C-34 If only.......
Bulma was fighting the tears again as she could see that her husband was barely breathing. A bandage still dotted with blood on his chest, even after a month since he was poisoned.
I had been so close so many times. Raymond had barely managed to save him. He hadn't even twitched his eyes, not even once, since they brought him home. Not even when she shook him or cried over him did he respond.
Then there was her son. He was constantly moaning and groaning and sweating through his sheets. Pan took care of him most of the time, which left her a lot of time for her to spend with Vegeta. Of course, there were times, when she found herself taking care of a crying Pan.
Raymond was checking the IV's and the mask that were connected to Vegeta. He let out a deep sigh, which meant that there was no real progress. Nothing was different from the last day. Trunks showed progress. Raymond had learned a lot from Junior and Soyna's poisoning and was able to help him out, but the same treatments didn't seen to work on Vegeta.
He said his usual spiel, "I can't do anything else. Only time will tell." Raymond looked exhausted.
"It's okay. You have done your best," she said trying to keep the tears out of her voice. Today she was managing to do that well. Other days were not so easy.
Raymond gathered his things and left and quietly as he could.
She took her normal seat next to her husband and sighed deeply.
So much had happened in the last month.
"THE NIGHT" had been so chaotic with the injuries and loss.
The loss of Soyna was felt terribly among everyone, even though everyone reacted differently.
Junior and the boys took it the worse. Junior just refused to talk and now spent most of his time alone. He even avoided the boys who would try to go to him for comfort but found that their uncle was distant in his own misery.
Legen wouldn't admit that she was gone even though his own words about how that he saw her in his dreams all the time.
Benot was trying to be a tough little boy. He was trying to be brave. When they had the funeral for Soyna, he had tried not to cry, but broke down and then laid all the blame on Goten.
Poor Goten.
As much as Junior had become a recluse, Goten was much worse. After the ceremony, Goten wouldn't even leave his room for two weeks.
ChiChi got him out but he looked terrible and the only thing that he would mutter about was how it was his fault and he had to get her back somehow.
Of course, with the boys blaming him for the loss of their mother it seemed to affect him all the more. Legen got into it one night yelling at him, saying that he should have stopped her and that he would never forgive him.
Bulma was not stupid about that look in Goten's eyes. She made sure that the spaceship was non-operational and knew that he had tried it a couple of times, but never once approached her to fix it.
Then there were the fights between Goten and Gohan. She did not see them fight but heard enough about them. Goten was blaming Gohan for stopping him in going after Soyna. The matches came to blows at times.
They fought a lot from what he heard. ChiChi was the only one that kept them from killing each other in the house and being civil to each other.
Bulma didn't know how long that was going to last.
She sighed deeply and looked at her ill husband. She ran her hand through his hair,(knowing that he would hate that) and then leaned in and gave his cool cheek a kiss (knowing he would hate that even more).
She knew she would be better if only he would insult her or yell at her or even snort and walk away.
If only he would blink his eyes.
If only she knew that he was going to come back to her.
............
Trunks sat up in bed and looked at the scar on his cheek in the mirror.
He thought for sure that he was going to die from the thing. His OTHER self did, he didn't see why he didn't. Of course he had Raymond, a doctor that knew about the poison, doing something about it. He had recovered a lot quicker then Goten had, but all he could do with Goten's scar was wash it and keep it covered. He had no idea what else to do. Raymond was using a bunch of stuff with fancy names to help him along.
He ran his finger down the scar.
It didn't hurt anymore. The dark line was thin and jagged and would be a constant reminder of his failure.
He put the mirror aside. He didn't need to remind himself of how had failed.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. He wasn't supposed to get up yet, but he didn't want to spend another moment in bed. It had been a month. Spending hours in the office was better than spending any time in the bed now.
He tested his legs and they felt sturdy enough.
A real shower would be nice. He felt good enough to go have a shower as he slowly walked to the bathroom, being very aware if a muscle tremor threatened to take him down.
He made it all right but had to grab the counter when he got in there as his thigh's started to shake.
He was forced to look into a mirror again.
He could only see the horrible black line on his cheek.
It angered him.
He let out a cry and punched the mirror.
The glass shattered and he felt it cut his hand but didn't care. At least he wouldn't see that horrible black scar.
He lived through how he saw that stupid boy coming at him! The knife and how he just stood there, stunned over the absense of Goten's thoughts and the thoughts that he remembered from Goten.
He could have moved.
He should have moved.
If only they hadn't fused.
If only he had been aware of what was going on.
If only...
............
Pan was shocked to see the bed empty. She heard the scream and the shattering of glass.
She ran into the bathroom to see Trunks looking at his bloody hand. He seemed quite pleased to see the blood dripping on the floor.
"What the hell are you doing out of bed!" She snapped at him.
He looked over at her and put on his best charming smile. "I want a shower."
She was so mad at him. He was not well enough to get out of bed! "You could have waited until I was here to help you!"
He gave a slight chuckle. "Is that an invitation?"
She flushed and got even madder at him. "You are not well enough to be talking like that!" She grabbed his bloody hand and looked at it. "Why the hell did you do that?" She looked at the shattered glass that was all around him.
His face grew dark and he strongly resembled his father for a moment. "I don't need a reminder of my failure." He brought his bloody hand to his face where the scar was as if he was trying to hide it.
She felt that pang of pain in her chest. Everyone felt like they had failed. She felt like she had failed. Hell, she was beat by Marron, what could she have done, if they would have allowed her to fight. The child was sapping all her energy out of her!
"How about a bath. Your legs are shaking. I don't think you can stand much longer," she said. Before he could protest she dragged him to the tub. She did not wish to bring up the loss again.
It was too much to deal with.
If only they had been more careful and she wouldn't have been such a hindrance.
If only...
............
Junior sighed deeply as he looked down at his plate of food. Bulma was basically forcing him to eat. He wasn't hungry. She was forcing him to go to school too, just as she was forcing the boys to go too.
Her arguments could not be countered.
"Your sister/mother would not want you to become uneducated bums, now would she!"
He still didn't want to go. He had missed so much. Not that he couldn't catch up on that. His eyes constantly were hurting now. He knew that partially because he usually cried himself to sleep at night. He had to wear his darkest glasses to ease the physical pain.
He looked over at his nephews who were slumped over there food. They were dressed in their school uniforms also. They were not looking forward to going.
Benot looked like he was angry and Legen looked like he was going to cry.
He looked away from them.
It was so hard looking at them, knowing that he failed them yet again. He had helped with the loss of their father and now it was the loss of their mother. He rubbed his cursed eyes under his glasses. If only he hadn't been so stupid and gotten the poison in his eyes...
If only...
...............
Legen hugged his book bag as he sat on the bus. He ignored his friends around him. He knew that Fry had sat next to him, but he didn't want to talk to Fry. Fry was related to Goten and he hated Goten right now.
He had dreamed about his mother again.
He always dreamed about mom, now that she was...
He shook his head. He never wanted to think about where she REALLY was. NEVER!
The dream was such a nice dream and when Benot woke him, he never hated his brother more in his life.
They were at the fair! They were going on all the rides and they were eating ice cream and laughing. He was riding on her shoulders as they walked through the crowded park. It was a wonderful dream. Just him and his mom.
But now, he was on a loud crowded school bus with Fry trying to talk to him.
He sighed deeply.
He knew that his mom was out for revenge but the didn't think she would sacrifice herself to get rid of Krad. He never thought she would do such a thing. She had promised him that she would take care of them. She promised him that she would make sure that Krad never hurt them again.
He sighed deeply.
He should have made her promise that she would always be there for him. He should have made her promise that she would come back. Made her promise that she was not going to die!
If only he had done that. Then he wouldn't have lost her.
"You can't ignore me forever!"
He looked over at Fry who was looking at him very angrily.
Legen looked down at his bag full of books and sighed deeply. He knew that he shouldn't be mad at Fry. But Goten was his uncle.
He HAD liked Goten. He couldn't believe that he thought he would make a good dad. Goten should have been there for mom. He should have stopped her.
It was all Goten's fault!
If only he had done what he should have done!
............
Gohan never felt so exhausted in his life.
He had just another fight with Goten again. It was always the same. He would come into the room, looking rather sad and then as soon as he saw him, he would narrow his eyes and look like he was ready to kill him.
They would get into a verbal sparing match and they almost came to blows again but ChiChi interfered again and angrily cried about how her boys should be getting along.
Today, ChiChi had forced Goten to go back to school.
It was the first time that he thought anyone ever talked back to ChiChi before. Goten didn't win, because mom pulled out the mother's secret weapon, tears and Goten crumbled.
He looked at his own bag of supplies that he had to lug to school. He had offered Goten a ride, but he just snorted and looked like he had been ready to start another fight as he walked out the door.
He did feel guilty about what he had done. He did feel like he should have just let Goten run after her but he knew that they both would be gone now if that was the case.
Sometimes, he wondered if Goten was thinking that same thought.
Trunk's was recovering well, but Vegeta wasn't. Raymond had given him a grim report about how he was deteriorating, but hadn't told anyone else yet. He couldn't get enough courage to tell Bulma that he couldn't save him.
Gohan said that he was going to tell her. He knew her longer and he hoped she would take the news a little better from him.
Raymond hadn't even told Bra yet that her father may not recover at all.
It was left up to good old reliable Gohan.
He sighed heavily.
He grabbed his supplies and headed off to work. There was no point of playing the 'what if only I had...' game. It would only make him feel worse.
............
Goten couldn't even look at Junior who sat slumped as far from him as possible.
Not that they could sit that far from each other sitting in the office waiting to get hauled into the principals office.
They had gotten into a fight.
It was more of a yelling match than anything in the beginning.
Junior was blaming him for Soyna's death.
"I was counting on you to protect her! I mean, you found her hiding spots when no one else could! You should have been able to protect her!" He snapped in a low voice at him. It was almost a growl. He sure as hell resembled Vegeta then and there and that still was unnerving.
"I tried!" he had whispered back. "If you hadn't noticed, she was a head strong woman!"
Junior's eyes narrowed as he looked at Goten. "I thought you liked her! I thought she listened to you!" His voice had gotten louder.
He wanted to strike Junior but he had restrained himself. "You knew how much she hated Krad as much as I did!"
Then the accusations were thrown about freely, the same ones that usually came out lately. You should have known she was going to do something like that, was what it boiled down to on both sides of the argument.
Then Junior threw a punch. He easily stopped it but then the teacher came in and started yelling at them.
"Is this about a girl again? Can't you two fall for a different girl than the same one all the time!"
He vaguely remembered the fight that had sent them to the office last time. He rubbed the scar on his neck. They had told everyone that the fight was over a girl.
It sort of was.
He smirked as he remember soaking her and how vibrant she was when she attacked him in that half finished garden. Did he fall for her then? When they were fighting? He didn't know when it happened but he sure missed her now.
The smile quickly left his face when he saw that Junior was eyeing him angrily. "What the hell do have to smile about?" His voice was a low growl. Boy, if only Vegeta was a couple of heads taller, his twin was right there. (without the sunglasses of course)
"I was remembering how pissed off I got our sister when I shot her with the hose, after our last fight," the image of her seething and looking like she was going to kill him stuck in his head. He didn't much mind that image at all.
She was beautiful in all his memories.
Junior looked at him oddly.
"Do you really think that she would have been my." He had to pause and close his eyes and almost spit the words out, "girlfriend. She did let me kiss her once."
He knew that Junior was eyeing him but he didn't dare look up.
"Every night I wonder what if I had just blasted him away as soon as he showed up. What if I stepped in sooner rather than letting her have the battle? What if I followed after her? What if I could have saved her?" Goten sighed deeply, more to stop his own tears from coming. He hadn't allowed himself to cry yet and he wasn't going to start now.
He heard Junior low voice. "What if I hadn't been a fool and got myself poisoned in the beginning? What if I had persisted that she not do this alone? There is a lot of 'What if's' and 'If Only's'."
He looked over at Junior who was rubbing his eyes under his dark glasses.
They looked at each other for a bit. "I think she was starting to warm up to you," Junior said. "I thought I heard Benot complaining about you kissing her but I know how much Benot likes you."
"I should have been able to save her," Goten said.
Junior nodded but sighed. "We all should have, but there is that Saiyian pride issue again. She had so much of it."
Goten nodded and frowned. She was such a proud woman. Right from the beginning this was her fight and she wasn't going to let anyone interfere. Could he have stopped it from happening?
Of course, he would never know.
If only they had another chance.
...............
Goten was tired but he knew that he didn't want to crawl into bed. He would only have the nightmare of loosing her once sleep did come or worse, he would dream that she was 'with' him in bed. Those were worse, because he felt so empty when he would wake up.
Not that the walking really helped much either.
Not much at all.
Of course, seeing other lovers walking hand in hand or kissing by the fountain was maddening!
He would never have that with her! All his kisses were stolen kisses. She never came up to him and kissed him! He pushed himself on her! Was he imagining their closeness? No. She wanted those kisses and she did wrap her tail around him that one time. That was as close as she got to showing him any sort of affection.
He sighed heavily as he sat down at the fountain and stared through the droplets of water at a hotdog vendor at the other side.
His stomach grumbled in protest.
He hadn't eaten all day and now his body was revolting. It wanted to eat, even though he felt like he was going to throw up every time that he put something in his mouth.
He didn't deserve to have any pleasure for failing Soyna.
His stomach growled louder.
He shook his head and rubbed his long hair. He really needed to cut it. He had been saying that he was going to get it cut from the day that he arrived home. It never really bothered him, being so long, but he knew that he should cut it shorter. He was not a kid anymore after all.
He looked at the vendor again and saw that he was arguing with someone.
He stood and started to go toward the vendor.
He could hear the argument now.
"...but I'm really really hungry! I haven't eaten in such a long time and it smells so good!" One voice whimpered.
The Vendor's voice was sharp and high pitched. "No money! No food! I don't care how big you are! You can't intimidate me!"
The man whined.
Boy. Did that guy sound familiar but he couldn't place it.
He walked closer digging in his pockets for money. He didn't have much, but it would get him enough food to hold him until he got home and stop the loud grumbling.
He walked around to the vendor and the man he was arguing with.
"Come on! Just one!"
The man was big and could be considered intimating. He now saw why the Vendor had said that. Of course, some of that height had to do with his spiky black hair.
"NO!" The Vendor yelled.
"I haven't eaten for days!" the man protested and shuffled from foot to foot as if he were a child. The guy was a giant and he was begging for food.
Goten walked past him and asked for two hotdogs and handed the Vendor the money.
"Sure sir!" he said and then looked at the man. "See that is how it works! Money and then I give you food!"
Goten looked up that the man who was now drooling over the two hotdogs that the vendor was creating for him.
Goten nearly fainted.
.................
A/N
Bulma was fighting the tears again as she could see that her husband was barely breathing. A bandage still dotted with blood on his chest, even after a month since he was poisoned.
I had been so close so many times. Raymond had barely managed to save him. He hadn't even twitched his eyes, not even once, since they brought him home. Not even when she shook him or cried over him did he respond.
Then there was her son. He was constantly moaning and groaning and sweating through his sheets. Pan took care of him most of the time, which left her a lot of time for her to spend with Vegeta. Of course, there were times, when she found herself taking care of a crying Pan.
Raymond was checking the IV's and the mask that were connected to Vegeta. He let out a deep sigh, which meant that there was no real progress. Nothing was different from the last day. Trunks showed progress. Raymond had learned a lot from Junior and Soyna's poisoning and was able to help him out, but the same treatments didn't seen to work on Vegeta.
He said his usual spiel, "I can't do anything else. Only time will tell." Raymond looked exhausted.
"It's okay. You have done your best," she said trying to keep the tears out of her voice. Today she was managing to do that well. Other days were not so easy.
Raymond gathered his things and left and quietly as he could.
She took her normal seat next to her husband and sighed deeply.
So much had happened in the last month.
"THE NIGHT" had been so chaotic with the injuries and loss.
The loss of Soyna was felt terribly among everyone, even though everyone reacted differently.
Junior and the boys took it the worse. Junior just refused to talk and now spent most of his time alone. He even avoided the boys who would try to go to him for comfort but found that their uncle was distant in his own misery.
Legen wouldn't admit that she was gone even though his own words about how that he saw her in his dreams all the time.
Benot was trying to be a tough little boy. He was trying to be brave. When they had the funeral for Soyna, he had tried not to cry, but broke down and then laid all the blame on Goten.
Poor Goten.
As much as Junior had become a recluse, Goten was much worse. After the ceremony, Goten wouldn't even leave his room for two weeks.
ChiChi got him out but he looked terrible and the only thing that he would mutter about was how it was his fault and he had to get her back somehow.
Of course, with the boys blaming him for the loss of their mother it seemed to affect him all the more. Legen got into it one night yelling at him, saying that he should have stopped her and that he would never forgive him.
Bulma was not stupid about that look in Goten's eyes. She made sure that the spaceship was non-operational and knew that he had tried it a couple of times, but never once approached her to fix it.
Then there were the fights between Goten and Gohan. She did not see them fight but heard enough about them. Goten was blaming Gohan for stopping him in going after Soyna. The matches came to blows at times.
They fought a lot from what he heard. ChiChi was the only one that kept them from killing each other in the house and being civil to each other.
Bulma didn't know how long that was going to last.
She sighed deeply and looked at her ill husband. She ran her hand through his hair,(knowing that he would hate that) and then leaned in and gave his cool cheek a kiss (knowing he would hate that even more).
She knew she would be better if only he would insult her or yell at her or even snort and walk away.
If only he would blink his eyes.
If only she knew that he was going to come back to her.
............
Trunks sat up in bed and looked at the scar on his cheek in the mirror.
He thought for sure that he was going to die from the thing. His OTHER self did, he didn't see why he didn't. Of course he had Raymond, a doctor that knew about the poison, doing something about it. He had recovered a lot quicker then Goten had, but all he could do with Goten's scar was wash it and keep it covered. He had no idea what else to do. Raymond was using a bunch of stuff with fancy names to help him along.
He ran his finger down the scar.
It didn't hurt anymore. The dark line was thin and jagged and would be a constant reminder of his failure.
He put the mirror aside. He didn't need to remind himself of how had failed.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. He wasn't supposed to get up yet, but he didn't want to spend another moment in bed. It had been a month. Spending hours in the office was better than spending any time in the bed now.
He tested his legs and they felt sturdy enough.
A real shower would be nice. He felt good enough to go have a shower as he slowly walked to the bathroom, being very aware if a muscle tremor threatened to take him down.
He made it all right but had to grab the counter when he got in there as his thigh's started to shake.
He was forced to look into a mirror again.
He could only see the horrible black line on his cheek.
It angered him.
He let out a cry and punched the mirror.
The glass shattered and he felt it cut his hand but didn't care. At least he wouldn't see that horrible black scar.
He lived through how he saw that stupid boy coming at him! The knife and how he just stood there, stunned over the absense of Goten's thoughts and the thoughts that he remembered from Goten.
He could have moved.
He should have moved.
If only they hadn't fused.
If only he had been aware of what was going on.
If only...
............
Pan was shocked to see the bed empty. She heard the scream and the shattering of glass.
She ran into the bathroom to see Trunks looking at his bloody hand. He seemed quite pleased to see the blood dripping on the floor.
"What the hell are you doing out of bed!" She snapped at him.
He looked over at her and put on his best charming smile. "I want a shower."
She was so mad at him. He was not well enough to get out of bed! "You could have waited until I was here to help you!"
He gave a slight chuckle. "Is that an invitation?"
She flushed and got even madder at him. "You are not well enough to be talking like that!" She grabbed his bloody hand and looked at it. "Why the hell did you do that?" She looked at the shattered glass that was all around him.
His face grew dark and he strongly resembled his father for a moment. "I don't need a reminder of my failure." He brought his bloody hand to his face where the scar was as if he was trying to hide it.
She felt that pang of pain in her chest. Everyone felt like they had failed. She felt like she had failed. Hell, she was beat by Marron, what could she have done, if they would have allowed her to fight. The child was sapping all her energy out of her!
"How about a bath. Your legs are shaking. I don't think you can stand much longer," she said. Before he could protest she dragged him to the tub. She did not wish to bring up the loss again.
It was too much to deal with.
If only they had been more careful and she wouldn't have been such a hindrance.
If only...
............
Junior sighed deeply as he looked down at his plate of food. Bulma was basically forcing him to eat. He wasn't hungry. She was forcing him to go to school too, just as she was forcing the boys to go too.
Her arguments could not be countered.
"Your sister/mother would not want you to become uneducated bums, now would she!"
He still didn't want to go. He had missed so much. Not that he couldn't catch up on that. His eyes constantly were hurting now. He knew that partially because he usually cried himself to sleep at night. He had to wear his darkest glasses to ease the physical pain.
He looked over at his nephews who were slumped over there food. They were dressed in their school uniforms also. They were not looking forward to going.
Benot looked like he was angry and Legen looked like he was going to cry.
He looked away from them.
It was so hard looking at them, knowing that he failed them yet again. He had helped with the loss of their father and now it was the loss of their mother. He rubbed his cursed eyes under his glasses. If only he hadn't been so stupid and gotten the poison in his eyes...
If only...
...............
Legen hugged his book bag as he sat on the bus. He ignored his friends around him. He knew that Fry had sat next to him, but he didn't want to talk to Fry. Fry was related to Goten and he hated Goten right now.
He had dreamed about his mother again.
He always dreamed about mom, now that she was...
He shook his head. He never wanted to think about where she REALLY was. NEVER!
The dream was such a nice dream and when Benot woke him, he never hated his brother more in his life.
They were at the fair! They were going on all the rides and they were eating ice cream and laughing. He was riding on her shoulders as they walked through the crowded park. It was a wonderful dream. Just him and his mom.
But now, he was on a loud crowded school bus with Fry trying to talk to him.
He sighed deeply.
He knew that his mom was out for revenge but the didn't think she would sacrifice herself to get rid of Krad. He never thought she would do such a thing. She had promised him that she would take care of them. She promised him that she would make sure that Krad never hurt them again.
He sighed deeply.
He should have made her promise that she would always be there for him. He should have made her promise that she would come back. Made her promise that she was not going to die!
If only he had done that. Then he wouldn't have lost her.
"You can't ignore me forever!"
He looked over at Fry who was looking at him very angrily.
Legen looked down at his bag full of books and sighed deeply. He knew that he shouldn't be mad at Fry. But Goten was his uncle.
He HAD liked Goten. He couldn't believe that he thought he would make a good dad. Goten should have been there for mom. He should have stopped her.
It was all Goten's fault!
If only he had done what he should have done!
............
Gohan never felt so exhausted in his life.
He had just another fight with Goten again. It was always the same. He would come into the room, looking rather sad and then as soon as he saw him, he would narrow his eyes and look like he was ready to kill him.
They would get into a verbal sparing match and they almost came to blows again but ChiChi interfered again and angrily cried about how her boys should be getting along.
Today, ChiChi had forced Goten to go back to school.
It was the first time that he thought anyone ever talked back to ChiChi before. Goten didn't win, because mom pulled out the mother's secret weapon, tears and Goten crumbled.
He looked at his own bag of supplies that he had to lug to school. He had offered Goten a ride, but he just snorted and looked like he had been ready to start another fight as he walked out the door.
He did feel guilty about what he had done. He did feel like he should have just let Goten run after her but he knew that they both would be gone now if that was the case.
Sometimes, he wondered if Goten was thinking that same thought.
Trunk's was recovering well, but Vegeta wasn't. Raymond had given him a grim report about how he was deteriorating, but hadn't told anyone else yet. He couldn't get enough courage to tell Bulma that he couldn't save him.
Gohan said that he was going to tell her. He knew her longer and he hoped she would take the news a little better from him.
Raymond hadn't even told Bra yet that her father may not recover at all.
It was left up to good old reliable Gohan.
He sighed heavily.
He grabbed his supplies and headed off to work. There was no point of playing the 'what if only I had...' game. It would only make him feel worse.
............
Goten couldn't even look at Junior who sat slumped as far from him as possible.
Not that they could sit that far from each other sitting in the office waiting to get hauled into the principals office.
They had gotten into a fight.
It was more of a yelling match than anything in the beginning.
Junior was blaming him for Soyna's death.
"I was counting on you to protect her! I mean, you found her hiding spots when no one else could! You should have been able to protect her!" He snapped in a low voice at him. It was almost a growl. He sure as hell resembled Vegeta then and there and that still was unnerving.
"I tried!" he had whispered back. "If you hadn't noticed, she was a head strong woman!"
Junior's eyes narrowed as he looked at Goten. "I thought you liked her! I thought she listened to you!" His voice had gotten louder.
He wanted to strike Junior but he had restrained himself. "You knew how much she hated Krad as much as I did!"
Then the accusations were thrown about freely, the same ones that usually came out lately. You should have known she was going to do something like that, was what it boiled down to on both sides of the argument.
Then Junior threw a punch. He easily stopped it but then the teacher came in and started yelling at them.
"Is this about a girl again? Can't you two fall for a different girl than the same one all the time!"
He vaguely remembered the fight that had sent them to the office last time. He rubbed the scar on his neck. They had told everyone that the fight was over a girl.
It sort of was.
He smirked as he remember soaking her and how vibrant she was when she attacked him in that half finished garden. Did he fall for her then? When they were fighting? He didn't know when it happened but he sure missed her now.
The smile quickly left his face when he saw that Junior was eyeing him angrily. "What the hell do have to smile about?" His voice was a low growl. Boy, if only Vegeta was a couple of heads taller, his twin was right there. (without the sunglasses of course)
"I was remembering how pissed off I got our sister when I shot her with the hose, after our last fight," the image of her seething and looking like she was going to kill him stuck in his head. He didn't much mind that image at all.
She was beautiful in all his memories.
Junior looked at him oddly.
"Do you really think that she would have been my." He had to pause and close his eyes and almost spit the words out, "girlfriend. She did let me kiss her once."
He knew that Junior was eyeing him but he didn't dare look up.
"Every night I wonder what if I had just blasted him away as soon as he showed up. What if I stepped in sooner rather than letting her have the battle? What if I followed after her? What if I could have saved her?" Goten sighed deeply, more to stop his own tears from coming. He hadn't allowed himself to cry yet and he wasn't going to start now.
He heard Junior low voice. "What if I hadn't been a fool and got myself poisoned in the beginning? What if I had persisted that she not do this alone? There is a lot of 'What if's' and 'If Only's'."
He looked over at Junior who was rubbing his eyes under his dark glasses.
They looked at each other for a bit. "I think she was starting to warm up to you," Junior said. "I thought I heard Benot complaining about you kissing her but I know how much Benot likes you."
"I should have been able to save her," Goten said.
Junior nodded but sighed. "We all should have, but there is that Saiyian pride issue again. She had so much of it."
Goten nodded and frowned. She was such a proud woman. Right from the beginning this was her fight and she wasn't going to let anyone interfere. Could he have stopped it from happening?
Of course, he would never know.
If only they had another chance.
...............
Goten was tired but he knew that he didn't want to crawl into bed. He would only have the nightmare of loosing her once sleep did come or worse, he would dream that she was 'with' him in bed. Those were worse, because he felt so empty when he would wake up.
Not that the walking really helped much either.
Not much at all.
Of course, seeing other lovers walking hand in hand or kissing by the fountain was maddening!
He would never have that with her! All his kisses were stolen kisses. She never came up to him and kissed him! He pushed himself on her! Was he imagining their closeness? No. She wanted those kisses and she did wrap her tail around him that one time. That was as close as she got to showing him any sort of affection.
He sighed heavily as he sat down at the fountain and stared through the droplets of water at a hotdog vendor at the other side.
His stomach grumbled in protest.
He hadn't eaten all day and now his body was revolting. It wanted to eat, even though he felt like he was going to throw up every time that he put something in his mouth.
He didn't deserve to have any pleasure for failing Soyna.
His stomach growled louder.
He shook his head and rubbed his long hair. He really needed to cut it. He had been saying that he was going to get it cut from the day that he arrived home. It never really bothered him, being so long, but he knew that he should cut it shorter. He was not a kid anymore after all.
He looked at the vendor again and saw that he was arguing with someone.
He stood and started to go toward the vendor.
He could hear the argument now.
"...but I'm really really hungry! I haven't eaten in such a long time and it smells so good!" One voice whimpered.
The Vendor's voice was sharp and high pitched. "No money! No food! I don't care how big you are! You can't intimidate me!"
The man whined.
Boy. Did that guy sound familiar but he couldn't place it.
He walked closer digging in his pockets for money. He didn't have much, but it would get him enough food to hold him until he got home and stop the loud grumbling.
He walked around to the vendor and the man he was arguing with.
"Come on! Just one!"
The man was big and could be considered intimating. He now saw why the Vendor had said that. Of course, some of that height had to do with his spiky black hair.
"NO!" The Vendor yelled.
"I haven't eaten for days!" the man protested and shuffled from foot to foot as if he were a child. The guy was a giant and he was begging for food.
Goten walked past him and asked for two hotdogs and handed the Vendor the money.
"Sure sir!" he said and then looked at the man. "See that is how it works! Money and then I give you food!"
Goten looked up that the man who was now drooling over the two hotdogs that the vendor was creating for him.
Goten nearly fainted.
.................
A/N