A/N: Alright, I'm tying to wind this down to a close but it's still gonna take a while. This story turned out to be much longer than I thought. But I should be able to start my next full fic soon. I'm actually drawn to writing a quick Yu-Gi-Oh oneshot. Don't ask why. I think I'm sick or something.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

Spectre

20

Mom took a furious step forward to sink into her fighting stance, both hands thrust in front of her for hand-to-hand combat rather than energy blasts. Goten wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and straightened up behind his father, curling his lip in a snarl and jerking forward into his father's outstretched arm. Goku had entered the fight in a bad mood. His black eyes flickered to me and narrowed as he tried to put the pieces together. My mother was out for blood.

"Why does your son have his hands all over my daughter?" she barked. "Krillin told you to protect her, Goku, not tie her up with a ribbon for your despicable offspring to violate."

"I protect Marron," Goku said coldly, tearing his gaze off me to glare at my mother. He roughly shoved Goten back when he took another step forward and rounded on him. "I told you to stay away from her. Marron doesn't need to be caught up with the wrong crowd, which you and Bulla are definitely a part of. When we get outside I'm going to—"

Suddenly, Goku's head snapped downward, interested in something I couldn't see. He clenched his hands into fists and angrily grabbed one of Goten's wrists, twisting it until he yelped in pain and his fingers popped open. There, resting daintily on his palm was a heap of blonde hair, stained red at the tips with glimmering fresh blood.

I reached up curiously to touch the crown of my skull and was surprised to find it was bleeding profusely. Goten hadn't been kidding around. If mom hadn't shown up… I didn't want to think about what would've happened. He could've easily taken me away before Goku arrived. Right now I could be screaming my lungs out while more than one part of my body bled.

"You don't understand!" Goten pleaded as Goku plucked the hairs from his palm. "I've noticed Marron was acting odd lately. Look under her bed! Her sheets were torn! Only one of us could do that so I asked her who she was with and she wouldn't answer. I was trying to help. Please, you have to believe me."

"My fifteen year old daughter has been with someone?!" mom spluttered, turning her rage to Goku. "You're mistaken. Marron isn't that stupid. Surely you've set boundaries and rules, Goku. You know better than to let some boy come in my house and have his way with my daughter. Have you been watching her or are you letting her do whatever she wants? You need to be firm."

"I know who it is," Goten said. He was excited that the brunt of the argument was turning away from him. He locked eyes with Goku and smiled. "You'll never guess who it is."

"Marron has not and will not have any boys in the house. I watch her all day, every day. I'm very careful. I promised Krillin I'd take good care of her and I am." Goku grabbed his son by the front of his shirt and hoisted him in the air, finally turning around to face us. His eyes flashed to mine for a brief second and I shook my head infinitesimally. No, they didn't know about what we had done. It was safe.

Mom straightened, scowling deeply. "Perhaps this isn't working out as well as we imagined. I wanted Marron to live with you but that isn't an option if she'll be in danger."

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull and I stepped towards mom. "Wait, wait, hold the phone! You want me to live with Goku? Permanently? That wouldn't work out in any universe."

"I think I'll make that decision," Goku said, hefting Goten over his shoulder. He was a completely different person right now; angered by what he had seen and steadily growing more and more defensive. "You gave Marron to me, which means you can't just come home whenever you'd like and tell me what to do with her. She's mine now."

Mom started yelling at him so I turned to check on Bulla. She was gone and the front door was slightly jar. Clearly she wasn't interested in being involved in our squabble. I considered trying to slink away myself and hide it out someplace safe until the storm passed. I never thought I'd see the day Goku and my mother fought over how to parent me best.

If I was really careful, I could slip outside and fly away before they noticed…

"She's my daughter!" mom snarled. "I don't know why Krillin thought it was a good idea to trust you with a fifteen year old girl. He must've been losing it faster than I thought. Now kindly take your son and get out of my house so I can talk to Marron."

Goku's face clouded over and he readjusted Goten to push past my mother, heading for the door. No, no, I didn't want him to leave. I watched in terror as he put his hand on the door and words burst out of my mouth. Anything to keep him with me. I didn't want to be alone again.

"He's been taking good care of me," I blurted. "I was the one who told him to leave earlier."

Both of them looked at me, four eyes full to the brim with unbridled rage. I nervously steepled my fingers as I continued my desperate plea. "I'm alive, right? Bad things are going to happen regardless of who's watching over me. All parents make mistakes."

My mother stared at me and pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers. "Marron, do you know what these people are like? They aren't human. One slip of a finger and you could be dead. That's why I'm upset. Goten could've easily killed you, even if he didn't mean to, and Goku was too busy catching fish or some other nonsense to protect you."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. As if she never made any mistakes raising me. I could remember a few circumstances where dad had to step in and take care of me because she was too busy. "Mom, stop. I already explained what happened. Maybe you should check on dad."

"He'll forget about you like he forgot about Krillin," mom continued harshly. "He failed to speak to his best friend for almost a decade. What were you so busy with, Goku? You couldn't use your little trick to see Krillin while he began losing his memory? Now you have the audacity to forsake him in a hospital while you continually break your promise to take care of our daughter—"

Goku suddenly tore open the front door and hurled his son outside into the rain. He spun around on his heel, advancing toward my mother as she sank into a fighting stance again. I cowered back when he grabbed her by the arm and easily dragged her outside as well, blocking her from coming back in the house. Mom put her hands on her hips and started yelling at him again.

He gripped the door for a moment, cracking the wood under his fingers, then slammed the door shut in her face. The whole house vibrated from the aftershock.

I blinked.

The Saiyan turned around and settled his black eyes on me. I shrank back further, once again strongly considering making a break for it. Emotions were running high right now. Someone might do something they regretted, like slamming the door in my mother's furious face. She was going to kill Goten.

"I'm sorry," Goku said thickly. "I was distracted and I still haven't memorized your energy signature. I only came because I could feel Goten's all over the place and worried he'd gotten into a fight. I'm sorry I failed to protect you. I thought he knew better."

I shrugged weakly and tried to smile. "It's okay. You can't help the fact that your son is sort of an asshole. I know you can't always be here to save the day." I bit my lower lip, desperate to ask the burning question. "How did things go with Chi-Chi? Did you two talk?"

"Let's get your things so you can start moving in with me," he said, completely avoiding my question. "Your mother is going to come back and pummel me when she's through with Goten."

Disappointed, I followed Goku upstairs to my bedroom. He stood by the door with his hands stiffly in his pockets while I knelt down on the floor to pull my suitcase from underneath my bed. Geez, I'd just moved in and started getting comfortable. Now I was going to live with Goku and Chi-Chi, the former who I was awkwardly in love with, and we'd all be cohabitating until I turned eighteen.

I stopped dead as I set a neatly folded shirt in my suitcase. I'd be living with them. I'd have to watch Goku kiss her every morning and listen to them making passionate love every night. Chi-Chi would try to tell me what to do and her husband would quietly let her because he was too afraid to say anything. I was going to be trapped in a painful, vicious circle for at least three more agonizing years.

My hands trembled at the thought of it. I could barely tolerate thinking about such things, let alone having to experience them. Goku would never love me but he'd always love her. He'd do anything for Chi-Chi, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness and sanity so she could mess around with his friend. He would always turn a blind eye to the bad things she did.

But he could easily ignore all the good I tried to do for him. All the nights I listened to him raving about how great she was while I bit my tongue until it bled into my mouth; all the times I physically forced myself not to kiss him when the moment was perfect out of sheer respect. I tried to be understanding and hoped it would come back to bless me in the end, but now I realized that I was cursed.

"I'm not going," I said, sitting down and folding my arms impudently.

Goku furrowed his brow and shrugged off the wall. "What? You have to. You can't stay here by yourself and I'm sure your mother will sell the house. Come on, it'll be fun. I'm sorry you had to see me like that but I'm sort of in a bad mood right now. Let's go home and get you moved in."

"No. I'm not going."

"Marron, this isn't optional. Stop being difficult."

"This isn't about my being a brat," I said. "Get out. Leave me alone."

"You need to come with me so I can clean your head."

"Shut up. I'm not taking orders from you."

The Saiyan stepped toward me. "You'll get an infection. Come on, Chi-Chi knows how to deal with these kinds of things. She'll know—"

I snatched a pillow off my bed and threw it at Goku's face, making him flinch back and scarcely catch it in time. He stared at me in disbelief. He seriously didn't understand why I was angry.

"Screw Chi-Chi!" I snapped. "I don't want to hear her name again! I don't want to see her smug look while she hangs around Yamcha and I don't want to listen to her voice. Bulla was right. You're a moron, Goku. You're letting her walk all over you and for what?! Security? Chivalry? Are you too nice of a guy to confront your adulteress wife?

"And here I am, madly in love with you; trying to be respectful and polite while you ignore my feelings completely. Why can't you give up on her?" I rose to my feet, stamping my foot like a child. "Why can't you love me instead? I could give you everything! I won't sleep with your friends; I won't yell at you if you want to go fish or whatever. I don't care! I love you and you'll never love me back!"

Neither of us said a word for a painful amount of time. I was panting from the ferocity of my emotions and glaring evenly at Goku's bewildered expression until I began to feel pangs of embarrassment. Now what had I done? I admitted my feelings; they were out of the table for all to see. Goku looked absolutely terrified by them. He rocked back on his heels and rubbed the back of his head.

Humiliation set in. He was rejecting me with his silence.

"I'm going to go crawl in a hole now," I muttered as tears stung my eyes.

Goku quickly stepped aside so I could walk past him in to the hall. I ran down the stairs into the pouring rain outside and took off into the air, already a sobbing mess. Oh well. At least I had the rain to wash away my tears.