Disclaimer: No, I don't own any rights to anything related to DB, DBZ, or DBGT.
A/N: I looked through some more reviews. Thanks so much and I will address them in a moment. I meant to say in my last chapter that I got accepted into a University, not just "started college". I was in community college before. It's a little stressful, but writing might relax. I've been feeling like something was missing from my list of hobbies!
Now before I directly comment on some of the readers' concerns, let me just say that my fic is going to be about character development. I intentionally made some of the characters rude, blunt, immature, hormonal, etc. Take this into account (especially with Trunks) as you read the following notes:
1. Trunks fans: Trunks may not be my favorite male of the series, but I still love him. I will take some of the comments into consideration as I write later chapters. I would say more…but I can't spoil my own story!
2. Yes, Bura is half-sayian, but she's had no formal training and does not embrace her natural strength. The best way to put it would be that she has no "sayian pride". Bura does not fight. She wants to be a normal human teenager. Paris mostly scared Bura because they were in a crowded area and Bura is more worried about her reputation. This also doesn't give her room to show her sayian strength even if she wanted to.
3. My writing has been going downhill, there is no denying that! As long as you guys are patient about updates, I promise you that I will return my quality to that of the first chapter(s) or even better.
4. Goten's actions in Chapter 3: Not only is Goten a young male adult, but Dende has sent him temptation. He has not only made events occur, but has directly altered Goten's hormones towards that certain object. Think of it as a "supernatural Spanish fly", haha. I will go more into the bet's schematics soon.
Raven Shinobi: Thank you! I have such detest for Paresu/Paris because she is so irrelevant and…well, I could go on forever. I do look at her as a common enemy between most readers though. She's easy to hate = easy to make the villain. I do not care for DBGT myself, I felt things just got too ridiculous and it wasn't the same kind of epic storytelling. I did not know it wasn't the same writer, but that makes a lot of sense to me now, so thanks for the heads up.
Another Note: The wedding planning is almost DONE! And I'm taking the summer semester off, so you know what that means…more time to write!
Chapter Warnings:
1. This whole story is not for Paris Fans!
2. Crude Language
3. Goten is not the stupid, naive child in my story. For goodness sake, boys grow up!
Ages: (I know they're not accurate.)
Bra: 17
Goten: 22
Trunks: 23
Pan: 18
Where we left off:
Goten was snapped back to the present by the feeling of eyes all over him. He felt uncomfortable under their gazes and to make things worse, Bra's Ki was approaching fast. He could tell she wasn't happy. Well, of course she wasn't.
"Um...Guys...I've been through a lot today. Do you mind if I get some time alone with the smoldering wreckage that used to be my car?" Goten asked pathetically, trying to disperse the Z gang before the enraged aqua-haired birthday girl burst through the front doors. He thanked the late Kami when it actually worked. Several members of the party told him good bye, good luck, or just nodded or patted him on the back.
When Goten was finally alone, he let out a large breath and fell back to the grass below him. He laid back and let the cool, fresh grass relax his tense skin. Breathing in slowly, Goten enjoyed the little time he had left all to himself.
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Chapter Five: The Rules of the Game – Part2
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The saiyan princess picked up her pace when she felt Goten's ki standing still. She needed to catch up with him before he started moving again. She was so intent on catching up with Goten that she hadn't really thought about what she was feeling at that moment other than anger or what she would say or do when she confronted him. Bra reached the front door after what felt like an eternity of gray twists and turns. Her anger disbursed as her hand froze on the left door knob. I can feel him. He's right outside. Bra took in a deep breath and tried to settle her dancing nerves. The embarrassment hit her like a ton of bricks. She didn't want to face him, but knew she couldn't stop now. Considering how angry she had been, Bra knew Goten had to know she was coming…that's probably why he stopped. Kami, he's waiting for me. I can't chicken out now!
Goten placed his palms over his face, concentrating on the teenager's frozen ki. "Oh, kami…Why did she stop? She's probably practicing what to scream at me." His mind was trying to guess what she might throw at him, so maybe he could come up with some reasonable answers.
Bra growled as she forced herself to throw open the door. Her confidence was forced, she just wanted hide in her safe, tucked away room. She huffed, following Goten's ki to the grassy area they used as a parking section for personal parties. Bra paid no attention to the smoldering, ash covered vehicle as she stomped over to the young adult and stood above his tired body. She switched her weight to her right leg, sticking her hip out with her hand placed gently above her leather skirt but below her matching corset. At least she could look intimidating.
Goten swallowed and held his breath as he slid his fingers down below his onyx eyes. Bra snorted at this pathetic gesture, but still didn't speak. Goten's heart had all but stopped, it felt as if the whole world had stopped too. He prayed she would speak up soon so the world might start turning again and he could breathe. Screaming, yelling, scolding…anything was better than her silent, judgmental stare.
Bra couldn't speak, her mouth felt full of jelly and she could still taste Goten's breath on her lips. She had hoped Goten would try to defend himself first and then she could just yell at him. It was easy enough to argue with someone, but a lot harder to confront someone.
As Bra's eyes continued to connect with the dark orbs below her, her apprehension began to show as a light hue adorned her flushed cheeks. At that moment, Goten saw through her intimating stare to the nervous, awkward core of her young being. He could talk his way out of this and blame it on a misunderstanding. Goten had seen Trunks do it a hundred times. Unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten that he didn't have Trunks' silver tongue.
"Bra…" Goten pleaded. "Booze don't agree with me. It…um…made you look like someone else. I…uh…don't even know what we're talking about…that's how drunk I was. My car blowing up kind of sobered me. I can see that you're just my best friend's little sister now. Sorry." He shrugged, getting up on his knees and brushing the loose blades of grass off his lap. Goten didn't seem to realize how idiotic his defense was. Bra wasn't one of the naïve girls he was used to dealing with.
Furry welled up inside the female saiyan as she watched Goten lie so smugly in front of her, the blush in her cheeks disappearing.
"I didn't say anything, Goten." Bra said calmly with closed eyes.
"What?" Goten blinked.
"How can you not know what I'm talking about when I didn't say anything in the first place?" Bra opened her eyes and smirked down at the boy now at her mercy. "Liar."
It was Goten's turn to be embarrassed. He stood up and loomed over Bra. He stood tall and used his height to try to seem intimating. He was losing what little control he thought he had over the conversation. Goten knew he could get it back though. She was just a little girl after all. "I was drunk. It was an accident. Shouldn't little girls be in bed?" Goten hissed.
"I'm not a little girl. And what about all those things you said? You tried to feel me up, Goten! Who tries to feel up a little girl then?" Bra yelled, infuriating Goten. She didn't stop there; she had to ask what Goten prayed she wouldn't. "What if your phone hadn't of gone off, huh? What else would you have done to me?"
Goten huffed and puffed as he tried to think of something to say. He didn't want to hear it anymore, mainly because he had no answer. Goten lost his temper, the nerve of this blue haired teenager in front of him was enough to send him off the edge.
"What else would I do to you? I was just playing around, Bra! Seeing how far you'd go – your brother made me go to your stupid party because he already knew you were slutty! I was sent to babysit! I decided to find out for myself and guess what, he was right! You wouldn't have stopped me, but I didn't even want to. I was just fucking drunk and confused. Who would want to mess around with their bro's little sister who hasn't even hit puberty yet?" Goten fired back, gesturing to Bra's corset.
Bra stepped back from Goten in shock, taking in all of what he had just said. She was hurt, angry, and worse of all felt like a fool. The pain welled up inside of her and she didn't just think of Goten…but of all the other boys. The truth was, Bra Briefs intimated those poor boys and the only way they could deal with it was to poke fun at her with their other equally as infatuated guy friends. Could Bra see through them? No. How could she? She just followed the path of most young girls her age and tried to dress and act more grown up to win over their approval.
Goten wanted to bite his tongue. He didn't mean to fly off the handle, he just hated feeling awkward and knowing he was stuck in a corner. It made him sick, he had just verbally assaulted a teenage family friend. While beating himself up internally, Bra had managed to disappear. Goten sat back down and peered around the dark Capsule Corp. He saw the lights go on slowly in some sort of path, so he figured it must have been Bra running up to her room. Sure enough, a few moments later, the soft light in her girly painted room came on. The warm pink glow created from the light calmed Goten down and the guilt overwhelmed him. He laid back in the grass and thought about whether to apologize or just go home.
I hope she doesn't tell Trunks. Or anyone else for that matter. What is with my mouth today? Oh, Kami…today was her birthday too. I had almost forgotten. I need to go apologize.
After about forty-five minutes of contemplating, Goten hovered up to the room that housed the calming pink glow. The curtain was drawn apart and he couldn't help peering in before tapping. The walls were painted a soft pink and she had the lights dimmed down a bit. Goten was always jealous of the dimmer switches in all the room of Capsule Corp. The carpet was a passionate red that matched the curtains currently obstructing his view. He internally growled at the sheer fabric that only allowed him a thin, vertical string of sight. Goten turned his attention back to the carpet, it looked so rich and deep. He rubbed one of the damp back pockets of his jeans. Certainly the carpet was much drier than the grass below too. Goten's eyes traced along the carpet and up to Bra's bed. He smiled at its overall cute appearance. The bed was very large and high, making him briefly recall the story of The Princess and the Pea. Goten could tell that all the fabrics on the bed were composed of soft pink lace, satin, and silk. Several decorative, red pillows adorned the lavish bed. Even the canopy was made out of a matching red lace. Goten was no interior designer, but he was in awe over the completely color coordinated room. He smiled again as an image of Bulma creeped into his head. She's got her mother's sense of style, that's for sure.
Goten snapped out of his exploration and decided to open the window, crawling in quietly. He stood on the soft carpet and looked around for Bra. He could hear her weeping. Following the sounds, he noticed her around the corner of her L-shaped room. She was sitting at her vanity; head down on her arms, and crying softly as too not alert her sleeping parents, one with super saiyan hearing. Goten didn't know how to approach her.
He reached a strong hand out to touch her soft ocean of hair, but froze and retracted his hand. He couldn't do this right now. His head was too much of a fog. Bra's cries covered his escape, but Goten remained hovering in the pink glow outside. He pondered for a bit and then snapped his fingers together. Got it! Goten lowered himself to the lawn and searched around dark, dew riddled grass. His hand hit something long and thin. Goten smiled as he confirmed it was a stick from a nearby tree. Concentrating, he flashed a small ball of energy towards the tip of the stick. When it set ablaze, Goten blew out the amber flames and stared at the glowing embers until they cooled. Wasting no time, he grabbed a piece of scratch paper from his wallet and fumbled to write a quick message using the stick's burnt end as a pencil.
Goten quietly opened the window and slid the note inside, watching it float gracefully to the red field below. The note wasn't elegant or touching, it housed only four simple words;
Happy Birthday!
Sorry, Goten.
To Be Continued in the Next Chapter…
In the next chapter: TBA
Author's Note: This chapter was so long and I edited it so much that I decided to break it up into 3 parts. It will be a while before the next chapter is posted. I didn't like it, so I'm starting it over in a new direction and don't have any ideas as of right now.