Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Period.

A/N: Okay, just to let you guys know that this story is almost finished! I finished chapter 9/10 (I still have to figure out which chapter should that one be in.) Don't worry about it, I'll figure it out sooner or later.

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Ren-chan - Thank you so much for pointing my mistake. *Smacks head* I don't know why I wrote that, but Goku's not dead. I think I stayed up late to finished that chapter. Yeah, I'm going to go with that. Thanks again, and I love your reviews!

Lily - I hope I didn't make you mad. I know this came out extremely late, but the reason is very obvious. Fanfiction.net wasn't working! It was completely out of my control! Anyways, hehe, I hope this makes up for it. If not, don't worry because I'm currently working on the next chapter.

Midnight Mystery Angel - I'm glad!

Dew777 - I'm glad you like it. ; )

Secretsquirl - So true, so true. Maybe I might give her a break, who knows, maybe not.

Son Asanra - *Gushes* Thanks for the compliments!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 7! It means so much to me!

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The Offender Revealed

The blonde, pigtailed sighed in relieve from the conversation, if you could call it that, she had with the aquamarine teenager. "Well, that went well." Walking down the stairs, she was ready to return home. Still contemplating on the excuse she would use on her parents, she accidentally bumped into the all too familiar, lavender haired man.

"Daydreaming again?" He gave off his trademark smirk when he noticed her eyes widened in disbelief. 'So I guessed correctly,' he thought. "Anyways, Giselle's in the living room so it'll be more convenient if you're there, too." When she arched her eyebrow, he continued, "I'll tell you everything once we're all together." He started leading her towards their destination when she didn't budge.

~*~

Once they got there, the brunette braided pigtail was patiently, waiting on the couch. Trunks gestured for her to remain seated and for Marron to join her. Once everyone was as comfortable as they could be in a silenced room, the women waited for the deep-in-thought man to start. Finally, settling on what he would say to the occupants of the room, he looked up. "I know who poisoned Goten," he stated bluntly.

"Goten? Then he should be here. He needs to listen to this, too," Marron said, getting ready to call the other demi-saiya-jin. Before she reached the phone, however, she was lifted up and carried back to the couch by the lavender demi-saiyan. "Trunks!"

"Wait, I don't think we need to involve him just yet," he said, raising his hands when she was about to protest, indicating that all would be explain soon. "Listen, I may be wrong about this, but that's where you two come in, to back up my theory."

Both arched their eyebrow. "What? What did we ever do to become one of your suspects?" Giselle queried.

"Not suspects but more of…partners. Look, why don't I fill you in on what I found out. I better start from the beginning. Well, after you all left…

~*~

Flashback

Trunks, after watching the three disappear from Goku's instant teleportation, regressed to Giselle's place. The room was still alive and full of music blasting the amps to its pinnacle. Trunks thanked Dende for Giselle's place to be secluded from other homes, or else the party would have been crashed when the DJ played the first song.

After searching for his first suspect, his hope distinguished to almost a pulp when he saw the unconscious form on the ground. He advanced toward the form to get a closer inspection and sure enough his hope sank deeper.

'Arg, she's wasted,' he thought bitterly. The moment he was about to walk away, a devious scheme struck him. He smiled wickedly, as a memory of his childhood prank on Master Roshi washed over him. 'This is going to be fun,' he chuckled inwardly, rubbing his hands together. Then, crutching onto the floor, he leaned into her ear. "Alyssa…Alyssa…"

"Hmmm, who's this?" she groaned lazily, her eyes still closed. "Is this Bra?"

'BRA?!?! I don't sound like a girl! Just how many bottles of beer did she drink?' he shook his head, dismissing the idea and continued, 'Now to test this out.' he thought. "Quick, there's a bug on your forehead! Swat it away!"

Like a puppet controlled by its puppeteer, she obeyed her command and begin smacking her face wildly.

Trunks laughed inwardly, satisfy that his trick still worked. "You missed, it's running to your nose!"

Again, she obeyed and started whacking her nostril. Her forehead and nose were currently colored in a red hue.

Trunks' laugh quickly died down, when he realized he had a task to complete. In his best sister imitation, he begin, "So, like, who else hates Goten's guts?"

"No one. He's so fine." She slurred, moving into a comfortable position before relaxing again.

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Then, like, do you know who spiked the punch?"

"Spiked the…punch? Who would do that?"

At this moment, Trunks situated himself on the floor, with his legs crossed, realizing that this interrogation might take awhile. He wouldn't be surprise if this lasted until all the guests left. He sighed exasperated, "This plan isn't working."

"Plan? Lucius…had a…p-plaann," she slurred with trouble. "I told him to leave my future husband alone!" She said in a triumphant voice, before laying motionless on the ground. If it hadn't been for her chest rising and lowering repetitively, she would have been categorized dead.

Trunks' eyes widened in disbelieve. He got up and before he turned to leave, he smirked, "Oh no, it's crawling inside your nose. Quick, pick it out!"

End of flashback

~*~

Once he was finished, he was greeted by a wide eyed and a disapproving look. "Trunks, I am so disappointed in you," Marron scolded him. "…for not snapping a few photos!" Laughter ensued the room. Once everyone relaxed, Trunks opened the discussion. "What I don't get is why he's after Goten and since you," he said, turning to Giselle. "hang out with her the most out of us three, I was hoping if you would have any explanation to this. Have she mentioned anything about Lucius' intentions?"

"She told me that she wanted to split Goten and Marron apart and she heard that Lucius hates Marron. I believe, just last week Alyssa and I heard about how he hates Goten. I don't know why, though."

"I think I know," Marron chimed in soberly. "Goten was helping me when Lucius was up to his idiotic schemes again, and he was pinned by the neck by Goten," she said, frowning at the event.

"That may be the reason," Trunks said, then looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me that Lucius was being such a pain to you?"

She didn't reply right away, instead, she thought of a best way to answer him. "Well, if I had told you, what different would it make? You're not in that class, anyways, and you certainly can't beat him up, even if it is after school."

"I would have…I…" Trunks lowered his head in defeat, knowing well enough that she was right. He was already in a dangerous position with the faculties, having played some pranks with his buddies. He couldn't have done anything even if he was in that class.

"So now what?" Giselle interjected.

"What do you mean 'now what'? Now, we go and kick his ass!" Marron said, fuming and ready to track down the known suspect.

"Calm down, we need to play this right-"

"VEGET-!" her mouth was quickly covered by Trunks' hand.

"What? What are you insane? If you're planning on what I think you're doing, then take my advise and stop while you're ahead. You know that father is always on the aggressive side."

"I know and that's why he's the perfect candidate."

"Marron, I know you're angry with him, but sending my father to fix the-" before he could complete his sentence, he was interupted by a loud growl.

Vegeta stepped into the living room, arms crossed and eyes scanning the room until it fell upon the blond. "What is it, brat?"

Marron ignored the comment, and immediately spoke of her initial intention. "You heard about someone poisoning Goten, right?" When he nodded, she continued, "Well, we just found out that it was a kid from our school and his name is Lucius." She finished, lifting her nose up in triumphant, with her arms crossed.

Silence soon ensued the room as the three waited for the prince to answer. What he said wasn't to her expectation. "So?"

Her face faltered. "So, I was hoping-"

"Don't listen to heerrrr!" Trunks wheezed when he felt her elbowing him, signaling him not to interfere.

"I was hoping that you could teach him a lesson or put him in prison," she gradually said, feeling his scrutinizing glare penetrating her nerves.

He growled. "First off, Kakkorot's brat's should've detect something if he wasn't too busy thinking about stuffing himself. Secondly, he's fine. Bulma took care of that. Thirdly, whoever this person is, isn't my business and if you want him to be lock up, do it yourself. Finally, who in their right mind would name their son, 'Lucius'?" With that, he walked away.

Marron's visage was plagued with, at first, perplex and it suddenly contorted into anger. "What was I thinking asking him for help? He is useless. We'll just have to do this ourselves."

'So what are you going to do?'

"I don't know, but that's why we're here!"

"You don't know what?" Trunks inquired.

Marron looked and saw her friend's visage shrouded with confusion. "You asked me what I had planned and I told you I don't know."

"No he didn't. Trunks was still trying to get over his previous defeat."

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically.

"No prob."

"Well, one of you did cause I heard it after I talked about how useless," she said, then lowering her voice, "Vegeta is, remember?"

"But no one said anything after you said that." Giselle noted, while Trunks nodded his head, backing her up.

She was at a lost here. "Okay, if you guys didn't say anything then who did?"

'I did.'

"Maybe you were imagining things."

"There it is again! Who just said, 'I did'?" She looked at the two shaking heads.

'Me, Goten.'

"Goten? Then, where are you?" She asked the room, looking around. "Why are you hiding?"

Giselle sweat dropped. Shaking her head, she got up to led the blonde girl, looking inside a closet, back to the couch. "Marron, I think you need to rest cause Goten's not here. You must really love the boy so much that you can't get your mind off of him. After all, we were just talking about him… technically."

Trunks, who had been silently listening, put two and two together. "Um, Giselle, why don't you tell Gohan and Videl about what we found out. I'm sure Videl will convince her father to deal with Lucius." Turning to Marron, he continued, "Can I talk to you in the kitchen, privately? It's urgent." He emphasized on the word, and tugged her behind him.

~*~

"Okay, so what's so urgent that we have to talk privately?"

"I know why you have been hearing voices, while Giselle and I can't," he said, locking eye contact to prove how serious he was. "And we aren't alone. Goten's here…only he's in your mind."

She frowned. "What are you talking about? I know Goten's here, but he's HIDING, WHICH I DON'T KNOW WHY. WE ALL KNOW YOU'RE HERE! SO COME ON OUT!" She yelled around her, sending her voice in every direction.

He grabbed her shoulders, getting her attention. "Marron, listen! He's not here, but…why don't you sit down."

"Okay, I don't like the sound of that. What is it and don't tell me to sit down, cause I'll just decline."

He sighed. "He's not here, but he can hear your thoughts because you guys are linked." He hoped she had understood him, as if saying that word was a sin.

"How's that possible, I mean, that'll only happen if we were…"

"bonded."

Silence.

To be continued…

~*~

A/N: I was about to add more, but decided against it and instead, I've add that to the next chapter. *runs away from harm's way*

Announcer: Please review this fic. Suggestions/ comments/constructed criticism are welcome but please, no flames. Also, anyone who wants to be notify of when this story is updated, write it in your review!

A/N: *Peeks over a corner* One of the reasons why this got out so late was because I completed a K/18 fic called, The Cold Exterior of a Warrior. Please, tell me what you think. It was my first attempt on a action fic. Again, thanks for reading this!