Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the long wait! It's been crazy at work and home, and just balancing reworking my old flashbacks and not trying to let any one story get completely forgotten. I never said I was good at time management haha

If any of you are reading Ox Queen, I dropped my latest chapter a few weeks ago. It was the first one that completely had my beta, RoyalBlueRoses, eyes on it and it's spectacular, thanks to her! I also updated the first chapter for it! More hot mess Chai, less hot mess writing.

By the way, RoyalBlueRoses is also an amazing writer, so if you're not reading her work, you're missing out!

If you are familiar with the flashbacks from Ox Queen then that is what this chapter is. Its the first two flashbacks and I'm sorry to those of you who are waiting for an update. You're sticking by me and being patient. I will forever love you for that. However, this is rewritten with a couple extra scenes and it's just a bit sadder if you want to go ahead and read it for me.

Chapter title comes from "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". There's way too many versions for me to list but I was listening to Patti Smith's iteration when I rewrote this.

Rate and review, please and thank you!

Also, if you comment or leave kudos as an account user, I always check out if you have work for me to read as well ;)

Thank you so much! You guys are amazing! And happy reading!

Chapter 1: Welcome to Your Life

Chai vividly remembered the day her father died.

Her 11th birthday had passed that year. Childhood was coming to an end and the princess was to begin looking towards her future. Studying not only how to lead, but how to present herself as the ruler of the Ox Kingdom took up her time. On the day Papa took Gohan-san to show him off at Roshi-sama's, Mama gave Chai a notebook, a huge sheet of paper, pens, crayons and instructions to re-imagine the kingdom. And to take it seriously, because those would be tentative blueprints. After all, they'd never rebuilt it after her parents got married. There was always a war for Grandpa to fight and heal his people from.

"But, Mama, I can't possibly think of everything!" Chai cried, a mess of art supplies on her desk. She'd already ripped the large sheet of paper from erasing her doodles for the 30th time.

Her mother stood inside of the doorway. She was still a lovely vision, even with her long hair tied up and an apron around her waist. The toned arms peeking out from her cheongsam could still offer quite the swatting.

"Well, you will have to learn to! You need to think of all of your subjects."

The little girl pushed her wild bangs out of her face and pouted. "Why can't you help me?"

Chi-Chi crossed her arms over her chest. "Now, young lady. I have a whole house to keep up, including feeding your father, yourself and your brother. Somehow, both of you inherited Goku's appetite! And besides, what do you think those are for?" she asked, now pointing over to Chai's bookshelf, brimming with fairy tales, histories of the 12 Kingdoms (mostly handwritten by Chi-Chi and the current archivist), and instructional books on warfare and industry.

"Study whatcha don't know, missy," Mama said finally, before leaving the room.

The next day they learned Papa had died and Gohan had been kidnapped. Not once but twice, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. Piccolo was training Gohan in the Wastelands for the next year, and soon they would face the two other Saiyajins who were heading to Earth. Meanwhile, Chai was busy drawing castles. It seemed her baby brother was the one growing up too fast.

For weeks Mama cried and hardly spoke, going about her chores as if it were her last lifeline. Grandpa tried to help. He had told her to let herself grieve and he'd take over, but Mama wouldn't have it.

After two months had passed, Chai was brought out of her room by her grandpa's smoky scent as he came into the house. Every interaction with someone was welcomed by the pre-teen, desperate to cut through the joylessness of her own house. Mama was in the bath at the moment, so she ran out to greet him. He hefted a large cow onto the kitchen table and looked down at the girl with a large grin.

"That oughta do it! Chai, my dear, can you hand me a knife?"

The girl rummaged through her mother's utensils and knives, looking for something she could remember her parents carving with. She pulled out a long blade and handed it over to the Ox King.

He smiled, starting on an incision in the bovine's neck when Mama suddenly screamed.

"Dad!? What on Earth!"

"It's a 3 year old heffer, Chi-chan."

"I know what it is! I want to know why it's on my table!"

"Well, you and Chai-chan are getting thin. Hell, I bet Gohan is packin' on - Chi-Chi dear!"

Chai rushed over as her mother fell to pieces on the floor. The Ox King sighed and continued on his work. It would not have done for the cow to go to waste.

Chai had learned quite a bit about cooking that year. That was when Mama spoke the most, giving corrections here and there but mostly allowing her daughter to cook as the woman gazed into a full teacup. Chi-Chi had become most sluggish in the mornings. That was possibly the starkest difference in her Mama's personality as she worked through her greif. Chai was sometimes up before Chi-Chi and so the girl would pull open the fridge door and begin pulling out meats and eggs to cook.

One morning, the egg supply had gone dry, and Chai went back to her room to get her slippers and put on her coat over her pajamas. She went out into the yard with a bucket for the eggs. The dew from the grass sweetened the air and left droplets on her pajama pants as she went to the short wooden pen where their chickens clucked amongst themselves. Inside of the pen, surrounded by poultry, was Mama. Her hair was undone and she wore only her robe. In front of her chest were two handfuls of eggs, shaking as she cried in the middle of the chicken pen.

Chai hurried forward, gently pulling the bounty from her mothers hands and placing them in the bucket. As she did so, Chi-Chi slowly dropped her hands to her sides and crouched down, crying into her knees and getting herself completely filthy. She was going to want a shower once she recovered herself.

"Mama, what?"

"Your father would want infinite eggs! Always! I'd.. get so mad… tell him, 'Goku-sa, we don't have infinite chickens!' " she sobbed.

"Well, we don't have infinite chickens," Chai offered.

Chi-Chi then lifted her head upwards and pulled her daughter towards her. She held Chai by the elbows as tears still fell from her eyes, but the matriarch smiled. "Chai-chan, let's get infinite chickens. Before Goku-sa and Gohan-chan come home."

Chai smiled, a single tear streaming down her cheek. "Okay, Mama. We'll have infinite chickens."

Even as her mother recovered, and became the vivacious, energetic housewife she was known to be, Chai was not allowed to be a part of certain conversations. Her mother would send her out of the room so Krillin could tell her about Raditz and his awful power. Every now and again, Bulma would call and attempt to cheer up the Sons with her optimism and updates on hunting the Dragonballs. Of course, when it came time to whisper about the Saiyajins, Chai would be sent out and she'd listen by the door as her mother spoke in a hushed tone.

A year had passed and so when Mama was still asleep, Chai slipped into a comfy green cheongsam and white pants before summoning Kinto Un and sneaking off into the dusk. She didn't know when Papa would arrive but she knew she wouldn't get away if she waited. Plus,she wanted to see these Saiyajins for herself.

Chai rested on the fluffy cloud as they followed the path towards Gohan's energy. It had slowly increased over the past year and Chai had been silently tracking it's progression. Her brother must have been learning a lot. Tracking family members' ki was one of the few things Mama allowed Papa to teach the kids, though Gohan wasn't very good at it a year ago.

Maybe he'll be good at it now, and I'll have to hide my ki when we play hide and seek.

As she travelled further into the desert, the sun began to cast eerie shadows from the mountains, their serene tips looking more like treacherous flames to her. Chai tried to pay attention to Gohan's ki, which grew ever closer, as well as an energy she didn't recognize. It was near him, and nearly as powerful as she could remember Papa being.

Papa...

A tear fell from Chai's eye but she smiled anyways. Mama will be so happy. We can be a family again.

Eventually, Chai could sense her brother as though he were right next to her. Her tail whipped in excitement as Kinto Un dove downwards, plunging them closer to the Earth. Patches of green turned into forests, farms and tiny dots became live people and animals. The nearer she got to the ground, the more she could make out the two figures she was searching for, one much taller than the other.

She jumped down, the dry desert sand invading her nostrils. Chai didn't mind. Her baby brother was nearly unrecognizable, now taller and broader than before. His hair was longer and wilder, more closely resembling Chai's own long, dark tresses and he was dressed in navy and white.

"Chai?" he asked in disbelief.

The girl felt her body tremble as she ran towards him. Gohan was still shorter than her, amazingly. He yelped out as she picked him up, crying out her happiness. He was heavier now, and absolutely filthy. So what? Chai had her brother again!

"Hey!" he cried. "Calm down, Sissy!"

She shook him a few times before placing her brother back on his feet. The girl sniffled back the rest of her tears in an attempt to recover her dignity. She was a princess, after all. Chai then turned to the nearby stranger; her brother's presumed master. He was tall - taller than even Papa - and had green skin. His clothes were like Gohan's but his presence was vastly different. Strong, stern, but not evil. Not like the stories she'd heard of Piccolo Daimon, the Demon King.

He regarded the girl with little interest as she looked up at him, coming only to his knees. He smelled different from most other people, but not the way her family smelled different. He smelled like grass and cooking oil. Did all demons smell this way? Maybe he smells alright because he's the Demon Prince? Prince! Manners. Right! Chai blushed deeply, lowering into a bow.

"Um... uh... that's not necessary," Piccolo stuttered. Beside them, Gohan laughed.

Chai peered up through her bangs but did not rise. "It's custom."

"Just stand up," he muttered. Chai rose to stand straight, her head high, as she was taught. Piccolo looked her over with his arms crossed over his chest. "So you're Gohan's sister."

"Yes, sir."

"Mmmhmmm... maybe once your dad gets back, he should whip you into shape as well."

Chai smiled gleefully at the thought. When she was younger, she used to charge at her Papa full force. He'd playfully push her with a laugh and she'd charge again. Mama would shake her head.

"Be careful. Don't be so rough, Goku-sa."

"Ah, but Chi, she likes it."

Chai then turned to her mother, holding her fingers at her head like horns. She got riled up so easily, hungering to tumble around and pounce on things.

"Roar! Mama imma get you!"

Five-year old feet padded on the wooden floor as the girl ran at her mother, and got caught up in her skirts.

"Oh! Chai-chan!" Chi-chi let out a sigh then smiled at her little one whose tail slithered on the floor happily. "You certainly are the Ox Princess aren't ya?"

"Hey Sissy! Check this out!" Gohan called.

When Chai turned, he held a ball of ki, like the ones Papa used to make when Mama wasn't looking. Chai stared at her brother in awe, slowly feeling as though she was missing out on something amazing.

"Teach me," she breathed.

Several hours passed. It was supposed to be easy.

'Concentrate on the energy in your body and focus it into your hand.' Those were Gohan-kun's simplified instructions.

In actuality, it was exhausting.

Chai could sense the energy in her body and she could push it all to one place but where her brother produced blue energy the size of a baseball, she produced something the size of a pebble, crackling out onto her fingertips; shocking her skin as it did so. The pain would cause her to lose focus and it would fizzle out immediately.

The first time the girl was successful, her overwhelming joy at the miniscule light was zipped by the jolt shooting through her fingertips, making her cry out while the tiny light disappeared like a skittish mouse. Chai stared down at her hand, looking for blood where there was none. If a tiny bit of energy sent a shock through her, how would she produce what Gohan could? How would she ever do a kamehameha wave like Papa?

"You're just not used to the feel of it leaving your body," Gohan-kun told her.

Chai nodded and closed her eyes to refocus when she felt the air shift around her. She snapped her eyes open to see Gohan and Piccolo staring up into the sky. This new chi was immensely powerful. More powerful than Papa, Chai realized. Her hands fell to her side as her stomach dropped to settle in her knees.

"So the Saiyajins have finally arrived," Piccolo said, cooly.

"What an incredible ki, Piccolo-san," Gohan said.

'What am I doing here?' Chai wondered to herself. She tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. Gohan turned to look over at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

He frowned at her, causing the girl's brow to furrow more and her eyes to stray from his gaze. She perhaps could fool the others but not her brother, even after a year of absence. The combination of her nerves and lack of breakfast shot the sour taste of bile into her mouth, making Chai grimace.

Humiliating. Vomiting at violence. I can't.

Above them, birds migrated away from the direction of the energy in droves, like a black mass covering the sky. A huge flash of light blinded her and a huge gust of wind blew. The trio grounded themselves to the dirt and grass, resisting the force of the blast occurring several thousand kilometers away. There were caws of pain and confusion as the birds passing above them were forced forward at neck-break speeds. Chai tried hard not to hear the thud as a few fell at their feet.

The air was suddenly still around her. She could still feel the reverberation in her veins. Another thud landed closer than she would have liked. Gohan groaned, making Chai gulp audibly. She could smell it. The dying bird near their feet. And it wasn't like meat killed for food. This was senseless death. Piccolo-san seemed to not react at all. She was beginning to get used to his ki and it did not fluctuate.

Of course. Demon Prince.

The sound of whipping fabric and a thud occurred near her, causing Chai to look behind as a dead crow dropped inches from her feet. She screamed out and snapped her eyes shut, trying to focus on stilling the shaking of her bones.

"Do not be afraid," Piccolo-san declared.

Chai opened her eyes and cast them upward to find he'd removed his cape and was now tossing aside his turban. It hit the ground with a solid thwack as two green antennae sprung forward. The girl audibly gasped at how truly alien Piccolo looked.

"We've become so strong, it's incomparable to what we were a year ago," he continued, his voice sure.

"R-right!" Gohan-kun said, shakily.

"Something is coming this way from that direction!" Piccolo-san shouted, as he took a stance. "And from over there!"

"Weren't there only supposed to be two Saiyajins?" Chai exclaimed.

Unmistakable, there were more presences quickly making their way towards the three of them. As one approached, the ki felt familiar to the Ox Princess, but she couldn't place it. Chai felt more than heard one jump from a mountaintop to land in front of them. Short as Chai and Gohan, bald, large dark eyes, and six dots on his head like a monk, wearing a twin to her Papa's gi.

"Krillin-san!" Chai cheered.

"Hey Chai-chan. Oh boy, you're moms gonna be unhappy," he chuckled before turning to the larger man. "Long time no see, Piccolo," Krillin greeted.

Who does the other ki belong to?

"Oh, so it's you," Piccolo-san chuckled. "Did you come to get in our way?"

"Don't talk like that. I've improved a little, myself," Krillin-san replied.

"So it appears. Looks like there are some other fools who mean to come here," Piccolo replied.

Chai couldn't push away her disappointment. She knew none of those ki's were her Papa. She'd recognize his. Still, what was taking so long? She stared up at the position of the sun where it sat in the middle of the sky. It was noon already.

"Yeah, I'm sure everyone is coming. I guess I was just the closest one," Krillin replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I remember! You're one of the people that was at the Turtle Hermit-sama's place," Gohan interjected.

"Gohan-kun," Chai chided. "He's our Uncle Krillin. He and Papa trained under Muten Roshi-sama together. They are very old friends."

Krillin put his hands on his hips and regarded the boy.

"You're just like Goku-san was, when he was a kid," Krillin told him.

Gohan hopped towards him, the wide smile shining nearly as bright as the sun. Being compared to Papa was quite the compliment.

"You're small but strong right? That's what Papa said a lot! You're going to fight with us, right?" Gohan babbled while Krillin side-eyed the boy.

"He didn't have to include the "small" part," Krillin muttered, then leaned over to Gohan and whispered something Chai couldn't pick up on. There was a tiny pang of jealousy in her chest watching them talk back and forth like old friends. It was her and Mama who Krillin had been checking up on.

"Enough chit-chat. They're here!" Piccolo interrupted.

The four stared up into the sky, taking in the two enemies positioned right in the face of the sun. They smirked as though expecting to be exalted by it's rays, staring down at the heroes in arrogance. One was tall, perhaps as tall as Piccolo with a mustache and a bald head. The second one was not much taller than Krillin, with angular features and a hair standing like a flame. They both wore devices over one eye, and yellow tipped armor. Around their waists were tails, like Chai and Goha- WAIT!

Chai stared back at her brother for a moment.

Where… where is his tail?

Instinctively, she felt for hers and found it twitching behind her where it belonged.

So… if they have tails. And we have tails… isn't that what Raditz said though, according to Bulma and Krillin? That we were the same as them? That Raditz himself was Papa's brother.

She looked downward to the birds laying dead at their feet. No more than casualties of a blast meant to kill hundreds of people. A blast which occurred soon after feeling the energy of these saiyajins landing on Earth.

And we just waited here for them? How many died while we waited? Are we the same as those monsters?

She looked back up at the duo, shielding her eyes from the glaring sun. There was a satisfied grin on each of their faces. Their eyes twinkled like Chai's would on Christmas morning at the sight of new things for her to play with. She wrinkled her nose as she stared back.

No. We are not the same. I'm not a Saiyajin.

"Th-those are the Saiyajins, huh?" Krillin trembled. "Indeed, I can sense an incredible ki from them. D-Danger truly is closing in on us!"

"Chai, right?" Piccolo asked.

The girl broke her focus from the invaders and looked up at the green man. "Yes."

"You're nowhere near ready to fight. You'll likely just get in the way."

"B-but! I wanted to be here when Papa arrived!"

"I agree with Piccolo, Chai-chan," Krillin spoke up. "I don't want to deliver bad news again."

"I don't understand…"

"I respect your guts, kid, but this is a battle. If you can't fight, you will likely just be fodder. I don't think your dad wants to come home to that, do you?"

Chai dropped her head. Boy, was he blunt. He was right though… Still, Mama was going to be angry, and the girl really didn't want to face her. What else could she do though?

"Kinto Un!" she called, meekly.

The cloud hovered next to her as the two Saiyajins touched down. Chai hopped on slowly, not wanting to give them any cause to go after her.

"Promise me you'll be careful," she told her brother. Gohan nodded, not looking away from the enemy. Probably a good idea.

The girl positioned herself as to not give her back to the two, and felt the cloud float her into the sky. For a moment, she wondered if they were going to just let her go. There was no honor in attacking a noncombatant. And warriors fight with honor.

The large one smiled suddenly and opened his hand. A familiar shape began to appear in his outstretched palm.

That… that's not for me. I'm a civilian here.

Yeah, and so were the people they killed before.. something else whispered inside her.

"Really, Nappa?" the shorter one chuckled.

The tall one raised his eyebrow and the corner of his lip lifted in a smirk, making Chai's heart thud like a drum. She didn't know why time seemed to stop. He pulled his hand back and launched the blast at her.

"Kinto Un, hurry!" Chai screamed.