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: …Anybody there?… /Silence except for an annoying dog barking outside/ Nope. /Pouts/ Where'd my readers go?!?! /Sighs/ Oh well. They'll be back. You /Points at person looking at the screen/, yes, you, you are here, aren't you? :) And you're a reader, so you're back! YAY! /Cheers/

/Calms down/ OK, whatever. Let's move on.

Apologies, apologies for taking so long for this chapter. Right after I got my inspiration break last chapter from Autumn, and was actually working on the chapter last chapter (heh, heh), I lost it to the four winds and am even now wracking my brain for ideas for this chapter. And the next, too. Ohh boy. Not good. Where is Kyoku when you need him?! /Sobs/ Sigh… Well, at least I have my new chibi muse Rei. He's so cute! /Squeals and hugs muse/ And because of both him and Autumn /Glares™ at flyaway muse/, this chapter is eleven pages long! Yay!! /Dances around, still hugging Rei/ Whee!

Enjoy!

:-:-:-:

Last time on Double Hate

Pan finally broke the silence with, "Well, I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Yeah," Jeff said. Marc said, "Take care," to them, receiving three "You too" replies in turn. The Harrison brothers then turned and marched out of there, evacuating the premises to leave three very lonely members of the Z-senshi behind.

:-:-:-:

Chapter Eleven: Guess Who's Been Invited to Dinner

:-:-:-:

The reactions of the rest of the Z-senshi to Verez' attempted assault upon Bra and the rescue performed by Jeff and Marc were pretty predictable, actually. Everyone was outraged and concerned, with Krillin being the most rational person there and Bulma and Vegeta vying for the title of the most irrational. Piccolo, who was also there, seemed to be unemotional, merely raising an eyebrow, while deep down, he really was thinking very, very, very hard.

Dende was going to have some hard questions to answer when he got out of there.

The rage fits of both Bulma and Vegeta went on for hours, with Chichi joining them when she arrived and found out the news. All the Z-senshi had been called together for the retelling of this event, as should have been evident from the people already mentioned. However, they all also needed to decide what to do about Jeff and Marc Harrison. Those two had already saved Bra twice now, and Earth's Special Forces, especially Bulma and Vegeta, owed these two a large debt. But how could they ever repay them?

They couldn't. But they could try and lessen some of it. Maybe they would pay back all of the debt, maybe they wouldn't, but being invited to an exclusive thank-you dinner at Capsule Corps over the next weekend might help. Hopefully those two would come, for weren't those two, Jeff and Marc, supposed to strongly resemble Gohan and Goten? The Z-senshi would see for themselves, if they came.

That was a big if. If Jeff and Marc were truly Gohan and Goten, then it was 75 possible that they wouldn't come. But if they weren't, then it was 75 possible that they would come. The odds were too confusing, but Bulma decided to just do it and see for herself whether or not Jeff and Marc Harrison would come, and if they did, how much they resembled the MIA Son brothers.

There was mixed emotions among the second generation of the Z-senshi itself. Trunks was pessimistic, saying in no uncertain terms that the Brothers Harrison were not going to come. Bra felt the complete opposite. She said that there was no way that they wouldn't come. Pan simply hoped that they did come, because then she could probably find (or create) an opportunity to corner Jeff and start badgering him to fight. Marron was the only one who was truly in the middle. She didn't know whether or not Jeff and Marc were going to come, but she found herself hoping that they were, but understandably thinking that they weren't.

Marron had not had much contact with Jeff and Marc at all over the past few months. She'd only spotted Marc that first day of school, and even then he hadn't talked to her, or, she thought, even noticed her. Of course, she was wrong, Marc had noticed her, but she didn't know that. Ignorance truly is bliss, eh? Other than that, apart from seeing him almost every day in study hall, Marron never, ever saw him. He didn't talk to her in study hall, either, having his own group of friends and his brother and his group of friends to talk to.

Jeff was pretty much the same, only he came by to check up on her every once in a while, about once every two weeks, actually, and they actually exchanged words. But that didn't really mean anything; Jeff did this to everybody, especially the freshmen, as part of his duty as vice president of the Student Council. This interaction didn't mean that he was doing it out of his own will. Still, it was nice, knowing that one brother, at least, was not totally ignoring her. She sighed at the thought.

Trunks noticed. "Hey, what's wrong, Marron? You're being pretty quiet today. Normally you're bouncing off the walls like Bra," he said.

Marron mock-glared at Trunks for his impertinence. "I do not bounce off the walls like your sister, Trunks. I merely have a lot of energy and very few outlets," she sniffed. Trunks rolled his eyes in answer. Marron grinned briefly at Trunks' exasperation, then sobered down again as she retraced her thoughts to the previous subject.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how Marc totally ignores me and how Jeff is at least a little bit kinder to me," she answered absently. Trunks looked troubled, but then Pan jumped in.

"Jeff's kind to everyone, Mare. He's the more approachable one, so to speak. But Marc's pretty cool, too. You just have to be the one to go to him, not have him come to you. Marc won't do anything unless you take the first step and talk to him. Then he'll talk to you, but only then," she said.

Marron and Trunks looked at Pan in shock. Where'd she get this knowledge?! Pan noticed and shrugged, a little sheepishly. "I have the same free period as he does, so I hang out with him and his friends during that time. They're really fun, although Marc is really homework-obsessed," she told them, another sheepish shrug accompanying her statement. Finally Marron ventured forth a question.

"How do I do that? You know, approach him?"

Pan's answer was, "Do you have any homework troubles?"

:-:-:-:

Three days later saw Marron sitting in study hall, trying to screw up her courage. This wasn't going to be easy, but she'd kept torturing herself over the past two days, on the weekend, thinking about how she was going to do this. She'd decided yesterday that she was just going to ask Lindsay for help on math, since Lindsay's weak spot was math, and Marc's strong spot was math. It was also Ivory's strong suit, but Marron was willing to take a gamble. Or had been. Right now, she wasn't feeling so great about her plan. What if Pan was wrong? What if he truly was ignoring her, Marc, she meant? She didn't like it all.

Finally, though, she decided to just do it. She turned and rummaged slowly in her backpack, withdrew her Algebra II books, and opened them. She opened the textbook to find the page of difficulty, marked it, then closed her book again. She laid her notebook on top, then hesitated again. Here went nothing…

"Hey guys, I'm no good at this Algebra stuff. I think I'll go ask someone to help me with this," she told her friends sitting next to her. Sarah looked up and nodded, while Natalie said, "Ask Marc to help you. He's a whiz. Or Jeff, if Marc can't help you." Marron nodded to her advice, took a deep breath, and stood up.

She turned and walked briskly over to Marc's group. All four friends were there, although there was a spot open for her, if they let her have it. Marc was busy at the moment, but Marron had not been planning to go to him directly anyway. She stopped before Lindsay and paused again, this time waiting for the girl to become aware of her. She didn't have to wait long.

"Hi," Lindsay said curiously, after looking up. Marron smiled shyly back. "Um, I don't understand my math homework. Could you help me?"

Lindsay looked stricken for a second, proving Pan's insight into Lindsay's weakness. Then she recovered and said, laughingly, "You're asking the wrong person, girl. The guy you want is Marc."

Having said that, Lindsay turned right around and nudged said person. Marron's eyes widened and her heart started beating a little faster as her plan folded out. Now it was time for the independent variable to come into play. How was Marc going to react?

"Huh, what? What is it, Lindz?" Marron distinctly heard Marc say. He turned around and spotted Marron, and Marron thought she something flash in those black eyes, but it was gone before she could decipher it.

"Hi," he said to her, his usual cheeriness showing through. Marron inwardly quirked an eyebrow, but Lindsay jumped in before Marron could say anything.

"Oh mighty Kami of mathematical wisdom, we are in need of your all-powerful help. Can you help this poor child with her Algebra II homework? Neither of us understand it," Lindsay bemoaned dramatically. Marron just had to grin at the junior's antics, even as Marc played along.

"Oh, I don't know. You're just a mortal, what do you have that I don't? You can't give me anything that I don't already have, can you?"

Lindsay snickered and pretended to hide something behind her back. Leaning back, Marron saw that it was a Butterfingers candy bar. Choking back a laugh, for obviously that was something that Marc liked, Marron straightened up. Marc looked at her questioningly, but Lindsay had a look on her face that told Marron not to tell. Marron just shook her head at Marc and held out her math books.

"Oh, yeah. Well, come on then. I'll help you. Just need to get the mere mortal out of the way," he said. He stuck his tongue out at Lindsay in response to her doing the same thing to him. Lindsay moved over, taking her things with her in the process. Marron hesitantly settled down in between them, then opened her book to page 214 and pointed to the specific problem.

"I don't understand what the Theorem on the Maximum or Minimum Value of a Quadratic Function means at all." (1)

:-:-:-:

To Marron's relief, the "experiment" went well. Marc didn't do anything to contradict Pan's confident summary of him, even agreeing to tutor Marron on anything mathematical that she needed. Marron was even more relieved on that, because he was easygoing and patient enough to take as long as she needed to figure out whatever it was that was bothering her. Trunks wasn't quite that same way, and besides, both he and Bra were more focused on science than math, although science basically was math and math basically was science, but those two were more in the experimentation and data collection and putting things together and taking them apart, etc.

Pan also was a math whiz, especially as she was in Advanced Calculus, but as it was her idea to get Marron close to Marc with the math difficulties, she wasn't about to help her. Not yet, anyway. If she was having too much difficulties even with Marc's coaching, then Pan would step in. However, Marron didn't think that Pan would need to step in. Not unless Marc was absent.

She had the feeling that this was the beginning of her redemption.

At least that was what it would be, if Marc truly were Goten.

:-:-:-:

Jeff raised an eyebrow as he looked at the mail. There was an envelope addressed to "The Harrison Family" in a familiar spiky handwriting, and the return envelope was the official address of the biggest company in Japan, Capsule Corporations. A knowing smirk spread over his face and he deliberately put down the envelope, then casually called out to Marc, who was in the next room.

"Marc?"

"Yeah?"

"Come in here, please?"

"Why?"

"Just do it, Marc."

"Okay, okay, don't tear your hair out." Footsteps could be heard as Marc assumedly walked across the room, even as Jeff replied, "As if I could."

Marc came around the corner just as Jeff said that, and it was with an acquiescent snort that Marc finished his epic journey from the next room and plunked down in the opposite seat across from his brother.

"What do you want?" he asked of his elder brother.

"Take a look at this. Remember that handwriting?" Jeff gave the envelope to his brother, and watched as the same smirk on his own face appeared on his brother's. They shared a glance and then ripped into the letter. Well, Marc did. He was the one with the letter, and Jeff was getting up to go around the table so that he would be able to read the letter over Marc's shoulder.

When Marc got the letter out of the envelope, and opened the letter itself, Jeff had to lean down in order to properly read the scrunched-down spiky handwriting on the paper, which was the same as that on the envelope. The letter read,

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Harrison,

I do not know if you know what events transpired last Friday concerning my daughter and your sons, but I will not write of them here. They still enrage me to the point of complete and utter irrationality if I think about them.

The G brothers had to chuckle at this statement as they imagined the author of the letter raging about and scaring the employees who stood in her path. It was a scene that they had witnessed many times before, but it was never as funny as it was now.

If you do not know what happened on Friday, I strongly suggest that you talk to your sons, Jeffrey and Marcus, before you read the rest of this letter. You may not understand what I am talking about otherwise.

Jeff had told the parents what had happened on Friday, while Marc had informed Linda. Myna had only pursed her lips, while Jack had shaken his head. The latter had told Jeff that it hadn't been necessary to bash Verez' head in against the wall, but what was done was done. Jeff had merely shrugged in agreement.

Linda's reaction, on the other hand, was one of glee. The authoress is going to leave to the reader's imagination exactly how she reacted.

In gratitude for your son's actions, we are inviting you to dinner at the residential half of the Capsule Corporations Headquarters in West City. You will find included with this letter a formal invitation with the address, directions on how to get to that address, our private phone number, and the date and time of the dinner. Please RSVP by Thursday at the earliest, Friday at the latest. We sincerely hope that you come, for it is not every day that my daughter, Bra, or anybody else of the Briefs family needs rescuing.

Yeah, right. Usually it was the Briefs who were involved in doing the rescuing, not being rescued. Marc's only comment was a very brief chuckle before he kept reading. Jeff's smirk just widened.

We, "we" being myself, my husband Vegeta, my daughter Bra, my son Trunks, and my parents, would like to thank you even if you are not coming. So with this letter and the invitation is included a cheque of 200 yen, which is half of the money we obtained from an earlier lawsuit of the teacher who assaulted Bra. Please, take this. We will not take back a gift of money once it is offered.

Seeing as gifts of money were offered so rarely by the Briefs, the Brothers Harrison could see why.

However, this letter does come with one more thing. This thing is another letter, this one for your sons. This is to be read by them only, although it is up to them whether or not to divulge its contents. This is the last piece of news I have to say, so we will be hearing from you next Thursday or Friday.

Truly yours,

Bulma B. Briefs

Jeff dug out the other letter than was addressed to them and read it quickly. He then gave it to Marc, who also skimmed it. Marc put down the letter and stared at Jeff, who looked steadily back at him. Both pairs of the brothers' eyes had darkened upon reading the more personal letter, and the sunnier mood of them both had gone down the drain to be washed out, like the spider who went up the water spout.

This was getting down to the nitty gritty.

:-:-:-:

The first letter was shown to Myna, Jack, and Linda, as well as the formal invitation and the cheque. The second letter, despite Bulma's orders, was also read by these three, and now all of the Harrison family knew exactly what they would be dealing with at the dinner, that is, if they were going.

The Harrison family was, at this very moment, debating that very issue.

Linda was saying, "But they think you're Gohan and Goten! It says so in that second letter!"

"Actually, it says that we resemble ourselves so strongly that they have suspicions that we are who we are. It doesn't actually say that directly," Marc quipped, always the stickler for details.

Linda just ignored her brother. "If those people at Capsule," she spat the word as if it were something bitter on her tongue, "get a good look at you, they will become convinced that you guys are Gohan and Goten, and then they'll try and take you away from us!" she shrieked, working herself into a state of frenzy.

Jeff looked wide-eyed at his normally-cheerful older sister. It was not just the fact that Linda was getting panicky, it was also that she had said "and they'll try to take you away from us." Did Linda care about them so much that she panicked when the possibility of the Brothers being taken away arose? Apparently so. He would have to ask her this very question later when she was calmer, just to confirm solidly his theory.

For now, though, Jeff just went over to her and hugged her, providing Linda with another outlet to which she could vent her emotions. Linda accepted the channel readily, burying her head into her brother's shoulder and starting to sob. The hearts of everyone in the room wrenched tightly to see this picture, and everyone joined in to give Linda comfort with a group hug. They stayed this way until the object of the hug quieted, only hiccuping every few minutes or so.

Breaking apart, Jack let go of Myna, Myna released Marc, and Marc unclasped his hands from around Jeff's back. Jeff held onto Linda a little longer, but then his sister extracted herself from his arms, wiping her eyes as she did. Jeff's eyes were bright as well, even as he told her, "We won't be taken away. You guys have adopted us, so we're not legally of their family any more. We're Harrisons, and nothing is going to change that. Nothing. Do you understand?" Jeff placed his hands on his sister's shoulders and looked deep into her eyes.

"Do you understand?" he asked again, when Linda didn't respond. Linda slowly nodded in answer, then Marc spoke up.

"Jeff's right. Even if it comes to a court case, they won't take us away. We'll fight tooth and nail to make sure of that. However, if they manage to win, we'll just run away again. We will. Right, Jeff?"

The eldest demi-Saiyan nodded as he let go of Linda. Linda finally smiled through her tears, if a little shakily. She wasn't entirely convinced, not by a long shot, but she was getting there. Jeff smiled back, relieved that she was happier, and Marc grinned, for the same reason as his brother. Myna and Jack were happy, too, but Linda had brought up some very good points. Would the Z-senshi try to get their sons back?

:-:-:-:

Linda retreated to her room to "freshen up". The rest of her family let her go, knowing that Linda really just needed some alone time, although one of them would be coming up to see how she was doing in a while. Jeff opted to be the one to do so, keeping in mind his question from earlier, during Linda's breakdown. He climbed up the stairs, making sure to make some noise so that Linda would be warned of his coming, and so wouldn't scream at him for sneaking up on her. Sure enough, when Jeff knocked on Linda's heavily decorated door, there was no scramble to get things organized, just a muffled,

"Come in!"

Jeff opened the door, went in, and closed the door after him. Linda looked up, smiled a still unsteady smile at him, and made room on her bed for him to sit down. Jeff rather flopped down on the bed, landing on his back on the feather-soft mattress Linda owned. He put his hands behind his head and looked up at Linda's ceiling, almost missing Linda's third feeble smile. He caught it out of the corner of his right eye though, and smirked back at her. The smirk faded as he looked at his sister and how quiet she was.

"You're still worried about them taking us away, aren't you?" he asked her solemnly.

Linda nodded, bending her neck so that her shoulder-length hair hid her face. It was a childhood habit that she had mostly grown out of, but she still reverted back to it whenever she was extremely nervous or didn't want to talk about something.

"Do you really care about us that you'd be devastated if we were taken away?" As almost per usual, Jeff got straight to the point.

Linda jerked and looked at her adopted brother with surprise. Jeff looked calmly back, although with a bit of curiosity mixed into his gaze as well.

Linda's forehead furrowed as she stared at Jeff. "Of course I do, bro. You and Marc are part of our family! Of course I'd be devastated if you two were taken away from us! I love you guys! Why are you asking me that question anyway?" she demanded to know.

Jeff just shrugged one shoulder and looked away. "The other people were supposed to love us too, but they didn't. Or they did, but not enough," he replied, quietly. Linda could hear in Jeff's voice that this had been bothering him for years, ever since he and Marc ran away, probably.

Forehead still furrowed, Linda put two fingers under her brother's chin and pulled his face towards her. She met Jeff's obsidian eyes with her own robin's-egg-blue ones and stared him down, forgetting all about her worries for the moment.

"Jeff, I don't think I know exactly how your former family put itself together, but it seems to me like it was a very loose organization," she started saying firmly. "Goku always seemed to be gone from your life, and Chichi seemed bent upon making Marc's and your lives miserable with just studying, studying, and more studying, no playing. Then the Earth seemed to always be in danger of being attacked by villains, from Radditz, Vegeta, Cell, and so on. And on top of that you guys are half-aliens, hybrids between humans and Saiyans, and therefore born with powers that are paranormal to normal humans.

"I don't think that you four guys got the chance to really form a firm family bond like we have now. You've been too busy growing up beyond your age during your childhood, and then when it's all over, and everything's done, you guys are practically adults, and not kids anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if those other people just didn't know what to do with you two anymore," she told her brother. Jeff listened to her silently, not interrupting her, although he did have something to say to Linda's last sentence.

"Even though my… those people didn't know what to do with us, they shouldn't have ignored us. They should have cared for us, done their best, even though they didn't exactly know how. They shouldn't have just given up. They'd never have given up if they had been fighting, Da… Goku especially. So why? Why did they give up, Lin?"

Linda was sympathetic, but her advice didn't match the feeling, exactly. "Different people have different strengths, Jeff. They're strong in some areas, but have no clue what to do in other areas. This may have been the case with the Sons. Some people, when they don't know what to do with something, they ignore it, hoping that it will go away on its own. Those people may have done the same thing."

"But we're people! You don't ignore people, especially children!" Jeff cried, out of patience with the cruelties of the world.

Linda leaned over and hugged him, empathizing with her brother as best as she could. It was her turn to be there for Jeff and Marc now, after all the times they'd been there for her. Time for some payback.

"I know," she said to Jeff when they drew apart. "I know. But that's why you're with us. Because we know how to deal with people, and we won't ever turn you away. Okay?"

Jeff nodded, glad he had Linda. Slowly his face broke into a grin as he thought about Linda's words, or more importantly, how she'd delivered them.

"You're going to be a great mom someday, sis."

:-:-:-:

(1) The Theorem on the Maximum or Minimum Value of a Quadratic Function is taken directly from my own Algebra II textbook, Algebra and Trigonometry with Analytic Geometry, Tenth Edition by Jeffery A. Cole and Earl W. Swokowski. I own a reproduction of this book only for educational purposes.

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A/n: /Pants/ That…was…intense…. Wow, lots of emotions running high this chap. Hope, pessimism, nervousness, anxiety, stress, and firm resolutions, and a bit of comic relief at the end. What a package.

This was a hard chapter to write, for all that it flowed out of my pen pretty easily once I got cracking on it. I had to think, and hopefully I've made you think about this too, about how different people take on things in different ways, and how some people tackle a problem head-on, and others dodge it and keep on running away from it until something very unpleasant happens. Maybe I should write something about this with the Z-senshi, how they reacted to the news of the Son's negligence, and how it affected them over the five unaccounted for years in this story. Maybe…

Autumn: Yeah! That's a good idea!

Rei: Do it as a one-shot, too!

Autumn: Yeah, and maybe write it as a flashback at a reunion or something! /Excited/

Rei: Or from Chichi's POV as she's alone one day! /Also sugar-high, chibi body bouncing up and down, golden eyes sparkling/

SP: /Looks™ at muses/ -Looks at readers- You are currently watching a typical beginning of a muse session, where the muses are so excited they can't sit still. /Deadpan/ -Turns back to muses-

Rei: /Fluttering everywhere on purple-and-orange butterfly wings/

Autumn: /Cartwheeling around the office/

SP: /To readers/ See what I mean?

Readers: O.o /Nod/

SP: Yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a muse session to attend and an apparent one-shot to write. Good bye, and don't forget to review! /Waves to readers, shuts office door/

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General Responses to Reviews

1) I'm glad everyone's happy I updated at long last! I know that I update sporadically, but I can't help it if I have such a lazy original muse. /Glares™ again at Autumn/ Luckily, I have another muse again, but Rei's a permanent one, a gift from SS2 Megami-sama! /Bows to the Falcon/ Arigatou, Fal-chan! You have helped me much, my friend!

2) Thanks to the reviewer who asked me if the Harrisons knew about the Son brothers being half-Saiyans, etc. It alerted me to the fact that I may have not made that clear enough. Thanks Neptunes Tsunami!

3) Chris, I agree, it would be fun to write Vegeta getting his hands on Verez. Heheh... I'll think about Bra training. It's definitely a good idea to have in this story. Thanks!

4) Thanks everyone for saying that this story is funny, entertaining, and different. These compliments make me so happy! /Hugs reviewers/ YAY!

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Thanks to Neptunes Tsunami (this updated soon enough for ya?! Haha!), Dan415, chris, DBZ Chick1, and SS2 Megami-sama for last chapter's reviews! They in part inspired me to keep writing this fic, not that I would stop anyway! Arigatou! /Bows/

/Calms down a bit/ Eh... Nothing else to say, except that I gotta study for exams now… Joy… I hope you enjoy this chapter update, for this will probably be the last one for a while… /Depressed/

Well, sinon!

TheShadowPanther, Autumn, and Rei, from AASN

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

Updated 01.16.05