Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Another Time ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Another Time

 

By Karete-chan

 

Chapter 14: Trouble in Paradise

 

Gohan hit the ground running. He dived out of the way and a ki blast flew over his head. He came up with his back to the gravity room console.

“Come on Gohan, you're not even trying,” Kat called from the other side. “I almost hit you.”

“Almost, being the important word there, aunty dear,” Gohan laughed. “Besides why should I worry? You haven't improved any since the last time I trained with you.” He ducked as she came at him from the side. The punch went wide, just missing destroying the gravity console. “You haven't upped the gravity in months and you're still moving sluggishly at this level.”

She glanced sideways at the readout. It said, `30'. She scowled and floated down, her feet not making a sound as they connected with the metal floor. “If I'm so hopeless, then why are you even here?”

“Vegeta insists. Says you have to have someone different to practice with once in a while.” Gohan shrugged as he flicked a switch and returned to gravity to normal. “Says he's getting sick of you not improving. At all.”

“I do have other things to worry about.”

Gohan smiled at her, ruffling her ponytail from his greater height. “Like what? Your job? Studies?” He counted off on his fingers. “The dojo is closed for the holidays, so your boss, me, doesn't need you around. Besides, he's seriously considering firing you for teaching the students some unnecessary words.”

“Not like they needed much teaching,” Kat muttered under her breath.

“Maybe,” he replied and continued. “Two, you graduated two months ago, so hitting the books is no longer an excuse.” He sighed and looked her in the eyes.

She glared back at him, her black irises staring straight into his, as if daring him to tell her off some more or berate her for something she just simply didn't want to do. Gohan knew she was stubborn, knew that she only went along with things so long as they suited her, like when she didn't turn up to work because she didn't feel like `putting up with amateurs' as she phrased it. He also knew that she knew he wouldn't fire her, simply because there was no one else; Vegeta wouldn't let Trunks work and besides, he spent far too much time in his mother's lab, Vegeta himself was completely out of the question, and his father spent too much time talking to the kids. Videl would have been perfect for the job, except that she was now head of the City Council and had little enough time for him as it was.

Gohan forced his attention back on the girl in front of him. “You need to practice more. No excuses. I want to see you at 40 by the end of the week.”

He watched as her eyebrow rose slightly. “40? Don't you think that's pushing it?”

He almost face-faulted. Pushing it? We did twice that in a day when Bulma first built this thing.

She shrugged at the look on his face. “Whatever. I'll try, but I'm not making any promises.” Silently she walked away from him.

He followed her to the door, then stood and watched as she made her way across the twilight lit yard to the back door of Capsule Corp.

“I still find it hard to believe that any Saiya-jin blood flows in her veins,” Vegeta said, appearing from around the side of the building. “Her heart just isn't in it.” The short man looked up at Gohan. “Even when you were a brat and were being smothered by that mother of yours, you still loved to fight when you could.”

“But she's never known the need to fight Vegeta-san.”

Vegeta snorted. “Doesn't make a difference.”

“It did for me,” Gohan replied, watching the downstairs lounge room light go on. “I never would've started fighting if it wasn't for Radditz.”

“That's bullcrap and you know it,” Vegeta spat. “If not Radditz then it just would've been somebody else. And don't try to tell me that you don't love the fight.”

A ghost of a smile graced Gohan's lips. “I wouldn't dare.”

 

*****

 

Bulma heard Kat come inside muttering to herself. Smiling she shook her head and turned back to the dishes. ChiChi stood beside her, tea towel at the ready, keeping half an eye on the precariously stacked pile of clean dishes on the sink. An hour they'd been at this and they were only just making a dent in the pile.

The stereo blasted on in the lounge and presently she heard her son roaring down the stairs to `shut the damn thing off'. Kat's reply was lost in the heavy base pounding from the speakers. Gokou came retreating into the kitchen.

“Ow,” he muttered as he sat down at the kitchen table. “How come noise that loud doesn't seem to affect her?” he asked no-one in particular.

“She's your twin,” ChiChi replied, “you tell us.”

“I can't read her mind, ChiChi.”

She turned from her dishes. “Oh? Vegeta gave the impression that you could.”

“It's not telepathy,” Bulma cut in, her attention on her hands that were immersed in soapy water. “It's more emphatic; feelings and such. He said they probably could if they tried it but it hardly ever works.” She paused in her work and smiled. “Besides she claims she never wants anyone poking around inside her head.”

ChiChi tried to suppress a giggle as a slight blush rose on her cheeks. “She's going to have some problems when she gets older then.”

“Uh huh,” Bulma agreed. “It's fun sometimes. She'll get used to it. Have you spoken to her about it yet?”

“Have you spoken to Trunks?” ChiChi countered.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then sighed.

“We're not Saiya-jin, it'll be different for her. Maybe Gokou could…” Bulma trailed off and glanced at her friend. He sat wide-eyed and innocent, watching their conversation intently. “Maybe not.”

“Vegeta?” ChiChi suggested tentatively.

Bulma sighed. “It'll have to be. He won't like it but we can't leave her in the dark.”

Gokou covered his ears as another round of ear shattering music came through from the lounge, almost covering the sound of the doorbell ringing. “Sometimes I wish we could,” he muttered. “Somewhere dark and very, very quiet.”

 

*****

 

In a gap in the ear-blasting music Trunks thought he heard the doorbell ring. He paused in his writing as the music stoped and silence descended upon the upstairs study where he sat. The doorbell rang again. “Is anyone going to get that?” he yelled to the world in general.

A chorus of resounding, “No” floated up the stairs.

Sighing Trunks dropped his pen onto the old and dinted desk and trudged downstairs to answer the door. The front hallway was cold and he hopped across the freezing tiles in bare feet to stand on the slightly warmer rug that lay at the doorstep. He reached for the doorknob and as the door swung open he wished he'd left it shut. He stood on the other side, his hand poised halfway to the doorbell.

“Hey Trunks,” he smiled at him and ran a hand through his light brown wavy hair. “Is Kat around? She said that she'd be hanging out here for most of the day.” He smiled, showing all his perfectly white teeth and reminded Trunks of something that, had it evolved differently, may have been distantly related to a crocodile.

Trunks forced the `Dende-save-me' look on his face into smile. “Yeah, sure,” he said and trying not to choke over his words, stepped aside. “Come on in.” Trunks waited until the guest in his house had walked down the hallway to the hallstand before slipping past him, muttering an excuse about finishing work. As he passed the kitchen door ChiChi appeared and made a beeline for the visitor.

“Oh, Grass, how nice to see you!” she exclaimed, wiping her hands off on the tea towel she was carrying. “We haven't seen you in ages.”

“Hello ChiChi-san,” Grass replied as he hung his coat and scarf on the hallstand. “I didn't expect to see you here. How have you been?”

ChiChi grinned, her black eyes sparkling. “Oh you know. Coping. But I'm always open to having another mouth to feed.”

Grass' honey coloured eyes looked amused. “Is that a hint ChiChi-san?” he asked as he walked into the kitchen and nodded in greeting towards Bulma and Gokou.

“Only if you want it to be. Would you like a coffee or something?” she asked as Bulma rolled her eyes in the background.

“Tea would be good. Uh, where is Kat by the way?”

Bulma flicked the soapsuds off her hands. “Oh for heavens sake, that girl will be late for her own funeral.” She walked to the door. “Kat! Get down here, you've got a visitor!” She smiled sheepishly at Grass.

“She's probably gone deaf from all that music,” Gokou muttered. “I know I have.”

Grass chuckled and sat down across from the spiky haired man and leant one arm on the table. “I could hear it from outside; the latest band to hit the university scene wasn't it?”

Bulma shrugged. “You'd have to ask her or Trunks, we find it hard to tell at that volume.”

A door slammed and was followed by a cold draft wafting through the kitchen. Gohan and Vegeta appeared in the doorway. Gohan greeted everyone amiably and joined them at the kitchen table. The scowl on Vegeta's face was quickly replaced with a look of indifference when he spotted the visitor. He lent against the doorframe and was nearly knocked over as Kat pushed past him into the room.

“Grass!”

He broke out in to a smile when he saw her and got out of his seat to give her a hug. “Hey, I thought we could catch a movie or something.”

“Sure! Just let me get my coat.” She dashed into the hall, black hair flying behind her.

Grass scratched the back of his head. “Well, I guess we're going then.” He looked down at the steaming cup of tea in front of him. “I'm sorry, you went to all that trouble for nothing.”

Kat dashed back into the room, all rugged up. “C'mon, we'll miss the previews!”

“Okay, okay,” he grinned as he let himself be dragged from the room. “Say bye to Trunks for me,” he called back, before the front door slammed behind them.

“Doubt he'd appreciate it, pretty boy,” Vegeta said to the general agreement of the other occupants of the Capsule Corp. kitchen.

ChiChi sighed. “He's not that bad Vegeta. He quite polite and completely agreeable.”

“He's a moron,” Vegeta countered.

“You think everyone is a moron.”

“No, I think most people are fools, he's a special case,” he scowled.

Gohan sighed. “He is a bit dull.”

“Oh for Kami's sake! Can't you give anyone who isn't an alien a chance?” ChiChi cried, flinging droplets of water from her towel as she gestured wildly. “Don't you think it's nice to have someone normal around for once?”

“No,” Bulma said quietly. “Not when they mess up everything.”

“And who says he's messing everything up? I think the two of them make a perfectly nice couple.”

“Better then Kat and Trunks?” Bulma asked and turned away from the dishes. “ChiChi, she came back here because she followed my son. And no matter how many times you ask her she'll never admit to it. He was actually happy, really happy, when he found out. I hadn't seen him that way in years and now, for the last three months, he's been moping around, all because of that…that…that all-to-nice pretty-boy!”

 

*****

 

Trunks sighed. They were arguing about him again. He threw his pen down on the desk. It wasn't his fault. It was hers. How could someone so intelligent not know something that was under her nose?

“Stop worrying boy.”

He jumped as his father's voice sounded behind him but he didn't turn around.

“I wasn't worrying,” he answered, sweeping a hand through his long purple hair.

Vegeta snorted in contempt as he leant against the doorjamb and stared at the back of his son's head. “Hmph. She knows.”

Trunks slowly turned to his father. “Knows what?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

Vegeta smirked, his eyes glinting. “She knows.”

“Otousan, stop being so cryptic,” Trunks said, frowning.

Vegeta frowned back. “You're supposed to have your mother's brains, boy.” When Trunks said nothing, he continued. “She knows and it scares her.”

This time Trunks threw his hands in the air. “Fine. I submit. I'm not smart enough to work out what the hell you mean. What scares her? Wait, let me make sure, we are still talking about the same person right? I…”

“Remember what I told you about mating?”

Trunks stopped in his tracks and nodded hesitantly.

Vegeta stepped away from the doorway and into the room. “The binding of mind to mind. That's what scares her. She goes places with the human because he is nothing but a friend to her. He does not threaten to change what she is.”

Trunks was silent as he took this in. “How do you know that?” he asked after a moment.

“She told me,” Vegeta answered simply.

Trunks had known that the relationship between his father and the girl was very different from the one between her and the other Vegeta but he had no idea that it had progressed that far.

“Aren't you going to ask me?”

“Ask what?” Trunks questioned turning away.

“About what she sees you as.”

His father was more astute than he thought. “What does she see me as?” he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“No idea,” his father answered as he stepped out of the room. “I asked her and she clammed up,” he said as he disappeared out the door.

Trunks thunked his head against the desk. I walked right into that one.

 

*****

 

Gokou tapped his feet against the cold hard ground outside Capsule Corp.'s backdoor. It was nearing midnight and he had wandered up and down so many times in the snow that it was now slush upon the ground.

ChiChi and Gohan had returned home over an hour ago but he wanted to speak to Kat and so he had stayed. He was waiting out in the snow because he had clearly overstayed his welcome in Vegeta's eyes; it was funny that after three years his little sister hadn't. She called the large domed building behind him `home', instead of the little cottage where the rest of her family lived.

Of course it was far better for her to stay here. There was no-one her age out near there little house and while she and ChiChi got along for short periods of time, you could slowly see the two of them begin to wear at each others nerves. Especially since ChiChi loved Grass so much and it was obvious that Kat did not.

Headlights appeared at the end of the driveway. The dark blue of Grass' car materialised behind them and slid to a stop outside the front door of the large domed building. Kat jumped out, lent over to say something to her conscientious driver, laughed, then stood and waved as Grass drove away.

Only then did she acknowledge his presence.

“Hey Gokou. What's up?” she asked, practically bouncing over to him.

He grinned at her. “Nothing. I was just thinking that, the whole time you've been here, we haven't really had a chance to speak.”

She looked at him blankly. “I've been here almost a year and a half and you choose right now to do the father-daughter thing?” She paused. “Well, the big brother-little sister thing anyway.”

He grinned again. “My timing's off a little. So how do you like it here?”

Kat shook her head. “I like it here fine niisan,” she answered, hoping if she gave him simple answers he would go away faster and leave her to get some sleep.

“Not missing anyone from your original time?”

She glanced up into the face of her twin. Did he know something? “Not particularly. I did come here to get away from them remember?”

“Then why did you get all scared when I asked you?”

She stared at him outright. So that was what he was doing.

“And what about Trunks? You don't think that hanging out with Grass makes him happy do you?”

“I'll do what I please,” she answered, knowing it was already too late.

He frowned at her. “If you have so much guilt over it then why do you keep doing it?”

She spun away from him and strode towards the door. “Keep out of my head Gokou.”

He grabbed her arm. “I'm not in you head. And this close your emotions pour off you as plain as day.”

She stopped and looked at his strong grip on her arm. She wouldn't be going anywhere until he let go. “And that's exactly what you wanted. You knew I would never tell you, so you had to use stupid Saiya-jin powers to work it out.” She let out a sigh. “Kami I wish I was human.”

“No you don't,” Gokou shot back, a hint of amusement in his voice. Then he became serious again. “You need to stop playing games. Everyone else but you seems to know the real reason why you came here. So quit trying to fool yourself.” He let her arm go.

“Since when did you become so all knowing?” she asked, still turned away from him.

“Since I found I had a little sister and I somehow know what it is she needed to hear.” A rush of wind told her that he had taken to the sky. “Oh, yeah, ChiChi says come to dinner, next Friday, Videl's going to be there!” he yelled back as she turned and watched him go.

A window crashed open three floors above her. “Kakarott! How dare you wake me up you third class loser? And you, stupid girl, it's your fault for coming home so late.”

Kat looked up. “Why? Worried about me?”

There was a muttered, “hmph,” and the window crashed shut again.

Kat sighed again. At least some things never change.

 

*****

 

It had been delayed and was growing restless inside its cramped vessel. The rouge asteroid had come from nowhere and had the ship not been equipped with the latest of technology when it had first been built, would have been only so much space dust on the ring of a nearby planet.

The creature turned beady eyes on the now primitive readout. It only barely understood what the small figures on the screen were telling it. Months, it seemed, would be required to fix the damage done to the out hull when it was sideswiped. Months because the ship's repair systems were having to gather materials from passing space debris and ion rich asteroids. Unfortunately there weren't very many of them.

The scan of the solar system had revealed that their destination was close and had the necessary materials but the journey would render the ship useless before they were even half done.

So the creature sat, restless and waiting.

 

 

 

Authors note:

 

I'm really sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed.