roof were doing a strange pop-in and out effect. Something was up.

His eyes squinted and what he read was mostly what led him to realize that he had indeed woken up from a slumber. He was finally on Namek, nonetheless. With that news in mind, the man was somewhat more energized. He had been hearing a lot about this place, therefore he had at least grown some kind of interest to see what it was like. One could not really blame a man for growing curious, right? Nasu soon left the bathroom and put on his usual attire, before the cruiser’s ramps popped out for him.

“Curious. Green up, blue down. Looks like the exact opposite of Earth.”

Not that it was a bad or remarkable thing. It was probably less obnoxious than Plant’s pink sky, but even this one made it feel a little bit too… peaceful. Strangely, and it was an odd thing to say for a planet with active volcanoes. He could see from afar some wide ones that were leaving a trail of smoke. He blinked, he began to wonder how old this planet was. He was led to believe if a planet was old enough they would not have many active volcanoes at all.

Maybe he was wrong, maybe there was something more to it.

He began to take a look around, but as he did, he also realized there was a familiar energy trail. One he was quite familiar with, and that he decided to follow: it led to a cave nevertheless, one that was followed by many and strange taints upon the grass. As if something dragged itself upon it earlier, the man walked inside and with curiosity, his eyes wandered. Only to soon find two near-strangers. Near-strangers, for one was a total stranger. The other, he slowly recognized with shock.

“Shakuhachi? Hey, are you okay?”

He said, calmly and yet of course he meant to know his state. It was strange, a contradictory question said with such stoicness was perhaps a defining trait of Nasu, but soon he also looked at the stranger. He did not do so inquisitively, he doubted it was the one who hurt the familiar Namekian, for one too many reasons.

“I am Nasu. Who are you?”

“What?”

The Namekian spoke of many people that had apparently decided to take on the green warrior, for reasons yet unknown to Nasu in a sense but he remained somewhat confused on one single matter: he said that warriors of Namek tried to oppose him themselves. That did not sound right to the Saiyan, as far as he realized from his first encounter with the stranger, Shaku ought to be very protective of his kind if he disliked a species full of ‘invasors’ such as the Saiyans.

“I did not know you did not get along with your kind. Maybe you and I are not so different.”

Of course the mere difference at hand was the fact that Nasu had not been beaten up by Saiyans, for many reasons, two of which were the fact that Nasu had not sought much of a confrontation yet. If one was not needed, he was not going to charge up in their turf. He had no desire in destroying his kind, after all. But another reason, and most importantly, word of him not siding with his species was very thin and had not reached most ears out there.

“Well... more or less. Not that any Saiyan would know my true allegiances. Nevertheless, Shakuhachi… I do not still understand why your own kind charged you. But I believe I understand.”

But if Shaku cared that much about the species, it did not quite add up why those warriors would have gone up against him. Could there be a situation similar to Plant’s? No, but one thing he could guess: a difference in either culture or ideals. That was what made Nasu stand up against other Saiyans, therefore he could somewhat guess and assimilate that it was probably something like that for the Namekian himself.

“Your power is locked?”

He repeated. That was curious. A skill he had surely not heard before, he had never seen the Namekian’s full power before but he could go on to guess that he was reasonably weaker than he would be at full shape then. For the most part because Nasu himself would lose plenty of firepower if that kind of spell would be used on him. Even the Saiyan could get to take a look at what had been engraved on the Namekian’s face, as the light was shed within the cave. Nasu stared and blinked, before he retreated in his thoughts.

“I do not know the slightest thing about magic, truth be told. So I would not be able to help you, but maybe I do know someone who knows her stuff. A Shinjin, a being from up the Otherworld. If you want to fire the shots, I can introduce you to her. But that is all I can do.”

The man was a little conflicted to hear about a punishment. In other circumstances Nasu would have just told Shakuhachi to up and leave, maybe he did not have the means to, but perhaps the Saiyan could help out with that. Still, he was not quite sure how considerate and easy they would have let Shaku off the planet. Not to mention, there was the stranger: an unknown variable, this Sesame. The ‘victim’ explained that he had most likely not been paid, and so confirmed later Sesame, in a post-it.

He did not even introduce himself as a mercenary, but an assassin no doubt. He did not know if he really meant it or stumbled upon the word, but it was no word to play around with and even Nasu began to feel a little wary, as he just frowned and stared at him: an insight that he did not really like that kind of people, after all. Especially when he mentioned ‘killing people for pleasure’, that alone was quite revolting.

“You said you kill for pleasure. Do you not feel the pleasure if your victim is already beaten up? Then maybe it is not killing that you desire, but a good fight rather. Think it over, maybe it will change your life.”

Shakuhachi made it clear that he wanted to get off the planet, and of course, Nasu did not forget the past event back on Earth. Hardly could he forget that weird pink demon, but he nodded and also agreed with the Namekian there was no way he would have been safe on his own planet, as sad as it was.

“I do not know what happened, Shakuhachi. But I remember you saving an innocent life back on Earth, and helping me out. I will repay the favor if you will let me escort you back to Earth. After that I can try and connect you to my Shinjin friend. I do not know how easy it will be to get off Namek. I suppose you will need time to recover first, maybe? And… even then.”

He briefly looked at Sesame. A mercenary; they could be bought with money, no doubt. Was he trustworthy to even know Shakuhachi’s plans to get off the planet? He did not think so, and that led Nasu to wonder.

“What are your intentions, Sesame?”