Betrothed

Chapter 1

Goten:

I did not want to wake up today.

I did not want to deal with this.

I did NOT want to have such an embarrassing conversation with my parents about something so stupid and trivial to me. Not only did I wake up later than expected, but I also had an already irritated "father" lecture me about how someone close to The Choosing age should already be settled in finding a suitable mate.

"Not only do you embarrass me and your father by showing up late for your studies, but you have still yet to find someone of interest. You know as of royal status you must be able to find someone suitable at this time!" the Olde King yelled as I cowered in my seat in his study.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat and help try to convince Goten into finding a partner, I really must get back to my studies." Gohan sighs, winking at me as he walks out the door. Gohan was never the type to push me into something if I were uncomfortable. He always said that I have my whole life ahead of me to make decisions and mistakes. And I really do, us Saiyans live well into our mid to late 500s.

"BAH! That boy was not going to help anyways! My point being that you are a Prince, and a Prince needs to be able to find himself a suitable partner and mate that would carry on the family line."

"And I understand that completely. But technically speaking we are not even of royal blood, and it is not like half of the courts or even the people, will be able to accept the marriage or offspring anyway! So why does it matter if I find someone or not?!" I screamed at him and just stomped out of there. I was tired of having these conversations with him. He's not my real father, so why should I even try to impress him or the people? It's not like it'll matter, besides, no nobleman or ANYONE in high class would marry a low class pretend Prince such as myself.

It's a big deal for us Saiyans, especially those of the "royal" status. Though, not most of the people tend to see me and my older brother as ACTUAL royals, considering the fact that we only become princes through the Kings marriage to my birth giver and second father Kakarot. The Origins of the actual father are unknown to us, and why he decided to choose a low class warrior with children to become his second King was also unknown to us. And to be honest I'm not complaining much. My older brother Gohan was already in training to become one of the Advisors within the court. He started once when he became a junior scout at the age of 5, and since then he's been trained by Lord Paragus in becoming a member of the court. But for me, I mostly spent my time in the gardens or the training grounds. Our "parents" married or mated when we were small. We are only five years apart, and he's already mated with another and they are to be receiving a cub soon. She is a human or Terrarian named Videl, it wasn't an ideal set up, but I believe Gohan did it because he not only loved her but secretly disliked the King.

My "father" was proclaimed The Olde King once his eldest son, Prince Vegeta, invaded the far west side of the galaxy and became the Western King. His biggest capture was a planet called Earth years ago. That's where one of his bases is located due to the raw and natural resources of its planet. But his own family conquered and claimed another planet of their own to call home. Hence how Videl came to us in the first place, she was part of the shipment of humans that was sent to us after the Western Kings conquest. We still have some in the court, but they are either maids and servants due to their weak bodies. Though, surprisingly, some have shown some chances of becoming warriors but only in our lower ranks. That is also how the Western King received his Queen Consort, Bulma. She's very pretty and very smart, and thanks to her, a vast majority of the humans were able to quickly adapt to the Saiyan environment through her inventions. She was also able to conceive him a halfblood son, Trunks. Technically speaking through my fathers' marriage and with the Western King basically being my eldest brother, Trunks would be my nephew. But since he IS a year older than me and we aren't related, we're just best friends. The Olde Kings second eldest son Tarble was already part of the high court and was the only one out of the Kings original children to actually be nice to me and Gohan.

Trunks has already chosen his mate, an aristocrat and the only son of Paragus, Broly. It was a shock to everyone especially since WHO Broly is and it's even more of a scandal since halfbloods are considered bastards. But no one dares challenge the Olde and Western Kings, so everyone just shrugged it off. Luckily with The Choosing, you are not to mate until either both are of age, or it is approved by the parents on both sides. And until then the dominant one within the relationship gives the submissive jewelry as a way of showing not only class but to also let others know that they are to be betrothed.

I wasn't big on this type of stuff because the warriors that would roam the halls never really peaked any interest to me. Not even some of the females, not like we have a large amount of them anyways. Yes we do have a surplus of females, but considering the fact that the vast majority of males are able to procreate themselves some of them weren't really needed for anything other than combat. But even then they still tend to choose a mate. My Uncle Raditz says I'm most likely a late bloomer like how Dad was when he was my age. But it's hard with The King coming at my neck.

I was so lost in my thought and anger that I did not even realize that I was already at my bedroom doors. I pushed the giant bronze doors open to notice a tall tan skinned, purple haired halfblood on my bed. His jewelry did a slight jingling sound as he turned his head to face me. His bright blue eyes showing mischief and slight excitement, and knowing him he's got another adventure on his mind. I completely forgot The Western King and his family were visiting for a few months. I sighed as I rolled my eyes and closed the doors behind me in a huff.

"Morning Trunks."

"Well don't get too excited to see me." he said sarcastically as he came to hug me.

"By the gods Trunks it has been two years since I last saw you. What have you been up to?"

The tall halfblood moved some of his hair out of his face before he plopped back into my bed and crossed his legs and arms. A habit he got from his father no doubt.

"You know father, always on a conquest. This time we managed to spread the empire closer to the eastern borders to make trading easier for the old and new kingdoms. And I have been helping mother make some improvements in her lab to help our people. That's basically one of the reasons as to why we're here anyways. Him and mother wanted to give grandfather some reports on the progress and also help strengthen the trading routes on this end of the branch."

It was nice having my friend around again, it would usually get so lonely without someone dragging me around every five seconds to do whatever underneath the golden suns. And as if he read my mind, he hopped off of the bed and skipped towards me grabbing my hand.

"We're going on an adventure my dear friend!" he exclaimed while staring into my eyes.

"And go where? Are you not needed for the report as well?"

"NOPE! I've already given mother and father my portion of the processing as well as every detail needed on resources, planetary developments, AND the conditions on the integration of our people and the natives on each planet we conquered. So I'm basically set." he turns on his heels and makes way to the doors with his tail wrapped around my wrist so tightly it's as if he's afraid I'll vanish into thin air.

It's not like I have any choice when it comes to his need to explore.