"I just can't believe she's gay.... Never could of guessed with all those rumours going around about her and that one actor guy." Goku blushed when he remembered stumbling across a site on the internet dedicated to the more *cough* intimate part of their relationship.
He checked himself in the mirror one more time, smoothing over the wrinkles of his clothes and re-applying a few more streaks of paint under his eyes.
"I am ready."
The saiyan grabbed an envelope on the kitchen counter and walked out of his room, walking in a casual manner to prevent getting any unwanted attention. Right now, he needed to blend.
Once upon the street however, Goku realized just how hard it was to blend into the crowd when you lived in this part of the city. This district was to this city as Harlem is to New York; the only difference being that this one had a little better upkeep.
Groups of people pushed passed him on the small trek of twenty feet between him and his son's apartment buildings. Their neon colors and glow in the dark hair caused him to stick out like a sore thumb.
"Maybe this won't be as easy as I thought," he grumbled.
**************
Goten's hair whipped about his face as he shot through the air towards his apartment, feeling a little more tired than he had when he had first left her house.
He did a few spirals in the air as he pondered what had happened earlier. Why did the memory of Trunks disappear like that? And his feelings, why were they fleeting too?
So absorbed in his own world, Goten just barely missed a flock of migrating birds who glared at his already small figure.
"I'll have to ask Neo about it."
He increased his speed a little, not wanting to forget what he planned on talking to her about. It wouldn't take him much longer, but he didn't want to take a chance.
The lights of his home city became visible and soon the ant-sized buildings became towering giants as he weaved through them to reach his apartment in the district only a few more down.
Goten landed on his patio and stopped to look up at the sky above. He could've sworn he'd just felt Trunks ki fly by him. Giving it up for paranoia, he turned and slid his bedroom door open.
His eyes took in the sight of Neo laying on his bed, her hair messy and the sheets pushed down to the foot of the bed. Her mouth emitted the smallest of sounds, barely audible to his sensitive hearing.
Sitting beside her, he smiled. She looked beautiful when she slept. What had he expected? She was a part of him afterall..
Goten looked up at that moment, alerted by a sound from the corner. He stood and concentrated, recognizing the ki almost instantly.
"Dad?"
**************
Goku watched from his position in the corner as the girl returned to the room after saying goodbye to someone. He didn't try to sense who the person was since that might alert them of his presence.
His eyes continued to follow her as she went to change and then laid down to go to sleep. Her breath became even very soon, telling him she was asleep. He was slightly surprised since he hadn't expected her to fall asleep so soon.
Goten came in a few minutes later, and he still stayed silent in his position, trying to sneak towards the closet door when his foot stepped on a small gift bag.
"Dad?"
Goku turned and gave a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head before getting to his feet.
"Yep, you got me."
"What are you doing? And what the hell are you wearing?"
Goku frowned at his son's vulgar choice of words but passed it off. The boy was 32 years old after all.
"Um, I was just at a party?" he offered. It wasn't that bad of a lie. Goth-esque partys were thrown all the time a few floors below his building where the clothes he was wearing were considered totally appropiate.
"Are you asking or telling me," Goten questioned, sensing the obvious lie. Goku choose not to reply and instead, mustered up the most fatherly face he could muster.
"Who is she?" Goku gestured at the bed to the sleeping form of Neo.
Goten hadn't been prepared for that one. His mind worked, searching all corners for an answer.
"She's.. a friend I went to high school with. We met up and since she needed a place to stay I offered her a place here."
The story seemed plenty plausible to Goku, but he still searched his youngest son's eyes to see if he was lying. Goten knew what he was doing and had planned on maintaining contact until a flash of brown caught the corner of his eye.
'OH SHIT!!!' his mind screamed. He'd forgoteen all about her extra appendage, and was thankful that his was still safely secured down the side of his leg with a loose belt. He tried to remain as casual as possible when he gripped a small corner of the sheet and inched it upwards until it had reached her shoulder. He let out a slow breath at covering it. Then she turned to the other side.
The blanket bunched up until she stopped on her stomach, revealing the tail in all it's glory. Goten decided to fuck discretion and jumped right on top of the black-haired girl.
"Goten, what the hell are you doing to her?" Goku asked, appalled at his son's actions. Hadn't he just been on a date?
"I'm.... I'm just..."
"Goten? Is that you? What are you doing," the now awake Neo asked between half-lidded eyes. Their eyes made contact and he gave her a signal to look at the other side of the room. She did so and was surprised to see Goten's father standing their with his mouth slightly open, black paint under his eyes.
"Hello Go-"
Neo was silenced by Goten's hand over her mouth.
"You don't know him."
She nodded and he released his had from her mouth.
"Who are you?" Neo asked once again, feeling as though it was all she'd been saying lately.
"I'm Goku, Goten's father."
"Oh, nice to meet you," she greeted while extending an arm. Goku was a little wary since his son was still laying atop her but shook the arm.
"What brings you here so late?"
"I just wanted to, uh, check up on Goten. But, seeing as it's so late, I'll just have to 'check up on him' tommorow. Around lunch time?" It was a command, not a question.
Goten nodded as his father smiled in return, then turned and left through the door.
"Phew. That was close."
"Yeah," Neo mumbled as Goten got off her and she curled her body into a ball. He was about to ask her if she knew why the feelings were fleeting, but he turned back and saw she was already asleep.
He removed his own clothes until he remained only in his boxers, then laid beside her and fell asleep.
**************
The sunlight streamed down on Neo and she awoke that morning to hear all of the wonderful sounds that accompanied a morning in the city. Birds chirping, wind blowing through the open patio door, horns honking from the ground below, Goten swearing....
"What?" Neo slid one eye open and rolled over, covering the eye with a raised hand. From what she could make out, Goten was hopping around their bedroom, still wearing the boxers he'd slept in.
"Goten, are you okay?" she asked him, now sitting up. Goten stopped the stream of words from escaping his mouth and took a look at his female twin.
"I'm okay. I just stubbed my toe on the stupid...thingy... you know that metal thing under the bed."
"The bed frame?"
"Yeah, that."
Goten could see Neo was trying to hold back laughter and wanting to keep some of his dignity, he walked out of their room into the kitchen.
It was some ten minutes later that Neo walked out of their bedroom to join Goten at the living room table. She grabbed three of the pancakes he'd made and began to devour them, having not eaten since the night before.
"Mmm. Kame, that was *SO* good..." The pairing leaned back on the couch, ridiculous smiles on both of their faces.
"Maybe you should try cooking, Neo. I mean, if your my feminine side don't you think it would kinda like be my surpressed urge to cook."
"Now that's pathetic. Your trying to convince me to cook for you and you use a sexist comment to do so. Unbelievable."
"What?" he asked her, innocence written over his features.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."
The thirty-two year old still played innocent and shrugged his shoulders before collecting their food. She gave him a playful whack on the back of the legs as he passed her. He turned to her, an aghast look on his face.
"You, madame, are a dominictrix."
"Whatever, you know you like it," she giggled at him before he dropped the plates to the floor and attacked her sides with his fingers.
"Goten, STOP IT, that... tickles," she gasped. Goten laughed too, thinking about how he enjoyed this. He stopped suddenly and his smile was replaced with a blank look that knocked Neo out of wherever his tickling her had sent her.
"Goten... Are you okay?"
She leaned over, but he turned away. Not being very patient, she grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. She surpressed a gasp when she saw tears in his eyes. Only a few seconds passed before he flung himself at her, tears streaming down his face.
"Goten..."
**************
Trunks paced his room once for what had to be the twelth time in the past hour. He'd been alternating his movements from standing, sitting, and pacing. His eyes glanced once more at his wrist where a small watch lay.
"It's ten thirty seven!! Why hasn't she called me yet?"
He resumed his pacing and glared at the floor as though he could force them to make her call him. His fingers curled around thick locks of purple hair and tugged.
"Ow shit, that HURT." He hissed while waiting for the pain to go away.
"Why hasn't she called me yet..." he whined, sitting on the edge of his bed staring at the small cordless phone by his feet.
"Maybe she realized that you weren't as charming as said to be." Trunks turned his head towards his now open doorway and scowled at the blue haired form of his sister.
"How may I help you PRINCESS Bra."
She flinched at his emphasis on the word princess. Guess he still wasn't over the whole Vegeta liking her better thing.
"I was just coming to tell you about my success with Goten last night."
It was Trunks turn to flinch. Truth be told, he didn't really want to her about her date with Goten. Not when it should be him on that date. He thought it best not to say that out loud and instead turned around to face her, his face showing what he best thought of as eagerness and interest.
"Tell me all about it."
"Well," she began, drawing out the word and sitting next to him, happy to have an audience.
"Jane, you know the girl that I shop with every third Thursday? Well, I had her call up a few reporter friends she knows and told her the name of the resturant we were going to be at. I knew that a story about me dating another man after Uub would be major publicity and my modeling agent said that I hadn't been in the papers for a while. So, I did some brainstorming and came up with a super-fabulous idea. Why not date another man, have Uub read about, go mad with jealousy and have a public confrontation. Oh, isn't it just delicious?" she giggled, her feet slamming into his bed in hurried kicks.
Trunks just stared at her for a moment.
"You mean, it's all a publicity stunt?"
"Of course." With those few words, Trunks threw away logic and felt himself beaming. He still had a chance.
"Then again... There did seem to be some kind of connection between us and it actually made me think twice about what I was doing."
"Can you explain it," he asked, his hope crumbling.
"It was just like this urge kind of protect him. Goten's great that way. He can always make you feel needed, like he *needs* protecting from the world..." she trailed off and Trunks nodded his agreement.
"Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you about the date. Oops, I'm gonna be late for lunch with mom. I've gotta go." Bra smiled, rose, and left the same way she came, the door slamming shut behind her.
Trunks watched her leave, then lay back on his bed. Bra was definatly right about some of things she said. Goten was that way, his innocent nature and naivetivity made you want to keep him close, protect from anything that could take those two features, two of his best features, away.
Sighing, he lay on his side and closed his eyes, the conversation leading any thought of Neo's forgotten call behind...
**************
Neo's fingers rubbed through Goten's hair as he still lay on her, his tears dried but his sorrows un-comforted.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered. His head made the smallest movements and she sat up a little bit more to give him her full attention. His eyes stared into hers for a few minutes before he began.
"This was actually something I wanted to talk to you about last night. During my date, I was looking at the stars, and recallin all the other times I would look up their and imagine a different world with different people and different lives. Then, I tried to think of one of my favorite fantasys. The one where it was Trunks and I who were those people, together and happy." He stopped and she could see a few tears beginning to form once again in his eyes.
"Then, it felt like some force was pulling it away from me. No matter how much I tried to remember it, it slowly drained away until it had faded out completely. And just a few moments ago, I was thinking about how Trunks and I used to mess around on the couch like that, and the same thing happened." A few silent tears slid down his cheeks and he brushed them away before turning to her with a forced smile.
"Pretty silly huh?"
"Not really. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. It was mostly the feminine part of you that wanted Trunks and your masculine side that was too proud to act on it. That would probably explain your fading feelings/memories and my sudden urges.."
"What?! Why would you have urges?"
'Uh oh,' Neo thought. She'd forgotten about that.
"I didn't mean that. I just meant that..."
Their conversation was interrupted by the small knocking on the door. Goten stared between the door and girl, his eyes giving away the conflict he faced. Did he want to know what she had urges for... or who was knocking on his door.
He got up and looked back at her one more time before heading towards the door.
Neo sighed at his retreating form. 'That was close.' Then she heard him.
"Oh my god."
Alarmed, Neo stood and went to Goten's side, following his eyesight ahead...
"Kame...."
**************