Trunks flipped the tail of his tie around, and then flipped it back, growling in frustration. He could never remember the correct way to do this. He was dressed in a smooth white long sleeved shirt with lavish black pants, a nicely formed crease along them. A freshly pressed over coat was laid out his bed, waiting for him to finish with the tie.

"Need some help Trunks?" a voice asked, speaking from Trunk's bedroom doorway. Trunks turned around to face her. He was going to tell her to go away, but instead found himself sighing in defeat.

"Yea… please." He responded, feeling pathetic.

Bra grinned, walking over to him. She closely examined his room, curious as to what had changed; it'd been a few months since Trunks had actually let her in his room. It looked mostly the same, just as messy as she remembered. There seemed to be some order to the chaos though. The piles of clothes for instance were strewn about by type then color. She was actually kind of impressed on Trunks' ability to hover the border between order and chaos.

When she reached him, she reached her hands for the tie, quickly pulling apart the mess Trunks had created with it. In a flash she had it tied correctly, and just finished leveling it out before letting it fall back to his chest.

"There you go." She said smiling.

"Thanks sis." Trunks replied genuinely, before pulling the sleeves of his shirt out fully. "Well how do I look?"

"Like a tool." She replied giggling. Trunks rolled his eyes, before pointing a hand towards the door.

"Out." He said firmly.

"Aw come on Trunks. I was just kidding." She pouted sadly, purposely making her voice as innocent, and her eyes as sad as she could manage. Trunks sighed again, turning away from her and back to the full length mirror he'd been standing in front of previously. She stepped up beside him, smiling. She was considering doing something unpleasant to him, like pushing him through the mirror or stealing his car keys, or maybe running off with the jacket he had laid out on his bed, but she decided against it. She felt slightly guilty at having agitated him so much at dinner.

"You look good." She began. "Maybe a little over dressed though?"

"Well, gotta make the right impression." Trunks said flatting out the few wrinkles he saw in his pant legs.

"What impression is that? Pretentious? Rich? Suit Monkey?"

"Bra…" Trunks cautioned, malice in his voice.

Bra raised her hands up as metaphoric white flags. "Just trying to give you a little advice. Why don't you go a little more casual, like I'm sure Goten is going to?"

"It's out first date though."

"Exactly."

Trunks considered his sister. He sensed she wasn't trying to be mean or manipulative. The advice seemed genuine. If she wasn't trying to be manipulative, he'd have to trust her opinion. That year alone in space with a manchild-turned-actual-child and a 14 year old girl had eroded much of the suaveness he had amongst girls his age. "Well what would you suggest?"

"hmm…" Bra said, stroking her chin slightly, considering his room. "Well… what's clean Trunks?" she smirked.

Without hesitation, Trunks pointed to a few large piles of clothes near the left corner, by his dresser. Bra quickly made her way over to the piles, dropping onto her knees to allow easier access to the clothes piles. She quickly sifted through them, murmuring things like "maybe… hm… no.. yes… definitely not." When she found something she liked, she would toss it behind her, having it landing perfectly on Trunks who would quickly add it to the small pile on his bed. He was amazed how quickly she had sorted his clothes into "acceptable" and "not acceptable". Trunks remained mostly silent as he watched her work. She moved to his bed where he'd placed the small pile. She raised a finger to her mouth, strumming her bottom lip lightly as she considered the clothing she'd selected. She snatched a shirt up, moving back to Trunks. She pulled it open and placed it against his chest.

"Hold that." She demanded. Trunks obliged.

She took a few steps back before forming her hands into L shapes and raising them in front of her, as if creating an imaginary rectangle, framing Trunks. She closed one eye and considered Trunks carefully.

"Hmmm…" she said.

"What?" Trunks asked, feeling somewhat self-conscious about his sister's judgment.

"Not quite right…" she said, lowering her hands before moving back toward Trunks, yanking the shirt out of his hands and tossing it into the discarded pile. She pulled up another shirt, and repeated the process nearly exactly.

By the time she had finished (and not a moment too soon by Trunks' watch) she had selected a nice, dark, long sleeved shirt. It was just tight enough to show off his near flawless physique without looking like he was purposely drawing attention to it. The Pants were a little looser, and weren't much different from the dress pants he had select earlier, but they did feel and look less formal. Trunks had to admit, he did look pretty good as he looked in the full length mirror.

"That's better." she grinned.

"Thanks sis." Trunks replied grinning back. Bra moved towards him again; Trunks was expecting her to make some snarky comment, or that she decided things didn't look quite right, but instead she wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself in tight against him. For a second Trunks remained motionless. His sister hadn't hugged him in…. kami he didn't even know how long, so it took a moment to overcome the shock. Once he had, he quickly returned the gesture.

"What's gotten into you Bra?" He asked once they'd separated.

"Nothin." She said innocently. "Have fun Trunks!" she giggled before rushing out of his room.

Trunks smiled, but shook his head slightly confused.

Trunks fished his set of keys out of his pocket, a light hum filling the air as the motion sensors kicked it. A moment later, bright light flooded from overhead, illuminating the massive garage. Trunks had to squint for a moment until his eyes adjusted to the large influx of light. The garage was filled with 16 cars, a variety of makes and colors but representing just a small fraction of the amount of vehicles owned by the Briefs'. Trunks had keys to four of them, and paused at the entrance to the garage, carefully considering which one to take.

"Yo Trunks." A voice said stepping to his left and placing a firm hand of Trunks' left shoulder.

"Hey Goten." Trunks said looking to his left towards his friend, but still considering his transportation options.

"I'm out, Valese is expecting me in about.." Goten raised his watch which was on his free hand. "Sheesh." He quickly pulled the hand on Trunks shoulder off, slapping himself lightly in the forehead as if to ensure he really was reading the time correctly. "20 minutes. Crap. I better go. I don't want her to give her a reason to freak out on me."

Trunks looked at Goten curiously, seeing a genuine look of apprehension, and even a little fear. "Jeeeezzz, what is this girl doing to him?" Trunks thought. It was weird and uncomfortable to see Goten worried. About anything. "Alright Goten. I should be back around 11:30. Come over whenever."

"Right.." Goten said, noticing the look Trunks was giving. He quickly changed his expression, trying to get rid of Trunks' look. "Alright I'll see you later Trunks." He said before returning back into the bowels of Capsule Corp to collect a few things before he returned home to finish getting ready.

Trunks scowled slightly as he watched his friend leave the garage. He was going to grill Goten tonight, and he sure as hell wasn't going to take "no" or "everything is fine" for an answer this time. He'd make Goten tell him what was wrong, even if he had to resort to his childhood tactic of pummeling Goten into submission. But for now, he returned his look to the garage, having decided to drive a small black convertible his mother had bought him for his 19th birthday.

Trunks kept one hand on the steering wheel as he rubbed his face out of a mix of boredom and irritation. He eyed the time on the car's dashboard. The wind was brisk and biting as it rushed against against him, blowing his hair every which way. The suns last rays were dying out just beyond a distant row of trees.

Trunks checked his speed. He was a solid 20 km/hr over the speed limit, but it still felt slow as hell. This is why he hated driving. It took forever to get anywhere. He shifted awkwardly in the driver's seat, growing impatient with how slow he was moving. He was considering just picking the car up and carrying it with him to her dorm, but his common sense and cautionary nature wouldn't let him do so.

Sometimes he really hated having to hide such a big part of himself from a world; a sentiment he knew was shared by his family and closest friends. But he knew if they wanted to have any chance of fitting into normal society, letting people know you could punch down mountain ranges or blow up the planet with your energy wasn't a good way to do it. He sighed, wondering if he'd ever find a girl who could handle that kind of truth. Kendra was nice, pretty, and smart (why would he have asked her on a date otherwise), but he already knew she wasn't the right girl for him. He really wasn't sure he'd ever find the right girl. He knew this thought process was cynical, especially since he was only 23 years old. His parents hadn't met till his father was in his 30s (though he definitely didn't want to meet a girl in the same way his parents met). From the outside they might have seemed a strange couple; his father was usually incredibly serious, and incredibly intimidating. His mother was generally cheerful and had an almost bubbly personality hiding her intelligence. But those traits obscured the fact they DID have a lot in common. The two were brilliant (albeit in different ways). They were incredibly driven and tenacious to get what they wanted. They knew how to play people, and each other, and they were the two most stubborn people he knew. Well them and his sister.

He shook his head though. Tonight was supposed to be fun, and he didn't want to be in a foul mood before he even picked her up. Just because she wasn't his "soul mate", or any of that silly nonsense doesn't mean he couldn't have a good time with her.

Back At Capsule Corp:

Bra paced around her room, having long ago decided homework just wasn't going to get done tonight. She was way to wound up to even sit down for more than a few seconds at a time. If she wasn't so wholly repulsed by the smell, she would have smoked a cigarette to calm her nerves. The one time she had, it had certainly helped her nerves. But the smell had lingered on her for days, offending her finely tuned senses and making her nearly vomit. She had been forced to hide from her father less he catch the smell as well.

She had been avoiding tackling the source of her restlessness, but she was going to have to come to terms with it sooner or later. She sighed before she threw herself onto her king-sized bed.

"You've got it for Goten Bra." She spoke aloud in her room, her voice firmly above the background music she had on; she had set her playlist to classical, thinking it might calm her down. It hadn't. In saying it aloud, she had hoped it might make it easier to let the thought settle in her mind. It didn't. It still seemed just as strange and flat-out wrong. She was immediately back up on her feet, pacing her room once more.

"Why Goten?" she muttered to herself quietly. Where between following him and Trunks around as a child, food fights at the dinner table, play fighting (where he'd always let her win), between summer vacations, late night movie nights, her throw away boyfriends and his girl-playing-teens had her feelings towards Goten become more then familial?

"In retrospect, maybe things hadn't always been quite that innocent." she thought, thinking back over their interactions the last few years.

Last summer, she recalled she had caught Goten red-handed, gawking at her in her bikini. She had played it off then, taking it as a compliment. After all, she had worked damn hard to get that kind of figure.

She remembered purposely flaunting her boyfriends in front of Trunks and Goten. At the time she thought she was doing it purely to enrage Trunks at the boys' peril. But maybe it had been her pathetic young girl attempts to get Goten's attention. She groaned at herself at having been so stupid back then.

Bra took a seat at the chair at her desk, a hand running through her hair and her left leg jumping up and down restlessly.

She had always thought Goten was cute, but it wasn't until his mid-teens that Goten had really come into his own. Countless hours tutoring under Gohan, and his mother's constant pressure ensured that, eventually, things did snap together for him academically. Sure he was no genius like his brother or her or Trunks or her parents, but he was far from the simpleton he'd been as a kid. At least as many, probably many times more, hours of fighting, sparring and training had given him the perfect physique he had now.

Unlike her brother and the rest of her family who were tenacious, scheming and proud, Goten was light-hearted, laid back and a go with the flow kind of guy. It was something that had always helped counter balance Trunks, and likely contributed to making their friendship that much stronger. That had to be part of the attraction she felt as well.

She stood up, raising her hands in surrender. Try as she might, there was no logic cracks or loopholes she could reason about to avoid her previous conclusion. She really did like Goten. And it wasn't just a little. Hell, she had even tried to make peace with her brother earlier in the hopes that he would let her hang out with them tonight. How pathetic was that? It had been nice to be on peaceful terms with her brother for once, but that hadn't been the main reason why she'd made the peace offering.

Okay, so… even if she did like Goten, why was she getting sooo bent out of shape about it? It's not like she hadn't liked guys before; admittedly none of them had been quite like Goten… and none of them had been her brother's best friend. Still though, guys NEVER got to her. Ever. So what was so different this time? Guys had always seemed like fun toys to play around with. But not Goten. She stopped pacing her room and stood in front of the full length mirror on her wall. She looked at herself for several moments, considering the question.

"Oh no…" she gasped out loud, covering her mouth in shock, her eyes snapping wide open and her mouth falling ajar as the truth finally dawned on her. "No no no." She shook her head. No matter how hard she shook her head, it didn't change anything. "How did I let this happen!" she growled with a hint of self-loathing before she let a fist fly; a natural reaction that she couldn't restrain. Her fist impacted against the wall of her room. The solid construction – drywall, insulation, wood – crumbled to dust beneath her fist. If she had been an inch further forward, her fist would have cleared straight through the wall.

She pulled her fist from the wall, not caring about the mess and debris on her floor or the near clear through hole now in her bedroom wall. She fell back into her chair, feeling faint and light headed.

"I love Goten. I'm so fucking stupid." She berated herself, already knowing the relationship could never work. Even if by some miracle she somehow managed to break out of Goten's "little-sister" view of her, her father and Trunks were insurmountable hurdles. Goten was the one boy she knew she couldn't have.

She felt a tug at the corner of her eye, weak at first, but rapidly coming on stronger, complementing the shortness of breath she was feeling. She felt a cold wetness from the corner of her eyes and raised a hand to them. She wiped away the cold tear and looked at her fingertips. The tips glistened slightly in the dim light of her room.

"Oh great. Now I'm crying too. What is wrong with me…" She said, looking out the window, disgusted with herself and the weakness she was showing. She was struggling to not let her emotions get the better of her; her pride was already hurting enough as it was. She felt like someone had gotten the better of her, had tricked her into loving him. It was stupid to think like that, but she couldn't understand how she could have let herself slip up this badly.

Bra hadn't cried in years, and she would not allow herself to do so now. She needed something, anything to get her mind off of this before it got the better of her. Her Saiyan roots were showing as right as this desire manifested itself in the form of her wanting nothing more than to beat the shit out of someone. Goten would have been a fine choice - it was mostly his fault she was feeling like this after all - but he wasn't here right now. Her eyes caught the faint red glow from the windows of the gravity room, tucked in to the right behind the capsule corp dormitory. The red glow was almost eerie in the moments away from night darkness of the sky. As she stared at the gravity room, she found she was able to keep back the tears that previously refused to listen to her.

"That's it." She breathed out deeply, fully up righting herself from her chair. She grabbed a bright purple hair tie from the corner of her desk, using it to pull her hair tight into a ponytail. She made up her mind. She was going to train with her dad. It wasn't something she decided lightly; the last time she had done so, Vegeta had almost brought her to tears with his harshness and no bullshit attitude. But that's desperately what she needed right now. Someone who wouldn't coddle her and demand to know what she was upset. She couldn't tell anyone that, and she didn't deserve to have someone feel sorry for her. She had gotten herself into this situation. She needed someone who would just let her take out her frustration using her Saiyan side and not chastise her or make her feel guilty for it.

Bra stood by the entrance to the Gravity Room, wishing she'd dressed slightly more warmly then the shorts and tank top she had chosen. The early spring air nipped at her, causing her to shiver and goosebumps to break out all over her skin. She wiped her eyes repeatedly, ensuring there were no remnants of tears on her face before her father saw her.

"Okay.." she spoke aloud, breathing deep and ensuring she was mentally ready. The red glow was unnerving as she watched how it illuminated the area around the Gravity Room. Her grip on the water bottle she had tightened and she felt it buckle slightly beneath her grasp.

Bra raised her free hand to the intercom outside the gravity room, her index finger resting on the large red button that would open the communication to her father. She hesitated, unsure if she really should do this. Maybe if she waited until Trunks came home, then him and Goten… Goten. She frowned somewhat as she considered that name. What a stupid name it was. She pushed the button.

There was a sound of static, just audible to her sensitive ears. She noticed the red glow from the thick gravity room windows dimmed. She ran her tongue along her teeth, waiting for her father to answer, and hoping he would not be overly cross with her at having disrupted him. She wasn't sure how long she was waiting until the intercom's static flared up and her father's voice came through. She was certain it hadn't been more than a minute, but it had felt excruciatingly longer than that.

"What is it?" He voice barked through demandingly, just the slightest hint of breathlessness in his voice. The intercom speaker attempted to convey his irritation and gruffness, but wholly faltered, resulting in some unpleasant speaker feedback that stung her ears slightly.

"Daddy it's me." She responded, keeping her tone neutral and flat, not wishing to incite her father one way or another.

"Bra? What do you want?" he asked. The irritation had certainly lessened from before, but was unmistakably still present.

"I.." she began, but found her resolve quickly faltering. "Well I was wondering…"

"Spit it out girl!"

She took a deep breath before she blurted out "I want to train with you." She felt a slight tinge of regret in the back of her mind. She had said it. There was no backing out now. She knew she had to do this, but it had been comforting to know there was a possible out.

There was a slight static burst before the intercom went dead. Bra furrowed her brow at the intercom, wondering what the hell her father was trying to say by doing that. She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot impatiently, wondering if she should try the intercom again. She needed this, and her father wasn't going to deny her it.

Bra unfolded her arms and made to reach for the intercom again, but just as she did, she heard the clangs and grinding gears as the entrance to the gravity room folded open. She lowered her hand back to her side as she watched the metal doors split and open. A rush of air passed her as the gravity room equalized in pressure with the outside air. She shivered again, as her father stepped out. He looked like hell. And no wonder, she knew he'd been in there all day; much as he always was. He had small scorch marks all over, and his clothes were tattered and torn. She cringed slightly when she saw his left hand. The index finger was bent in a way that was extremely painful just to look at.

He looked to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. His face was stern and hard, but not in an attempt to make her go away. She returned his stare, scowling at him slightly. She really did not want to explain why she needed to do this. She couldn't tell him the truth, and her mind felt far too befuddled to come up with a plausible lie. But he didn't question her. Rather, after having considered her for a few moments, he simply stepped back, giving her room to enter the gravity room before gesturing with his hand for her to enter. She obliged.

Goten was waiting impatiently under the bright light near the entrance of the park. It's where he and Valese had agreed to meet before heading out for their date. It was a little chilly out, but the park looked serene and peaceful, illuminated by the lights sprinkled throughout. There was the occasional person, or small group walking through the park that passed Goten, and he would usually exchange a friendly smile with them as he waited.

Goten had elected to wear a simple dark blue dress shirt and matching dress pants. It was a little more formal, and had required a little more effort in selection then his usual outfit selections, but tonight was their 6 month anniversary. Goten needed the night to go perfect to try and erase the problems he and Valese had been having lately.

She had made it abundantly clear that she didn't trust him. She had accused him of keeping secrets from her, even of cheating on her. While it was true he was keeping secrets from her, the fact that she had actually thought he could cheat on her had hurt the relationship in ways Goten wasn't sure were repairable. It was true that he had a bit of a reputation of for his womanizing in high school/early university (almost as bad as Trunks' had been), but he'd grown past that. And even then, he would NEVER cheat on a girl once they were his girlfriend. His conscience wouldn't allow him do something like that, no matter how tempted he was.

Goten saw tonight as an opportunity for them to leave that part behind and move forward fresh. She must have believed him when he said he wasn't cheating, otherwise why would she have kept the relationship together. He was willing to try and look past his pride and move forward if she was. That's why it was important that tonight went perfect, as this was a new chapter in the relationship.

Goten checked his watch again. 17 minutes late. This wasn't a good way to start the night. And to think how quickly he'd rushed out of Capsule Corp and gotten ready. Goten hoped up and down a couple times, trying to loosen out some of the tension that was building in him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to make sure he hadn't missed a text or call. He already knew he hadn't. His Saiyan senses would have easily felt or heard his phone if it'd received something. But he checked anyways. He slid the keyboard portion out, causing the LCD screen's backlight to light up, stinging his eyes for the briefest moment before they adjusted. No missed calls, no new texts.

Goten sighed, sliding the keyboard back up and slipping his phone into his pocket. He decided he'd find out where she was. He closed his eyes, allowing his highly refined energy senses free reign. All around him, he could feel a sea of life and energy. It looked like an almost uniform warm light pervading every direction except up. He filtered out the signatures not belonging to humans/saiyans, allowing them to become background light; this allowed the stronger energy signals to stand out much stronger amidst the ambient life energy. As he navigated the glowing energy, he immediately picked out the big, albeit suppressed, energy signals; his own, Trunks' on the far side of town near the university, Gohan's - also at the university, though much more suppressed then the rest. No doubt he was doing some late teaching or tutoring. His Father's was back at home on the couch. Goten smiled slightly, picturing his dad napping on the couch after a massive meal, snoring loudly as he always did. He was surprised he didn't sense Bra back at capsule corp. She did say she was going to be doing homework all night didn't she?

After focusing around Capsule Corp a little more, he did manage to pick up Bra's signature, along with Vegeta's. Their energy signatures were very faint; just barely detectable within the confines of the gravity room. Goten's eyes snapped open. Bra was in the gravity room with Vegeta? He had a pretty good idea what that meant. She was either extremely upset, or extremely angry. She normally hated training with her father, and only did so when she felt she did something to deserve it or was desperate to unleash her inner Saiyan side. She had told him she was never going to train with her father again after what he did last time, so he couldn't imagine what had happened to make her change her mind. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Goten raised his middle and index fingers to his forehead, using them to better focus in on her faint energy signal. He had a strong lock on her, and was about to Instant Transmit back to Capsule Corp, when a voice broke through his focus. It was so high and cutting Goten nearly fell over in surprise.

"Goten!"

Goten took a few quick breaths, leveling his head out before he turned to the source of the voice, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Hey Valese!" he replied, bending down slightly to meet her as they exchanged a quick peck on the lips. "Sorry Bra… " Goten thought, trying not to let the apprehension and guilt about not going back to Capsule Corp show on his face as he continued to smile at Valese.

Goten was tapping his hands against the steering wheel in tune with the song on the radio as he drove Valese and himself to a nearby restaurant. In the back of his mind though, he couldn't stop worry about Bra. He'd found it hard to sense her ki while Valese had been constantly talking to him, but he could feel she was still in the gravity room with Vegeta

"Well Goten?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Huh?" Goten replied, looking to her quizzically. He wasn't sure what she was expecting from him.

She pouted and crossed her arms, but Goten found it more repelling then cute like when Bra did the same actions.

"You weren't listening at all were you!" she said accusingly.

Goten paused for a moment, considering if there was a correct reply to that. There didn't seem to be one.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Well what were you thinking about?" she demanded.

"It's… not important." He said meagerly, frantically searching for something she'd believe. There's no way he could say he was thinking about Bra without setting her off, and he knew she wouldn't just drop it.

"It must have been important." She frowned at him.

"It's just school. It's stressing me out is all." Goten lied. It seemed a pretty good lie at that. He hoped she would buy it.

"Oh… that sucks. You're almost finished though right?"

"Yea.." Goten sighed in relief at her having bought it. "3 more weeks. How's school going for you?"

"Okay I guess. There was this essay I was totally supposed to do last week but I like… totally spaced on till the day before it was due. I kind of threw it together and got a 78 so that was pretty good."

"Heh, yea, nice job."

Goten and Valese were sitting at a small table for two in a lavish restaurant near the center of West City. Goten could hear Valese prattling on about the movie they had seen earlier, but he honestly hadn't caught more than a few minutes of it. His mind had been elsewhere, so the best he could do was to nod and agree with her about the movie's merit.

Goten poked around at his food before frowning at the pittance that passed for a main course at the restaurant. Though he had eaten a full meal, even by Saiyan standards, no more than three and a half hours ago, he was hungry again. He couldn't believe anyone, even the dainty girl across from him, could consider this a full meal. At least it tasted quite good (though it had nothing on his mother's cooking). He recalled the dinner earlier and the cute, squinting looks Bra had given him across the table. Bra… he hadn't stopped worrying about her this whole time. He knew that was a terrible thing for a boyfriend to do, have his mind focused on another girl the entire night, but he couldn't help it.

"Goten? Hey Goteeeeennnn." Valese's voice rang through as he jabbed at his food with his fork.

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong? I know it isn't just school." She narrowed her eyes. Though Goten knew she was suspicious of him, it was obvious she cared more that something was getting to him as her face's expression was primarily one of concern. As he looked into her eyes, deep and gorgeously dark, he realized something important – her eyes no longer entranced him. He no longer felt like he could get lost in their depths.

"Valese… I…" Goten began, his eyes leaving hers and looking to the table. He felt her link her right hand together with his.

"Come on Goten…"

She was only making this harder. He breathed in deep, re-looking her in the eyes. He'd stared down the most terrifying being in the universe at 7 years old, but that felt like nothing now compared to this.

"I can't Valese."

"You can't what?" she asked, a noticeable strain in her voice followed by a tightening of her grip on his hand. She was anticipating what came next, and her voice clearly showed that.

"I can't see you anymore." He spoke, his voice unusually soft. He knew she heard however, as she quickly pulled her hand out of his. He saw a twitch in the corner of her face as she stared at him blankly.

"Valese, I'm sorry." Was all Goten found he could say. His throat was dry and his voice was slightly hoarse. He really was sorry. He'd had such high hopes that tonight was going to be a new beginning for him and Valese. He was right, but it certainly wasn't in the way he had originally imagined. The worst thing was she hadn't done anything wrong. While she had been clinging and distrustful before, she hadn't exhibited that behavior in some time, and tonight she had been perfect. But the fact that she had been so caring and nice, but still failed to draw out any of that warm feeling Goten had initially had around her only seemed to confirm that his feelings for her had passed. There was no point in trying to make this work.

"It's another girl isn't it?" she asked. He could see her restraining her tears. The neutral tone she was able to force her voice in too was unnerving.

"No!" Goten quickly said adamantly. It wasn't really a lie after all. Even if he his years old crush on Bra hadn't really started to intensify lately, he knew now it would eventually have come to this between them. He wasn't doing this because he had some expectation of being with Bra. That had been, and still was a stupid thing to hope for. He was doing this because their relationship just didn't feel right. He couldn't continue knowing he didn't feel the same way about her as she did about him.

He wasn't sure if she believed him, but it didn't stop the terrible feeling he had as she started to cry.

"Valese… please don't cry."

"Take me home Goten."

Goten nodded.