Part III

Chapter 53: An old new Home

The party was in full swing. One of the students was the DJ and other students were dancing to the music he was playing. Others, mostly the parents or guardians of the graduates, were sitting at the tables, eating, talking, laughing. Everyone was having a lot of fun. Even Jenny, who was still a bit shell-shocked about everything that had happened today. A part of her still found it very hard to believe that she had already graduated from this school, that she had actually become this good over the past four years.

But another part of her was really proud of what she had accomplished. Four years ago, when she had started at this school and Li had told her about how she was going to train – as a human – she would have never thought that she'd get the hang of this. She had been so clumsy, so insecure. And all this had changed over the course of the past few years. She just hadn't wanted to believe or notice it.

"Come on, Zoe, now that you've graduated you can finally tell us, what you're planning to do now!" Nik said, pulling Jenny out of her thoughts. Zoe had always refused to tell them what she was going to do once she had graduated and she hadn't said a word, contrary to Ejnar, who had quickly told them that he was going to stay in the village for another year until his boyfriend Mika graduated. And then they would see where they would end up.

"Alright, alright," she agreed laughing. "I'm gonna tell you. I've been thinking long and hard about it and I've decided to go back to the Eastern Capital."

"But you hated your life there," Ejnar threw in, clearly surprised by her decision.

"I hated my life," Zoe contradicted. "It had nothing to do with the place. But when Li found me, I wasn't the only child living on the streets. I wasn't the only child who had to steal and… do other things to survive. And because of that, I want to go back. I want to open a shelter for kids who, like me, don't have anywhere to go and don't have any perspective. I want to show them that they can become good people. Li has already promised to help me until I can run the place on my own. It will have some sleeping facilities, a big kitchen, two community bathrooms, a common room and also a dojo, where the kids can either learn how to defend themselves or just let off some steam."

"Wow," Anisah breathed. "That's really… brave I guess."

Zoe shrugged, obviously embarrassed and continued to say something else, but Jenny's mind began to wander. She hadn't really thought about this before, but now, as Zoe was telling them what she was planning to do now, Jenny realized that she had no idea about what she could do now. After all, just this morning she had still thought that she'd had a couple of more years at this school. And now, in one week, once the school year was over, it really was over. No more fighting classes for her, no more morning runs… Everything she had known during the last four years was over.

"Excuse me, I'm gonna get something to drink," Jenny suddenly said and stood up, heading for the refreshments. But when she saw Li standing there, talking to Lari, Jenny turned on the spot and let her feet carry her towards the door and outside. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to Li or still felt resentful for how he had gotten her to participate in the tournament and with it to graduate, but right now she only needed some peace.

The fresh summer air outside immediately calmed her a bit and she took a couple of deep breaths before crossing the courtyard. The sky was starlit and there wasn't a single cloud to be seen at the sky. Jenny sighed. Everything was so peaceful out here. She really was going to miss this – the quiet, the nature and of course, the people, when she returned to the Western Capital, when she returned home…

Home… Did she really want to go back already? Leave her friends and her life of the past four years behind? But then again, could she really stay here, knowing that she wouldn't have any more fighting classes to go to? She would still have the volleyball team, but somehow with more and more older students graduating (two more of her team had graduated along with her this year) the team wasn't what it used to be when she had started.

She would still have Mailin and Damian, but Zoe, Anisah and Ejnar would be gone. Sel would follow soon after. Would she even still have a place here? What would she do once normal school classes were out? Would Li allow her to teach some classes? No, this would be unlikely. She was still a minor, after all.

No, somehow, Jenny thought, she would feel out of place if she stayed, despite her best friends still living here. Jenny's purpose, learning how to fight with swords, becoming worthy of the Dragon Swords, was fulfilled. It was time to start something new and she couldn't start it here. But what could she expect of a return to the Western Capital? What was waiting for her there?

Her feet carried her along the shore of the lake, closer to the edge of the woods, where a rustling noise tore her out of her thoughts. The fighting stance, even without swords, still came to her naturally, but she relaxed immediately, when she recognized the person that stepped out of the shadows.

A huge grin spread over Jenny's face, as she did one of the few things she knew he hated. She sprinted up to him and hugged him tightly. Unbidden tears rose in her eyes, which she quickly blinked away before he noticed them. Vegeta would never forgive her, if she cried just because she had missed him. And oh, how she had missed him in the past year. After all, she hadn't seen him once since she had returned to school last September. Those almost ten months had been too long.

Before he could push her away, Jenny let go of him and said with a cheeky grin, "Hi Vegeta."

"Brat," he acknowledged her. And could she actually see an amused smirk dancing on his lips? Yep, there it was. He was happy to see her, too, and he hadn't minded the hug as much as he would always like her to think. "I believe congratulations are in order."

"Thanks…" She was still grinning brightly. If Vegeta said something like that, it could only mean that he was proud of her and her achievements. Still, it wouldn't hurt him to say more about how good she was in the fights, right? "Soo… you've seen the fights?"

A nod.

"Aaaand?"

There it was again, the amused smirk tugging at his lips, as he answered, "Your performance was… satisfactory."

In Vegeta-speak, this meant very good. But of course, he was always pushing her for more. And she wouldn't want to have it any other way.

Ooh, how much she wanted to tell him that it was sooo good to see him again. To hear him praise (well, it was praise coming from his mouth) her again. To feel his steady presence. But she couldn't say any of this. It would only make him uncomfortable.

"Sooo," she said slowly, as she sat down at the bank of the lake. She could still feel Vegeta's presence behind her – of course he wouldn't sit down with her. "What are we gonna now?"

Vegeta didn't answer for a moment, but Jenny didn't turn around. "It's up to you," he told her eventually. "Li says that you can stay at this school as long as you like, until you graduate from normal classes if you wish."

"I see," Jenny mumbled. This was exactly, what she had expected. But hadn't she just thought that this was something she didn't want? That she didn't belong here any longer? "Vegeta… what do you want?"

Silence. That was the only answer she got, and she really should have known it. Other people never saw it, but Vegeta sacrificed a lot more for her sake than he should. And this was just another reason for why she couldn't stay at this school any longer. Except for the summer holidays, Vegeta had been alone for the past four years, doing only Dende knew what. There were times when even she couldn't pinpoint his location. He had to be lonely.

So, finally, Jenny made her decision. She turned around to him with a smile, as she announced, "Let's go home, Vegeta."


The last days at Li's school passed in a blur. Every graduating student was packing and slowly saying goodbye to the place that had been their home and the people who had been their family for the past few years. Jenny was no exception, but she didn't want any teary goodbyes. After all, with her abilities, she could come back and visit her friends any time she wanted to. And they were going to talk on the phone all the time – at least that's what they promised each other.

Her friends had been very understanding of her decision to return home, saying that even though they had hoped that she would stay, they had already expected her decision. Jenny felt particularly guilty for leaving Mailin again alone in her room. They had spent many good moments in that room, funny moments, sad moments… Mailin and Damian had become her best friends, almost like another brother and sister, and it was hard to leave them behind.

But she made sure to spend a lot of time with them, and her other friends of course – Nik, Anisah, Zoe, Ejnar, Selvyn – during her last days at the school, always reassuring them that she was just a short phone call or flight away. She even got – in a private moment with him – Selvyn to promise that he wouldn't wait any longer until he asked Mailin out. Before it was too late. And finally, two days later, she saw the two of them walking shyly hand in hand.

And during the last days, Nik even got the fight with Jenny that he had wanted. With her being transformed and everything. Needless to say that he was lying on his back, weaponless and with Jenny's training sword trained at his neck in one second flat. Jenny had been worried for a moment that she had hurt his pride – especially since she had been holding back – but Nik had just laughed and allowed her to help him to his feet again, saying that he was glad to have such powerful people on his side.

All too sudden, it was Jenny's last day and she was packing her last belongings into her backpack. The room seemed bare somehow without her stuff and she wasn't the only one noticing it.

"It'll be strange, you know," Mailin mumbled, trying to spread her own things to make up for the space that Jenny had left. "Sleeping here without you."

"Yeah, I know," Jenny said, joining Mailin on her bed. "It'll also be weird back home, without all of you around. But I don't belong here anymore… and you know that I'll be back so often to visit you that you'll soon be sick of me."

"I know… and you'll let us visit you, too… right?"

"Of course… and now cheer up! I'll call you guys the moment the phone company has hooked us up again. I promise."

"Actually," Damian's voice sounded from the door. "We won't have to wait for a call from you for so long." He wheeled into the room followed by her other friends, carrying a small box wrapped up in colorful paper on his lap.

Nik quickly walked past him and flopped down on the other side of her, causing the mattress to squeak. "Yeah, you know how we always give our graduates a 'going home present', after all you've chipped in for the others, too. And we all thought that you should have this…"

He motioned for Damian to hand over the present and Jenny took it eagerly, curiously tearing into the paper. Ooh, how much she loved presents! Once the paper was gone and the box opened, she was staring at something small, black and shiny. "Oooh, a cell phone! Thank you guys!"

"It's a prepaid phone," Damian explained. "It's already charged and ready to be used. You find all our numbers in the contact list. So, call us the moment you get home."

"I will… oh thank you guys!" She hugged everyone in turn, suddenly feeling the tears in her eyes. Oh no, she really didn't want to cry. After all, it wasn't goodbye, it was just a 'see ya later'. And she had to push her tears back, when she felt a ki flare up outside. It was time. "Vegeta's here… I better go…"

"Come on," Mailin said, clutching Jenny's hand. "We'll show you out."

The whole group followed Jenny outside and Jenny had been right, Vegeta was waiting with Li in his usual stance – arms crossed in front of his chest, scowl on his face. But Jenny smiled. It would be good to live with him again. Make him loosen up again. He had become way too stiff in the past few years without her around to keep him company.

Another group of 'see ya later'-hugs were exchanged and then Jenny was standing in front of Li. Actually she felt like hugging him, but didn't know if this would be appropriate, so she just stuck out her hand. Grinning, Li solved her problem. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sad to see you go," he told her.

"Aww, don't worry," Jenny said teasingly, as they let go of each other. "I'll be back to visit you before you know it." Then, she once again took his right hand into both of hers and said, "Li, thank you. For everything. I… I wish there was more I could do or say for what you've done… saying thank you just doesn't seem to be enough…"

"It's more than enough… your thank you and witnessing how the insecure little girl has transformed into a confident young woman is everything I need."

A blush rose in Jenny's cheeks, but she was smiling, as she stepped back to stand next to Vegeta. Earlier today she had already said her 'see ya laters' to Lari, Tenshinhan, Chao-zu and Suki, and she was happy for that, otherwise she was sure that she surely would have cried. But now it was time to go. Raising her hand to wave at her friends – her family really – she called out, "See ya!" and then rose into the sky, followed by Vegeta. And with a flare of energy they were off.


Jenny got a weird feeling in her stomach, as she and Vegeta landed in front of Capsule Corporation. More than four years ago they had left this place and Jenny hadn't known then when, or if they would ever return… home. Sure, the little capsule house in the woods had been some kind of home, but Jenny had never gotten around to really personalizing her room. All her personal things had been at Li's school, which had basically been her home during that time. But deep inside, her real home was and would always be Capsule Corporation.

Only, how much had it changed since they had left it behind? Had it changed at all? Well, except for the dust, most of which the cleaning bots had hopefully taken care of, there wasn't anything that could have changed. No one had lived there, after all.

But the Western Capital surely had changed. When they had flown over the city, Jenny had seen that many things had improved over the past four and a half years since she had been there. Many buildings had been rebuilt, the city seemed again more alive than it had been back then and overall most destruction sites had been cleared. Jenny was happy to see this, as it meant that the people were no longer dwelling on what Buu had destroyed, but were ready for new things.

Just as she was.

Gathering all her courage – she had no idea what she was afraid of, really – Jenny stepped through the front door and immediately wrinkled her nose. There was no dust in the hallway, the cleaning bots had made sure of that, but there was still a musty smell in the air. Still, she had expected it. One of the first things she needed to do was to open as many windows as possible.

But before she did that, she had to see her own room. She didn't want the cleaning bots in there – this was something she had never allowed. She didn't want some bots to clean her room, she'd rather do it herself (if she did it at all). Grinning wryly Jenny wondered, if she should arm herself with a mask and feather duster before she braved her room. The dust bunnies must be deadly.

"So, I'm gonna go unpack… and get my room ready…" Jenny told Vegeta, who had stepped into the house behind her. "What are you gonna do?"

"Train."

Rolling her eyes, Jenny watched him disappear again. She had almost forgotten that Vegeta had already brought the most important thing – the gravity room – and his few personal belongings, which meant his clothes, back to the Western Capital the day before.

So, with a sigh, Jenny made her way to her room, but already in the hallway she noticed that it was strange to be back. Everything was so familiar and at the same time different. Rooms seemed to have become smaller – which could be contributed to the fact that she had grown quite a bit over the course of the past few years – but the living room was still the living room and the kitchen was still the kitchen. Jenny hoped that it was fully stocked, because she was sure that she would be starving, once she was done with her room.

And there it was, the door closed, just like any other room in this building. Jenny's hand rested on the doorknob for a moment, before she took a deep breath and pushed it open, fearing what she would find. And she had been right with her fears. The curtains of the windows were still closed, but with the help of the small rays of light that found their way through some gaps she could see the dust fly through the air. One of those rays landed on a desk at the wall and even there she could see the thick layer of dust.

Great… For once she should have allowed the cleaning bots into the room. After Jenny had dropped her backpack outside her room, the first thing she did was stride over to her window, pull the curtains open to let the light inside and then open the windows wide. Immediately the warm summer air flooded the room and the light breeze sent even more dust into the air. Sighing again, Jenny resigned herself to the fact that probably even with Saiyajin speed she would spend the rest of the day in this room.

But before she got the cleaning supplies, Jenny pulled her new cell phone out of her pocket and spent the next couple of minutes reassuring her friends that she had arrived home safely and telling them that she would be busy the whole day with cleaning her room, while she was opening the windows of the most important rooms in the house.

Twenty minutes later, Jenny was transformed and armed, not with her Dragon Swords, but with a feather duster, water, several cleaning agents, wiping cloths and the vacuum cleaner. A smirk appeared on Jenny's face, as she thought that a war cry wouldn't be out of place with the task lying in front of her.

"Alright, ready or not, here I come," Jenny whispered and then braved her room. Over the next couple of hours she fought against dust bunnies, with the cable of the vacuum cleaner, involuntarily flooded her bathroom and conquered the space under the beds, where even more dust bunnies had taken up residence.

The battle against them was hard and painful and even in her Saiyajin form she was sweating slightly, when she wrung out the final cloth and put all the cleaning supplies back into the storage room where they belonged. However, when Jenny saw the result, meaning her clean room, she was happy. Now she recognized everything again, the three beds, the wallpapers, the desks… everything.

And then she frowned.

What Jenny saw in front of her was a child's room, not that of a teenage girl. The beds were small, made for children, the wallpaper on her side of the room depicted girly themes, pink hearts, unicorns and fairies (she had already hated the wallpaper back then, but her grandma had picked them, so she didn't have the heart to complain) and on Goten's and Trunks' side of the room the wallpaper showed cars and planes. Only the curtains were a neutral dark blue color, but the rest she couldn't live with. This had to change. And she was going to spend the next few nights on the couch in the living room – or in one of the guest rooms – because there was no way she would fit into her old bed.

Sitting down on her bed – or what used to be her bed – Jenny looked around the room. The wallpapers had to go, of course, so did her bed. But… Her gaze landed on Goten's and Trunks' beds. Her grandma had once asked her, about two years after Buu, if they shouldn't replace the beds with something else. Jenny remembered only too clearly her reaction. Back then she had still held onto the hope that by some miracle Trunks and Goten would return. But now, almost exactly seven years p.B. (post Buu) it was clear that they would never come back to life. If they had found a way out of the Afterlife, they would have done this by now.

So, now, after all this time, Jenny finally felt ready to get rid of the beds and put the space to her own use. A couch would be nice and a TV on her own, so that she wouldn't have to compete with Vegeta in the living room (yes, sometimes Vegeta was a TV junkie, even if just to criticize whatever he was watching).

Slowly but surely a new room appeared in front of her inner eye and not wanting to lose that picture, Jenny quickly grabbed a piece of paper and made a sketch. It wasn't very good, as she was artistically challenged, but she was sure that she recognized how she wanted things to be. The next thing was a list of things she would need and how much they could cost and the longer it got, the more worried Jenny became that she had to cross things off. So she began to put brackets around the items that she could do without.

After sitting in front of the list for ten more minutes without adding anything, Jenny added a final total to the list and swallowed. If she had to use her allowance to pay for this, she would have to go at least three years without any money, but maybe Vegeta was generous and she could use some of the money he got each month for living expenses (which was always much more than they needed anyway).

So, with list in hand Jenny went into the kitchen, where she could feel Vegeta. He had taken a break about fifteen minutes ago and was now probably preparing dinner. At the thought of dinner, Jenny's stomach rumbled and she looked at the clock in her room. Half past seven at night. No wonder that she was hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

When she got closer to the kitchen, her nose told her that she was right. And she grinned. Vegeta was preparing a welcome home meal, her favorite, spaghetti Bolognese. "Smells good," Jenny said, as she plopped down on her chair at the kitchen table. "When can we eat?"

"Ten minutes," was Vegeta's short answer.

"Good, I'm starving."

Jenny had no idea how long it would still take to get over seeing Vegeta standing at the stove and stirring sauce in a pot, while the spaghetti were cooking all on their own.

Finally, the seemingly endless ten minutes later, Vegeta put the spaghetti and the pots on the table. Jenny had used the ten minutes wisely and set the table and poured each of them a large glass of water. They spent the next minutes eating in silence, only the sounds of the cutlery scraping against the plates could be heard. Jenny hoped that Vegeta would be more open to her endeavor with a full stomach.

When they were finished, Jenny cleared the plates away and put them into the dishwasher. Vegeta remained seated, which surprised Jenny. Usually he would be up and back in the GR the moment they both had finished eating. Then she noticed that he was holding the list she had made in his hands.

Oops… She had wanted to ease him into this.

"I see you found my list," she said slowly, sitting down across from him again.

"Yes."

"I… I'd like to have these things for my room… you see… it… it doesn't really fit to me anymore…"

"What do the brackets mean?"

"They're things I don't necessarily need, but would like to have… In case I don't have enough money for them. I'd also be ready to use my allowance to pay for all these things. I could even get a job, so that I have some money… What are you doing?"

Vegeta had said nothing during her ramblings, but simply gotten up and gone to one of the cupboards in the kitchen. He opened the door and then entered a number in the safe that was hidden behind it. Jenny grinned at Bulma's hiding place for this. No thief would ever suspect that they safe was in the kitchen. Seeing as Vegeta was standing with his back to her, Jenny couldn't see what he was taking out of it, but she was hoping for some money that she could use.

She had never expected the shiny black card that Vegeta put in front of her. Bulma's old credit card, which would now be Vegeta's. "Vegeta?"

"There's enough money in our account that we can live comfortably for the next ten years and it's growing each month. Call your friends and go shopping." He smirked, as he walked past Jenny. "But first, we're going to train."

Jenny sighed, but grinned. Yeah, it was good to be home.


The next couple of days passed in a blur. Jenny had called Mailin and Damian and just one day later there were two visitors at Capsule Corporation, all three of them camped out in the guest room that Jenny was occupying until her room was ready. On the first day Jenny was showing them around town and in the two days after they enjoyed buying all the things on Jenny's list. Being filthy rich definitely had its perks. And the good thing was, it didn't bother Mailin and Damian at all. As a matter of fact, they had just as much fun spending the money for the new room as she had.

Once they had ordered new furniture it was time to paint the room. So after they had cleared out all the already existing furniture – Jenny had decided to donate the furniture, as it was all still in good condition and there were definitely still people out there who needed it – they covered the carpet on the floor and painted the walls white.

While Jenny, Mailin and Damian were waiting for the white paint to dry, they mixed the purple and green paint they had bought with more white paint so that they had different shades of purple and green. Then, finally, they could finish the walls by drawing circles and spirals and other simple patterns on the white walls.

"Perfect," Jenny announced, when they were finished and looked at their artwork. Her whole body, clothes, face and hair, was covered in paint, and Mailin and Damian didn't look much better. But they'd had a lot of fun, including a paint fight, and gone were the hearts, unicorns, fairies, cars and planes.

Then the furniture came. Jenny had fallen in love with a black queen-sized four-poster bed made of iron. The curtains were a deep purple color and matching to this Jenny had chosen purple and green bedclothes. The couch was purple as well with green pillows and they had even exchanged the curtains at the windows. They were just as purple as the hangings around the bed.

Jenny even got a TV, a 37 inch flat screen, a stereo with a dock for her mp3 player, and a new notebook for the just as new black desk. They had also found a new closet and a set of drawers for her room, all of them black. One would think that this might make the room look gloomy, but it didn't. The windows with the adjoining balcony were large enough to throw enough light into the room and the white walls did the rest.

When they were finished with the whole room, pictures of her friends, of Li's school and of course of her family adorned the walls, as well as a full length mirror right next to the closet. And, at the wall right opposite her bed, Jenny had put the Dragon Swords, visible for everyone.

Yes, Jenny thought, as she, Mailin and Damian were sitting on the new couch and watching TV. She just loved her new room. All this money had been put to good use. Even Vegeta agreed to the improvements, though he lamented that she hadn't chosen the royal blue color. He reluctantly relented, when Jenny pointed out that she wasn't royalty. And besides, while blue was a nice color, she just liked purple and green better.

So, when Jenny was lying on the comfortable mattress during the first night in her new room, with Mailin and Damian sleeping on the fold out couch and a mattress on the floor, she was smiling.

It really was good to be home.

And the next obstacle was still a couple of weeks away.

The Western Capital High School.