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Barracks	By : chayron Category: Dragon Ball Z > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 16996 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z – it belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.

Chapter List
- 1-Barracks
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Part 13
- 14-Part 14
- 15-Part 15
- 16-Part 16
- 17-Part 17
- 18-Part 18
- 19-Part 19
- 20-Part 20
- 21-Part 21
- 22-Part 22
- 23-Part 23
- 24-Part 24
- 25-Part 25
- 26-Part 26
- 27-Part 27
- 28-Part 28
- 29-Part 29
- 30-Part 30
- 31-Part 31
- 32-Part 32
- 33-Part 33
- 34-Part 34
- 35-Part 35
- 36-Part 36
- 37-Part 37
- 38-Part 38
- 39-Part 39
- 40-Part 40
- 41-Part 41
- 42-Part 42
- 43-Part 43
- 44-Part 44
- 45-Part 45
- 46-Part 46
- 47-Part 47
- 48-Part 48
- 49-Part 49
- 50-Part 50
- 51-Part 51
- 52-Part 52
- 53-Part 53
- 54-Part 54
- 55-Part 55
- 56-Part 56
- 57-Part 57
- 58-Part 58
- 59-Part 59
- 60-Part 60
- 61-Part 61
- 62-Part 62
- 63-Part 63
- 64-Part 64
- 65-Part 65
- 66-Part 66
- 67-Part 67
- 68-Part 68
- 69-Part 69
- 70-Part 70
- 71-Part 71
- 72-Part 72
- 73-Part 73
- 74-Part 74
- 75-Part 75
- 76-Part 76
- 77-Part 77
- 78-Part 78
- 79-Part 79
- 80-Part 80
- 14
- 15
- 16
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z – it belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.
Warnings: Alternate Universe. Yaoi (male x male). Goten x Trunks and vice versa. Other pairings.

Barracks

by chayron (lttomb@yahoo.com), beta-read by quatreofdoom

Part 15

It was very quiet in the office. Goten and the shaii had their eyes locked on each other.

“I think there’s been a mistake, sir,” Goten said finally. “I don’t mean anything by it, sir,” he added carefully, “but it’s a very obvious mistake.” He flinched at the glare the prince gave him.

“Oh really?” the shaii purred. “Then how would you explain all seven scouters showing the same number?”

“Erhm… A coincidence, sir?” He sank deeper into his chair when the shaii grabbed the folder from the desk and nearly threw it at him. “Well, alright, sir, it’s not,” Goten agreed. “But it can’t be my power level. I mean, three hundred thousand, sir? No way. There’s just no way. It’s ridiculous to even think about it.”

The shaii considered tossing the folder back onto the desk, then changed his mind. At least this way he had something to threaten Goten with.

“All the scouters fried when you lost control of your ki,” the prince said. He raised his eyebrows at Goten. “At the exact same time. I have seven reports from our officials and all of them claim the same thing. You busted their scouters.”

“I hope I won’t need to pay for that, sir?”

“Goten.” The prince’s voice was as cold as ice, his eyes even colder, and Goten’s mouth closed with an audible snap. “Open your mouth without permission one more time and you will have to pay for them. I’ll personally charge you. One scouter – three thousand credits. Multiply it by seven. Do the math.”

Goten opened his mouth but then closed it and nodded his head quickly.

“I see we are getting somewhere,” the shaii said, giving him a short amused smile. “Nod for ‘yes’, shake your head for ‘no’,” he added. “We took the scouters to our technology laboratory,” he continued. “The techies looked into the last recordings and they all show three hundred thousand as their final measurement.” Discarding the folder onto the desk, the prince leaned back into his chair. “Now, I agree that three hundred thousand is a bit…” he chuckled, “blown out of proportion, in my opinion. Nonetheless, whatever you did was enough to make the scouters malfunction.”

The shaii gave Goten some time to wrap his mind around the information he had delivered. “So,” he said a minute later, “I’d like to hear what you think happened there.”

Unsure, Goten cleared his throat. “The fact is, sir, that I blew myself up. Now, why that happened,” he continued quickly, before the shaii could threaten him, “is somewhat of a mystery to me. I mean, I’m good with ki. I’m not brilliant or anything, but I’m good. I know what I’m doing. Most of the time, anyway,” he added, in case he started to appear boastful, but the addition instead made the prince’s eyebrows twitch aggressively. “Sir, there was something strange going on with my ki. I’m not sure what it was. It was as if…erm…well, there was too much of it,” Goten finished lamely.

The prince gave him an inquisitive look. “Three hundred thousand?”

“Certainly not, sir,” Goten denied at once.

“You sure?”

“I’m not sure about anything anymore, sir,” Goten nearly snapped, “except that I want to-” he caught himself just in time. Having avoided such a fatal mistake, he exhaled in relief.

“…sleep,” the prince finished for Goten, pinning him to his chair with a very long and scary stare. “Alright, beat it!” he growled out suddenly, throwing up his arms. “Come to my office tomorrow!”

Surprised and grateful, Goten scrambled to his feet. Swaying lightly, he saluted. “Sir, yes, sir!”

The shaii rolled his eyes. Now he was getting some respect here.

“Thank you very much, sir!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved Goten off. “Get the hell out of my sight.” Goten started walking towards the door and the prince’s eyes swiveled to the neat A4 envelope on his desk next to his left hand. He had been considering showing it to Goten, but it would have to wait until tomorrow. He raised his head again as the footsteps suddenly stopped, but there was no sound of the door opening or closing. Goten was standing at the door, looking somewhat abashed. “What now?”

“Well… I didn’t mean to stare at your tail, sir. I’m sorry. I really didn’t.”

The blush, which the prince had somehow managed to hold back previously, was suddenly all over his face. Goten’s reaction to his blush was to go red in the face as well. Red-faced, they stared at each other for a few seconds, then, vengefully, the prince’s fingers started groping around the desk for anything tangible to launch at the third-class. He was going to teach that brainless idiot some manners.

ooOoOoOoo

As soon as Goten managed to escape from the shaii’s office, he headed straight for his room. It was still empty, his roommates in lectures or attending drill. He hardly registered the fact and made a beeline towards his bunk. His body hit the linen before he could even think about taking his uniform off. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Goten didn’t hear either of his roommates return. Nor did he hear the savars moving around him or feel Kyon taking his boots off of him. He felt secure in his room and his body had simply shut itself down, concentrating only on healing. He had sustained a lot of damage and lost a lot of energy during the explosion. Most of his injuries had been healed by the regeneration tank, but his body was still recovering. The best way for his body to do this was to make Goten eat a lot and then prevent him from moving around too much, absorbing all the energy the food could provide.

When Goten woke up, it was because of Kyon pressing a cold, wet hand towel over his face. Startled, he smacked at it vehemently, sitting up in his bunk.

“Ow,” Kyon complained, rubbing at his hand. “And here I thought there was no way to wake you.”

Still not fully awake, Goten stared at him for a few seconds with his hand still raised. His eyes took in his roommate, then the wet towel. Goten lowered his hand. “What…?” he rasped out, his voice rough like a grater. He swallowed. “What time is it?” He threw a look at the window. It was dark outside. The darkness was intense, somehow different than usual. Then he realized he could hear an incessant whooshing and jarring noise coming from up above. A sandstorm. It was rampaging above the protective shield.

“Just a little bit before six. Our kitchen duty. Are you supposed to go?”

“Oh.” Goten rubbed his face with his hands, trying to dispel his drowsiness. “Yes,” he nodded. “I've been exempted from physical activity only.” He yawned. “I’ve slept for more than twelve hours, haven’t I?”

Fidgeting with the wet towel, Kyon looked at him worriedly. “Are you alright?” he asked. “I mean, is e-”

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Goten cut him off with a nod. “The doc said I’m as sound as a roach.”

Kyon yelped as a pillow struck him on the back of his head.

“Keep it down, you assholes,” Roland cursed. “Let us sleep!”

“Just shut up and die!” Kyon snorted, grabbing the pillow and throwing it back at Roland. The second-year grabbed it and stuck it under his head, rolling over onto his right side. After some thought, Kyon also threw the wet towel he had been holding. Roland did not react to that, the towel finding purchase and sticking to the covers.

“You go; I’ll join you as soon as I take a shower,” Goten said.

“You don’t have time for a shower,” Kyon informed him. “I’ve been trying to wake you for about ten minutes. Now, put your boots on and let’s go.”

“Bathroom first,” Goten said, putting his boots on hurriedly. “I’ll burst otherwise.”

The bathroom and showers were nearly empty, only a few early birds traipsing around. When Goten entered, he was met with a few cordial whoops and a lot of sniggering. Goten figured he deserved to be the object of derision for stupidly blowing himself up, thus he smiled back sheepishly and ignored the laughter.

Outside, the whooshing and grating sounds became much more intense. Goten raised his head to look at the shield overhead. The shield was quite high and it was dark all around because of the storm. A few lampposts were strewn here and there, but the light they provided was reflecting off the shield, thus Goten could only catch glimpses of the swirling sands above.

Goten coughed. Fruitlessly, he tried to cover his nose and mouth with his hand. The air was filled with tiny specks of sand and dust which had seeped through the shield barrier. Clusters of it could be seen swirling in the light of the lampposts. Goten and Kyon sped up towards the kitchens.

Together they entered the kitchens through the backdoor. Goten was immediately swept away by the variety of smells. Food. He suddenly realized that right now, he would do or give anything for food. Tons of it. His stomach let out a mighty rumble. He was famished. He swallowed quickly, before his saliva started running down his chin.

Kyon grabbed Goten by his sleeve when he suddenly started walking in the direction of the pots on the stoves. “Where the hell are you going?”

“Food.”

The look Goten gave Kyon made him let go of his sleeve. It was just short of completely mad.

“Oh, just great!” Kyon threw his hands up. “Feed him, someone. Oh wait, don't bother. He has already found what he’s looking for. Why the heck did I even bother waking you?” he growled out at the sight of Goten circling one particular pot.

“‘Cause you have the hots for him?”

Kyon turned around to face Toharu. He pinned down the shorter Saiyan with a murderous stare.

“And you were also worried that he would oversleep and be punished again.” Toharu added innocently.

Kyon snorted and turned his head, watching Goten lean over a large pot which contained all of yesterday’s leftovers. He was already stuffing his face. Silently, Kyon and Toharu watched him gobble down cutlets and garnish. He did not even discard the watery salad in the bowl next to the pot, scooping spoonfuls of it into his mouth.

There was no point in trying to stop Goten. There was never any point in trying to stop a famished Saiyan from eating after a serious injury. It was instinctive. Any attempts would probably result in Goten protesting wildly and, keeping in mind his strength, Kyon and Toharu presumed that all they would get for their trouble would be sore bodies and a messed up kitchen. So they didn’t try. Goten was going to stop eating only after he was full or the leftovers were finished.

“So you didn’t tell him,” Toharu stated, staring at Goten’s forehead, grinning.

Kyon looked a little bit uncomfortable. “Well,” he drawled, “I do feel a little bit…like he deserved it.”

Toharu nodded his head quickly. “Oh yes, he deserved it for sure!”

“What the heck is he doing?” the ringleader asked. “He will be sick later.”

Toharu turned to look at the elite female who had approached them. “I told you that he’s been seriously injured.”

The ringleader sighed. “It seems I’ve missed out on a few things here.” For a few moments, she stared at Goten’s forehead. She crossed her arms. With her chin she motioned at Goten. “Is this your work?”

“Oh yeah,” Toharu confirmed.

The elite scratched her head. “You can’t be serious.”

“It’s the truth, I swear to god,” Toharu vowed.

“You don’t believe in any gods,” Kyon pointed out.

Toharu shrugged. “The most important thing is that they believe in me.”

The ringleader waved them off. She walked over to Goten and did the inconceivable – pulled the pot, already nearly empty, from under his face. “That’s enough for you.”

To protest the magical disappearance of his pot, Goten waved his dirty spoon in the air. Toharu and Kyon moved a few meters away from them. Goten gave the female an unfriendly look, then tentatively reached his arm out and tried to pull the pot back towards himself. The ringleader seemed to consider banging the pot into his face, but then just smacked at his hand. Pouting, Goten retracted it. He drummed with the spoon on the table, then let go of it.

“Oh great!” Kyon groaned when Goten blinked drowsily at the surface of the table. “Now he’s just going to fall asleep!”

“And what else did you expect?” the ringleader snorted, putting the pot on one of the tables farther away from Goten. “Why the heck did they let him out of the med bay? He is in no condition to function anyway.”

“I heard he was made to go to the shaii’s,” Kyon said.

The ringleader winced sympathetically. “Uh-oh.”

Toharu snickered. “Don’t worry. It can’t have been all that bad. You should have seen how the shaii was fussing when Goten got hurt. Just tore into the training hall and all that.”

“Yeah, the scouters Goten fucked up were really expensive,” Kyon said-matter-of-factly. “The floor was also burnt. Not to mention the bruised savars.”

“Aww…man, you just don’t want to admit it,” Toharu groaned.

“Listen, Toharu,” Kyon’s voice took on a serious note, “jokes are fine, but this has gone too far. If someone interested hears this, you’ll be accused of slander; he’s a prince, for fuck’s sake! Now, that’s fine with me, you should be accused. But it’s Goten you’re talking about. I don’t want him to get into trouble because of your stupid tongue.”

“My, my,” Toharu snorted, “aren’t we protective?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, we are. Now shut it and go peel the carrots.”

“Aye, aye captain!” Toharu saluted him, leering.

“If I didn’t know that you could beat me into a pulp any time, I’d sooo kick your ass,” Kyon threatened him.

Toharu flashed him a grin and went off to peel carrots. Kyon turned to look at the table Goten had been sitting at a minute ago. It was empty. Instead, the ringleader was pulling Goten underneath it. Goten appeared to be soundly asleep.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She raised her head a fraction. “He’s of no use anyway. I’ll just move him so he does not get in the way.”

“Under the table?”

The elite gave Kyon an annoyed look for questioning her. “Yeah. And why not?”

“Umm…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Toharu, who suddenly appeared from behind Kyon, nodded.

“I thought I told you to peel the damn carrots!”

The shorter Saiyan raised the peeler and carrot he had into the air. “I am!”

Kyon rolled his eyes. Then his attention returned to the ringleader, who now was trying to push Goten’s arms under the table.

“Do you think she’s fallen for him?” Kyon asked softly.

Toharu sniggered. “Totally. Just don’t tell her that. I’m sure she will have fun figuring it out on her own.”

“But how can she…? She’s an elite!”

“And does that make you feel better?”

“No,” Kyon said dejectedly.

“Listen, you gotta grow a backbone and make your move fast, or…” Toharu waved his hands about, suddenly getting serious. “I don’t wanna even think about “or”. Now, when there’s the prince in the picture…”

“Oh gods!” Kyon groaned. “You gonna yap about that again?”

“Arrgh!” Toharu growled, throwing his arms up into the air. “Why the hell is nobody listening to me?!”

“Sweetheart,” Ario said, taking a hold of the scruff of Toharu’s uniform, “it’s because you’re talking shit all the time.” Ario tugged him towards the tables where the bowls filled with vegetables sat. “Now get down to peeling those carrots!”

ooOoOoOoo

Behind Goten, the door slid shut with a soft click and he found himself outside. There was not a sign that the sandstorm had ever taken place. The sky was clear, the sun high above as it was supposed to be, the air without a speck of dust. He inhaled a lungful and headed towards a small wooded area he could see up ahead. The shiny grass he trod on felt smooth under his boots, soft. It didn’t seem like the sandstorm had caused any long lasting effects.

Goten reached the woods a short while later. Once surrounded by the trees, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that all of this looked somehow familiar. He had a feeling he had been here before.

The sound of something chattering reached his ears and he started making his ways towards it. The trees were getting denser and taller as he moved more deeply into the woods.

Even though it was smaller, it was the same woods he had been in during that silly Capture the Flag game. Now he could remember it clearly. It was exactly the same clearing they had built their tents in. Goten stopped in the middle of the clearing and looked around. Nothing had changed since the last time he saw it, though the burbling sound had become much louder now. He could see streamlets rising from under the moss, widening, running farther ahead. Goten moved towards the bushes where Kyon had shot the moose.

As he made his way through the bushes, he inhaled sharply in surprise. Here was another sparsely treed clearing, but it only went on forwards about ten meters, then ended abruptly at a sharp angle. It was just like…like the end of the world. There was nothing in front of him. When he turned his head right and left, he could see trees and grass and the ground. The water that was flowing out of the forest and running all through the ground was falling into the abyss as well. When he looked forward, the world did not exist beyond those ten meters. It was as if someone had cleaved a piece of the ground clean off with an inconceivably huge sword. There was nothing there except the blue sky.

Goten could not see where the water fell, but the spray was spattering upwards as if hitting something. What was there to offer resistance? There was nothing beyond those ten meters. There shouldn’t be anything.

Curious, Goten moved towards the edge. The water flowed out of the woods and washed over his boots, but the current wasn’t strong and thus there was no danger in it carrying him away. It didn’t feel cold or wet either. It was rather refreshing to feel it swirling around his boots.

Goten stepped forward, then his eyes caught some movement in the woods to his left. He turned his head sharply. He was not very surprised to see Gohan leaning against a nearby tree. His brother gave him an amused smile and motioned for him to come closer.

“You are interested to see what is below, aren’t you?”

Goten nodded.

“Go on, then. Look.”

He approached the edge carefully and took a look. A large pond hung just over the edge, filled with swirling and rushing water. It was simply suspended in the air and it accommodated all the water that was plummeting over the edge. The falling water caused misting all around. Otherwise, there was nothing in the abyss as far as his eyes could see. Only blue sky.

“Well, what do you think?”

“It’s…beautiful. A little bit scary and unusual, but beautiful.”

Goten raised his head to look around. He had never seen anything like this, never so much water. This was a miracle on its own. Such splendor, the view would take anyone’s breath away. It was like a dreamland.

Goten faltered. It WAS a dreamland, he suddenly realized. He was dreaming.

“Oh.”

Gohan’s eyes rose, from watching the pool below, to look at him questioningly. “Hmm?”

“I just realized that this is a dream.”

“Hmm… Well, yes, you could say that.”

“Are you alive? I mean, I never saw your face.”

Gohan chuckled. “And what do you think?”

“I think you may be.”

Gohan smiled, his eyes returning to watch the swirling pool. “Then I probably am, aren’t I?”

Silently, Goten gazed at the pool. “What kind of place is this?”

Gohan shrugged. “And what kind of place do you think this is?”

Goten frowned at the pool. Then he looked more closely at it. In the middle of the pool, some shapes were becoming visible. In a few seconds he could even discern that they were spaceships. He pointed his finger at the pool. “What are those?”

“This is what awaits you.”

Intrigued, Goten continued watching the ships. Those were warships. As far as he could tell in the shimmering water, they were similar to Ice-jin warships. The pool was overflowing with them.

“Will I ever fly in one of those?” Goten wondered. “I think piloting one is out of the question…”

“Hmm… Yes, you could say so.”

There was a sudden ripple in the pool and the picture changed. Goten leaned in closer to get a better look.

Then, suddenly, he was falling.

With a shock, Goten realized that he had been pushed off the edge. He had felt the exact moment Gohan’s hand touched him. He could still feel its presence on his back. Gohan had pushed him. Had pushed him off the damn edge!

Goten plunged into the pool, water sloshing around him in waves. Holding his breath, he opened his eyes and flailed his arms about. He didn’t know how to swim. There was nothing he could grab onto, there was only the water swirling all around him. For a moment, Goten panicked, but his body never stopped falling. He sank deeper, cutting through the water. Suddenly he tore out of the other side of the pool; he was underneath it. He was still falling. Down into the blue sky. Now there was nothing around him, only this.

No, there was something beneath him. Something orange. He was closing in fast on that orange mass and, to his surprise, he realized that it was a mountain of carrots. They were scattered everywhere. Huge piles of them. For some reason, this made Goten giggle.

He fell into the carrots just as he had fallen into the water. He felt a light impact but then he simply slipped through the pile and the carrots were everywhere, an endless amount of phallic orange objects flowing past him. He fell and fell and...
ooOoOoOoo

Screaming, Goten smashed his head into the bottom of the table. The cooks in the kitchen turned to look at him. Goten, absolutely disarrayed, tried to sit up again, only to bump his face into the table's metallic underside for the second time. He seemed close to panicking.

“Fuck! What the hell is this?!” Goten growled out desperately, ceasing his squirming. He was staring perplexedly at the metallic board in front of him. He heard a bout of laughter and turned his head towards the sound. He could see the legs of some kind of furniture, some pots, some…

The kitchen.

Goten turned his head to the side even further and saw the familiar faces of the cooks. Again, he turned to stare at the metallic board in front of his face. He realized he was under a table. He exhaled in relief. Thank god it had only been a dream.

“How the hell did I get under here?” he wondered, rolling out from under the table. Ignoring the giggles, he started dusting his pants off.

“Almanda thought you needed some rest,” one cook explained.

“Who’s Almanda?” Goten asked, surprised by the astonished looks the cooks now were giving him.

“No, seriously? You don’t even know her name? You’ve been hanging around her for two months and you don’t even know her name?”

Goten scratched his bald head. He blinked slowly. “Err… Don’t tell me…?” The cooks’ face told him everything and he giggled stupidly. “Almanda… Well, alright.” He looked around. It was still dark outside the windows, the sandstorm still raging. His gaze returned into the kitchen. The stoves were switched off, food was gone from the table. Alert, he turned to the idling cooks again. “Where is everybody?”

“They went to the lectures. It’s nearly ten o’clock.”

“What?!” Goten shot to the door. “Why the hell did they just leave me here?!”

“Well, they tried to wake you up. You weren’t very cooperative, I must say.”

“I was supposed to be at the shaii’s office three hours ago!”

Goten heard the cooks burst out laughing as soon as he shot through the door. He did not find this amusing in the least. The prince was going to skin him alive.

ooOoOoOoo

“Sir.”

“You are late,” the shaii stated with a good measured glare. Then he seemed to squint at Goten a little. He cocked his head to the right. “Interesting.”

“I’m very sorry, sir,” Goten apologized, fidgeting a little. He found the look on the shaii’s face, halfway between angry and amused, was mostly disturbing. He was not so sure what to do with his hands, which suddenly had become an annoying hindrance. They were also becoming damp and sticky and he wiped them off on his trousers. He was hungry again. And a bit nauseated at the same time. The memory of Toharu’s near-decapitated body was still replaying in his mind. He could clearly recall the loud crunching sound when his fall had abruptly ended on top the older Saiyan’s body. The sound of breaking ribs and the warm passive body underneath him and... He could still feel the stickiness of blood on his hands. And a lot of cock-shaped carrots all around him. What the hell was wrong with those carrots? What a freaking nightmare!

“Are you alright? You seem kind of…pale?”

Goten wasn’t sure what to answer. “Err…sir, could we get down to business?”

Lavender eyebrows rose a little. “Yes, Goten, as a matter of fact, we could. Could have gotten down to it three hours ago.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

The prince sighed. He pushed the same reports of the accident he had yesterday over his desk for Goten to take, then motioned for him to take a seat. “Just read them.”

Goten took the reports in his hands and sat down in the chair opposite the shaii’s desk. He shifted around for a few seconds until he settled in comfortably. He opened the folder and started reading the first page.

The shaii lowered his head and tried to concentrate back on his work. He found the place he had stopped at and continued reading. About ten seconds later, he raised his eyes to look at Goten’s forehead again. Huffing silently, he averted his eyes back to the document on his desk. He continued reading it for two minutes, then the sound of Goten rifling through the pages of the reports made him resurface once more. He looked at Goten again. Against his will, he sniggered.

“No, I can’t work like this,” he said, tossing the document back onto his desk. “Too distracting.”

Goten gave him a confused look. “Sir?”

“Have you been walking around like this all morning?”

“Like what, sir?”

The shaii tapped his fingers against his own forehead. “Have you seen yourself in the mirror?” he asked Goten. “Never mind, that's a stupid question. Of course you haven’t.”

Goten touched his forehead tentatively. “Mmm? Is there something wrong, sir?”

The shaii shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t know if it’s wrong, but you should go look at yourself in the mirror. Just open that wardrobe over there,” he motioned at the back of his office. “There’s a small mirror on the other side of the door.”

Alarmed, Goten left the reports and went to the wardrobe. Goten opened the door to find that there was indeed a small, square mirror fastened to the other side of it. He caught sight of a few pairs of good quality military boots, a few uniforms and shirts. There were also two pairs of differently colored jeans and an already familiar black denim jacket. A pile of clean socks was resting in one of the corners of the wardrobe. In another corner, there was a plastic bag which, as Goten guessed, was filled with dirty socks.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Goten raised his head to look at his face in the mirror. He let out a shrill yelp and jerked back from the mirror. Going beet red in an instant, he rubbed at the black lettering on his head. His mouth let out a string of something the shaii was hardly able to catch.

“FuckingToharuI'mgonnakillhimthatdamnidiotasshole!”

Interested in Goten’s energetic reaction, the prince watched him from behind his desk. Goten spat on his palm and rubbed again. Nonetheless, when he removed his hand, the “I’M A VIRGIN” written across his forehead was still clearly visible from as far away as the prince’s desk. Goten cast a quick glance around the office for anything, a piece of cloth, a bottle of some washing liquid...

“GoddamnidiotwheredoeshethinkheisinadamnkindergartenorsomethingI'mreallygonnakillhim!”

“I think it’s a CD marker or something like that,” the prince gave his opinion.

“Seems like it!” Goten growled out, rubbing at his head vigorously. He took another look at himself in the mirror and groaned.

“I think it’s his way of punishing you for making everyone worry,” the prince drawled, not even trying to hide the amusement in his voice. The prank was nothing special, childish, but he found he liked Goten’s reaction. Goten was still blushing, even his ears were bright with color. Even if was hard to believe, it was so obvious now that he didn’t even need those letters on his forehead anymore.

“Is there anything I could wipe this shit off with, sir?”

The prince scowled at the very short distance between “shit” and “sir”. “Not here. Just go downstairs to the janitor's closet. They should have some cleaning stuff.”

“What?! Go there? Like this?!” Goten exclaimed in mortification.

“Goten, you’ve been walking around like this all morning,” the prince said matter-of-factly. “A few more minutes won’t make any difference.”

Goten let out a frustrated whimper.

“But seriously. Haven’t you noticed anything strange going on?” the shaii wondered.

“Of course I have! I thought they were sniggering because I fucked up during ki measuring. I’m gonna kill him. I’m seriously gonna kill that asshole!”

The shaii watched Goten with interest. Goten was still unsuccessfully trying to wipe off the writing. The prince grinned. “You really are, aren’t you?”

“I'm what, sir?”

“Well, a virgin.”

The shaii grinned brightly at Goten’s wide-eyed face.

“Just asking, you know,” the shaii chuckled. “In case I somehow managed to misunderstand your reaction to the prank.”

Goten stared at the prince for a few seconds, then closed the wardrobe door. “Sir, I’m going to the janitor's closet,” he said calmly, even if his face was burning red.

“Yes, it’s a good idea,” the prince nodded, watching Goten march to the door and into the corridor. He could not help laughing once the door closed behind Goten.

Goten returned about half an hour later. His forehead was shining bright red, notifying everyone to the insistent rubbing it had gotten. But there were no letters anymore. With some of his dignity reclaimed, Goten returned to the chair he had been sitting in previously and continued to study the reports.

Besides allowing him to enter and motioning for him to sit with an offhand flick of his hand, the shaii mostly ignored him, busy reading some documents. Goten was glad that the prince didn’t pursue the topic any further. It seemed that the prince’s impudent question had been a means of getting back at him for yesterday. Goten ducked his head, remembering. He should have just pretended he had never been shamelessly staring at the prince’s tail. These things did happen unconsciously. Saiyans liked checking out each other’s tails; it was something instinctual that made them do it. They weren’t supposed to, and mostly pretended not to, but they did. Why even mention it? He must have really been influenced by his lack of sleep.

“Well, anything you want to comment on?” the shaii asked after Goten had put the reports aside, indicating that he had finished reading them.

“Not really, sir. I don’t remember anything that happened after the explosion. All I know is that I was in a lot of pain. Later, I lost consciousness.”

The prince nodded. Goten seemed unsure as to why he had been made to read these reports. The prince sighed. “While you were out of it, two agents from National Security visited us.”

Goten nodded. “Yes, the head physician said something about that, sir. I presume I have caused quite a lot of damage to the training hall, haven’t I?”

The shaii spun the pen between his thumb and index finger. “You really piss me off,” he grunted out after a short pause. “There’s just some burnt spot where it happened and we can also easily replace the scouters, so just quit thinking about money. Nobody’s gonna try and take it from you.”

“Oh. That’s good, sir.”

The prince rolled his eyes at the way Goten relaxed. Even his posture changed, his shoulders more relaxed and his feet stretching out a bit farther. It was as if he had grown in size in a second. It was such an honest reaction that the prince had to bite back a laugh.

“Now listen very carefully, Goten,” the shaii started. “I haven’t been digging around yet, but these are the things that are glaringly obvious. You belong to some kind of project. I don't know what kind of project it is or what its goal is; I’ll have to use a few connections for that. Your brother seems to have been involved as well.” He fell silent to give Goten a few moments to digest the information.

“The agents,” he continued a bit later, “who came to check on you immediately after the explosion, gathered copies of all of our information on you, and after making sure you were going to recover, they left. They also said something about the project not being the cause of your brother’s death. I can neither confirm nor deny this, though. It’s just what I heard.”

The prince watched the third-class and reached the conclusion that he did not look very surprised. It was apparent that Goten had already deduced some of this on his own. Goten wasn’t stupid after all, even if he acted like an idiot sometimes. He waited for the third-class to say something or show some kind of sign that he had understood what he said, but the younger male just kept silent.

“Goten?” the prince finally asked. “Should I continue?”

“Oh gods, there’s more?” Goten groaned, half in jest, half in misery.

The shaii ignored this. “You’ve probably figured out that this should have something to do with your ungodly power, speed, and reaction time. Also, the time you need to recover from wounds is greatly reduced. I’ve had our staff coming to me with requests to check your background because they could not believe that you are a second-class. I wonder what they’d think if I told them that you’re actually a third-class.”

“I think they’d think you’re a liar, sir.”

The shaii inclined his head, acknowledging Goten’s words. “I’m glad you’re aware of the situation.”

“Well, yes, sir. I’m aware. Painfully so. Have been aware of it for quite some time now. But I have no idea what I should do about it.”

The prince shrugged. “Frankly speaking, I don’t think you should do anything at all. I mean, it’s still not clear what kind of project this is. It doesn’t seem that the people involved wish you any harm either.”

“I beg to differ, sir. I nearly BLEW myself UP.”

The shaii chuckled softly. “Actually, I got the impression that they thought that was the result of your own faux pas.”

Goten did not find this funny in the least. “Sir,” he said, “for all I know, the next time I power up, I will start shooting lasers out of my ears! They are messing around with my body! It’s my body! Nobody has the freakin’ right to mess around with it! Next time anyone touches me, I’m taking his head off!”

“Yes, you could do that,” the shaii agreed, starting to realize that Goten was nearing hysterics. “But it is very likely that you are the one presenting most danger to yourself. I’m saying this because, just before you entered this officer school, our taisa got a call ordering him to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed or expelled.”

Seeing that he had shocked Goten speechless, the prince stood up. He walked over to a small cabinet and opened the glass door. He took a carafe from inside. “Now be a good boy and calm down. Here, have a glass of water,” he said, pouring one for Goten. He took it over to Goten and put it on the desk before him. Goten grabbed it and drained in two greedy gulps.

Wanting to give the younger male more space but trying to make him feel like he had someone to rely on, the shaii leaned against his desk, not far from where Goten was sitting. “More water?”

Goten shook his head. Pressing the cool glass to his burning forehead, he tried to regulate his breathing. “What the hell have they done to me?” he spat out a minute later.

The shaii shrugged. “I’m not sure, but there’s a possibility that your father knows something about this.”

Rolling the glass back and forth across his forehead, Goten considered the idea. “Well, yes, of course, he must know something,” he agreed fervently. For some reason, it had never occurred to him to just go and talk to his father. On the other hand, he had never known it was something big like this.

“Do you have any means of contacting him?” the shaii asked.

“No, not really, sir. Besides, most likely he’s on a mission anyway. He always is,” Goten spat bitterly.

Goten was back to using honorifics and the prince decided that the worst of Goten’s shock had already passed. “I see,” he said returning to his seat. “Now, there’s something else.” He scratched his cheek as Goten gave him an incredulous look, as if to ask him 'what more there could be'. “Ermh… Concerning your mother,” the prince continued carefully. “In your profile, she’s listed as “unknown”, but her identification number appears on your brother’s birth certificate. Whoever filled it in knew who she was.” Thinking on how to proceed, the prince hummed softly. “Well, I know she escaped before coming to live with your father. Errr… It’s not my business, really,” he said after noticing a few defensive sparks in Goten’s eyes. “What I’m saying is that she never really escaped.

“Using her identification number, I easily traced her back to the institution she supposedly escaped from and where at first she was listed as missing and then dead. They even had your address in Yasan; they knew where she lived. It doesn’t seem that anyone ever wanted or intended to look for her. They just left her alone after she escaped.”

“They allowed them to escape?” Goten shook his head in disbelief. “But why, sir?”

“Them? Ah, so your father was also involved,” the shaii caught on immediately. “For some reason I thought that they met later.”

Goten closed his mouth. Then he thought that there was no difference whether the prince knew about that or not.

“‘Why’, you ask,” the shaii repeated. “There are quite a few things I can think of, like her also being a part of that “project” or maybe she had made a few friends in the right places and they overlooked her escape. Maybe your father had something to do with that. Who knows?”

Goten rolled this over in his mind a few times. It seemed absurd, but there might be a possibility. No sane person would allow that sort of thing, but maybe, somehow… “And was she really a third-class?”

The shaii gave him an appraising look then shrugged. “As far as the documentation goes, yes, she was. There’s nothing unusual about her. But we both know that there’s a fifty percent chance of the white tip on the tail not showing in mixed blood. With no further information on her, we can’t rule out the possibility that she might have been of mixed blood.”

Goten nodded.

“You don’t seem very surprised.”

“Lately I’ve been thinking about a lot of things, sir. This was one of them. Even though it’s hardly conceivable.”

“I see.” The shaii smiled softly. “And to think that I believed that you were a hopeless idiot…”

Goten sighed. Nonetheless, he could hear something approving in the prince’s voice. He didn’t really understand why. He didn’t even have the strength to react to the teasing. “I’m really a constant source of amusement for you, sir, aren’t I?”

“I think this has become a little bit more serious than that, Goten.”

Goten sighed again.

“What about your father? Could he be of mixed blood?”

“No, sir, it’s impossible. My grandfather was a third-class and my grandmother was a third-class as well. They served the whites all their lives and died serving.”

“The whites?”

Goten blushed lightly. “The elites, sir,” he corrected himself. He glanced at the shaii’s tail. “Well, the white tip and all… Mm…” he trailed off, mumbling.

“Ah, a slang term. Actually, it sounds alright. I’m quite surprised.”

Goten could hardly hide his sudden smile. “No need, sir.”

The prince gave him an inquiring glance, then shrugged. “Well, yes, I suppose there are a lot of other words people have for the elites.”

“Oh yes, sir, but I’d rather bite my tongue off than repeat them.”

The prince rolled his eyes. “Sure you would, sure you would.”

TBC
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