„Goten, breakfast is ready!"

The instant Son Goten woke up and heard his mothers voice cut through the silence he felt a headache coming on. He liked his mother's voice, even if she could get a little high pitched sometimes. Right now though it seemed to be the most unpleasant sound in the world. He groaned, and turned around in his bed, which seemed to be tilting back and forth as he moved. He put his hand over his forehead in the hopes that the cool skin would help his headache.

„Goten, sweetie, wake up!"

Slowly, his eyelids fluttered open, and he could dimly see his bedroom which was illuminated by beautiful morning light flooding in through the window.

He would've found it beautiful, at least, if the rays didn't pierce his head with pain. Mechanically, he moved to get up out of bed, more out of habit than because of a conscious decision and was so uncoordinated that he immediately landed on his but.

Tears filled his eyes at the dull pain, and already the small demi-saiyan had the urge to crawl right back into bed and sleep the day away so that the next one might start a little better.

His thoughts seemed to be waking up much more slowly than the rest of him. He began to remember that today he was going to visit Trunks, and they were gonna play. Also he noticed a strange feeling of his stomach being empty, but having absolutely no appetite.

Groggily, he pushed himself to his feet, and got a severely spinning room as his reward. He was gonna have to go into the kitchen now, and eat. Or he could go back to bed and tell his mom he was sick.

But he didn't want his mom to worry over him. She was always so worried about everything, about how much both he and his brother were studying, about bills and about so many other things that Goten didn't have any hope of understanding. Seeing her worried and unhappy made him sad.

She had been like that as long as he could remember, and he had always thought that it was because his father was dead and that made her sad. He had often wished for his Dad to come home when he lay awake in bed at night for the first seven years of his life, so that his Mom could stop worrying and be happy.

And that wish had come true. His Dad was back from the dead full time, and at first Goten couldn't have been happier. He had quickly realized why Gohan had always spoken of their Dad so fondly, and whenever his Dad was doing something with him, Goten couldn't be happier or have more fun.

But somehow things hadn't changed as much as he'd been hoping for. Goku had been back in the family for almost a year now, but somehow that worried frown still found its way onto Chichi's features all too often. And somehow, even though he was living with them, Goku was abscent quite a lot, and his young son didn't know what to make of it.

Still, throughout everything, and no matter how worried Chichi was about all the strange things that seemed to be attacking her, there was one thing, that could always, infallible, put a smile onto her face, and make her stop worrying, at least for a moment.

And that something was Goten. However, if he told her he was feeling ill, she would have one more thing to be worried about, and he didn't want that. He wanted to go into the kitchen with a big smile on his face and see his mom answer it with a smile of her own. So that was what he was going to do.

Besides, it probably wasn't all that bad anyway. While he'd been standing there, thinking about this, the room had almost stopped spinning. He knew that one could get woozy from getting up to fast, or eating too much ice cream too fast, and that wasn't anything to worry about either.

It was probably something like that.

Yes, it must be, he decided, and went into the kitchen.

„Hi mom!", he said happily, but couldn't help feeling his own voice hurting his ears.

„Good morning, Goten", his mother said with a smile as she saw him come in. She was just putting some freshly washed dishes back into one of the cabinets. „I'm going to go outside and put the laundry up to dry. Can you put the dishes in the sink when you're done, please?"

„Sure mom", he said, and jumped onto his customary chair at the breakfast table.

„Okay, good", she said, and then went outside. Once she was gone, the happy look on Goten's face dropped somewhat. He was staring at what would've been a huge amount of food for any normal human, but was a pretty normal helping by saiyan standards. And as he was looking at all the nice food, he realized that he wasn't even remotely interested in consuming any of it.

He didn't have any appetite, and his stomach felt weird when he thought about eating. But that was just weird. He loved eating, after all? He picked up a pair of chopsticks, and began attacking a bowl of rice.

Under normal circumstances he would've attacked it, anyway. This time he felt as if he had to actively force himself to transport the food from the bowl into his mouth. After he was only about halfway through, he pushed the bowl away, the weird grumblings in his stomach telling him that he just couldn't go on.

He hadn't really felt all that hungry the last few days, either, but never before had Goten found himself that disinterested in food.

His mother was still outside, and Goten decided to put the food into the refrigerator. If he threw it away and out the dishes into the sink as if he had eaten the food it would probably have looked much less suspicious, but the idea of throwing away food seemed to fundamentally wrong to Goten that he couldn't bring himself to do it.

So he just put the food away and hoped his mother wouldn't think too much of it when she found it.

He went outside and waved cheerfully to his mom. „Mom, I'm off to Trunks's now!"

„Alright, have fun, sweetie. Fly carefully!"

Trunks eyed the clock on the wall with annoyance. When his mother or anyone else expected him to do something he didn't like he purposefully avoided all the chronometers in the house, or just feigned not knowing how to read them, so that he could get away with being late. Of course neither of his parents believed for one second that he didn't know how to interpret what the clock was telling him, but both his grandparents were clueless enough for him to get away with that.

When he wanted something, however, he was all too aware of what time it was, and how other people weren't punctual. Apparently he had picked up his obsession with punctuality from his Dad, who never tolerated him being late for training.

Unfortunately though, he was best friends with Goten, who honestly had no idea what the hands of a clock wanted him to know from their movements. So waiting for him to show up could become a little frustrating.

And Trunks was bored. His father was training on the highest gravity setting, so Trunks had no desire at all to join him to pass the time, and his mom was working in her office, on what she called ‚administrative duties' and what her nine-year old referred to as ‚applied boredom'. Which was a pity, because had she been in her lab he could've had some fun terrorizing the scientist types. On second thought, he could do that when his mom wasn't in the lab, anyway, but it wasn't so much fun when he was alone.

Finally he sensed Goten's ki approaching. It was lower than he expected it to be. Usually Goten flew to Capsule Corp at full speed, but it looked like his partner in crime was taking his time today.

Trunks got up from the couch with a sigh and went outside to greet his friend.

„Hey Goten! What took you so long?", Trunks said as he was waving.

„Nothing, I was just not flying so fast", Goten said as he landed, and scratched the back of his head in that unmistakable gesture that his father was known for. „Am I late?"

„Yeah. But nevermind, you're here now. I was just gonna go grab a snack, and then I thought we could cause some mayhem in the science lab", Trunks said with a mischievous smirk.

„Okay", Goten said, but he didn't look quite as enthusiastic about the prospect of mayhem as he usually did. But Trunks was sure he was gonna be able to fix that once they were in action.

„So, want to eat something?", Trunks said, as he went in the direction of the kitchen, his partner in crime following.

„No, I'm not hungry."

Trunks spun around and did a slightly exaggerated double take. „That's the first time I ever heard you say those words in my life!"

„I just ate at home", Goten said, and looked a little uncomfortable at the scrutiny.

„Oh. Okay, I'll just get something for myself, then", Trunks said with a shrug. He was pretty confident that once Goten was watching him eat he would start stealing some of his food, no matter how ‚not hungry' he was, so he chose to get a little more than he would need on his own.

„So anyway, why do you want to go to the science lab?"

Trunks went about fishing more or less random things to eat out of various cabinets. „I'm bored. And watching the nerds trying to keep us under control is always fun. Why, you got a better idea?" Goten usually didn't have better ideas on what they should do, and was happy following Trunks' lead, but every once in awhile he would surprise his friend and come up with a devious plan of his own.

„No, that's okay", Goten said, and still sounded less than enthusiastic.

Trunks went and dumped the snacks he'd gathered on the kitchen table. As he did so, he took the time to really look at his friend. Goten looked a little paler than usual, and something about the way he was sitting at the table looked tired and subdued, both things that couldn't normally be attributed to his energetic friend.

„Are you alright?", Trunks asked, as he sat down, and started eating a chocolate bar.

„I kinda have a headache", Goten admitted.

„Oh. So you're not up for torturing scientists?"

„We can do that, if you want." Goten tried, and failed to look excited about the idea.

„It's no fun if you can't properly enjoy it", Trunks declared. „Maybe we should just make a plan for now, and then make it really spectacular."

„Okay", was all Goten said. Trunks felt torn between getting annoyed at Goten's apathetic mood and the feeling of worry that was starting to rise in him.

„Let's go upstairs to play", Trunks said when he was done with his food, none of which had been touched by the younger demi-saiyan. Goten nodded, and got up, but when he was standing he blinked a few times and had to steady himself against the wall.

„Goten? Are you sure you're okay?", Trunks asked worriedly.

„Yeah, just a little…" Goten said quietly, when he suddenly pressed his hand to his forhead, and fell forwards towards the floor.

Trunks caught him in time, and could do nothing but stare at his friend for a moment. „Goten?", he asked cautiously, but didn't get any reaction at all. He shook his friend by the shoulders and said his name again, but he didn't get any reaction that time either.

Goten's face was flushed, and when Trunks held his hand to his forehead as he had seen his mom do, whenever he feigned to be sick to get out of something he didn't want to do, his friend's face felt distinctly hot.

Trunks felt a sense of panic rise up in him, but then he quickly reminded himself of the fact that he was saiyan, and he could deal with problems. He quickly considered getting his mom or his dad, but what would be the point?

Both of them would just tell him to take Goten to the Capsule Corp infirmary, and that little piece of logic was one that Trunks could figure out for himself.

Trunks did his best to keep himself from fidgeting, as the nurse… or doctorish person or whatever she really was examined his unconcious friend. He really didn't like the look on the young med tech's face while she shone a light in Goten's eyes and did several other things that Trunks couldn't quite see the point of.

„So? What's wrong with him?", Trunks asked impatiently after a while.

„I'm… not quite sure", the brunette answered hesitantly.

„What do you mean? Aren't you supposed to know this kind of stuff?"

„Well, yes, but I don't have the proper equipment here. I think it might be best, if you took him to the hospital", she suggested.

„Hospital?" Trunks stared at her incredulously. „Is it that bad?"

„Not necessarily", she replied quickly. „It's just that they have all the machines and labs there they need to figure out what's wrong with him and how to help him. It's probably nothing so bad, but we're equipped to deal with cuts and scrapes and lab accidents, not with this kind of thing." Her tone was reassuring.

„Isn't a normal doctor's office enough, then? If it's about dealing with sick people?", Trunks said. Somehow the notion of a hospital was a little more than he felt confident handling.

„Well he did pass out. They can treat him much better in a hospital."

„Right" Tunks looked at his friend who had yet to wake up after almost half an hour. He really hoped that he didn't actually need to be in a hospital.

„Should I call an ambulance, then?", the brunette suggested.

„No. I can take him there, I'm faster", Trunks replied.

The med tech nodded. „Okay. Do you know how to get to West City Central Hospital?" Among the staff of Capsule Corp the superhuman capabilities of some members of the Briefs family and their friends were well known, so that they didn't worry too much about the idea of flying anymore.

„Yeah. I just hope they don't find anything too bad."

Goten had gotten admitted surprisingly quickly. Part of that probably had to do with the fact that he was brought to the hospital by a flying lavender haired child, which made him noticeable enough for the hospital staff to get to him more quickly. Another, and maybe even more significant factor had probably been that Trunks had no idea what kind of health insurance the Son family had (if any) and he'd just told the hospital staff that if he couldn't figure it out Capsule Corp would cover the costs of anything.

Right now Trunks was sitting outside Goten's room, waiting for them to be done drawing blood, and cursing himself for forgetting to bring a cell phone. There was a pay phone, but he didn't have Chichi's number memorized.

He'd been so worried about his friend that the idea of having to tell his parents about what was going on hadn't occured to him quite that easily.

What he was even more concerned about right now, though, was the fact that none of the medical people fussing over Goten right now had made any indication yet that they knew what was wrong with his best friend.

Still, he would have to take care of telling people, now. He got up and went to the end of the hall way were the payphone was located. He dug some change out of his pocket, slid it into the proper slot, and dialed the number of his mom's office, which really was the only phone number he knew by heart.

After the second ring the cheerful voice of her secretary was heard. „Capsule Corporation, Bulma Briefs' office, how may I help you?"

„Hi, it's Trunks, could I talk to my mom, please?"

„Of course, I'm patching you through." Some jazzy music started playing while he waited for his mom to pick up her end of the line.

„Hey Trunks, what's up?", his mothers voice piped out of the receiver. „Is everything okay?"

„Uh, not really. I'm at West City Central, right now…", was all he could say before his mom interjected.

„The hospital? Are you alright?"

„I'm fine, but Goten isn't."

„What? Did he get hurt? Did you two do something?" Bulma sounded worried, but Trunks couldn't miss the accusatory tone beneath that.

„No, mom, we didn't do anything. He said he had a headache, and then he just collapsed. I took him to the infirmary, but they said that they didn't have the proper stuff they need to find out what's wrong with him, and told me to bring him here."

„Oh." For a moment his mother was silent. „So, did they find out? Is he okay?"

„Well they don't know what he has yet. But I forgot to bring my phone, so I can't call aunt Chichi. Can you call her for me?"

„Of course. Do you want me to come over?"

He contemplated this for a moment. He considered himself grown up enough to deal with this situation alone, and since he wasn't the one that was sick, he didn't really need his mother to hold his hand. But then he remembered seeing how sick and tiny Goten looked in that hospital bed with an IV in his arm, and how terrified that sight made him.

„Yes please." His mom would probably know what to do about the insurance thing, too.

„Okay, I'll contact Chichi and then I'll be on my way. Call me if anything changes."

„I will. Bye, mom."

After he hung up the phone and went back to Goten's room he couldn't help but feel a bit silly about asking his mom to come. He had been responsible enough to deal with this, after all.

When he got near the room he heard someone shouting, a sudden frantic beeping and people started running towards the room. He joined them and couldn't believe what he saw.

Goten was thrashing wildly, and randomly without being awake. Someone was yelling something about „seizure" and even though Trunks didn't know too many things about medicine, he did know that that was a pretty bad thing.

Too nurses were trying to hold him down, and a doctor had a needle ready to give him a shot, but the humans didn't even stand a chance. Without thinking twice, Trunks ran over there, and pressed Goten into the bed, which helped lessen his thrashing the medical stuff a little bit.

The medical staff seemed to be perplexed at how an eight year old kid could possibly be strong enough for them not to be able to hold him, and even more at the fact that another kid was the only one capable of restraining him, but they were grateful enough for the help not to question it.

The doctor was finally able to give Goten the shot, and after another few frantic seconds, the younger saiyan settled down, and the seizure stopped.

Trunks released his hold on his friend, and stumbled several steps backwards. The humans were saying something to him, but he couldn't concentrate enough to understand any of it.

The entire time he'd been trying to tell himself that it was nothing serious, and that the only problem was that the humans didn't find out what was wrong, but now there was no denying it any more.

Whatever had gotten his friend down was bad.

Very bad.

A/N: Been trying to write this for a while. Please tell me what you think!