Double Hate

Disclaimer: DBZ (DB/DBGT) no owned by me humble self.

Summary: The two have seemingly forgotten—but will they ever forgive?

A/n: /Authoress nowhere to be seen again/

Autumn: /Still sulky about being fired from the job of official muse of Double Hate/

Kyoku: /Is grinning like a chibi/

SP: /Comes rushing into the room/ -Skids along floor and runs to chair- Hoya folks!! I'm late, I know, I know, but I had an important meeting to go to with my AASN execs! Yes, I've got execs! AHH! /Flails/

Kyoku: Are execs hard to work with, SP?

SP: YEEEESSSS! They don't listen to you or anything!! I think I'll just have to fire them all if they continue on like this.

Kyoku: Can I come watch if you do that?

SP: Sure! All the muses can.

Autumn: /Snidely/ Even me?

SP: Even you, especially if you keep acting like this.

Autumn: /Confused/

SP: /Sees looks and smiles/ The more people we have that are pessimistic, the more the execs will squirm. Hehehe… But we do have to have at least one positive muse.

Kyoku: I'll be that one!

SP: /Notices readers standing by patiently/ Uh, hold that thought. HI!

Readers: Hi!

SP: As I was saying before I got sidetracked, I had an exec meeting. But that's over with and done, and the seventh chapter is waiting to be read. So…

Kyoku: READ!

Autumn: Yeah, read MY masterpiece of an idea!

SP: Yeah, well, if you hadn't been so lazy in inspiring me…

Autumn: Yeah, whatever.

SP: /Snickers/ Anyway, enjoy! This chap is a little slow in the beginning, not to mention really long, yes, escudo-blade, it's long!!, but it picks up in the end and there is a point. I hope.

Autumn/Kyoku: /Look™ at authoress/

SP: There is a point! I know it!

Muses: /Keep Looking™/

SP: /Sigh/ Enjoy, once again!


Chapter Seven: Tempest Call
The next day, Friday, dawned sluggishly. It was still dark at 5:15 in the morning when Jeff awoke to his alarm. Looking out of the window on the left side of his bed, he could see why.

Large grey clouds loomed like sky monoliths everywhere in the sky he could see. Nowhere could he see any spots of cheery blue, and already small droplets of rain were dripping down his window. However, it wasn't raining full out, which was good enough for a spar.

Jeff's head fell back onto his pillow. There were times when he didn't feel like getting out of bed; rainy days definitely were one of those times. This was a rainy day, and this was one of those times.

With a groan, Jeff pulled himself out of his longer-than-normal double bed. He scooped a shirt off of the footrest of the bed and pulled it on, yawning as he went. He yanked on loose-fitting sweats that would serve as a warm buffer against any rain that came down. He didn't bother with a hat, for it would just fly off in the spar and never be seen again. Such was the demise of two hats before, so Jeff knew what he was thinking about.

He trudged wearily downstairs were Marc was already making an appearance. The two exchanged good mornings and Jeff dropped into a chair with a sigh.

Marc studied his older brother. Jeff no longer felt good on rainy days, and was even more uncomfortable during typhoons. It just didn't seem like Jeff and water agreed anymore. It was because of that surfing accident that had grounded Jeff forever that this was the case. It had been a rainy day like this and dreadfully stormy out on the waters that Sunday. Yet Jeff had still gone out to surf that day, mainly because he'd been deeply hurt by one of his dear friends and surfing had always lessened his problems.

Normally Jeff would not have gone surfing on such a stormy day, but his judgement had been clouded by the anger and pain in his heart. Why did Ryan have to do that to him? Didn't it count that they'd been friends for the better part of three years?

Jeff had been so angry that he'd failed to notice the riptide area he'd entered into. And with the storm surge already beginning to surface, the situation could only get worse, as it did.

Jeff had been pulled in by the riptide and had struggled to escape. His surfboard had been ripped to shreds by the tide, and the Jeff had barely gotten out of there alive. Luckily, Marc had registered his untimely disappearance and had rushed to he rescue along with other surfers he'd contacted along the way. They had pulled Jeff from the surf and had called an ambulance for him. Later Marc had met up with his parents and his sister, awaiting news of Jeff and both hoping for and dreading the news to come.

Finally, hours and hours later, a nurse had come to tell the Harrisons that Jeff was alive and stable. His condition was still guarded, but there was a reduced chance that Jeff would go into shock. He would be kept at the hospital for a few more days to keep an eye on him, but otherwise they didn't have to worry anymore.

When Jeff had come home, he'd been as subdued as he was now. He'd meekly bore the grounding that he'd received from his parents, which had been no surfing for a month, then restricted to surfing only a day a week. Jeff hadn't said anything much that day, nor even the week after. But then Jeff had discovered lacrosse, and things had started to look up for the Harrison hybrid Saiyan.

However, when his ban on surfing was lifted after the set month, and Jeff had surfed for the first time, he'd come home to announce that he'd quit surfing. Myna and Jack had definitely been relieved, but Linda and Marc, especially, had demanded to know why. Jeff had explained that he couldn't even think about surfing without thinking about his accident, and he couldn't have fun if he was doing that. So lacrosse had filled his life instead of surfing.

Lacrosse helped him through the therapy sessions attended to recover from both the surfing and the suicide of Ryan. It helped Jeff through many of the internal problems he'd had in between the sessions, and had also played an indirect part in Jeff's getting control of his life back. Of course, the family had helped too, especially in the latter, but still, whenever there was a storm Jeff would get lethargic and unenthusiastic, an almost automatic action. The condition was better than when Jeff had just been about to start sophomore year, but some things never faded.

A hand waved in front of Marc's eyes, snapping him out of his reverie. Marc blinked and looked at Jeff, whose eyebrow had raised slightly to accentuate the inquiry,

"You okay, lil bro? You went and spaced out on me there," he added, his face relaxing into its normal expression of an amused smirk. Marc was glad to see it, but kept the conversation going with a grin of his own.

"I guess I do that to you a lot, huh?" Marc asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, you do," Jeff said, his hands spreading apart and coming up in a gesture of confusion. "What's up with that?"

Marc shrugged himself. "I don't know," his grin still sheepish, "I guess I have a lot to think about."

Jeff threw him an incredulous look. "You, think?" he asked, bursting into laughter at the indignant look he earned from his brother.

"You're gonna get a beating for that uncalled for remark, you mongrel," Marc threatened, shaking his fist menacingly at Jeff.

"Mongrel? Is that the best you can come up with?" Jeff's look turned into true incredulity at Marc's less-than-satisfactory attempt at an insult.

"Yeah," Marc replied, his sheepish grin returning to his face. Jeff exploded into laughter again, holding his stomach as Marc started laughing himself. The Go brothers lapsed into this new phase of the morning, laughing until their stomachs hurt and tears were streaming down Jeff's face.

Marc stopped laughing first, watching his brother forget, even for a singular slice of time, that it was raining and usually not a happy time for him. He hated seeing Jeff so depressed on rainy days; it was an ugly reminder of that day.

Jeff ceased laughing with difficulty. Every so often, he'd chuckle again, resulting in another battle for control. He clapped a hand on Marc's shoulder, still snickering and said, "C'mon, Marc," he broke into full laughter again, "let's spar before we lose the chance." Laughter overtook Jeff again as he followed his younger brother out into the dreary world waiting for them.


When they trooped back into the house dirty, but cheerful, Myna immediately noticed that her sons were much happier than usual for a rain day lately, especially Jeff. The elder brother was at ease for the first rainy day since that surfing accident two years ago. Jeff looked as though he had even been laughing. Myna wondered what could have made Jeff so cheerful to forget it was raining, or starting to. Jack noticed too, and shared a significant look with his wife as the G brothers greeted them, then headed upstairs for their showers.

Jeff came down dressed in a comfortable black turtleneck with a white stripe across the middle, khaki cargo pants, and his favorite Birkenstocks. He sat in his chair at the table and commenced to eat the pancakes laid out before them, slyly snagging two pancakes from Jack's plate in the going. While Marc came down, Jeff considered taking some more, but stopped at the look on his father's face. He switched gears and went for two of Linda's instead, knowing his sister would wake up late and be rushed for time anyway.

Marc grinned at his brother's sneaky tactics. He was dressed in a green plaid long-sleeved t-shirt and another t-shirt underneath. He wore baggy dark blue track pants and sturdy flip-flops, his favorite ones. Myna shook her head at her son's typical mix-and-match fashion statement, to which Marc simply snickered.

As Myna sat down and laid her tea mug on the table, she eyed the cheerful Jeff. She commented in what she hoped was a casual tone,

"So, Jeff, you seem very upbeat for a rainy day."

Jeff looked up at her, his fork still in his mouth. Myna had to keep from smiling and instead opted for a raised eyebrow. Marc gulped, as she looked so much like his brother when she did that that it was eerie. Jack put down his newspaper and also looked at Jeff. Marc chose to help his brother out and instead stole his share of two pancakes from Myna's plate, right under her nose.

Jeff swallowed his pancake bite and took the fork out of his mouth.

"What? Am I usually not this way on a rainy day?" Jeff asked innocently. Marc relieved the tension by snort derisively, just as Jeff had intended for him to. Jeff smirked at his cynical brother and went on in a more mature tone,

"Yeah, Marc and I were having this brief brotherly spat before our regular spar this morning, and, wait, what was it you called me?" This he asked of Marc, squinting absent-mindedly at his brother.

"Uh mfgh grfhh," mumbled Marc, earning him sharp glances from his parents. He swallowed his food at last and repeated, "A mongrel."

"Oh, yeah," Jeff said, remembering. He snorted into laughter again, the chuckles causing his parents to look at each other strangely. Jeff caught those looks and attempted to explain, calming himself down slightly in the process. Marc just kept on eating after a failed attempt to obtain one and a half pancakes from Jeff's plate. A fork planted securely into the pancakes had been in his way, placed there by a meaningful-eyed Jeff.

Jeff continued, keeping one bright eye on Marc's motions, "We were warming up a serious name-calling contest when Marc pulls this really fantastic bravado line, and he flunks it, calling me a mongrel at the end. It was just so pathetic, it was hysterical." A reminiscing grin lingered on his face as he added, "I'll be laughing at that all day."

Myna and Jack smiled too. Maybe Jeff would get over his rainy-day depression. Maybe not. The only thing they could do was hope that Jeff would get over the final obstacle to his full mental recovery, and see a particle of that hope bloom for a single moment in time.

A beep from Jack's watch alerted the brothers to the fact that it was 8:00. Time to get moving. Jeff got up and carried his half-full plate to the sink, eating the rest of the one and a half pancakes on the way to it. Marc gulped down his portion and left the plate on the table, leaving it to give Myna a kiss on the cheek. Jeff grabbed their backpacks and gave his mother his own kiss, parting also with a roguish wink to Linda as she rushed in. He shared amused grins with Jack as Linda found her plate almost empty of pancakes, then headed out of the door before his sister could shriek at him.

Jeff headed to the van where Marc was already waiting patiently in the driver's seat. They smirked at each other as Jeff strapped his seat belt on. Marc started the car and they were off.


By the time the Harrison van arrived at OSH, many jokes had been shared, keeping up Jeff's good humor and the relaxation of the situation. Marc had been the recipient of many dry glares while sarcastic remarks spewed out of Jeff's mouth, nullifying the glares and eliciting laughter from the recipient, Marc. This was normal for the brothers on their way to OSH, but not while the skies above were preparing to cry.

Marc parked the car. Jingling the keys, he came around the end of the van and walked with Jeff to the doors of OSH to start the new day.


Trunks followed Logan to their first period of Friday, which was Study Hall with Mr. Aethonan in Room 117. Coming in, they immediately spotted Marc, Ivory, Bobby, and Lindsay already in their seats. Dwight was there, too, hanging out with two sophomore boys Bra surely knew the names of. Pan, surprisingly, was there as well; she was known amongst the Z-senshi as being as late to everything as her father, Goku. It was likely Chichi's work Pan was here on time.

Marron showed up, Bra in tow, both gossiping happily. They split up to join their own friends, Marron with Trunks and Logan, Bra with Pan and their new mutual friend, Daisuke (1), who was a boy and a sophomore too. Mandy and her two giggly friends had been transferred to a new teacher for study hall after Mr. Aethonan had reported them for being too loud. In their places were Derrick, Tor, and Daisuke. Bra had been happy and immediately made friends with Daisuke, while Derrick and Tor had brushed her off and walked over to Dwight.

Two slim and uber-confident senior girls slipped in five minutes late, only one of whom was supposed to be in this class. Aethonan allowed the second girl to stay when she explained (quite boredly) that she had a free period and she wouldn't bother the class. Trunks raised an eyebrow at that but didn't mention his thoughts to anyone.

Then came the spotlight stars of the study hall, the wimpy-looking Ren and the charismatic Jeff. Trunks relaxed slightly upon seeing Jeff, but not very. He'd been worried that Jeff wouldn't come. He didn't exactly want to admit it, but he needed to see Jeff and Marc in the flesh before his eyes. He needed to reassure himself that he still had a chance to redeem himself to them; that they had not run away again. He'd immediately seen Marc, so his fears about Marc had been laid to rest for the day, but he still could not rest until Jeff came. Well, now he had, and Trunks' day was complete.

Sighing in part-relief and part-tiredness, Trunks pulled out his History essay. Thank Dende for my sister, Trunks thought, as he looked it over. I never would have been able to get to bed as early as 11:35 last night if it weren't for her. Trunks frowned as he caught a potential mistake, but relaxed as he remembered it was fine.

"Strange," he heard Logan say. Turning up and around to look at him, Trunks asked, "What's strange?"

"Jeff." Logan pointed a finger at the senior.

"Jeff?" Trunks asked, swiveling around again to look at him. He looked back at his friend again, seeing nothing wrong. Bobby, behind them, looked too, and said,

"Yeah, that is strange." Upon saying that, he nudged Marc and conferred with him. Marc flashed a grin at Bobby and snickered, then went back to his work.

Marron and her free-period friend Natalie were too busy working on the last-minute details of their own History essays to pay any attention, but Sarah, another free-period girl working with them, looked up and over with them at Jeff too.

Her eyes popped out and she quickly turned to Natalie and Marron. Natalie's head poked around Marron's body to see Jeff laugh, and her eyes widened as well. Marron leaned in to ask the two what was so weird, just as a frustrated Trunks did the same to Logan.

"What's strange about Jeff? He's usually that way, even in the morning," Trunks grumbled to himself. He had never ever been a morning person.

"Not on rainy days. I've never seen Jeff smile on rainy days, ever. Charlotte over there told me," Logan said, pointing over at the senior girl who wasn't supposed to be in there with them, "she told me that Jeff loved rainy days when they were freshmen. But then he had a surfing accident on a rainy day, and Jeff's never liked them since."

"And he also quit surfing because of that," Logan added a second later. He bowed his head quickly and pretended to work when the teacher looked sharply in his direction. Trunks did, too, but with a thoughtful frown on his face. He carefully stapled the pages of his essay together and put it in his History folder. He put that aside and went into his backpack for his Spanish III notebook. He had a test today, and was fairly sure he would ace it. No harm in making sure.

But why would Jeff quite surfing because of an accident? Especially if he was Gohan? Had it been life-or-death, that accident? That was the only thing Trunks could think of that would cause someone like Jeff or Gohan to quit doing something once they'd committed to it. Trunks doubted that Gohan would have quit anyway. He, Goten, and Trunks had been though so much in their lives and Gohan had never quit fighting. Maybe that was because fighting was necessary, Trunks admitted to himself. Surfing was necessary.

Still, Trunks couldn't envision Gohan ever quitting at anything. One more chalk line up for Jeff against Gohan.

Had that accident been life-or-death or not?

Marc watched Trunks while Jeff watched Marc and Trunks stared at Jeff. Marc and Jeff amused themselves with mental conversations about Trunks' efforts to be subtle, which only made him stand out more. They also somehow managed to get some of that day's homework done, having done last night's before they came home yesterday. It was also an extended period, so there was plenty of time.

Jeff put down his pencil, having finished the last of the "hard" homework for AP English. He'd already done AP Japanese, AP Latin, and AP World History. Now the AP Physics and AP Calculus would be a snap of his fingers. He stretched, then decided to have a little fun.

Reaching out, he skimmed mental fingers over Trunks' mind. Trunks shuddered immediately and sat bolt upright, searching for the perpetrator. Jeff retracted promptly from Trunks defenses before Trunks could lock on him. Grinning wickedly to himself, Jeff reached for Marron next.

She, too, shuddered and cast about for the intruder, but Jeff had already moved on. Bra was next to show a reaction, but she managed not to look around. Daisuke did notice she suddenly looked uncomfortable, however. Jeff merely snickered in time with a joke Ren delivered that was really bad.

Pan noticed also that Bra was uncomfortable, but she didn't look as if she was physically uncomfortable. There was a distant look on her face as if she were daydreaming, or talking mentally to someone. Pan thrust up her mental guards and strengthened them, just in time for someone to come knocking.

Hmm, you're fast. Saw what happened to the others and put up your guards. Nice. An amused voice resounded in her head in between her ears.

Who are you? Pan demanded angrily. She sought to identify the infiltrator just beyond her fortress, but the unknown dodged her consciousness and went circling in the other direction.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. You wouldn't want to be rude to your guest, now would you? the interloper asked in a tone that was nearly taunting, but not there yet.

Pan glowered as she tried to keep track of the invader in her head. I didn't even invite you into my head. You're trespassing, she told the voice.

True, but I'm here now, aren't I? Better treat me nice if you want me to leave, the anonymous encroacher teased.

Pan's eyes narrowed even more into a glare. I will not. You are being rude, trespassing into my head like this when I don't know you, have never seen you, don't know what your life is like, and you don't know what my life is like. So you get out of my head now and start respecting other people's privacy, Pan told the interloper firmly.

The amused voice came back to her mockingly. Nice speech. How about you take your own advice sometime?

What? What are you talking about? Pan asked furiously. Tell me! She got no answer but the feeling of emptiness the unknown parted with as it vacated the premises. Pan was left to figure out in vain the cryptic message and who, or what, had just told it to her.

On a hunch, Pan looked up and around. Trunks looked stunned still, Marron was shifty-eyed, and Bra was still uncomfortable, though with dark-haired Daisuke focusing on her, it didn't seem it would be that way for long. Pan ignored them and looked around for any potential psychics. Hmm…that pale-skinned girl sitting by Marc certainly looks suspicious, as does Marc himself. Bobby…he's too cheerful to do something as evil as the unknown just did. Lindsay's too friendly. Pan knew both Lindsay and Bobby and discarded them both.

She looked at Charlotte and her friend, Alice. Nope, both are too airhead-y to do it. Pan doubted that they even knew what telepathy was. However, she paused at one of the sophomore boys Dwight was talking to, Tor. He wore a princely air, as if the world revolved around him. Pan almost immediately disliked him, but was surprised when he smiled; then he looked cute. Pan looked quickly away.

Her eyes landed on Jeff and Ren. Immediately she suspected Jeff. She remembered the compromised air she had felt—still felt—on her first day of school and her desire to fight him and see how strong he was. She narrowed her eyes and watched every move he made as he put away a binder and brought out another one. From here she could distinctly make out that the new one as AP Calculus, while the old one had been AP Physics.

Pan shook her head. With five years of her mother's tutelage under her belt, Pan could take on Advanced Calculus just fine, but AP Calculus? No way. She admired people who could take it and finish a homework assignment in approximately…11 minutes. OK. That's just creepy.

Pan shook her head again, this time to clear it. She looked back down at her Chemistry assignment and sighed. Science was not her strong suit at all. Luckily, she knew someone who lived for science. Three people, actually. Time to pick the brain of the youngest female one, so to speak.

Twenty-five minutes later, the study hall ended. Pan had just barely completed her Chemistry assignment and was even filing it away into her backpack when the bell rang. Feet stomped out and away into the hallway for the second period, rushing by like a train by an abandoned train station. Pan blew her hair out from her face as the last person went out the door. She picked up her heavy backpack easily and followed the last ones out. She escaped from behind them and headed to her next class, Mandatory English.

The school day passed, and rain finally fell.


(Here at last comes the action!)

All sports practices were canceled that day, except for the hardy cross-country team, which had a huge following despite the all-weather and all-terrain policy the team sturdily upheld.

Jeff was kind of disappointed that lacrosse practice was canceled, but not so much that he couldn't find something else to do. Marc was definitely glad, for then soccer was unavailable and he could watch the surfing competition being held out on Lake St. Chennyspeare (2) later that afternoon. It was still going despite the light drizzle they were getting; Marc was glad because he'd been looking forward to this contest all month.

Marc wasn't going to compete in the contest, because, quite frankly, with Jeff gone, there was no competition for him in surfing. Marc had entered exactly three surfing competitions since Jeff had quit, and he'd made off with the gold easily, too easily. No one compared to him like Jeff had. They couldn't, either, with their human genes being inferior to a hybrid Saiyan's. There was just no way.

Bra wasn't happy that tennis practice was canceled. She loved tennis! It helped that the tennis coach was a woman who could actually teach tennis in a fun and creative way, so that Bra was hooked almost immediately (Bad pun right there, but it was not intentional). Pan didn't care if field hockey was canceled or not; she could actually be using her time better. Marron felt the same as Bra about tennis and was almost in tears at seeing the announcement. Trunks was the same as Pan for his own chosen sport, lacrosse (3), which he had found he shared with Jeff, Ethan, and Ren. He was still on the JV team, but he didn't care if he made it to varsity or not. Still, he was going to have to find something to do at home.

Jut then, the whole group overheard Ivory, Marc's friend, telling Rachel Hatting about a surfing contest that was taking place on Lake St. Chennyspeare. It seemed Marc was going, but not competing. Ivory was going to compete, since there were going to be some major waves to surf on this rainy day.

The group shared glances. Trunks immediately snapped out his cell phone to call his parents. Bra gave hers to Pan to operate. Marron produced her own cell phone and dialed her number. One by one, the four got permission to stay after to watch the contest; they did have to explain that Marc/Goten was going there, and it was a perfect opportunity to snoop about. The last sentence sealed it for all of them and, following the satellite directions beamed down onto Trunks' cell, they drove in the Capsule Jet to Lake St. Chennyspeare. There they found hundreds of surfers flocking about with rubber wetsuits on and surfboards, even dogs running everywhere. Somehow these rascally animals did not get trampled underfoot or sink into the wet sand they ran on.

Looking around, the group hurriedly found a shelter to huddle under for the contest. The first five surfers had already had their battle with Mother Nature, now it was just thirteen more. However, only four made it onto the waves before the rain was finally too much, and the surfers had to abandon the premises. However, two people did not head home right away, and it was these two the Z-senshi group II locked on.

The two were indeed Marc and Jeff, and Jeff was grumpy. Marc simply ignored him in favor of looking for his backpack. He'd put it somewhere on the sand and couldn't remember where. Luckily, it was not the messenger bag that held his homework, it merely held his own surfer things that could fit in there.

Seeing a dark shape in the rain, Marc ran towards it. Recognizing it immediately, Marc let out a joyful cry and picked the backpack up. behind him, Jeff rolled his eyes. But then a scream made the Harrison Brothers whip around and stare at the dark blue head wafting out to sea.

"Bra!" they cried out at the same time and sprinted towards the others (whose ki signatures had been carefully monitored this whole time). By the time they got there, Bra had already slipped way beyond swimming reach. And with each wave, she kept getting further and further away.

Marc muttered, "Damn."

"My sentiments exactly. Do you have your surfboard with you, Marc?" Jeff asked, never taking his eyes off Bra.

"Yep, in the van. Want me to go get it?" Marc responded.

"Why aren't you?"

"Right." Marc turned and ran through the rain, disappearing in the blink of an eye in the torrent. Jeff turned his verbal attention to the others, "Can she swim?"

Trunks answered, his voice only an agitated fluctuation in the rain. "Yeah, but she's never swum in anything more than five feet deep!"

"Damn," Jeff said this time. "Can any of you swim?" he asked, belatedly remembering that Trunks had never bothered, and Marron hadn't been allowed to, living on an island as she did. Trunks shook his head as Marron did the same. Pan was quaking, however, as Jeff looked at her. He could tell she would be of no use, and told her immediately.

"Never mind, Pan, I can see from your shaking that you can't swim." Pan's only answer was to shake harder. Jeff turned to Trunks again.

"Trunks, take Pan and go with Marron to your car. Get towels or some other thing and get those clothes off of Pan. Make her nice and dry and warm, or else she'll get a serious cold and possibly pneumonia," he ordered. "Do the same with yourselves as soon as you can. Do Pan first. She's shaking too hard for you to worry about you guys right now. Go!"

Trunks nodded and took off, dashing with Marron towing Pan under her jacket. Jeff turned to the sea and stripped off his jacket. He dug out Marc's wetsuit and put it on over his clothes. He knew that Marc wouldn't ever surf in this kind of weather with the storm surges, and knew he shouldn't be either, especially after his own accident. Still, this was Bra's life at stake, and that's all that mattered.

Marc came back toting his surfboard. He looked at Jeff dressed in his wetsuit and met his brother's eyes. He silently handed over the surfboard and said nothing as Jeff headed towards the waves. One thought did repeat itself over and over again in his mind.

Be careful, big bro. Please be careful.

Jeff found that surfing came easily to him, even after two solid years of not doing it. He paddled strongly, searching for Bra's ki. He found that he was too far left to safely make his way over there, so he paddled on past it. He sat on top of the board and waited for the next wave; when it came he turned tail and let it come. It came with a roar, and as he climbed up onto the board, onto his own two feet, it carried him down to where Bra's ki lay.

Jeff bent his knees and kept his head low, helping himself cruise through the crest of the wave as it came tumbling down on him. Jeff immediately latched onto the wave coming after the first one, performing a kind of alley-oop skateboarders usually do, only with a much bigger board.

A year ago, the thought of surfing like this would have made Jeff slightly nauseous. A month ago, the same demi-Saiyan would have just shrugged. The Jeff now was not thinking about it, all he wanted to do was rescue Bra.

Jeff rode the next wave all the way to the exact spot that Bra's ki was in front of. Abandoning the board, Jeff dove straight as an arrow into the waves. However, the Velcro ankleband he'd strapped onto his ankle before surfing prevented the board from floating away entirely. Jeff ignored the board he tugged after him and focused entirely on Bra floating down under him. Swimming towards her, Jeff made a grab for her. He grasped a foot but promptly dropped it a second later. On his second swipe, he managed to get a tight hold on her arm. Turning now for the sky above, Jeff lunged for the surface. He got there in two quick kicks, thanking the Kais he was a Saiyan and not just human.

Casting about for the surfboard, Jeff found it and hauled Bra's unconscious form over it, in the middle. He thrust himself onto it a wave later, his weight almost causing Bra to slip off. Jeff placed a steadying hand on her back, though, and prevented her.

Looking back, Jeff immediately stood over Bra up on the board again as another wave came on. It was a huge swell, too, so it would carry Jeff all the way to the shallows, where Bra would be safe.

Jeff rode the wave as far as he predicted, and then some. He slid off the board a bit earlier than he should have, almost resulting in a wipeout, but Marc splashing forth to meet them saved Jeff from that fate. In an unspoken agreement, Marc lifted Bra off of the board and carried her out of the waters onto the beach and into one of the shelters, out of the rain. Jeff followed behind at a pace no less urgent, even though his part was almost over.

Trunks arrived just in time to see Marc start pounding on Bra's chest; he immediately rushed over. He snatched up Bra's cold hand and held it to his cheek, reaching out with his consciousness and calling his sister's name in her head.

Marc continued to pump away on her chest. Jeff watched silently by, still not thinking about what happened. That was for later. He watched as Trunks called for his sister to come back, and as Marc performed manual CPR without going to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Bra was breathing, she just needed to get some water out of her system. Jeff closed his eyes and added his strength to Trunks' in calling for Bra.


Trunks didn't know what this new warm feeling was, but he took it and poured it into his sister, still calling for her to come back. Finally she did, murmuring,

Trunks?

Sis! You're coming back!

Trunks, who's that with you? Bra asked sleepily. Trunks could feel that she was indeed coming back, so he took a moment to examine and identify the warm feeling, even as it started to fade.

I think… I think that's Gohan, sis. Gohan was here with me.

Gohan?

Yeah. He's fading though, so…

No! He can't be going already! He has to stay here with us! Bra cried. Trunks jerked away from her, dropping her hand, as she exploded into consciousness. He immediately turned back to see her face as Marc pumped again and Jeff opened his eyes, seemingly in reaction to Trunks' actions.

With Marc's pump, water spluttered out of Bra's mouth and she coughed. Marc stopped pushing and allowed her to sit up, vomiting the rest of the water onto the sand as she did so. Trunks rubbed his sister's back when she straightened up again; she leaned into him for comfort, causing Trunks to wrap his arms around her in a brotherly hug.

The princeling demi-Saiyan turned a rain-streaked face toward the Harrison Brothers. The gratitude in his eyes was all that was needed to convey his thanks; Marc and Jeff simply nodded to him. They turned to go home, Jeff shoving off from his perch on the wall, when a small voice stopped them.

"Thanks, Jeff… Marc," it said, causing them to look back at the speaker, Bra.

"Thanks, you guys… for… saving me. I don't think… I'd have survived… if you hadn't… been here…" she finished, having to take breaths in between her words. Blessed life, she thought. Never so sweet as when coming back from death. Trunks, hearing this, squeezed his sister harder and buried his face into her water-soaked hair. The Harrison Brothers nodded again, and turned again to go home.

On the way, they picked up Marc's surfboard, with the Velcro snapped off, and the backpack, which had been dropped. They trudged to the van in the rain that was coming down gently now; not as hard as an hour ago. Getting in, Marc fishing the keys out of the dry messenger bag in the back of the van; they settled the surfboard in securely and then threw the wet pack in. Marcput the key into the ignition and waited as Jeff ran around and got into the van. They then started the very silent drive home.


Jeff was finally thinking about what he'd done. He'd surfed again. And on a rainy day. It'd felt good, the rain, pounding on his skin, splashing on his hair, making him feel clean. Of course, rain in Japan wasn't exactly clean, he'd have to take a shower after this, but Jeff had felt good from rain for the first time in two years. He'd no longer be grumpy in the rain. It would take a few more rainy days, but starting now, Jeff Gohan Harrison would love the rain, once again.

Now, for the Z-senshi. Jeff, deep down, still cared very much for the Z-senshi. He knew Marc did as well. But that year after the Cell Games had been so very bad, even after all the fighting and saving Earth that they'd done, individually and together. Thefive years afterwards had been a very cool respite, and Jeff didn't even want to go back to living the life he had been living. He didn't think he could. He'd changed too much to be able to fit in that life. Both he and Marc had changed. Jeff had changed just now, with his re-found confidence in surfing and a new confidence in himself. He could overcome anything now, even the Z-senshi, with their pleas of redemption. He just needed support, and time to find the right path. And wasn't this the right path, after a year of neglect? Jeff no longer was sure about that. But he did know that he could, and would, in time, eventually forgive the Z-senshi, both for neglecting him and for not standing up for him or Marc when they needed them. That time was not now, and Jeff didn't know when it would be. But it would be, and Jeff would gladly be there when it came.

"You know, Jeff, that was nasty surfing you did back there," Marc commented softly when they were at a red light, breaking into his brother's deeply philosophical thoughts.

"Yeah," Jeff said, his own voice soft. He added, a moment later, "Crap."

Marc had to smile at that one, even as he worried about what that word could be for. Jeff solved this with the sentence,

"Guess I really have no excuse not to go surfing with you now, huh?"

The brothers looked at each other, then looked away, and said, "Nope."

Jeff said again, "Crap," while Marc grinned™ evilly. He returned to negotiating carefully the roads in the rain, grinning all the way home.


A/n: /Pants/ Whoa… That took me, like, three days or something to write. The last day I was so inspired by either Kyoku or Autumn (I don't know which), that I was writing madly until 11:00 PM, and I had writer's cramp so bad I nearly winced. Ouch. I was tired, too, that night. Yawn.

When I was typing this up on my laptop, I noticed that I'm portraying Pan a lot like Videl first was like when Gohan came to OSH in the series. And she's in this story, too. I just haven't found anyplace to put her yet. Or Sharpner and Erasa. Those two goons. So what do you think? Should I create a place for Videl to come in with her cronies, or should I just forge on ahead like I am, without her? And yes, SS2 Megami-sama, I know your opinion of THE SATAN SLUT. I want other people's opinion too, what little reviewers there are. LOL.

Again! Another philosophical thinking chapter that I've written! It's the first or second one (can't remember duh) that I've written for Double Hate, but in Kakkhan, they're everywhere, like in every chapter. Yow! Tells ya I'm one of those weird deep thinkers, eh? Ehhh… Oh well. Rather have brains than beauty. :) Or brawn. :)

OK… Onto the reviewers! (Where are my muses? O.o)

escudo-blade: This long enough for ya?! LOL! Thanks for your compliments and your review. You've made one authoress very happy.

SS2 Megami-sama: HI! I'm glad I started it up again too! It was weighing most heavily upon my mind I assure you. :D

Vote your full opinion upon the matter of the Satan Slut! I want deets, not just general info! ;)

To Tobi: Ya want to know Autumn better? There here, have a date with her, you twelve-year-old bishi! /Grabs Autumn by arm as she comes in and shoves her on top of Tobi/

Tobi/Autumn: /Blink awkwardly/

Tobi: /Sticks hand out for Autumn to shake/ Hi, I'm Tobi! Do you like exploring?

Autumn: /Shakes hand/ I'm Autumn. Yeah, I like exploring. Do you like playing pranks too?

Tobi: Yeah!! Let's play one on Fal-chan and SP-sama!

Autumn: Yeah!! /Muses wander away, plotting something/

SP: /Moans/ What have I done?!

Falcon: There, there, SP. We'll find out sooner or later…

DBZ Chick1: Thanks! I'm glad I updated too!! :D DH is not dead!! No siree! Not by a long shot!

: Thanks! I'm glad I updated too!! :D is not dead!! No siree! Not by a long shot!

Nooka: I can't wait to write it! I know the answers to both questions (not really Verez, but definitely the G brothers heh) and I can't wait to tell ya!!


(1) "Daisuke" is the name of the main hero in D-N-Angel. I've simply borrowed it, mesa no own.

(2) Chennyspeare mesa own. :)

(3) I know it's out of season for lacrosse, in the fall, but go with me here!
SP: Well, that's where Autumn went, with one of SS2 Megami-sama's muses, but Kyoku is right here.

Kyoku: Yep!

SP: :D Hi Kyoku. Hey, were you the one who inspired me with this really long chapter, or was it Autumn?

Kyoku: /Tilts head as mouth becomes little circle anime style/ Me. /Smiles dazzling smile/

SP: You did? Awesome!

Kyoku: But Autumn was the one who helped you out with how to get Trunks and the Z-senshi over to the surfing contest.

SP: Oh, yeah, I remember now. Yeah. Guess I have to keep her around now.

Kyoku: :)

SP: Oh, well, I'll keep you too, to keep Autumn in line!

Kyoku: -:D-

SP: Haha, Kyoku, you're pretty happy about that. /Kyoku nods/ Well, I seem to have said all that I needed to say, so adios, amigos! Catch ya next time, on Double Hate!

Kyoku: Enjoy!

Autumn: /Pops up out of nowhere, an evil grin on face/ And come back soon! /Starts laughing evilly/

SP/Kyoku: /Look™ at Autumn/

Bye guys! Don't forget to review!

TheShadowPanther, Kyoku, and Autumn from AASN

AASN; Writing is what we do for you at AASN. Enjoy.

(Kyoku: /Turns into huge dragon and chases after Autumn/

SP: Bye guys! Have fun! /Grins unashamedly/)