Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fall of the Mighty ❯ And The World Spins Onward ( Chapter 35 )

~Overworked And Tired~

Hey all! Look! Another chapter! Isn't that amazing? Whooooooo! Heh. *shrugs* I'm trying. And I'm thinking about this story all the time again. Gonna finish it. Definitely. Definitely gonna finish. So……….get on and read it!

~And After Only One Week~

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"Uh… Yeah. I'll be dealing with the class from now on…I guess…" Inwardly she cringed at the statement but didn't dare show it. "You're all here 'cause your kids are in the class, right?" They all nodded in agreement. "Good... One problem at a time..." Spice commented dryly and headed for the training room with heavy steps.

The door opened and she stepped into pandemonium.

'I am such a sucker…'

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*And The World Spins Onward*

Risen high above the city and gleaming in the light of the setting sun, the suite was still bright with orange light, only lightly tempered by tinted full length windows. One window stood open, letting the evening breeze ruffle long, exquisite, expensive drapes. They made a raspy snapping sound that the suite's occupant found most unpleasant and rather frightening. The occupant was a short man, bald, and severe looking in his stiff three piece suit. He tossed back the dark contents of his glass and walked over to hastily close the window, his feet scuffing across tile and rug as he went.

He had just set the latch in place when the door to the expansive condo opened abruptly. The balding man took a deep breath before turning around, a wide and hideously out of place smile blossoming on his face.

"Sir! Back so soon? Surely you haven't finished touring the district already. I'm sure that there are tons of things to occupy you still. Here…" He almost skipped over to a mahogany desk in his haste. "I took the liberty of drawing up a list of the *many* things that you might enjoy during your stay."

His toothy grin weakened in intensity when he turned back to see his visitor's flat gaze, but he reasserted it valiantly, holding up the paper hopefully.

"Relax, Rabin." The tall visitor rumbled in a low, almost amused voice. "There are still things to distract me from my duties here. Though…I do not know just how long I can put them off, you understand." He smiled charmingly, but the short man didn't respond at all to it. "Eventually I *will* have to perform my audit and you *will* have to deal with the consequences."

The businessman's face screwed up even more painfully. "But sir… Sir… Surely… I have done everything ever asked. I've gone above and beyond just to please the organization. I have! I… I…"

The taller man interrupted him, sounding bored. "Rabin, we've gone over this. Disloyalty is not tolerated in this line of work. The reason you were sent to this insignificant area in the first place was because you were too much trouble elsewhere. You are the one who chose this path. You are the one who put yourself in this position. Don't blame me for your mistakes. I'm *am* the one who will…rectify the mistake you embody though. In my own good time."

Rabin seemed to shrink even more and weakly held out the neatly printed paper to the tall man. "Sir… If you would, please… I'm sure that there is any number of enjoyable distractions here. I know that one such as you has little chance for recreation. The cards that I gave you have no limit, none at all, as you already know. You deserve the very best, sir. And you have it."

The tall man nodded, his smile widening toothily. "Yes. I know. I've been very much enjoying my vacation. In fact, I think I will stay for a while, Rabin. Do stop worrying. You've started to develop a twitch. I think I *have* found a few very nice distractions. So you're safe for a while yet. You should count yourself lucky that I make my own schedule."

Suddenly there was a ringing and the tall man drew a cell phone from his leather jacket. Rabin's eyes snapped to the phone which used to be his private line until this man had come calling on him and his records. The tall man answered and his face lit up handsomely with surprised pleasure, his deep voice nearly musical and matching his pearly smile beautifully. Just then the sun gave its last desperate flash before relinquishing the day to night and the visitor's white hair lit a sparkling deep red in salutation to the coming evening. Rabin thought that it was a nauseating sight. He wiped the expression away from his face with a shudder, not wanting the other to see it. Then suddenly, the tall blond's attention was on him again.

"Rabin. Do send the maid up to my rooms, I want them clean and respectable incase I have a visitor. I will see you…later. I'll let you know when." Then he was back on the phone and striding with long steps for the door again, pausing at the threshold. "Oh, and Rabin… Do remember that, even distracted…I've got an eye on you. Don't make things any harder than they already have to be."

Halting once again, he turned back from the door, handsome face looking thoughtful. "Oh yes… One more thing, Rabin. What do you know about any half-lings residing in this district?"

The shorter man frowned, thrown off balance by the abrupt question. "…Er…" He took a moment to respond and shook his head slowly. "There are no…half-lings..." He replied, slightly confused.

The tall blond grinned, his teeth sparkling, undisturbed by the older man's uncertainty. "I didn't think there were."

With that bright grin, he was gone and Rabin was alone once more. The short man shuffled to a little wet bar poured himself a double helping of dark liquid and went to the window again, still quite unhappy at the whole business, but happy to know that his "benefactor" was otherwise indisposed.

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Tong almost stuttered when that deep resonating accent answered, sending a chill down his neck. Taigar had such a lovely voice. Tong took a deep breath and held the phone tighter. He'd promised himself that he wouldn't do this anymore, but… But… But he'd been thinking. Granted, he had been thinking too much. He always did. But ever since this morning, with Piccolo… He'd felt so alone. So helpless and alone. He just needed…just needed someone to be there. That's all. Just to be there. What was the harm in that? Of course there wasn't any. So, he had taken out the number that the handsome blond had given him days ago and he had stared at it for a while. But what the hell? Why not? Why shouldn't he have a nice evening with someone? It didn't have to be more than that. Of course it didn't. Just a companionable evening, with someone nice, away from family and problems and pain. That's all. He just needed to unwind a little and then he'd be able to handle things again. He'd apologize to Piccolo and be able to concentrate…and…and…and he wouldn't have to think about the funeral tomorrow either.

"Uh… Hey, Taigar? It's Tong. You remember me?" He smiled when his name created an eager response. "You doing anything tonight?"

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Pan arrived at Goten's house just in time to catch him loading the twins and his son into his car. He smiled and hugged her warmly.

"I thought you said you'd be working for at least two more hours. We were just about to go have dinner with Gohan."

"Great." Pan grinned.

"I'm absolutely starving. Let's go. I've been working way too much lately. I've barely had any time to spend with dad."

She climbed into the car with the rest of the guys and they all headed off to the eldest Son's home.

"So, how'd you manage to tear away from the dojo so early?" Goten asked amiably.

"I had a sudden reprieve by my newest employee. We'll see how long this one lasts." Pan said with a small, tired laugh.

Her uncle looked impressed.

"He must be pretty good for you to leave the dojo to him on such short notice."

Pan's brow furrowed and her eyebrows rose in slight consternation. "No…not really. But I *had* to get out of there! Spice won't have *too* much trouble…"

"What?" Goten turned to look at her sharply, almost swerving out of his lane. His driving skills may have been a marked improvement on a certain earth raised Saiyan's, but they were still less than satisfactory at times.

Pan chuckled, not especially fazed by the errant car.

"Spice came by. She said she needed money so I gave her a class to teach. I know it was a bit mean, but it's just one night. I mean…she just disappeared, upset dad so much, and suddenly she reappears looking for sympathy." Pan shook her head uncomprehendingly.

"This way she's not borrowing from me, at least. I'm sure neither of us wants to deal with that. I know that she'll do whatever it takes to keep the dojo in one piece for one day. I'm not too worried about it."

Goten rubbed a hand through his hair and laughed as he drove. "This is the class you've had such problems with, isn't it?"

Pan nodded. "Yeah. She's gonna hate me in the morning but she'll be fine once I pay up."

Goten seemed to think about it. "I bet she'll do better than you think."

Pan shook her head and snorted. "She doesn't stand a chance. She'll give up really quick. It's too much responsibility for her. She'll never come to me for money ever again."

From the back seat of the car came Flick's laugh as the kids took up the controversial subject in a conversation of their own. "Did you see what Spice did to Nigel?"

The twins started giggling. "Yeah! His eye was swollen shut for a whole day, mom!"

They snickered amongst themselves and Flick spoke up with a nasty smirk. "You won't have a class to go back to tomorrow. Those poor human suckers'll all be dead."

Goten growled and Pan turned around with a warning frown. "Hush! All of you." She reprimanded threateningly. "Keep your comments to yourselves unless you want to have to stand up throughout dinner because you *won't* be able to sit! It'll be just fine."

But now Pan was starting to wonder whether taking the evening off was a good idea.

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Trunks leaned against the large round building that housed the gravity chamber along with his son Nalen. He smirked over at the boy whose lean, bare chest still heaved from their workout.

"You've really improved. I bet you'll break a new level soon."

Nalen smirked back, equally pleased. "I'm gonna be stronger than Nigel soon, aren't I, dad?" He glared at the building behind him from which shouts and cries could be heard.

Said brother was locked inside with a dozen shielded bots. Trunks had stated that Nigel would be allowed out when and *only* when he defeated and destroyed each and every bot.

Considering the teen's power level and the force fields that the robots were equipped with, that should take a while.

Twin squeals rose from the direction of the mansion and Naga and Fleaa appeared, racing one another toward the resting demis.

"Daddy! Mommy says to come clean up for dinner!"

Trunks smiled and swept his daughter up in a hug.

"Ewwwww! Lego!" She quickly squirmed away. "You smell, daddy! Go take a shower!"

Trunks was mildly insulted but deferred to his princess, rolling his eyes.

"Alright! Alright!"

They all headed back to the house, but after ten yards Fleaa tugged on Trunk's pant leg, looking back at the gravity chamber with concern. "What about Nigel?"

Trunks patted her head as they continued on toward the house. "Nigel stays where he is until he decides to change his attitude and learn to coexist with the rest of the world." He replied sternly

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Tong had been abnormally quiet all evening. No one else seemed to notice in the crowded room, but Gohan had been making an effort to pay more attention to things like that. Now that he had admitted that there was a problem between his family and himself, he was desperate to figure out how to fix it. All that impressive intellect of his was now applied to figuring out the problem, but he wasn't sure yet whether he should ask his son what was wrong or not.

It was getting on in the evening now and he was in the kitchen with his daughter, cleaning up after dinner. He resolved to see if Tong was willing to talk afterwards.

"Dad?"

He looked over at Pan who was clearing up the ingredients left out on the kitchen counter. "What, Pan?"

"I saw Spice today." She said, still preoccupied with putting things away. "I told her about the funeral, so you don't have to worry about whether she knows or not."

She didn't say anything about Spice being at the dojo. She knew her sister wouldn't want that even though she didn't agree with Spice's motives. Pan was the oldest of the three of them and had near-teenage kids of her own already. She had dealt with enough problems to have gained a slight amount of wisdom in her near-middle age, being a single parent of feisty twins and a responsible manager in the family business, namely the Satan City branch Martial Arts Federation Dojo. She understood that there were things that had to be dealt with on your own. She would leave her sister to it. They all made their own choices. They all had to live with them too.

Gohan paused for a moment, frozen as if caught in an awkward thought, and then nodded to himself.

"Did she look alright to you?" He asked, concentrating on removing an imaginary spot from a clean dish. The last time he had seen her she hadn't looked all that well. He hadn't liked the looks of that man with her either. He had been far too possessive for Gohan's peace of mind.

"Heh. She looked about normal for her." Pan said lightly. "Maybe a little tired. She's fine, dad. She can take care of herself. She's been trying to prove it for years, she's got the idea down pretty well by now."

In the living room, Goten, Tong, and the three boys were roughhousing around a board game, laughing and calling each other names, depending on who was winning.

When there came a knock at the door, Tong was the one who answered, still laughing jovially. He was taken aback for a moment by the handsome smile that instantly warmed the air and his own smile flourished brighter than ever.

Tong opened the door wide and invited the tall blond in, grinning as he introduced him to the others in the living room.

"Uncle Goten, this is Taigar. I met him a few days ago." He turned to Taigar once again. "These two are my nephews, Kale and Kane, and this is my cousin Flick. Everyone, meet Taigar."

Goten gave a friendly greeting while the twins snickered but managed not to make any embarrassing comments. Flick just rolled his eyes disgustedly at his cousin and the other, knowing as all adolescents do, just exactly what was going on and how dumb and annoying and scorn worthy it was.

Taigar flashed his prize smile at them all. "I see that you're having a family gathering. Are you sure I am not intruding?"

Tong hurried to reassure the tall man. "Oh, no. It's no problem, we just finished dinner. Nothing big."

Just then, the door to the kitchen opened and Pan came out to gather up the rest of the dishes from the table.

Tong grinned at her and started to introduce Taigar to her as well, but he faltered slightly. The kitchen door swung inward so that he could catch a glimpse of his father's back, still in the kitchen washing dishes. With a valiant save, he finished introductions and Pan smiled good naturedly at the new comer before gathering up the rest of the dishes from the table and excusing herself again. She knew what thoughts had passed through Tong's head when he had stuttered and, though that was another thing in her family that saddened her a bit, it was something that their father and Tong had to work out themselves as well. When she headed back to the kitchen, laden with plates and trays, she bid Tong goodnight too because she knew that he would leave with his friend before their father came out of the kitchen.

Tong smiled back at his older sister and caught her before she got to the kitchen to give her a quick kiss on the cheek and a squeeze that almost upset her whole load of dishes along with a "Thanks, sis" before she shrugged him off with a laugh and stepped through the door.

Goten waved happily and the kids all but ignored them, fixated on the game once more, as Tong snatched up his jacket and left with the tall, platinum blond.

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Goku felt his muscles stretch and strain as he performed an intricate kata, the chill of the darkening evening clinging to his perspiring form. Over the last few weeks he'd had very little energy and exercise due to the weakness his pregnancy had caused him.

Now, he let his ki drop as far as it would go, depending solely on his own body. He had discovered what a weakness it was to depend so much on his ki and he was determined to overcome it.

It also kept him occupied so that his mate's absence was not so pronounced.

Goku felt out for the familiar kis all around and smiled. Almost all his family was together, the same with Vegeta's. The only kis he couldn't feel were those of his mate and his granddaughter Spice. He wondered if they were together again but dismissed the thought.

Vegeta was gone.

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So! A little more of everyone. *smirks* See if you can see where this is going. I'm still working it out.