Vigilante Angel: Chapter the Forty-ninth
Disclaimers 1 & 2: I own neither Dragonball Z nor the things outlined in Disclaimer Two in Chapter the Twenty-seventh.
A/n: Hey everybody! I know it's only been eight days since I last updated, but I couldn't stand it! It's too long! It tears at my heart to be this long away from you guys!
Aline: Enough with the dramatics, authoress.
SP: (Glares) No. (Turns away before muse can react) Please check my French spelling, too. I don't take French, which is pretty much apparent in this chapter, so if I've made any mistakes, take me aside and hit me over the head with a mallet until I've corrected it. Okay? Will you do that? (Eyes nearby mallet hesitantly)
Aline: (Looks™ at muse)
:-:-:-:
POVA—
"Okay," Goten sulked. "But they're going to come over when you're here one time, and you'll have been warned."
"Thanks, bro," he said affectionately. He ruffled the disgruntled Saiyan's hair just as fondly, which only caused his brother's resentment to deepen. Gohan just laughed.
:-:-:-:
More Time Later, Though Still Thirteen Years after the Cell Games
"Goten, you moron, I told you not to do that to me!"
"Do what?" An innocent Goten questioned. He ducked the hit the irate Miwako aimed at him with ease, adding fuel to the girl's fire.
Sun-Hi watched the proceedings with her usual equanimity, her pinched Korean features displaying her amusement. As of then, she was leaning against her locker, which was across from Miwako's and two to the left of Goten's; an extremely convenient arrangement, to be sure. Supposedly, the trio was preparing to undergo the trek to Goten's house to meet his "brother", though the girls had their suspicions about whether this brother was actually real or imagined, but so vivid to their friend that he seemed real.
Their worries were legitimate; never was the brother around when they were. They had spent enough times in the hospitable company of the dysfunctional Sons to warrant seeing him at least once, but nothing of the sort had happened. Goten had told him that Gohan was working on a project that kept him away from the house most days of the week. However, even if that notion had been true, there should have been signs of another person in the house besides the three that currently resided there. There were none.
Indeed, there was a room, an off-limits room, which contained books, a bed, a desk, a mirror, and a closet for clothes, but it didn't look lived in. The clothes that inhabited the closet looked far too small for someone older than Goten (or at least that's what they assumed Gohan was; younger brothers didn't work on projects away from home, did they?). The bed presented the same quandary; it was a double bed, but it was not nearly long enough for even Goten, whom was starting to grow after all.
The books, also, didn't contain anything that Goten's older brother might read. They were all academic… which led to the question: Where were all the books that Gohan read for pleasure? He must have had some of them before he started studying…
When Chichi swept by with treats for them all, demanding that they take them even when Miwako declined, well, there really wasn't that much doubt left about the books (SP: (Sweatdrops)). Especially when they remembered that Goten had told them about his mother's obsession for academics…. Right.
Suffice it to say, there was a real possibility that Gohan was imaginary. (SP: pfffft! As if!)
So, they had, as Goten had complained only last chapter, been badgering their only male friend for details (Well, it was mostly Miwako who did all of that…). Contrary to what they thought, Goten held up well underneath the pressure, maintaining despite all of their stratagems that Gohan was real and was capable of causing with him much mischief.
Goten had reluctantly admitted that his brother had been behind the month's absence two years ago (SP: Two years ago? That long? (Surprised)). So Miwako had sworn, if she ever met this brother of his, that she would tear him to pieces. Sun-Hi had not said anything, but her black eyes… had suggested something to be feared.
So the two girls were not particularly determined to like Goten's brother before they met him. Sun-Hi especially felt that she was going to remain aloof from him, reserving judgement on him until he proved himself worthy of her regard, if he did so. Miwako, on the other hand, ranted constantly, demonstrating that she was going to be mad at him for some time until such time as she ran out of anger.
(Shakes head) Poor, poor Miwako…
In any case, no, the threesome was not yet out of school. But they were in no hurry; Goten had assured him that Gohan would be there. At this, Sun-Hi had raised her eyebrows, obviously questioning the validity of his statement, while Miwako did the same verbally. Goten had merely smiled at him and shaken his head pityingly. Neither of the girls had liked this action, and this authoress speaks from experience, unfortunately, but what could they do about it? It would mostly likely be them pitying Goten when the dude didn't show up….
Payback time, eh? (Raises eyebrow) Mm-hmm… right. (Snickers)
Miwako had been yelling at Goten because the demi-Saiyan had pounced on her, surprising her, like he did nearly every chance he got. He'd tried to do the same to Sun-Hi once, but after she threatened to cut him into tiny pieces with a big chainsaw, he'd quickly lost interest. (SP: (Snorts) It's not as if the chainsaw would hurt him….)
As Goten dodged yet another swipe, Sun-Hi trudged over to Miwako's locker and opened it further. She found the backpack, withdrew the planner and flipped through it, looking for her homework assignments. She blew at her hair in exasperation when she found nothing in it, whereas Sun-Hi's own was scribbled with anything and everything she needed, whether it was school-related or not. Goten's was much the same, only his assignments were almost always crossed out whenever she saw them. But she didn't wonder at his academic genius; with a mother like his, she would be bored in school, too.
She rather found herself wishing, amongst the squawks still emitting from her excitable sister-without-blood, that she was bored in school. Being able to obtain the kind of grades that were so easy for Goten…. She wouldn't need tutoring, for sure.
She shook her head. She hated her tutor, Bragnok-san, with a passion; the only person whom didn't know of this was Bragnok himself. A German-Greek, the man was so stuffy that she could hardly bear it; his accent was so thick naturally, and atrocious in Japanese she couldn't understand him half of the time; he twitched all of the time; and above all of that, Bragnok-san was ugly.
The dark hair and huskiness that generally came from the German area of Europe combined in such a way with the lithe agility of the Greeks as to make him look like one of the fantastical ancient Greek monsters. Sun-Hi personally thought he looked like a rather thickset Medusa, only with smoothed-down hair instead of snakes encompassing her scalp. Or a Hydra, dwelling in the waters of Lethe, ready to strike out at anyone who passed.
Sun-Hi hmphed with disapproval and returned to the present. Miwako was no longer chasing Goten, but she was hardly packing for the trip to Goten's house, as well.
"Wako-chan," she called. When the girl had turned to her, she motioned to the locker with her head, exasperation clearly showing on her features. "You haven't packed yet."
"I haven't?" Miwako yelped. She scurried over the locker and began to stuff every one of her books from it into her backpack. Book after book found itself crammed carelessly into the book-bag, until finally it wouldn't hold anymore. Sun-Hi wordlessly took two of the heavier ones, allowing Miwako to close her backpack a little more easily. Goten must have finished his own packing, for it was not long before he slid the Earth Science and the History books out of Sun-Hi's arms. She turned to see that he was indeed ready, his own messenger bag slung cross-wise over his shoulder.
"Almost ready to go, finally?" he teased. Miwako glared at him as she hefted her bag over her shoulder. Goten winced at the heaviness of the bag, but as he'd been doing that each and every day for three years, Miwako ignored him.
"I'm ready, now let's go," the tomboy snarled. "I want to get out of here before those twits find me again."
Those "twits", as Miwako so fondly called them, were the popular gang of girls at the middle school. Their favorite victim was not Miwako, but she was certainly high on their "reform" list. The Twits seemed to think that Miwako was an embarrassment to the female population of the middle school with her rebellious attitude, nonconformist style of dress, and refusal to hang out with "normal" girls her age. Obviously, Sun-Hi was not normal, and Goten wasn't even a girl. (SP: Anybody ever feel this way in middle school?)
As a result, the Twits regularly nagged Miwako, never mind that their tactics only served to add fuel to her hatred of them, which caused her to further rebel against them. And as she rebelled more and more, the Twits stepped up their efforts. It was a vicious cycle, one that Sun-Hi was glad she'd not entered, and Goten was angered by.
Still, there was nothing either Sun-Hi or Goten could do, besides going to the teachers, whom were all enamored by the Twits. It didn't help that the leader, Murasani Orino, belonged to one of the richer families in the neighborhood. Even Kinata-san wouldn't lift a finger to help.
Sun-Hi grimaced, Goten nodded. Together they turned and walked out of the school, where a Capsule airplane was waiting patiently to escort them to Mt. Paoz, 439 Mountain Area.
:-:-:-:
"So where is he already?" Miwako shouted grumpily as they descended from the plane. Goten merely smiled mysteriously once more as he set off for the nearby house, forcing the two girls to do the same.
:-:-:-:
Gohan looked up as he sensed the kis of his brother and his friends come nearer. He heard distinctly, "So where is he already?", which he took to be Miwako's exclamation. Shaking his head and chuckling, he returned to his work in kitchen. Goten would lead them to him.
Like two years ago, Gohan wore "civilian" clothes, but he packed Hageshiijutsu with him, as always. She was invisible, though, and would remain such until either Gohan freed her or she herself broke through the spell. Indeed, the glaive was attempting to do so, but as an exercise in chasing away boredom, not particularly because she really desired to. Every time she succeeded, or was about to, Gohan recast the spell on her in a different way to keep her stimulated.
The "civilian" clothes our twenty-four year-old hero models this chapter (SP: (Cackles madly, wringing hands excitedly)) was monochromatic. His dark green trousers not only fitted to his legs but mirrored the color of his ki magic. His shirtsleeves reached down over his knuckles, while the shirt itself vainly strove for his waist. A moss-green vest attained the goal, however, on behalf of the shirt, although it did not manage to cover up the pendant Gohan habitually wore. As usual, Gohan was barefoot, though his boots were outside of the house. As for Gohan's halo, somehow, with ki magic, he had managed to budge it from over his head. Now it occupied a honorary place as a wide band on his left index finger.
The door slammed and what seemed to be a herd of East Quadrant fighters trooped into the living room just outside of the kitchen. Thumps sounded as—presumably—the trio tossed their backpacks willy-nilly, then the herd of East Quadrant rumbled straight toward the kitchen.
Gohan looked up in relatively impassive surprise as first Goten burst through the door, then a fierce-countenanced blue-and-purple haired girl stomped in, followed stoically by a Korean girl dressed in a plaid skirt and wearing a tie. (SP:P to Falcon-chan!)
"Hello," Gohan voiced mildly, blinking blandly at them. Goten beamed at his brother, then smirked at the gobsmacked expressions on the girls' faces. "What's up?" Gohan continued.
"Hey, bro. These are the girls I keep talking about. This is Uramito Miwako—" he pointed at the open-mouthed female on his left. "And this is Shikori Sun-Hi." The girl in question was as surprised as Goten had ever seen her, but she suddenly burst out in French. To her query Gohan smiled, still blandly.
"Oui, madamesoille," he replied. Sun-Hi continued in French, which Goten translated for Miwako, whom learned Chinese instead. Apparently Sun-Hi was still suspicious of Gohan, enough to question him in a different language about the things she knew the Son brothers supposedly shared. As Miwako, outraged, pronounced that were her job, Gohan calmly answered the Korean's questions in the same tongue she asked them in. He even abandoned the papers spread out before him to do so, concentrating only on Sun-Hi.
Miwako quickly grew bored with the Inquisition and wandered over to the kitchen table with the paperwork covering almost every millimeter of it. She peeked at one such paper upside down and almost gawked. She did gawk when she lifted the paper and saw another sheet under it, filled with the same insane characters as the first one.
"The papers you're looking at are in ancient Spiritual. You're not going to be able to read them," she heard an amused voice call. Caught, she glanced up quickly, meeting the warm onyx eyes of the speaker. Deliberately, and with much dignity, she laid the sheet of thick paper she held back into its original place and backed away.
Meanwhile, Gohan mentally congratulated himself on a job well done. He'd taken the necessary precaution of laying a ki magic illusion over the galactic journal King Yemma had somehow acquired and sent onto him. The language of the alternate-worldly wanderer would have been impossible to decipher if Gohan hadn't been dead. As it was, he was dead, so he shared the common characteristic of understanding any language.
Such a trait allowed him to withstand Sun-Hi's juggernaut questions without turning a hair; this was one of the many times Gohan seriously thanked the Kaios that he no longer lived (SP: Which is a strange thing to think, is it not? (Shakes head)). He was sure the North Kaio was thinking up corny jokes about this to himself right about now.
Instead, Miwako merely gestured to the table and inquired, too casually, "So what is it you're working on then? What's ancient Spiritual? I've never heard of that before."
Gohan lifted his shoulders in answer. "I don't know what ancient Spiritual is. I just named it that so I could call it something other than 'the darn frustrating squiggle language.'"
Miwako had to agree with him as she gazed at the rows upon rows of jagged runes that dazzled the eye. "So, you're translating this stuff?"
Gohan made a face. "You could say that," he said dryly. Goten snickered, earning him a wry sidelong look from his brother. "Needless to say," he continued, "I've not gotten very far."
He sighed. Miwako snorted and crossed the room past Gohan to acquire her favorite brand of cookies. Sun-Hi moved closer and inspected the squiggles on her own, but did nothing to give Gohan any encouragement in his actions. Gohan himself had to smile at her actions; it was not precisely what he himself did, as he was friendlier, but he could remember a certain two-tone-haired ex-psychic he'd become friends with…. Indeed, he could only expect this kind of behavior. To see the cynicism in someone so young was a smite disheartening, however.
(SP: Ha! You yourself were eighteen when you displayed the cynicism yourself, ya know! You're not so old as to proclaim that, you flirt!)
"Now that the initial wary dance is over," Miwako shot him an incredulous look, which Gohan ignored, "how was your day, Goten? Did the Twits find you again?"
Now it was time for Miwako and Sun-Hi to turn unbelieving glances onto Goten, whom only rolled his eyes. "Yes," he growled, striding over to the table and drawing out his seat. "They were as annoying as ever, nattering on and on about how Miwako should be this, should be friends with them, and insulting Sun-Hi and me to our faces without even blinking. Someone should do something about them, and fast."
"And why aren't you that someone? You certainly have enough resources at your disposal to be so." Gohan uplifted his eyebrows as he picked up his pen again, twirling it between those strong fingers. The girls were forced to look on; Miwako glanced at the duo with a cookie in her mouth, Sun-Hi's face was darkened as she tried to keep her thoughts off of her face. So far she was unsuccessful.
"I've tried before, Gohan. I've gone up to them and told them to stop their actions. But arguing with them doesn't work. Murasani-san's father practically threatened me with a lawsuit if I continued to harass his daughter. Apparently she told him that I was doing the harassing, not the other way around. You know, the typical 'Daddy's little girl' act."
Gohan joined Goten in grimacing, while Miwako gaped at him in outright astonishment. He had done something about it? Why hadn't he ever told her? Glancing at Sun-Hi, she knew instantly that her other friend felt the same.
"Anyway, that was the end of that. I knew that Murasani-san would bring down the teachers on me if I did anything more, so I backed off. I still wish I'd done more, but I didn't want to hurt Miwako, who is currently gaping at me like some kind of goldfish."
Gohan turned and witnessed just what his younger brother described. Chuckling gently, Gohan began to rise. Sun-Hi intercepted him, however, interposing herself between him and her friend protectively. It was Goten she allowed to walk behind her to attempt to snap Miwako out of her trance. Gohan raised his hands defensively, but the movement did nothing to allay the Korean's lingering distrust of him.
"Mi-chan, are you there yet?" Goten clicked his fingers before Miwako's eyes, but she did not move. He clapped loudly next to her ear; her hair undulated in the breeze. He fisted his hands on his hips, frustrated, then acquired a thoughtful look on his face. Before he could do anything, however, Sun-Hi stepped in, finally turning her back on Gohan in favor of Miwako's plight.
Moving in, the girl with the horrible tutor reached up and grasped Miwako by the ear. She pulled then, hard, eliciting a yelp out of Miwako. Sun-Hi released the cartilage just in time to matter-of-factly dodge a clip on the cheek. Goten restrained her and carefully explained that she had fallen into a trance. Only Gohan noticed that his brother had no difficulty in the physical part of his task, though he was just as tall as Miwako. Needless to say, he kept silent.
It was quite the odd sight for Chichi and Eighteen when they walked into the kitchen. Sun-Hi stood aloof to the left of the burdened table, her arms folded over her chest. Miwako futilely endeavored to escape an unperturbed Goten's grip. Gohan leaned back on the counter and watched the proceedings in general with ill-concealed amusement.
Chichi only smiled fondly at them and made her way to the sink, bypassing Gohan as she did so. Gohan spared her a brief smiling glance, which she returned, before he turned toward the door. His smile didn't waver as he nodding to Eighteen, making the former Android wonder if he'd known she was coming. (SP: She is a former android, isn't she? Ah well. I'm always so confused about Juuhachi-chan. (Shakes head))
Eighteen nodded her return salute and pursued Gohan and Goten's mother, finding her at the sink where she had stationed herself. None of the others noticed the appearance.
Gohan could tell that Eighteen was confused. No doubt she was asking Chichi exactly what was going on, for if Gohan was visiting, why hadn't she seen him before now? Judging from the papers scattered hither and thither on the table, he had certainly had the time to do so.
He ignored her. Mom would straighten everything out, then tell him later. He guessed that he would be doing some major visiting tomorrow and perhaps even the day after that. He shrugged internally at this; it was fine with him as long as he could keep an eye on Goten while he was down.
Gohan came up to the surface of his mind just in time to catch Miwako finally calming down. Goten gently let her go, allowing her to rub her arms to get the blood circulation once more. Apparently this sort of thing had happened before, for Miwako did not evince surprise, and neither did Sun-Hi.
Suddenly he felt something touch him in the back; he turned to see that dishes of cookies and tiny brownies had been laid out on the counter behind him. He smiled again at his parent as he took one; nibbling on it, he signaled for Goten to acquire his own.
"Ooh, cookies! Thanks Mom!" though Goten had not seen them come in, he seemed to be better prepared to see his mother and Eighteen than either Miwako or Sun-Hi. The two started violently and whirled around to look at whoever was there. they relaxed when they perceived only Chichi and the mysterious Juuhachi.
"Hi, Son-san, Chestnut-san," Miwako chirped. Though she had already consumed a fair share of the delectable snack, she plucked some more of them from the plate nearest her. (SP: I don't blame her. Yum!)
Meanwhile, (SP: I've been using that word a lot this chapter, haven't I? I'll cut down on it now.) Sun-Hi politely asked if there was any peanut butter in any of the brownies. Eighteen was the one who replied affirmatively. A smile crossed Sun-Hi's face and she eagerly dug into the batch, educing a rare smile to appear on the woman's face.
Eighteen turned to Gohan when he asked, "How's Marron doing at her elementary school? What's the name of it again, Kazawasaru Elementary?"
"Yes," she replied in surprise. "I'm surprised you remember the name." (SP: Duh.)
Gohan grinned. "I may not be around that much, but I do try to keep up to date on things around here. Speaking of keeping up to date, what grade is Marron in?"
"Fifth," Eighteen replied with obvious pride. Gohan could commiserate with her, as he was more proud of Goten in middle school than ha had been of any of his own personal achievements, including destroying Cell. Of course, that's not exactly a glowing recommendation, seeing as Gohan had some trouble getting over that last accomplishment, but you know what I mean. Gosh, isn't Gohan so mature?
(Aline: (Snorts))
Heheh. (Sweatdrops)
Right. Moving on. Gohan and Eighteen engaged in conversation about Marron's already impressive leaps and bounds in her academic progress, as well as the adventures she had almost every day with her own band of friends. Gohan currently was laughing about a dry recollection of the raid on Kayou-san's mother's makeup chest only last week. Marron had come home with "her eyelids drooping from the heavy load of eyeshadow on it, too much rouge on her cheeks, and an unhealthy amount of lipstick."
"But she was happy, wasn't she?" Gohan asserted through his chuckles. Eighteen lifted one shoulder, non-committant, giving Gohan his answer.
"Okay! We're going to do homework now! Thank you for the snacks, Son-san and Chestnut-san!" Miwako announced. After bowing, she shot a glare at the protesting Goten, though the half-eaten cookie he'd crammed into his mouth muffled his dissent. Sun-Hi nodded and palmed her last brownie, drifting out of the door calmly. Goten sighed in resignation and followed the tug of his collar in Miwako's hands, so that it seemed as if she was dragging him out of the room. This is a feat we all know is impossible, but the histrionics are appreciated, ne:D
when the last traces of Goten and Miwako were gone, Gohan heaved a sigh. "Well, that's over with," he muttered. He pushed off of the counter, approached the table, and began to clean up the mess there.
"You're not staying for dinner, dear?" Gohan looked back over his shoulder and sighed again. Those puppy dog eyes really did run in the family (SP:P to Tiara Shin). Of course, that pan didn't, but it was just as deadly, and hurt more.
"Sure, Mom, I'll stay." Gohan blew out a breath of resignation, but continued to clear saway his research.
"Thank you dear. By the way, I told Eighteen you'd be visiting her and the rest tomorrow. Don't forget, okay?" Chichi eyed her son with a glare; he merely rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom," he repeated, his back still turned to her. "I won't forget."
Eighteen refrained from snorting when she heard the demi-Saiyan add underneath his breath: "As if I could forget."
:-:-:-:
"So, Goten, how do your friends feel about me?" Gohan asked Goten the next day. Goten looked up from his sculpting an assignment and thought about the question.
"I don't they've yet gotten over the shock that I actually do have a brother, and not an imaginary friend. Even though Mom called you 'dear' throughout the whole dinner—"
"Ick," Gohan commented, making a face. Goten grinned; then, carefully covering his clay with the plastic it'd come in, abandoned the pursuit in favor of his favorite person.
"The thing is, bro," Goten persevered, "you seem too perfect to them. I 'rant' about you all the time, and nothing bad ever pops up. It doesn't help that they've got a bit of a grudge against you—"
"Really? What for?" Gohan inquired. Goten looked at him pointedly; when Gohan still didn't get it, he prompted, "Remember the starvation month two years ago?" When Gohan nearly slapped himself for his absent-mindedness, Goten nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, they'll come around if they see you enough. Trunks is asking for you, by the way. He's wondering where you've gone."
"I'll go over today," Gohan promised. "I heard that there's a martial arts tournament for people between the ages of twelve and twenty in a few months. Are you going to enter?"
"Of course I am!" Goten exclaimed, his tone scolding. Gohan simply smiled and asked, suggestively, "Wanna put some practice in for it?"
Goten stared at him. Slowly a devious smile formed. "Sure," he said, innocently. "Why not? There's no harm in it."
Laughing, the Son brothers raced each other out of the door. However, they weren't done yet. We hear: "Hey, I know. We should go to Capsule for this spar. Trunks should have some fun too."
"Yeah, let's do that," Goten's voice shouted. The authoress and the readers glance at each other, greatly fearing for the domed structure of Capsule.
:-:-:-:
A/n: Finally that's done. It took me some time. (Sweatdrops)
Aline: It did take you long enough.
SP: Shaddup muse. You're not helping.
Aline: Am I meant to? (Snidely)
SP: Yes.
Aline: Too bad. I refuse.
SP: You've made that clear, crystal clear. (Glares)
Aline: (Sniffs haughtily) I have other things to do than to be abused, so I'm leaving. (Disappears)
SP: Be abused? (Shrieks) That's my line! (Chases after muse)
So Goten did manage to convince Gohan to show himself after all, eh? I bet he did a lot of nagging! Heh, heh, heh! And yet Sun-Hi and Miwako don't seem to like Gohan! What's up with that? I don't know… It seems Goten's entering a martial arts tournament! He'll win, of course, but will it be interesting? Discover the answer for yourself, next time on Vigilante Angel
Thanks to puff the magic dragon, Tiara Shin, and DBZ Chick1 for reviewing! (Bows)
Hasta,
TheShadowPanther and Aline, from AASN
AASN; Writing is what we do for you at AASN. Enjoy.
Updated 29 Jan, 2006
