---
Friday had rolled around. Piccolo sighed. Vegeta had called him earlier, alerting him they were on the way to drop off the kids. He felt nervous. He had never dealt with children...alone. Piccolo glanced at the clock compulsively, as if every minute the horrible event was drawing closer. Leaning back in his recliner, he mumbled again, turning the TV on to help divert his mind.
---
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?" The question was boosted with hopefulness.
"No." The answer was firmer.
"Are we there YET?"
"NO!"
Trunks fell silent, knowing that whenever the air car pulled forward suddenly it was Vegeta's foot pressing angrily against the gas. He always enjoyed pushing his parents to their last nerve, even though it was indeed very dangerous. Goten sat, afraid of Vegeta AND Bulma, not wanting to anger either of them. Trunks kicked his feet against the seat, where they dangled, boredly. He looked out the window, trying to pass the time. Silence buzzed in the elevating vehicle.
He couldn't hold it in any longer. "Are we there yet?"
"NO!!!" Vegeta growled, as if he had been dreading the unavoidable question since the silence began. "If you ask again, you are going to be very sorry!"
Trunks was quiet once more, the tension now in the car at an all-time high.
With relief, Bulma said quickly, "We're here."
Vegeta mumbled as he pulled the car up and then down, slowly lowering it onto the flat surface of the lookout. He set it down gently with practiced gentleness, and turned off the motor.
It was early December, and it was very cold this year, especially at this elevation. Bulma was not surprised in the least, seeing snow covering the entire lookout. A rare event, yet it still fell.
"It wasn't snowing when we were at home." Goten said pulling his coat on, looking out the window in wonder.
"Well, the level of moisture up here is higher, and the higher up, the colder the temperature. So it's snowing up here, but the snow melts and even evaporates by the time it gets to us." Bulma explained, smiling.
Piccolo glared out the window. It was getting dark, and snow fell ceaselessly. It was about 6:30; the time Vegeta had notified him that they would drop the children off. He mumbled and looked back to the TV, hoping they were to be late. Inside his quarters it was warm and dry, and he liked it that way. It's not that the cold really bothered him, but the wet slushiness of snow, and the clean beauty of it annoyed him. He rather not go outside in these conditions unless necessary.
Goten and Trunks laughed as they ran through the falling snow, tongues out to catch falling snow flakes. They were in thick coats, scarves, and caps, as well as mittens, courtesy of Chi-Chi. Bulma and Vegeta followed less eagerly, at a walk.
"Goten, Trunks, get back here." Vegeta growled slightly. "You don't even have any idea where you're going."
They let the two adults lead, grabbing handfuls of snow and packing them together, throwing the snowballs at one another. Trunks began creating a huge ball of snow, and Goten blinked watching. Trunks grinned and nodded towards his parents. Goten's eyes widened and he shook his head quickly. The two adults stopped in front of a large oak door and knocked loudly.
Trunks continued adding to the snowball. He picked it up easily despite its size and chuckled evilly walking toward the two unsuspecting victims.
Piccolo heard the knock. He didn't move. Maybe if he didn't answer, they would just go away. And forget about the whole thing. They could take the kids with them, right? He sighed as the knock repeated and turned the TV off. Fine, he'd do it. But only this one time...And maybe the next time, but after that that was ALL!
He grunted as he pulled himself up from his chair, walking to the door, mumbling under his breath. He pulled it open to see Bulma and Vegeta standing in the doorway. Suddenly the next thing he saw was nothing but white as something hard, wet, and cold collided with his face, blinding him and causing him to stumble back, more from shock than the force of the hit.
Goten's eyes grew as large as baseballs. "TRUNKS! YOU MISSED!"
Trunks stepped back gulping, his eyes also wide. "Eheheh...Oops." He gulped again as he received cold glares from his parents, as Piccolo, twitching, wiped the snow from his face and eyes.
"Hello to you, too." Piccolo said surprisingly calmly, though it was easy to see, even from Trunks and Goten's distance, the large pulsing vein in his temple.
Vegeta growled and marched to the two kids who were too frozen with fear to run. He grabbed them both by the back of their jackets and pulled them into the house, where Bulma and Piccolo already stood inside the entry. Vegeta shut the door, cutting off the rush of cold air from the outside.
Piccolo glared in annoyance at the children. He knew that tonight was going to be a long night. He looked quickly to Vegeta. "What time will you be picking them up, again?" He asked. Bulma answered for Vegeta, since he only gave Piccolo a clueless, blank stare.
"We'll be back by midnight. But make sure the kids go to bed by at least 9." She gave the two children, who were trying to look as innocent as possible, a warning look.
"Oh, don't worry." Piccolo said, quickly thinking over in his mind where the two would sleep until their parents came, "I even have a feeling they are going to want to go to bed early tonight."
"Fat chance," Trunks mumbled under his breath, just audible enough for Piccolo's sensitive ears to pick up.
"You'll see." Piccolo said in his regular tone. Everyone looked at him, as Trunks jerked some from the surprise, glancing at him and mumbling again.
"If you have anything to say kid, you might as well say it out loud and clear." Piccolo said, crossing his arms, looking down at the much shorter being, "Because I can hear every word you say."
Trunks looked up at him uncomfortably, swallowing. He looked quickly to the side, half-glaring, not replying.
Bulma wanted to break the silence, and cleared her throat. "Anyways, you two behave. Piccolo will take care of you if you don't, and after that I'll take care of you too."
"And then it will be my turn." Vegeta added, smirking.
The two gulped and nodded quickly.
"Good." Bulma kissed both of them on the forehead, thanked Piccolo again, and was gone in a whirl of snow; followed by Vegeta, whose farewell was "Later brats, good luck Green Bean."
The three stood looking at each other in silence. Goten shifted uncomfortably on his feet as Trunks and Piccolo stared into one another's eyes as if seeing who could hold the gaze the longest. Goten cleared his throat slightly.
"Umm...Piccolo?"
"What?"
"I need to go."
"Go where?"
"You know..." Goten swallowed and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Go."
"You're not going anywhere."
"But I need to!" Goten pouted.
"TOO BAD!"
Trunks rolled his eyes. "He needs to go to the bathroom."
Piccolo blinked slightly. He sweat dropped. "Down the hall, second door on the right."
Goten ran off in the direction Piccolo indicated. Trunks looked at Piccolo. "Stupid."
Piccolo lifted a brow. "So, decided to stop mumbling I see."
Trunks grinned widely. "You told me to. Just was following orders."
"Well speaking your mind like I told you to doesn't mean you're going to get away with it." Piccolo growled a bit. "So I'd keep your comments to yourself, though I know it's hard when you have such a big mouth."
Trunks growled softly but decided to take the advice, and kept quiet. A moment later a toilet flushed, and another moment later, Goten ran into the room.
"Ahhh..." Goten looked relieved. "I feel better. I was holding it the whole trip here." He said innocently.
Piccolo sweat dropped. "Nice to know," Trunks said, sticking out his tongue.
Goten shrugged some and looked down, drawing an imaginary circle with his toe.
"So, Piccolo, what do you like to do for fun?" Trunks asked. Piccolo blinked as suddenly Trunks was directly in front of him, looking up at him curiously.
"Err..."
"Do you like playing Hide-And-Seek?"
Piccolo stepped back in shock as suddenly Goten had seemed to appear right beside Trunks. He swallowed and looked down at them hesitantly. "Hide and...what?"
Goten and Trunks looked slowly to each other, as if in silent awe at Piccolo's stupidity.
"Hide...and...Seek." Trunks said very slowly, as if to make sure Piccolo could comprehend.
"What the he-" He caught himself barely, remembering Bulma getting mad at him before for cursing in front of the children. He had thought it rather contradictory when she began scolding him, while at the same time she cussed him out, with much worse words than he had used. "What the heck is 'Hide-And-Seek?'"
Goten and Trunks again traded sympathetic glances. "It's a game." Trunks explained. "Where there are hiders, who hide." He said this again somewhat slowly, to make sure Piccolo caught it all. "And one person who looks, or seeks. So that's why it's called Hide-And-Seek."
"Will you play?" Goten asked, tugging on Piccolo's pant leg, his huge innocent eyes pleading up at him.
"I don't play games."
"Please?" Goten asked, Piccolo could see the hope fading from his eyes.
"Ugh..."
Trunks and Goten jumped in joy, taking the sigh as a sign of giving in.
"Not it!" Both boys yelled in unison.
"Uhhh...Not it?" Piccolo asked, lost.
"Haha, you're last, so you're it! That means you're the seeker." He said, a bit more slowly.
"Fine." Piccolo mumbled.
"Count to 50, spin around three times, and start looking! You can't look while we hide so cover your eyes, and no peeking!" Trunks said, hopping up and down in his excitement. "Oh!" He added, "And when you finish counting you have to say 'ready or not, here I come!' really loud so we know that you're looking, k?"
Piccolo watched the two bouncing children, vaguely wondering what kind of drugs Bulma gave them. "Fine." He sighed and covered his eyes with one hand.
"One..."
"Wait!" Goten said quickly.
"What is it?" Piccolo uncovered his eyes.
"We have to have a home base, which means that if a hider gets to it without getting tagged by the seeker, then they are safe. And if the other does too, the seeker has to be it again."
"Alright, alright." Piccolo said. "Now go hide." He covered his eyes once more and resumed counting.
The boys shot off into different directions, almost out of the room before Piccolo even finished the word. His sensitive ears heard one of them shuffling around in his bedroom, and the other trying to scale something in the kitchen. He counted slowly, never looking, finally reaching 50, hearing no noise whatsoever. He skipped the rule of spinning, walking toward the bedroom, and called as he had been instructed," Ready or not, here I come."
He was surprised that he could now hear nothing from the two. They had been noisy enough for him to be able to tell what rooms they were in, but now he wasn't so sure as he entered the bedroom. He closed his eyes, concentrating, and felt a small ki near by. They were keeping their power levels low, so it would be hard to find their exact locations by such manners alone. He mumbled and looked around for obvious hiding areas. He checked behind the curtains, behind the chair sitting in the corner, under the bed, in the closet, in the light fixture, under the rug, in the covers of the bed, behind the picture frame...
"ARGH!" He growled loudly looking around in frustration. where the hell is he!? "I know you're in here kid! COME OUT NOW!"
He received no reply. He mumbled and left the room. He thought maybe the kid was close to the wall in the next room, so he got the signal confused...He opened the door to the extra bathroom, which shared the wall on the right side of his bedroom. Piccolo looked around the large bathroom, which was more of a small spa area. He searched it thoroughly, tried the closet on the left wall of his bedroom, and fed up, returned to the living room.
He passed Trunks sitting on the couch, and mumbled. He blinked twice and looked back to him with a slight growl. "Where were you hiding!?"
"The bedroom." Trunks grinned triumphantly.
Piccolo's eye twitched. " The bedroom!? WHERE!?"
He suddenly held a hand out to silence Trunks before he could answer. His ears seemed to twitch with awareness as he slowly turned his head toward the kitchen. He heard a faint rustling, as if things were being moved in an internal place within the kitchen.
"Stay." He said to Trunks, who glared at the command, walking steadily but slowly toward the kitchen. He stepped very carefully onto the tile floor as it changed from the carpet of the living room, not making any noise. He could still hear the noise, but it was faint now, as if near stopping. He quickly homed in on the source of the noise, coming to the cabinet beneath the sink, his footsteps still soundless.
He slowly reached toward the handle...
He pulled it open and the second it was a foot open, an orange and blue flash burst from the cabinet, knocking cleaning supplies everywhere, shooting directly between Piccolo's long legs. Piccolo turned in time to watched, stunned, as Goten hopped onto the couch in the other room, joining Trunks and his laughter.
Frickin' little speed demon. Piccolo thought while sweat dropping, returning to the room, the giggling, snickering, and all-out laughing of the children growing louder in his ears.
He mumbled as the children jumped on the couch in their celebration, chanting: "You're it again! We win!"
"Stop jumping on the couch." He growled. They blinked and let their jumping end, landing on their rears, sitting and looking at him.
"I've had enough fun and games." Piccolo said, glaring at the two. "It's time for bed."
"Bed!?" Trunks protested automatically. He quickly looked to the clock. "It's only 7:15! Mom said bed time isn't until--"
"Do I look like your mommy, kid?" Piccolo shut him off, silencing him. "That's what I thought. Now I'm in charge, and you are going to do what I say. And I say BED! NOW!"
The two jumped to their feet quickly at the raising of his voice, Trunks leading the sprint to the bedroom.
"Hold it right there." Piccolo said in a low voice, making the two freeze in their tracks.
"I never said you could sleep in my bed. Come here."
They glanced at each other nervously, before doing as they were told.
Piccolo glared down at them for a moment, before turning and walking into another hallway. "Follow me."
He led them to a guest bedroom, with two beds.
"Now get in bed. I don't want to hear another sound from this room." Piccolo growled softly. "And believe me," He added, pointing to his ears, "I'll hear it."
They clambered into their beds. Piccolo shut off the light and started to close the door, when a small voice stopped him.
"M-mr. Piccolo?" Gotenstuttered timidly.
Piccolo paused, the door almost closed, then openedit again, glancing to Goten wearily. "Yes, kid? What do you want?"
"Can I have a night-light?" Goten peeked out from the covers, his eyes large and pleading above the edge covering his nose.
Piccolo looked at him in silence for a moment. "Ugh..." He said. "Fine."
He walked into the room. He opened his hand, letting his palm face upwards, and a small orb of light formed an inch from his palm, the light of it a soft blue color, the orb growing larger until it was the size of a baseball. It lit the room like soft moonlight. He pushed t from his palm to the night stand between the beds, where it floated peacefully, shedding a cool but comforting light over the room.
Goten grinned thankfully. "Thanks Mr. Piccolo."
He grunted his response and walked out, closing the door.
"Night Trunks." Goten whispered, settling in the bed comfortably.
"Night my ass." Trunks growled quietly.
Goten's eyes widened at the naughty word. "Trunks, if your mom heard you-"
"Yeah, yeah. Look, we aren't going to bed yet. He has no right to push this cruelty on us!"
"It's not that bad, I like sleeping." Goten replied softly.
"So do I, but not at 7 o' clock at night!"
"But..."
"Shh! Listen, I have anideahow to get out of here."
"But Trunks-"
"Shut up, Goten! I'm trying to tell you my plan!"
Goten fell silent, pouting slightly, knowing that most of Trunks' plans got them both into trouble.
"Okay, now listen..." Trunks smirked, the soft light of Piccolo's ki night-light illuminating his mischievous face.
---
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please review! I decided that since it snowed today--a VERY rare occurrence here where I live--a new chapter would be a good way to celebrate it. I'll try to get another one out Christmas Eve or tomorrow. This fic will linger after Christmas though, because one, I can't finish it in time, and two, I want to sort of extend the feeling of Christmas, one of the few happy times for many a year. So, keep an eye out, and thanks for the reviews!