A Brief Interim
By: Chocolate-chan
Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, universe distortion!
Authoress’ note: Forgive me if everyone’s ages aren’t exactly right, especially Marron and other minor characters!! And of course, timelines never stand in the way of me and my stories!


“Son Goten!”
Goten turned at the sound of his name, pulling a pile of bags in front of his face aside. A blue-haired girl faced him, one who looked vaguely familiar.
“Hai. Anata wa?” He raised an eyebrow at her in curiosity.
“It’s me! I know you remember me, it’s Bra!”
//Bra?// Now that he looked at her, he could tell she was a Briefs, but he hadn’t realized to look at her; she looked like a power executive.
“Bra? No way! It’s been forever,” Goten said, juggling bags as she ran up to kiss him on the cheek.
“For sure! I thought you left Satan City.” She put her hands on her hips in a pose that reminded him so of Bulma that there was no doubt.
“I did. I just transferred back a few days ago. How is everyone?”
“Good. Oh!” She clapped her hands together. “Nii-chan will be thrilled to see you! Especially after what happened to Marron, he’s been thinking of it lately....” Bra’s face darkened slightly and she returned her hands to her hips. “He’s been sad.”
“What?” The phrase didn’t sound familiar. Goten sought out a counter to set down his bags, saying, “What do you mean, ‘what happened to Marron?’”
“When’s the last time you talked to him?”
“Before I left the city,” Goten admitted with some guilt.
“You awful person!” He could tell she wasn’t serious as she scolded him mildly. She went serious again. “Marron died,” she said softly. “Six years ago. It’s their anniversary coming up soon...” She shook her head.
Goten felt his heart stop for a moment. “Marron’s.... dead?” Goten felt a weight crash onto his chest.
He swallowed, seeing a young dark-haired girl approach the spot where they were standing from the corner of his eye.
He could remember how happy Marron had been on her wedding day; she’d glowed, even brighter than the groom’s hair, which he had washed furiously a few hours before with Goten’s help in preparation. He had been so nervous, but Goten remembered that when Marron had appeared at the door accompanied by music, everything but a smile had melted completely off of Trunks’ face.
“That’s horrible!” He exclaimed after finding his voice. He leaned against the counter, running a hand through his hair and failing to notice the curious glances of the dark-haired girl.
“It was,” Bra acknowledged. She crossed her arms and nodded once. “We all miss her. Kaa-san threw all her power around, tried to get more doctors in, but there was nothing anyone could-” Bra paused, and glanced down at the girl.
“Who’s this?” She asked, kneeling down to pat the girl on the head.
“This is Ai,” Goten said after taking a deep breath. Ai bowed politely to Bra. “Ai-chan, this is Bra Briefs.”
“Nice to meet you, Bra-san.” She was quiet by nature; anyone could tell from her voice.
“So lovely,” Bra said, “She looks just like you.”
“I don’t think you-” Goten began, but was interrupted by a cell phone ringing.
Bra excused herself long enough to answer it, yell at the person on the end for a few seconds, then say “Bye I love you honey,” sweetly and hang up.
“‘Honey?’” Goten asked with a smile.
“I’m engaged,” Bra said, flashing a ring at him that he didn’t take time to examine. “You gotta meet him sometime. I’ll cook dinner for everyone someday soon, how’s that sound?” She took his number and told him, “Now I gotta go, I’m on the run.” She kissed his cheek again goodbye. “Tell you what, you go see Trunks-nii-chan. You go to Capsule Corp. and tell him I sent you.” She offered a hand to Ai who shook it slowly. “It was nice meeting you, Ai-chan.”
As she left, Ai turned with the bag she was holding and looked up at a troubled Goten. “She thought I was your daughter.”
“I guess you are,” he replied. “Oh well, we’ve been over it a million times, it doesn’t matter.” He thunked her on the head affectionately. “You’re my kid.”
She grinned up at him, then turned pensively to her own thoughts on their way out of the store.
“Are you worried about school?” Goten asked her after a moment.
“A little,” she admitted. “I never remember living anywhere but Kyoto.”
“Don’t worry,” he told her. “I think you’ll like it here. It has more than it’s fair share of weird people and occurrences. The school’s pretty good, and you’ll be meeting a lot of people you may not remember soon, but I think you’ll like them.” Goten trailed off and moved his bag to dangle from one wrist, shoving the hand in his pocket.
//Trunks-kun...// Goten heart ached for a moment. //Poor guy, he loved her...//

Ai appeared nervous that they would be meeting those afore-mentioned new people right away, but she followed Goten up the walk of Capsule Corporation with her hands in her coat sleeves, silent.
“I never remember it being this cold,” Goten griped. Ai refrained from commenting.
He rang the bell when they reached the door. He wasn’t really surprised when a servant of some kind answered.
“Hi, I wanted to talk to Trunks, tell him it’s Son Goten.”
“Who’s he?” Ai asked, chattering a little in the cold as the servant left to notify the master of the house.
“Trunks? He was my best friend growing up.” Goten grinned. “Probably the richest guy around.”
Trunks himself came back to the door, and all but leapt on Goten in a hug. “My god, where the hell have you been? I thought you dropped off the face of the earth! You’re the worst friend ever, not talking to me for over a decade!”
“You don’t seem to have noticed,” Goten volleyed back laughing, embarrassed.
“Get in here, it’s cold out there!” Trunks pulled Goten into the house and Ai, with a second glance.
“Bra sent me. I just moved back to the city, and I met her shopping.”
“You were ordered, huh? Would you ever have gotten around to me otherwise?” Trunks crossed his arms and grinned. Goten noted that he looked the same, a little older in the face, but his body was more solid than the last time they had seen each other. He knew he was too; age was gaining on them.
“It seems like yesterday we were all kids,” Trunks noted.
“I know, right?” He gestured down to the half-frozen girl at his side. “This is Ai.”
“Hey,” Trunks said, bending down to look her in the eye. “I’m Trunks. Did you know you’re adorable?”
She grinned and blushed, and he shook her hand solemnly. “Nice to meet you, Trunks-san.” She bowed.
“Who taught her that one?” Trunks asked sotto voce.
“Kaa-san.”
“Tou-chan!” Came a shout. “Tou-chan who’s at the door?!”
Trunks didn’t yell back but in a minute there was the sound of running footsteps and three kids ran out and jumped onto him. A fourth older one ran in behind them but didn’t jump.
Goten watched in amusement as a little one who had somehow made his way up to his father’s shoulders looked with wide dark eyes down at Ai and grinned. “New kid!” He was down in a flash and behind Ai, pushing her back to where they’d come from, chattering “Come play with us!”
She glanced back at Goten who snatched her coat and hung it with his and waved to her as she was abducted. “They’re adorable, Trunks-kun.”
“Heh.” Trunks dusted his suddenly vacant person off. “They’re getting too old for that.” He looked back up at Goten, saying “Rei’s 12; my son Akira and my daughter Hikaru are 10, they’re twins; and Keisuke is 6.” He paused as Goten made mental notes. “I didn’t know you had a kid, Goten-kun, you never even invited me to the wedding.”
Goten put off his insulted air, saying “I’ve never gotten married. Ai’s not my daughter, well I guess she kinda is, but-”
“Whoa, let’s get some coffee and we’ll talk.”

Goten stirred. //I don’t like coffee.// He drank some despite; it was warmer than he was.
“I think it was before you and Marron even went on your honeymoon, which shows how well our families communicate.” Goten took another bitter sip and continued. “I found her in an alley. I brought her home and I was still living with Kaa-san. Just, when I tried to move out a few months later she wouldn’t let me go without her.”
“Really?” Trunks took a gulp of coffee and grabbed a plate of cookies from the counter to place between them.
“She was nearly two, I think. She grabbed on my leg and cried until I picked her up.” Goten demonstrated, setting down his mug and holding his hands at arm’s length. “She started grabbing for me, and I just said, ‘Kaa-san, pack her stuff.’ She thought I was crazy but it’s worked out. People still say, "Your daughter looks just like you." Even Bra-chan.” Goten grinned and stuffed a cookie in his mouth.
“Wow, whoda ever thought you would voluntarily take on parenting responsibilities.”
“Same goes!” Goten exclaimed. “Although it wouldn’t be so strange if I was married.” Goten’s face dropped, and so did Trunks’, and they both knew what they were thinking. “I’m really sorry, Bra told me about Marron. I couldn’t believe you didn’t tell me, but... it’s okay.”
Trunks didn’t look up. “It was just me and the kids, and my parents came and of course Krillin-san and Juuhachigou were at the funeral, since we kept it so small. It was awful, for me, and I dunno...” He took another sip of coffee and silence filled the room for a moment. “I should have. Told you, I mean; you were her friend too. Gomen nasai...”
“No, it’s okay.” Goten said at last. “I understand if you were upset. What.. Bra didn’t tell me how.”
“Marron... died right after Keisuke was born.”
“I thought, when you said he was six, but... I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t around, I’m sorry I didn’t come to see you guys before it happened, and especially after, I would have wanted you to have my support...”
“Forget it. You’re here now.” Trunks smiled at him across the table through his bangs, and Goten returned it. “It’s really great to see you. And I know I didn’t really thank you before for getting me together with her...”
“Nah, let’s not go there,” Goten said, waving a hand. “We have decade-and-older kids! I feel old enough as it is.”
Trunks grinned at his griping. “D’you hear Bra’s engaged?”
“Yeah; the guy slipped past you?”
“No, he’s a great guy, really, he’s a doctor...” Trunks described him. “I felt old when my little sister told me she was getting married. Every day since has just gotten worse.” Trunks set it aside and reached for a cookie. “So is Ai going to Kobayashi Academy?”
“Yeah, I signed her up the other day.” Goten sipped his coffee as Trunks swallowed.
“Well, she already knows someone there. Rei, Akira, and Hikaru are going there too, and so is Keisuke but she probably wouldn’t have much contact with him.” Trunks smiled. “She seems sweet.”
“She’s a good kid. I’m glad my first ‘parenting experience’ is with one like her.” Goten broke a cookie in half. “She was kinda worried about coming here.”
“I forgot.” Trunks said suddenly.
“Nani?”
“You don’t like coffee. I feel awful, let me-”
Goten made a sound and a lowered his eyebrows to accompany a grin as his cup was taken from him. //Can you believe this guy?// “I’m fine, Trunks.”
“You’re fine, and I’m a heel. So what else is up with you?” Trunks started to make tea as Goten filled him in. “We should all get together, you know, our families.”
“How’re your parents, by the way?” Goten laughed as he thought of them.
“Tou-san never changes. My girls are scared of him. Kaa-san keeps telling them he’s a lamb, but I don’t think they’re gonna bite. They’re afraid he will. They’re on vacation now. They’re in the Caribbean by this time I think.”
Goten blinked as a cup of tea was thrust in front of him, took it and smiled. “Vegeta-san...relaxing?” Goten took a sip of tea. “This is great, thanks. Say, have you heard from Gohan-nii-chan? I haven’t talked to his family for forever.”
“Pan just had her first kid.”
“Yachk!” Goten exclaimed. “I always swore to myself that when that happened it would be time for us to choose coffins.”
“I know.” Trunks said laughing at his expression.
“Didn’t tell her own uncle... looks like mom is the only one who talked to me, and then she forgot everything.”
“Sorry.” Trunks leaned against the counter as they heard footsteps approach and the swinging door was opened.
“Tou-chan!” The little boy who had perched at his father’s shoulder before came in with Ai following. “Look what I did!” He held up a clay figure of something Goten couldn’t recognize.
Trunks laughed. “That’s great, Keisuke.” He held it where Goten could see. “It’s my sword.”
“Wow,” Goten said appreciatively and turned as Ai approached him. “What’d you do, chikie?”
“I made a flower,” She said and held it out to him. “You can have it.”
“You did a really good job. Thanks, Ai-chan.”
She smiled and she and Keisuke skipped off.
“Good thing they’re so cute,” Trunks commented. “Other times you could kill them.”
Goten laughed and shrugged. They both rose and went the direction the kids had gone, up the stairs. They emerged into a large bright room that seemed to hold nothing but the kids’ toys, where all five of them were working at the table with clay. “So are they as spoiled as you, Trunks-kun?”
“Baka. Of course not, there’s four of them.” He smiled indulgently at his kids and said, “But they’re close.”
“Knew it.” Goten said and watched them. The twins must be close, he noted, they were sharing the same hunk of clay and building on the same statuette with no arguments. The elder girl was carefully constructing some kind of dome-shaped building, and on closer examination Goten realized it was Capsule Corp. She turned every now and then to talk to Ai as she started on a new structure.
Keisuke’s spot was a mess, and he piled globs of clay all together, then grabbed them up and re-globulated them, then sent one in the shape of a ball straight up into the air.
It landed on Ai’s head. She sat with hands and body frozen, and her eyes moved slowly upward.
“Apologize!” The older one said. “She’s company!”
“G-g-gomen nasai!” Keisuke said, with a little nervous bow.
“That’s good,” the other boy said. “And of course you know what this means.”
“Clay fight!” His sister declared, taking a handful of clay and smiling at him with her bright blue eyes.
“But Ai-chan gets the first throw, right at you Keisuke. Right, Hikaru-chan?”
“Hai!” The girl cried, and Goten began to get concerned.
Ai paused, grabbed the glob of clay from her head, looked from the boy to it, then plunged it forward to hit his face. When none of it was in danger of getting in his mouth, he laughed.
“Clay fight!” Hikaru declared once again, blond pigtails swinging as she lobbed a glob at her older sister.
Goten flinched from the sloppy sounds, and Trunks shook his head and closed the door as they left the room.
“I usually let ‘em, just they have to clean the room later. We can wash Ai’s clothes with my brats’ if you like.”
“‘Sokay. We went clothes shopping today, so I can do it at home.” Goten laughed a bit and thought of Ai’s giggles as she slammed the clay into the little boy’s face. “Even back home she was really shy, and she had a hard time making friends.”
“She’s always welcome here,” Trunks assured him, “And so are you, baka-san.” It used to be one of Trunks’ mocking nicknames for him. “I think they like her.”

“Listen, come tomorrow and we’ll all have dinner, whaddaya say?” Trunks said as Goten and Ai prepared to re-enter the cold. Goten nodded.
“I think that’ll work.” He glanced down at Ai, who grinned back up at him.
The kids gathered behind Trunks to say goodbye to Ai. She waved to them as Goten pulled her by the hand out onto the front walk.
“Seeya tomorrow, Trunks.”
“Can’t wait, Chibi.” He leaned against the doorway as the kids surged around him. Rei stood by him and pushed her longish pale-purple hair back before waving to Ai.
“Bye bye Ai!”
Goten loaded her into the car and went around to start it, shoving the bags into the back as he adjusted the heating. Ai shivered and rubbed her hands as she waited for the air to warm.
“Did you like them?” Goten asked.
“Uh-huh! I had fun,” Ai said.
“That’s good. You still have a lot of firsts to think about though. Like your first day at Kobayashi Academy.” Goten pulled away as the door to Capsule Corp. shut.
“Yeah... I don’t like the uniform.” She slouched back in her seat and stared out the window.
“At least it’s not yellow. You hate yellow.”
“That’s true,” she said with a frown. “Oh well.”
She was really quiet, and Goten glanced at her occasionally in between thoughts of Trunks’ family.
“Who was Marron?” Ai asked after a while.
“Marron...” Goten began. “She was Trunks’ wife, and the three of us were pretty close in age. She wasn’t as close to us back when since she was really little, but we were all friends.”
“Rei-chan misses her, I think,” Ai said, and her voice had that odd sense she sometimes got, as if she instinctively knew people. “And Akira and Hikaru have trouble remembering her.”
//So does Trunks, miss her I mean. I can tell. When someone says her name, his eyes go a little cold.//
“Y’know, Hikaru looks like her mother. Same hairstyle, and color.”
“I’ll tell her you said so. I think she’d like that.” Ai stretched. “We have plans for dinner tomorrow, but what about tonight? I’m hungry.”
“Howda you feel about pizza?”
“Sugoi!” She said with a smile.
Goten returned it, but it faded as he turned away.

Goten was glad that their new house was so close to the school, since he had just gotten off and had enough time to change clothes before it was time to pick up Ai.
Just as he was about to leave, though, he got a call.
“Mushi mushi?”
“Ee, It’s me.” He recognized Ai’s voice. “Goten-san, I’m calling ‘cuz--”
She broke off as he heard a voice in the background query, “That him?”
The phone must have been snatched away, because another young voice declared, “Watashi wa Hikaru, from yesterday. Can Ai-chan come home with us? You’re coming over anyway, right?”
Another voice sounded. “Hikaru-chan, don’t be rude.” It grew louder. “Watashi wa Rei. I know it’s alright with Tou-chan, it’s just another to watch till you get here.”
Goten sat back with the phone. “Well, as long as it’s okay with your father....”
“Sugoi, arigatou ne. Ja, seeya later.”
“Bye...” Click! Goten chuckled. “Great, I’ll have time for a shower before leaving the house.”

As Goten came in the door to Capsule Corp., he could hear a lot of noise in a room nearby. He hung his coat and brushed back wind-blown hair, noticing that it was getting to be wild as it was when he had been a teen. When he poked his head into the kitchen, flour-covered ghosts were dancing their primitive dances around the uncooked food.
“Goten-san!” Ai called and ran up to him. He looked down with amusement at the flour smeared over her nose before picking her up and hugging her.
“Oi, Trunks-kun, if I’d known you would turn her into a kitchen slave, I’d have done it years ago.” He set her down and she ran over to where she and Akira were working on some pie-shaped confection, and Trunks accosted him at the door with an apron.
“You’re not my size! You wear this or you get outta the kitchen.” He grinned as he scolded.
Goten stuck out his tongue and Ai pulled him out into the living room where her stuff was, finding lots of first-day things for him to sign. She told him about her day, how Hikaru and Akira had yanked her down to sit with them as soon as she’d entered the room, and how she was glad she was in their class.
“You didn’t start any clay fights did you?” He teased as she stuffed her things back into the bag.
“Goteeeen...”
“Goten...” Another voice added to hers. “Set the table, please.” Trunks said as he rose. “You remember how to do that, right?” Goten made another face at him.
Eventually they were all sitting at the table and Rei was still cleaning flour smears off of Keisuke. Ai grinned and passed more napkins. She was the only one still in her uniform, but she had taken the apron she had worn off to eat.
Goten and Trunks caught up a little more over dinner, and discussed the day and the school. The kids talked about video games and movies and tried to convince Keisuke that starting a food fight was a bad idea.
After dinner the kids all tried their hardest to convince Trunks and Goten what to do. Keisuke ran through with a football and everyone followed him to the back yard. They quickly divided into two teams; Goten, Ai, and Rei versus Trunks, Akira, Hikaru, and Keisuke (who didn’t really care how to play, he just wanted to run around with the ball.)
After a while Rei and Hikaru got tired and went in to check on dessert. Ai got hungry too, and she and Akira went in. Keisuke followed his big brother.
“Wanna still play a few?” Trunks asked, slapping the ball from one hand to the other.
“Sure, but you know football’s not my game.”
“Excuses.” Trunks said, and took off toward his goal. Goten was right behind him, and Trunks took into the air, flying low to the ground. Goten didn’t let him go, tackling him and bringing him down. Trunks struggled from underneath and Goten grinned and tickled him like they would in games years ago.
As soon as Trunks started to laugh the ball was Goten’s, and he quickly scored his own touchdown.
“Not fair!” Trunks swore and faced him. “You win. Let’s go in, it’s chilly.”
Goten nodded and tossed the ball at his head. He caught it and threw it down by the door.
They were sat down and given pie before they knew it. Goten shrugged and dug in, feeling Trunks’ gaze on him.
“Secret recipe. What’s the verdict?”
Goten made an approving face. “I wish we’d had this when we were younger. But then I’d be hooked on it.” He finished his quickly and Hikaru brought him another slice. Trunks laughed and finished his too.
“Bra made it up; I swear if that fiancee of hers can get her to hang around the house long enough, she’ll be a good wife.” Trunks set his glass of milk aside and glanced around. “Weren’t there kids here a moment ago?”
“Yeah...” Goten shrugged. “I thought I heard them trampling the staircase.”
“That must be it.” Trunks sat back in his chair. “Feels kinda like old times, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Only I feel too old. Then again, back then half our age was old.”
“Yeah, you’re ancient. What are you, thirty now?” Goten grinned.
“What makes you think you’re young? You’ve always been only a year younger than me.”
“Yeah, but I’m still in my ‘late twenties’. I can still be cool.”
“You were never cool, you big dork.” Trunks grinned. They sat in silence for a while, before Goten sat up.
“I gottit. We can do something, ‘us’ something, not ‘the kids’ something. Since they’ve disappeared.”
“Spar?”
“You bet!” Goten grinned. “You know how long its been since I had a real challenge?”

Ai helped the girls dig through the game cabinet for something to take downstairs. All of a sudden there was a shout from across the room.
“Doushita no, Keisuke-chan?” Rei stood and approached the window the small purple-haired boy was peering from.
“Tou-chan just hit Goten-san!”
“Joudan desu ka?” Akira said, brushing blond bangs from his eyes and crossing the room to join them. Sure enough, as the others crowded around, they saw the two fighting outside.
“Ahh!” Hikaru shouted and ran down the stairs. Ai was confused, but chased after them all, who followed Hikaru. They all plastered themselves against the window and Ai clambered for a view.
“Why are Trunks-san and Goten-san fighting?” Ai asked, wringing her hands.
“You don’t know they’re fighters?” Rei asked, turning to her. “Tou-chan said Goten-san’s dad was the strongest ever! And he and Goten-san used to fight when they were little.”
Ai frowned. “Goten-san never said any of that to me.” //I never remember meeting Goku-san.//
She watched as Goten returned Trunks’ earlier punch several times, and Trunks blocked and delivered a kick.
“It’s so rare that we get to see Tou-chan fight!” Akira exclaimed happily. “He’s so good!”
//I’ll say.// Ai gasped slightly at some of the moves they made. All of a sudden they paused as if by consent, and Trunks’ hair bristled bright gold.
“Ohmagod!” Keisuke cried, climbing up his siblings to get a view. “Daddy’s a ...Suupaa...”
“Super Saiyan!” Rei blurted, leaning forward so that long lavender locks obscured Ai’s view. “Wow, I’ve never actually seen it...” she whispered breathlessly.
“Me neither!” All the others chorused.
Ai was shocked when Goten’s hair turned to match. “Him too!!” The two went back to their routine of punches and kicks, and then Trunks snuck in an energy blast to Goten’s stomach.
Goten glared at him, then phased out, coming in again only long enough to throw a blast, then disappearing while Trunks was dealing with that. He suddenly appeared behind Trunks and got his arms in a hold, which Trunks struggled against for several moments until they both happened to notice their audience at the window. Trunks glanced up at Goten, who returned the look as their hair turned normal. Goten didn’t even bother to release the hold as Trunks turned to go inside with Goten on his back, into the room where the kids stood incredulously beside the window. “Was it a good show?”
Trunks’ kids’ heads craned up from him to where Goten laughed and then slid down to his own feet. “Oops.”
Ai was standing in front of Goten, and she looked up at him, awestruck. Goten nudged Trunks. “Remind you of anyone, that expression?”
“Videl-san!” Trunks laughed. “Except her eyes were way wider.”
Ai clenched a fist and aimed her best blow at Goten’s stomach. He caught her hand as if it was a spiderweb. “What are you doing?”
“I wanna do that!”
“Yeah!” Rei exclaimed. The others were silent, staring.
“I dunno...”
“Ah, how can it hurt, Goten?” Ai noticed for the first time that Trunks usually only addressed him as ‘Goten.’ //They must have been really close...// “Your mom never wanted you and your brother to fight, but it was in the blood, and look how good you are.”
“I don’t like the idea.” Goten was only speaking to Trunks at this point, having forgotten any otheres were there.
“She and Rei can train together like you and I used to.” He seemed to fully support the idea of his daughter training.
“She’s a human, Trunks, they all are, I don’t think it’s a good idea. We don’t even know who her parents were, she’ll never be very strong anyway.” Goten argued with one hand out as appeal.
//Goten-san.. you’re not human?// Ai’s mouth was already opened, or else it would have then.
“So? And my kids aren’t human.” At this the afore-mentioned kids made faces.
“I heard we were part Saiyan,” Hikaru whispered to Ai, “but I didn’t know what that was.”
“If you’ll recall, Trunks, Marron was fully human, and you’re half-human. So they’re only a quarter Saiyan. I don’t want the girls to get hurt. I bet there are plenty of regular humans who are more powerful than a quarter Saiyan.”
“It depends on the person,” Trunks argued. “Bra-chan is half Saiyan, and she can’t fight for anything. Pan-chan’s a quarter Saiyan, and she’s way stronger than the ‘Princess of all Saiyans.’ Give it a try.”
//Pan’s a quarter... Saiyan?// Pan had been, like, her cousin, Ai reasoned; she had been told something like that when Gohan and Pan and Videl made the long trip to visit once.
“I dunno, Trunks. I just don’t...” Goten was shaking his head.
“Come on. We’ll train ‘em, you know, and between the two of us, they’ll be ready for anything. I mean, unless Son Goku suddenly decides to come back from the dead.” Trunks snorted.
“Hey, you leave Tou-san outta this. This is about the kids.” Goten said.
“Just give it a try. If Ai-chan wants to quit then everybody wins. If not, I bet she’ll have the determination to become a good fighter, and I know you, you’ll be proud of her no matter what.”
“That’s true. And she is pretty strong for a human girl her age...” Goten hesitated. “A deal. She has to learn how to use tools too. Like quarterstaffs, for example.”
“Sure! Rei can do that too. By this time next year I bet they could win the Tenka-ichi Budoukai.” Trunks bragged.
Goten shook his head. “You better not let me regret this, Trunks.”
Trunks grinned back at him.

Goten held his hands up, and Ai gathered herself and punched his hands several times.
“Getting better, Ai-chan. Keep it up.” Her face tightened as she tried to retain her concentration, punching his hands until the point where she missed. At that point he said, “‘Nough of that.”
Ai nodded, and she Rei picked up quarterstaffs. They leaned down into their beginning positions, the ones they were learning for the day, and adjusted their grips.
“You’ll need to know, if you really do fight with a quarterstaff, how to move from a close and down position. Watch.”
Trunks and Goten took up quarterstaffs as well, and Trunks kneeled with it at the ready. Goten moved to strike him on the head and Trunks blocked upwards, parrying the blow until Goten’s was driven from his hands.
“You already know the major defensive moves for these positions, now you need to start integrating. Try taking turns with one as the attacker and one as the defender.”
As the girls began the assault, Trunks moved to stand beside Goten, one elbow propped on his staff.
“They’re getting pretty good, seeing as how they’ve only been at it a couple weeks,” Goten commented.
“See?” Trunks said, and laughed a little at Goten’s frown. “They’re pretty determined.”
“Yeah.” Goten sighed. “Wonder what Marron would think of it.”
Trunks paused, face falling slightly. “She’d be like you were at first, she wouldn’t want them to get hurt, seeing as they’re mostly human. I dunno if she would ever approve.”
Goten wondered briefly if that bothered him at all, but Trunks soon shrugged off his sudden mood and yelled encouragements to the girls.
“I think it’s working well, Ai coming home with Rei to practice after school. If you want, we can arrange it like this the rest of the school year. Besides, we get to hang out too. I don’t know if I told you how much I missed you, and how great it is to see you again,” Trunks confided. He somehow managed to keep it from sounding sappy.
Goten grinned, pleased that Trunks would take the time to say it aloud. “I know, it was pretty lonely most of the time in Kyoto.”
“You’re telling me there aren’t any nice single girls in Kyoto?” Trunks grinned and nudged him.
“Not the part I was in,” Goten groused. “Seemed like I was the only nice single anybody over seventeen years old.”
Trunks laughed at him quite a bit, until Goten turned and cracked him gently over the head with his quarterstaff.
Trunks promptly turned and got into it with him, and the girls dropped their quarterstaffs and ran to watch. After a moment, Trunks and Goten traded glances and swung their quarterstaffs at the girls.
Both stopped just short of their faces.
“See, if you hadn’t been goofing off and dropped your guard, you wouldn’t have been knocked unconscious right now.” They both looked bummed, but got the point and went back to their match, trading places with Ai now aggressor.
Trunks sighed. “Sometimes I think about her too much.”
“Who?” Goten asked, hearing the far-off tone in Trunks’ words.
“Rei,” Trunks said, his eyes widening. “I worry about her a lot. She misses her mother. And I...”
//Why do I get the feeling that Trunks wasn’t talking about Rei-chan.//
“...Sometimes I can’t do anything about it anymore. Sometimes when she was little I could do something that would distract her until she was feeling calm; like at night she’d dream about Marron, and when she came to me I’d listen to it, take her downstairs and give her ice cream.” Trunks said this softly with a grin, tone quiet so that she wouldn’t overhear, the girls’ grunts and the clack of wood covering the conversation. “We’d play video games until she fell asleep in my lap. Now I try to talk her out of her moods and she goes away too quiet.”
//She would’ve only been six when her mother died. Poor girl...//
“You worry about your rugrats a lot, don’t you.” Goten asked, not quite a question but still... “I think they’ve got it together more than you realize.”
“Probably. Don’t tell me you don’t worry about Ai.”
“Of course I do.” Goten said with a blink.
“You’re her father,” Trunks said, clarifying. “Or so close you couldn’t be considered anything else.”
Goten grunted an acknowledgment.
”I know,” he said, watching as Rei maneuvered Ai to a kneeling position, trying to disarm her. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you and I get out one night, just us boys and hang out.”
“Well...” Trunks lowered an eyebrow.
“Come on, what do you think Ai-chan’s around for? Instant babysitter.” He pointed as Ai made a thrust that knocked Rei’s quarterstaff off the mat, rising in victory.

“I swear, you’ve gotta forget you’re a Dad for one night, you’re getting rusty on just being a guy. What’ll you do when they move out?” Goten urged as Trunks pulled on his coat in the doorway.
“That day will never come,” Trunks swore with a groan. “They’ll be here forever and ever...”
Goten knew he was just tired. He knew that as soon as they got together again he’d be good as ever.
“Kay Ai-chan, keep order, beat them up if necessary.”
“Is this my first martial-arts test?” Ai looked up with no trace of a smile at Goten. Girl had the damnedest poker face.
“No, as a matter of fact, no martial arts. Only street fighting techniques, that way they can fight back and you’ll all be worn out by the time we come back. You’re not really alone, not with all the servants and stuff around.”
“If I ask for help in restraining them, do I get less money?” Goten could tell she was joking, but Trunks blinked.
“We’ll see how many of them are alive when we get back; you’ll get paid by the head.”
“Sayonara, Goten-san.”
“Ja Tou-chan, Goten-san!” The others called from where they were pigging on pizza and playing video games.
Goten shut the door firmly behind him and followed Trunks out to the car. Goten had let him pick where they would eat dinner, and while they were there a few friends who’d recognized them from high school stopped by the table.
“Come with us, we’re going to the bar.”
It took a bit of convincing for the both of them, but at last they agreed.
Before long it felt like no time had passed for the group. Goten put down his glass after a drink or two, but made no effort to get Trunks to do the same.
//You think about her every single day, don’t you. If I had a good wife like she’d turned out to be, I wouldn’t forget her easily either, but after six years I know I would be worn down from hurting.// So Goten grinned and watched Trunks down one after the other. He seemed to relax quite a bit with each one, but he never really seemed drunk. //He never did back then either, which was a relief then. We weren’t really supposed to be... okay, definitely weren’t supposed to be drinking. I dunno, humans describe pain and dizziness, so I guess it’s a Saiyan thing that he seems immune to disorientation.//
Goten was at the jukebox, an ancient contraption that fed black shiny disks under a stick which somehow made the sound come out. He popped in a few coins as Trunks separated himself from their group and claimed the empty table right next to where Goten was standing by sprawling in one of the chairs. He reached over after examining the selection and banged in one of the buttons, which seemed to be stuck.
“This one was our favorite when we were younger.”
“You have a better memory than I do.”
There was a sudden crunch across the room, and a fight started with no warning. A chair flew over and hit Goten in the side, and Trunks stood and whirled, facing the direction it had come from where a crowd was already beginning to jump into it. “Alright!” Trunks shouted, and leapt towards it, obviously excited at the idea of a fight.
//Kuso!// “Trunks, you can’t get in their fight!” Goten exclaimed, and when Trunks paused Goten wrapped arms around his shoulders to stop him if he decided to move.
“Naze da?”
“I’d be... offended. That’s it, it’s like you’re saying I’m no challenge to you anymore. You’ll hurt my feelings!” Goten reinforced his claim with various strange faces. //He’ll really hurt some -- a _lot_ of somebodies!//
“You’re crazy, you big baka! You know you’re the best, but can’t I play with other people too?” Trunks separated himself from Goten and headed that way.
//Shitshitshit....// Goten reached over and grabbed a metal pitcher and smashed it over Trunks’ head. He didn’t appear to notice. //Uhh... there!// Goten grabbed a table and smashed it over his friend’s purple head, with much better effects. Trunks reeled for a moment where Goten dropped the table, unfortunately (or fortunately, however you look at it,) on the heads of the fighting crowd in the other corner. When Trunks spun Goten clubbed him in the shoulder and Trunks passed out.
Goten caught him in the suddenly still room, saying, “I meant for you to have fun, but not that much fun!” He hoisted Trunks up onto his shoulder and carried him out to the car.
Trunks laid in the back seat, snoring blissfully with a rising bump or two and no apparent desire to rise and force-feed his fist to Goten as he would usually. Goten started the car, and thought to himself, //I’m glad we described the definition of ‘We don’t know when we’ll be back’ to Ai-chan.//
When Trunks and Goten got together and said “We don’t know when we’ll be back,” their mothers took that to mean anywhere from fifteen minutes to three days. This time it meant a half hour to tomorrow, but the concept was the same. They both knew the kids were perfectly capable of rising for school on their own.
//Thank goodness. I can’t show up there with Trunks bleeding. I’ll take him to our place.//
A Brief Interim, part 2