“You and Marron-chan,” Bra stated matter-of-factly.
“We were coming home and I saw you leaving, carrying her in your arms. Kaasan and Tousan would’ve, but I started begging for ice cream, so we went to Dairy Queen. Now you owe me, and I want to know what’s going on.”
He looked at his little sister. “Can I trust you?”
She made a sound of disgust.
“ ‘Can I trust you?’ ” she mimicked. “If you couldn’t, do you think
I would be here?” she demanded. “I’d’ve said, ‘Kaasan, look, is that
Niichan?’ and pointed if you couldn’t trust me!”
Trunks barely managed to
keep his amusement from showing. “Sorry,” he got out.'
“So, dish!”
“At this moment, I am training Marron-chan to fly and there is a possibility of more. That’s the whole story.”
She clapped her hands together. “Ooh, like Gohan and Videl!” she squealed.
“What?”
“Oh, come on. You know the story. Videl wanted to learn to fly, Gohan taught her, and now they’re married with a kid! This is so romantic!”
“What is?” Bulma asked, sticking her head in.
“This book,” Bra said glibly,
without flinching or blushing. She held up a book Trunks hadn’t
noticed she was even holding. “_Gone With the Wind_. It’s very
good.” She gave their mother her most innocent look. “And Niichan was
telling me he read it in school.”
Bulma nodded. “I always
liked it. Trunks-kun, did you eat while we were gone?”
“I’m not hungry, don’t worry, Kaasan,” Trunks assured her.
“Good.” Bulma left.
Trunks raised an eyebrow at his little sister. “Imoto, that was incredibly smooth.”
Bra grinned at him. “Why, thank you.”
A disturbing thought occurred
to Trunks. “And how often have you used that sort of trick on me?” he
asked suspiciously.
She looked shocked. “Trunks-kun!
What would I have to lie to you about?” she asked, artfully guileless.
He couldn’t help laughing. “Probably quite a bit. Oh, well. Bra, is there anything else you’d like to ask me?”
She thought it over. “No, I don’t think so. But don’t worry, if I come up with any questions, I’ll be sure to ask.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.”
She smiled charmingly. “That’s what little sisters are for, Trunks-kun. Have fun reading…” she looked at the title of his book, “_Mechanics of a Hard Drive_?” she asked incredulously.
“What?”
“Oh, dear. I’m glad
Marron-chan’s gonna be the one to reform you. You’re too far gone,
even for me!” And
she flounced out of his room.
Marron got home just in time to eat dinner. She sat, subdued, while Kenji, Taro, and her mother talked. And talked. And talked.
“So, Marron-chan, where did you go?” Krillin asked casually when there was a lull in the conversation. To his surprise, Marron began blushing furiously and looked down. “Oh, uh, oh, uh just…out.”
Krillin raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
_Quick, quick, where can I say I went?_ Marron thought frantically. “I’m sorry, Tousan, but I went to a…to a movie.”
“Marron, you know you’re grounded!”
“Yes, Tousan, I’m sorry.” Marron silently blew her breath out, glad she was out of arm’s reach from her mother. One of the more annoying things about Jinzouningen Azami was that if she was touching her daughter, she would know if Marron was lying. Jinzouningen Azami laid a hand on Krillin’s arm. “Why don’t we let it go and unground her?” she suggested. “I mean, she found Kenji. I think that deserves some sort of reward.”
Marron and Krillin both stared at her. Marron was the first to break the silence. “Oh, wow! Thanks,Kaasan!” she exclaimed.
“You’re welcome, dear.”
“This is great! Now, as my first act as an ungrounded person, I will go do my math homework. Jisan Kenji, what was the assignment again?”
Kenji rolled his eyes. “Page 231, 1-29,” he said patiently. “Page 231, 1-29,” she repeated. “All right, then.” She was hurrying up to her room when the phone rang. She picked it up. “Hello?”
“Marron-chan?”
She was very aware of the three adults downstairs. “Trunks? Why are you calling?”
“I just wanted to ask if you want a ride tomorrow.”
Marron sighed. “Sorry, but it looks like Jisan Kenji is staying the night. If so, he’ll offer me a ride on his boat and I can’t say no.”
She could almost see him nodding. “Just thought I’d ask.”
“See you tomorrow, though?”
“Well, tomorrow is Tuesday,” Trunks reminded her.
“Right, ’bye.”
“See ya.” Trunks hung up.
Marron grinned in the hall
mirror and continued to her room.
***
Mindful of the fact that she would be training tomorrow, Marron did sit-ups until her stomach hurt, push-ups until she collapsed, and stretches until she could only hobble around. Then she did the homework. Just after she finished, there was a knock on her door.
“Come in!” she called as she put the book away.
“Hi, Marron-chan,” Kenji said.
“Oh, hi, Jisan Kenji. What’s up?”
He had an odd expression on his face. “I was wondering something.”
Marron gestured for him to sit down. “Yes?”
“Well, your father is one of the strongest guys in the world?”
“He’s the strongest human,” Marron interrupted proudly.
“And your mother is a cyborg,” he finished.
“Yep.”
“So, do you have any special powers?”
For some reason, Marron’s mind shrieked at her not to tell him about her sixth sense and her limited ability to read minds. “No, not really,” she answered.
“Oh, come on.”
“Well, I’m strong for a girl my age who’s never had training, but there’s nothing special about me.”
Kenji looked a bit disappointed. “Oh?”
“Sorry.”
“No, what’s there to be sorry about?” Kenji stood up. “Azami invited me to stay the night. Is that okay?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t it be? Hey, are you subbing in class tomorrow?”
He nodded.
“Great. So, if I don’t do my homework…”
“You’ll regret it.”
“I was afraid you’d feel that way about it.” Marron sighed. “So I guess it’s a good thing I did do it.”
“Probably,” Kenji agreed and smiled.
Something about his smile set Marron’s danger antennae off. She pushed her uneasiness aside and smiled back. “Well, I think I’m going to turn in,” she said.
“Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Do you want to ride with me to school?”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
“Great.”
Marron nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, good night.”
“Good night.”
He stepped out and Marron
wondered at the amount of relief she felt. What was wrong with her?finding
her
mother’s brother was good thing, and he was a nice guy. She
chuckled at herself and went to bed.
***
“Well, let’s fight,”
Trunks said after Marron showed up after school.
“Wait a minute,” Marron protested. “These are my school clothes. If you think I’m going to fight you in these, you’re crazy.”
“Okay, okay. Do you have clothes to change into?”
Marron grinned and pulled out Krillin’s old orange gi. “It fits,” she said, “so I thought I might as well use it.”
Trunks shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat. Now, I was thinking this over last night and I came to this conclusion of how to train you.”
“I await your words of wisdom breathlessly,” Marron teased.
Trunks frowned at her. “Quiet. Your sensei is speaking.”
“Oh, forgive me.”
He looked at her closely and scowled. “I do not think you are truly repentant.”
She sighed, walked over to him, and kissed him. “There, do you forgive me now?”
“Well, all right.”
“So, how were you going to train me?”
“I figure your power level
is about 200 when you really get going. You need to have a power
level of
about 235 to fly.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. So I figure we spar until we get your power level up high enough, then I’ll teach you to fly. If your level is high enough, it should be easy for you.”
Marron grinned. “Okay.
Let me change, and we can get going.” She disappeared into Capsule Corp
and emerged
a few minutes later wearing the orange gi, black undershirt, and black
boots, her hair tied back into a braid. “Well, let’s
go.”
“Go? Where?”
Her mouth dropped. “We’re not going to train _here_, are we?”
“Why not?”
“Because any member of your family might walk out and see us!”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Marron rolled her eyes. “Why don’t we go to that field we went to the first time?”
“Oh, no, we can’t go there. Tousan knows that’s where I train. Goten, too.”
“Ah. Well, do you have anywhere else we could go?”
Trunks hesitated a little too long. “Well, I-I guess we could go to my island.”
Marron raised an eyebrow. “_Your_ island?” she repeated.
“Well, I found it, and I
don’t think anyone else knows about it…I’ve never taken anyone else
there before, but I guess we could go there…if you want,” he said hesitatingly.
She smiled reassuringly.
“Well, if it’s isolated, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go
there, if you don’t mind taking me.”
“Oh, he doesn’t mind,” Bra piped up.
Trunks eyes widened as he whirled around. “Oh. Bra-chan. Wh?what are you doing here?”
Marron’s mouth dropped. “Oh, no,” she breathed.
“Don’t worry,” Bra reassured them. “I won’t say anything. I just had to come over, though. Niichan, I was wondering if you need me to cover for you at work tonight.”
Trunks turned about the same color as Marron’s gi. “No, Bra-chan. I do not need you to cover for me.”
“Oh, okay. Have fun!” And Bra went back in the house.
Trunks didn’t dare look Marron in the eye. “Um, shall we go?” he asked, glancing at her.
She was looking at her feet. “Okay.”
He picked her up again. “We won’t pass by your house, don’t worry.”
“Good.”
They flew across what seemed
miles and miles of blue ocean before Trunks stopped above a small patch
of
land. “Okay, here it is.”
She looked down as they
landed. “This is perfect!” she declared. “It’s small and secluded.
No one should bother us.”
“That’s what I was hoping.” Trunks tapped her on the shoulder. “So, shall we get started?”