Author's Note:

I would like to apologize for not putting this chapter up sooner. I already wrote a couple of chapters, but I wasn't able to upload any because I've been busy with other things, like reviving my Goten shrine. Plus, I have an evil server, too. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

Hikari No Will Power
Act Two, Chapter Three
The Green-Eyed Monster Makes Its Appearance! Sort Your Feelings Out, Yumi Kaname!

"The international terrorist group identified by the Tokyo Police Force as Cessa bombed Capitol Hall half an hour ago, but they were caught red-handed almost immediately by Japan's new Champion of Justice, the so-called Great Saiyaman. He's extraordinarily strong, he travels faster than the speed of light, and he wears a ridiculous silver-and-turquoise costume --- but everyone's extremely grateful for his help and assistance, including Prime Minister Honoo Shidoosha who was saved by the new superhero."

Goten pushed the door of their apartment with Yumi and Trunks open, and was surprised to see the two sitting on the couch together and watching TV. After all, they were in yet another one of their wars when he left them earlier. Before he could say anything about the surprising situation, however, his best friend's future counterpart turned to him and smirked. "Did anyone ever tell you how ridiculous your costume looks on TV?"

He blinked. "What costume?" he asked, shutting the door.

"Don't be so naive, Son," the other replied with an amused grin, fixing his gaze at the demi-saiyajin who still had a blank expression on his handsome features. "Rather, don't act like you're so naive. You're stretching your naivete into a length that's already beyond its nature, and that makes it unbelievable. You know very well what I'm talking about, Great Saiyaman."

Those words made the younger of the two sigh heavily. "It's really that ridiculous?"

A mischievous glimmer appeared in Trunks' blue eyes. "Oh, so much more," he answered, before he gestured towards the empty spot on the couch between him and the daughter of the deceased Prime Minister, which Goten casually took. "I don't really know what to tell you regarding that profession you selected, except that your outfit is downright absurd. Where'd you get those clothes anyway, and whose style are you trying to emulate?"

That was when a smirk appeared on Goten's face. "Actually, I took it from a children's shop just near the hospital. I took a variety of clothes from a variety of costumes, and rushed into the crime scene with them. I know, I know, it's ridiculous, but I had---"

"You didn't pay for them?!" Yumi exclaimed.

"I did, right after I saved all those people. I had to keep my identity a secret, you know," he explained, calming the young woman down. He then looked at Trunks and the smirk that was plastered on his face earlier resurfaced. "Whose style I'm trying to emulate? Why, my brother's, of course."

Trunks' sapphire orbs were fixed at him. "You're kidding."

"I idolize him more than anyone else on this planet!" Goten exclaimed with a crooked grin, enjoying the look of disbelief on his friend's features. "Why so surprised? Can't you believe that the Gohan you knew when you traveled to our timeline is as silly as the costume I paraded with in the city? Well, you better believe it. He had stupid poses to go along his introduction, too --- and I won't go as far as emulating that, thank you."

"But the Gohan I knew..." the other demi-saiyajin began, then he sighed, shaking his head. "Well, we are of two different worlds. I suppose he had a swell time growing up." His voice again had that tinge of jealousy that made Goten regret what he just told the young man. But then again, he was the one who chose the topic to discuss. "What a wonderful world you must have been in. You didn't have to worry about the androids---"

"And we didn't have a father for seven years. Wonderful world, Trunks? Think again," the younger interjected with a frown. He then casted his gaze on the wooden floor, as if he could see what it was comprised of. "It's not as wonderful as you think. We had to deal with someone far worse than the androids, a pink blob called Majin Buu, who managed to kill us off one by one, until only a few were left to save the universe. True, I was unconscious when I was killed, but the whole planet went into oblivion with us at that death. And even before that, Okaasan was turned into an egg and squashed right before my very eyes. I was only seven years old then."

That was when Yumi decided to interfere, apparently sick of what they were doing. "Is that all you're going to do for the rest of the day?!" she snapped, standing up to address the two who immediately looked at her upon her outburst. "Argue about whose life is more miserable, and why it's more depressing than the other?! Give me a break!"

"What's her problem?" they asked in unison as she stormed out of the living room with heavy steps.

No matter how hard Erasa tried, it was almost impossible for her to walk in the same pace as with Videl, who was half-running towards her apartment, bags of groceries in her arms. "You've got to listen to me, Vi-chan," she argued, struggling to at least stay five paces behind the Chief of Police --- and nothing more than that. "Such drastic measures will not guarantee a victory for us! There are other groups who will definitely interfere, and if we won't plan things out carefully, everything might crumble in the blink of an eye!"

"Erasa, please, if you wish to discuss that matter further, don't talk about it here," the other chided as she reached out to the one of the pockets of her trenchcoat to pull out a couple of keys. She then cocked her head to the side slightly to look at her friend. "Would you please do me a favor? I need to pick up the laundry, but I also need to pick up---"

"Sure, Vi-chan," Erasa interrupted, raising up her arms in surrender. "You know I can never refuse you."

Those words made Videl smile. "Thanks, you're truly a great friend," she told Erasa before handing over the bags of groceries she was carrying, as well as the assortment of keys she held with her other hand. "She'll want to eat once you get back, but just give her milk and cereal, or she won't have the appetite for dinner anymore. All right, I'll be on my way now! Thanks again, Erasa!"

With that, she ran off, leaving the journalist to struggle with the loaded bags. "Yeah, sure, I'm a great friend," Erasa managed to blurt ouf before she took a step that threw her backwards, making her land flat of her back. She sighed, looking up at the sky that was almost concealed from her view by the grocery bags. "At least all I have to worry about now are bringing these in her house and fetching the little tyke from the center, which are a lot easier than worrying on how not to get killed by the androids."

I don't understand what I'm feeling right now, Yumi scribbled on another page of an old notebook she found the other day at their apartment's attic. She used to have an expensive, very nice diary, but it was hidden under her bed in their mansion, and she had no intention of going back there. She didn't have the right to go back there either, because it was not their mansion anymore, but the mansion of the new Prime Minister and his family.

She paused to sigh, before she went on with her entry. I snapped at Goten and Trunks today, and I don't know why I did so. Well, their argument about who lived a more miserable life was getting on my nerves, but I don't think aggravation was the only reason. Perhaps it's because...

The young woman stared at what she had written. What was indeed the reason behind her outburst? She looked at the pen she was using, and stared at it for a few more moments, before she snapped out of her trance and resumed writing. Oh I don't know. The only thing I am certain of it that it has something to do with Dad's death. It came like a blast to me, and until now it still hurts to much. Dad wasn't the best, but he was something. And that's what matters most.

It was then when Yumi noticed that tears were falling down her eyes. She wiped them off quickly, silently urging herself to be strong. She compelled herself to continue writing, to write whatever topic would come into her mind, and it was her mistake, because after jotting down the first few words of the said subject, she didn't know what else to say anymore. Now, about Trunks...

"He's a jerk. An egotistical know-it-all. A spoiled brat," she enumerated in an audible voice. She was about to put those into writing, when she stopped. Her hand had grown stiff, and that was when she realized that she couldn't take those down. So instead, she wrote, I don't understand what I feel about him either. I mean, he's not as cute and adorable as Goten, and he has a lot of undesirable traits that just tick me off, but for some reason, he just... he just charms me. He's as fierce as a lion at one moment, but as gentle as a lamb in the next. He yells back when I insult him, but when I get a vision that drives me weak, he catches me and takes care of me as if we have never argued.

I know he's being friendly, she stated in a new paragraph, but why does my heart feel something more than that? The way he looks at me makes me feel uncomfortable, especially when we're at such a close distance. And the way he gazes at Goten when we're together, cooking dinner, for instance... it's just not right. I don't want to assume that he's jealous, but that's how I understand the expression he displays. I don't really know what's going on now. There's so much I want to know, so much I need to understand.

Hearing footsteps, she decided to finish the entry. Yumi, distressed and confused, she wrote hastily before she closed the notebook and hurriedly stuffed it under one of her pillows. She then ran to the door and opened it, just in time as Goten stepped up to knock.

"Oh, hi Yumi," he greeted, grinning sheepishly at her once again. "I just wanted to ask if you'd like to cook dinner with---"

She closed the door and returned the smile with one of her own. "I was just on my way to the kitchen," she told him. "After all, I can't miss the opportunity to improve my horrible cooking skills --- that is, of course, if there's any room for improvement." Upon resting her gaze on the demi-saiyajin, whose presence seemed very comforting, an idea on how to confirm her assumptions crossed her mind. And it was to simply ask Goten what was going on with their friend. "Goten, may I ask you something?"

He didn't know what made her that way all of a sudden, but he was ready to help out whatever was wrong. "Uh, sure," he replied, shifting to a more comfortable position that will, at the same time, allow him to look at Yumi straight in the eye. "Just as long as it's nothing about girls, which is something I'm very bad at."

"You? Bad around girls? Goten, don't kid me," Yumi said, laughing at the expression he was wearing on his face. "I mean, you're so adorable, who wouldn't want to be around you?"

"It's not that," he protested, his face turning red at the young woman's compliment. Suddenly, the floor seemed very interesting to the young man. "They're the ones who wouldn't want to be around me. And I don't know how to deal with them, especially when I'm alone with one of them."

That made her raise an eyebrow, and then she remembered what happened the first time they were together, how Goten was unusually uncomfortable around her. She shook the thought away, however. "Oh, don't worry," she blurted out, patting him encouragingly on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get over that in a few days' time. You're practically in the city where bars are jam-packed with women. Ask Trunks to take you there one of these days --- at least, show you were the best one's at."

He went back to the matter at hand. "So what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask..." she paused, hesitating, but then decided to spit it out and get the entire conversation over with. "I just wanted to ask something about Trunks." She took a deep breath. "Do you... do you think he likes me?"

Silence filled the atmosphere for a few moments before Goten's handsome face broke into a grin. And it wasn't the sheepish type he usually had, it was more of the mischievous, rougish one. "Like you? Are you kidding?" he exclaimed, looking at her as if she was crazy. He then lowered his voice to a whisper within earshot. "Of course he likes you! He's just not very good at showing it --- showing it to you, rather. He feels insecure because he's a jerk while you're the complete opposite. His words, not mine."

And that was all Yumi needed to know. "Thank you, Goten. You see, I felt that something was wrong, but I didn't know what that something was. I had the hunch that it was that, since we've been very uncomfortable around each other lately, and well... I just needed to be certain." She smiled. "Shall we go make dinner now?"

Goten's jet-black eyes twinkled naughtily. "I smell burnt rice cakes."

"Go on with that or you won't have anything for dinner at all!"

He started going down the stairs, Yumi following him closely. "Oh, I don't need to worry about that," he voiced out in a sly tone, his hands casually tucked in the pockets of his trousers. "I can always leave this place and dine out, while you two have to get stuck here with your burnt rice cakes because you can't possibly leave. Then again, that would be an advantage on your part, as it will be the perfect opportunity for the two of you to strengthen your relationship and take it to the next level."

The young woman wanted to smack him hard on the head, but she let out a laugh instead. It was next to impossible to get mad at the demi-saiyajin, especially because of the smile he wore nearly all the time. "If you weren't so good at cooking, I would've kicked you out of here a long time ago," she shot back, smiling broadly like the other. "But I need your expertise on that field, so there's nothing I can do but keep you here. You're lucky I can tolerate your jokes."

Upon reaching the last step of the staircase, he paused to flash her one of his expressions of mock hurt. "I know, I know, I'm a good-for-nothing guy," he began in a sad tone that was unbelievably convincing, "I'm stupid and I'm full of dull jokes, but I have feelings too! How dare you run my emotions down with your million-dollar tractor!"

Those words made Yumi giggle as she pulled him towards the kitchen. "Oh, Goten, you're such a darling! I'm so lucky to---"

They stopped in their tracks.

Trunks was in the kitchen, holding a glass with one hand and setting down a pitcher full of water with the other, but there was something in the way he looked at the two that made them feel very uncomfortable all of a sudden. Before any of them could say anything, the purple-haired young man gulped down the contents of the glass, put it down, and said, "Oh, how rude of me for polluting the romantic air."

He walked away, passing right between Goten and Yumi, pulling the two friends apart. When the demi-saiyajin was completely out of sight, the other one turned to his companion with a closed expression in his ebony orbs and whispered, "I told you he likes you."