Usagi, Hotaru, and Professor Tomoe walked down to Bulma's office, where Usagi knew that both she and her mother would be waiting for their arrival. Professor Tomoe watched his daughter as she and Usagi happily skipped down the hallway in front of him. He was overjoyed to see that his daughter had finally gotten a friend. Usagi seemed to be a nice person, from what he could tell. "So tell me Usagi, how old are you?"
"Ten!" Usagi chirped.
"And you live in the mountains, right?"
"Yep!"
"Not to sound rude or anything, but how do you travel from the mountains to the city without taking at least three hours with the fastest airship." He quietly gasped as his eyes were caught by the slight movement of Usagi's tail. 'A tail?'
"We fly, sir." She looked over to Hotaru, who was giggling at the fact that her knew friend could fly.
"Yes. Well, you must be a fast flyer to travel from the city to the mountains every day in such a short time."
"I am. So are the rest of my friends."
Hotaru smiled brightly as she looked up at Usagi. She squinted to get a better look at a silver glow that was coming from her knew friend's ears. "What's that on your ear?"
"Huh?" Usagi looked to Hotaru and immediately knew what she was talking about when Hotaru pointed. "Oh these? My mom gave these to me. They're crescent moon earrings. Aren't they pretty?"
Hotaru could only reply with a 'WOW' as she gazed at them. They were unlike anything that she had ever seen. For some reason she felt as if they gave off a sense of calmness. Usagi giggled as she remembered what happened when she asked her mother if she could get her ears pierced.
~*~*~
~~Flash Back~~
Two weeks after the kids returned to the future…
Usagi sighed as she put on her school uniform one morning. It was the first day of school since winter vacation had ended. Though Usagi had been grounded, she had rather enjoyed herself during the vacation. She pretty much just lazed around the house, something that she never really had a chance to do since she began training with her father. She was going to miss being lazy.
"Usagi! Get down here before your father eats your breakfast!"
"Coming mom!" She grabbed her school bag and quickly ran to the door that led out of her room so she could actually eat. But halfway there, she was stopped by a silver sparkle coming from her Gi, which she had thrown atop a pile of cloths when she had gotten home the day that Cell Jr. was killed.
As any curious child would do, Usagi quickly forgot about breakfast and went to investigate what could have possibly been creating such a mesmerizing light. She grabbed her Gi and immediately, a pair of silver earrings fell out onto the ground. "I totally forgot about these!" She dropped her Gi and bent down to pick up the gift from her mother. "They are so pretty." She held them up in the direction of the window and let the sun's rays beat down on them, causing their glimmer to increase. "Whoa…"
"USAGI!"
Usagi jerked from being startled from her mother's words and dropped the sparkling earrings. "COMING!" She quickly picked them up again and didn't waste a single second darting out of her room. She knew what would happen if she hadn't come right then.
~*~*~
Goku had already gone through ten servings of breakfast by the time Usagi had finally gotten to the kitchen. "Hey there!" He said as he stuffed another plate of food in his mouth.
Usagi, still with the earrings in hand, sat down on the opposite of the table to her father. "Hi daddy." She looked to her mother with uncertainty. She didn't know how to ask her if she could get her ears pierced. She knew her father wouldn't really care, it was just her mother that she would have to worry about. "Mom?"
Chi-Chi walked to her daughter's side and began to serve her breakfast. "What?"
"Umm…" She couldn't find the words to say. She wanted to ask her in the perfect way, she just didn't know how.
Chi-Chi sat down next to Goku and began eating her own breakfast now that everyone was served. Had they wanted more, they would have to serve themselves. She looked up to her hesitant daughter. "What is it, honey? You can tell me."
"Well, I was wondering if maybe I could possibly get my ears pierced?" She closed her eyes and pulled back her head in fear that her mother would lash out at her. But to her surprise, nothing came out of either of her parents' mouths. She opened her eyes and looked to her mother, half expecting to see her fainted on the floor from the silence. "Mom?"
Chi-Chi just stared at her food. She didn't know what to say, but knew she should or else Usagi may have been offended. "I knew this would come up one day." She sighed as she knew that there was no way of getting around it, but still, she would try to talk her out of it. "Usagi, don't you think you're a little young?"
"No. Other girls in my class have had their ears pierced since before they were in school. I want to get my ears pierced now."
'Well at least she wants something that a normal girl wants.' "But Usagi, I don't think your father and I want you putting holes in your body quite yet."
Usagi lowered her head in disappointment. She wouldn't argue with her mother on this one. She knew better than to go against her mother when she was grounded. "I understand, mom."
Goku finished up with his twelfth serving and turned his attention to his wife. "Well actually Chi-Chi, I don't really mind. I think she would look cute with them pierced. Pan had her ears pierced when she was a little girl."
Chi-Chi frowned as she slapped her husband in the face. "DON'T GET INTO THIS!" She hoped that that hadn't put hope into Usagi.
"Mom, if daddy doesn't mind, why can't I get them pierced? Please? Look, mom." She placed the earrings onto the table for her parents to look at. "These are why I want to get my ears pierced."
Chi-Chi was speechless as she gazed upon the shining silver earrings in front of her. She had never seen anything so spectacular in her entire life. It's glow was greater than that of a Super Saiyan's glow. "Usagi, where did you get these?" Her voice made her sound as if she were half way in a trance. 'Where have I seen such a glow?'
Usagi smiled as she watched her mother gawk at the gift. She turned to her father, who didn't seem phased by the intensity of the glow for it was the same light that her aura gave off when she turned Super Saiyan. "So?"
Chi-Chi shook herself from her trance and angrily frowned as she brought her eyes back up to look into her daughter's eyes. "Where did you get these!? I know for sure that you don't get enough allowance to pay for something like that! You haven't even gotten your pay from Piccolo and Vejita yet!" She slowly stood up as she crossed her arms as she waited for an answer. "I'll ask you one more time! Where did you get them, young lady?!"
Usagi gulped as she looked up to her mother. Though she knew her mother wasn't very strong, she was intimidated by her. She had witnessed her beat her father in a challenge, TWICE. "You gave them to me, mom."
"Now THAT is a lie! I've never, EVER, had anything THAT nice. Where did you get them?!"
Goku reached out and grabbed the earrings, examining them as he tested their durability. No matter how much pressure he put on them, they didn't seem to want to break. "Usagi…" He looked up to his daughter, not knowing what to believe. He knew that Chi-Chi was right. She had never owned anything like it before, but there was also the fact that Usagi was never known to steal things.
"I'm not lying." She turned to her father. "I didn't steal them. I promise! When I was…"
Chi-Chi cut her daughter off by slamming her hands onto the table. "Don't try to make excuses. You've been caught. You snuck out of the house in the past couple of weeks, didn't you?!"
Goku studied his daughter's eyes and saw that truth was written in them. "Chi-Chi, that's enough. Give her time to explain herself, and no, she didn't sneak out. I would have felt her energy." 'Especially since I'm always sensing around for her to make sure she doesn't get herself into any more trouble.'
Usagi was somewhat surprised by her father's reaction. Only a few moments ago he was leaning towards doubting her. Now he was on her side. But that's the way he was. He usually did end up taking her side. "I was going to say where I got those and you cut me off, mom."
Chi-Chi growled as she sat back down. "Then go ahead and explain." She glanced over to her husband, who was still holding the items in question. "Wait a minute, I have seen that glow before. The angel had that SAME intensity of light all around her body.'
"You gave them to me in the past, when you first started training with us in the room of spirit and time. I must have forgotten about them since we were in there for a few months. Then Cell came and it was totally wiped from my memory, I guess."
Chi-Chi dropped her head in shame. 'I should have known better than to doubt her.' "I'm sorry, sweetie."
"It's ok mom."
"Did she say where she got them?"
Usagi shook her head. "No. She just gave them to me. Aren't they cool?"
"They are beautiful." She snatched the earrings from her husband and looked at them closer than before. "Crescent Moons. One of the most beautiful things around."
"Did the moon actually look like that?"
"On some nights it did. On a clear night, the moon would even give off a glow much like these earrings. It was a magnificent sight."
"I bet." She leaned her head into her hands as she watched her mother rolled the earrings in her hand. "I wish I could have seen the moon."
"No you don't. It's a good thing that the moon is gone. If you look at a full moon, you would turn into a giant ape and go on a rampage. You would loose control and end up killing many innocent people. It happened to Gohan and I when we were young."
"Is that why you, Goten, and Gohan don't have tails anymore, daddy? And Vejita and Trunks and Bra and Pan?"
"Yes, dear. That's why."
"Why do I have one?"
"Because there was no threat of the moon. It was already destroyed by the time you were born. It was destroyed way back when Gohan was only four years old." Goku hated to think back to those days. The days when earth was constantly being attack. The days when his family was so violently ripped apart.
"Oh." She turned to her mother, who was finally beginning to put the earrings down. "So? Mom? Can I do it? Please?"
Chi-Chi looked up to her daughter with a smile. "I guess it's alright with me if it's alright with your father."
"I don't care. I've already said that."
Usagi jumped out her chair with joy. "Thank you! Thank you!"
Chi-Chi giggled as she loved to hear the joy of her daughter. "You're very welcome. We can't have something THIS beautiful go to waste, can we?"
~*~*~
~~End of Flash Back~~
Usagi stopped just in front of Bulma's office door and knocked on it. "Mom, Bulma, we're here." She proceeded to enter when she heard an ok from Bulma to come in.
Usagi and Hotaru were the first to walk in and were soon followed by Professor Tomoe, who went directly to Chi-Chi to introduce himself. "Hi Mrs. Son. I am Hotaru's father, Professor Tomoe. It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand to the woman in front of him.
Chi-Chi stood from her chair and reached out and met his hand for a firm handshake. "Good evening, Professor. It's nice to meet you too. Bulma's told me a lot about you and your daughter."
Professor Tomoe turned to Bulma and nodded at her to say hello. "Mrs. Son, your daughter is amazing. She is very well mannered for her age. And from what I can see, she's going to be a great friend for Hotaru." He sat down at one of the chairs that sat in front of Bulma's desk.
Chi-Chi smiled with pride as she sat back down in her chair. "Thank you." She turned her attention to her daughter and the fragile looking girl, who stood beside her. "Hi. I'm Son Chi-Chi, Usagi's mother. Nice to meet you."
Hotaru smiled as she crawled up onto her father's lap. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hotaru."
Usagi walked to her mother and hopped up onto her lap. "Mom, Hotaru is cool!"
Hotaru's smile got brighter at that as she giggled. "Papa! Tell them, TELL THEM!"
Professor Tomoe chuckled as he ran his fingers through his daughter's black hair. "Ok, ok. I will. Mrs. Son, we have decided to accept your offer of letting Usagi watch Hotaru. Hotaru seems to have taken quite a liking to your daughter."
"Well that's fine with me. I'm glad to hear that."
"When will she be available?"
Chi-Chi looked down to her daughter as if to ask her when she wanted to work. When no answer came about, she decided to answer for her. "When do you need a sitter?"
"I usually have Hotaru here on weekdays from three to six. And on Saturday's from noon to four or five. Is that all right with you?"
"I think that's workable. As long as Usagi has time to do her homework, I'm happy."
Usagi rolled her eyes. She was lucky that her mother didn't see it. "Yes, sir. That's good."
"YAY! I can't wait until tomorrow!" Hotaru could hardly hold in her excitement.
~*~*~
~~The Next Morning~~
Usagi aimlessly walked around her house all the next morning not really knowing how she was going to ask her father if he could train Hotaru. She knew that he was wanting to take time to train her mother and to train himself harder, but it was for a good cause. She was sure that he would understand. She walked into the living room where her mother was watching one of her shows. She casually walked to the sofa and climbed up over the back and plopped herself down next to her mother. She looked at the clock, which read eleven thirty in the morning, a half hour before she was supposed to be at Hotaru's. 'Better do it before it's too late." "DADDY!"
Usagi ran out of the house, hoping that she would be able to convince her father to let her train Hotaru. Outside was where he was, stretching his legs and preparing himself to go and train with Vejita. "Daddy!" She ran to his side and looked down at him with a hesitant face.
Goku looked up to his daughter and smiled. He found it odd that she was dressed in her training Gi, though. "Hey there kiddo! What's on your mind?"
"Well you know how I have to watch Hotaru now, right?"
Goku quirked his eyebrow, knowing the tone she used all too well. He knew that it meant that she wanted something from him. "Yes."
"Well I have to watch her on the weekdays from three to six and on Saturdays from noon to five at the latest. And I was wondering if you could possibly…well…ummm…"
Goku stared at his hesitant child and became quite curious as to what was making her afraid to ask him whatever was on her mind. "Ok Usagi, what is it?"
'Well, there's no better way than to get it all out in the open.' "Well…CanyoutrainHotaruandnothurtheratallyouknowtrainnice?"
Goku stared at his daughter in wonder. 'I thought I was the only one capable of doing that.' "Would you like to repeat that in terms that I can understand?"
Usagi took a deep breath. "Well, Can you train Hotaru and not hurt her at all, you know train nice?"
Goku's expression turned to an offended one. But he was also interested in what she meant. "I thought I did train nice."
Usagi put her hands behind her back and squirmed at that. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had promised Hotaru and her father that if she were to be trained that it wouldn't be rough training. "Well you do, daddy, I just meant, uhhh, not as rough, yeah that's it."
Goku began to slightly frown. "Not as rough…" He wasn't sure if he quite grasped what the point of training someone without being rough.
"Well, daddy, you can be a bit tough especially in the beginning, maybe if you just train a little gentler it wouldn't cause her as many hurts."
"Usagi, being hurt is a part of fighting. You know that. It makes you tough and ready for things." he stood up and brushed some dirt off of his Gi.
"Well, yeah, in regular fights, but I don't think training it should. At least not at first. I think that a student should know kind of what they're meant to be doing before they get a beating. Kind of how you did to me. I didn't know what I was doing and you started out with pushing me around."
Goku began to loose his patients as he got upset with her words. "I told you what to do before I started fighting you."
Usagi took a step back as she could see that she was aggravating her father. "Sort of."
"So what are you telling me? That you don't like the way I trained you?"
"No, NO! I LOVE the way you trained me. It's just that…"
Goku didn't know how much longer he would stand there and listen to his daughter bash his training style. "Yes?"
"Hotaru's different than me. She's more fragile, I guess you could say." She hoped that he wouldn't get to angry. She hoped that she wasn't making him to angry with her.
"And would you do it differently, might I ask?"
Usagi thought hard at that one. She hadn't really thought about how she would train someone since it had never come up before. But she finally came up with an answer. "I'd sort of train like you do, with some of mom's training, but a little differently then that too."
Usagi thought about her past experiences to find a way to justify herself. "Mostly though I wouldn't try and force a power jump like Vejita did when I first trained with him. I wouldn't try to get them to learn a technique by beating it into them, like Vejita and Piccolo do, but more gentle."
Goku pondered Usagi's statement, and decided it was time for her training to take a step forward. Though he had said that he wouldn't be training her for a while, he found the perfect way to do it without HIM actually having to be there for it. "Well I DID say that I had to train your mom and myself harder."
Usagi wasn't sure if that statement was meant to be a good one, or a bad one. She crossed her fingers as she hoped for the best. "I know but…" She didn't know what to say. "PLEEEEEEASE!?"
"Usagi I won't train Hotaru."
Usagi could have crumbled into pieces right there and then. She couldn't believe that he had just said that. "Daddy, please. I'm sorry I made fun of the way you train. I take it all back. Just please, PLEASE train Hotaru."
Goku grinned. "Now if you said that you take it all back, you'd be lying because now I know that you really DO feel that way about it. That doesn't really bother me all that much since you have a valid complaint. I'm not going to train Hotaru, but you can"
Usagi's mouth dropped open as she stared at her father in disbelief. "ME?! I can't train someone! I don't know how! What if I mess up?"
Goku chuckled at his daughter. "You wont mess up. Trust me. You're a great fighter. You've already figured out so many more techniques that none of us other fighters ever could have thought of. You know what you're doing."
"But…"
Goku put his finger over his daughter's mouth to silence her. "If you want her trained the way you want, gentle, than you're going to have to do it. If I train her, I'll do it the way I always have. That would be the way you were trained."
"But what if I DO mess up. What if I fail, or do something wrong? What if I hurt her? What if…"
"What if, what if, what if? What's with all this doubt Usagi. Just think of this as an extension of your own training. Teach her everything you know, the way you want to. If you need help, I'll always be there to consult. Your brothers will be there if you need their help. You have nothing to worry about."
Usagi was about to protest her father more when she remembered the look in Hotaru's eyes. She saw nothing but the need to be accepted. Most of all, though, she remembered the excitement that came into them when she suggested that she be trained with her and her friends. She sighed as she felt defeated by her own father. Though he was being over reasonable, she didn't have enough faith in herself to do it.
She looked up at him and saw that he would accept her decision, whichever way she chose to go. Before she made her final decision, she thought of Hotaru once again. She thought of how much it would mean for her to be part of everything, to feel accepted. But Usagi also feels something towards her. For some reason, she felt a closeness to Hotaru as if she were the little sister that she had always wanted. "Ok, I'll do it."
Goku smiled at her decision, the one he knew that she would pick. "That's my girl. I have to go round up your mother so we can leave to train."
"K! I have to go too. Professor Tomoe and Hotaru are expecting me in about fifteen minutes."
"Ok, I'll see you tonight then."
She bounced into the air. "See you! Bye daddy!" With one burst of power, she was off to collect Hotaru.
'She really is a good kid.'
~*~*~
~~Hotaru's House~~
Usagi was lead into the Tomoes' home by a woman with long read hair trailing down to her lower back. "Please wait while I go and fetch the Professor and his kid." She walked out of the room into a hallway.
Usagi walked to the sofa that sat in the middle of the room and looked around in complete awe. 'Whoa, this is greater than Bulma's place. It's not as big, but it's got all this neat old stuff in it. Cool! This stuff looks really expensive too.' Her sensitive ears picked up quiet footsteps approaching from behind.
Hotaru ran to Usagi and jumped onto the sofa, sitting next to her new best friend. "USAGI!" She wrapped her arms around Usagi's waist and hugged her tightly.
Usagi giggled as she hugged back. "Hi Hotaru! How are you today?"
"Great now that you're here!" She looked up and saw her father standing in front of them. "Papa I'm so excited!"
"That's good. Now Usagi, I'm in the middle of a rather large project at work so I'm probably not going to be getting off until five tonight." He still couldn't get over the fact that Hotaru had finally gotten a friend.
"Ok. I'll make sure she stays safe, sir."
Hotaru pulled away from Usagi, still with a huge smile planted on her face. "Did you ask your daddy? Did you? Did you?"
"Yep! I sure did! He said that I could train you, isn't that neat?"
Professor Tomoe wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "Aren't you still a student yourself?"
Usagi looked up to Professor Tomoe. She knew that he would have doubted her. "Yes. But my dad said that this is part of my training. He said that I know enough to start training her." She could still see the concern on his face. "If you don't want me to, I understand. I can still ask dad to do it."
"I don't mind. I trust that your father has good judgment. Bulma told me about all the times he saved earth from near destruction. I don't think that I have anything to worry about."
"Thank you, sir. I promise not to hurt her while she's with me." She looked down to Hotaru, who looked more excited than ever as she anticipated what would happen next. "Should we go?"
Hotaru leaped out of her sofa and impossibly widened her smile. "YEAH!"
Professor Tomoe laughed at his daughter as Usagi stood to her feet. "Ok then. Well, if you're going to train, you need a Gi."
"A Gi? You mean those things that the Karate people on T.V. have?" Hotaru's eyes glimmered even more as her excitement grew.
"Sort of. Yours will be like mine, only purple. I think that purple is your color, for some reason."
"Purple's my favorite color. It'll match my eyes. When do I get it?"
"Right now." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small capsule. "Even though I didn't ask my dad last night if he could train you, I knew he would agree so I had Bulma make you a Gi last night after you left and we put it in this capsule." She clicked the top and immediately a purple Gi was wrapped around her arm. "See? It's just like mine."
"COOL!"
"Now if you want, you can go and put it on so we can start our training." She tossed it to Hotaru, who, in return, caught it.
"I will!" She happily squealed as she scampered down to her room.
Professor Tomoe wasn't exactly sure what it was about Usagi, but for some reason he knew that she was going to be a real friend to his daughter. "Thank you, Usagi. You don't know how much this means to Hotaru and I."
Usagi smiled as she was happy for what she had just done. "You're welcome, sir. I can't wait to hang out with Hotaru."
"She's just had such a hard life so far. I'm just overjoyed that she has met someone like you who can pull her out of her shell. I haven't seen her this happy in years."
"I know what's she's going through. When I first started school, almost everyone was a bully to me. Everyone made fun of me all the time. There were these two bullies, especially, who made fun of me. Me and my friend, Minako, were victims of one of their attacks. That's when I decided that I wanted to fight. I needed to be able to defend myself. Once the kids at school learned that I could fight, they left me alone. I think it was because they were afraid of me. Even now I have people who make fun of me, but I've learned to ignore them. Deep down I know they don't mean it. I hope I can make Hotaru see things that way. I want her to just learn to ignore people who make fun of her."
"Thank you, Usagi." He looked down at his watch. "I have to run. Tell Hotaru I said goodbye." He walked passed Usagi towards the door. "You two have fun today."
( There you have it. Another part. What did you think? Was it any good? Gotta go. Ja! )
"Ten!" Usagi chirped.
"And you live in the mountains, right?"
"Yep!"
"Not to sound rude or anything, but how do you travel from the mountains to the city without taking at least three hours with the fastest airship." He quietly gasped as his eyes were caught by the slight movement of Usagi's tail. 'A tail?'
"We fly, sir." She looked over to Hotaru, who was giggling at the fact that her knew friend could fly.
"Yes. Well, you must be a fast flyer to travel from the city to the mountains every day in such a short time."
"I am. So are the rest of my friends."
Hotaru smiled brightly as she looked up at Usagi. She squinted to get a better look at a silver glow that was coming from her knew friend's ears. "What's that on your ear?"
"Huh?" Usagi looked to Hotaru and immediately knew what she was talking about when Hotaru pointed. "Oh these? My mom gave these to me. They're crescent moon earrings. Aren't they pretty?"
Hotaru could only reply with a 'WOW' as she gazed at them. They were unlike anything that she had ever seen. For some reason she felt as if they gave off a sense of calmness. Usagi giggled as she remembered what happened when she asked her mother if she could get her ears pierced.
~*~*~
~~Flash Back~~
Two weeks after the kids returned to the future…
Usagi sighed as she put on her school uniform one morning. It was the first day of school since winter vacation had ended. Though Usagi had been grounded, she had rather enjoyed herself during the vacation. She pretty much just lazed around the house, something that she never really had a chance to do since she began training with her father. She was going to miss being lazy.
"Usagi! Get down here before your father eats your breakfast!"
"Coming mom!" She grabbed her school bag and quickly ran to the door that led out of her room so she could actually eat. But halfway there, she was stopped by a silver sparkle coming from her Gi, which she had thrown atop a pile of cloths when she had gotten home the day that Cell Jr. was killed.
As any curious child would do, Usagi quickly forgot about breakfast and went to investigate what could have possibly been creating such a mesmerizing light. She grabbed her Gi and immediately, a pair of silver earrings fell out onto the ground. "I totally forgot about these!" She dropped her Gi and bent down to pick up the gift from her mother. "They are so pretty." She held them up in the direction of the window and let the sun's rays beat down on them, causing their glimmer to increase. "Whoa…"
"USAGI!"
Usagi jerked from being startled from her mother's words and dropped the sparkling earrings. "COMING!" She quickly picked them up again and didn't waste a single second darting out of her room. She knew what would happen if she hadn't come right then.
~*~*~
Goku had already gone through ten servings of breakfast by the time Usagi had finally gotten to the kitchen. "Hey there!" He said as he stuffed another plate of food in his mouth.
Usagi, still with the earrings in hand, sat down on the opposite of the table to her father. "Hi daddy." She looked to her mother with uncertainty. She didn't know how to ask her if she could get her ears pierced. She knew her father wouldn't really care, it was just her mother that she would have to worry about. "Mom?"
Chi-Chi walked to her daughter's side and began to serve her breakfast. "What?"
"Umm…" She couldn't find the words to say. She wanted to ask her in the perfect way, she just didn't know how.
Chi-Chi sat down next to Goku and began eating her own breakfast now that everyone was served. Had they wanted more, they would have to serve themselves. She looked up to her hesitant daughter. "What is it, honey? You can tell me."
"Well, I was wondering if maybe I could possibly get my ears pierced?" She closed her eyes and pulled back her head in fear that her mother would lash out at her. But to her surprise, nothing came out of either of her parents' mouths. She opened her eyes and looked to her mother, half expecting to see her fainted on the floor from the silence. "Mom?"
Chi-Chi just stared at her food. She didn't know what to say, but knew she should or else Usagi may have been offended. "I knew this would come up one day." She sighed as she knew that there was no way of getting around it, but still, she would try to talk her out of it. "Usagi, don't you think you're a little young?"
"No. Other girls in my class have had their ears pierced since before they were in school. I want to get my ears pierced now."
'Well at least she wants something that a normal girl wants.' "But Usagi, I don't think your father and I want you putting holes in your body quite yet."
Usagi lowered her head in disappointment. She wouldn't argue with her mother on this one. She knew better than to go against her mother when she was grounded. "I understand, mom."
Goku finished up with his twelfth serving and turned his attention to his wife. "Well actually Chi-Chi, I don't really mind. I think she would look cute with them pierced. Pan had her ears pierced when she was a little girl."
Chi-Chi frowned as she slapped her husband in the face. "DON'T GET INTO THIS!" She hoped that that hadn't put hope into Usagi.
"Mom, if daddy doesn't mind, why can't I get them pierced? Please? Look, mom." She placed the earrings onto the table for her parents to look at. "These are why I want to get my ears pierced."
Chi-Chi was speechless as she gazed upon the shining silver earrings in front of her. She had never seen anything so spectacular in her entire life. It's glow was greater than that of a Super Saiyan's glow. "Usagi, where did you get these?" Her voice made her sound as if she were half way in a trance. 'Where have I seen such a glow?'
Usagi smiled as she watched her mother gawk at the gift. She turned to her father, who didn't seem phased by the intensity of the glow for it was the same light that her aura gave off when she turned Super Saiyan. "So?"
Chi-Chi shook herself from her trance and angrily frowned as she brought her eyes back up to look into her daughter's eyes. "Where did you get these!? I know for sure that you don't get enough allowance to pay for something like that! You haven't even gotten your pay from Piccolo and Vejita yet!" She slowly stood up as she crossed her arms as she waited for an answer. "I'll ask you one more time! Where did you get them, young lady?!"
Usagi gulped as she looked up to her mother. Though she knew her mother wasn't very strong, she was intimidated by her. She had witnessed her beat her father in a challenge, TWICE. "You gave them to me, mom."
"Now THAT is a lie! I've never, EVER, had anything THAT nice. Where did you get them?!"
Goku reached out and grabbed the earrings, examining them as he tested their durability. No matter how much pressure he put on them, they didn't seem to want to break. "Usagi…" He looked up to his daughter, not knowing what to believe. He knew that Chi-Chi was right. She had never owned anything like it before, but there was also the fact that Usagi was never known to steal things.
"I'm not lying." She turned to her father. "I didn't steal them. I promise! When I was…"
Chi-Chi cut her daughter off by slamming her hands onto the table. "Don't try to make excuses. You've been caught. You snuck out of the house in the past couple of weeks, didn't you?!"
Goku studied his daughter's eyes and saw that truth was written in them. "Chi-Chi, that's enough. Give her time to explain herself, and no, she didn't sneak out. I would have felt her energy." 'Especially since I'm always sensing around for her to make sure she doesn't get herself into any more trouble.'
Usagi was somewhat surprised by her father's reaction. Only a few moments ago he was leaning towards doubting her. Now he was on her side. But that's the way he was. He usually did end up taking her side. "I was going to say where I got those and you cut me off, mom."
Chi-Chi growled as she sat back down. "Then go ahead and explain." She glanced over to her husband, who was still holding the items in question. "Wait a minute, I have seen that glow before. The angel had that SAME intensity of light all around her body.'
"You gave them to me in the past, when you first started training with us in the room of spirit and time. I must have forgotten about them since we were in there for a few months. Then Cell came and it was totally wiped from my memory, I guess."
Chi-Chi dropped her head in shame. 'I should have known better than to doubt her.' "I'm sorry, sweetie."
"It's ok mom."
"Did she say where she got them?"
Usagi shook her head. "No. She just gave them to me. Aren't they cool?"
"They are beautiful." She snatched the earrings from her husband and looked at them closer than before. "Crescent Moons. One of the most beautiful things around."
"Did the moon actually look like that?"
"On some nights it did. On a clear night, the moon would even give off a glow much like these earrings. It was a magnificent sight."
"I bet." She leaned her head into her hands as she watched her mother rolled the earrings in her hand. "I wish I could have seen the moon."
"No you don't. It's a good thing that the moon is gone. If you look at a full moon, you would turn into a giant ape and go on a rampage. You would loose control and end up killing many innocent people. It happened to Gohan and I when we were young."
"Is that why you, Goten, and Gohan don't have tails anymore, daddy? And Vejita and Trunks and Bra and Pan?"
"Yes, dear. That's why."
"Why do I have one?"
"Because there was no threat of the moon. It was already destroyed by the time you were born. It was destroyed way back when Gohan was only four years old." Goku hated to think back to those days. The days when earth was constantly being attack. The days when his family was so violently ripped apart.
"Oh." She turned to her mother, who was finally beginning to put the earrings down. "So? Mom? Can I do it? Please?"
Chi-Chi looked up to her daughter with a smile. "I guess it's alright with me if it's alright with your father."
"I don't care. I've already said that."
Usagi jumped out her chair with joy. "Thank you! Thank you!"
Chi-Chi giggled as she loved to hear the joy of her daughter. "You're very welcome. We can't have something THIS beautiful go to waste, can we?"
~*~*~
~~End of Flash Back~~
Usagi stopped just in front of Bulma's office door and knocked on it. "Mom, Bulma, we're here." She proceeded to enter when she heard an ok from Bulma to come in.
Usagi and Hotaru were the first to walk in and were soon followed by Professor Tomoe, who went directly to Chi-Chi to introduce himself. "Hi Mrs. Son. I am Hotaru's father, Professor Tomoe. It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand to the woman in front of him.
Chi-Chi stood from her chair and reached out and met his hand for a firm handshake. "Good evening, Professor. It's nice to meet you too. Bulma's told me a lot about you and your daughter."
Professor Tomoe turned to Bulma and nodded at her to say hello. "Mrs. Son, your daughter is amazing. She is very well mannered for her age. And from what I can see, she's going to be a great friend for Hotaru." He sat down at one of the chairs that sat in front of Bulma's desk.
Chi-Chi smiled with pride as she sat back down in her chair. "Thank you." She turned her attention to her daughter and the fragile looking girl, who stood beside her. "Hi. I'm Son Chi-Chi, Usagi's mother. Nice to meet you."
Hotaru smiled as she crawled up onto her father's lap. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hotaru."
Usagi walked to her mother and hopped up onto her lap. "Mom, Hotaru is cool!"
Hotaru's smile got brighter at that as she giggled. "Papa! Tell them, TELL THEM!"
Professor Tomoe chuckled as he ran his fingers through his daughter's black hair. "Ok, ok. I will. Mrs. Son, we have decided to accept your offer of letting Usagi watch Hotaru. Hotaru seems to have taken quite a liking to your daughter."
"Well that's fine with me. I'm glad to hear that."
"When will she be available?"
Chi-Chi looked down to her daughter as if to ask her when she wanted to work. When no answer came about, she decided to answer for her. "When do you need a sitter?"
"I usually have Hotaru here on weekdays from three to six. And on Saturday's from noon to four or five. Is that all right with you?"
"I think that's workable. As long as Usagi has time to do her homework, I'm happy."
Usagi rolled her eyes. She was lucky that her mother didn't see it. "Yes, sir. That's good."
"YAY! I can't wait until tomorrow!" Hotaru could hardly hold in her excitement.
~*~*~
~~The Next Morning~~
Usagi aimlessly walked around her house all the next morning not really knowing how she was going to ask her father if he could train Hotaru. She knew that he was wanting to take time to train her mother and to train himself harder, but it was for a good cause. She was sure that he would understand. She walked into the living room where her mother was watching one of her shows. She casually walked to the sofa and climbed up over the back and plopped herself down next to her mother. She looked at the clock, which read eleven thirty in the morning, a half hour before she was supposed to be at Hotaru's. 'Better do it before it's too late." "DADDY!"
Usagi ran out of the house, hoping that she would be able to convince her father to let her train Hotaru. Outside was where he was, stretching his legs and preparing himself to go and train with Vejita. "Daddy!" She ran to his side and looked down at him with a hesitant face.
Goku looked up to his daughter and smiled. He found it odd that she was dressed in her training Gi, though. "Hey there kiddo! What's on your mind?"
"Well you know how I have to watch Hotaru now, right?"
Goku quirked his eyebrow, knowing the tone she used all too well. He knew that it meant that she wanted something from him. "Yes."
"Well I have to watch her on the weekdays from three to six and on Saturdays from noon to five at the latest. And I was wondering if you could possibly…well…ummm…"
Goku stared at his hesitant child and became quite curious as to what was making her afraid to ask him whatever was on her mind. "Ok Usagi, what is it?"
'Well, there's no better way than to get it all out in the open.' "Well…CanyoutrainHotaruandnothurtheratallyouknowtrainnice?"
Goku stared at his daughter in wonder. 'I thought I was the only one capable of doing that.' "Would you like to repeat that in terms that I can understand?"
Usagi took a deep breath. "Well, Can you train Hotaru and not hurt her at all, you know train nice?"
Goku's expression turned to an offended one. But he was also interested in what she meant. "I thought I did train nice."
Usagi put her hands behind her back and squirmed at that. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had promised Hotaru and her father that if she were to be trained that it wouldn't be rough training. "Well you do, daddy, I just meant, uhhh, not as rough, yeah that's it."
Goku began to slightly frown. "Not as rough…" He wasn't sure if he quite grasped what the point of training someone without being rough.
"Well, daddy, you can be a bit tough especially in the beginning, maybe if you just train a little gentler it wouldn't cause her as many hurts."
"Usagi, being hurt is a part of fighting. You know that. It makes you tough and ready for things." he stood up and brushed some dirt off of his Gi.
"Well, yeah, in regular fights, but I don't think training it should. At least not at first. I think that a student should know kind of what they're meant to be doing before they get a beating. Kind of how you did to me. I didn't know what I was doing and you started out with pushing me around."
Goku began to loose his patients as he got upset with her words. "I told you what to do before I started fighting you."
Usagi took a step back as she could see that she was aggravating her father. "Sort of."
"So what are you telling me? That you don't like the way I trained you?"
"No, NO! I LOVE the way you trained me. It's just that…"
Goku didn't know how much longer he would stand there and listen to his daughter bash his training style. "Yes?"
"Hotaru's different than me. She's more fragile, I guess you could say." She hoped that he wouldn't get to angry. She hoped that she wasn't making him to angry with her.
"And would you do it differently, might I ask?"
Usagi thought hard at that one. She hadn't really thought about how she would train someone since it had never come up before. But she finally came up with an answer. "I'd sort of train like you do, with some of mom's training, but a little differently then that too."
Usagi thought about her past experiences to find a way to justify herself. "Mostly though I wouldn't try and force a power jump like Vejita did when I first trained with him. I wouldn't try to get them to learn a technique by beating it into them, like Vejita and Piccolo do, but more gentle."
Goku pondered Usagi's statement, and decided it was time for her training to take a step forward. Though he had said that he wouldn't be training her for a while, he found the perfect way to do it without HIM actually having to be there for it. "Well I DID say that I had to train your mom and myself harder."
Usagi wasn't sure if that statement was meant to be a good one, or a bad one. She crossed her fingers as she hoped for the best. "I know but…" She didn't know what to say. "PLEEEEEEASE!?"
"Usagi I won't train Hotaru."
Usagi could have crumbled into pieces right there and then. She couldn't believe that he had just said that. "Daddy, please. I'm sorry I made fun of the way you train. I take it all back. Just please, PLEASE train Hotaru."
Goku grinned. "Now if you said that you take it all back, you'd be lying because now I know that you really DO feel that way about it. That doesn't really bother me all that much since you have a valid complaint. I'm not going to train Hotaru, but you can"
Usagi's mouth dropped open as she stared at her father in disbelief. "ME?! I can't train someone! I don't know how! What if I mess up?"
Goku chuckled at his daughter. "You wont mess up. Trust me. You're a great fighter. You've already figured out so many more techniques that none of us other fighters ever could have thought of. You know what you're doing."
"But…"
Goku put his finger over his daughter's mouth to silence her. "If you want her trained the way you want, gentle, than you're going to have to do it. If I train her, I'll do it the way I always have. That would be the way you were trained."
"But what if I DO mess up. What if I fail, or do something wrong? What if I hurt her? What if…"
"What if, what if, what if? What's with all this doubt Usagi. Just think of this as an extension of your own training. Teach her everything you know, the way you want to. If you need help, I'll always be there to consult. Your brothers will be there if you need their help. You have nothing to worry about."
Usagi was about to protest her father more when she remembered the look in Hotaru's eyes. She saw nothing but the need to be accepted. Most of all, though, she remembered the excitement that came into them when she suggested that she be trained with her and her friends. She sighed as she felt defeated by her own father. Though he was being over reasonable, she didn't have enough faith in herself to do it.
She looked up at him and saw that he would accept her decision, whichever way she chose to go. Before she made her final decision, she thought of Hotaru once again. She thought of how much it would mean for her to be part of everything, to feel accepted. But Usagi also feels something towards her. For some reason, she felt a closeness to Hotaru as if she were the little sister that she had always wanted. "Ok, I'll do it."
Goku smiled at her decision, the one he knew that she would pick. "That's my girl. I have to go round up your mother so we can leave to train."
"K! I have to go too. Professor Tomoe and Hotaru are expecting me in about fifteen minutes."
"Ok, I'll see you tonight then."
She bounced into the air. "See you! Bye daddy!" With one burst of power, she was off to collect Hotaru.
'She really is a good kid.'
~*~*~
~~Hotaru's House~~
Usagi was lead into the Tomoes' home by a woman with long read hair trailing down to her lower back. "Please wait while I go and fetch the Professor and his kid." She walked out of the room into a hallway.
Usagi walked to the sofa that sat in the middle of the room and looked around in complete awe. 'Whoa, this is greater than Bulma's place. It's not as big, but it's got all this neat old stuff in it. Cool! This stuff looks really expensive too.' Her sensitive ears picked up quiet footsteps approaching from behind.
Hotaru ran to Usagi and jumped onto the sofa, sitting next to her new best friend. "USAGI!" She wrapped her arms around Usagi's waist and hugged her tightly.
Usagi giggled as she hugged back. "Hi Hotaru! How are you today?"
"Great now that you're here!" She looked up and saw her father standing in front of them. "Papa I'm so excited!"
"That's good. Now Usagi, I'm in the middle of a rather large project at work so I'm probably not going to be getting off until five tonight." He still couldn't get over the fact that Hotaru had finally gotten a friend.
"Ok. I'll make sure she stays safe, sir."
Hotaru pulled away from Usagi, still with a huge smile planted on her face. "Did you ask your daddy? Did you? Did you?"
"Yep! I sure did! He said that I could train you, isn't that neat?"
Professor Tomoe wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "Aren't you still a student yourself?"
Usagi looked up to Professor Tomoe. She knew that he would have doubted her. "Yes. But my dad said that this is part of my training. He said that I know enough to start training her." She could still see the concern on his face. "If you don't want me to, I understand. I can still ask dad to do it."
"I don't mind. I trust that your father has good judgment. Bulma told me about all the times he saved earth from near destruction. I don't think that I have anything to worry about."
"Thank you, sir. I promise not to hurt her while she's with me." She looked down to Hotaru, who looked more excited than ever as she anticipated what would happen next. "Should we go?"
Hotaru leaped out of her sofa and impossibly widened her smile. "YEAH!"
Professor Tomoe laughed at his daughter as Usagi stood to her feet. "Ok then. Well, if you're going to train, you need a Gi."
"A Gi? You mean those things that the Karate people on T.V. have?" Hotaru's eyes glimmered even more as her excitement grew.
"Sort of. Yours will be like mine, only purple. I think that purple is your color, for some reason."
"Purple's my favorite color. It'll match my eyes. When do I get it?"
"Right now." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small capsule. "Even though I didn't ask my dad last night if he could train you, I knew he would agree so I had Bulma make you a Gi last night after you left and we put it in this capsule." She clicked the top and immediately a purple Gi was wrapped around her arm. "See? It's just like mine."
"COOL!"
"Now if you want, you can go and put it on so we can start our training." She tossed it to Hotaru, who, in return, caught it.
"I will!" She happily squealed as she scampered down to her room.
Professor Tomoe wasn't exactly sure what it was about Usagi, but for some reason he knew that she was going to be a real friend to his daughter. "Thank you, Usagi. You don't know how much this means to Hotaru and I."
Usagi smiled as she was happy for what she had just done. "You're welcome, sir. I can't wait to hang out with Hotaru."
"She's just had such a hard life so far. I'm just overjoyed that she has met someone like you who can pull her out of her shell. I haven't seen her this happy in years."
"I know what's she's going through. When I first started school, almost everyone was a bully to me. Everyone made fun of me all the time. There were these two bullies, especially, who made fun of me. Me and my friend, Minako, were victims of one of their attacks. That's when I decided that I wanted to fight. I needed to be able to defend myself. Once the kids at school learned that I could fight, they left me alone. I think it was because they were afraid of me. Even now I have people who make fun of me, but I've learned to ignore them. Deep down I know they don't mean it. I hope I can make Hotaru see things that way. I want her to just learn to ignore people who make fun of her."
"Thank you, Usagi." He looked down at his watch. "I have to run. Tell Hotaru I said goodbye." He walked passed Usagi towards the door. "You two have fun today."
( There you have it. Another part. What did you think? Was it any good? Gotta go. Ja! )