Versus 4: Temporal Distortion

--Breathing Is the Hardest Thing to Do--

To her surprise, Goten's face changed. Where he had once been smiling, there came a serious expression. "We have a lot to talk about." Yet he continued to wipe her tears away.

She couldn't actually hear him say it, but she could imagine by the motion of his lips that that was what he had said. Of course, he wasn't gonna be completely won over. She'd made an attempt on his life. For some strange reason, this Son had a lot less of his father in him than most people knew. He was identical in looks and sometimes in his mannerisms, but he seemingly wouldn't be so easy to forgive someone who'd tried to dust him off. And so the expression on his face put her more in mind of ChiChi. And so did the unspoken statement he had made.

And the reason she didn't hear his statement was the audience. The crowd cheered all around them. Bra was a little startled when she noticed she was still in this place full of people. She looked around and she could feel the heat rising to her face.

"Wow, Bra! That was really good! I had no idea you had a voice like that!" Marron shouted over the noise of the crowd.

Bra looked over at Marron and raised her eyebrows. "Well, I... I never actually thought I had a good voice."

"What!" Marron yelled over the sound of the people.

Marron couldn't hear what she was saying. Bra looked back at Goten and saw that he was smiling again. She wondered if she'd just been seeing things earlier. But that didn't seem likely.

Pan hopped over and hugged Goten and Bra, one arm around each of them. "This is great! This is the kinda thing I like to see! You two are just so crazy about each other, it would be silly for you to be apart!" She let them go and looked at Bra. "I can't believe you were singing like that! I mean, I've never really heard you sing before, but that was amazing!"

Was her singing really that good? She was just trying to get the words right.

Todd seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Whoa! Is this the lucky guy you were singing to!" He looked at Goten. "It's not every day that some woman would do this for a man!" He raised an eyebrow and looked at Bra. "Hey, isn't this your teacher!"

Bra looked surprised. She hadn't thought this whole thing out very well. Half the people in this town knew who Goten was. And the entire town knew who she was. Word would definitely make its way back to school.

She looked at Goten, who was now wide-eyed and speechless. She looked around to see if she could get a little help with this situation. Pan looked like she was trying to think Bra out of this. That was good because Bra's mind wasn't working at the moment. Marron was up on stage chatting with Wes.

And then there was Nick. She could tell by the look on his face that this was a shocking discovery.

The crowd was finally quieting down and the DJ started putting on those sorry tracks that they played in clubs these days.

Suddenly, Bra felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go," Goten said to her.

Bra didn't hesitate. She didn't even say good-bye to her friends or the members of Eroder. Abandoning all else, she simply followed Goten out of that place like the lost little puppy she was.

For some reason, she felt so much stronger than she once was. She'd always been strong-willed. She'd always stood her ground when it came down to it. But today. No, today was different. Today, she'd actually let feelings of love control her, instead of being fueled by anger or frustration. She'd always been told that letting your emotions take control was a weakness, but that could only been when it wasn't utilized properly. And even though it was something completely new to her, it felt right.

The two strolled along the sidewalk down the semi-lighted street side by side. Silently. At least for a little while.

"You look really nice today," Goten told her.

When she looked over at him, she saw that he was looking at the sidewalk beneath them. "T-thank you." Stuttering was so inelegant.

They were silent again for a moment.

"Goten?" Bra began. She stopped under one of the lamp posts and looked up at him.

Goten stopped as well and finally looked at her.

Bra sighed. "What happened yesterday, I'm really sorry--"

Goten shook his head. "I don't want you to be sorry about that. We're fighters. It pretty much comes along with the territory when you think about it."

Bra looked at him strangely. "But...I left you there. We're friends. That doesn't come along with the territory." She hugged herself and looked away.

"Well, I want to tell you that I wasn't hurt by it, but that would be a lie," Goten told her. "But I know what you were talking about when you said I'd kept you from reaching your full potential. It was my job as a trainer to push you as far as you'd go. But I guess I lost sight of that. I just wanted to protect you. There was really no reason for you to fight. I would have fought for you."

Bra was about to say something, but Goten held his hand up to stop her.

"But I know that's not who you are," Goten went on. "As Saiyans, it's not who WE are. I tried to protect you. And I tried not to hurt you. So, I didn't use my full power. And I lied about it because I thought that if you knew what I could do, you'd push yourself harder to get to where I was. I'd seen the way you'd push yourself and I knew you'd hurt yourself. I didn't want to see that. I was selfish. I wanted to keep you from what you wanted just for peace of mind."

"Oh, Goten. It's not selfish to want to protect someone," Bra said. "What's selfish is trying to hurt someone just because you don't get your way. I was being a BRAT, as usual. I don't want you to go around thinking all of this was your fault, because it wasn't. It was mine. I don't deserve for someone to care for me the way you do."

"Well, that's not gonna change," Goten assured her. "I'm always gonna look out for you. And I'm always gonna care about you. So if you think you're ever gonna get rid of me, you've got another thing coming. You really WOULD just have to kill me." He laughed a little.

Now why was he laughing about that? Was he becoming as psychotic as she already was? Perhaps the old saying was true. Maybe insanity was contagious.

"Oh, and just to let you know, I fought you at full power yesterday. You wore me out," Goten told her. "It was a little unexpected. But I think if we had a rematch, I'd be able to give you a run for your money."

"You actually want to fight me again?" Bra asked. This was great. Maybe Goten really was more like his father than she gave him credit for. She smiled to herself.

"What did you think? That you'd scared me off with all your strength and skill?" Goten questioned.

Wow, he sounded much closer than she remembered. She looked up and saw that he was standing only a few inches away from her.

Goten smiled. "I hope you understand. Now that you've become stronger, I'll be training twice as hard to get to your level."

Bra smiled back. "That's gonna be kinda hard when I'll still be training too."

"Then I'll just have to train 4 times as hard," Goten whispered as he moved even closer to her.

Bra gasped when he put his hands around her waist. Being like this made her remember why she loved being so close to him in the first place. She started feeling tingly all over and her head seemed to spin. Without warning, she quickly threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Just a peck on the lips. It didn't take long for her to remember the feeling. It sent a shock down her spine and made her neck hairs stand on end. Or at least that was what it felt like.

She decided to levitate up to his level so she could kiss him again, this time burying her tongue in his mouth. His hands started slowly making their way up her sides and she felt his tongue stroke hers. It was good to know that they were both currently in the same state of mind.

Goten suddenly stopped and looked at her strangely.

Bra looked a little confused. "What?"

"What was that?" Goten asked, still holding her.

"What was what?" Bra questioned, rolling her eyes a little. Why couldn't they just get back to what they were doing?

"That thing you just did. That vibrating thing," Goten told her.

Bra looked confused again. What vibrating thing? She didn't do anything. Or at least she didn't remember doing anything.

"Did you just purr? You purred or growled or something. How did you do that?" Goten asked.

Purr? She hadn't purred... Had she? She just looked at him the same way.

"That was kinda...well, it was kinda...cool," Goten went on. He smiled stupidly.

The little wheels in his head seemed to be turning. Now what in the world could he be thinking?

Bra raised an eyebrow. "I think that was your imagination."

Goten played at the sheer material covering her midriff. "Maybe you're right."

Bra gasped yet again as he ran his fingers up and down her sides. She was no longer able to concentrate on keeping herself in the air, so she just lowered herself back to the ground. Soon she found her tongue dancing with Goten's again and his hands had wandered to her hips. One hand was even slowly creeping inward--

"Goten," she'd whispered before she could catch herself. She had no idea that their bodies were pressed so tightly together. "We're in public." She seemed to be a little dizzy and out of breath.

When Goten removed his hands from her body, she felt as though a part of her soul had been snatched away. "Once again, you're right," Goten said. He put an arm around her shoulder and started walking with her again.

Bra sighed and folded her arms across her chest.

Silence for a moment.

"Where are we going?" Bra asked Goten.

"I...don't know...," Goten replied. "I should probably take you home. It's getting pretty late."

Bra pulled up the sleeve on the arm Goten had around her and looked at his watch. It was pretty close to 11:30. Maybe it was time for her to head home. She sighed once more. "I'd rather go back to your place," she murmured. She wasn't sure what possessed her to say that.

"What?" Goten asked.

Now had he asked that because he hadn't heard her? Or had he asked because he couldn't believe she'd said it?

"Yeah, it's getting pretty late," was all Bra said. "Home it is."

That was a close one.

--End Breathing Is the Hardest Thing to Do--

--Well, Versus 4 looks like it might be on the move. Hope you liked it. Well, it looks like Bra and Goten are back together. So what now? There's not much of a story left if Goten and Bra have patched things up, now is there? Well, we're just going to have to see what happens in the episodes to come.

--Thank you for reading this episode of Versus 4. Thanks for your wonderful reviews. You're much too kind. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. Thanks everybody.