Author's Note: Awww, thanks for the heart-warming and inspiring reviews! I'm really glad that there are people who actually appreciate my work like you guys. =P So anyway, here's the new chapter, and I hope you enjoy!

Please review! And any... speculations... on how the match between Kauri and Videl will turn out, feel free to post them. I'd love to know what you guys think, because I'm still not that sure on how to conclude their battle.

Renascimento
Chapter Four: Disturbing Signs

Seven-year-old Goten swallowed hard as he climbed up the arena to meet his opponent for the Junior Division semi-final round. There were two things in the world that made him nervous: crowds and girls. And at the moment, he was facing both --- a huge crowd that was cheering wildly and a little girl with purple hair in pigtails.

"Nervous, Goten?" Keeney asked shyly as she shuffled her feet. She herself didn't like been watched by a lot of people, for she hated the feeling of being under surveillance. In fact, it seemed as though it was only Trunks who enjoyed attention, like the attention Goten and Keeney were both getting at the moment.

The spiky-haired chibi looked at the crowd uncomfortably, then turned back to Keeney and answered, "Well... kinda." He was about to add something when the announcer walked up in between them and gave them a short pep talk. The talk comprised of the words "take it easy", "be careful" and "she's a girl".

Then, their match began.

Goten began to panic when the start of their battle was announced, for he had no idea how to fight --- how to fight his best friend's sister. And the fact that she was a girl made the problem even worse. However, his thoughts were interrupted when Keeney's fist hit him right on the face, and it sent him flying towards the ground and landing with a loud THUMP.

"Did you see that, Kakkarot?!" Vegeta exclaimed as he burst into triumphant laughter. "Your brat dropped to the ground like a rag doll at my brat's punch! It only shows how weak your spawns are!"

On the other hand, Bulma was sticking her tongue out at Chichi, who was yelling frantically at Goten, telling him to get up and fight. With a smirk, Vegeta's mate said, "Looks like Goten won't even get the chance to fight Trunks in the championship! After all, Keeney's in the way."

"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!" Chichi yelled at Bulma in full force, then resumed cheering for her son, who was down but not beaten. "GOTEN! YOU CAN DO IT! GET UP NOW AND SHOW THAT GIRL WHAT YOU'RE REALLY MADE OF!"

When Keeney noticed that Goten had been down for some time already, she immediately began to panic, and she rushed to Goten with hopes that the latter didn't get killed by her punch. She told herself that it was a bizarre idea, but she also told herself that anything can happen in battle. With much concern, she knelt down by Goten's side and attempted to help the demi-saiyajin up, when a strong gust of wind knocked her off her feet as Goten took off, and she was sent flying towards the ledge of the arena.

She was falling, and she flung her arms up and about in desperation to regain her balance. What happened next was very fast and the next thing she knew, she was out of the arena. All she remembered was Goten's cheerful face flashing in front of her, a soft but sincere "I'm sorry" and a slight push that made her fall off the arena.

Goten Son had qualified for the championship.

"KAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKAAAARRROOOOOTTTTTTT!!" Vegeta bellowed as he took the saiyajin by his fighting gi, and he started shaking the clueless Goku in fury. "SHIMATTA! YOU AND THOSE BLASTED HYBRID BRATS OF YOURS! THAT WASN'T FAIR!"

"Five kicks in the gut that Goten wins," Kauri blurted out with a smug grin as she and her father prepared to watch the final match for the Junior Division. Trunks passed the semi-final round without trouble, and now the time had come for the much-awaited showdown of power.

Lucius folded his arms in front of his chest, and then replied, "Five kicks in the gut that Trunks wins." And then, he chuckled. "You better prepare yourself for the punishment, Kauri. It's written in the stars, Trunks is going to win this match. Goten's going to cheat by transforming when he isn't supposed to, but Trunks will beat him later on with the use of just one hand. You'll see."

"Oh come on, dad! Do you still actually believe in those written in the stars stuff?" she asked, and then a different emotion took over. With a pained look on her face, she looked away. "I don't believe in those any longer, for I don't think that it was written in the stars that the Z-Senshi will fall just like that. It's... not fair."

"Life isn't fair. It never was, and it never will be. Because things happen, things that we cannot explain, things we cannot understand. And that's the inevitable truth. That's something we cannot deny, because it's true. It has been proven time and again. Life isn't fair. It had never been fair."

"Not bad, Goten! You've managed to get a lot better in just that short time," Trunks commented as he stopped his first round of punches and kicks on his best friend, who did an excellent exchange with him. The exchange of attacks was so breathtaking that both Goku and Vegeta were beaming in total pride.

The younger saiyajin giggled as he replied, "Big brother taught me a lot."

"Well, can you do this?" the lavender-haired saiyajin blurted out as he started charging up a Kikoha blast, which scared most of the Z-Senshi who were watching their battle.

In fact, the usually calm and composed Gohan backed off slightly with wide eyes as he blurted out, "D-Don't tell me he's going to launch a Kikoha blast from there?!"

"I-It'll blow up the spectator's souls!" Krillin shrieked as well.

"Trunks, don't do anything stupid!"

However, Goku turned to them with a calm expression and told them to just calm down. "Nah, it'll be okay. He realizes that much. You've got to give him more credit."

And Goku was right. Trunks threw a Kikoha blast at Goten who evaded it, but before the blast would hit the spectators, Trunks pulled it up just in time, which sent the Z-Team admiring in awe. At such an early age, Trunks learned to control ki-blasts the right way. But if there was one thing they didn't like about Trunks, it was his cockyness. With a smirk, he looked at his best friend and exclaimed, "How's that? Pretty cool, huh?"

"I can do that too!" Goten blurted out as he shifted his stance, determined to show Trunks that the latter wasn't the only one capable of firing and controlling ki-blasts. "I just... barely had it taught to me though. Watch this!"

Everyone turned their attention on the seven-year-old saiyajin, most especially his father, Goku, who had not seen Goten fight as vigorously as he had in the past few minutes. When the child cupped his hands together, the Z-Team knew that he was going to attempt to do a Kamehameha.

Gohan, however, was shocked at this, for he did not remember teaching Goten how to do the technique right. And it only meant one thing. Disaster. Goten was trying to perform a technique that he had NEVER done before.

"Ka-me-ka-me---"

Vegeta's son burst into uncontrolled laughter as he heard the other warrior chant. "Goten, you baka! It's Ka-me-HA-me-ha! You don't even know how to say it---"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The blast came flying towards Trunks, who merely tilted his head to the side to let the blast pass. Goten tried to pull the blast up, but to no avail, and it hit the roof of the arena's waiting room. Trunks looked at Goten and shook his head in disappointment, while the younger kid stared at the mess he made, not knowing what to do.

"That was close," Goten said as he rubbed the back of his head in the usual Son fashion.

Everytime Goten rendered Trunks a good blow, Kauri would turn to her father and stick her tongue out to simply annoy him. Lucius, however, just kept his cool because he was very sure that there was nothing Goten could do to dish enough damage on Trunks to beat him. He stood by the railings, calm and very composed, not saying a word as he watched the ongoing battle between the two demi-saiyajins.

When Goten transformed, however, he cocked his head to the side slightly and muttered, "There it was. The sign."

Kauri replied, "I don't care about those stupid signs of yours. Goten will win and I feel it."

"Trunks will win and I know it."

She did not reply at that, but instead she turned her attention back to the fiery match between the two little boys. To Lucius' surprise, she suddenly commented, "How in the world could a friendship as strong as that be simply destroyed?! I don't understand how things just changed between them..."

It was Lucius, this time, who did not reply. He looked away, his soft blue eyes flickering with both sadness and anger that he was trying to lock back up in some place where they could not break free.

Realizing her mistake, Kauri made a mental note to herself not to mention anything about friendship ever again --- not when it concerned Trunks and Goten. She decided to shift to another topic, since her father's silent gesture disturbed her greatly, even if the arena was thundering with cheers and applauses. "Dad, when are we going to ask help from Grandma? We need her to build us a time machine as soon as possible --- what if Thanatos already blasted our world into oblivion? We still have a future to shape up, you said it yourself."

"After the tournament," he replied not taking his eyes off the two chibis in combat. "Things have been going differently ever since our arrival, and I want to know what we did wrong so we can fix things up. We not supposed to be here, remember? So this time should flow as it really should."

Kauri looked at him as if he was insane. "Even Buu?!"

"Even Buu."

"I knew it right from the start, you are one crazy old man," she told him with a slight smirk.

"And you are one crazy little girl," he countered. Before Kauri could return the favor, however, he saw Goten dive-bomb towards Trunks, and he immediately told his daughter that the match was about to come to an end.

Goten flew out of the ring, and towards the bleachers---

But before his feet actually touched the bleacher, he skidded to a halt, and at that, Goten immediately did a sharp turn towards the skies in preparation for another Totsugekki attack.

It was then when every muscle in Lucius' body froze. Something, something indeed, had gone terribly wrong, because an event as minor as the Junior Division championship match turned out differently from what was supposed to happen. However, the bad feeling Lucius had was not because of the perception that they caused the change, but that something --- someone, rather --- caused the twist of fate.

"He's here," he whispered in a barely audible voice, although he was still trying to keep his composure. After all, if Thanatos was indeed present, then he would be able to sense the two runaway warriors just by Lucius' emotions. A short moment after Lucius let those words out, Kauri's eyes widened in surprise and she began jumping around, yelling, "I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!" as the crowd applauded and howled for the new Junior Division champion. Apparently, Lucius' words were completely drowned in the deafening noise because not even his daughter noticed that he actually said something. She was too happy with her victory on their little bet. "Alright, dad, it's time for you to pay the price!"

The other did not move, however.

"Oh come on, dad! Be a sport! Goten won and there's nothing you can do to change that! I knew it! I knew it! I knew Goten was going to win!" Kauri exclaimed with a giggle.

"I have a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling about this."

She folded her arms in front of her chest in an annoyed fashion, but then her eyes grew concerned shortly after. "Dad, you worry too much. That's the thing I do not like about you. You don't have Grandpa's arrogance or his streak of evilness --- if you can call it that --- but you certainly have Grandma's attitude of worrying too much. Worrying is good, but they say too much of something is the complete opposite."

Her father opened his mouth to say something, when he saw a raven-haired girl approach them with an all-too-familiar young man, he turned to Kauri, smiled softly and just said, "I think they're here to see you."

And with that, he walked away, apparently disturbed.

Kauri followed him with her eyes, which now held more concern than ever. He was indeed worried about something, although what that really was, she didn't know. She knew that the result of the match between Trunks and Goten affected him greatly, but the question was... Why?

As she felt Gohan and Videl inch closer towards her, she spun around to greet them, putting her happy-go-lucky mask back in place. The teenage demi-saiyajin wasn't fooled, however, because he immediately shot her a questioning look edged with concern.

Kauri just shook her head in reply to his silent inquiry, and then turned to Videl as if nothing happened. "So... are you ready for our match? I know that you've been training double-time with Gohan, so I'll be expecting a lot from you. See you around."

And with that, she left to catch up with her father.

"I just hate her guts, I just SO hate her guts," Videl commented in a very exasperated fashion as she followed Kauri with narrowed eyes. "Wait and see, Levenheit, you're going to see what I'm really made of. I'm not just a martial artist by name, and that's what I'm going to show you."

I just hope you'll last long enough, Kauri thought as she smirked.