Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and all it's characters aren't mine. I'm just having a little fun.

AN: All right, folks. I'm leaving the ending of this up to you. Yup, you read right. I'm going to write the story until the next to last chapter, then you, the fans, will decide what you want to see happen in the last chapter. Just a quick warning, there will be some of character death in this one.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today," Ms. Peebles called over the noise of thirty eleven year olds. Only one was quiet, San Goten, who was looking out the window, as usual. She didn't know what he was looking for, and he never said, but whatever it was, it must be important at least to him. He glanced over when she spoke, and turned away. She saw him tense then turn his full attention to her and the young boy standing beside her. "He's just transferred to us from another school, so let's be extra nice to him because it's his first day, all right?" She looked down at the boy and smiled. "Would you care to introduce yourself?"

"My name is Jedin," the boy replied in bored tones, sounding as if he'd done this a lot. "It's very nice to meet you all." The polite chorus of greetings from the other students filled the room.

"There's an open seat next to Goten," the teacher went on, making Goten blink in surprise. "Over there, by the window. Goten, do you mind sharing your books with Jedin for today?"

"No, ma'am," he replied, scooting his desk over. "San Goten," he introduced himself, not bothering to hide the curiosity in his eyes.

"Jedin," he answered, leaning over the book to follow the math lesson. Shrugging, Goten did the same, even though it bored him. His mother had homed schooled him for a while, as well as Gohan, but had decided that the regular school experience would be good for him. He didn't think so: he couldn't run as fast or play as hard as he could when he was with Gohan, even Trunks.

Sighing, he turned his attention back to the assignment, knowing recess wasn't far away.

An hour later, Goten stood on the edge of the playground, leaning against a tree. I didn't think it was possible that I get any more bored today, he thought, crossing his arms over his chest. It wasn't that he couldn't play, just that he was tired of having to watch his strength and speed all the time. He looked forward to end of the day, because once he was out of sight from the school, he took to the air, often meeting Trunks for an hour to play or spar with each other before they were both called home for dinner. He knew his mother disapproved of fighting, even if she'd been a warrior herself, but he could no more stop fighting than he could stop breathing. Even for her and as much as he loved her, it wasn't possible.

He was so sunk in his thoughts that he didn't notice Jedin crossing the playground to his side, mirroring his pose against the tree. "Don't feel well, Goten?" he asked, looking up into the swaying branches.

"No," he replied, shrugging one shoulder, "just bored."

"Why's that?" He sounded genuinely interested, bringing his attention to Goten's face.

"I can't say." He shrugged again. "None of this seems all that fun to me."

"Me, either," Jedin confessed, waving to the swings to make his point. "Why swing when you can fly?" Goten tensed, and turned to face him.

"You can fly?"

"Sure, can't you?" he wondered, curiosity and puzzlement in his eyes. "I know not everyone can, but I was sure you could when I walked into the room this morning." Disappointment colored his tone and eyes for a moment. "You're saying that you can't?"

"No, I can," Goten replied quickly, "I just haven't known anyone outside my family that could." Serious brown eyes studied him, suddenly looking older than his eleven years, from under eyebrows a shade or so lighter than his eyes.

"You've got Sayan blood, Goten," Jedin said quietly, startling him with his tone. He was serious, intense, sounding like Piccolo when he was showing him a new technique. "Your mother?"

"My father," he answered, somehow not surprised when Jedin nodded.

"I though so. Both of my parents were Sayans." How could a couple of Sayans go unnoticed by his family? Goten asked himself, not letting the question show in his eyes or on his face.Someone would have noticed them

"Were?"

"They died a few years ago," he told him, shrugging slightly. Goten was stunned: if both of his parents were gone, he'd be devastated. Jedin sounded a lot like Vegeta in that respect: he didn't really care that his parents were gone, or like he barely remembered them and didn't care to, in any case. "I was in foster homes until I was adopted by a human couple three years ago."

"What about your tail?"

"My parents cut it off about a year after I was born, even though I'd lose power, to make me look more human." He looked up into the tree again. "Sometimes I wish they hadn't, but there's nothing I can do about it anyway." He shot Goten a glance he couldn't read. "What about yours?"

"The same." He sighed and pushed a hand through his shock of black hair. "They left my brother's until he was about six, but there was some trouble, and my father cut if off." He looked around and saw the teachers gathering, waiting for the bell. "The bell's going to ring soon."

"Want to walk home with me?" Jedin asked unexpectedly, suddenly sounding like the boy he was. Pushing off the tree, they studied each other, finding something in themselves that called to the other.

"Sure," he answered with a nod, leading the way back to class.

They developed a routine over the next few days, and that helped alleviate the boredom they both suffered. If they met Trunks on the way home, Jedin could either stay or go on alone. If they didn't, they sparred for a while before going their separate ways. Trunks seemed distant whenever Jedin was around, and Goten wasn't sure why. It might have been that he was jealous of Goten going to school and making friends, as his mother home schooled him and he trained with his father almost every day. He didn't want to have to choose between his friends, but something about Jedin seemed to put Trunks on edge.

By unspoken agreement, if they sparred while Jedin was around, they never went Super Sayan. It had been a secret between them and their families for so long that it was habit, but neither of them thought of sharing it with the only other full blooded Sayan on Earth. Trunks never mentioned Jedin to his father, nor did Goten talk about him with Gohan or his mother.

Even when asked, Jedin didn't say more about his past than he had that first day. "I don't know," was one stock answer from him, while another was, "I can't remember." Whether it was true or not, Trunks and Goten never pressed. One thing they knew for sure was that he hadn't seen much of his parents, often left with a nanny for weeks at a time. From what Goten and Trunks had been told, it was unusual for Sayan parents to be involved in even a small way with their children, and frowned upon when they were.

They continued that way for a while, until one day Trunks stopped showing up, never explaining why he didn't come meet Goten anymore. When Goten asked once, he'd mumbled something about training more with his father at home and said nothing more than a hasty farewell before flying home. Confused and visibly upset, he turned to Jedin and asked his opinion. He shrugged and said, "Probably just jealous that you don't spend all your time training like he does." Goten thought about it over the weekend, and wondered if Jedin didn't have a point in there somewhere.

While he missed seeing Trunks every day, he still saw him at the gatherings they had every year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, and the odd informal party held either at Master Roshi's or at The Lookout. There was an awkwardness that had never been there before between them, making both their mothers frown in confusion and ask about when they were home. Neither had an answer for them. Bulma wondered if it was because Trunks was a couple years older than Goten and their mutual interests had changed.

"I'm worried about him, Gohan," ChiChi said quietly, sitting with her eldest son at the kitchen table. Goten was upstairs asleep, blissfully unaware that his brother was there. "He and Trunks have always been friends, but there's a distance between them now." She sighed and sat back in her chair. "When I'm worried about one of my men, there's a reason. I just can't put a finger on this one."

"I could pick him up one day after school," he offered, reaching out to cover her hand with his and give it a squeeze. "I'll ask him, if you like. No offense, Mom, but he might be more willing to talk to me about it than he would you or Bulma." She smiled at him.

"How'd you get so smart, anyway?"

"I learned from the best, Mom," he chuckled, standing to drop a kiss on her cheek. "Don't tell Goten, all right? We'll keep it a surprise." ChiChi nodded and walked him to the door. "Don't worry, Mom. It'll work out," he promised, giving her quick hug before he took off, waving over his shoulder until he was out of sight. With another sigh, she shut and locked the doors and windows, shutting off lights as she made her way to bed. She sent one last worried glance at Goten's door, pausing briefly as she passed, but went on down the hall to her room, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Hey, little brother!" Gohan called, leaning against a tree right outside the school entrance. Goten ran to him and unashamedly threw his arms around him, leaving Jedin scowling behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Goten wanted to know, looking up at his brother. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"I had the day off," he replied, ruffling Goten's hair, "and decided to spend it with you. Ever since I moved out, you and I don't see much of each other. I swear, if it wasn't for holidays and birthdays, I'd completely forget what you look like." Goten laughed. Gohan noticed the scowling boy behind his brother. "Who's your friend?"

"Gohan, this is Jedin," he answered as Jedin joined them. "Jedin, this is my older brother, Gohan." Jedin nodded, but didn't say anything. Something flickered in Gohan's eyes, but it was gone so quickly that Goten didn't get a chance to identify it. "Are you gonna be ok getting home, Jedin?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging one shoulder. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Goten." He looked at Gohan. "Bye."

"See you around," Gohan replied, his voice unexplainable chilly. Something about him was familiar; he just couldn't place it, like he knew him from a dream or a long buried memory. As Jedin walked away, Gohan looked down at Goten. He noticed, not for the first time, how much Goten resembled their father. While he'd looked much the same when he was Goten's age, he'd taken on more of his mother's features as he'd aged, though it barely softened the harsh lines of his Sayan lineage. "When did you meet him?"

"A while ago," Goten told him, bouncing at his side as they wandered away from the school. "He transferred here."

"From where?"

"Don't know," he answered with a shrug. "I never asked, and he's never told me."

"He's a Sayan," Gohan mused, pressing the button for the crosswalk, "or as close to it as I've ever seen outside Dad and Vegeta."

"He's pretty neat. We hang out a lot after school." Goten looked away, his eyes clouding. "Trunks used to hang out with us, but then Vegeta wanted him to train at home more, so he doesn't anymore."

"What does Trunks think of him?"

"I don't think he liked Jedin very much, but I don't know why." Gohan was quiet, turning over what he'd learned from Goten, and his own impressions of Jedin. There's . . . something about him, Gohan thought, keeping one eye on Goten as they walked, that makes me wonder just whom his parents are, and why he's here. Something's going on here, and I need to get to the bottom of it.

"You have any homework today?" Goten shook his head.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"Does it matter? We're just hanging out today, Goten." Gohan ruffled his hair again, distracting him. "Hungry?"

"You buying?"

"Sure am."

"Let's eat, then!" Gohan let Goten "drag" him to a nearby sidewalk café and made the waiter blink when they ordered two of almost everything on the menu. As they ate, Gohan drew all Goten knew about Jedin out of him, hiding his intentions under the guise of catching up. It wasn't much, but it was enough to start poking around for more information later.

"We need some exercise, Goten," Gohan declared, pushing the last plate away with a deep sigh, "otherwise we'll be as big as two dragons." Leaving a generous tip, he and Goten wandered out past the city limits, making sure there was no one around before they took to the air. Laughing, they raced for the forest to spar and work off the meal, stopping by the house to drop off Goten's satchel and let ChiChi know where they were going. Unknown to both of them, they were watched by a pair of dark brown eyes.

Much later, Goten, exhausted after the long afternoon of sparring with his brother, was asleep while Gohan and ChiChi again sat in the kitchen. He told her everything he'd learned from Goten about Jedin and his own thoughts about him. "I don't know if I like this kid, Mom," he finished, wrapping his around a coffee mug while his mother paced. "There's something about him that bugs me."

"Me, too," she confessed with a sigh, putting her arms around him from behind and resting her cheek on his head. One of Gohan's hands lifted to hers and gave them a squeeze. "I can't tell him not to be friends with him. It's the whole reason I sent him to school, after all." Her arms tightened around Gohan and he shifted to look up at her. "I always knew I wouldn't approve of all of his friends, I just never thought it'd be this soon."

"We couldn't stay kids forever, Mom." She smiled a little sadly.

"I know, sweetie," she answered, her beautiful eyes swimming with tears, "I just thought it would last a little longer, that's all." Looking at him, almost grown up, she wondered where the time had gone. It seemed like just a week ago, he was smaller than Goten, and almost as happy to sit and study, as he was to train with Goku.

"So what do we do?" Gohan wondered, bring her back to the present. She sighed again, gave him one last squeeze before taking a seat.

"I don't know," she replied, ruefully shaking her head. "I just don't know." She chuckled a little. "I used to say Krillin, Yamcha and Piccolo were bad influences on you and Goku. It never stopped you from going off with them whenever you got the chance, and look where it took you all. You saved the world no less than six times."

"I don't think Jedin is the kind of influence you want on Goten, though, Mom," he said, thinking of everything that'd happened in his life, the places he'd been and the friends- enemies, too- he'd made along the way. "The other guys are one thing, but Jedin . . . "

"I know." She looked out the window then back at Gohan. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"If you say so, Mom." Clearly unconvinced, Gohan said nothing more for a while, finishing his coffee. "I'd better get going. I've got to make up for taking today off."

"I'm glad you did. It meant a lot to Goten." She watched as he rose to put his cup in the sink. "To me, too."

"I love you, too, Mom," he said with a smile, giving her a hug and a kiss before he left.

"Be safe, son," she whispered as she watched him fly away. She shivered. Feeling like someone was watching her, she quickly closed and locked the door after she stepped back inside. She turned to see Goten standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. "What is it, Goten?"

"Gohan's gone?"

"Yes, dear. Why don't you head back to bed? It's a school night."

"G'night, Mom," he mumbled sleepily and shuffled back up the stairs to collapse on his bed again. Shaking off the feeling, she went through her routine of locking down the house before she went to bed, turning off lights as she went, wondering if she was doing the right thing by sending Goten to school. Maybe I should home school him again, she thought, and got no farther before dropping off to sleep.

AN: I guess that's enough for now. For more, please read the next chapter. Right now, I've got a date with a good book and a nap on my couch. Stay frosty, R&R please.