Chapter 5
Ranma sighed happily on a summer day, many years later. Roshi's place was far from quiet, with the entire gang here, but then, Ranma had never really like quiet all that well. He glanced over to where Akane was struggling to hold their twins to her chest and out of reach of the slightly older Trunks and Goten. Chi-chi and Bulma were having just as much of a battle trying to contain their sons as Akane was having with the girls.
Ranma chuckled, yeah, quiet was overrated. Shaking his head he forced down the grin and pulled on the mask of a perfect father as he stood before his girls, hands on his hips as he frowned down at him with his disaproval.
"Now girls, what's going on?"
They meekly stopped struggling immediately upon sight of their father. Glancing at each other before staring at the ground and digging small craters with their toes they sighed as one.
Blue-haired and -eyed, the girls were a perfect combination of Akane and Ranma's female half. They were currently dressed in miniture versions of Ranma's chinese outfits; Ranko in red with gold details, Rinko in black with red piping and embroidery. It was Ranko, the braver of the two, who glared at Trunks.
"He said girls can't fight, but he won't spar so I can prove it!"
Rinko nodded emphatically, "Yeah, and Goten won't fight me since Trunks won't fight Ranko!" Her pigtails bounced as she continued to nod her head. Ranma held in his chuckles. Who would have thought he'd be such a great dad?
Since the girls were no longer struggling, Akane let them go. "You take care of this, Ranma. Bulma and I were swapping recipes." The two women marched off, every man on the island above the age of six sweating at the thought of either of the girls cooking.
Chi-chi shook her head and dragged Goten off to lecture him properly in 'private' on the other side of the island. Of course, that was only about ten feet away so everyone heard every word, but it was the principle of the matter. Ranma knelt and crooked a finger at the lavender-haired boy to approach. With a condescending snort, Trunks did walk over, but only after crossing his arms across his chest and glaring down his nose at the girls.
Ranma wondered how a six-year-old got to be so high and mighty, but a quick glance at the boy's father answered everything easily as Nodoka clutched posessively at his arm. "Now, Trunks, have you seen my girls fight?" Brief shake of head, "What about their mother?" Another shake, "Did you know that Akane can beat Yamcha with both hands tied behind her back, and I mean it since she's tried, or that Krillin has a hard time fighting her?" A disbelieving look, followed by a slower shake.
Ranma nodded his head once, "I didn't think so. Look, why don't you have your Mom bring you over some time, and the four of us can train together. It's always good to be open to different styles of fighting." Ranma knew that the boy had been trained off and on by different members of the Z team, but he'd yet to work with the boy."
Now Ranma saw a little spark of interest in the boy's eyes. "I guess."
With a grin, Ranma cocked his head to listen. Chi-chi's lecture was just rolling to a stop and a relieved Goten was racing back to the safety of the crowd in front of the house. Ranma gathered his girls and Trunks together and gave them a shove toward Goten.
"Now you four go play, and that's an order!"
Not wishing any more lectures, the children entered an uneasy truce and slowly made their way off by themselves. Mere minutes later they were laughing and playing together, much to the relief of several parents. Ranma smiled as he watched his five-year-old children, turning that smile to Gohan as the boy walked up.
Gohan was now about eighteen, if Ranma remembered correctly. His mother had been relieved that Ranma and Akane were from a civilized portion of Japan and had asked their advice in which high school to send Gohan to. They, of course, had reccomended Furinkan. He loved it there, fitting in in no time with the wacky goings on at the unusual school now that the first week of school was over. He had several very close friends that he liked to visit, and often dropped by the dojo on his way to or from school.
The girls were madly in love with the one man they'd seen beat their father. Of course, they'd never seen him fight Vegeta, so that was understandable. The fact that Gohan was triple their age didn't seem to matter to them. Ranma was just glad that they'd all survived the androids, and missed the good friend he'd made in the Trunks from the future. When he saw how this Trunks was turning out, it was pretty sad.
He and Akane had continued school after the android fiasco, much because of Chi-chi, and both of their grades improved since she was continually pestering them about them. Bulma was the best science tutor of course, so that was a relief. Ranma smiled at the thought of Bulma. She'd been instrumental in solving his fiancee problems. She'd taken Cologne aside when the Nerima gang had arrived that fateful evening at Capsule Corp. and suggested that the Amazons might not want their blood thinned by an alien race. Cologne had agreed and headed back to China within the week.
Ukyo had been more difficult, but with funding from Capsule Corp. her new chain of restaurants was doing very well. All had agreed that this more than made up for the theft of a single cart, and Bulma had made the point that Ranma had had nothing to do with the girl's decision to take on the guise of a boy. So, after much negotiations with Ukyo's father, Bulma entered into a partnership with the girl and her restaurants. And it was all thanks to Ranma taking Bulma over to Ucchan's for dinner one evening.
Kodachi, well, nobody mentioned her much. She only remained out of an Institution because of her money and her brother's bokken. Kuno had mellowed out a little. He still didn't believe in the curses, but Nabiki had somehow convinced him that 'the pigtailed goddess' had escaped and was currently happily married. As long as Ranma didn't let his aura slip and get splashed in Kuno's presence, it was generally believed that Kuno would forget entirely about his female side.
The real shock came shortly after that, when Nabiki announced that she and Kuno were to be wed. Nobody ever harboured suspicions of a loving relationship, it was accepted as a marraige of convenience. Nabiki's. She would happily maintain the Kuno fortune, and Kuno had a pretty young wife for society.
"Hey Ranma, how's it going?"
Ranma shrugged, "We're here, that's all we can ask."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Goten's getting pretty good. I sparred with him the other day." He glanced around, then leaned close and whispered, "Did you know he can already go Super?"
Ranma burst out laughing, causing several smiling glances to be shot his way. "I'm not surprised, my girls have been able to go super for nearly six months now." Ranma greatly enjoyed the shocked expression on the boy's face. "What can I say? Is it any great surprise that fighters like Vegeta, your father, and myself would have strong kids?"
Gohan started stammering, then composed himself and shook his head. "Well, I guess there won't be a shortage of protectors for Earth when we're all gone."
Ranma shrugged, "Well, yeah, but that's assuming we all survive them all going through puberty together."
The two of them began laughing together, then walked off to join the other adults. Krillin offered them plates of food, which the two of them more than gladly accepted, and they were soon active participants in the conversation. The day passed quickly, and soon Chi-chi was gathering her two boys into her little Capsule car. Vegeta grabbed Nodoka suddenly around the waist midway through her goodbyes and took off.
Everyone politely neglected to notice the strained expression on Bulma's face at the physical contact between Vegeta and his wife. She reached out and blindly pulled Trunks to her without looking away from the fading spark of Vegeta. Trunks was growing up with absolutely no knowledge of who his father was, which Ranma didn't really agree with, but felt it wasn't his place to intervene. Vegeta had shocked everyone by wordlessly going along with the ruse. Now Trunks was gathering his mother about the waist and taking off as she waved over his shoulder.
After a strained moment, Chi-chi and Gohan waved cheerfully from the windshield as they took off, Goten yelling goodbye to Ranko and Rinko. The girls were hopping in excitement as they too waved. Ranma said his goodbyes and looked questioningly to Akane, who nodded. He knelt to take Rinko into his arms, but she crossed hers over her chest and shook her head.
"No! I wanna fly home like Trunks gets to!"
Ranma hid his smile as Ranko nodded in surly agreement. "Well, I guess you can handle it. Alright, let's go."
With triumphant grins, the girls yelled "Goodbye!" in unison and immediately took off. Ranma and Akane followed, flying hand in hand after their girls. Granted, they would have gotten home faster if he and Akane had carried the girls, but there was no real hurry and they reached Nerima soon enough. The girls landed in the dojo's backyard, trying to hide their yawns, but Akane herded them up to their bedroom anyway.
Ranma stretched and went into the house himself. Life was good, if not perfect, and he planned on making the most of it. Starting the next day he would look into using the gravity room Bulma had made at Capsule Corp., and maybe even look into doing something with the dojo. Then he would get ahold of Chi-chi or Gohan and see if she'd mind sending Goten over to 'play' with the girls.
He smirked, yeah, it would be easy to convince Chi-chi to let Goten come over on occasion. Apparently Gohan was in the process of teaching his kid brother to fly, so that worked out well. Now, if only he could convince Vegeta to help with the kids somehow. After all, they were all half Saiyans, even if Trunks wasn't aware of that fact.
Ranma frowned thoughtfully as he changed for bed. What would happen if Trunks accidentally went Super? Wouldn't that give the whole thing away? He'd better talk to Bulma about that too. Akane walked in yawning, smiling at him while shaking her head.
"Well, they're in bed, and will probably be out like a light any minute after such a busy day."
Ranma nodded and gave her a hug, "Probably. I'm gonna look into having Goten and Trunks come over every now and then to play with the girls. They need some kids about their level, and there are only so many half-breed Saiyans running around."
She smiled sleepily up at him as she lay down, "That's a great idea, Ranma."
He wrapped an arm around her, the other hand behind his head as he lay on his back. Already he had plans running throuh his head for the future. If one of his girls happened to fall for one of the boys, think of the power his grandkids would have!
Bulma blinked at the man standing in front of her as she held the front door open. "Hi Ranma, what's up?"
He grinned as Trunks started yelling at his video game in the next room. "I wanted to talk to you about a couple things."
She shrugged and gestured him in, "I didn't expect to see you for awhile after the picnic yesterday." She led him out to the patio and took a seat, waving at another for him.
He sat down with a sigh at the comfortable chairs. "Okay, to start off with, business. How much would it cost for you to do something like the gravity room to my dojo?"
She frowned in thought, "Well, not much really, it would be easier since we wouldn't have to actually *build* anything. All we'd have to do is some major reinforcing of the interior walls and install the right equipment." She winked at him, "Besides, you're practically family."
He grinned, "Alright! Now, about Trunks--"
She blushed, "Yeah, I'm real sorry about his behavior yesterday. He's usually such a little gentleman, but around all of you fighters he puts on a big macho act."
He waved her comments off and chuckled, "No, that's not it! I'm worried about my girls. They've got friends, but some of the kids their age are a little scared of them. I was thinking that they need some friends their own age and level to play with. I can't believe we never thought of getting the four kids together before yesterday."
He saw her face fall, and leaned forward with a worried expression. "Hey, what's wrong Bulma?"
She sighed and looked away, "Ranma, I thought about it, but Vegeta's always over trying to get you or Gohan or someone to spar, and I wanna keep Trunks away from him as much as I can. I worry every day that Vegeta will fly in here and decide he wants to take my son away, and I'll be powerless to stop him."
Ranma nodded, "I can understand that Bulma. But look, if he ever tries to pull something like that, you know we'd teach him a lesson. Even if Gohan and I didn't show up and clean his clock, I'd convince Mom to give Trunks back."
Bulma snorted, "She's got him wrapped around his little finger, if he'd only wake up and see it. The mighty Saiyan prince, conqueured by a woman."
Ranma laughed, "Yeah, I've noticed that too. I go to visit Mom all the time, and she knows just how to phrase things to get him to do what she wants."
She smiled, "Thanks Ranma, now, back to your idea. I take it you want Trunks to come over to your place to play?"
He nodded, "Yeah, and they could even train together if they wanted. I don't force my girls to the art, but they live and breath it like I always have."
"It's a Saiyan thing." Bulma rolled her eyes, "From the first time Krillin and Yamcha came over and decided to spar, Trunks was hooked. Krillin was more than willing to train him, but obviously he could only do so much. Saiyans are just so much stronger than us humans by your very nature."
Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, that's why I never really had a hard time learning any human techniques. I mean, they told me how powerful they were and how hard they would be to learn, so I made them challenging to myself. After seeing Vegeta and Gohan fly, or throw massive ki blasts without batting an eye; I realized they were more than possible for me, they were easy. The girls and your Trunks grew up with it, so of course they're stronger than I was at their age."
Bulma smiled, "Well, then I guess it's settled. Trunks doesn't really have any friends so it would be nice for him to be around the other children on a regular basis. If I tell him he can train with the other three, he'll jump at the chance."
Ranma grinned, "Great, how about tomorrow?" It would be a Sunday, so Akane wouldn't have to worry about the girls missing school.
Bulma nodded and in no time they'd settled the time. She would let Trunks fly over on his own since it was such a short distance, and Ranma and the girls would be waiting for him. After waving goodbye, Ranma took off straight from the patio and headed off toward Chi-chi's. He landed lightly just beside the door, knocking even before both feet were planted firmly on the ground. A moment later, a smiling and curious Chi-chi opened the door.
"Oh, hello Ranma. Come on in." She quickly had tea poured for both of them, and asked why he'd come to visit. "Gohan's still at school, and I sent Goten off after some fish for dinner."
"Actually, I'm here about Goten. I've been worried lately about the girls having playmates that they won't hurt by accident. You know our children are just naturally stronger than others, and their training multiplies that. Gohan was telling me that he'd been teaching Goten to fly, and I thought it would be great if he could come over every so often to play with my girls."
Chi-chi looked thoughtful, but a little skeptical. "I don't know Ranma, that's a pretty big flight for a boy on his own."
Ranma nodded, "I know, but if I didn't know that you would have taught your son at least as well as I'd taught my girls, I wouldn't even ask. The kids know right from wrong, and how much safer could they be than in the air? Just about anyone on Earth that can fly wouldn't be a match for them, and they're more than fast enough to dodge planes."
Chi-chi nodded that he was right. "Well, he does get lonely here on his own. And he could come home with Gohan after he gets out of school. He could even go in with Gohan in the mornings, if he was caught up with his schoolwork."
Ranma sat up with a flash of brilliance, "Hey, couldn't he come to school in Nerima? If he's going to be there all day anyway, he might as well. They you could have some more free time for yourself?"
She bit her lip, "I . . . I suppose that makes sense. Assuming it's a good school of course."
Ranma waved a dismmisive hand, "Do you think Akane would send the girls to anything but the best? Besides, surely you could tutor him till he was miles above the other kids his age. Of course, he's a year ahead of my girls, but that wouldn't really matter."
She smiled, competition was always good motivation for a boy like Goten. "That's brilliant Ranma. Then he could play with your girls for a bit after school, then come home with Gohan."
Ranma smiled happily, proud of himself. He'd maneuvered this well. His girls practiced the art voluntarily, but they had absolutely no competition in Nerima. They weren't pushing themselves. With Goten and Trunks there as constant companions and competition, they'd improve by leaps and bounds in no time!
Ranko glared at Trunks. Trunks glared at Rinko. Rinko glared at Goten. Goten blushed as his stomach growled. Sure, they'd all gotten along at Roshi's, but that had been when they were under adult supervision. Now they were alone in the dojo, Ranma telling them to play nice while he did some quick shopping for Akane.
"Geez," Trunks muttered, "Don't you guys have anything to do around here?"
Ranko stared down her cute little nose at him, "Well, *you* are interrupting our training time." She jerked a thumb at her sister.
"Yeah!" Rinko didn't know what the big deal was, but if Ranko was mad, she was mad.
Goten brightened immediately. "Heh, then why don't we all train? I wanna get better so I can catch Gohan of guard, and maybe beat him!"
Trunks rolled his eyes, "Like these two could give *us* a challenge, Gohan."
Ranko fumed. Who did this kid think he was? This was their house, and he was being rude. She smirked, a rough idea forming. Just because he was a year older didn't mean he was any better.
"Then why don't you spar with me?"
Rinko began jumping up and down, "Yeah! I wanna see you two fight! You can take this little brat any day of the week, Ranko!"
Trunks snarled and stepped forward, "Uh uh! I'll beat her easy!"
Ranko smirked, "Then prove it!"
Licking her lip in concentration, Akane reread the directions. No, it definitely said to add a 1/4 cup. Okay. She carefully selected her measuring cup, and measured it out as precisely as she could, dumping the flour into the bowl. Okay. Next ingredient.
A loud explosion made her shriek and jump, then she calmed. Angrily she grabbed the biggest knife from the counter and literally flew out into the backyard. A bright flash of light and a surge of ki sent her to the dojo. She stopped dead in the doorway to see her daughter Ranko squared off against Bulma's Trunks, both children breathing heavily.
"Alright, hold up! What do you think you're doing?"
Ranko immediately dropped her stance and blushed furiously at the floor. "*He* threw the ki blast, Momma! I 'membered the rules!"
Trunks glanced quickly between Ranko and her mother in confusion for a moment. "Oops. I'm sorry Mrs. Soatome, I'm used to the gravity room." He too looked to the ground in embarrasment, and Akane sighed.
"That's alright, but why don't you kids just keep it to kicks and punches for now, alright? No more ki attacks until we get the walls reinforced."
The kids all nodded, glad to be escaping a lecture. She turned and left, waiting till she was out of their sight before smiling and shaking her head. She was waiting for Ranma at the door when he returned with the groceries.
He gave her a peck on the cheek and handed her the paper bag, "What's the big grin for?"
"There's a new whole in the dojo wall, courtesy of Brief's Construction Crew."
He slapped his head, "That's not what I meant by 'Playing Nice' at all! I'd better talk to them."
She waved a hand and headed for the kitchen, "I already did. I think I scared the girls running in brandishing a butcher knife. I thought we were under attack."
Ranma knew she was thinking back to when the androids had attacked Nerima so long ago. They'd nearly gotten Kasumi and Soun, and Akane had been even more protective of her family since. "Sorry 'Kane, I'll give them all better instructions from now on."
He headed out back and had nearly made it to the dojo when he felt a familiar presence landing nearby. "Hey Vegeta, what's up?"
The shorter man was studying the dojo silently, arms crossed over his chest. "I felt a lot of power here. I just came to investigate."
Ranma nodded and walked over to his teacher and 'liege', as his mother put it. "Yeah, the kids are over here playing. You know, Trunks and Goten."
Ranma wondered if he'd imagined the flinch of Vegeta's cheek at the mention of his son. "Look, Vegeta, about Trunks . . ."
"What about the brat?"
Ranma sighed, "Nothing, I guess. But don't you think the kid needs a Dad?"
One of Vegeta's powerful shoulders jerked in a shrug, "Why? I did fine on my own."
Ranma turned to study the dojo as well, silent for awhile. Finally he shrugged as well, "Maybe, but he's very powerful, your son. With the right training, he could easily beat my girls, I'd say. Maybe even Goten."
Vegeta jerked his head to glare at Ranma, who didn't budge. "No brat of Kakkarot's will defeat a warrior of my own flesh and blood!"
Ranma held his hands up, "Okay, geez, calm down. I'm just saying that nobody except maybe me could even come close to training him right, and I've got my own girls to look after. Krillin, Yamcha, heck even Piccolo have trained him a little at a time." He turned back to the dojo, "I'm just saying that it takes a Saiyan to properly train a Saiyan, in my opinion."
Vegeta's face softened slightly. Granted, he still looked mean and viscious, but not murderous. "The woman doesn't want me around him."
Ranma shrugged, "Maybe I can talk to her. You'd have to promise not to try and take him from her though." He stepped in front of his mentor with a cold gleam in his eye. "Look Vegeta, I've always respected you. But I will not hesitate to grab Gohan and gang up on you to defeat you if I have to. If I hear that you've taken Trunks away from his mother, I'll do just that and take him back to her."
Their eyes clashed as hard as their fists could in silent battle before Vegeta smirked. He didn't look away or back down, but the battle obviously ended. "I don't want the brat, I just can't have him staining my noble lineage. Speak to the woman."
Without another word, the Saiyan prince took off, obviously headed for the house he lived in with Nodoka. Ranma was stunned. No matter how hard he'd tried in training, Ranma had never felt he'd impressed his mentor, not even once. But there had been a new something, a strange spark, in Vegeta's eyes when he'd let the deadly staring contest drop. If Ranma wasn't completely off base, he'd swear it had been respect.
Adjusting the strap of his new backpack, Goten hummed to himself as he walked along the fence behind his new friends. He still didn't understand why they were walking up there, but the two girls were doing it, and it was kind of fun if you didn't use your ki to cheat. And with the other two there, he couldn't cheat. They would of course know the instant he used even a speck of ki, and they'd gang up on him to knock him to the ground.
Those were the rules.
He smiled in satisfaction as the pack now fit more comfortably, and turned back to the front. This was his first day of school, and he couldn't wait. Ranko and Rinko promised to introduce him to their friends at recess, and that they could all play together. He hadn't met many kids, let alone a whole building of them all close to his own age.
Ranko and Rinko coiled their legs beneath them, leaping over the street to the opposite sidewalk. Goten simply shrugged and flew over to land beside them. Ranko glared at him while Rinko glanced about franticly.
"What are you doing? Didn't we tell you not to fly?"
He blushed and scratched the back of his neck, "Sorry Ranko, but I thought the game was over since you two got off of the fence."
Rinko smiled patiently, "It's not a game, Goten, it's training. We're perfecting our balance by walking on fences instead of the sidewalk. And we're not supposed to fly at or to school. The other kids can't do it, and Daddy doesn't want us to make them feel bad."
"Ooooh. I see." An older person would see that he obviously didn't, but the girls believed him. "Now what do we do?"
Ranko gestured at the building they were standing in front of. "We're gonna take you to the office, and they'll tell you what to do."
With that the three kids entereed the building, the girls waving at friends as they passed. Goten did his best to look friendly, but everyone pretty much ignored him. He sighed and patiently began counting the hours until he could go home and train.
"So the tournament's coming up, and we thought you might want to enter."
Ranma smiled at Krillin and Yamcha, "Thanks guys. That means a lot. I don't know though, I'm not real sure what Akane would say."
Krillin sighed, "I swear, the things we married people say. It's perfectly safe, there won't be anyone there stronger than our usual group. It's more like an excuse to get together than anything."
Ranma shrugged with a goofy grin, "I'd better talk to Akane anyway, but yeah, I'd love to."
Krillin grinned and shot him a thumb's up, "Thatta boy. Oh, and you might wanna enter your girls for the experience. I'm sure you've been training them up non stop."
Ranma smiled proudly and Krillin, as a fellow father, couldn't help but notice how he stood a little taller before waving and walking off. Shaking his head, Krillin took to the sky and headed home. Yamcha waving and splitting off in another direction.
Ranma sighed happily on a summer day, many years later. Roshi's place was far from quiet, with the entire gang here, but then, Ranma had never really like quiet all that well. He glanced over to where Akane was struggling to hold their twins to her chest and out of reach of the slightly older Trunks and Goten. Chi-chi and Bulma were having just as much of a battle trying to contain their sons as Akane was having with the girls.
Ranma chuckled, yeah, quiet was overrated. Shaking his head he forced down the grin and pulled on the mask of a perfect father as he stood before his girls, hands on his hips as he frowned down at him with his disaproval.
"Now girls, what's going on?"
They meekly stopped struggling immediately upon sight of their father. Glancing at each other before staring at the ground and digging small craters with their toes they sighed as one.
Blue-haired and -eyed, the girls were a perfect combination of Akane and Ranma's female half. They were currently dressed in miniture versions of Ranma's chinese outfits; Ranko in red with gold details, Rinko in black with red piping and embroidery. It was Ranko, the braver of the two, who glared at Trunks.
"He said girls can't fight, but he won't spar so I can prove it!"
Rinko nodded emphatically, "Yeah, and Goten won't fight me since Trunks won't fight Ranko!" Her pigtails bounced as she continued to nod her head. Ranma held in his chuckles. Who would have thought he'd be such a great dad?
Since the girls were no longer struggling, Akane let them go. "You take care of this, Ranma. Bulma and I were swapping recipes." The two women marched off, every man on the island above the age of six sweating at the thought of either of the girls cooking.
Chi-chi shook her head and dragged Goten off to lecture him properly in 'private' on the other side of the island. Of course, that was only about ten feet away so everyone heard every word, but it was the principle of the matter. Ranma knelt and crooked a finger at the lavender-haired boy to approach. With a condescending snort, Trunks did walk over, but only after crossing his arms across his chest and glaring down his nose at the girls.
Ranma wondered how a six-year-old got to be so high and mighty, but a quick glance at the boy's father answered everything easily as Nodoka clutched posessively at his arm. "Now, Trunks, have you seen my girls fight?" Brief shake of head, "What about their mother?" Another shake, "Did you know that Akane can beat Yamcha with both hands tied behind her back, and I mean it since she's tried, or that Krillin has a hard time fighting her?" A disbelieving look, followed by a slower shake.
Ranma nodded his head once, "I didn't think so. Look, why don't you have your Mom bring you over some time, and the four of us can train together. It's always good to be open to different styles of fighting." Ranma knew that the boy had been trained off and on by different members of the Z team, but he'd yet to work with the boy."
Now Ranma saw a little spark of interest in the boy's eyes. "I guess."
With a grin, Ranma cocked his head to listen. Chi-chi's lecture was just rolling to a stop and a relieved Goten was racing back to the safety of the crowd in front of the house. Ranma gathered his girls and Trunks together and gave them a shove toward Goten.
"Now you four go play, and that's an order!"
Not wishing any more lectures, the children entered an uneasy truce and slowly made their way off by themselves. Mere minutes later they were laughing and playing together, much to the relief of several parents. Ranma smiled as he watched his five-year-old children, turning that smile to Gohan as the boy walked up.
Gohan was now about eighteen, if Ranma remembered correctly. His mother had been relieved that Ranma and Akane were from a civilized portion of Japan and had asked their advice in which high school to send Gohan to. They, of course, had reccomended Furinkan. He loved it there, fitting in in no time with the wacky goings on at the unusual school now that the first week of school was over. He had several very close friends that he liked to visit, and often dropped by the dojo on his way to or from school.
The girls were madly in love with the one man they'd seen beat their father. Of course, they'd never seen him fight Vegeta, so that was understandable. The fact that Gohan was triple their age didn't seem to matter to them. Ranma was just glad that they'd all survived the androids, and missed the good friend he'd made in the Trunks from the future. When he saw how this Trunks was turning out, it was pretty sad.
He and Akane had continued school after the android fiasco, much because of Chi-chi, and both of their grades improved since she was continually pestering them about them. Bulma was the best science tutor of course, so that was a relief. Ranma smiled at the thought of Bulma. She'd been instrumental in solving his fiancee problems. She'd taken Cologne aside when the Nerima gang had arrived that fateful evening at Capsule Corp. and suggested that the Amazons might not want their blood thinned by an alien race. Cologne had agreed and headed back to China within the week.
Ukyo had been more difficult, but with funding from Capsule Corp. her new chain of restaurants was doing very well. All had agreed that this more than made up for the theft of a single cart, and Bulma had made the point that Ranma had had nothing to do with the girl's decision to take on the guise of a boy. So, after much negotiations with Ukyo's father, Bulma entered into a partnership with the girl and her restaurants. And it was all thanks to Ranma taking Bulma over to Ucchan's for dinner one evening.
Kodachi, well, nobody mentioned her much. She only remained out of an Institution because of her money and her brother's bokken. Kuno had mellowed out a little. He still didn't believe in the curses, but Nabiki had somehow convinced him that 'the pigtailed goddess' had escaped and was currently happily married. As long as Ranma didn't let his aura slip and get splashed in Kuno's presence, it was generally believed that Kuno would forget entirely about his female side.
The real shock came shortly after that, when Nabiki announced that she and Kuno were to be wed. Nobody ever harboured suspicions of a loving relationship, it was accepted as a marraige of convenience. Nabiki's. She would happily maintain the Kuno fortune, and Kuno had a pretty young wife for society.
"Hey Ranma, how's it going?"
Ranma shrugged, "We're here, that's all we can ask."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Goten's getting pretty good. I sparred with him the other day." He glanced around, then leaned close and whispered, "Did you know he can already go Super?"
Ranma burst out laughing, causing several smiling glances to be shot his way. "I'm not surprised, my girls have been able to go super for nearly six months now." Ranma greatly enjoyed the shocked expression on the boy's face. "What can I say? Is it any great surprise that fighters like Vegeta, your father, and myself would have strong kids?"
Gohan started stammering, then composed himself and shook his head. "Well, I guess there won't be a shortage of protectors for Earth when we're all gone."
Ranma shrugged, "Well, yeah, but that's assuming we all survive them all going through puberty together."
The two of them began laughing together, then walked off to join the other adults. Krillin offered them plates of food, which the two of them more than gladly accepted, and they were soon active participants in the conversation. The day passed quickly, and soon Chi-chi was gathering her two boys into her little Capsule car. Vegeta grabbed Nodoka suddenly around the waist midway through her goodbyes and took off.
Everyone politely neglected to notice the strained expression on Bulma's face at the physical contact between Vegeta and his wife. She reached out and blindly pulled Trunks to her without looking away from the fading spark of Vegeta. Trunks was growing up with absolutely no knowledge of who his father was, which Ranma didn't really agree with, but felt it wasn't his place to intervene. Vegeta had shocked everyone by wordlessly going along with the ruse. Now Trunks was gathering his mother about the waist and taking off as she waved over his shoulder.
After a strained moment, Chi-chi and Gohan waved cheerfully from the windshield as they took off, Goten yelling goodbye to Ranko and Rinko. The girls were hopping in excitement as they too waved. Ranma said his goodbyes and looked questioningly to Akane, who nodded. He knelt to take Rinko into his arms, but she crossed hers over her chest and shook her head.
"No! I wanna fly home like Trunks gets to!"
Ranma hid his smile as Ranko nodded in surly agreement. "Well, I guess you can handle it. Alright, let's go."
With triumphant grins, the girls yelled "Goodbye!" in unison and immediately took off. Ranma and Akane followed, flying hand in hand after their girls. Granted, they would have gotten home faster if he and Akane had carried the girls, but there was no real hurry and they reached Nerima soon enough. The girls landed in the dojo's backyard, trying to hide their yawns, but Akane herded them up to their bedroom anyway.
Ranma stretched and went into the house himself. Life was good, if not perfect, and he planned on making the most of it. Starting the next day he would look into using the gravity room Bulma had made at Capsule Corp., and maybe even look into doing something with the dojo. Then he would get ahold of Chi-chi or Gohan and see if she'd mind sending Goten over to 'play' with the girls.
He smirked, yeah, it would be easy to convince Chi-chi to let Goten come over on occasion. Apparently Gohan was in the process of teaching his kid brother to fly, so that worked out well. Now, if only he could convince Vegeta to help with the kids somehow. After all, they were all half Saiyans, even if Trunks wasn't aware of that fact.
Ranma frowned thoughtfully as he changed for bed. What would happen if Trunks accidentally went Super? Wouldn't that give the whole thing away? He'd better talk to Bulma about that too. Akane walked in yawning, smiling at him while shaking her head.
"Well, they're in bed, and will probably be out like a light any minute after such a busy day."
Ranma nodded and gave her a hug, "Probably. I'm gonna look into having Goten and Trunks come over every now and then to play with the girls. They need some kids about their level, and there are only so many half-breed Saiyans running around."
She smiled sleepily up at him as she lay down, "That's a great idea, Ranma."
He wrapped an arm around her, the other hand behind his head as he lay on his back. Already he had plans running throuh his head for the future. If one of his girls happened to fall for one of the boys, think of the power his grandkids would have!
Bulma blinked at the man standing in front of her as she held the front door open. "Hi Ranma, what's up?"
He grinned as Trunks started yelling at his video game in the next room. "I wanted to talk to you about a couple things."
She shrugged and gestured him in, "I didn't expect to see you for awhile after the picnic yesterday." She led him out to the patio and took a seat, waving at another for him.
He sat down with a sigh at the comfortable chairs. "Okay, to start off with, business. How much would it cost for you to do something like the gravity room to my dojo?"
She frowned in thought, "Well, not much really, it would be easier since we wouldn't have to actually *build* anything. All we'd have to do is some major reinforcing of the interior walls and install the right equipment." She winked at him, "Besides, you're practically family."
He grinned, "Alright! Now, about Trunks--"
She blushed, "Yeah, I'm real sorry about his behavior yesterday. He's usually such a little gentleman, but around all of you fighters he puts on a big macho act."
He waved her comments off and chuckled, "No, that's not it! I'm worried about my girls. They've got friends, but some of the kids their age are a little scared of them. I was thinking that they need some friends their own age and level to play with. I can't believe we never thought of getting the four kids together before yesterday."
He saw her face fall, and leaned forward with a worried expression. "Hey, what's wrong Bulma?"
She sighed and looked away, "Ranma, I thought about it, but Vegeta's always over trying to get you or Gohan or someone to spar, and I wanna keep Trunks away from him as much as I can. I worry every day that Vegeta will fly in here and decide he wants to take my son away, and I'll be powerless to stop him."
Ranma nodded, "I can understand that Bulma. But look, if he ever tries to pull something like that, you know we'd teach him a lesson. Even if Gohan and I didn't show up and clean his clock, I'd convince Mom to give Trunks back."
Bulma snorted, "She's got him wrapped around his little finger, if he'd only wake up and see it. The mighty Saiyan prince, conqueured by a woman."
Ranma laughed, "Yeah, I've noticed that too. I go to visit Mom all the time, and she knows just how to phrase things to get him to do what she wants."
She smiled, "Thanks Ranma, now, back to your idea. I take it you want Trunks to come over to your place to play?"
He nodded, "Yeah, and they could even train together if they wanted. I don't force my girls to the art, but they live and breath it like I always have."
"It's a Saiyan thing." Bulma rolled her eyes, "From the first time Krillin and Yamcha came over and decided to spar, Trunks was hooked. Krillin was more than willing to train him, but obviously he could only do so much. Saiyans are just so much stronger than us humans by your very nature."
Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, that's why I never really had a hard time learning any human techniques. I mean, they told me how powerful they were and how hard they would be to learn, so I made them challenging to myself. After seeing Vegeta and Gohan fly, or throw massive ki blasts without batting an eye; I realized they were more than possible for me, they were easy. The girls and your Trunks grew up with it, so of course they're stronger than I was at their age."
Bulma smiled, "Well, then I guess it's settled. Trunks doesn't really have any friends so it would be nice for him to be around the other children on a regular basis. If I tell him he can train with the other three, he'll jump at the chance."
Ranma grinned, "Great, how about tomorrow?" It would be a Sunday, so Akane wouldn't have to worry about the girls missing school.
Bulma nodded and in no time they'd settled the time. She would let Trunks fly over on his own since it was such a short distance, and Ranma and the girls would be waiting for him. After waving goodbye, Ranma took off straight from the patio and headed off toward Chi-chi's. He landed lightly just beside the door, knocking even before both feet were planted firmly on the ground. A moment later, a smiling and curious Chi-chi opened the door.
"Oh, hello Ranma. Come on in." She quickly had tea poured for both of them, and asked why he'd come to visit. "Gohan's still at school, and I sent Goten off after some fish for dinner."
"Actually, I'm here about Goten. I've been worried lately about the girls having playmates that they won't hurt by accident. You know our children are just naturally stronger than others, and their training multiplies that. Gohan was telling me that he'd been teaching Goten to fly, and I thought it would be great if he could come over every so often to play with my girls."
Chi-chi looked thoughtful, but a little skeptical. "I don't know Ranma, that's a pretty big flight for a boy on his own."
Ranma nodded, "I know, but if I didn't know that you would have taught your son at least as well as I'd taught my girls, I wouldn't even ask. The kids know right from wrong, and how much safer could they be than in the air? Just about anyone on Earth that can fly wouldn't be a match for them, and they're more than fast enough to dodge planes."
Chi-chi nodded that he was right. "Well, he does get lonely here on his own. And he could come home with Gohan after he gets out of school. He could even go in with Gohan in the mornings, if he was caught up with his schoolwork."
Ranma sat up with a flash of brilliance, "Hey, couldn't he come to school in Nerima? If he's going to be there all day anyway, he might as well. They you could have some more free time for yourself?"
She bit her lip, "I . . . I suppose that makes sense. Assuming it's a good school of course."
Ranma waved a dismmisive hand, "Do you think Akane would send the girls to anything but the best? Besides, surely you could tutor him till he was miles above the other kids his age. Of course, he's a year ahead of my girls, but that wouldn't really matter."
She smiled, competition was always good motivation for a boy like Goten. "That's brilliant Ranma. Then he could play with your girls for a bit after school, then come home with Gohan."
Ranma smiled happily, proud of himself. He'd maneuvered this well. His girls practiced the art voluntarily, but they had absolutely no competition in Nerima. They weren't pushing themselves. With Goten and Trunks there as constant companions and competition, they'd improve by leaps and bounds in no time!
Ranko glared at Trunks. Trunks glared at Rinko. Rinko glared at Goten. Goten blushed as his stomach growled. Sure, they'd all gotten along at Roshi's, but that had been when they were under adult supervision. Now they were alone in the dojo, Ranma telling them to play nice while he did some quick shopping for Akane.
"Geez," Trunks muttered, "Don't you guys have anything to do around here?"
Ranko stared down her cute little nose at him, "Well, *you* are interrupting our training time." She jerked a thumb at her sister.
"Yeah!" Rinko didn't know what the big deal was, but if Ranko was mad, she was mad.
Goten brightened immediately. "Heh, then why don't we all train? I wanna get better so I can catch Gohan of guard, and maybe beat him!"
Trunks rolled his eyes, "Like these two could give *us* a challenge, Gohan."
Ranko fumed. Who did this kid think he was? This was their house, and he was being rude. She smirked, a rough idea forming. Just because he was a year older didn't mean he was any better.
"Then why don't you spar with me?"
Rinko began jumping up and down, "Yeah! I wanna see you two fight! You can take this little brat any day of the week, Ranko!"
Trunks snarled and stepped forward, "Uh uh! I'll beat her easy!"
Ranko smirked, "Then prove it!"
Licking her lip in concentration, Akane reread the directions. No, it definitely said to add a 1/4 cup. Okay. She carefully selected her measuring cup, and measured it out as precisely as she could, dumping the flour into the bowl. Okay. Next ingredient.
A loud explosion made her shriek and jump, then she calmed. Angrily she grabbed the biggest knife from the counter and literally flew out into the backyard. A bright flash of light and a surge of ki sent her to the dojo. She stopped dead in the doorway to see her daughter Ranko squared off against Bulma's Trunks, both children breathing heavily.
"Alright, hold up! What do you think you're doing?"
Ranko immediately dropped her stance and blushed furiously at the floor. "*He* threw the ki blast, Momma! I 'membered the rules!"
Trunks glanced quickly between Ranko and her mother in confusion for a moment. "Oops. I'm sorry Mrs. Soatome, I'm used to the gravity room." He too looked to the ground in embarrasment, and Akane sighed.
"That's alright, but why don't you kids just keep it to kicks and punches for now, alright? No more ki attacks until we get the walls reinforced."
The kids all nodded, glad to be escaping a lecture. She turned and left, waiting till she was out of their sight before smiling and shaking her head. She was waiting for Ranma at the door when he returned with the groceries.
He gave her a peck on the cheek and handed her the paper bag, "What's the big grin for?"
"There's a new whole in the dojo wall, courtesy of Brief's Construction Crew."
He slapped his head, "That's not what I meant by 'Playing Nice' at all! I'd better talk to them."
She waved a hand and headed for the kitchen, "I already did. I think I scared the girls running in brandishing a butcher knife. I thought we were under attack."
Ranma knew she was thinking back to when the androids had attacked Nerima so long ago. They'd nearly gotten Kasumi and Soun, and Akane had been even more protective of her family since. "Sorry 'Kane, I'll give them all better instructions from now on."
He headed out back and had nearly made it to the dojo when he felt a familiar presence landing nearby. "Hey Vegeta, what's up?"
The shorter man was studying the dojo silently, arms crossed over his chest. "I felt a lot of power here. I just came to investigate."
Ranma nodded and walked over to his teacher and 'liege', as his mother put it. "Yeah, the kids are over here playing. You know, Trunks and Goten."
Ranma wondered if he'd imagined the flinch of Vegeta's cheek at the mention of his son. "Look, Vegeta, about Trunks . . ."
"What about the brat?"
Ranma sighed, "Nothing, I guess. But don't you think the kid needs a Dad?"
One of Vegeta's powerful shoulders jerked in a shrug, "Why? I did fine on my own."
Ranma turned to study the dojo as well, silent for awhile. Finally he shrugged as well, "Maybe, but he's very powerful, your son. With the right training, he could easily beat my girls, I'd say. Maybe even Goten."
Vegeta jerked his head to glare at Ranma, who didn't budge. "No brat of Kakkarot's will defeat a warrior of my own flesh and blood!"
Ranma held his hands up, "Okay, geez, calm down. I'm just saying that nobody except maybe me could even come close to training him right, and I've got my own girls to look after. Krillin, Yamcha, heck even Piccolo have trained him a little at a time." He turned back to the dojo, "I'm just saying that it takes a Saiyan to properly train a Saiyan, in my opinion."
Vegeta's face softened slightly. Granted, he still looked mean and viscious, but not murderous. "The woman doesn't want me around him."
Ranma shrugged, "Maybe I can talk to her. You'd have to promise not to try and take him from her though." He stepped in front of his mentor with a cold gleam in his eye. "Look Vegeta, I've always respected you. But I will not hesitate to grab Gohan and gang up on you to defeat you if I have to. If I hear that you've taken Trunks away from his mother, I'll do just that and take him back to her."
Their eyes clashed as hard as their fists could in silent battle before Vegeta smirked. He didn't look away or back down, but the battle obviously ended. "I don't want the brat, I just can't have him staining my noble lineage. Speak to the woman."
Without another word, the Saiyan prince took off, obviously headed for the house he lived in with Nodoka. Ranma was stunned. No matter how hard he'd tried in training, Ranma had never felt he'd impressed his mentor, not even once. But there had been a new something, a strange spark, in Vegeta's eyes when he'd let the deadly staring contest drop. If Ranma wasn't completely off base, he'd swear it had been respect.
Adjusting the strap of his new backpack, Goten hummed to himself as he walked along the fence behind his new friends. He still didn't understand why they were walking up there, but the two girls were doing it, and it was kind of fun if you didn't use your ki to cheat. And with the other two there, he couldn't cheat. They would of course know the instant he used even a speck of ki, and they'd gang up on him to knock him to the ground.
Those were the rules.
He smiled in satisfaction as the pack now fit more comfortably, and turned back to the front. This was his first day of school, and he couldn't wait. Ranko and Rinko promised to introduce him to their friends at recess, and that they could all play together. He hadn't met many kids, let alone a whole building of them all close to his own age.
Ranko and Rinko coiled their legs beneath them, leaping over the street to the opposite sidewalk. Goten simply shrugged and flew over to land beside them. Ranko glared at him while Rinko glanced about franticly.
"What are you doing? Didn't we tell you not to fly?"
He blushed and scratched the back of his neck, "Sorry Ranko, but I thought the game was over since you two got off of the fence."
Rinko smiled patiently, "It's not a game, Goten, it's training. We're perfecting our balance by walking on fences instead of the sidewalk. And we're not supposed to fly at or to school. The other kids can't do it, and Daddy doesn't want us to make them feel bad."
"Ooooh. I see." An older person would see that he obviously didn't, but the girls believed him. "Now what do we do?"
Ranko gestured at the building they were standing in front of. "We're gonna take you to the office, and they'll tell you what to do."
With that the three kids entereed the building, the girls waving at friends as they passed. Goten did his best to look friendly, but everyone pretty much ignored him. He sighed and patiently began counting the hours until he could go home and train.
"So the tournament's coming up, and we thought you might want to enter."
Ranma smiled at Krillin and Yamcha, "Thanks guys. That means a lot. I don't know though, I'm not real sure what Akane would say."
Krillin sighed, "I swear, the things we married people say. It's perfectly safe, there won't be anyone there stronger than our usual group. It's more like an excuse to get together than anything."
Ranma shrugged with a goofy grin, "I'd better talk to Akane anyway, but yeah, I'd love to."
Krillin grinned and shot him a thumb's up, "Thatta boy. Oh, and you might wanna enter your girls for the experience. I'm sure you've been training them up non stop."
Ranma smiled proudly and Krillin, as a fellow father, couldn't help but notice how he stood a little taller before waving and walking off. Shaking his head, Krillin took to the sky and headed home. Yamcha waving and splitting off in another direction.