Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ Brotherly Bonding ( Chapter 36 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

For those of you who don't read Review Specials, I'd advise you to at least read Part One of the 700 Review Special. Part One: Present Tense is an actual chapter! It's short, but it IS a chapter (it takes you back to the Present/Future timeline.)

Disclaimer: Mirai Trunks: *pops up* Hey, how come we haven't been in a disclaimer in a while?

Brenda: *sweatdrops* Umm... because one of my reviewers told me I was vain and arrogant for having you guys vie for my attention.

Teen Gohan: *grumbles* And that reviewer couldn't tell that you're never truly serious with any of your disclaimers? What an idiot!

Bardock: Well, except maybe that philosophical musings you did in the disclaimer for the 700 Review Special. That was some pretty serious stuff.

Brenda: *sighs* Okay, I can tell my readers are all getting impatient with me to get on with the story, soo.... I don't own DBZ, nor do I own most of the characters in this story. I also do not own the characters I use in the disclaimers. Their actions are not supposed to be in character. They behave as they do solely for the purpose of my lame attempts at humor. I'm really not as arrogant or vain as I make myself out to be. That is, yet again, another lame attempt at humor on my part. Now that we have that in the open, I'll let you get on with the story.

For one long moment, neither of the boys did anything, both waiting to see if the other would make the first move. Finally, Goku launched a punch at his brother, testing the older boy's reflexes. Radditz grinned as he easily caught the blow, completely unaffected by the power behind it. Seeing that his brother hadn't been bluffing about his strength, Goku decided to put more force behind his attacks. He threw several more punches and kicks, this time holding nothing back. Again, the teenager was able to block or dodge the attacks with a minimum of effort. A broad grin of pure excitement crossed the seven year old's features at the realization that he was up against an opponent capable of taking everything he had to give. The only other time that had happened had been when he was fighting Jackie Chun at the Tenkaichi Budokai, which, though it was only a few days ago, seemed like ages for him. From the brief interchange they'd had so far, Goku guessed that Radditz might be even stronger than Jackie Chun, a thought that sent a thrill of excitement down the child's back. Goku loved a good challenge!

Radditz chuckled at the expression on his little brother's face, nimbly sidestepping a kick to his abdomen. He had yet to take the offensive in the spar yet, doing nothing but defending himself. "You're pretty good, kid," he laughed lightly. "Maybe even as good as I was when I was your age. But you're leaving yourself open here," he pushed aside Goku's fist and tagged the boy lightly on his chest, "and here," his other hand reached out tap the side of Goku's neck, "and here." His leg swept the child's feet out from under him and Goku fell to his back with a "whoof!" as the breath was knocked out of him. Giving his brother a lopsided smirk, Radditz took a step back and waited for the boy to get up.

Sure enough, Goku leapt to his feet and crouched warily, eyeing his brother appraisingly. This time, however, there was a gleam of admiration in his eyes that hadn't been there before the start of their spar. Radditz grinned at this, taking it to mean that he had won the respect of his little brother. It felt good to have someone look up to him for a change, rather than always being the weakest member of the group. "Wow, you're really good!" Goku congratulated the older boy, giving his trademark grin. "Wanna see something neat?"

Radditz smiled somewhat condescendingly and relaxed his stance a little. "Sure, Ka-er... Goku," he replied easily, inwardly wincing at calling his little brother by his Earth name. "What've you got?" The boy's pretty good for his age, especially considering that he's been raised on this soft planet by weaklings like that Turtle guy. He's definitely Bardock's son, and my little brother, but I seriously doubt he has anything that could challenge me. I am, after all, eight years older than him, and have a lot more experience in battle.

"It's something Master Roshi taught me," Goku said, puffing his chest slightly with pride. "It's called a Kamehameha. Ka..." He brought the heels of his hands together. "Me..." The hands shifted to a position at his side, a faint blue light forming between them. "Ha..." Radditz watched with fascination as the blue light increased in size and intensity. "Me..." As an afterthought, the teenager tried the trick of extending his ki senses to see just how powerful this ki blast was. Still unused to using this technique, it took him a moment to reach his faltering senses out far enough to detect his brother's forming attack. "HA!!!" His eyes widened with surprise as the bolt of blue energy shot towards him faster than he expected. Caught by surprise, the beam slammed into his chest and knocked him back several feet until he lost his balance and fell backwards.

As powerful as the blast was, though, it wasn't really all that strong compared to Radditz. After only a moment of laying in the dirt, he sat up dazedly and focused on the figure of his little brother. Goku was grinning broadly, holding two fingers up in a "Victory!" sign. Radditz rubbed his ribs, the soreness from his earlier spar compounded by a faint blistering where the kamehameha had hit him. While he was relatively unharmed, the bandages that had previously bound his wounds had been burned off. Not that Radditz cared right then.

"I'm impressed!" he praised the boy, grinning broadly. "I wasn't expecting something that powerful from you! But..." He trailed off, his grin changing to a smirk of superiority. In a flash, he was off the ground and had zanzokened behind Goku, catching the boy in a headlock. "I'm still stronger than you, ototochan," he chuckled into the boy's ear.

Surprise, anger, and determination flickered sequentially across Goku's face, settling on that last emotion as he reached his hands up to tug at the arm that encircled his neck. It's no good. He's too strong! I can't escape! He started gasping when Radditz straightened up, thus making Goku dangle above the ground with only the headlock supporting him. Breathing became that much more difficult as Radditz tightened the pressure he was exerting on the boy's neck. He's trying to suffocate me until I lose consciousness, Goku noted with a hint of panic as stars began to swim before his eyes.

"Give up," Radditz demanded flatly.

Grimacing with the effort of squeezing words past the iron bands that were Radditz's arms, Goku spat out a harsh, "No!" He kicked his legs against the chest of his captor and was rewarded when the fifteen year old jerked in pain. Guess I hit one of his bruises, Goku thought to himself. Noticing that the stranglehold had loosened somewhat, he tried once again to break free, wrapping his fingers firmly around his brother's wrist and yanking with all his might. Hope flickered inside him for just a moment when he managed to pull the constricting arm away for a brief second, allowing him to drag in a lungful of desperately needed oxygen, but his hope was dashed as quickly as it had formed when Radditz tightened the headlock once again.

"There is nothing you can do, little brother, so why not give up? You can't win," Radditz stated, wrapping his tail around Goku's legs to prevent the child from kicking him again.

"Won't... give.. up..." Goku grated out between clenched teeth. Dark spots were shifting in and out of his vision again, despite the air he had succeeded in gaining earlier. "Ne... ver..."

The next thing Goku knew, the pressure around his neck was gone and he fell to the ground, gasping for air. Pushing himself up to his hands and knees, he coughed a few times and rubbed a hand across his sore throat. He turned his head to look at Radditz, confusion clearly written on his face. He was surprised to find that his brother had dropped completely out of his fighting stance and was smiling genuinely, a glimmer of pride in his eyes. "I knew you had it in you," he said. "You're a true Saiyan, Goku, even if you won't admit it. And you're my little brother." The older Saiya-jin reached a hand out to ruffle Goku's hair affectionately, the same way Bardock did, and he grinned. "You can go back and finish your breakfast now. I think I'll go take a shower and get this pink out of my hair and tail." I didn't get a chance to finish my meal, either, but I am not going to risk eating in the same room as that chibi onna! He shuddered slightly, then shoved the thought aside, standing up straight.

Goku could only stare at his brother in awe for several long moments. It didn't matter that he had been beaten. Winning and losing had never meant much to him, only the thrill of the fight and being able to test his own limits against his opponent. My oniichan is so strong! And he even took my Kamehameha and hardly got a mark! Radditz's words finally registered in his mind and he leapt to his feet, grinning broadly. "I'm starving, niichan," he agreed, rubbing his belly sheepishly. "But that was really fun! I hope we can spar again soon." That said, he dashed back into the house, his mind on only one thing at the moment: finishing the meal that had been interrupted.

Radditz smirked and chuckled to himself. "Yup. He's definitely Saiya-jin," he said out loud as he, too, headed for the door of the Kame house. "Appetite and all."

Within the house, Bulma and Vegeta were finding themselves at something of an impasse. Surprisingly enough, they discovered that they were running out of insults ready at hand to fling at the each other. Roshi, Krillen, and Yamcha had long since left the room as a method of preserving their sanity and their ears. Some of the things that those two had said to each other were enough to make even the legendary old pervert blush! Goten and Trunks, used to the fights Bulma and Vegeta had in the future, ignored them and continued to clear the table of the food Lunch was still periodically placing on it. No one seemed to notice that Bardock had stopped eating and was still staring in shock at the two shrieking land mines.

"Chibi onna, chibi onna, chibi onna!!" Vegeta chanted childishly, having already used his more intelligent insults at least once, if not twice, each. Now he was left with only the most basic of attacks: repetition of an insult known to aggravate the opponent. "CHIBI ONNA!"

Bulma and Vegeta? Those two get together in the future? Long enough to have a kid? These same thoughts had been running around in his head ever since he had first realized who Trunks's parents were. He hadn't been paying much attention to what the two had been saying, besides noting the fact that he was glad Goku wasn't here to have his innocence destroyed. He would worry about Trunks and Goten themselves, but they seemed used to it. Bulma and Vegeta? Those two look like they'd rather tear each other's throat out than even say one civil word, let alone share a bed!

"I am not a chibi!" Bulma screeched, clenching and unclenching her fists. Bardock blinked and managed to bring himself out of his daze, focusing once more on what was being said. Bulma's face had turned a lovely shade of red, from anger or embarrassment he couldn't tell. "Vegeta, I swear, if you don't shut up, I'm going to rip off your-"

"Dragonballs!" Bardock yelped, eyes wide. He might not be the target of the girl's ire, but he had no desire to hear whatever graphic threats she had planned, nor did he want to expose the other two chibis present to that kind of violence. He had no clue if they were used to threats on the order of what he guessed Bulma had been about to use, and he didn't feel like finding out. Startled by his outburst, the prince and the scientist turned and looked at him questioningly. "Er... I was just thinking that we need to start looking for the dragonballs. So Goten and Trunks can get back home to their own time."

"A dragonball hunt, huh?" Bulma mused, her anger with the Saiyan prince already pushed to the back of her mind, all but forgotten. "Well, if you're going on a dragonball hunt, I'm going with you!"

Just as she said these words, Goku came running into the kitchen, looking a little worse for the wear, and launched himself at the food. A few steps behind him, Radditz stopped dead in his tracks, the shower completely forgotten. "What?!?!" he shouted, an edge of panic shading his voice.

Bulma's head snapped around when she heard Radditz and instantly started blushing. "Well, umm... it just makes sense for me to go with you guys! I've been on a dragonball hunt before, and since I'm the one who made the Dragon Radar, you'd need me if anything were to happen to it. Besides, none of you know anything about Earth, except Goku, and he doesn't really count." A thoughtful look on his face, Bardock nodded in silent agreement with Bulma's reasoning.

"Hey, me and Trunks grew up on Earth!" Goten protested, pausing in his eating.

"You mean you grew up on the Earth who knows how many years in the future," the blue haired girl pointed out , folding her arms smugly. "You might know what things are like on Earth in your time, but this is a different time than you're used to. Face it. You need me!" And this way I can be with Radditz some more! Maybe I can figure out how to get his attention. I tried being obvious, like they show on TV and in romance books, and that didn't work... Maybe I need to tone it down a bit? Or maybe he's just shy? Thinking back to how Radditz had fled the house when she had offered to wash his hair, she decided it had to be the latter of the two. After all, one of her books had said somewhere that a woman could never be too forward when trying to get a man's attention! She suppressed a giggle. It's so cute that he's shy around women!

Radditz looked like he was about to say something more against Bulma joining in the hunt, but Bardock spoke up first. "She has a point," he said out loud to everyone and no one in particular. "None of us really know Earth well enough to be able to handle every situation that might come up. And if something were to go wrong with the radar, it would be useful to have her around." Nodding once sharply, he caught Bulma's eyes with his own. "We would appreciate your company," he said gravely, ignoring the pleading looks on his oldest son's face. Sorry, Radditz, but if we do need her help, it would be better if she's actually there with us.

A look of utter despair washed over Radditz's features, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Kami, why me? he silently asked. What did I do to deserve this? Now I'm going to be stuck with her for who knowshow long! Why? Why me? Feeling that he needed some way to relieve a little of his stress, and since he still needed to remove the pink from his hair and fur, Radditz trudged off towards the bathroom to take what he hoped would be a relaxing, hot shower. I just hope she doesn't try to spy on me, he thought pessimistically. The way she'd been acting around him, he wouldn't put it past her.

Watching the retreating form of the boy she had developed feelings for, Bulma had a sudden, gleeful thought. His bandages... they're gone! That means he'll need me to put new bandages on! She grinned broadly, not at all dismayed that her earlier work on dressing the teen's wounds had gone to waste.

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