Beauty and the Beast





~ * Prologue * ~





In a country far away, a young warrior prince once lived in a beautiful castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince has been arrogant, selfish, and unkind since his family died many years ago. Once, on a winter evening, an old beggar woman came to his castle and offered him a red rose to give her refuge from the bitter cold. The prince smiled at her ragged appearance and sent the woman away, but she warned him not to be fooled, as the beauty is hidden away. And when he turned her down again, the old woman's ugliness melted away and a beautiful sorceress appeared. The prince wanted to apologize, but it was too late. She had seen that there was no love in his heart. As a punishment, she turned him into a hideous beast, and enchanted the castle and everyone who lived in it.Ashamed of its repulsive form, the beast hid itself in the castle, with a magical mirror as the only window to the outside world. The rose she had given him was an enchanted rose that was to bloom until his twenty-first birthday. If he learned to love someone and won their love before the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to be a beast forever. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. Because who could ever bring themselves to love a beast?





~ * 1: Kakarotto * ~





The wooden door creaked open and a black head peered out.



`What a beautiful morning ... like every day ...`



A young man of nineteen stepped quietly out the door into the fresh morning air, sniffed the scent of the trees and the meadow in front of his house - the scent of summer.



`Time to stretch your legs a little - and stop by my master! ´



As he jumped down the steps in front of his front door, the sunlight fell on his tall, athletic figure, which he wrapped in a loose, red combat suit. His strong arms and legs were clearly visible below. Tangled, protruding black hair gave him a wild touch, but it was overshadowed by his gentle face and large, sparkling eyes. His shining eyes faded everything else and warmed anyone who looked into them and feared sinking into them. There were slight dimples around the young man's mouth, proof that he loved to laugh.



The young man's name was Kakarotto.



`` I'm looking forward to training. Hopefully he won't sleep anymore ... `



Whistling softly, he made his way to the nearby city and thought of how every day went by for him.He had never liked the eternal cycle in which he lived. He had never been able to do a lot with other children, of course there were enough children in his village, but they had never let him play because he was different. He also looked a little different than humans, that was because he had had a furry, brown monkey tail since he was born. The other children had never understood him when he tried to make friends, they had made fun of laughing at him for his unusual appearance, his very high strength, which he regularly trained, and his strong imagination. It had never annoyed him, rather astonished him, and quite intimidated him. For most of his childhood he had either wandered around in the woods and played with the animals, lay in the meadows and stared at the sky, or trained with his combat master, who had been teaching him for many years. He had become very strong and athletic over time, but had never had a real boyfriend.He had a dream that one day he would find someone who would understand him, who would suit him. And he had never given up this dream.



He strolled slowly down the street, looking to the right and left of the shops and occasionally greeting someone. Yes ... Since he was older and became more beautiful every day, he was greeted and treated almost like a person.



`Strange that so many people look at everyone they meet for the outside world. And anyone who is different is immediately cast out and displaced ... `



He had knowingly refrained from flying into town because the villagers would probably have hunted him like an animal immediately. He chuckled in amusement.

`If ​​they only knew ...`



He had finally reached his first stop in the morning: the baker.



"Good morning!"



Grinning, the master baker turned to him and froze for a moment.Then he caught himself and the grin grew even wider, which gave him a rather fake look and had none of the other serenity with which he greeted all the other villagers.



`Well, except maybe my father ...`



Kakarotto's father was a scientist, which almost made him an outsider as he was viewed as insane. So it was almost logical that Kakarotto, with his unusual characteristics, was also one.



"Oh! Hello, Son Goku."



Kakarotto frowned slightly. He didn't like the name because it meant Monkey King and, although his stepfather had given him the name with the best of intentions, it was used by most as a dirty name.



"Please, I asked you not to ..."



He was interrupted when the fat baker shouted into his shop: "Where are the baguettes now?Go, go, make it faster ...! "

Kakarotto sighed. 'He's not listening to me after all. `



He walked on quickly, his expression lighting up as he set his sights on his next target: his martial arts master's shop, Mutenroshi.



When he opened the door, the dim light of the little shop enveloped him and he let his eyes get used to the diffuse light for a moment. For a moment he stood there indecisively, trying to track down his Master's aura, but that was not so easy as the old man knew how to suppress it.



Suddenly his sharp ears heard a faint whirring, and for a moment he didn't know what to do with it, but when he realized at the last moment that it was an unforeseen attack, he managed to get behind the attacker with a skillful backflip and with him to send to the ground with a slight blow of the hand.

Groaning, the old man got up and rubbed his neck.



"Really, kid, you don't need my training anymore. You have become a lot stronger than me in the last few years. And yet-"

He walked slowly towards his former student. "- you can still learn a lot if you had someone who could compete against you and pass you without being knocked out in the first two minutes."



Kakarotto looked at him uncertainly. "Mutenroshi, I'm not that much stronger than you ... I ..."

The old man shakes his bald head and smiled and stroked his white beard. "Oh yes, my little one, oh yes. Just no false modesty. It's already exaggerated for you anyway. Besides ..." he added with a sideways glance at Kakarotto, who was feeling a bit uncomfortable. "... it is only right if the student outperforms the teacher, so it should be! But now to another topic ... Have you already found someone who could challenge you in martial arts?"



Kakarotto shook his head and looked at the floor.

"I thought so. Little one ..." His Master had always called him that from day one. Kakarotto raised his head and looked into his friendly eyes, which were wrinkled around them when he smiled. He patted his shoulder encouragingly, which, given Kakarotto's size, had to stretch quite a bit. "... you should get away from here. Believe me, you have no future here!"

His counterpart swallowed. "I can't go ... you know why. I can't let father down."

Mutenroshi sighed. "Yes. I know. But you should still think about it. You know ... I'll take care of him, he's my best friend, after all, and you can't live your whole life by us old sacks."

Kakarotto nodded hesitantly.



When he left the shop shortly afterwards, he was lost in thought.



`I know you are right.I just don't know if I can do it. I don't even know where to go ... `



While he sat lost in thought on a stone by the village well, he did not notice that he was being watched by two specific people. It was Zarbon and Dodoria. Zarbon was the village's flagship bachelor, twenty-five years old, bright white teeth, long hair, which he always wore in a braid, tall, well-dressed, and - the greatest show-off that Kakarotto knew. He was popular with everyone, he was a good hunter, but he was stupid, conceited, mean, and inconsiderate. Especially the latter. Dodoria, his companion, if you could call it that, always followed him like a dog and was just as mean, but Dodoria looked anything but good, more like a big, round rubber ball.

They stood a few meters from the fountain and, for once, were talking about a topic other than Zarbons' face - Kakarotto. Of course, he had noticed that Zarbon was constantly chasing him, and only suspected that there was another reason for this than the fact that Zarbon would be the strongest in this village, if it weren't for this Saiyajin ...


Zarbon had just dropped the hand with which he had fired the ki beam. Shortly afterwards there was a faint thud and the hit bird lay dead on the ground.

"Whow, Zarbon, you met him! You are really the best hunter there is, no living animal can defeat you, that's for sure!" Grinning, Zarbon looked down at his buddy. "Of course Dodoria," he replied in his uncomfortably soft voice. “And as the best hunter, I only deserve the best, don't I?” Dodoria nodded eagerly. "Yes! Do you already know what your next victim will be? A boar? A deer?"

Zarbon grinned even wider and shook his head slightly. Then he pointed to the edge of the fountain.

“This time ... it will be different!” Dodoria stared at