The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret

--When It All Comes Down--

Bra looked at the result of her attack. Dust and smoke were all around and she couldn't even see where Vegeta was. Had he blocked the attack? Had he dodged it at the last second? She couldn't be too sure. No matter what the case, she had a feeling that there was still more fighting to be done.

She looked over at Goten, who was watching her intensely. She had put it all on the line in order to be with this man. And he was obviously just as willing to do the same. She wondered what might have happened had she allowed him to fight instead of taking on her father herself.

"Bra, look out!!" Goten yelled.

"I thought I taught you...," Vegeta said from behind Bra.

Before she was even able to turn around, he had clamped his hands together and bashed her in the back, sending her plummeting toward the earth. She hit the ground at such a high speed that it caused the ground beneath her to collapse, leaving her imprint.

"...never to let your guard down in a fight," Vegeta told her.

Bra had barely heard what he said. Her ears were still ringing from the impact. She slowly pulled herself up out of the crater in which she lay.

"That was a dirty move!! You'll pay for that!" Goten shouted.

Bra looked over at Goten quickly and saw that he was about to stand up. "Do NOT interfere, Goten!!! This is MY battle!" Yeah. That was easy to believe when you were on your hands and knees, just finishing off a face full of dirt. She slowly got back up on her feet.

Goten growled, but he took his seat next to the unconscious Bulma again.

"You're persistent. I'll give you that," Vegeta said to Bra. "But you'll need more than that if you plan on beating me." He displayed his ever-so-popular smirk.

Bra gritted her teeth, and then rushed headlong at her father at full speed. And the blurred attacks ensued. Both blocked and dodged each other's assaults for a while, but it was easy to tell that Bra's power was beginning to dwindle a bit. Soon she stopped attacking altogether and just dodged a lot of her father's attacks. One well-placed kick in the side sent her flying.

She stopped herself in mid air and tried to catch her breath. From that day forward, any time she thought about her father, she would think about the Energizer bunny. She had to admit, she just didn't have the stamina to keep up with this guy. He was an old man, for goodness sake. And she was a teenager. She should be full of energy. She knew for a fact that no matter how this match turned out, she would have to undergo some rigorous training.

And here we go again. Vegeta was flying at Bra at a phenomenal speed. He punched at her, but she phased out of sight. She reappeared above him and attempted to elbow him to the ground, but he too phased out of sight. Vegeta reappeared on the other side of Bra and tried to kick her even higher into the air, but she phased out of sight again. She reappeared behind him and punched at his kidney. No use. He phased out of sight and reappeared below her, grabbed her by the ankle and started swinging her around. Vegeta hurled her far off into the distance.

"Now I'll show you how to properly execute that technique!" Vegeta shouted gathering energy for a ki attack. "FINAL FLASH!!!"

Bra stopped herself in the air and turned toward the approaching beam of energy. "FINAL FLASH!!" She propelled an attack of her own. She knew that it was foolish to perform such a technique when she was so low on energy, but she had to try something. She was losing. And losing this battle meant losing everything. Absolutely everything. Tears began to fill Bra's eyes and distorted her vision....

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flashback

A 10-year-old Bra sat in her room quietly with her shoulder-length hair hanging down around her face. She was listening carefully as her brother informed their mother of his plans for the day.

"Mom!" the 19-year-old Trunks called in his polite tone. He only did this when he wanted something. Almost like Bra herself. Of course, it didn't work as often for him as it did for Bra. He continued, "I'm going over to hang out with Goten."

And that was Bra's cue. She stood and strolled out of her room.

"What?!" Bulma said. "You just got home from school." She turned around, but Trunks had already gone. She rolled her eyes. "Just like his father."

Bra waved to her mother. "Later, Mom!"

"Where are YOU going?" Bulma asked.

She couldn't think of anything to say at first. "The library. Gotta go!" Bra said quickly. She ran out the door equally as fast.

"Wait!" her mother called out in vain.

--at the Sons' place--

Her eyes danced around quickly to keep up with the movements, like a predator watching its prey, as she remembered that she hadn't seen him in almost three months. Her post was high up in a tree in the Sons' back yard with her arms folded across her chest. She had followed Trunks to the present location, not flying, of course. Had she done so, he would have felt her ki and stopped to ask questions. So, on foot she had followed Trunks to the Son's house, climbed in a tree, and sat.

She had been warned not to hang around Trunks and Goten so much. She knew that her father didn't like it. And she knew that her brother didn't like it. For some strange reason, she got all the attention when she was around them. Too bad. Goten was basically her trainer (well, he and her father), so she HAD to be around him as much as she could.

She wanted to watch and learn today, although she was feeling very uncomfortable in the early summer heat and leaves blocked her view. To get a better look, she inched her way further out on the limb until there was a loud snapping sound.

The young men stopped sparring and looked up in the tree as the branch cracked again and came down with a loud thud. Still attached to it was young Bra, face down, holding the branch. "Ou, ou, ou, ou...," she muttered right before she passed out.

--soon--

A bucket of ice cold water was splashed on Bra's whole upper body. She sat up screaming. Goten was on his knees right in her face and they blinked blankly at each other for a while. He had always been so attractive. His black hair had no definite cut or style, but he had the most amazing facial features. He looked almost too young to be 18 years old. They stared at each other for a long time.

Trunks burst into a fit of laughter. "You look terrible, Sis."

Both Bra and Goten looked at him.

"Oh, shut up!" Bra bit back.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Trunks. She could catch cold or something." Goten said. He turned back to her and was smiling with his eyes closed. "Good afternoon, Bra."

Bra turned her eyes toward him and blushed a little. "Hello, Goten." She forced a smile.

Goten opened his eyes and looked confused. "Say, Bra, why were you up in that tree?"

Trunks was sitting Indian-style beside her. "Yeah."

Bra frowned. "Well, I wanted to watch you two fight."

"Why?" Trunks asked.

"Stop asking questions, you big geek!" Bra yelled.

"Relax," Trunks said nonchalantly. He stood up and started stretching.

"Well, let's entertain the little lady," Goten suggested.

"I don't feel like fighting anymore," Trunks said.

"Why?" Goten almost whined.

Trunks patted his stomach. "What's your mom cooking today?" He grinned.

Goten's stomach growled loudly. He smiled. "Wow! We must be twins!" He looked at Bra, who was standing there soaked. "Where are my manners? You probably want another shirt, huh?" He looked at her shirt.

Bra quickly folded her arms across her chest. Being a quickly developing 10-year-old, she was very self-conscious about her body. "That's a good idea," she answered.

They went through the living room to get to his room so that they didn't run into his mother in the kitchen.

"You can pick out any shirt that you like," Goten said, giving her a towel.

She already knew which one she wanted. There was a kick-ass Motorhead t-shirt somewhere in that closet and she would find it. She'd seen him wear it a couple of times before and every time he did, she'd make a comment about stealing it from him. She rummaged through his things and retrieved the shirt she desired. "This is the one."

"I should have known you'd want that one," Goten said. "I'll be in the kitchen when you're done." He made his exit.

Bra smiled as Goten left. She couldn't believe that she'd be wearing an article of clothing that belonged to him....

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present

Bra could feel herself losing consciousness as she put the very last of her energy into her ki attack. Then her hair changed back to its usual color and she watched as Vegeta's beam devoured her own. She blacked out.

--End When It All Comes Down--

--That's the end of that. Hope you enjoyed that episode of The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret. To those of you who thought that Bra stood a chance against Vegeta, I'm sorry. It's not my fault. Well, it kinda is, seeing how my favorite characters in the DB universe are: 1) Goten, 2) Vegeta and 3) Piccolo. But if you think about it, it only made sense for Bra to lose. So rant and rave all you like. Just let me know what you think.

--Thanks for reviewing past installments and thank you for reading this one. Please stay tuned for the next episode of The Lost Art of Keeping A Secret.

--And to all you folks out there dealing with all these hurricanes, please be careful. And if you're advised to evacuate, please do so. Good luck.