Chapter 3. Can't I brag a little?

"What?" my mom shrieked.

All the Saiyajins flinched at the high pitch in her voice irritating our sensitive eardrums. Even my baby sister Bra, stuck to my mom's hip, scowled and made to slap her hand over my mom's mouth to silence her. She intercepted the blow just in time and smiled at Bra before turning her attention back to Goku and my dad, her big blue eyes narrowing like she was making ready to give them a good earful. When Bra caught sight of my dad, her even bigger and bluer eyes grew wide and she started cooing as she reached out her short arms to him.

My mom slipped Bra to her other hip where she could no longer see my dad and exclaimed: "No way! I am not letting more Saiyajins into the house. One is bad enough. I have a two-year-old running around!"

"What did I tell you, idiot?" my dad said, rubbing his ear with an annoyed expression on his face.

Several of the other Saiyajins did the same. My mom's voice really could reach ear-splitting heights. She looked the way she always looked on the day after a party, like the wine she had shown such appreciation for the previous evening, wasn't so good to her anymore. Hung-over, she called that and it meant that she was not going to suffer back-talk from anyone until the headache that apparently went with it, had lifted. Goten actually groaned as he stuck his finger in his ear to give it a shake, but when my mom's eyes flashed to him, my best friend wound his neck in immediately and took a step back from where he had been shoulder to shoulder with me. The streamers from my birthday party were still up and the rustling sound of Ringo's mohawk brushing against those as he very carefully shifted his weight from one to the other foot, made his captain give him a glare that made my mom look sweet.

"They have no place else to go, Bulma." Goku pleaded, availing himself of all his boyish charm and giving my mom his puppy-dog eyes that always seemed to work on her. "They will keep out of trouble." Then he asked turning to the three Saiyajins: "Won't you guys?"

The two male Saiyajins nodded as one man, but their captain, who still seemed very affronted for some reason, did not.

"No, I will not…"

"Calm down, woman." my dad cut across my mom. "They are not moving in. It is only until their captain decides on where to go next."

The captain looked agitated and ready to break in at that point, her tail blowing up behind her in bristles, but she held her tongue at the swift look my dad shot her. He observed her lashing tail and stared it right back around her waist. I guessed even the captain did not dare go against her prince's wishes. That was a good thing. If they wanted to stay, like I wanted them to stay, she should not get his hackles up. My mom could usually be swayed if one argued a point well enough, but with my dad you got one chance only and if you blew it, there was no making him go back on his decision.

"He is my brother." Goku attempted, truly begging now. "Help me out."

My mom gave in with an exaggerated sigh. The puppy-dog eyes had worked. "Put them up in the back compound." she waved a finger in both my dad's and Goku's faces and I was glad that I was not on the receiving end of that. "They are your responsibility. Keep them away from me, my baby and my house." And with that, she left us behind in the front hall where we all stood, muttering an exasperated: "Monkeys." as she disappeared into the living room.

My dad went back outside and we all followed him as he made over to the assigned compound with Goku beside him exclaiming a happy: "That went well!"

My dad scoffed and refused to further engage with the one he liked calling delayed or moronic or idiot and had branded his adversary since the day he first arrived on Earth. The contention was wholly one-sided and I was happy for that. No matter how excellent my dad's martial skill, Goku was always one step ahead of him and I didn't believe my dad's pride could handle the blow of his defeat at Kakarot's hands.

"We will have to come up with something more permanent, of course." Goku rattled on unburdened. He gave up on trying to get my dad's attention when we reached the entrance of the back compound and said ever upbeat: "Great! Well, we have to go home for lunch now, Goten. I am starving." he looked at his brother and asked: "You want to tag along, Turles? I would like to introduce you to my wife and my other son Gohan."

"Wife?" Turles echoed as if he was testing the word. His brows raised and he chanced a hesitant glance down at his captain standing next to him with her hands on her hips and a very aggressive expression on her scarred face. "Let me check with my captain first."

She permitted it with the merest inkling of a nod, her destructive glare stuck on the house further up the lawn. Our house my mom did not want her and her men staying at, even if we had two guestrooms and an attic that could accommodate all of them with room to spare. Was that why the captain was in such a bad mood? Staying at the back compound had to be better than sitting on our doorstep like she told – threatened – my dad she would.

"Here." Goku placed a hand on his brother's arm, the other one coming to rest on Goten's head. My best friend threw me a huge grin, flashed me a peace sign and Turles was halfway through his salute when the three of them vanished into thin air.

"That is a cool ability." Ringo reaffirmed, his hand coming up to thoughtfully brush across his mohawk.

"Indeed." the captain spat, her glare shooting to my dad.

My dad answered it unruffled, his face smooth. He still wasn't impressed with her or her indignation. He pushed open the door to the compound with a simple: "Keep out of trouble."

Unlike with my mom, I wasn't really surprised by my dad's lack of hospitality. It wasn't his strong suit. I obediently followed after him when he signalled me to his side and made back for the house without a parting word to the two Saiyajins.

As I trotted up the steps to the front door, I could hear Ringo ask: "Did that loud Earth woman just call us monkeys?"

And right before the door fell shut behind me and my dad, I picked up on the captain's venomous: "That is what I heard, Ringo."

I looked up in my dad's unmoved face. "Shouldn't we give them some futons to sleep on at least? And food? They must be hungry after sleeping in those coffins for so long."

"No, boy." he headed me off. "You do not want to get smart with me right now. I am not in the mood."

He clearly wasn't in the mood to give me grief over it either. He seemed preoccupied, pensive even, which was so out of character that it made me realise something really big had just happened. I could only imagine what it must be like to belong to an extinct race like he did. Finding out that there were more of his kind left was major and it should give him pause.

"I guess you are a prince again now." I mused.

My dad caught me with one of those looks that carried so much weight that it made my heart hurt, yet he sounded his usual unfazed self when he said: "Contrary to the prevailing opinion on this mudball you call home, I never stopped being one." he nudged me along the hallway firmly, suggesting: "And don't let this go to your already overblown head, but what goes for me, goes for you as well. Try not to vanish up your own arse when those three pay you the respect you are due. Bragging about your title is graceless. Your position already raises you above everyone else and arrogance will only make you look weak."

I felt caught out. Bragging to my best friend about being an actual prince was the very first thing that came to my mind. "You brag too." I muttered peevishly.

My dad had no trouble countering that. "About my abilities, gnat. Never about my title."

And that was true. He never bragged about that.