Note: This story takes place a four years after the end of the DBZ manga series.
The Jinzouningen Mystery
Chapter 1 – Splitting Aftermath
In the middle of a new project, Bulma sighed wearily. Ever since Trunks had broken up with Marron, he had been moody, either locking himself up in his room or training full-time with Vegita. He hardly ever talked to her any more. Conversely, her husband had been glad when he heard the news. He did not think much of Marron, since she could not fight at all. However, Bulma was very concerned about her son. He was only twenty-two, and Marron was his first steady girlfriend, so he was not likely to forget her easily, even if both their parents were not friends. Frustrated, she dropped whatever she was doing, not caring whether it was broken. She was in no mood to work now.
Deciding to consult Juuhachigou, she stomped to the spacious, well furnished living room and dialled their number on the phone and waited, lying comfortably on the couch, for either the cyborg or her husband to answer. With luck, it would be the Jinzouningen. Kuririn had been really upset when his beloved daughter came home crying her eyes out and probably still had not forgiven Trunks for it. Bulma heard a click, then Juuhachi's nearly emotionless voice saying, "Hello, who is this?"
"Good evening, Juuhachigou, I'm Bulma," she replied, blowing her long fringe up with the breath of her words. "How is Marron?"
"Locked inside her bedroom and crying. She refuses to come out, even for meals. How about Trunks?" the blond android asked.
"The same," Bulma sighed, stretching on the couch, "Except that he is also putting all his effort into training. I have never seen Vegita so pleased."
"Hmmph. At least that makes him easier to live with. Kuririn… I don't know what's gotten into him. He behaves as if everything is my fault because I let their relationship continue."
"I'm so sorry…" Bulma began, feeling guilty that her son had done this.
"Don't be," Juuhachigou interrupted. "It isn't your fault."
There was a short silence. Then, thinking aloud, Bulma said, "I wonder why they broke up. Trunks did not tell me. In fact, he hardly ever speaks to me now."
"Marron did not tell me either. Never mind that now. What are we going to do about them? Just leave them alone and hope that they come to their senses? Or are you going to find Trunks a new girl?"
"Well…" Bulma blushed a little, then replied, "Whatever it is, I guess it will have to wait until after the Budoukai."
"What?" the android asked, surprised. "Don't tell me that Trunks and Vegita are going to take part again?"
"Yes. That's one reason why they are training so hard. Goku and the others are also participating. It was Mr. Son's idea, of course, he wants to test Ubuu's fighting skill. Are you guys going to join too?"
Juuhachi thought for a while, then answered, "I don't think so, but we will probably come as spectators. I'll call my twin to come too. I'm sure he will be very interested."
"Um… all right, but please tell him not to join, okay? Good-bye."
"Bye." Smirking, Juuhachigou put down the phone. She remembered that the Brief family did not like Juunanagou, especially Vegita. She also understood why they did, given her brother's character. The android lounged on an armchair, idly musing about when her brother had last visited them.
Suddenly, the Jinzouningen wanted to see her twin again. She stood up peremptorily and walked to Marron's bedroom door. With her enhanced hearing, she could pick out her daughter's sobs from the sounds of the sea. The silly girl was still weeping very quietly. Didn't she know that there were many other better things to do than to sit and sob all day long? Juuhachigou shook her head disapprovingly and knocked sharply on the door. Although it was locked, both parents could open it easily with a push. They all knew it too. However, they let Marron have her privacy. The seventeen-year-old girl's sobs quieted hastily when she heard the penetrating knock. She knew who was at the door and that the person would not tolerate such behavior in her only daughter.
Marron hurriedly wiped her tears dry and opened the door, blinking in the bright light outside, which was coming in through the open window. Her own room was dark as the deep blue curtains were drawn. "Kaasan, what is it?" she asked, her normally sweet voice hoarse from prolonged keening. Juuhachi was going to reprimand her daughter, but she was a little stunned to see the sadness in the teen aged girl's eyes and decided to be gentler to her.
"I am going to visit your ojiisan," she said, laying one smooth hand on the girl's shoulder. She noticed that Marron was nearly at her height. The girl was growing up so quickly. Seventeen years. Had it been that long?
"If Kuririn asks you where I am, tell him. Also, go and wash your face. You don't look pretty with your eyes all red like this, Marron-chan. I want my daughter to be pretty, understand?" She planted a kiss on her daughter's wet cheek when Marron coloured and nodded. Then, she flew out the door and into the darkening sky, heading for the young woodcutter's hut.
Kuririn opened his bedroom door and scratched his head, puzzled. Why did Juu-chan leave abruptly like that? "Otousan?" came Marron's voice. The ex-monk turned to see his daughter's appealing, but now sad face peering at him from behind her door.
"What is it, Marron-chan?" he inquired mildly. The girl had just gone through an emotional trauma and he did not want to upset her too much.
"Kaasan wanted me to tell you that she has gone to look up Ojiisan. She did not tell me why, though."
"Thanks for telling me, Marron-chan." Kuririn said seriously. It wasn't very unusual for the female Jinzouningen to visit her twin, but she normally only went during weekends. He shrugged and returned to his bedroom. That was the problem with marrying Artificial Humans. They were so unpredictable. However, he should have known that when he first asked her to marry him. The ex-monk felt a hint of nostalgia as he relived that moment when he broke his vow of celibacy. He wondered how Juu-kun was getting along. The male android still wasn't married, as far as he knew. Maybe Juu-chan went there to talk to him about it. It was not his business to bother, anyway. Let Juuhachi handle it. She knew her twin better, right?
On his way back to his room, Kuririn passed by Kamesennin's closed door. He knocked once, twice, then stopped because he could hear the old man's loud snores being emitted. Probably the old man had fallen asleep after reading his extensive store of porn magazines. He would probably never stop being hentai, Kuririn thought, shaking his head. He, on the other hand, had quit once he found a beautiful woman who was willing to be his wife. Never mind that she was only about half-human. Momentarily, he wondered if Kamesennin would also quit if he found a wife. Realising the foolishness of his thought, he chuckled to himself. Which woman would ever want to marry a hentai, century-old man?
Reaching his room, Kuririn's hand paused on the way to the door knob. He looked at the sun setting over the sparkling sea, then at his nondescript grey watch. Juuhachi would probably be back in time to make dinner. He yawned and stretched luxuriously. Meanwhile, he could get some more sleep. He seemed to be missing a lot of that lately.
Chapter 2 - Preparation
Biff. An exceptionally hard blow knocked Trunks into a corner of the gravity room. Vegita regarded at him out of the corner of his eye, irritated. This boy was getting on his nerves. The "boy" in question was slumped in his corner, panting hard. The punch had nearly knocked all the air out of him. The lavender- haired youth saw his father glaring at him and got up, wincing, then proceeded to go through his routine again. Vegita could see that he was almost ready to drop, and yet he persisted in what he was doing. He had been like this for a week now. This was no way for a warrior to act. All this fuss because of a mere girl. The Saiyajin Prince snorted and decided that this had to stop at once. The Budoukai was only a week away. If Trunks continued with what he was doing, he would die of exhaustion before the competition. "Trunks, stop. Go to your room and rest. Now," he ordered, indicating the door.
Trunks wearily looked up at his father. "But, Otousan, I…" He paused. The look on Vegita's face prevented him from going further. Sullenly, he opened the pressurised door and went out into the corridor, slamming the door behind him.
Meanwhile, at the foot of Mount Paozu, at a small hut in a forest clearing, an old hermit monk was training a teen aged girl. The girl looked to be about fourteen years of age and was learning how to make ki blasts. She had jet-black shoulder length hair that was tied up in a ponytail and was dressed in a plain white tee-shirt and a pair of beige-coloured shorts. As the monk watched her carefully, she stood with legs apart, saying, "Ka-me-ha-me- HA!"
As she uttered these words, she brought her hands down to waist level and to her right. As the last syllable, her hands, which were suddenly filled with a bright blue light were moved forward and the blast of ki completely disintegrated the huge boulder in front of her.
The delight at finally learning the skill was shown in her jade-green eyes and sweet smile of victory. As she turned around to thank her teacher, she caught sight of her red-haired mother standing at the hut's doorway, leaning heavily on the wooden door. The pale, thin woman in her mid-thirties smiled proudly at her daughter's achievement, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed smoothly on the grassy floor. "Okaasan!"
Dismayed, the girl ran swiftly to her.
At the woman's side, the girl saw that her mother was still barely conscious. "Okaasan, you're ill. How could you come out to watch me?" she whispered tearfully, "How am I going to find money to make you well?"
"The Tenkaichi Budoukai," said a deep male voice.
The girl looked at her teacher, surprised. "But… But…," she stammered.
"I think that you are ready for it. Besides, it is quite a few weeks away and you still have some time to perfect your new skills."
In fact, more than ready. The old man thought to himself. In all his years as a teacher, he had never had such a skilled pupil before. Her speed alone was astonishing. She had even learnt the Kamehameha, Mutenroshi's most powerful skill. He himself only knew the theory part of the skill from his own teacher, Son Gohan. This was the first time he had ever seen someone using the skill. Moreover, this young girl had learnt it completely in a couple of days! And yet, he felt that she had the potential to be much more powerful and skilled in fighting. To his regret, there was nothing else that he could teach her. Maybe she would be able to find a more skilled teacher at the Budoukai. He was quite sure that this capable student of his could emerge champion in it. But then, he couldn't have foreseen the participation of the world's strongest fighters, could he?
Chapter 3 - Budoukai
"Goku, Goten, take care of yourselves, okay?" came Chi-Chi's voice. "You too, Ubuu," she said, looking down and tousling the dark-skinned fourteen-year-old boy's black hair.
"Vegita, make sure you don't kill anybody," Bulma warned, frowning with her hands on her hips, "or else…"
The whole group was near the entrance of the Budoukai and those taking part were about to separate from those who were not. Unexpectedly, Son Gohan saw someone close by who was as dear to him as his father.
"Piccolo-san!" he cried out jubilantly. Everyone turned round to look at the alien newcomer with his cape fluttering grandly in the soft breeze. "Are you going to take part?" Gohan eagerly asked.
Slightly embarrassed, the former demon king replied, "No, I just came to watch."
After the participants had moved off, the others went to the seats that Videl's father, Mr. Satan, had reserved for them. Meanwhile, Gohan and Piccolo had continued conversing.
"What?! A person strong enough to defeat Bra and Pan?" the Saiyajin half-breed nearly shouted, drawing the attention of most of the others.
"But… that is not possible,… unless… Is he a Saiyajin too?" Kuririn asked.
"No, she is not. Also, she may be related to Juuhachigou." Piccolo added seriously.
"What?! How…," the ordinarily quiet Jinzouningen exclaimed, "The only relative I have is my twin." It then occurred to her that her brother might have gotten married without telling her. How could he do such a thing? Maybe he had intended to surprise her, to show her that he could live as a normal human too. Hmmph. When he turned up, she would wring a confession out of him. Forcefully. She smiled to herself in anticipation of this. For the time being, she would keep a sharp lookout for this mysterious girl.
Staring out of a taxi's window in wonder, the girl was much amazed by the number of people and the many tall buildings. The driver peered curiously at his young passenger through his cab's rearview mirror. "Are you sure you are going to compete in the Budoukai? You look a little young." the taxi-driver commented, an eye on the road and the other on his passenger via the mirror. The only reply he received was that she needed the money. Shrugging, he continued driving. It was not his concern to know, anyway. After dropping her off at the entrance and collecting his fee, the taxi-driver headed home through the heavy traffic to pick up his family. Almost all of the residents of Satan City were going to attend the Tenkaichi Budoukai. After all, it was not every year it was held in this city.
The girl walked steadily towards the desk for participants to record their names. The plump, bespectacled officer at the desk looked up at her approach and asked for her name in a monotone. He had long ago learnt not to question a person's fighting ability, no matter how young the person was, or seemed. However, this was the third female participant he had recorded so far, in contrast to the hundreds of male participants, and he could afford to show some interest. After all, his was an incredibly palling job and unusual incidents like this helped to relieve the boredom.
"Kiare." the girl said quietly, arms folded and looking past him.
"Pick a number, then go to the hall over there." the man pointed towards the building as he spoke. Kiare pushed her hand into the box and picked up a white piece of folded card. Unfolding it carefully, she looked at the number. Twenty- eight. That meant that she was in the second group. Her teacher had explained carefully to her about the rules and regulations that he knew because he had once competed in it although he did not get the championship or into the finals.
Strolling along casually inside the huge hall even though she felt the opposite of casual, Kiare caught sight of a large crowd of pugilists in one corner. Ambling by, she saw that they were looking at a notice board where all the numbers were located, with a flow chart to show how the finalists would be chosen. With some difficulty, she managed to catch a glimpse of Group 2 and saw that she only had to defeat four people to get into the finals. That shouldn't be too laborious, she hoped. Now, she ignored the people, noise, everything around her and focused her mind on sensing ki. Most of the competitors did not have much. The most they had was her highest level, which was relatively low.
Suddenly, she sensed a group of about seven people with an extraordinarily high level of ki. Probably not caring whether it was hidden or not. That was the only explanation for such a phenomenon. They were at one corner of the hall, near the cafeteria.
Kiare hurriedly made her way there, wanting to see who those powerful people were and curious about their appearance. Many people she saw wore their traditional clothes or douji. She herself was dressed in a pale coloured tee-shirt and jeans. Also, there were mainly males. In fact, she did not see any other females around. That made her a little nervous. However, it also made her excited. Imagine how shocked the audience would be if a mere girl won the Budoukai. She chuckled to herself at that thought, then she remembered the strong ki. That is, if she could defeat those people first. If her sense was right, she would be nearly on top of them by now.
A gloved hand appeared unexpectedly in front of her face. Kiare stopped short, missing a collision by inches. Looking up annoyed, she saw a young-looking man who was slightly taller than her and had black, spiky hair. He wore a tight-fitting, grey singlet and trousers with white boots and gloves. He saw her staring at him and folded his muscular arms tightly. Scowling irately, he snarled, "Buzz off, kid."
Kiare had been about to argue that she was not a kid despite her appearance, then noted some movement out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she turned and focused her attention on it. Two cute, young girls were waving at her urgently. Strangely, the taller one had pale blue hair tied up in a braid, but otherwise seemed perfectly normal. Both of them were also dressed informally in tee-shirts and loose-fitting track pants. Leaving the guy with the forbidding demeanour, she walked coolly towards the girls, not noticing that the man was looking at her strangely, as if he recalled seeing her before.
"Wow. I admire you, y'know." started the blue-haired girl, looking up at Kiare in deep respect showing in her blue eyes. "You are one of the few people on this planet who are not afraid of him. My kaasan is another one."
Slightly puzzled, Kiare just shrugged it off. "What's your name? Mine is Bra and hers is Pan." the girl continued affably, pointing to herself and the other girl beside her.
"Are you taking part in the Budoukai too?" asked the girl named Pan, her light blue eyes wide with curiosity. Smiling shyly, Kiare said, "My name is Kiare and yes, I am taking part." This was the first time she was talking to strange girls and she was not quite sure of what to say. Back at her home, they were far removed from society and had few visitors. Hence, she had only limited contact with those of her gender and those of the opposite sex. Fortunately, the two exuberant girls made her welcome and she found it quite easy to talk to them.
After chatting with the youngsters for a while, Kiare found out that Pan was eight while Bra was nine. However, just by talking to them, they seemed much more mature, sort of like herself. She was sixteen years old this year, but looked fourteen. Just then, she noticed a ruggedly handsome young man sauntering towards them. Like the girls, he also possessed a high level of ki. "Hey, Pan, who's that pretty girl you're talking to?" he called out, waving his right hand in friendly greeting.
Kiare blushed at his comment and the two girls were startled by his voice. No one had called her pretty before. Then, Pan whirled around and reproached him sharply, "Ojiisan, don't you have any manners? We are talking here, don't interrupt!"
"If you yourself had any, you would have introduced your new friend to us," was his peeved retort.
Realising that her uncle was right, it was Pan's turn to redden and she was at a loss of words for a moment. Bra skillfully took over the situation. Grabbing one of Kiare's hands, she pointed at the dour-faced man and declared, "That's my 'tousan, Vegita. Don't worry 'bout him. He is always sulky. We're all used to it, in any case. That guy Pan just talked to is her ojiisan, Son Goten."
Now the girls led Kiare to the rest of the group, consisting of Trunks, Goku and Ubuu, then introduced them to her. All of them seemed to welcome her except Vegita, of course, and Trunks. As a sort of apology, Bra whispered confidentially, but rather loudly to Kiare that her niichan, the good-looking, purple- haired young man, was glum today because he had recently broken up with his girlfriend, Marron. When asked, Bra replied that Marron was Goku's friend's daughter. Trunks, leaning against a wall, glared fiercely at his sister for revealing so much to a stranger while Bra impertinently stuck out her tongue at him. So these people were all related to each other? No wonder they were so powerful and their ki were so similar, she thought. Especially Son Goku and Vegita. Their ki stood out from the rest. But who were these people in the first place? Surely, they could not be ordinary humans, like her, although they all looked were dressed typically, with the exception of the strangely spiky hair of Goku, Vegita and Goten.
Not wanting to show her almost total ignorance of the outside world by asking the others, Kiare continued meditating over this question until she was discourteously interrupted by a loud proclamation over the intercom. "All participants, please report to your respective groups. The Budoukai is about to commence." The announcer coughed gruffly, then continued, "I repeat, all participants, please proceed to your respective groups to report."
Gradually, the whole party started to split up and move off towards their different arenas, promising to meet each other again during the finals. With their powerful ki, no wonder they could be so confident about their adeptness at fighting, even the two young girls and the young dark-skinned boy. Maybe they had participated in the Budoukai in the past so they knew how the competition was like. Kiare herself was exceptionally apprehensive, although she endeavoured not to show it to the others by behaving informally with them, or tried to do so, at any rate.