Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

Shadows of the Night

Chapter 1

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Goku awoke to the brilliant aroma of cooking food. Excited to see what breakfast Chi-Chi was cooking today, he jumped out of bed and rushed to put his clothes on. When he was about to walk out the door, Goten was exiting his own room. Goten turned and saw his dad. He laughed.

"Daddy... You're funny." Goku gave his son a look that said he didn't understand, then he looked down and saw he was wearing everything mixed around oddly. For one thing, his pants were inside out, as were his socks. For another, he only had one arm through his own shirt.

"Oops..." he murmured and ran back inside the room to change. After a few minutes, he came out wearing all his clothes correctly and walked down the stairs to the kitchen, the smell from the food growing, making it impossible for Goku to resist. "Oh boy! What are you cooking today, Chi-Chi?"

"The same as usual, Goku. Why do you ask?" His wife replied, flipping some pancakes over the stove in her frying pan.

"Nothing really. It just smelled so wonderful," Goku told her and sat down at his side of the table, trying to wait patiently for the food to be served. Chi-Chi gave a smile.

"Alright, Goku. I'll cook a little more for you." Goku's eyes shone bright, as did his two sons'.

---

After breakfast, Goku, Gohan and Goten headed out to the meadow to spar for fun. It was the father versus the sons, and the match was even. They agreed not to go Super Saiyan since they might tear up the landscape and badly damage the land near their home. Goku held his own against Gohan and Goten with ease.

Ducking underneath a punch, Goku landed a light kick to Goten's arm and Goten backed off, slightly in pain. His small body still wasn't suited to his father's blows too well. Gohan tried to hit his dad with a punch to the head, but Goku vanished before the punch landed and Gohan had to steady himself upright from falling headfirst into the wet ground below. He turned around and flew backwards a few feet to scan around for his dad.

Goten tried to help too in the search for his father's next on-coming strike. He turned his back to his older brother when he heard him yell, "Goten! Behind you! Duck!" Goten instinctively ducked down as he felt a sweep of a kick graze the top of his tiny head. It had been a close call. Goten landed on the ground and looked up at Goku.

"Daddy... I think I'm done. I'm tired already." Goku gave his youngest son a long look, wondering why, but he nodded and turned his eyes to his oldest son. Gohan shrugged a bit and sighed.

"I think I'm going to quit too for now. I need to take a rest. You're just a little too strong for us, dad." He smiled nervously and followed Goten inside. Goku dropped down onto the soggy ground last, a small breeze whipping his hair lightly. He ignored it.

"Okay... A spar cut short. Oh well..." Goku just about went to the door when a rustling in the woods nearby made him stop. It wasn't uncommon to hear little creatures scurry about the forest, but this... sound was made by something larger, possibly something dangerous. Goku faced the forest with a hard, somewhat grim face. "Who's there?" He called out, his muscles tensing. Something told him whatever was in there wasn't friendly.

More rustling was heard and Goku thought he saw a pair of red eyes glowing angrily at him from behind the brush. But as soon as he locked eyes with them, they disappeared into the dark. "Strange..." Was all Goku could murmur, relaxing slightly. He waited for a few more minutes in case the thing might come back but no such thing occurred and so Goku turned his back and trailed inside, the incident vanishing somewhere into the recesses of his mind.

---

Night settled like a looming black cloud over West City and the occupants of Capsule Corp. building were snoozing peacefully. That is, until a tapping sound awoke the little boy, Trunks. It was a delicate, feeble-sounding noise, but nonetheless, Trunks was a bit disturbed by it. The sound sounded like it came from outside his window, and that chilled him to the bone. Something was trying to get in, more or less, and he didn't plan on having any midnight company coming over at this time of night.

Getting out of bed silently, Trunks tip-toed over to the window and peered out of it. Nothing was moving outside. He decided to look straight down, but that needed the window open and he was a little hesitant of opening it. Thinking that he could beat anything that tried to attack him, he finally made the decision to pry the window open and that he did, rather quietly so as not to awaken his parents, who were sleeping directly downstairs under him and would hear the slightest noise coming from his room.

He leaned out his head and found nothing greeting him. Perplexed he leaned out a bit farther to check and almost lost his balance. He quickly retracted his head and gave a sigh. He was safe... for tonight. Trunks turned his body and almost crossed the length of the room to his bed when he remembered he didn't shut the window closed. He retraced his footsteps back to the window and began to close it. It shut with a tiny click and he turned...

To be greeted by the rising shadow of unconsciousness.

---

Goten sat straight up in bed. He had this tingling in the corner of his mind as though something bad just happened. He got out of his bed and crossed to his door, stopping. Should he tell his dad? Or should he leave him alone till morning? He really wanted to tell his dad, but was it in his spot to actually do that at this time of night? Goten shook his head. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to wake his father and worry him over a little twinge of pain in his head.

He turned and climbed back into bed. He would tell it at another time, another day. Then a tap came on the door, a soft, delicate tap. Goten felt... afraid of it for some reason and he peeked out from underneath his covers. No one or nothing was there, at his window. Curiosity getting the best of him, Goten got out of bed and padded quietly to the window, opening it. He immediately wished he hadn't as a dark shadow of a looming figure appeared on the window sill, wind sweeping into the room with the chilly feel of snow.

Goten gave a tiny cry for help, but he was quickly stifled by a clawed hand and he struggled, flailing his legs fruitlessly. He heard words being whispered and felt his mind shut down, falling into the darkness of unconsciousness.