Chapter 6 – Popstars as babysitters

"I don't think it's anything to worry about," Goku said in the next morning after hearing about the incident. "No, I'm not saying that it was a bad dream but believe me, I've seen things in my life and creatures breaking into peoples' heads are pretty common in some parts of the Universe. And they're not that dangerous. The more fear a creature is trying to cause, the less dangerous it actually is. The most dangerous things attack suddenly."

Vegeta entered the room. "True. I remember that once one of such demons broke into his head and got lost there. My wife hired an exorcist to get it out again and when it finally flew out from his ear it thanked us for saving it from, quote the demon, "that creepy and empty place"."

Goku snarled. "Really funny." Haruka and Michiru tried hard to hold back a wide smirk.

"Done with the training?" Michiru asked Vegeta. The prince nodded. "For now."

Haruka turned to Hotaru. "Did you hear anything else? The place, the time, anything?"

The girl shook her head. "Just that someone's coming."

"I wonder why they chose Hotaru." Michiru asked thoughtfully.

Haruka laughed. "Maybe they tried to break into your head first but didn't make it through your thick skull?"

The girl frowned at her. "Yeah, after trying your thick skull. No, seriously, Hotaru is the Sailor Soldier of death and that's what makes me concerned. There's always a chance that they chose her just because she was close to their dimension… that means… the death and the other side."

Goku blinked with surprise. "You mean… it could've been some of King Enma's ogres?"

The others stared at him.

"Hard to imagine any of those yuppie wimps break into someone's head," Vegeta remarked. "They'd need an application in triplicate and a signature of the Supreme Kai before thinking of anything like that."

Goku nodded. "Good point."

Michiru decided not to ask anything and looked at her watch. "Whoa, it's getting late… I need to run! Don't blow anything up while I'm not around."

Hotaru stood up. "I'll go too. I promised my dad that we would go on a picnic today."

Goku looked at Vegeta. "Hey, weren't we supposed to go training in some place Siberia or whatever it was called?"

Vegeta nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. Behave yourselves, you brats." The two Saiyans, as well as Michiru and Hotaru, left the room.

Haruka gasped and stared at the empty doorway. "Hey, waitaminute… what am I supposed to be now, the babysitter?"

"Looks like it." Trunks pulled her sleeve. "Say, care to take us to the amusement park?"

The girl glared at him. "Listen kiddo, I have to be in the car repair shop in half an hour, the pharmacy, the mall and ten other places. Do I really look like I can play your mommy for the rest of the day??"

Trunks looked at her old jeans, her loose white shirt and her boy cut hair. "To be honest, no… but you'd do just fine playing my dad." He grinned widely.

Haruka pulled her hand through her hair and sighed. "As soon as you start causing any trouble, and I mean any trouble at all, I'll dump you into the first orphanage I see. Got it? Let's go, I'm already in a hurry."

Five minutes later Haruka's yellow convertible was crossing the speed limit somewhere in the uptown of Tokyo. Trunks and Goten looked around with great interest and Haruka explained them a few things.

"Right now we're in Shinjuku, the so-called nerve centre of Tokyo. Trunks, you'll lose your head behind the first lamp post when you stick it out of the car like that. Goten, would you pretty please get your feet off the seat?" (The pretty please was said coldly enough to form a small iceberg.)

Finally the car stopped in front of a car repair shop. Haruka spent a few minutes talking to the mechanic who looked under the bonnet and told the girl to come back at four o'clock.

"It looks like we'll have to walk for the rest of the day," Haruka remarked to the kids as they left the garage. "That means I can't go to the mall until 4 pm. Those modern sports cars are quite a pain in the... yeah, no cursing in front of children. You get the point."

"Can't Michiru go to the mall?" Goten asked.

Haruka smiled. "That airhead? Usually she really does the shopping but right now she's in the middle of creating a new work of art, some huge painting or what was it again… and when she's not in her room doing that painting, she just floats around and forgets things. Artists…"

"So… can we go to the amusement park?" Trunks asked excitedly.

"Some other day, some other time and not with me. Besides, I need to go to the furniture shop. Let's take this shortcut through the park."

The park was surprisingly crowded. Dozens of people were walking down the footpaths talking to each other excitedly. Haruka kept her ears open to hear what the big deal was. Soon she grunted quietly and gave a grim frown.

"What is it?" Goten and Trunks asked at the same time.

"What do you think? That oh-so-famous Three Lights is having a photo-shooting or something like that here in this park." Haruka looked at the enthusiastic people and growled.

Trunks frowned, trying to remember something. "The very same Three Lights? Those three guys in Makoto's class?"

Haruka nodded.

"Cool!" Goten and Trunks pulled her forward. "Let's go see!"

"You go see if you want… I have more important things to do," the girl snapped.

"But… but… we can't go alone! You need to keep an eye on us, otherwise we'll get lost!" Trunks pouted. "And I wanna see them!"

"Didn't you see them at school yesterday?" Goten asked.

"Yeah, but… still!"

Haruka turned around and took a smaller path between the bushes which had no people walking on it. "Like I said, do what you want… I have more important things to do."

They crossed the footpath and suddenly came onto a small square with several trucks and trailers standing on it. Haruka's eyes narrowed as she looked around. And on the same second:

"Well, would you look at that… never would've guessed I'd ever see you babysitting!"

Haruka took a deep breath, turned her head and looked straight into Seiya's dark blue eyes. "My day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"

Seiya was sitting on the lowered back shutter of a huge truck with an electric guitar in his lap. His life as a famous pop star had never been easy but at the moment he really seemed happy with his life.

Trunks hopped forward. "Hey, great to see you again! Remember us?"

Seiya looked at him with a slight smile. "Sure I do. If I may ask, is she babysitting you or are you babysitting her?"

"Would you cut it out, Seiya?" Taiki asked, stepping out of the truck, with Yaten following him in a few seconds. "Sometimes you really act like a five-year-old."

"I'd say that she's the one acting childishly for most of the time," Seiya retorted.

Haruka looked like she was about to explode. Suddenly she blinked and her navy blue eyes turned big. Then she grinned, went straight to the truck and looked at Seiya.

"Say… as I understand, you're awfully bored at the moment, sitting here and playing that guitar of yours, having nothing better to do…?"

Seiya blinked and stared at her with great surprise. "Well, I just finished with my shooting, if that's what you meant…"

Haruka gave him a wide smile. "Good. Okay kids, here's the deal. You'll stay here with these three until I get back from the city and pick you up again. Feel fee to cause any trouble you want. Agreed? Byebye." She turned around and galloped away, leaving Seiya and the two kids stare at her back.

Seiya gasped and blinked. "Hey… but… now hold on a minute…!"

Taiki laughed and patted his back. "Well, it looks like you're the babysitter now. Don't let them play with matches or anything, Yaten and I have a photo-shooting to survive." The two left as well.

Seiya grunted and slammed his guitar against the truck's back shutter. "Well, this is just great. Do I look like some… some nanny?"

Trunks examined his guitar. "No, but you could become a great rock star… is there anything edible in this truck?"

"Nothing but my lunch and I don't think that's enough for the three of us," Seiya replied grumpily.

Trunks jumped into the truck and came out again with a plastic bag full of hamburger boxes. "You call that lunch? My mom says she wouldn't feed that even to her dogs. Well, they'll have to do."

Seiya stared at him. "Hey, you can't eat my lunch!"

Goten jumped on the back shutter and peeked into the bag. "Why? It's a whole full bag… you're not gonna eat a whole bag of hamburgers, eh?" He grabbed one of the boxes. "Ooh, wieners!"

Five minutes later the bag was empty. Seiya was munching on the very last hamburger he had succeeded to save from the Saiyan brats and asked the kids if they would be so nice and kill Haruka the next time they'd see her.

"And then who'd make us those great pancakes?" Goten asked back. He finished his burger and peeked into the truck. "Ooh – drums!"

One very noisy and soulful drum solo later Seiya remarked that Goten could make a nice career in some garage band at the age of 17 or so.

"And then he'd get an overdose a few months after his first breakthrough and there ya have it," Trunks chortled. "Say, Seiya, how did you make it to show business anyway?"

Seiya snarled. "I just gave my 300th interview to some yellow newspaper I've never even heard of about the same darn thing… okay, if you really want to know, there's nothing very unusual about the story. We just decided to make a band and for some reason the people loved our music. Why? Ask them…"

"I'll go and ask someone!" Goten jumped off the truck and ran down the footpath.

Trunks gave a short look at Seiya's surprised face. "Don't mind him… his whole family is like that."

A few minutes later Goten returned with a confused look on his face. "I asked a few girls but the only thing they said to me was something like "because like, ohmygod, they're like, ohmygod, like so, y'know, like so totally cool!" What does "like ohmygod" mean anyway?"

Trunks shrugged. Seiya shook his head. "Go figure…"

Taiki and Yaten came back to the truck. "Well? Still no burning wrecks in sight?"

"Any second now," Seiya replied with a grin.

Yaten looked at the two kids. "We're going to the Royal Park now. I guess you'll have to come with us. But this time all the three of us will have to be on stage at the same time and that means you'll have to manage on your own. No funny stuff, no breaking instruments, nothing that would make me angry, got the basics?"

"What happens when he becomes angry?" Trunks quietly asked Seiya.

"Depends…" Seiya whispered back. "He might just growl at you or he might slam a guitar or another random object into your face. Completely up to him."

"Boring!" Goten announced to Trunks about half an hour later when they were sitting in the truck somewhere in the middle of the Royal Park.

Trunks nodded and looked around inside the truck which was quite a mess. Musical instruments, cardboard boxes and dusty pieces of cloth all on top of each other.

"Let's see… oh look, here's an old guitar!" he announced happily after lurking around between the boxes for a while.

"Are you sure it's o-o-ooo-achoo!" Goten sneezed. Then he sniffed. "Well, it sure is dusty…"

"And therefore old. Here, hold this." Trunks ran back into the truck. Minutes later he dragged out an old drum. "You and me against the world, baby!"

Goten stared at him. "The what?"

"No idea, people just say that… do you want the drum or the guitar?"

"That wasn't too bad," Seiya remarked to the others as they came back to the truck.

Yaten nodded and yawned. "I could use some coffee. We've been up ever since… what was it, 5 AM? I could really need some sleep… what's that terrible noise?"

The Three Lights stopped with surprise as they saw the truck.

"Check it out…" Taiki said, raising his eyebrows. "A concert in our truck and we didn't even get free tickets."

Trunks had found a baseball cap somewhere and was now wearing it backwards, slamming the guitar and yelling something probably even he didn't understand. Goten was kicking and punching the old drum. Suddenly they noticed the three guys and stopped this instance, looking a bit sheepish.

"That wasn't bad at all," Seiya remarked with a grin. "Maybe people really like that noise… whadda you think, maybe we should become a hard rock group instead?"

Taiki grunted. Yaten stared at Seiya. "Without me, in such case." He went to the truck, sat down and stretched himself. "Man, this job is hard… hey Trunks, let me see that guitar. I think it's a bit out of tune."

Taiki blinked. "I just remembered something. At what time did Haruka say that she'd come and pick those two up again?"

Seiya and Yaten frowned. "I don't think she mentioned the time," Yaten said, tuning the guitar. "Why?"

"Some people, and I'm not gonna mention the names, are having a concert tonight," Taiki replied. "Where will we leave those kids during the concert – backstage? I don't think the place has a daily care centre."

"Hey, we're not kids any more!" Trunks announced angrily.

"And you're what – senior citizens?" Taiki looked at the two. "If you promise to behave then you'll get to see the concert, for free. If you mess something up, blow something up or get on anyone's nerves then things will get ugly."

Goten snarled. "Why does everyone say that to us all the time? We'll behave. Honestly."

"Who are those brats?" a sound mechanic asked with surprise when he climbed into the truck and saw the kids.

The three guys didn't seem exactly talkative about the situation. "Less questions, more chance to keep your job," Seiya said. "They'll come with us to the concert."

The mechanic nodded in agreement. "Let's get going then; we're already almost late."

About fifteen minutes later the truck stopped in front of the concert hall's back door.

"Wow, this place is cool!" Trunks admired, looking at all the technical gadgets, the people in hurry and all the narrow corridors with lots of doors.

"During the concert it's usually like a madhouse," Yaten replied, "so I suggest you not to get in anyone's way. Let's go to dressing room before we run into any important wires."

"Never would've guessed that coming to another plan… erm, to a concert hall would be so much fun!" Goten admired as Taiki unlocked the door to the dressing room.

"Glad you liked it, but the field trip is now over." Haruka was sitting on the windowsill of the dressing room. "Nice security guards you have here, you guys… maybe they could use less coffee breaks."

Goten and Trunks pouted. "But we wanna see the concert!"

"Yeah, and we could see it for free!"

"It lasts until 11 PM, maybe more," Yaten said. "Do you think you're able to stay up for that long?"

"Haruka will drive us home when we fall asleep during the concert, right, Haruka?" Trunks looked at the girl.

Haruka grunted. "I don't like pop music… and Michiru has probably made the dinner already. Give me one good reason why I should sit here with you listening to that concert until midnight?"

Both kids took a deep breath and whined: "Pleeeease! We'll sleep longer tomorrow morning and won't bother you until the afternoon. We really want to see the concert. Pleeeeeease?"

Haruka looked at the Three Lights. "For free, they said?"

It was about ten o'clock in the evening and the concert was almost over. Trunks, Goten and Haruka were sitting on a platform right below the ceiling, high above all the screaming fans and annoyed security guards.

"The best seats in the whole concert hall," Trunks remarked happily.

"Yeah, and the acoustic is great too," Goten added.

Haruka grunted. "I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry."

"Me too," Trunks agreed, "but I like that concert."

The fast song the Three Lights had been singing ended and the three guys started another song, a slow ballade which calmed the screaming audience down.

"Ooh, a pretty song," Goten admired.

Haruka nodded slowly and gave a slight smile. "Yeah… not bad. Still better than this usual pop-music gibberish they sing." She sat back and looked at the stage. "They should turn into a rock group… they sure have voices for that."

As the time passed by, the songs the Three Lights sang turned slower and slower. In the beginning of the concert they had played faster pop songs, now they were singing ballades. Goten and Trunks became sleepy. Haruka gave them a slight frown.

"Maybe we should go home?" she asked. The two boys shook their heads.

Finally, at about eleven o'clock, the three guys finished their last song and the concert was over. While the excited crowd rushed closer to the stage to get autographs, Haruka poked the two boys and got them up on their feet again.

"Enough cultural life for today, let's go," she said.