Author: The Noseless Wonder
Disclaimer: I don’t own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT or anything resembling or relating to the aforementioned. Ooh… I said “aforementioned”. I am so smart! I am so smart! S-m-r-t! S-m-r-t! * Does the little Homer dance* Sorry.
Author’s Notes: Do not judge a book by its cover. This fic is going be so much more then it may seem at first. If you don’t like the idea of this certain couple together, stick around. There will be something in this fic for almost every DBZ/GT fan. I just don’t want to give too much away. The prologue will be considered boring by some people, but then again, most prologues are.
The sky… it was so beautiful that afternoon. It was bluer than blue was ever thought to be possible. At least, that’s how its biggest fan viewed it. Out in the country, small clouds drifted by as they cast their shadows onto the land below. A soft breeze blew, carrying with it the remaining chill of winter, which only struggled at seeming cold. Spring had come very late that year. It was almost time for the yearly summer festivals that came around by the time the harvests thawed. However, nature was making up for lost time, and was already in full blossom. Flowers were poking out everywhere from the ground, covering the normally green landscape with all sorts of color. It looked like it was one of those landscape paintings that could be sold for millions, but this… this was real, and in his own backyard.
He sucked in a deep breath of air, which in turn caused him to yawn and reflexively stretch. He ever so enjoyed these lazy afternoons when he could just lay around on the grass while staring up into the sky and sleep until meal time. Time off for him was so rare, nowadays. His friend’s workaholic nature had rubbed off on him, much to his mother’s delight. He had a successful job at a dojo, the best one in town. It was owned by Mr. Satan himself. It was a high paying job too, considering dojos all over the country had been competing for him, begging for him to come and teach at their schools. Of course, he picked the closest one to home and the one that was willing to give him the most time off.
Things didn’t feel perfect for him though. There was something missing in his life. Something big and… important. He knew what is was, and if he ever forgot, his mother would jump right in and remind him. He wanted a family. He loved his little niece, and sometimes felt as if she was his own daughter, or at least a little sister, but he wanted a family that was his own, not just one he could live with vicariously.
Since he had hit puberty he had been girl crazy, plus, his mother always set him up on blind dates, so it wasn’t like he never got to meet any women. He wasn’t sure why, but none of them seemed to ever be the right woman. Sure, he had dated some interesting girls who had been funny and attractive, but they just didn’t… click.
In all of his adult life, there had only been one woman who had succeeded in doing what his mother thought to be impossible. That woman had captured him… and completely bewitched him. For years, he thought of no other woman but her. She was the only one he had clicked with, the only woman he would have ever considered to be “the right one” for him.
Yes, the poor boy had been obsessed with Marron for quite some time. His best friend, Trunks had even noticed it. When he was around her, he felt… whole. It was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders at her presence, only to be placed back on top of him when they were apart. However, things were difficult. He felt as if he needed Marron in order to be happy, and that put a strain on any would-be relationship he tried to develop with any other woman.
Goten was almost sure that things couldn’t be that way with her. He had tried to talk to her about it, but he never got the words out. For some reason, when he was with her, his suaveness would leave him. He could never put on such a front with her like he could for other women. There were even times when he would try to flat-out hit on her, in order to at least get her to realize some of his feelings towards her. It never worked though because he knew she deserved more than just some cheesy pick-up line. But how do you talk to a person when you’re completely obsessed with them and want them to know? How do you compliment perfection? He was a complete klutz around her, and he knew it, but maybe that’s why she liked him so much as a friend.
Things were better this way though. She didn’t want him, he realized that. In all the time they had known each other, never once did they date. They never even talked about it. For a long time, Goten had no clue as to why things were the way they were between them. That is, until Marron had her first major breakup. It was with… some smart-aleck jerk. Goten didn’t even care to remember his name. This guy had a fondness for blondes and it showed. All of his girlfriends were blonde, including the ones he was seeing while he was dating Marron.
The day she found out about it, Goten had let her cry on his shoulder all night. He’d never meant to be selfish, but he was hoping it would show her just how much he cared about her. When it was all over, she said goodbye and thanked him for being such a wonderful brother. He had given her a hug, and put on a decent show of fake enthusiasm, from what he remembered. Truthfully, he felt as if his world had been shattered. It shouldn’t have surprised him that she thought of him that way. Their fathers had grown up together as brothers, so in a sense, they had been raised as family too.
After she left him that night, he went into a dating frenzy. He realized that she would never view him as anything else, so why put his love life on hold for her? He had dated several women in the period of a couple months. He tried to treat each one of them as if they were special, but it was for selfish reasons. He wanted to trick his heart into thinking that he could feel what he felt for Marron with someone else.
Some serious relationships did develop in those couple of months. There was Paris, who he had almost married. That had ended in pure disaster… if you could even call it that. She was so slow, she saw Goten hugging Videl once and automatically assumed that he was cheating on her. She didn’t give him the time to explain his relationship with his sister-in-law before she ran off forever, leaving him baffled. Then, there was Alicia… or was it Felicia? He really didn’t care, he could barely remembered what she looked like.
“Goten, it’s time to come in, dinner’s ready!” Chichi yelled, snapping Goten out of his daydream.
“Okay Mom!” He yelled back.
Marron, she was all he ever thought about any more. For a long time it had been like this, but he was too much of a coward to do anything about it. He shook his head, scolding himself as he walked in the door of his family’s old house. There was a woman at the dojo he worked at… she seemed rather interested in him. Maybe she would be the one to get Marron’s face permanently out of Goten’s dreams. She was attractive and funny, which is what Goten always wanted in a woman. It was worth a try… it didn’t look like anything was going to happen between him and the one he wanted for a while.
Then again, Goten had been there for all of the times Marron needed him to be. They were friends, good friends. He was always used as a shoulder to cry on when she needed one. It wasn’t that he minded so much, he just hated to see her cry. If they were together, she would never cry over him. He would spend all of his time making sure that she lived joyously. He would die to see her happy.
Once again, Goten determinedly set it in his mind that things were going to be different. He would make this decision every once and while, but then go back on it within a week, but this time, he was very sure of himself. He no longer wanted to chase after Marron, nor did he want to go girl crazy ever time he tried to get her out of his mind. From then on, he wanted normal relationships with normal women. He wanted to grow old with someone and have children, but obviously, if he spent his entire life chasing after one woman who didn’t want him, that wasn’t going to happen.
Dinner that night went quietly, but quickly. He ate fast, never really giving his mother or father a chance to talk to him if they wanted to. Afterward, he cleaned up, then gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. Without a word, he took off into the evening sky.
“Flying nimbus!” He yelled into the sky.
Almost immediately, a golden, puffy cloud swooped out of nowhere, responding to its name. Goten jumped on and sat down cross-legged as the small cloud took off into the darkening sky. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to go, he just wanted to fly. Like the rest of his family, as well as Trunks, he found flying to be ultimately relaxing. There was something about watching the ground pass by quickly underneath and feeling the wind in his hair… it always helped him think.
It was his favorite time of night too. The golden orb that was the sun slowly sank in to the blue depths beneath as it cast a rainbow of colors out onto the expanse of clouds in the sky. Near the horizon, yellows and pinks combined to create a spectrum of colors that no man had ever done justice in attempting to copy. In the east, the blue that stretched across most of the heavens was getting substantially darker, a hint of midnight indigo already showing. There were stars that were beginning to pop out everywhere, being well seen in the clear air of the country.
He enjoyed the scene, actually gasping at its stunning beauty. Why would anyone seek to destroy such magnificence? He had spent his entire life on guard for more intruders or locals that wanted to control… this splendor. So had his father, who had died numerous times to save it, and now was back in his family’s lives after so many years of being gone.
He was just beginning to get things back to normal with his father. At first, when Goku had come back, Goten hated him. He didn’t want to see his mother happy with that man. They had sacrificed the dragon balls to bring Goku back, and that meant that there would be no more second chances for anybody. Goten was scared. He didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to see anyone else die either. His father had taken away their advantage, their shield. There was no wishing anyone back now, and he was angry with Goku for that.
One day, after an argument, Goku had knocked Goten unconscious when he wasn’t looking and took him away from home to a cliff somewhere near the foothills. When he awoke, Goku had explained to Goten that he was sure he wouldn’t come if he just would have asked, which was probably true. Goten remembered yelling… a lot, and asking the older Saiyan why he had abandoned his family, a typical argument between the Son’s at the time. After what seemed like close to an hour of getting no response from his father, Goten stopped yelling and started walking away.
“If you want to know why I was so ‘eager’ to die for the earth, look out there.” Goku had said, pointing out to the west. “Then, you’ll have your answer.”
It took Goten a moment to figure out what his father was talking about. He kept looking for a building that was in the valley below. It wasn’t until he looked into his father’s eyes, when he discovered what his father had been referring to. It was the sunset, the beauty of this earth that had captured his father’s compassion. After this realization, Goten sat back down next to his father and they enjoyed watching the sun disappear for the night side-by-side. They stayed out the whole night, just talking, and they didn’t return to their angry Chichi until the sun rose again on the other side.
Goten sighed deeply. That was the first time he had ever really enjoyed just watching the sun go down as an adult. It happened everyday, and yet, he never seemed to have the time to appreciate it. Either that, or he just didn’t bother to look. Life was too precious to waste time sitting in front of a TV screen. That was a lesson his father had taught him only recently, and yet it was one of the most important lessons he would ever learn.
The puffy yellow cloud continued to fly along as Goten just stared at the sun setting. The last ounce of light disappeared from view into the ocean below as the rays shining onto the clouds above disappeared as well. The effect was breathtaking. For a short moment, the light seemed to solidify in the air, as if there was a yellow spotlight shining in a mist-filled room. Goten shook his head, once again disappointed in himself. For the only thing he could think about during that entire performance of nature’s wonder, was how much the sun’s rays looked like her hair.
“Nimbus, take us into Satan City.” Goten ordered, kicking himself the entire time.
Slowly, the puffy cloud descended from high in the sky and halted. Goten and his magic cloud was in the middle of Satan City now, but he wasn’t concerned about anyone seeing them. The shade of yellow that the flying nimbus wore looked almost normal against the rainbow of colors that the other clouds were reflecting.
He couldn’t believe what he was doing as he sat there. He was eye-level with her apartment window, just hovering and watching his friend eat dinner alone from a distance. She didn’t see him. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t see him. He was too far away, and the Nimbus’ camouflage was working too well. His heightened sense of sight was serving him well that day. Sometimes, he was actually grateful to be a Saiyan.
Marron was eating noodles out of a Styrofoam cup. That was the typical meal of the average single woman who worked close to 60 hours a week. Marron had began her adventure in to single-land only a short time ago, about six months ago, to be exact. One day, she just came right out and told her parents that she wanted to move out on her own. A few days later, she was packed and ready to leave for Satan City. She even had a job and an apartment lined up for her when she got there.
After working for Trunks for so long, he was happy to give Marron his corporate recommendation to any company she wanted. All he had to do was call up the CEO of the company she wanted to work for, and she was practically hired on the spot. Of course, Trunks only told the company’s president the truth about Marron. She was a very hard worker, and he insisted that she could’ve easily gotten any job by herself if she wanted to. Trunks just used his high status to give her a boost.
Now, she had a high paying job with a local computer developer. She was in charge of placing an organizing all of their major orders. She worked from nine o’clock in the morning, to eight o’clock at night, six days a week, which only gave her a couple of days to see her friends. Goten was saddened when he realized this, but she was happy and there was nothing he would do to change that. He just wished… he had more time to see her.
He sighed as he continued to watch her. It wasn’t a good idea… for him to be up there, just spying on her. He should’ve been moving on by then. There were plenty of girls he knew who wanted to date him, and vise-versa.
Goten laughed as he watched Marron struggle with a very long, rebellious noodle that insisted on falling off her chopsticks repeatedly. He continued to observe her, feeling much like a peeping tom. He knew he should get home. This wasn’t a very… normal thing to do and if Marron found out he was stalking her, she’d have his head.
“Stalking?” Goten asked himself. “Yep, that’s what you’ve resorted to. You’ve got to stop obsessing over her Goten, she’s not interested. You’ll always be her big brother.”
He wanted to leave. No, that was a lie. He needed to leave. He wanted to go up to her apartment and hold her forever, but he couldn’t stop staring at her… his golden angel. Her blonde hair was hanging down around her shoulders, shinier than spun silk. She wore plain, baggy sweats, but she looked stunning to him. She always looked stunning to him. Even from his distant vantage point, Goten could look into her blue eyes. They were so blue, the sky itself must’ve been jealous, as well as it should be. The heavens above were a pale, faded comparison to her bright sapphire depths.
Goten tore his gaze away from this lovely angel, trying in vain to push her away once more. It was of no use… it never was. She would always manage to capture his full attention again. Goten let out a frustrated growl at his own actions. Why was this so hard? Why couldn’t he just walk up to her apartment and ask her out? Why was he too pulled back and hesitant to say anything about his real feelings around her?
He sighed sadly. When it came down to it, it was a mere, two-choice decision. He could either get off of his cloud, walk up to her and tell her how much he meant to her, or he could ignore his feelings and move on, allowing her to be snatched up by some fool who didn’t deserve her.
Hesitantly, he reaching behind and pulled his cell phone from his back pocket. He took in a deep breath and dialed her number. The phone was to his ear hen he saw her stand up from her table to answer her end of the line.
“Hello?” She greeted, putting the receiver up to her ear. There was no answer.
“Hello?” She tried again.
She couldn’t hear anything on the other end, it just seemed… dead. She shrugged and hung up her extension. Goten closed the flip on his cell phone, disgusted with his own cowardice. He silently wondered whatever happened to his spine. With any other woman, he would’ve been flirting up a storm by then.
“That was weird.” Marron said to herself. “I need to get caller I.D.”
She picked up her cup of noodles and walked over to her window seat. It looked like there was an impressive looking sunset happening. She had always enjoyed the sunset, but for some reason, the ones in the city were never even comparable to the brilliance of watching the sun set on Master Roshi’s island. Maybe that’s because she had someone to share it with when she lived there. Now, it was only her, a modern, single woman who was trying to make it on her own. That is, a very lonely, modern single woman.
She took a deep breath as she continued to munch on her lukewarm dinner. She sat back in her window seat and relaxed as she studied the sky above her. That’s when she noticed the one, lowly cloud. It was yellow, when all the others were pink or purple by then. It was a small cloud, and it floated low, but it stuck out like a sore thumb.
“It looks just like me.” Marron contemplated to herself. “The other clouds are moving at too fast a pace for the little cloud to keep up with. He looks lonely.”
Goten gazed into her window with some alarm. Could she see him? She seemed to be looking directly at him. It was almost like they were locking eyes, but that couldn’t be. He was too far away for her to be able to see him. Maybe she just saw the cloud. Yeah, that’s it. Nimbus’ yellow was now contrasting the darkening sky. She was just looking at the cloud.
He saw her look down, attempting to wind some more noodles around her chopsticks. “Nimbus, take me home.” He ordered while her head was still bowed towards her dinner, so she couldn’t see them move.
Marron looked up again after successfully grabbing another mouthful. Noodles were almost more trouble than they were worth when they were overcooked. “Hey, where’d my little cloud go? Hmm… he must have gone back home.” She said to no one.
‘Maybe that was a wise decision.’ She thought, contemplating her own situation and how homesick she was feeling at that moment. She was lonely, and the thought of returning home was tempting her to pack up and leave right then.
Goten looked only at his cell phone as the Flying Nimbus flew over the land on its way back to its master’s home. He watched it, as if he thought the little device in his hands held all the answers. Groaning, he punched another number into the keypad, determined to keep Marron out of his mind… and heart. After what seemed like forever to Goten, someone finally picked up.
“Hello?” A chipper voice greeted from the other end.
“Rasha? Hi it’s…”
“Goten!” She squealed, causing Goten’s ears to ring. “How are you? What’s up?”
“I was just wondering… are you doing anything tomorrow night?”
“Yeah Mom, I’ll be home in a few minutes.” Trunks assured Bulma, hanging up the phone afterwards.
He had been at work for nearly 14 hours by then, and even his mother was arguing with him to come home. The day had been busy, but very productive, and he just had to keep telling himself that as the hours passed. Every one of the books had been balanced, and every order filled. Now, he just had to attend an early meeting concerning the design specifics of a faulty trash compacter they had manufactured, but that was tomorrow. After the meeting, it was vacation city for him. The only thing he wanted to do in the next week was sleep, eat and maybe watch some television. That is, if he could find the time in between meals and naps.
He let out a very tired groan as he leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. His back hurt, he was hungry and he was ready to go to sleep right then. Everyone else in the office had gone home hours ago, and were probably already in bed. The lights were all off, and his desk was being illuminated solely by the screen of his computer.
He sighed and returned to his paper work. He reached over to grab the last paper from what had once been an over-stuffed inbox. Inadvertently, he knocked over the small wooded frame he had standing on his desk. He swiftly picked it up, worried that his mother had seen it earlier that day. Normally, he kept it in the locked drawer of his desk, so that no one would see it. He couldn’t risk changing things. Occasionally, however, he would take it out and stare at it for a moment or two. He had to keep reminding himself what all this waiting was for, especially since he got another, more attractive secretary.
A small smile spread across his face and he relaxed. This had already happened. Her prom was three weeks ago, so there was no worry. She kept the picture taken that night at her house though, so he still had to be careful. The picture he held in his hands was over 25 years old. He had kept it with him in his office desk for ten years, ever since that day… the day she left him. Now, he was forced to wait for her, to make sure that she would go into the past in eight years, and not say anything until then. It was still imperative that he kept the picture hidden for another eight years.
He recalled how much work it had taken for him to get everything right that night. He had to find the right tux and the right corsage in order to make the two of them look exactly like the did in the picture, no exceptions. Of course, then he had to ask her to the dance, which was the easy part. Everything had gone right. They looked exactly like they were supposed to, they had been voted the King and Queen, even though they weren’t on the ballot, he bowed and kissed her hand at the right time and even the camera had snapped a picture exactly at that moment.
He even had fun. They danced together most of the night, only going home after the last dance. Then again, he should have been expecting to have fun with her. She was just… fun to be around. The only downside to the whole evening was the feeling he got when he first walked into the room. For the first time in his life, he felt old.
Physically, he looked almost as young as they did, but he couldn’t help feel out of place. Everyone around him was staring at him, not only because of his age, but also because he happened to be the richest man on earth. He got over it eventually, only after he focused his attention on the woman he was dancing with.
He couldn’t help but be bothered by that though. Everyone at that dance was so young. They weren’t even adults yet. He couldn’t help but think of them as kids… but the woman he was so caught up with, she was their peer. Actually, she was a year younger than most of them. She was graduating early.
“She’s still just a kid.” He groaned again, throwing the picture back in the locked drawer of his desk.
Ten years had past since the day she left, ten years. That’s a long time to wait for someone. Of course, he didn’t start waiting right away. He had a hard time adjusting to the fact that the woman he had been in love with was Pan. She was only eight when ‘Kara’ left, which made it even more awkward. He ignored his problem for a long time… until he started missing her. True, little Panny had grown up a lot in a decade, but not enough.
There were still seven years left. Seven years until he could talk about all that happened with her and tell her how he felt. But what if… she didn’t feel the same way when she came back?
“This is stupid.” Trunks said to himself. “All this effort and turmoil over her. There’s no way I’m going to last another seven years without going crazy.”
Trunks felt his stomach churn. This had happened before. He had given up on her, deciding that he couldn’t wait, but she always returned to haunt his dreams. This time, he wasn’t going to think too hard about it. He was already overstressed and tired. He didn’t want to make any rash decisions he was going to regret.
Frustrated, exhausted and hungry, he turned off his computer and departed out the window. He left the picture in his desk drawer. He didn’t want it by his bed, reminding him of what he was missing.