Nice to Meet You


As I finished my story, it seemed I had attracted the attention of everyone within hearing distance.

Meryl and Kohan stared at me intently, and a skinny man with black hair and glasses in front of them had turned to hear too. I instantly recognized him as Beta; Boxer's little brother. He was a bit of a black sheep as you can imagine, small and timid, a stark contrast to his bulky family. But that wasn't all, a couple people behind me had taken notice too. A blond young man in a black suit, a redhead in a black dress that was just a bit over the line for the occasion, and a familiar brown haired kid with a mark on his chin.

Oh I should say I didn't tell them the whole truth. I left out the fight, I left out my real name of course. And I didn't tell them I killed the man. And I also didn't tell them about how I had veered my attack off at the last moment when I was fighting Goku. An act, that even now, I couldn't decide whether I had done to save him or the lie I was allowing to form. I did tell them his last words though , 'Nice meeting you'. An ironic statement he managed to sputter right before going cold. As if to say he didn't take it personal at all... I still didn't really know what to make of it.

Anyways, I filled in the blanks with fluff; him telling me old stories about the good old days, even showing me a couple of his techniques. Like we had become fast friends or something, even shoe horned some of that 'my father' was a fan crap I'd been pushing earlier. But I was surprised to see the reaction, most of them seemed genuinely interested almost. I must have had a way with story telling, it did come off pretty heart warming. Even if it was just crap.

"That's so nice, he was a really nice guy after all." Meryl said, smiling warmly, but then quickly added a bit sadly, "I'm really sorry I didn't know him better."

"He was a real humanitarian." the redhead suddenly added.

"Can't believe he showed you his Kameha wave." the chin-marked kid threw in smiling, but then added, "That's so interesting."

… Was that a hint of sarcasm? I couldn't tell, he was a hard read.

"Some might say he was too good." the blond one chipped in. And though he didn't say anything, Beta nodded approvingly.

I looked at the faces I didn't recognize, especially chin boy, then to Meryl hoping she'd make introductions and end this uncomfortable silence. But it seemed I had hit a cord with a very unlikely candidate.

"He was always too nice. Too good for his own good. I was always arguing with him to move out of the woods, try to find himself another wife or something but he just wouldn't budge." Kohan started muttering, remorsefully, "He thought it was his duty to take care of that damn hill for her. I thought I could change his mind. I was such a child I thought I could be mean to him and he'd just give in." at that his muttering turned to blubbering, his eyes beginning to get watery, "Why couldn't I just see he couldn't do that?" With that Kohan turned away with his face in his hand.

I couldn't hear a sniffle from him but it was obvious he was crying. Beta seemed nervous to be around someone in that state, so he turned away and stepped up in line, seemingly to be as invisible as possible, while Meryl turned to comfort him. Leaving me and my new 'friends' to an awkward situation. Though they didn't seem to be as off put as I was. The chin-marked one decided to keep the conversation going.

"So tell me, did you really meet Goku, and not spar with him?" he asked, as if it was completely unbelievable.

This kid was a little strange. His attitude was care-free to say the least, though he whispered when he spoke, nothing else about his demeanor suggested he even knew he was at a funeral. He seemed too happy to me, too self assured. So I decided to give him a good look for once.

His power level was low, but just big enough I could tell he was just suppressing it. He was average in height, just a little shorter than me, and wearing the regulation black suit. He had brown eyes, his hair was short but spiky, in the Son tradition. And upon closer inspection I saw the mark on his chin was really a nasty scar going up from the right side of his chin and ending in a point at his bottom lip, shaped like a spike or a triangle. It was discolored lighter than the rest of his face.

Suggesting I'd have tried to fight Goku, I obviously didn't have the frame of a fighter. I concluded he must be deluded. But I figured I'd humor him. Perhaps this kid's oddness got to me? It didn't matter, it's not like that detail would sell me out.

"You got me, I did try actually." I allowed, his eyes sharpened at that and his smirk grew.

"How was it? It was like, a revelation, wasn't it?" he grinned even more as he saw my expression.

I suddenly realized why he thought I was a fighter, because he was one. How had I missed that? Had I disregarded him because of his age? You would think the scar would have been a dead give away. But the kid did have a strange air about him, maybe that was what threw me off? Either way the kid was looking to be a good judge of character. I decided I should be a bit more guarded.

"So you fought him too, huh?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"He took me out pretty good, I put my all into it though." he grinned some more, "I think I did better than Boxer though."

My interest peaked at that, and the red head chided him.

"You know you're never going to beat your old man, Mars."

Mars sighed at that, playfully.

"He doesn't have what it takes, he's too soft." he boasted, grinning.

"You don't seem too thankful to the man who took you in like a stray dog." the blond one teased.

"I'm plenty thankful, just disappointed." he answered, continuing his boastful act. To which the others chuckled softly.

There was a silence after that, so I decided to introduce myself, as Meryl was still tending to her father.

"I'm Nagou. Nice to meet you." I offered a handshake, settling on Mars, who I had had the most contact with.

He stared at my hand, probably not used to shaking hands, "Son Mars, nice to meet you."

I wanted to ask about that name, and a couple other things, but the other two took the cue and interrupted me.

"I'm Juno, and this is Jewely." the blond guy said, indicating the red head. I politely shook Juno's hand, and then Jewely's.

"That's Jewely Brief by the way, charmed I'm sure." she added a tad airily. A rich girl it would seem. She was pretty though, her hair was dark red, braided down her back. Her eyes were deep blue, and she had a good body. She smiled pleasantly, and her demeanor was perfectly charming. But her eyes were cold, authoritative. Maybe a little dark.

Her and Juno seemed to be a couple. And Juno was a little odd too, he was a 'pretty boy'. I knew I was too, but I'd like to think that it was only on the outside. He was also wealthy by the looks of it, his suit was probably worth more than this building was. His blond hair was in a bowl cut like Trunks used to wear his. His eyes were cold, hard even. They were piercing, light blue. And noticing that, I suddenly realized I must be looking at a nephew. The features were unmistakeable. That said, they were both average, weak humans.

I gave Meryl a quick glance, before continuing introductions, I didn't need her chiming in about who I said I was related to if I was talking to the genuine article.

"Your one of 18's great grand kids right?" I asked him.

He smiled.

"Boy you really know your stuff, most would assume she was my sister before my grandmother." Juno smirked.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I managed to hear about her gift in passing." I tried. I berated myself. The nature of 18 was well known of course, among family, it shouldn't be something a supposed outsider would have any clue about though. Heck, I hadn't expected to be here this long.

"I see." Juno smiled.

I was starting to worry about being outed.

"So uh... what do you do for a living?" I tried, clumsily, to change the topic.

"I run the Capsule Corporation."

I stammered a bit at that, "How exactly did that come about?" This I genuinely wanted to know.

"I'm just lucky I guess." Juno shrugged... perfectly dodging the question.

Mars started chuckling at that.

"More like your dad was really rich, you sacked his company and bought it, right?" Mars chimed in.

"We can't all be karate bums for a living, big mouth." Juno shot back,"Anyways, how about you tell us what business you're in, Mr. Nagou?" he suggested, turning to me, "Now that you know all about us."

I wanted to talk more about what had just been said, but he had successfully put me back on the spot instead.

Why the heck would anybody in his right mind buy the Capsule Corporation? Sure it had been a power house a century ago, Dr. Brief created it with his Capsule money. It had then blossomed under Bulma's direction, though all the technology she scrapped at that time did help considerably. It was then semi ably C.O.-ed by Trunks, plenty of help from his mother, though. Then Bra, who was actually quite decent at it. She had had her father's ruthlessness and her mother's stubbornness after all. It had given her a pretty grating personality, but made her a fine business woman. But after she got tired of it the company drifted from one mediocre CO to another. By now the company was far in dept, leaning on it's business partners, feeding on government loans, waiting to go belly-up. I had payed attention over the years out of some miss guided sense of nostalgia. But on the other hand, I guess there might be a way to make money off of a company like that. Must be, because nothing struck me as particularly ignorant about Juno.

"I'm in lumber." I finally answered, in a way that would make them think I was on the business side. Only Mars would buy that I was a lumberjack.

"Much money in that?" Jewely asked.

"Not as much as I'd like." I got a polite laugh, "But I'm wondering about you, Jewely, shouldn't you be the one running Capsule Corp, with a name like Brief?"

"It was my dad's, til Juno bought it, I was and still am an executive though. But as for daddy, he wasn't making any head way out of it anyways. Juno's turning it all around though." She beamed at Juno on that note.

"Well, that's good I guess." I shrugged. I wanted to say why bother, but... it wasn't really my place. Didn't really matter anyway.

And that seemed to be the end of the conversation. As we reached the end of the line, talking was becoming less and less acceptable. Kohan seemed to have recovered from his state. He stared intently at the casket now, probably preparing a prayer. Meryl leaned back next to me, and ever so quietly whispered to me.

"Your story really got to him, I think he was just trying to hold it all in til now. I was starting to think he hated Goku." She smiled her beaming smile. Being this close, I felt a tad heated.

"Hate's not really the opposite of love ." I said, why was I being so cheesy?

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, where are you from anyway?" she suddenly asked.

"Just outside of West City," I didn't really live anywhere right now, but she didn't need to know that.

"Oh really? I go to college in West City!" she smiled, "Maybe we could... hang out sometime?"

"Sounds good." I glanced at Goku's body then, and I briefly wondered how bad this was, his murderer flirting with his grand daughter at his own funeral. It made me feel kind of guilty.

Briefly anyways.