Goten threw himself onto Trunks bed. "It sure isn't any fun around here today."


"It would have been fine if you hadn't broken the lamp."


"Me? It was YOUR idea to play hot lava! You said your mom wouldn't mind us jumping on the couches as long as we didn't touch the floor!"


"YOU didn't object!"


Goten sighed. "I'm tired of your room, Trunks. All the good toys are too big to play with in here."


"What do you expect ME to do about it? It's not MY fault we're stuck in here."


"Well it's not mine either!"


"No...it's Dad's."


Goten raised an eyebrow.


"He sent us up here didn't he?"


"Because we deserved it."


"No we didn't. We didn't break anything...except the lamp, but it was stupid anyway and Mom already punished us for that."


Goten paced around the room thinking. "I think I know two of the toys I want."


"Which?"


"That car over there," Goten pointed to a large race car that had a real motor inside and could really be driven. "And that remote over there that makes all the cool noises."


A sweatdrop formed on Trunks head. "Uh...those are really boring toys, Goten. You should take something better...like this Big Bad Man action figure. Now THAT'S a cool toy," Trunks lied. He wanted to keep the toys Goten liked.


Goten eyed the action figure, then shook his head. "No, I like the car and the remote better."


"Really, Goten, they don't work very well and...and the car is always crashing into things and then you have to spend lots of money to fix it up...and that remote...well, the batteries are always dying and you have to buy new ones and your parents won't ever take you so then it just doesn't work at all." Part of it was true, but mostly he was playing up the disadvantages.


"Really?" Goten was a little confused. He'd never known that before.


"Yes. I don't want to give you toys that aren't really good, Goten..."


"Oh," Goten was disapointed. He'd really liked those and he thought they would be fun to have.


"How about this old...I mean new lego set over here? It's really cool. You have to build it into a city," Trunks offered. He'd grown completely sick of the thing.


Goten looked it over, but decided against it. It didn't look like much fun to him. Then he got an idea. "I know! I'll just drive the car outside. Then it wont run into anything!"


"Uh....but...but then it would get wet when it rains and...that would ruin it."


"I'll just take it inside when it rains," Goten was getting suspicous.


"What about..."


"Trunks, you said I could have whichever three toys I wanted, and I want THIS!"


"But I have so many other better toys..."


"You just don't want me to take those because you still want them!"


"...No I don't...," Trunks avoided eye contact.


"Yes you do! Well I don't care! You promised I could choose which ones!"


"Fine, take the car and the remote," Trunks plopped down on his bed with a glare. "I'm too old for stupid toys like that anyway."


"Yeah!" Goten jumped into the car.


"Don't drive it in here!" Trunks jumped up.


"I wasn't going to. I'm just sitting in it."


Trunks sat back down, scowling.


"Hey, Trunks, I still get to choose one more toy..."


"Oh goody," Trunks muttered. Why had he ever made that promise? Goten would have gotten over being mad at him soon enough anyway. He should never have coaxed him with that bribe. Now the only toys he still liked Goten would take. "Time for you to be my faithful subject."


"What?" Goten looked up confused.


"I want you to pick up this room and put everything away," Trunks stood.


"I'm not cleaning your room!" Goten protested.


"You have to! MY Dad is the prince of all the sayains, so that means you have to listen to what I tell you."


"Huh? I do not!"


"Do too because I'm a...a....prince-to be!"


"You're just a nine year old kid!" Goten argued, pouting.


"That doesn't matter! I'm your superior and I order you to clean up this room or
I'll blast you."


"You can't blast me!"


"Then my Dad will blast you. That's what princes do to disobeidiant subjects."


"Your Dad blasts you?" Goten questioned.


"No, dummy, he'll blast YOU!"


"But you're never obeidiant. Why don't you get blasted?"


"BECAUSE, stupid, I'm the prince-to-be! Now get to work!"


"I don't like this game," Goten sulked, doing as Trunks had said.


* * * * *


So, that's what children did when adults weren't around. They complained about them, and fought over toys. He had to admit, he was highly amused by his son's claim to the throne. The thought crossed his mind that Trunks' behavior was a reflection of his own. But still, he was glad Trunks was proud to be the son of a prince. He hadn't thought much of his attitude about his punishment however. But that he would let slide. Afterall, he WAS only a child. Again Vegeta listened. They hadn't been saying much in the last couple of minutes.


"I'm sooooo bored!" Goten whined. "When is he gonna let us come out?"


"I think we're gonna be stuck in here forever," Trunks replied. "Maybe we should call my Mom and ask her if we can come out."


"But your Dad said we couldn't until HE said so..."


"If my Mom says we can that's good enough, isn't it? After all, she's in charge too, right?"


Vegeta's eyes narrowed a bit.


"I don't know..."


"Mom!" Trunks hollered through the door.


Vegeta stood, a small smirk forming on his face. He would come instead and give them a good scare. Slowly he reached for his son's doorknob and turned it, opening the door a little slower than normal. He stood there, sure to be intense looking. Both boys gasped and jumped backward.


"Dad...!" Trunks was surprised. "Where's Mom?"


"She's gone for the night," Vegeta glared. He was amused by his son's bewildered expression.


Trunks blinked a couple times. "But...what about dinner?"


Vegeta smirked.


"You can cook?" Trunks was even more astounded.


"Why did you want your mother, son?" Vegeta decided to cut straight to the chase.


"Oh...uh...no reason."


No reason huh? Not enough guts to tell him the truth. Vegeta turned to leave but Trunks spoke again.


"Dad...can we...well, you see, we've been in here awhile now...we've had lots of time to think and...well...can we come out now?" Trunks finally spit it out.


"You can come out when I SAY you can come out."


"Oh. Ok." Trunks was obviously dejected.


Vegeta let him linger for a few seconds until he felt like his point had been made well enough. Then he smirked, facing away from his son. "All right, you can come out."


"Oh boy!" Goten rushed out of the room, followed by Trunks who was equally as happy, but trying not to really show it.


"Stay out of trouble!" Vegeta called after the boys. Staying with them wasn't as bad as he'd anticipated. But dinner...how would he make dinner? Vegeta made his way into the kitchen and started digging through the cubboards.


* * * * *


Outside the Chibis were again sparring with each other, but this time they were a little more friendly about it. Neither was winning, but both were exercising and building
on their skills.


"Hey Goten, watch this," Trunks formed a ki blast.


"Big deal."


"Wait, I'm not done," Trunks waited, causing it to grow bigger and bigger until he had to use both hands. Finally he shot the thing into the sky. "Cool huh?"


"Wow! Yeah! Let me try!"


"No, Goten, don't! You're not good at controling it."


"Yes I am! I've trained since the tournament! YOU were with me!"


"I kinda WAS you...sort of."


"Watch," Goten did the same as Trunks, only he formed a kamehameha wave. Much bigger than the last one he'd done at the stadium.


"Not bad," Trunks observed. "Enough of this," Trunks formed a small blast and shot Goten into a tree.




"Hey! That's not fair!" Goten was fuming. "You didn't say we were starting!" He started running toward Trunks. Trunks took off into the house, laughing as Goten chased him.


Suddenly, SMACK! Trunks fell backward into Goten. Looking up he saw his father covered in flour. If it weren't for the death-dealing expression on his face Trunks would have laughed.


"Sorry, Dad, we were just..."


"Go sit on that couch until I finish dinner!" Vegeta demanded.


"Aw, not the couch again!" Goten whined.


"Dad, it was an accident...," Trunks complained.


"Go! And no jumping!" he went back into the kitchen, mumbling with a scowl.


"This really sucks!" Trunks folded his arms.


"At least there's a TV in here," Goten sat on his knees and pulled the remote off the coffee table. He clicked it on and turned to Disney cartoons.


"Ew, Goten! That's stupid," Trunks grabbed the remote from him and chaged it.


"Hey, I was watching that," Goten took the remote back.


Trunks grabbed onto it again, only this time Goten didn't let go. "That's a baby show!"


"Is not!"


"It's stupid!"


"You're stupid!"


CRACK.The remote split into pieces, the batteries being the only thing still intact.


"Oops," Trunks looked down, then back up at Goten. "Now look what you did!"


"Me? YOU did it!"


"What's going on in here!" Vegeta's voice boomed as he stood in the doorway. He looked from the guilty expressions on the children to the pile of remote control pieces, back to the kids, deepening his glare as his veins began twitching.


"Dad it was an accident...," Trunks quickly moved away from Goten. "He did it!"


"Don't either one of you move an inch until dinner is ready!" Vegeta yelled. His patience, what little he had, was dwindling.


Trunks sat on one end of the couch and Goten on the other, both mad at each other and becoming more bored by the second. "Dad are you done yet?"


"No!"


A few minutes passed. "How much longer?"


"Trunks!"


Five more minutes... "Are you almost done now?"


"NO!!!"


Another five minutes. "Dad..."


SLAM! Trunks heard his father put something down and storm into the room, his vein twitching and sweat dripping. "IF I HEAR ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YOU BEFORE DINNER IS DONE I'M BLASTING YOU INTO THE NEXT
GENERATION!" Vegeta screamed.


Trunks cowered, forcing himself as far down into the couch as he could. His eyes were wide as he watched his father leave. Then he sighed and stared at the ceiling.