Teshya stood in the wind, eyes closed, her face the very image of peace and contentment. Sixteen years, seven months and twenty-one days since she had met the person that she was to become. Her duty as foretold by her future self, had already begun and she anticipated the day when it would all end. Her power flowed through her, but none would sense her. Not then, not there. She let herself become a part of her surroundings; the trees, the mountains, the crystal streams. No. Nothing would interrupt her musings on what was soon to happen.
She opened her eyes and sighed. So long, so far- yet so close! When the moment came, all would happen to plan and Teshya could rest at last. Soon.
She gathered her energy and leapt into the air, flying to the place she called home.
"Goku! Goten needs to study!" Chi-Chi screeched.
"Aw, come on, Chi-Chi, he needs time to train too. He can't be at his books the whole time!" Goku reasoned.
"Morning," Teshya said calmly, walking in. "Need help Chi-Chi?"
"Yes, thank you. Take care of the eggs in the frying pan- I need to set Goku straight." Chi-Chi glared at her husband. "If it weren't for me, Goten would be behind in his school work!"
"Hey- I mean, it's about time he learnt…" Goku suggested, wincing as Chi-Chi puffed herself up, ready to blow.
Teshya paid no attention to their argument. It was a naturally occurring repetition in Chi-Chi's home. Goten watched his parents fight with interest. As everyone had observed, Goten was like Goku all over again; so cheerful and innocently naïve.
Teshya tried not to smile, as she thought of how adorable Goten had been as a young child. More so, when she thought about how frustrated Chi-Chi had been when Goten had proven to have the gift of being able to transform into a Super Saiyan at a very young age; Goku had coming running outside wondering what Chi-Chi had been crying about and found his youngest son had reached the level of the legendary Saiyan warrior. Since then, Chi-Chi and Goku had argued over what took priority in Goten's time.
"What about me?" a young black haired girl piped up.
"Ruby, you're not strong enough," Gohan protested to his fifteen year-old sister. Videl and their daughter Pan were taking their turn of the bathroom.
Ruby's crimson eyes narrowed and glared at him. "I am too! And the more I train, the better I will get."
"Sorry, Ruby, but I think Gohan's right- you are a bit weak to be training with us just yet. Your energy isn't quite as strong as ours- I'm afraid you don't seem able yet to become a Super Saiyan even if you are half and half." Goku agreed with his eldest son's proclamation.
"Ruby- don't even think of asking to go ever again!" Chi-Chi yelled. "You're my only baby girl! The only child I have who is like me- and not a monster!"
Teshya dished out the fried eggs onto a plate and took it over to the table. "Don't fuss, Ruby." She said. "Bulma's coming to pick you and Goten up for high school, remember?"
Despite their age differences, Trunks and his sisters, Goten and Ruby all attended the same classes at Orange Star High School. Ruby and Trunks' twin sisters had been accepted although they were much younger than all the other students, because they had managed to achieve perfect test scores on the entry exams; so they had been accepted early.
Ruby grinned. "Oh yeah, I forgot."
Right on cue, there was a knock at the door. Teshya went to get it as the Son family hastily finished their breakfast.
"Hey guys," Bulma greeted warmly. "Ready to go, Ruby and Goten?"
Ruby grabbed her bag and lunch that Teshya handed her, then raced out the door. Goten followed suit. Despite being an enthusiastic Saiyan warrior, Goten seemed happy to go to school just to get out of the line of his parents' arguing.
Goten and Ruby entered their class only a few minutes late, but the teacher (the sports teacher by coincidence) didn't protest since he knew that they lived so far away and always managed to get to school not too late and they always arrived in time to be picked for one of the teams.
"We're playing Basketball," the coach informed them. "Ruby, you go on Trunks' team, and Goten- you go on Bra's team."
Goten smiled shyly and took up a green sash, to indicate that he was on Bra's team. Ruby took up a blue sash for Trunks' team.
The game began, with Trunks dribbling the ball down the court. As the only other person as strong as Trunks, Goten always ended up paired up against him. Both of their mothers had sternly informed them that there was to be no showing off their alien heritage- such as their super strength, speed or flying. None of the girls had to worry, since it seemed only the male half-Saiyans had inherited the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan, and their fathers and brothers had neglected to teach them how to fly.
Trunks brought it up to the key of the court, before passing it to his younger sister on his team, Kalysha. Like Bra, Kalysha had Bulma's blue eyes and pale turquoise hair. But that was the twins' only similarities. If One knows the twins well, then their different personalities tend to stand out very vividly as to who was who.
Bra was like another Bulma, in personality as well as looks, but Kalysha took the best traits of both her parents. She ignored Vegeta as much as he ignored her, and they rarely exchanged comments unless it was an argument to which Kalysha would keep her cool and make her father heatedly angry to the point where Bulma started yelling at him to stop powering up before Kalysha was injured someway. Kalysha seemed not to care, and always ended up 'winning' her verbal battles with her father, to which his lame reply was forever the same 'weak human girl'. Kalysha just smiled mockingly and bowed with some other remark that set her father's blood back to boiling. She was friendly to everyone else, though tended to stay on the edges of the group, listening in instead of speaking out her mind like she did with her father. Trunks knew Kalysha well enough to know that she was biding her time for a moment when she would shed the silent shell she wrapped herself in, and let them all know exactly what she thought.
It was an irony, in Trunks' thinking, that Kalysha had been the only Vegeta's children that hadn't been named after a piece of clothing. Teshya had suggested to their mother, when Bulma couldn't think of another 'appropriate' name for her second daughter, that the baby girl be named Kalysha and Bulma had agreed. But when Vegeta had found out, his face had paled and he had yelled at Bulma and Teshya, then taken off to the Gravity Room and hadn't come out for several months. Being the only person Vegeta vaguely cared for, Trunks had been sent down at meal times with a tray of food for the Saiyan Prince, since it was commonly known that Vegeta wouldn't take his anger out on his only son.
Trunks couldn't remember the first time Kalysha or Vegeta had said a civil word to one another that didn't have an underlying meaning to it. If Kalysha hadn't taken more dominantly after Bulma's human blood, Trunks was sure that Vegeta would have killed Kalysha in a sparring or something of the like that he could excuse as an accident. Since Bulma was busy a lot of the time, and leaving Kalysha in Vegeta's care would have been a big mistake, not to mention Bra as well, Teshya had often come to Capsule Corp to take care of them. Teshya had often brought Goten and Ruby to play as well so as to give Chi-Chi a rest with Goku while Gohan was at college. If that wasn't possible, then Trunks and his sisters had gone to Chi-Chi's house where Kalysha had occupied herself in obediently learning what she could from Chi-Chi about being a proper wife; cooking and cleaning and such.
Kalysha dribbled the ball past her opponents, and shot for goal. It missed, but another of their team mates rebounded it, and got it in. They jogged down the court into a classic defence formation as the members of Bra and Goten's team brought the ball down. When the ball was bounce-passed towards Goten, Kalysha broke formation and tapped it away from him, managing to take control long enough to dribble it back down the court. Goten raced down in front of her, and Kalysha rammed into him, falling back onto the court.
"Oof," she winced.
"Two penalty shots for Kalysha!" the coach called.
Kalysha got up and went to take the shots. Goten watched her, noticing how much taller she was than her twin sister. Another difference.
Trunks grinned at Goten, and patted him on the back. "I know she looks like she could run through a brick wall- but believe me, she can't."
Goten laughed as well, and the resumed their places in the game.
Bulma picked them up after school and took them to Capsule Corp where they'd muck around for a few hours before Bulma would take Goten and Ruby home.
"Hey, cool dress Bra," Ruby complimented as she and Kalysha watched Bra show off her latest purchases.
Bra's room full of posters of the latest pop groups and stars, clothes and makeup; the usual sights one might see in a stereo-typical girls' room. Kalysha had her own room, but it was so dull and uninteresting that nobody really bothered to hang out in there.
Bra giggled. "I was thinking of wearing it on Saturday when we go to the movies."
Kalysha rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, some guy you've got your eye on is going to be there?"
"Of course- why else would I bother going out all dressed up?" Bra agreed.
Ruby grinned. "Well watch out- we'll make it a competition of beauty, my friend. You, me and Kalysha. We'd make a powerful trio with all those handsome single males out there."
Kalysha snorted. "You've got to be joking. First of all, I'm not dressing up in anything that might attract attention and to that remark, I must had the second part of my award-winningly convincing argument; what handsome single males? Any guy who might have been handsome, is already bound to be taken, and all the single guys aren't worth dressing up like some kind of prissy chick for."
Bra sighed. "You can be a real spoil sport when we have good ideas, Sis. To you, as long as the clothes are the same repetitive ankle-length skirt and t-shirt, nothing else is worth wearing. Be adventurous!"
Kalysha rolled her eyes again and silently left the room, her long skirt flowing slightly as she walked.
Goten and Trunks entered not long after. "Hey, Mum says we can stay for dinner before going home!" Goten smiled. "Bulma talked her into it. I suspect we'd better have all our homework done before then, because other wise we're in for another one of mother's 'talks'."
Ruby wrinkled her nose. "You're probably right. Bra? Let's get to it- the sooner it's over, the sooner we can discuss what we're wearing on Saturday."
Tension was thick in the air as Vegeta sat down to the home-made pizza that Kalysha had prepared. A surprising fact was that Vegeta never insulted her cooking the way he did Bulma's- possibly because if he did, Vegeta knew that Kalysha would refuse to continue her magic in the kitchen and the Briefs family would be forced to put up with the rubber-tyre-tasting concoctions of Bulma's pathetic attempts.
Kalysha put a-half dozen trays on the table for her family and guests to pick and eat as they chose, while eating her own meal in the kitchen so she could keep an eye on the rest of the food she was preparing.
Vegeta ignored her. "Trunks, you didn't come to training this afternoon," was his first accusation for the night.
"Goten's here- and we had to finish our homework." Trunks replied.
Vegeta snorted. "If your teachers want to argue about whether you have done that mindless pointless paperwork when you have been training instead, then let me talk to them."
"You might find it pointless, Vegeta, but I send Trunks to school to learn about the things. Not to fight the whole time." Bulma barked.
"Mindless it is, unto a fool who cannot see its worth," Kalysha commented coolly, smirking satisfactorily at Vegeta's clenched teeth and look of pure hatred. She turned her back on him and pulled out another pizza which she put in front of him. "Appease your anger, Father. It's not good for you."
"Perhaps not for you puny weakling humans, but a Saiyan lives by his anger- it is his most powerful weapon. It feeds us energy that you pitiful earthling could not understand." Vegeta sneered.
Kalysha shrugged, lifting the pizza from his plate and pretended to move away instead. "Forgive me then. I had not known that you were so powerful Father. Maybe you can show me your power in cooking. I have learnt that patience when cooking is a good thing- if One takes anger out on the food, a mess is all that it will ensure." She kept her face in that of innocent inquisition when she looked at him.
Vegeta growled.
"There aren't going to be anymore arguments about school is there," Kalysha suggested unworriedly.
"I have nothing against you and your brat sister going to school," Vegeta scowled. "But Trunks is a Saiyan warrior-"
"You aren't going to complain about anything school-related again are you?" Kalysha pressed impatiently. The smell of the freshly baked pizza made his, Trunks and Goten's stomachs rumble.
Vegeta turned his face away. "I suppose not. But do not think you have won so easily, brat. I am-"
"The Prince of Saiyans, blah blah blah," Kalysha mimicked. She put the pizza back down and went back to the oven. Her attitude changed dramatically when she asked, "Goten, are you still feeling hungry?"
Trunks lay in his bed, unable to sleep. Something kept him awake. He had never sensed power in Kalysha's aura, but it was clear she held a good deal of power- particularly over their father. Nobody could order him around like she did. Ever since she had taking over Bulma's duty in the kitchen, cooking meals that rivalled Chi-Chi's own, Vegeta had very reluctantly begun to obey some of Bulma's requests. Bra had never wanted anything, so Vegeta had been safe from that, and Trunks had spent his life trying to be as good a warrior as his father, so Vegeta had never suffered having to do anything for Trunks, and as he thought of it, Trunks realised that Kalysha's only request of their father was to be obedient. All for Kalysha's cooking. Quite obviously, the years of Bulma's bad cooking had taken their toll and Vegeta had gone crazy with desire to eat something that resembled and tasted like real food so long, that that was why he had unofficially agreed to help out a little bit more.
Trunks closed his eyes, but opened them again. He tossed and turned, finally deciding to get up and see whether anyone else was up. He crept down the hall, past the room where his parents were actually sleeping together; it was one of the few nights they actually shared with each other. He glanced in and saw with a certain amount of amusement that they seemed almost harmonious sleeping with their arms around each other.
"First and last time we're likely to catch them like that again," a voice whispered in his ear.
Trunks controlled himself not to jump up or call out in fright. He had guessed that Kalysha might have been up, but he hadn't been prepared for her to come sneaking down the hallway without him knowing and whisper in his ear like she had.
As his eyes adjusted to the little light there was to be had in the dark hallway, he could see her grin. She took his hand, and they tiptoed past Bra's room, where she snored softly sound asleep. Kalysha took Trunks into her room. She shut the door carefully and switched on the light. She was still grinning.
"Caught you off guard, did I?" she asked teasingly.
Trunks had to smile. "Yeah, you did rather- I mean, I kind of expected you still to be up, but not sneaking behind me. I didn't sense you coming."
"Oh, contrary to what Father thinks, I'm very good at controlling my aura and energy so as not to alert people that I'm close by." Kalysha confessed.
Trunks stared at her. "You can control your aura and energy?" he blinked in surprise. "But you- Bra- I've never seen you do anything."
"That was the whole idea. Do you know what Papa would say if he knew?" Kalysha's eyes flashed with momentary fear. "You may want to be just like him, and although I respect you and him for being warriors, I'm not brave enough, Trunks. His insults would be endless. As long as he believes that I'm just a weak human like Bra, then I can live with it. Because I know that he doesn't know that I can be quite powerful. Not in physical strength, but mind and spirit."
Trunks raised one of his lilac eyebrows. Papa? Kalysha had never spoken of their father so intimately. "I'm confused. So you too are able to become a Super Saiyan?"
Kalysha shook her head. "No. Well, at least not yet, I don't think so. The only time I'm angry is when Father's being rude. And that's how you become Super Saiyan, yes? Well, the first time or whatever…I don't understand all that Saiyan stuff. I have other powers- I'm not sure you have them or not. Trunks, I want you to see what I can do tomorrow- sometime when Papa isn't around. I don't want him to know."
Her blue eyes pleaded with him, and Trunks found himself unable to refuse his sister. He sighed. "Alright. But we have to let someone else know. I don't like being the only one entrusted with your secret."
Kalysha smiled. "Ruby knows. She's able to do it too. Teshya encouraged us- Bra doesn't know, Teshya said that Bra hasn't got the determination or will to do it, so while Teshya instructed us secretly, she always occupied Bra with something else. And so nobody got suspicious Ruby and I found other things to cover up our used time with- mine was learning from Chi-Chi. Teshya was enthralled that I'd found a way to get my own back on Vegeta. She can only stand him being around because if he's there, there's usually somebody else there too." Kalysha smile faded and she froze. "Trunks, quickly- get back to your room. We'll meet in the school library at lunchtime tomorrow. Before you go- you've got to promise me you won't tell a soul."
"I promise," Trunks whispered. "Why the urgency, Kally?" He used his childhood pet name for her.
"Grandmother's getting up for hot chocolate- if she finds either one of us awake, we'll never get to sleep tonight at all. You know what's she like…could talk the ears off elephants!"
Trunks nodded in agreement, then swiftly and quietly dashed down the hall to his room.