Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z . . . or the Dave Matthew's Band, or Chistina Aguilera, or Trigger Happy TV, or 'Reign of Fire' (thank God), or 'Angela's Ashes, or Mystery Science Theatre 3000, or a moose. Just trying to cover all the pop culture references and furry creatures I do not own.

Author's Notes: This is a finals treat for all of you students out there. I wrote this in between studying for geology and 18th century literature, occasionally after staying up all night and oversleeping for an 8:00 exam. I hope you appreciate my attempts at humor. Enjoy.



Chapter 26: Finals

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The rhythmic thumping was almost soothing to the Saiyan girl, if it wasn't for the growing sensation of pain on her forehead. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to beat her head on her desk.

"Maybe I could just kill the professor. It would really be a blessing to this planet."

But no, homicide was not the answer. Someone would still probably require the paper, or she'd have to retake the class next semester. The assignment wouldn't be so bad, if only she didn't have those two tests, and worse, that speech . . .

'Maybe I should just scream.'

"AAAAUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Jita's head jerked up from the growing dent in her desk, wondering if that was her. But no, it was one of the girls next door. Now was the season of mid-year finals, when tempers were short, nerves were frayed, and life consisted of coffee, pizza, work, and nervous breakdowns. Personal hygiene, sleep, and human contact were optional. And screaming was irrelevant.

At the knock at the door, Jita slammed her book closed. "If you're here to die, you've come to the right place!"

The door opened to admit a haggard purple-haired young man. "I wouldn't turn it down, but I'd really like to see you try."

"Trunks, I really don't have the time or the energy to talk, argue, spar, or whatever else you're here for. So go away."

Trunks walked up to the computer, glancing over the paper. "But, Jita, you've finished it. You've got fourteen pages. That's all you need. You've even got a bibliography. What are you still stressing over?"

"I . . . don't like it. I was going to edit it again."

"How many times have you edited that?"

"Three."

Without any further words, Trunks saved the document and shut down the computer.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Trunks pulled the books out of her hands. "I'm saving your sanity and mine. Mom and Dad gave me money, and we're going out. No studying tonight. I absolutely forbid it," he ended, with a sweeping gesture, accidentally throwing the books across the room.

Jita laughed a bit. "Are you intoxicated?"

Trunks rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "It's called lack of sleep. And caffeine. And fourth year business courses. Take your pick. Anyway, get your coat. Unless, of course, you'd think Goten would get jealous."

Jita pulled on a coat and scarf. "Might I remind you that you're my nephew? And I am on no leash. Where are we going?"

"Never mind. You'll see when we get there." Then Trunks practically pulled her out of the room, barely giving her a chance to grab her purse and lock the door. Jita pointedly ignored a "mandatory" hallway meeting for residents. 'What are they going to do? Throw me out?' In ten seconds flat they were running through the doorway to Trunks's car. Trunks cranked up and got on the road, still not telling their destination.

When they got past the worst of campus traffic, Trunks turned on the radio and started turning through stations.

"Hey, wait. Leave it there," Jita interjected. "That's Dave Matthew's." In her brain-fried state, she started singing along. Trunks found nothing out of the ordinary with this in his own brain-fried state, and joined in on the chorus.

"I am no superman. I have no answers for you. I am no hero. Oh, that's for sure. But I do know one thing. Where you are is where I wanna be. Where are you going?"

Unfortunately, that was the end of the song, and a pop song was up next. Trunks started switching stations again as Jita stared out the window. "I love that song."

"What? Christina . . . whatever her last name is? Here, you do this. Traffic's crazy." Trunks braked as someone cut him off.

Jita started turning the dial. "No. The other song. And I think pop took over all the radio stations." In disgust, she pressed play on the CD player. The sounds of "Night on Bare Mountain" blared out, scaring both Jita and Trunks to death. She quickly pressed stop. "A little dramatic for finals week, isn't it?"

Trunks took a right to bypass the residential area. "Oh, yeah. That's not mine. Dad borrowed my car to take Bra shopping when his car was getting worked on. That's his music. You should hear the rest of it. They're all like that. I burned that compilation for him. Enough to make you want to suicide if you're like us already, which you are, so don't." He paused to try to decipher what he'd said. "Dad'll probably want that back. Oh, here we are."

They pulled up into a place called Valentino's - a nice looking place. Jita got out of the car and followed Trunks in. The place smelled vaguely of pizza, only twenty times better. A waiter approached them, holding menus shaped like the boot of Italy. The waiter looked to be college student that was desperately trying to stave off the signs of stress and fatigue so apparent in the two Saiyans. "How many?"

Trunks looked about, confused. "How many what?"

"People in you party."

"Oh. We're not having a party. We just want food."

The waiter rolled his eyes. "Table or booth?"

"Kami, I hope so."

"Smoking or non?"

It was Jita's turn. "As far from smoking as possible. In fact, cram all the smokers into a little box and throw them out the window. Then let them go down the drain, wash out to sea, and spend the rest of their lives away from civilization wishing they hadn't smoked during meals so they could actually remember the taste of food as they waste away from starvation."

The waiter was leading them to a booth as Jita was talking. He handed them the awkward menus. "My name is Josh and I'll be your server tonight." He pointed to Trunks. "Juvenile and witty. Points for spontaneity. And you," as he pointed to Jita, "A little more mature, with a social message, but infinitely more disturbing. I suggest food and drink here, and then sleep to both of you. Now, what can I get you to drink?"

Trunks shot the waiter a bemused look, but decided not to push it. "Dr. Pepper."

"And for you?"

"Well, I would ask for B positive, but how 'bout just water?"

Trunks laughed as the waiter walked away. Jita actually had a sense of humor when she was delirious with fatigue. He watched as she frowned at the menu. "What's wrong?"

"What language is this?"

Trunks looked at his own menu. "It's normal. Oh, but the dish names are Italian."

Jita shot him a look over her menu. "It's not very useful to know that a salad comes with these dishes if I don't know what the dishes are."

Trunks laughed rather giddily. "Oh, well, try the manicotti. Or anything Alfredo."

After they got their drinks and ordered, the two students fell into silence, staring dumbly at points off into space, until a yawn made Trunks jolt back into reality. "So, Jita. Watcha gonna do after you get you degree?"

Jita sipped her water. "No idea. My advisor's given up on me. None of the options she suggested appeal to me."

"You could be a professor, like Gohan."

"No." Jita paused as the waiter brought the food. "No, I don't think I'll remain in college. I'd much rather study and learn on my own. I couldn't stand another few years of this. And I suppose it would be a stupid question to ask where you're going," she asked wryly.

"Yes, it is stupid. I'll be headed straight to Capsule Corp. Mom said as soon as she knew I could handle it, she'd retire her post of CEO and leave it to me. She wants to concentrate on her inventions. And she said something about getting old. Which is ridiculous."

"I don't blame her." Jita took a bite out of her manicotti. "This IS good. Anyway. I can see her reasoning." Jita paused as the waiter filled their glasses. "I worked so hard to reclaim the title of princess, but if Planet Vegeta was still around, I couldn't take royal duties very long. I'm a warrior, not an administrator."

"You mean you can't be both? That's what I'm planning. That's what I've been doing my entire life." Trunks took a sip of his drink. "Heir to Capsule Corp and heir to my father's legacy. Be a human and a Saiyan. I've been two things at once ever since I was born."

Jita stifled a yawn. "Well, it works for you. But . . ."

"Is everything alright?" the waiter interrupted.

"Yes, everything's fine," Jita snapped. The waiter left, looking somewhat annoyed. "I swear, if he interrupts me again, I'll blast him."

Trunks laughed as he shoveled pasta in his mouth. "What were you saying?"

Jita frowned, trying to force her sleep-deprived brain to function on higher levels. "I don't remember." She shrugged it off. "Probably wasn't that important."

The two finished their rather large meal, at least by human standards, ate dessert, and left the place. Trunks was sure to leave a nice tip for the poor waiter, who had suffered enough.

Jita stretched, waiting for Trunks to unlock the car. "Where to next?"

Trunks fumbled for the keys. "I hated to blow my allowance on more food in that place, but I'm still hungry."

Jita had hoped he would say that. "The cafeteria is staying open later hours this week. Race you over there."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Trunks yelled as she took off. He quickly capsulized his car and raced after her.

*****

Ethel considered herself very experienced in the behavior of college students. She was a twenty-year head cook of the Chikyuu University cafeteria. She knew every strange combination of food - from pizza and green beans to pasta with chili sauce. She had seen a girl live solely on bananas, and then drop out of college suffering from malnutrition. She could break up food fights with a single bellow. She had cleaned up every mess imaginable. She had seen pre-med students chew on a napkin for a full hour before realizing they were getting no sustenance from that particular pastime. Ethel had, in effect, seen it all.

But this took the cake. Literally. The carrot, the chocolate, the strawberry, the caramel. The pie, too. As well as every meat, vegetable, and bread she had cooked, thinking it would last her the night. But how could she have known that her cafeteria was going to be invaded by aliens?

She sweat dropped at the sound of 'more please.' How much were these people going to eat?

As the purple-headed boy took the last of the macaroni and cheese, something in Ethel snapped. Maybe it was the disbelief of such an appetite from two such normal-looking young people. Maybe it was the prospect of more people demanding more food when there wasn't any and she had to cook it and . . .

"Isn't there any more?"

Next thing Jita knew, the woman turned and ran, screaming into the cold dark night.

Trunks looked over in mild curiosity. "There goes another one."

Jita ate her last bite. "All I did was ask a simple question. I'm not that hungry anymore anyway."

The two stood up, stretching, and leaving the remaining dishes for the poor leader-less kitchen crew.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

Trunks frowned, thinking, and then grinned. Suddenly, he hit Jita on the shoulder. "You're It!"

Jita rolled her eyes as he flew away. 'What childishness.' And, yet, she found herself chasing after him, ignoring the cries of people who suddenly realized there were flying people.

"Oh, my Kami, I'm going crazy! There are people flying!"

Momentarily forgetting the game of tag, Jita landed in front of the poor harassed student who had just spoken and formed a ki ball in her palms. "No. You are not crazy. I am the Angel of Death. Fear me!"

Trunks fell to the ground in laughter as the boy ran for his life. Under ordinary circumstances, it wouldn't have been so funny, but now it was hilarious. "Hey! That looks fun. My turn!"

Jita smirked at the fleeing boy. "Copycat. Fine, but you can't do better than me."

"Wanna bet?"

"No. The last bet I lost I had to take cooking lessons from Chichi. If that isn't an object lesson against gambling, I don't know what is."

They were strolling during this conversation, and they found themselves at the library. "Here's your chance," Jita said grandly.

Trunks made a big show of cracking his knuckles and neck. Strolling confidently into the library, he pulled out his cell phone and stood in the middle of all the study groups and half-asleep students. Then, in his most horrible British voice, he screamed into his cell phone, "HELLO!!"

Quite a few heads turned, and several people came back into reality. Jita was struggling to hold back laughter.

"I'M IN THE LIBRARY! I SAID, I'M IN THE LIBRARY!" He paused a second for effect. "RUBBISH! PURE RUBBISH! ALRIGHT! CIAO!"

Several people lost the battle with holding back laughter, Jita included, and a mob of librarians were practically taking up arms to combat the enemy of the silence. Knowing this was probably a battle he couldn't win, Trunks ran out of the library as fast as he could, so that everyone thought he had disappeared. Not to be out-done, Jita bowed grandly and said, "This message has been brought to you by Insane Saiyans Anonymous. Please leave contributions by the door on the way out. You may all go back to your regular drudgery." As soon as the librarian mob, growing more irritated by the standing ovation from everyone around, turned their attention toward her. Jita took this time to follow suit with Trunks and make a hasty escape.

She found Trunks not far outside. "I saw the whole thing," he choked out through laughter. "We are both geniuses!"

Jita watched him, reveling in this strange victory. Suddenly she pushed him down. "Now you're It!"

It didn't matter if the game was childish. It didn't matter if they were only acting this way because they were delirious with brain-fatigue. Only the moment mattered. For once in such a long time, Jita was having fun. It was almost as if she was reclaiming the childhood she had missed - been cheated out of. She knew that when she was once again in her right mind, she would not allow herself this release. So, she reveled in the soaring feeling of freedom from herself, let go, and played.

After about an hour of tag, the two Saiyans were thoroughly exhausted. They had even transformed for the game, and now they needed to stop. Jita slumped to the ground, and Trunks simply laid on his back, looking at the stars. Out of habit, he located Planet Vegeta. "Hey, Jita."

"What is it?"

Trunks was going to ask her about Planet Vegeta, since he usually got precious little out of his father. He especially wanted to know about his grandparents, and his dad before earth, but stopped himself. Doing that might break the mood, and Jita was in such a good mood right now.

"What is it, Trunks?"

"Umm, what do you want to do now? I thought maybe watching a movie, but there's nothing good on in theaters. Wanna just rent one?"

"There's no way I'm going back to my room to watch it. I spent nine hours in my room today - just studying."

Trunks made a face. "Got a point there. I don't want to see my apartment either. Tell ya what. We'll go to Capsule Corp."

Jita crossed her legs and stretched her back. "We won't be disturbing anyone?" What she meant was, 'Will Vegeta be there to see me acting in such a matter?'

"Nah. Mom's on a business trip, Dad's on one of his loner kicks, and Bra's staying over at Gohan and Videl's. 'Cept for security and stuff, the place is deserted. Hey! Ya think Goten might come? I haven't seen him in a long time."

"I think so. I'll get him." Jita stood up and quickly felt out Goten's ki. Usual place, of course.

"Hey, wait. I'll go ahead and get the movie. You just meet me at Capsule Corp." Trunks walked over to the road (they were still on campus) and decapsulized his car. "What movie do you want?"

Jita shrugged. "Whatever. Something mindless." Then she took off.

Trunks shook his head. He could have flown, but he still tried to avoid doing that in the city. He could imagine the headlines. "HEIR TO CC FLIES" Trunks laughed at this thought as he fell into the car. He knew he shouldn't be driving while he was so tired, but the feeling of indestructibility was inherent in him, so onward he drove, thankful the traffic had died down in the late hour. And happy. He was taking a break from studying, and he was going to see his best friend. Life was good. And to hell with finals.

*****

"AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Goten slumped, and had the crazy desire to bang his head against something. It was so frustrating. He'd hit . . . a wall. A kind of barrier in his power. His level hadn't risen in two months, no matter what he tried. He couldn't even figure out if the barrier was physical or mental. Maybe a little bit of both. And it was driving him crazy!

"A bit frustrated, are we?"

Goten looked tiredly over at Jita, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He smiled. He was incredibly happy to see her. "Ya think?" he countered.

Jita ambled toward him, and Goten was shocked to see the state she was in. Her clothing was rumpled, far from the fastidiously stylish way she usually dressed, and her eyes were dark and blood-shot. Her amble seemed to be more out of necessity than affected.

Jita noticed how he was scrutinizing her. "It's called final exams. Feels kind of like not being able to push your power any further up, except with a deadline put to it, and a degree riding on it. Not fun in the least. That's why you're coming with me."

Goten backed up in affected caution. "Where do you think you're taking me?"

Faster than he could react, and with total surprise, Jita grabbed his arm and put two fingers on her forehead. The next thing he knew, he was standing outside Capsule Corp. Goten jerked his head about, trying to orient himself. "Warn a person before you do that!"

But Jita was laughing too hard to respond. Goten looked at her in pleasant confusion. "As soon as you're done with your other personality, would you mind telling me why we're in front of Capsule Corp?"

Jita slightly composed herself. "Of course! We're here because we're going to go inside."

"And then what," Goten added, rolling his eyes.

"And THEN, pretty soon Trunks will bring a movie. We're going to watch it, like humans seem to enjoy doing. Do you think you can deal with modern conveniences, backward as they are, after living out in the sticks?"

Goten's eyes brightened. He HAD been missing civilization a bit, lately. Especially with that block in his power. "Sounds fun to me."

The two walked into the residency, being instantly recognized by the security droid. There usually wasn't any security - one ill-tempered Saiyan being enough to scare anyone off - but now the place was deserted.

They made their way into the family room, and Jita plopped down on the couch, suddenly feeling the exhaustion that had been creeping up on her over the past few - well - years. But she refused to close her eyes. That would mean sleep, and she didn't want to sleep. However, that didn't stop her from leaning against Goten when he plopped down beside her. In the dim recesses of her mind, she knew this was un-Saiyanlike behavior. What was she doing - cuddling? Was this acceptable behavior for a royal warrior?

But those thought were suddenly dimmed even further when Goten put his arm around her. It just felt so . . . nice. She hadn't been held in so long. In fact, had she ever been held? Maybe by her mother when she was a baby, and by the servants who cared for her, but she had been too young to remember that.

Vegeta had held her, but that was only when she'd been beaten too much to walk to the rejuvenation tank. Yes, Vegeta had pretty much raised her, but he had raised her as a warrior. He had had to toughen her up in order to survive the physical and emotional atrocities Frieza would inflict on all of them. That meant no hugs, no bedtime stories - nothing. She was grateful for all her brother had done for her - he had enabled her to survive - but none of it should have happened in the first place.

So she reminded herself, as she did twenty times a day, that she was free. If Vegeta could feel love and acceptance from the loud-mouthed blue-haired woman, then Jita could do the same with the emotionally screwed-up demi- Saiyan. And she was tired, and she'd already decided that she would not hold herself accountable for anything she did that night. She'd eaten manicotti, driven a cafeteria lady crazy, played tag, and played a prank in the library. All of this very uncharacteristic of her usually guarded self. No, she had given up her defenses that night. That night, she was free.

"Well, isn't this cozy?"

Jita shot up, half-expecting to see her brother. She knew she would never hear the end of it from him if he caught her cuddling. But it was just Trunks, though he was smirking annoyingly.

Goten jumped up from the couch. "Trunks! It's great to see you."

The two men embraced as old friends. Trunks regarded his now deeply tanned friend and realized how different their lives were now. And their power levels - well . . . they were different too. Trunks felt a twinge of jealousy, but tried to laugh it off. He had made his decision. He could have trained more and been up to Goten's power level. He'd just chosen a different path. Plus, Trunks was determined not to emulate his father in that way.

"Sorry to ruin your Kodak moment. Listen, there are plenty of rooms around here . . ."

"Trunks!" Jita yelled indignantly. Goten playfully glared at Trunks, who was looking very smug.

"All right, that's enough," Goten laughed. "What movie did you get?"

Trunks held up the movie. "Jita said to get something mindless, so I picked . . . 'Reign of Fire'," he ended with a mock dramatic flourish.

Jita started laughing quietly. "You didn't."

Goten looked from one to the other in confusion. "What? Why is that so funny?" But the two just laughed some more, which made Goten slightly frustrated. "Hey, that's not fair. I can't help it if I don't understand recent pop culture references."

Trunks turned on the TV and slid the disc into the DVD player. "Well, let's just say . . . get ready for one of the most MST worthy movies of your entire life."

"Why exactly did you get that movie anyway?" Jita said as the two men sat on either side of her on the couch.

Trunks ignored the special features and just turned on the movie. "It was crazy in the movie rental place. This was literally the only movie worth getting. I guess I shouldn't watch so many movies."

As the opening scene started, the trio watched as a little British boy walked across the square. Goten hid a snicker. "You didn't tell me we were watching Angela's Ashes."

Trunks lands a high-five. "Goten gets first riff," he called.

Jita looked to either side of her in confusion. "What are you doing?"

Goten grinned mischievously. "Making fun of bad movies is one of the best human rituals there is."

Trunks nodded. "It comes from a long line of painfully bored intellectuals and cynics forced to indulge in sub-standard forms of entertainment."

"Oh," was all Jita could say, now even more convinced that humans were insane. What was the fun in ripping apart a bad movie? At least, that's what she thought until she actually got into it. Pretty soon, she became just as bad as the others.

"Oh, come one! How can that boy STILL be alive? In fact, how can anyone still be alive? The dragons should have torched them all by now."

Goten was staring at the movie in growing disgust. "That isn't how a dragon looks anyway."

Trunks laughed in assent. "Yeah, what's up with their arms? Dragons are supposed to be serpentine, and have tiny antlers. And they're supposed to bring people back to life."

"And could the dialogue get any more trite? What, did the dragons take away their personalities as well?" Jita remarked snidely.

Then when the three were still laughing about the 'dangerous close encounter' with the dragon, the movie gave them more to ridicule.

Goten, as the American military man, said, "Hey! I'm American! Don't I look American to you? I should, because you're British, and I'm American. Therefore, I'm here in England to kill dragons with my American accent because I know how to do it better because," he paused for effect, "I'm American!" the other two joined in.

"You know," Trunks began, "considering how much the Earth is depopulated, should they even bother with killing the dragons? I mean, exactly how large of a gene pool is there?"

"There does seem to be a strange lack of females," Goten commented. Then amended, "Oh, wait. There's one."

"Her being the only female in existence," Trunks continued, "should she really be risking her life with the military people?"

Jita snorted in derision. "Oh, don't worry. They won't have her doing anything worthwhile, except being a female." Then she began speaking as the girl in the movie, "Hi! I'm the female character. Are you the main character? That means I have to mate with you. No matter how strong or smart I am, I can only be the female character - the potential mate." Jita stepped out of the character. "Come on! It's like, Earth feminism never happened."

But then, the explanation of the dragon biology and reproduction practices was explained. Jita, Trunks, and Goten were nearly speechless.

"Hey, Jita?"

"What is it, Trunks?"

"Exactly how many alien races would you say you've encountered?"

"Around . . . well . . . somewhere in the nine hundreds."

"And - just in morbid curiosity - have you ever seen a race populated with only one male and the rest female?"

"You know, I've seen plenty of asexual races, both masculine and feminine looking. I've met a few non-saiyanoid species. Plenty of one's with a hive mentality and a queen. But this is the first single-male species I've seen."

Goten laughed. "Maybe that's because this is a retarded system of reproduction. No wonder the dragon species keep going into dormancy."

"I mean," Trunks continued, "they could have made it a single female. That would have made more sense. And a lot of times in nature the female is larger and more violent than the male."

"But that would require human film-makers to actually think. Wouldn't that be a tragedy? And having them fight a female? That would never do."

Fortunately for them, they did not get to see the end of the movie. As the ending credits rolled past and the disc eventually automatically spat out of the machine, the three Saiyans had fallen fast asleep. Their dreams were probably more entertaining than even MSTing the movie.

*****

The sun beamed down weakly, trying desperately to break through the light gray cloud cover. Instead of shining down its radiance on the wet morning, it did little more than accentuate the utterly depressing dreariness of the day. In other words, it was Vegeta's kind of day. No sun to hurt his eyes, and now even the disgustingly cute animals that seemed to flock to Capsule Corp were staying hidden. Upon reflection, it didn't really make sense that so many woodland and domesticated animals would stay at Capsule Corp, which was situated in the center of a large metropolis, but Vegeta was still convinced that it had something do with the late Briefs couple. Bulma's parents had always had a thing for animals, even going so far as to stay with them during the Buu crisis. Vegeta smiled and shook his head at the memory. The two had grown on him, despite all efforts he had made to keep his distance from everyone. He was actually feeling their loss. Besides, they'd probably left some device that attracted those cursed animals, and had died before they could deactivate it. Darn frail humans.

Vegeta furrowed his brow in confusion as he felt three kis in the house that was supposed to be completely deserted. Bulma couldn't possibly be back, and if she was, she would be in the bedroom and not the family room. And she would not have gotten Bra yet, since she'd asked Vegeta to do that. Vegeta didn't do many chores Bulma asked of him, either from disdain or just plain forgetting to, but taking care of Bra was something he never failed to do.

Walking into the family room, Vegeta was greeted by a sight that almost made him burst into laughter right there. On the couch there lay three Saiyans - Trunks had partially fallen off the couch and was sleeping upside down with his head on the floor, and Jita was leaning against Goten, using his chest as a pillow. In a fit of whimsy, Vegeta noticed a camera on the coffee table that needed to be used up. He quickly took the picture. Blackmail was a sweet thing.

At the sudden flash of light, Trunks woke up and immediately fell the rest of the way off the couch. Rubbing his painfully sore neck, he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and tried to orient himself. Recognizing the family room, and seeing his father standing over him with an amused expression on his face, Trunks came fully awake and asked, with a shaky voice, "Dad. Do you know what time it is?"

Vegeta snickered. "Three of the strongest warriors in the universe all cuddled up together on one couch. Looks like you slept here all night, brat. It's 8:00."

"8:00!!! KAMI, NO!!"

Trunks jumped up from the floor in a panic, and immediately shook Jita. "Jita, wake up."

"What?" Jita complained, slowly coming awake.

Trunks knew what would get her awake fast. "It's 8:00. In the morning."

"Wha . . . WHAT?!"

Jita quickly pushed herself from Goten, taking a measure of her surroundings. Capsule Corp . . . "Why did you let me go to sleep, Trunks?!" she accused her fellow student.

"Do you think I meant to? I'm late too!"

To add to Jita's problems, Jita spotted her brother, and glimpsed the camera he was trying to hold out of view. But she'd have to deal with that later. She had an 8:00 poetry final, and she knew it would probably take the three hours. Forgetting that Trunks and Vegeta didn't know that she could use Instant Transmission, and not particularly caring right them, she grabbed her purse, thankful that she kept a notebook and pencil in there, put two fingers to her forehead, and vanished.

Vegeta and Trunks merely stared at the space she had recently occupied. Somehow, it didn't really surprise them. Why shouldn't she know Instant Transmission? She knew so many other techniques. Trunks shook out of his stupor and growled, "Would it have killed her to take me along?" Forgetting his father in his panic, he ran out of the house and flew at top speed to campus, planning a speech for his hard-nosed professor. Saiyan pride or not, he was not above begging when it came to his grade.

Vegeta snickered at the panicked young adults and looked at the still- sleeping Goten. "Heightened sense of awareness, my foot," he commented. He roughly jostled Goten's shoulder. "Hey. Wake up, brat."

Goten stirred a bit, but didn't awaken. He was mumbling something about beating his father, which made Vegeta understand the brat's reluctance to awaken. He was dreaming about beating Kakarrot, one of Vegeta's favorite kinds of dreams. However, the brat had to go. Kakarrot was going to show up anytime now to spar with him in the gravity room, and he knew that Goten would not want to be there. Vegeta grabbed the back of the couch, and dumped the dreaming demi-Saiyan in the floor.

"Huh? Wha . . .?" Goten blinked in confusion, expecting to see the inside of his cave, or at least the sky. Instead, he recognized the inside of the Briefs family room, as well as a scowling Vegeta. He quickly got to his feet. "Where'd the others go?" he said groggily, wincing at his own case of morning mouth.

"They had to rush off to take their final examinations. You'd better leave, brat. Kakarrot should be here any time now."

Goten glanced into Vegeta's surprisingly understanding eyes and nodded. He grabbed the DVD, deciding to take it back since he really didn't have anything else to do. He glanced over at the couch, wishing that it was still last night and Jita was still in his arms. That had been an amazing feeling, and he'd give anything to experience it again.

He'd give anything . . .

That's when he decided. He WOULD reconcile with his father. He had to, if for nothing other than to always be able to hold Jita in his arms. He would make the attempt, just . . . not right now. It wasn't the right time. He wanted to be alone when he did it. But next time that Goku sought him out in his wilderness home, he wouldn't run away. Giving Vegeta one more nod, he quickly strode out of the house and took off toward the rental store.

Vegeta shook his head and put the camera back on the coffee table. As Goten's ki faded off in the distance, a barely stronger ki approached the house. The boy had been lucky; he'd left just in time. Vegeta began the walk over to the outside gravity room. He'd interfered enough that day. The boy was getting extremely strong, and the Sons could solve their own problems. After all, hadn't Kakarrot left well enough alone when he and the future version of his son had been having problems? Well, no, but his interference hadn't been that overt. Vegeta appreciated that, and gave the same consideration to his friend and rival. Of course, this didn't stop him from surprise attacking Goku at the entrance to the gravity room . . .

"Hey! That's not fair, Vegeta! We hadn't even started yet!" Goku protested, though he was smiling fiercely as he said it.

"Too bad, Kakarrot! No need to let your reflexes go with your age, grandpa!" Vegeta quipped, quickly avoiding a ki-blast. Spars were always better when he could get Goku mad. As Goku shut the door, Vegeta turned the gravity up to 400, and the two began a fierce spar.



Author's Notes: Thanks to all my reviewers: Omega (I'll try to get Fat Buu in somewhere, especially at the climatic and action-packed ending, but I began to write this before I even knew the ending of the Buu saga, so he won't play a major role.), Dark Wolf (I'm so jealous of you. I can't believe how easily you were able to update. Oh, well. Actually, that little spiel comes from "Through the Looking Glass." It is another Alice in Wonderland thing, and the Disney movie draws from both books.), anonymous cat (I'm glad I gave you tingles), aqua-illusion (Thanks for reading the story! And for the compliments. I'm thankful for another person taking an interest in my writing.), and tim333 (Sometimes I am so scared that I'm not getting the characterizations right. Thanks for the reassurance). Hope you all enjoy this chapter! I probably won't update until the beginning of January. I will have my computer, but I won't have internet access. But, who knows. I could surprise myself. Until next time.