Dragonball Alternate Dimension
Chapter Five
Note:
(-*-) indicates a change in setting from one dimension to another.
(*) indicates a change of scene or great lapse of time in the same dimension.
Dialog which appears within means that the speaker is being heard telepathically.
(***) indicates that the scene within them is a flash back.
Capsule Corp: Sunday, June 23rd, 11:30 AM
Bulma Briefs gingerly stretched her index finger out toward the play button of the air-car's CD player. Akiko clenched her teeth in a wide grin.
"Here goes!" the older woman cried and pressed the button. 100 decibels roared out of 21 speakers located strategically in the interior of the car. Bulma leaned back in her seat as if forced back by the sound. Akiko rocked to the beat.
"Right about now, the funk soul brothah..!" she gave Bulma the thumbs up and turned the system off. "Sweet..."
"What?!"
"SWEET!"
"YEAH!"
They laughed and climbed out of the car. The women wound their way out of the huge garage around various model cars.
"I guess that fifth sub-woofer did the trick."
"Oh yeah," Akiko grinned.
Yamcha was waiting for them at the entrance. "There you guys are! I thought we were going to the shore today." He was wearing jams and a Capsule tee-shirt.
"We are, we are!" Bulma brushed past him and escorted Akiko out. "Gimme a half an hour."
Yamcha slumped his shoulders. "Half and hour.. lets see.." he counted off his fingers. "..times six.. that's... three and a half hours in Bulma Time."
The younger woman was about to make a snide comment about Yamcha's shorts, when she spied his son emerge from the house wearing the same thing. She rolled her eyes. She loved Capsule, but she couldn't stand its young CEO.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Bulma." Akiko turned to fly away, but her friend stopped her.
"Hey! Why don't you come with us! I'm sure T would love to have you along!"
"I'm sure he would," she murmured. "Thanks, but I'm sparing with Goten today. Since he got married, I've been taking every opportunity I can to kick his butt!"
Bulma snickered. The lavendar-haired young man called T approached them.
"Hey, Kiko. Wassup?" He ran a hand through his hair and winked at her.
"Hey, Trunks. I was just leaving." She folded her arms.
"Are you ever gonna call me T?"
"Prob'ly not."
Bulma looked back and forth at them and silently wished Trunks wasn't so much like his father. She'd never get them together at this rate!
"Well, it's been real, Bulma, but I gotta jet," Akiko said in a smarmy tone, mocking Trunks. She snapped her fingers so that they finished up pointing at Bulma and stepped up into the air.
"Bye! have fun getting the stuffing knocked out of you!" she smiled up at her friend.
"We'll see about that!" Akiko saluted to her and blasted off.
Trunks sighed, "she hates me."
"No no! She's just warming up to you! I'm sure once she grows up a little more she'll see that you're a great guy!" his mother re-assured him, although she knew that it was HE who needed the maturity and not the younger quarter-Saiyan.
T looked up into the empty sky and pouted slightly. The blue reminded him that they were going to the beach. He thought of bikinis and his usual grin reappeared.
Akiko lighted in her front yard and walked into the house. She was almost knocked over by two streaks, one blue and one black. She spun around in place and yelled at them. "Woah! Go-Chan, Gosan! Where's the fire?"
They stopped and turned to her. "Sorry Kiko!" her younger siblings replied in unison. "We're going out with Grampa!" They both beamed satisfied smiles at her.
"Cool. Don't wear him out too much, ok?" She tousled their hair: her sister's blue like hers, her brother's black like her dada's, both wild like her grandfather, Goku's.
"Kay!" They bolted off in the direction of Mt. Paozu. Akiko shook her head and smiled.
Gohan, Goten and Atsuko were sitting around the kitchen table in the humble little house. Books were crammed into every possible space in this room as well as every other. Cookie jar. Books. Toaster oven. Books. But despite the lack of space, the house was always neat. As Akiko entered the room, a hush fell over the adults' conversation.
"Oh, please. Next thing you know you'll be spelling things out so I can't tell what you're saying," she grumbled.
"Hey," Goten smirked and replied, "that still works!"
"We weren't talking about you, Kiko," her mother attempted to cover.
"No, you we're talking about Teeee." Akiko made fun of Trunks's choice of nick-name.
The adults looked sheepishly at each other. Atsuko developed a sizable sweat-drop. Gohan put his arm behind his head and chuckled nervously.
"Don't we have somewhere to go?" Goten tried to drop the subject.
"Yeah, you're coming with me to Goten's-gonna-get-thrashed land."
He laughed and got up. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
"Kiko-baby, is that my shirt?" Atsuko pointed to the yellow tank top her eldest girl wore.
"Uh, yeah bye!"
Akiko hustled Goten out the door.
"Whew!" Atsuko and Gohan tilted back their chairs in relief. The door flew back open.
"And stop trying to hook me up with that pompous, self-centered, egotistical jerk, Trunks!!!!"
The parents fell over backwards as the door slammed shut again.
*
Goten and Akiko flew out over the countryside toward their favorite stomping ground: an inaccessible stretch of beach surrounded by craggy cliffs with no humans for miles around: the perfect place for Saiyans to beat each other senseless. They touched down and Goten laughed spontaneously.
"What's so funny?" Akiko asked, genuinely interested.
"It's still here!"
"What is?"
He pointed to an imprint in the sand. It was deep and in the shape of a young, be-tailed woman. Akiko flushed and clenched her fists. "That's only 'cause the sun was setting in my eyes!"
"Yeah, well, if you used your eyes more often, maybe you wouldn't make such an impression!"
She grumbled a bit, but said nothing. She knew her best friend, uncle and teacher was right. She raised her hand and ki blasted it away. "It's your turn to make your mark!" She took a stance and balled her fists.
"If you can put me in the sand that hard I'll take you into town and buy you a new shirt!" He let his niece make the first move.
"Oh you are SO dead!" They fought hand to hand for ten minutes before switching to power attacks. An occasional miss would turn the sand below them to glass. Goten shot his Kamekameha at her which she met head on with her own Inazumaha. The two beams struggled for dominance. The half-Saiyan seemed to have the advantage. Akiko's long blue hair and tail bristled with the building electrical energy.
"You're not giving it a hundred percent!" Goten yelled at her.
"Are you nuts!? I'm at 30,000 amps!"
"You think I can't handle fifty thou?" He pushed her beam to within a few feet of her face. She strained to keep the Kamekameha at bay. "All right, you asked for it! Nagitaosu!!" Bluish-white arcs of electricity curled around Akiko's arms and added to her Inazumaha. It was enough. Goten was forced down to the ground. His foot touched the slick glass. As he lost control he slipped. The beam shot past him and blew a sizable hole in the beach.
"Whoa!!" Goten cried as he recovered. "That was pretty good!"
Akiko panted and stared at the hole which had become glazed like a bowl. "Oh wow! I can't believe I beat you!" She thrashed in the air in celebration.
Goten looked over into the hole. He judged that it was cool enough and jumped over the edge. He slid down and back up to the other side. Akiko dropped in and joined him. They skated and laughed until the sky grew suddenly dark. Goten pointed behind her.
"Looks like a storm's coming."
"I'm not falling for that old one!"
"No, I'm serious."
Akiko opened her mouth but was silenced by a clap of thunder. The wind picked up her hair. "Oh wow, I didn't even feel it coming."
"Let's get outta here."
"Right. There's something wrong with this..."
They took to the air and headed home; away from the storm. The wind speed increased to about 120 kilometers per hour. Akiko had to use her ki in addition to her natural ability to escape it. She was being thrown around. Goten saw this and turned to help her. A bolt of purple lightning flashed between them.
"Woah! That was close!" he hissed and dove back toward her again. He strained against the increasing wind and heavy rain. Akiko stretched her hand out to him and pushed, but the wind seemed to be blowing them apart. Their fingers were only a meter from touching. As they grew closer, another bolt ripped through the sky. Just before Goten could connect with her, the bolt hit Akiko. She cried out briefly then vanished.
The storm suddenly dissipated and Goten was left hovering in mid-air, dumb struck. "AKIKO!?!"
-*-
Akiko lay on the edge of a cliff, her head and right arm dangling loosely. A light sea-breeze picked up and blew a few of the drier strands of her hair. She came to. The late afternoon sun was shining and she squinted as she sat up. She held her head in her hands.
"Ow... What happened?" She noticed the weather. "Goten?"
Akiko flew up and scanned the area for her uncle.
"Goten!? Cute. Real cute. YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!!" she put her hands on her hips. "You GOT me!!"
He didn't come out.
"If this is another one of your practical jokes, you just wait to see what I left in your mail box!" she hollered. "Ow..." She rubbed her head. Her memory began to mend.
"That storm..." She remembered the look on Goten's face just before she blacked out and gasped. "What the hell happened!? What if he's not ok!? Oh Kami, Gramma'll kill me!!" Akiko headed in-land.
"Goten!?!" 'Did he leave me out here? I don't see him anywhere. This HAS to be a classic Goten gag!' Resolved to believe that her fears were unfounded, she flew home, confused and frustrated.
Soon, she spotted a dark-haired person on the horizon flying towards her. She growled and sped up. As she grew closer, she realized that SHE was not Goten.
"What!? Who is that!?!"
"WHO ARE YOU!!?" the girl demanded.
"Who are YOU? How can you fly!?" Akiko's tail unraveled from around her waist and bristled.
"I asked you first.. You.. YOU HAVE A TAIL? Are you a SAIYAN!?!"
"Yeah.. What of it? How do you know what a Saiyan is!?!" Akiko shouted, becoming more and more confused by the moment. Then she smirked. 'This must be the joke, eh, Goten?' she thought.
"That's privileged information. Now, explain yourself or get ready to get pummeled!!" The girl put up her fists.
"Look," Akiko smiled, "I don't want to hurt you.."
The girl powered up, ignoring her. "Too bad I can't say the same for you." She charged her and delivered blows to Akiko's blocks.
"Hey, cut it out!" Akiko was getting tired of this. "I just wanna go home!!" She flew back a bit and put her hands up to her face. "Solar Flare!!"
"Huh!?" The girl didn't expect it. "How do you know how to do that!?!"
With Tien's trick for cover, Akiko blasted off for home. "That was weird! That girl was serious! It was like she wanted to wipe me out!"
Akiko flew away as fast as she could, but as she came upon Mount Paouzu she stopped dead in the air. "What the..?" She saw her grandparents' humble little house; abandoned and dilapitated. Where her parents' house should have been right next to it, there was nothing. She stared in disbelief.
"Where's my house?!" She felt out for her family's ki and homed in on her father. He was a long ways off, but her instincts made her need to find him. She charged off for the north.
Soon, she saw two sizable dome houses with two garages in a rectangular enclosure on the horizon. Wash on the line was blowing gently in the breeze. One line of wash held a string of orange garments. As they rippled, she saw a tell-tale emblem which made her drop from the sky. She walked towards the houses and felt out for the familiar ki. She approached the red-domed house slowly and cautiously.
"Mienai," Akiko put her hands together and cast a spell, camouflaging herself perfectly with any surrounding. She sneaked around to an open window and peered in.
Gohan sat at a table, surrounded by a pile of books. "..my paper isn't coming along as well as I thought it was."
"Well," a black-haired woman poured them both tea and sat next to him, "not too many people have done research on the Celtic migration to the North American continent."
"I can't wait for Trunks to get back. He's supposed to be bringing me a study on Ogham stones."
Akiko's eyes couldn't blink. "Dada.." she whispered. She snapped out of it as she felt the girl from before coming in fast. She landed, threw the door open and ran into the house. "Mom! Dad!"
Both adults jumped to their feet.
"What is it, Pan? What's wrong!?"
"Pan, have you been fighting?" her mother took her teen-aged daughter by the shoulders and examined her face.
"Yes! With a Blue-Haired Saiyan!!"
"A WHAT?!"
Akiko could take it no longer. She bolted from the house shaking her head and shivering as she went. Her invisibility faded as she lost her concentration. "Ok, this joke is NOT FUNNY, Goten!!!"
'Where am I?' she wondered. 'I gotta talk to someone. Who the heck was that with Dada? He called that girl Pan; she called them both MOM AND DAD!!! The idea of a blue hair Saiyan was a shock to him!!' She flew blindly for miles, trying to make sense of what she had seen. Soon she came upon the city. It was getting dark. Humans be dammed, she wasn't going to land, not the way she felt now. The familiar domes of The Capsule Corporation drew her down. She landed outside the east wall, walked up to the hidden door, punched in the right code and let herself in.
Bulma Briefs arranged flowers in a vase in the dining room. She hummed lightly to herself.
"Sure is quiet without everyone here," her words echoed slightly. A pinging sound caught her attention. She went to a wall and with the touch of a button revealed a security center. She pushed more buttons until she had located the breach. The camera in the private lab showed a full-color image of the back of a young, blue-haired woman's head.
The camera whirred as it zoomed in. Akiko turned and addressed it. "Bulma, I need to talk to you. Is that you?" Silence. "I know someone's there.. Trunks?"
The intercom clicked on. "Who are you!? What are you doing in my lab!?" Her voice was angry but shaky.
"Not you too!" Akiko whined. "It's me, Akiko!!"
"I don't know how you got in, and I don't know any Akiko, but if you don't leave immediately I'll call security!!"
"No! Wait! Don't! I'm not a threat! I'm sorry if you think I broke in but I've known the code to the east door for years!" As she got more and more nervous, he tail began to fidget. It swished back and forth freely.
"You... you have a tail!?!"
"Not again!" she moaned. "Please Bulma! I've known you all my life. You met me when I was a newborn! You've got to help me! My Dada was with another woman and my house was gone and this girl tried to kill me and.." she was getting hysterical.
Bulma realized that this girl was more upset than SHE was. She lifted her finger off the "Call Security" button. "How do you know me?"
"How? I don't know how. I just HAVE. You've been friends with my family forever."
"Which family?... Not..."
"The Sons."
"You're nuts if you think I'm going to believe that! Just because you're a Saiyan doesn't mean you're related to Goku!!"
Akiko was floored. "What!? Hey! Wait a second! I can prove I know you!" She walked to the wall. Bulma trained the camera after her movements. She took out her hoi-poi capsules and dropped one of them in the pass-tube. It shot through and ended up in the house. "Check that capsule out." She folded her arms, curled her tail back around her waist and waited.
Bulma was hesitant and cursed under her breath. 'Shit. If the boys were only here, I wouldn't have to deal with this.." She took the capsule and examined it. It was numbered 001.
"Explode it on the table."
She did so, cautiously. A pair of what looked like sun glasses with capsule logos on the sides popped out. She had never seen them before, but there were a lot of things her company made that she had never seen.
"Look inside."
Bulma picked them up and did as she was told. There, on the inside of the frames was her own personal signature: a symbol she reserved for prototypes and limited editions; things that she had actually put together herself.
Akiko paced back and forth in the lab. Finally the door opened. Bulma entered slowly, her eyes unblinking. She held a weapon.
"Who ARE you?"
"Why don't you know me?" Akiko asked, exasperated.
"I asked you first."
"I'm Akiko Son."
"And I made these. When? Where? How are you a Son?"
"I'm Gohan's daughter."
"Gohan's daughter is Pan."
"So I've learned. Black hair, bad temper?"
"That would be her."
"I ran into her today. She wanted to kill me." Akiko pouted.
"You didn't tell her who you were did you?"
"Nope. She saw this," she whipped out her tail, "and that was enough."
"It's not every day we see a new Saiyan, and when we do it's usually not a good sign." Bulma squeezed the weapon tighter.
"I promise you, I'm not a threat." She put her hands up.
"How do you have blue hair?"
"My mother's a Rasha... Another alien."
"I just don't get it..." Bulma began to relax. She put the gun down and crossed her arms. "How are you Gohan's daughter? Did he have an affair?"
"NO!!" Akiko shouted, offended. "We have a wonderful family! Mom, Dada, Akago, Gosan and me! We live in a tiny house under Mt. Paozu..." she began to get hysterical again.
"It's ok, calm down. Let's talk this thing out. I want to discover just what's going on here."
-*-
Goten hung his head in his brother's living room.
"She's gone!?" Gohan screamed at him. "What do you mean she's gone!?"
"I don't know. I mean, she was there once second and then.. poof."
"Poof?"
He looked up and cocked his eyebrows. "Poof."
"My daughter went 'POOF', Goten!?!" he was getting mad. He pushed his glasses back up his nose.
"Gimme a break, will ya! I saw her disappear before my eyes! I reached out to her then she was gone! I almost touched her!"
"I'm sorry, I just can't believe what you're telling me."
Atsuko ran into the room. "What's going on? Goten, you look shook up. What happened?"
Gohan turned to his wife. The look on his face made her heart sink. She had to sit down. "What's happened to Akiko?" she looked up at him. The men were silent. The sound of children laughing broke in on the scene. Atsuko jumped up and met them as the came charging into the house.
"Akago, Gosan. Go to your grandparents house."
"But Mom, we just came from there," the siblings whined.
"Do as I say. Please!"
They heard the gravity in her voice and obeyed. They walked out past their uncle and father, looking to them for some kind of explanation. The men did not meet their eyes.
"She's gone," Atsuko flopped back down when they had left.
"Atsuko.." Goten began.
"How did she die??! She's dead! I can't feel her!"
"Well, she.."
"TELL ME!!"
Gohan sat next to her and held her hands. "We don't know if she's... dead."
Atsuko stared at Goten and began to cry. Gohan nodded to him and hugged her. He quit the house to leave them alone for a while.
-*-
Bulma and Akiko talked into the night. Bulma stirred her tea and pointed at Akiko with the spoon.
"..So Radditz died but Goku lived! That must be it!"
"It's hard to believe that one thing could cause so many changes." Akiko rubbed her temples.
"You'd be surprised. My son went back in time and altered events once, causing a dimensional shift. He changed the way things progressed, but when he returned to his own time, he found that events remained the same there. He had created a different dimension."
Akiko stared at her friend as she spouted off this story as if she had told it a thousand times. "What?" she asked as politely as she could.
"I take it that didn't happen where you come from either?"
"Why would Trunks go back in time?"
"To cure Goku of his heart disease and train to fight the Jinzouningen."
She stared at the woman, baffled. "Why would Trunks go back to train and FIGHT!? We zapped the Jinzouningen years ago easily, and what heart disease?"
"The one Goku caught when he learned the Shunkan Ido?" she offered.
"Instantaneous movement? Not in my world..." she shook her head.
"Without Trunks's help, we would have never beaten the Artificial Humans!" Bulma tried to convince her.
Akiko laughed out loud.
"What!?"
"TRUNKS!? Fight?! Ha ha! You got to be kidding me!"
Bulma stared at her. "Are we talking about the same Trunks?"
"Apparently not."
Bulma got up and took a picture frame off the mantle. She handed it to Akiko. The girl stared at it and blinked. "THAT'S TRUNKS!?!"
"Yeah.. Why?"
"Wow, he's cuuute."
"And yours isn't?"
"Well, he is, but he's self-centered as hell. And he works out and all but, Woo!" She admired the biceps on the man in the photo. "Who are the other two?"
Bulma's jaw dropped. "What do you mean? That's my husband, Vegeta and my daughter, Bra."
Akiko raised her eyebrows. "Well I guess that explains that."
"I'm not with Vegeta in your world?"
"I don't even know who that is."
"Then.. how do I have Trunks!?"
"With Yamcha."
Bulma fell over backwards. "I don't believe it!" She smiled, thinking that she got the better end of the bargain, even if her husband was one of the nastiest people in the known universe. "I tell you what, I'm going to make it my mission to find out what's up." She slammed her hands down on the table emphatically. We'll get to the bottom of this and get you back to YOUR Sons and Bulma."
"Actually, You might not even have to!"
"What?"
"I bet my folks are gathering the Dragon Balls as we speak!"
Bulma's jaw dropped open. "Oh... you still have Dragon Balls..." her brows came together and she pouted.
"And you... don't?"
She shook her head. "It's a long story. Can I still give it a shot?"
"Can I stop you when you want to conquer something?" Akiko tested this Bulma's sense of humor. When she saw the older woman grin she smiled herself. "Well, I'm glad to see your my friend here as well."
"This is really fascinating! Tell you what, you can stay here as long as you need. You MAY want to lie low, however. You see, my husband will probably have a problem with the way you look."
"I can disguise myself," Akiko stood. "Henso-suru!" She worked some magic and her star disappeared and her hair turned black. Her camouflaged tail curled unseen around her waist. "Will that work?"
"Um.. I don't know how you did that, but, yes. That will do."
"How do I look?" She struck a pose.
"A bit like Pan, actually."
"Dada says I look like Gramma Chi-chi a little, but I think I look just like my Mom."
"This is going to be so weird."
"YOU think this is weird! A Trunks that fights! Now THAT's weird."
-*-
Atsuko opened her eyes. Her husband had dozed off in his chair. Goku had taken Chi-chi home hours ago. Goten had gone home to his own family shortly afterwards. Goku talked quietly with the siblings in the kitchen. They drowsily looked to their mother for some word.
"No luck," she sighed. "Where the hell is my sister?"
"Maybe you should get some sleep, Suko. Pick up looking for Mira tomorrow," Goku suggested.
She nodded and looked to Gohan. He pushed himself up out of his chair and put his glasses back on. "Thanks, Dad."
Grampa put the kids to bed and left to walk the few feet to his own home. "Don't worry. We'll find her. Then we'll know exactly which wish to ask Shenlong. No mistakes this time. It'll all work out, like it always does," he smiled reassuringly, but Atsuko was too tired to smile back.
-*-
Bulma woke late. She made tea, still dressed in her bathrobe and sat in the sunshine streaming through the windows. The front door opened and the 'boys' walked in.
"We're home!" Trunks called.
"I'm in the kitchen!"
Trunks closed the door behind his father and carried the bags upstairs. The Saiyan Prince wore a tight, white tee-shirt, blue jeans, black belt and boots and a light-weight black jacket which he shrugged off as he walked into the kitchen. He threaded his arm around his wife's middle, squeezed her lightly and kissed her cheek.
"Missed you," she whispered.
"Mmm." His lip curled into a small smile for her benefit, as if to say 'me too'.
"So.. How'd it go!?"
Trunks came down the back stairs and kissed his mom on the other cheek.
"As well as could be expected," Vegeta eyed a plateful of danishes apprehensively. "I think the Brits fully understand the necessity for the increase in the import price of the new line."
"Yeah, Mom, it was great! You shoulda seen him .."
"I was effective, boy," his father barked without turning to face him. He took the newspaper and a danish into the sun room.
Bulma smiled slyly and sidled up to her son. "Who would of thought Vegeta'd make a great diplomat?"
Trunks tried hard not to laugh. "What can I say? He's just a people person!"
They laughed quietly. Bulma handed him a cup of tea.
"Uh, Mom?" he sipped and looked out the sliding glass door. "Who's that doing tai-chi in our back yard?"
"Huh?" she looked where he pointed. "Wow, she's up early." She went outside and beckoned him to follow. "Good morning."
Without turning around or opening her eyes, Akiko replied, "'Morning Bulma." She performed her moves gracefully, extending her now invisible tail for perfect balance.
"Akiko, I'd like you to meet my son, Trunks."
"Huh?" her eyes popped open and she swiveled her head to get a look at him.
"Trunks, this is our... house guest, Akiko."
He opened his mouth to say 'hi'. She turned to face him and lost her balance a little. 'Oh my god...' He extended his hand, but she was several paces from him. She stared at him in awe. He blushed a little and took a step forward at the same time she came out of her trance and did the same. They stopped and laughed awkwardly. Finally, they met in the middle and shook hands.
"My pleasure.. uh, that is.. nice to meet you, Akiko."
"She'll be staying with us indefinitely, so make her feel at home.
"Will do." He smiled innocently at her. His mouth suddenly went dry and he felt slightly dizzy.
She smiled back, only taking her eyes off his to look down at her hand. They were still shaking. "Thanks."
He let go quickly and swallowed hard. "Excuse me, I have to... unpack."
As Trunks disappeared into the house Bulma raised her eyebrows. Akiko bit her lip and to avoid embarrassment went back to her tai-chi.
-*-
Goten woke early and went to his brother's house. It was very quiet. The children were seated on the couch; dour looks on their faces. Atsuko was slumped in a chair, her head resting on her hand. She stared at the floor through half open eyes. Gohan stopped pacing and looked to his brother.
"How's it going?"
"Nothing yet."
"You wanna start looking?"
"For the Dragon Balls? No. First things first."
The younger Son brother went to his sister-in-law. "Suko, is there anything I can do?" He crouched down to be at her eye-level.
She turned only her eyes to him. "Go home to your family," she mumbled.
He was hurt by this. "You're my family, too."
"I'm sorry." Atsuko put her hand on top of his. "You can tell me EXACTLY what happened."
-*-
"I don't think they really believe me," Pan stretched out on her bed and put her hands behind her head. Techno music thumped from two small, yet powerful speakers with Capsule logos on them.
"I believe you, Pan."
"Thanks, Marron," Pan rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "but you'd believe me if I said I was giving up martial arts."
"You're giving up marital arts?" she asked innocently. "Since when?"
Pan laughed lightly, having caught her gullible friend again. Marron threw a pillow at her from her seat on the floor. She rocked herself up and crossed to the stereo. She changed the CD from a bright orange one marked PS to a white one marked BO.
"Bra would believe you."
"Yeah. Little miss scientist. I miss her, damnit. Why'd she hafta be so smart?"
Marron shuddered. "Ugh, yeah. I can't imagine the kinds of things she must be studying, or going to school so far away."
"It's not just school, Marron. It's M.I.T. We're talking serious studying."
"She's doing stuff that makes my head hurt just thinking about it."
"Thinking about tying your shoes makes your head hurt."
"Hey!!" Marron picked up a huge, stuffed panda and winged it at her.
Pan laughed and batted the fuzzy projectile away.
"Pan! Marron! Come downstairs! We have guests!" Videl's voice called from below.
"Coming!" Pan shouted as she hopped off the bed. "Is that why you wear sandals?"
"Shut up!" Marron pushed her friend out the door.
They came elephanting down the stairs into the living room.
"Trunks! You're back!" Pan exclaimed, smiling. Her smile sagged a bit when she saw that the twenty-something had a female companion.
"Yup. Gotcha a present too." He handed her a shopping bag.
Excited again, she ripped it open, revealing a tee-shirt with a union jack design.
"Coool.." Marron oohed.
"Thanks Trunks!" Pan hugged her friend, but kept an eye on the newcomer.
"This is our house-guest, Akiko. Akiko this is Videl's daughter Pan and Teena's daughter, Marron."
"Hi," Pan said coldly. Marron's 'hi' was much warmer.
"Nice to meet you." Akiko's voice was much deeper than the other girls and rolled over her tongue with an inherent sexiness, even though she seemed nervous. This incensed Pan.
"I'm gonna take this book over to your dad, wanna come?"
Nah," she answered quickly. "Marron and I were kinda in the middle of something."
"Huh?" Marron began but was squelched by an icy look from Pan.
"Ok," Trunks shrugged and turned to leave. "See ya later."
"Bye!" chimed Marron.
"Take care Trunks. Say hi to your Mom for me." Videl and Eighteen went back to their conversation.
"Will do."
Pan yanked Marron back upstairs.
"What were you talking about? We weren't doing anything important."
"We are now," she turned down the stereo. "Don't you think it's strange that I saw a Saiyan yesterday and today the Oujisamas have a house guest who also happens to be about twenty and female?"
"Um.. No, you said she had blue hair."
"Oh, Marron! How many times have YOU dyed your hair?"
"..and cut off her tail?" She crossed her arms.
Pan stopped her tirade. "Oh."
"Yeah. Oh," she mimicked her and plopped down on the bed with a self-confident smile. Then she frowned. "You actually think this Akiko girl is the Blue-Haired Saiyan? Or are you just jealous because she was with Trunks?"
"Jealous!?!" Pan, who had been musing, leaning against a wall, burst out and began pacing. "Why would I be jealous!? Trunks is just a friend. I mean, God, he's almost thirty!"
"So? I'm 24."
"So!? Marron! He's a year older than my uncle Goten! Besides, why would I be jealous of THAT girl? Did you see what she was wearing?"
"Yeah, looked like that yellow tank top was a few sizes too small," Marron admitted.
"Who is she!?" Pan shouted, frustrated.
"Must be friends with Bulma or something."
"I tell ya, there's something fishy going on, and I'm gonna find out what."
*
Akiko followed Trunks warily down the short path between the houses. He knocked on the door. She contemplated flying away. She was freaked out enough from her second encounter with her half-sister. She did not want to MEET her father.
Gohan answered the door. Akiko stared at him. The look of total unrecognition on his face made her go pale. 'Come on Kiko. It's not REALLY him. You can do this.'
He greeted his friend, they exchanged pleasantries and news and Trunks's gift of a rare book. It wasn't until her name was mentioned that Akiko tuned back into what was being said.
"This is my mom's house guest, Akiko."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Gohan extended his hand.
Akiko shook it, but didn't speak. There was an awkward pause.
"Please. Come in."
Inside, Akiko rounded a corner and came face to face with the woman of the house. Chi-chi was dusting off picture frames on the wall. Her hair wasn't nearly as white as it was the last time Akiko has seen her. Gohan introduced her to his mother. Her face was as sweet as ever, but there was a gleam of sadness behind her eyes. She blinked a few times at Trunks and Akiko and used her hand to wipe a tear from her cheek.
"You ok, Mom?"
"Yes. Just dusting," she smiled weakly and walked away. Trunks examined the pictures.
"She still misses him," Gohan sighed.
"We all do."
Akiko snapped to attention. She looked to the same pictures she had seen for years. "Miss who?"
"My Dad." Gohan stared at the one of Goku with his sons flanking him. They were all smiling. There were no such smiles in the Son house now.
"G.. Goku's, gone?" she whispered.
"You know about him?" Trunks asked.
She was so overwhelmed that she had a hard time getting a fake response out. Several things she could have said to mislead them would not come to her lips.
"Yes."
End Chapter Five
Glossary:
Inazumaha - akiko's lightning-style Kamehameha
Nagitaosu - zap or destroy
Mienai - invisible
Henso-suru - disguise