Trunks frowned as he spun a cookie in his fingers. Goten might have been happy with the outrageous amount of attention and junk food they had been getting all afternoon, but after those first few cookies, Trunks knew something was up. No one, in their right mind, would give them that much sugar unless they were going to be used as demi-Saiyan missiles against an enemy. And even on their birthdays they were not allowed to get away with some of the stuff they had been trying that afternoon.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, and no one wanted him to know what it was. And whatever it was, it was big.
The little prince wanted answers, and he wanted them immediately. He shot a glance over at his usual partner in crime and shook his head. The younger boy was practically in a sugar induced coma, and therefore a useless accomplish. The mission would have to be done solo.
He placed the enormous cookie he had been playing with back down on the plate and excused himself. Curiosity had finally gotten the better of him, and come hell or high water, he was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. He slid his way into the living room and closed his eyes, focusing his attention. His father had always taught him that if at all possible, the first thing to do in a crisis is identify where all known allies are.
Trunks furrowed his lavender eyebrows. Yamcha was a few cities over, doing whatever it was he did. Gohan was with his mom in her office, but that wasn't particularly unusual. Their energies seemed a little off, but not enough for the boy to assume that they were the source of the problem.
No, there were things that were much more odd than that, like Piccolo hovering near the city or his father and Krillen being over at the Son house when clearly there was no one else there. That was odd.
The boy frowned even deeper. What on earth was going on?
Trunks quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching him before sliding to the living room windows. Making as little sound as possible, he cracked it open and headed out into the darkening sky. He was taking a calculated risk, leaving his designated area in what was clearly a time of crisis, but he needed to know what was going on if he wanted to be of any use at all. If he wanted blunt answers and he wanted them fast, there was one surefire person to ask.
His father.
/////
Gohan sat in that large chair, resting his elbow on his knees and letting his hands fall limp as he stared at the floor. His entire body felt like it was numb. He could understand on an academic level what he had been told, but the entire concept of his mother being gone just didn't feel like it could possibly be real. In times of strife, Gohan always ended up falling to one of two coping mechanisms: emotionless logic or emotionally chaotic violence.
At the moment, logic was winning.
"So," he coolly began, "what's the first thing that we have to do?"
Bulma, seated in the chair on his right, let out a tired sigh. "The first steps have been taken," she softly spoke, "and the basic arrangements have been made. There is, however, something that you and I need to talk about immediately.:
The heiress slid her chair closer to that of the teen and placed a loving hand on his shoulder. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard this must be for you, but before we can do anything else, we need to talk about you and Goten." She took a minute to take a deep breath, fighting to maintain her composure. "Now, I don't want you to feel like a decision needs to be made right now, but in order to minimize future problems, I need to be able to tell child services that the situation is being dealt with."
Keeping his empty eyes on the floor, Gohan nodded. "You're talking about who Goten and I are going to live with."
"Right," Bulma softly responded. "Again, I don't want you to make a decision right now. I just want to make sure you know your options, and I want to feel like you can talk to me about any concerns you might have about any of your choices, okay?"
While the majority of his face remained motionless, something dark flashed behind Gohan's eyes. "I don't suppose having a living parent take care of us is an option…"
A frown formed on Bulma's face, and she dropped her own eyes at the statement. "At this exact moment in time, no," she tenderly answered. "No, it's not."
Again, Gohan nodded.
"Okay," the heiress repeated. "Okay, so here are some of your choices. Your grandfather, of course, would be the easiest choice from a legal standpoint…"
"He's too old," Gohan quickly countered, his eyes never leaving the floor. "He lacks the energy to take care of someone like Goten, and the statistical likelihood of him passing away before Goten's eighteenth birthday are too high to be worth the risk."
Bulma shrugged. She had reached the same conclusion, but under the circumstances, she refused to add any doubts at the moment. "So he's out," she calmly stated. "You boys are, of course, always welcome to live here with us at Capsule Corp. We have more than enough space for you, our resources can meet with the needs of two young boys like yourselves, and you are already family."
When Gohan did not immediately respond, Bulma knew that meant that the option was officially on the table. Hesitantly, she cleared her throat. There was one other option available, but she knew it was a bad idea.
It was also something that Gohan would never forgive her for keeping from him.
"There is also the option of emancipation."
Slowly, Gohan brought his head up. "What?"
Bulma softly bit down on her lower lip. "Your eighteenth birthday is about twelve weeks away," she pointed out, "and it would be fairly simple for you to submit the paperwork to make you a legal adult now. If you are, in fact declared an adult…" She had to stop and grab her water bottle. Bulma already knew how Gohan would react to her next sentence, and that thought left her throat dry.
After several quick gulps, she placed the bottle back on the table. She uncouthly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before taking yet another calming breath.
"If you are declared a legal adult," Bulma finally said with defeat, "then one option, from a legal standpoint, would be you petitioning for personal guardianship of Goten."
Something seemed to spark in Gohan's eyes. "I could just keep Goten?" he asked. "We could just stay where we are?"
"Gohan," Bulma counseled, "before you start getting too many ideas, you need to consider just what guardianship means."
"It means that we can stay as a family," the teenager firmly stated.
Bulma grabbed Gohan's hand and looked him firmly in the eye. "You will still be a family no matter what," she assured. "No matter who is technically in charge, you and Goten will always, always, be a family. But guardianship would mean that you are the sole provider for both you and Goten. Not only would you be responsible for the money, but you would also need to take care of his every need. We would still help any way we could, sweetie, but that would not stop the inspections, the counseling, the overall constant watching that you would be forced to go through. It would be extremely hard, Gohan. Not just for you, but for Goten, too."
With the touch of a mother, she brushed his lone bang away from Gohan's eye. "I said it before, and I'll say it again, sweetie. You should not make any final decision right now. I just needed to officially start the process to keep the government from getting too involved. This way, their eye stays on me for right now and off of you."
When the boy still did not respond, Bulma sighed. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she finally asked.
Gohan leaned back in his chair and gazed around the room with empty eyes. For over two painfully awkward minutes, the room was completely silent, save the sounds of the two occupants breathing.
"Bulma?"
The blue haired beauty jolted slightly in surprise. During the long silence, she had actually managed to get her mind to wander away, and the sudden noise in the room had definitely startled her. "Oh, yeah?"
Gohan sighed as he looked over at the woman beside him. "Can you let me be the one to tell Goten?"
Bulma nodded, leaning in to once again hug the boy in a motherly way. "Of course, sweetie," she softly responded. "Of course."
"And," he hesitantly went on, "can we stay here tonight?"
The beautiful woman smiled sadly. "Your rooms have already been made up."
Gohan nodded again before making his final request. "And…and can I just be alone right now? I promise I'll take care of Goten tonight, but…"
"Shh," Bulma interrupted. She got to her feet and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You take however much time you need. If you need anything, anything, you have my cell phone number."
The teenager whispered his thanks as he was left alone.
/////
Krillen slid away from the small group of people confirming and dealing with the body. He had to get outside, and fast. Trunks' energy signal was coming in fast, and it could only mean bad news. All involved would prefer if Vegeta were the one able to intercept the little prince, but at the moment it would be impossible without making the entire scenario much worse. He was, at the moment, explaining how the body had been found to the authorities. Him walking out in the middle of that would only raise questions, and the mysterious appearance of his son would only make those questions worse.
Unfortunately, Krillen lacked the speed and strength to physically restrain Trunks, should need be, and was going to have to rely entirely on his verbal skills. The former monk quickly made his way outside, and as soon as he was certain that no one could see him, he took to the sky to intercept his target.
He wasn't airborne long. Krillen flared his energy, hoping that it would be enough to catch the boy's attention and stall him long enough to talk to. Luck was on his side, and the purple blur slowed down.
"Krillen," he panted, "what the hell is going on?"
The former monk fought the urge to respond with You kiss your mother with that mouth? "Trunks, can we land? I'll tell you what you need to know, but can we do it on the ground?"
Trunks raised an eyebrow. He glanced over the short man's shoulder, and his blood ran cold. Off in the distance, he could make out his best friend's house. Around it were several cars, some of them with flashing lights on them. In his experience, that was never a good sign. In spite of the fact that he had stopped flying as fast as he could, his heart rate seemed to be getting faster. "Um, sure," he mumbled.
The two descended to the trees beneath them. Trunks sat firmly on a wide branch, and Krillen mirrored him on another one. Trunks rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "Krillen, tell me what's going on. Tell me what's happening down there!"
Krillen sighed. How had he managed to draw the short straw on this? He was terrible at giving bad news! In fact, he had a history of literally running away from it!
"Trunks," he began, "sometimes, things happen in life that…"
The boy knew that opening was adult code for buying time, and as far as he was concerned, there was no time to buy. "Cut the crap and tell me what's going on! What's happening down there? Why are you and Dad here when Auntie Chi-Chi isn't?"
"Oh, she's here."
Krillen's blood froze in his veins. He hadn't meant to say that. It was just one of those sarcastic comments that popped into his head. But every once in a while, those comments never passed through that part of his brain that told him to shut up, and something that was never meant to be spoken out loud, was.
Trunks paled. He might have been a child, but he was a smart one, and he was starting to put the answer together. He and Goten being able to eat and do whatever they wanted, Gohan's slightly jilted energy signal with his mother, the vehicles with flashing lights, not being able to sense Goten's mom…
Tears began to form in his giant blue eyes. "Auntie Chi-Chi…she's dead, isn't she?" he whispered.
Sadly, Krillen nodded. "I'm so sorry, Trunks."
The boy looked over his shoulder, looking in the direction of his own home. He sniffled, looking into the distance as he asked, "Goten doesn't know, does he?" Before Krillen could answer, the child was on his feet. Trunks sniffled again and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I…I should go back…I should…I should be there with Goten…I…I…" A choked sob escaped his throat. "I want my mom and dad…"
Krillen quickly hopped over to Trunks' branch and put a comforting arm around the sobbing child. With any luck at all, the authorities would leave and Trunks could get his wish…
/////
"Hey, Gohan!" Goten called out. The little boy had just woken up from a sugar crash induced nap, and even though he was tired, he was happy. "Are we going home?"
Gohan lowered his eyes for a moment before approaching his kid brother. "Hey, kiddo."
The little boy looked around, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Where'd Trunks go?" he mumbled.
Though Gohan was somewhat wondering the same thing, it was not his most pressing concern. He sat down on the couch and pulled his little brother into his lap. "Goten," he softly began, "there's something that I need to talk to you about…"
/////
