From then on, Kione and Goten were once again inseparable. Not because Goten now knew his look a like sister was as strong as he was, but because he had realized that she would be his best friend and sister forever. And he would be hers. This would never change and the both of them knew it.
Only a year had passed and the twins were growing quickly. They had turned six only a month before and seemed to have had a huge increase on their energy and curiosity levels. It was at this age that ChiChi swore she was going to die of a heart attack every time she heard her children begin another fighting lesson with Gokou or Gohan. She even threatened to split Gokou’s head open with an axe the night Kione was outside looking at the moon. Kione was disappointed she no longer had a tail to wrap around her waist, but figured it was for the best and got over it.
ChiChi also set some strict rules after that. She barely allowed Goten to train, but since he was a boy and not to mention Gokou’s son, she figured it was only natural, and finally gave into letting him do it. However, Kione was a different story. Though she had the potential and the energy, she was still ChiChi’s only daughter and the worried mother wasn’t going to let a thing happen to her little girl.
Kione found this hard to cope with. All she really wanted was to be equal to her brothers and father. But it looked like the all mighty mommy wasn’t going to let it be that way. Being the only girl in a house was hard enough, but being the only weak girl in the house was even worse.
But to make it easier, she would often pretend this was part of her training. Being secluded from the others, abandoned in a far off, hidden forest maybe, forced to train and advance on her own. Lucky for her, Kione had be given a very creative imagination and a mind so clever, that she often found it difficult to knock herself back into reality.
She had come up with a plan while trying to think of another riddle for Goten and knew it would work. If she couldn’t be trained out in the open, she would have to do it secretly and with a person who couldn’t refuse. That person was Goten. He loved trying to solve her riddles, mind games, and things that boggled his own mind and for every one he got wrong, he would have to show her a different move. It was brilliant! This had to work, and fortunately, it did.
“Give up?”
“No….not yet…I know the answer…I think….I just need some more time….” Goten protested.
“Do you know where it’s around?” Kione asked.
“Well, sorta. I know it’s between one and seven.”
“You’re really close.” Kione replied, smiling. She never once made fun of her brother’s intelligence and Goten knew she never would. He was glad she was so smart. Kione would often watch her brother train and then when he asked how she thought he was doing, she’d give him an honest answer, imaging it was her and told him what she would do. Her advice often helped him and he was always able to avoid another punch or kick because of it.
“Argh…I give up…I can’t figure it out. What’s the answer?”
“It’s four.”
“Four! I’m so retarded!”
“No you’re not. I have to admit I gave you a hard one and it sort of wasn’t really fair. You don’t have to teach me anything this time if you don’t want to.”
“Nope, a deal’s a deal, let’s go to the woods where Kaasan can’t see or hear us. She’d be really mad if she knew I was doing this.”
“I know,” she pouted, “ I just wish she’d give me a chance.”
“Don’t worry about it Kino, she will, someday.” Goten replied, levitating himself off the ground. Goten was the only person who called her Kino. When they were first learning to talk, he couldn’t pronounce Kione’s name right. So instead of Kione, out came Kino. The name just stuck between the two and for as long as she could remember her brother had called her that. Kione also had pronounced Goten’s name wrong, but he didn’t really want to be called Goater out in the open. She understood perfectly and only used that name when she wanted to blackmail or torture him.
“I guess you’re right.” Kione responded, mimicking her brother.
“Race ya?”
“Of course.” She answered, not needing him to ask her that question any more and immediately the two took off at full speed, laughing and shooting small blasts at each other every now and then. It was only natural that their secret training wouldn’t remain a secret for long. Luckily, the one who found out about it was their father. Gokou had seen them in the yard and overheard the conversation as he was walking with Gohan. They had smiled at one another while watching the youngest of the family fly off and train, in hopes of becoming just like their idols, their father and older brother.
“It’s amazing what she’ll do just to get a chance to learn something.” Gohan pointed out.
“I know,” Gokou started, “I just wish ChiChi really would give her a chance. I feel terrible not being able to show her the things I’ve taught you and Goten.” He finished, folding his arms across his chest and tilted his head to the side in disappointment.
“She won’t be totally lost though.”
“No, not with Goten.”
“…and me.”
“And you?”
“Yeah….I’ve…well, I’ve also showed her a few things whenever I saw her watching you teach Goten secretly.”
“She must watch every time, doesn’t she?” Gokou asked. Gohan nodded. “Hm, I thought she only watched every now and then….wonder why I never sensed her?”
“Well, she is pretty smart for her age ya know. She probably taught herself to hide whatever energy she’s got in her.” Gohan added.
“I bet you’re right.” His father answered and then smiled, looking back in the direction the twins had flown.
The clearing was just ahead and the both of them would be landing soon. Kione, who was having too much fun flying, was taken by surprise when out of no where Goten sprang at her, throwing attacks at every angle. She was struck down, holding in any noise she had wanted to make from the pain, and let herself come to a halt, inches before hitting the ground.
“Number one rule: always pay attention and be aware of your surroundings!” Goten shouted down to her, smiling. He closed his eyes and smiled brighter, but when he opened them, she was gone. “Huh? Where’d she go?” He mumbled to himself, looking down where she had been with a raised eyebrow.
“Hah!” came a ferocious voice as Goten flew towards the clearing, landing unsteadily and rubbing the side of his face.
“Second rule: never lose focus, even blinking can lead to your downfall!” Kione shouted back, the way her brother had done, and grinned as she lowered herself onto the grass. Goten laughed as she got closer and nodded in approval. She smiled in return; knowing what she had done was a good thing.
“That was great, I never saw it coming.” Goten commented.
“See, I do pay attention.” Kione replied. Her brother laughed again.
“That’s good to know, now, we’re you paying attention when I did….this!” He yelled, flipping backwards, bouncing off a tree, and disappeared just as soon as he was about to crash into her face. She gasped and put her hands up to block, but stopped as soon as the Goten rushing towards her was just a mirage.
“For you’re information, Goten,” She started, looking around frantically trying to find him and sound as convincing as possible at the same time, “I did!” she finished. I’ve seen this a million times….why is it so hard to follow him now? I could always do it before! she screamed at herself silently. I’m forgetting…don’t panic….it only makes things worse. she said, trying to reassure herself.
Spotting Goten’s body quickly came as soon as she calmed down. His leg flew at her face, but she avoided it well by arching her back, forming a crescent moon shape. In return she grabbed his ankle and swung him around, heading straight towards a tree. Goten stuck his feet out and ran up the trunk, flipping backwards off of it after a few steps and landed beside his sister. The two turned and smiled at one another then resumed the game and after about an hour, grew too hungry to continue.
“I….am starving.” Kione groaned, rolling onto her back and sprawled her arms out onto the grass, listening to her stomach growl viciously.
“Ugghh….maybe it wasn’t such a good idea not to eat breakfast….” Goten moaned, looking like death was about to snatch his little body up.
“We need to go home and eat something or we’ll die of starvation.”
“You can’t go home looking like that.”
“What’s wrong with the way I look?! If you’re calling me ugly….then you’re insulting yourself!”
“No! I mean the way you’re dressed! You’re clothes are totally shredded….”
“Ooooh. Well you should have said that the first time!” Kione scolded, shaking her head. Goten sighed and slapped his forehead. His sister was smart, but at times she could be just as lost as the average Son family member. “So….what should we do, oh mighty guru?” Goten shot his sister a dirty look. She smiled back and waited for an answer.
“That’s easy, we go to Trunks’ house instead. He’s got food there.”
“Oh, ok……TRUNKS’ house!?”
“Gah!” Goten shouted, his eyes almost popping out of his head. “What the heck did you scream so loud for?”
“Uuh…”
“What’s wrong with Trunks?”
“Nothing.” Kione said quickly. Goten gave her a strange look and then shook his head.
“Ookay, so let’s go then.”
“Fine.” She answered and the both of them took off in the direction of the house. When they arrived, Vejita was walking towards the gravity chamber but stopped to look at who was flying to the door. The sight of the two children made him lift an eyebrow. Both their clothes were torn, they were filthy, and each had small cuts with trickles of blood seeping through on their arms and legs.
“Ugh, Kakarott’s idiot children…” He grumbled as he looked them over. He looked to the girls’ waist, remembering she had been born with a tail. Surprisingly, it was gone. He figured she had looked at the moon once and had it permanently removed, preventing any further damage it could cause. Still, seeing her in the same state as her brother was almost shocking. He never thought of her as being a fighter, but since she did have Saiyan blood, it had to be only natural to want to learn.
“Hey Vejita! What’s up?” Kione shouted over to him as the two landed on the grass. He had learned that if he didn’t answer the first time, the two would ask him over and over until he did. It was so annoying that he always answered the first time one of them asked. The last time they had spent an hour asking him what was up continuously.
“Nothing of your importance.” He answered.
“Um…ok.” She replied, happy she got an answer out of him.
“What are you two doing here?”
“We’re looking for Trunks, is he in the house?” Goten asked.
“Yes, go ahead in if you want. By the way…what the hell happened to you two?”
“Oh, we were sparring in the woods.” Kione answered. Vejita simply let out a breath of air, nodded his head, and then kept on walking. The twins shrugged and then walked into the house, as Vejita had said it was alright to do so.
“Hello? Anyone home?” Goten called out, “Vejita said it was ok for us to come in…..if anyone’s there?”
“No problem Goten, Trunks is upstairs!” Bulma shouted back and walked into the living room. When her eyes feel upon them she gasped loudly and dropped her wrench. The crash was heard upstairs and Trunks came flying down, stopping when he saw Kione and Goten.
“What happened to you two!?” Bulma yelled.
“Nothing.” They both answered casually.
“Nothing! Look at you! You’re clothes are shredded! You’re filthy! And you’re bleeding!” She screamed, acting as if they were on the floor dead.
“Oh, we’re absolutely fine.” Goten answered in his usual happy tone.
“How are you fine!?”
“Cause we were playing in the woods, nothing serious.” Kione added. Bulma blinked. Trunks walked over to the three and stared at his mother. The twins just stood there.
“Playing in the woods….does your mother know about this, Kione?”
“Um…well….I just wanted…she doesn’t like…ugh.” Kione mumbled.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her, let’s just get you two cleaned up.”
“And….um…possibly fed? We’re starving…” Goten added, looking up at Bulma with pleading eyes. Kione nodded in agreement and Bulma smiled.
“Of course, let’s go into the kitchen. Come on Trunks.”
“Coming Kaasan.” Trunks answered and followed the group into the kitchen. The twins climbed up on the counter and sat patiently, waiting for Bulma to get out the antibacterial stuff their own mother used on them regularly.
“Are you in any pain?”
“Nope.” They answered.
“Hm, what are we going to do about your clothes?” Bulma asked herself, dabbing Kione and Goten’s cuts.
“Goten could borrow something of mine Kaasan, I’m sure ChiChi wouldn’t notice or think something’s up” Trunks offered.
“Good idea, but what about Kione?”
“Uh…” he started, looking Kione over.
“Hey!”
“What?”
“Don’t look at me like that…” Kione ordered, “…..it’s creepy.”
“Sorry.” Trunks replied. It would be a little difficult finding Kione clothes to wear without ChiChi noticing. Trunks definitely had nothing that matched what she had on at the moment. Two years ago, Kione mainly wore whatever her brothers wore or dressed up like her father to fit in, even wristbands went on to complete the outfit. Unfortunately, this drove ChiChi insane. Because she had wanted her little girl to dress like one, Kione had to get a new look, which meant not being able to borrow some of Trunks’ clothing and get away with it.
To obey her mother’s wishes, she had modeled what she wanted to wear after Juuhachigou’s style since it wasn’t actually a dress, but just feminine enough it didn’t bother her. The outfit was just about a complete replica, except minus the stripes on the shirts sleeves, the belt, and the jacket and skirt were red. ChiChi also made sure the vests arm holes weren’t all tattered, but were sown neatly. This of course made her happier, and the twins knew life at home would be much happier if their mother wasn’t mad at them. Juu was very flattered Kione had wanted to model her clothing after her own style. She was happy to help design it.
After Bulma had finished cleaning the two up and Goten had put on some of Trunks’ clothes, the last thing they had to do was find Kione something to wear. But the two pleaded to be fed before doing that.
“Ah, FOOD!” Goten cheered and stuffed his face with handfuls of everything that was put out on the table. Kione too stuffed her face like there was no tomorrow, but managed to do it in a clean way. Meaning food wasn’t scattered all over the place and her face didn’t look like a bomb of every edible product had exploded all over herself. She had inherited the way to eat like her father, but had also inherited ChiChi’s skills on being neat. And so, put them together and you’ve got Kione eating when she’s starving. Fifteen minutes later, the two had finished everything on the table and were looking quite satisfied.
“Thank you so much Bulma!” Kione said, “we would have started to death if you hadn’t have given us food.”
“You’re welcome guys, glad to see you enjoyed it.”
“Very much.” Goten added, licking his fingers clean.
“Now um…about your clothes…” Bulma started.
“Oh yeah, hehe.” Kione replied.
“Well, it looks like your skirt and jacket are the only things that aren’t totally shredded…”
“No way…I’m not wearing these things alone.”
“Kay, I think you’re gonna have to. If you want to get in the house without your mother asking questions, you’re going to have to wear your skirt and jacket without the pants and shirt underneath.”
“But…”
“No buts. And besides, ChiChi would love to see you wearing a skirt without those pants anyway.”
“Ugh…what a nightmare.” Kione groaned, slamming her head on the kitchen table softly. The boys laughed silently, knowing how much of a punishment for Kione this was going to be. Of course she heard them and gave them both death glares. They immediately stopped and held in their giggles.
“Where should I go…..to change?”
“Over into the bathroom down the hall.”
“Alright…” She sighed and walked over to it slowly. A few minutes later the boys were standing by the door, arms folded, and feet tapping impatiently.
“What’d ya do, die in there?” Trunks asked.
“No…but I could have that arranged for YOU!” Kione shouted back, tugging her skirt down and then reached for the doorknob. “Ya know…I don’t think this is what my mom meant when she said she wanted to see me in something besides pants…” She added, looking at herself one more time.
“It’s ok, as long as it doesn’t involve pants I’m sure she’ll be happy.” Bulma reassured her. Kione groaned, but opened the door and stepped out, looking extremely unhappy. Bulma blinked and tilted her head, seeing Kione was absolutely right.
“I look like a little slut!”
“What! Where’d you hear that?!” Bulma screamed, her face pale.
“Uh….”
“Nevermind…..just don’t say it again.”
"Alright."
"Lookin sharp!" Trunks exclaimed.
“Can it.” Kione snapped back.
“Trunks, be nice. How would you like it if we put you in a dress?” Bulma scolded. Goten started laughing and Kione smirked.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’d look great in a nice bright..pink..frilly dress.” Kione added. Goten continued laughing but quieted after Trunks glared at him.
“Ok ok…sorry Kione.”
“Better be.” She replied, pulling her skirt down again. They thanked Bulma again for her hospitality and decided that they better get back and let their mother know they were alright. Bulma understood perfectly and walked them to the door. The twins waved good bye and took off, with Trunks following. Though, Kione flew behind them, knowing the dangers of wearing a skirt and being sideways. The boys laughed at her as she moved to the back. Kione rolled her eyes and told them to shut up or she’d incinerate their pants and their little boxers if they laughed one more time. This of course worked; the boys didn’t want to fly around half-naked. Kione smiled in triumph and the three continued towards home.
Back at the twins’ house, ChiChi was growing awfully worried since her two hadn’t returned home yet.
“Where could they be?” She asked herself and then screamed, “Gokou!!”
“Gaah!” Gokou screamed, jumping a mile high and landing on the floor with a thud, “Yes, ChiChi?”
“Gokou, stop fooling around and come here!”
“Coming.” He replied and walked into the kitchen.
“Our children are missing.”
“Missing?”
“Yes missing! They’ve been gone for two hours! They didn’t even come home for lunch!”
“I’m sure their fine, ChiChi, they are…”
“I don’t care!” she interrupted, knowing exactly what her husband was going to say. “so what if they’re half SAIYAN, they’re still my babies!”
“I know…but…”
“No buts! My precious little children are out there alone….what if they’re lost or hurt and need me? And when I find out they’re dead I’m going to blame YOU because you told me ‘oh, they’re half Saiyan, who cares…they’ll be fine.’!” She finished. Gokou’s eyes were as wide as the kitchen sink and his hair was blown back from the wind ChiChi had produced with her extremely loud yelling.
Gohan was upstairs listening to ever word, remembering exactly what it felt like to be his brother and sister’s age. He laughed silently and continued listening, waiting for his fathers reply.
“Ok, if it makes you happy, I’ll go out and look for them?”
“Darn right you will!” ChiChi ordered. The front door slamming caught her and Gokou’s attention and they both walked towards the living room. The sound of pounding feet running up the stairs made them walk faster and when they reached the beginning of the steps, the sound of two doors slamming made them look at each other. By then, Kione and Goten no longer had to share a room.
ChiChi and Gokou walked up the stairs and over to their children’s doors. Before either had a chance to knock, the doors opened and out popped the heads of Goten, Kione, and Trunks. The twins had been afraid of being seen in the clothing they had on and changed quickly, putting on their normal outfits. Kione discarded her dirty skirt and jacket by setting them on fire and tossing the ashes out the window. Then, put on her regular outfit and quickly put her hair back into a ponytail. Goten too had changed to his normal clothing and all seemed fine.
“Where have you two been and why did you run up here so fast?!” ChiChi demanded.
“Uhh.” Goten and Kione stuttered.
“Well?”
“We were…..playing tag in the woods and Trunks was it….” Kione started, then looked to Goten for assistance.
“And as we were running around, we wandered back over to here and then ran inside, still playing tag of course, and ran up the stairs…”
“Yeah. And then we decided to end the game of tag and started a race….to see who could reach their room’s and shut the door first….”
“It was a tie.” Goten finished.
“Yup.” Trunks added and all three smiled up at Gokou and ChiChi innocently. ChiChi raised an eyebrow and continued staring. The three gulped nervously; worried she wasn’t going to buy it. But ChiChi straightened her head and looked at them. It was no longer turned to the side and the look of suspicion left her face.
“Well, you still could have come home for a little while to let me know you were alright. It’s not good to keep your mother worried like this.”
“We know Kaasan, we’re sorry.” They apologized. ChiChi nodded and walked down the stairs, back to the kitchen.
“You two are going to have to be a lot more careful if you’re going to continue this secret training of yours.” Gokou whispered. Kione’s eyes widened as she looked up at her father. He didn’t seem mad about it, but how did he know?
“We will Tousan.” Goten said, putting a hand on Kione’s shoulder, assuring her it was ok. She relaxed and nodded.
“Promise.” She added.
“Good, we wouldn’t want your mother finding out about it now would we?”
“No, she’d kill me.” Kione replied.
“You? She’d kill me….in a very brutal….brutal way.”
“Not to worry Tousan, me and Goten will make sure she never finds out.” She told him. Gokou smiled and patted her head.
“Go on outside and play, I’m not holding you back.”
“Thanks Tousan!”
“Thanks Gokou!” All three shouted at the same time and dashed outside. Gokou chuckled to himself and then walked back downstairs as well. The three had gathered around Gohan’s bedroom window and were tossing tiny pebbles at it, trying to get him to come to the window.
“Hey hey, what’s the deal?” He asked, opening the window, “ow!”
“Oops, sorry Gohan!” Trunks shouted.
“No problem. But, what are you guys doing? Trying to break my window?”
“No! Come out here and play with us!” They shouted. Even though Gohan was older, he always played with them when asked. He loved forgetting his own age and acting theirs, not having to worry about schoolwork and his real life.
“Sure! Just a sec!” He called back, putting some things away and jumping out the window, joining in the game. This went on all the time, practically every day and gradually, those days turned into weeks, which gave way to months, and soon, those months became years.
