Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 38 - Battle of the Sexes

Goten was helping Reena and Ceres move into one of the guestrooms on the second floor of Capsule Corp., right next to the room Natalie stayed in. Sirius, on the other hand, was on his own, as he preferred to be.

"Who cut your hair Goten?" Reena asked, looking at him crookedly.

"Well...I did." Goten replied. "Why, does it look bad or something?"

Reena giggled. "No. I just think it's cute the way your hair falls down over your eyes when you move your head a certain way."

Goten blushed and produced a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Uh...thanks." He said. Reena nodded.

"Carina told me that we would have to go shopping as soon as we came here." Reena commented, looking at the empty closet and then down at her own clothes, which were borrowed from Natalie.

"You mean Nat?" Goten asked.

"Natalie...yes sorry." Reena corrected herself. "It's an adjustment."

"Yeah I guess she doesn't like her old name." Goten said. "Or...something."

"I wonder if I should change my name." Reena wondered aloud, looking up at the ceiling.

"No." Goten answered, almost too quickly. "That is...well I like your name. Reena."

Reena looked at him. "Really?" she asked. Goten nodded in reply and Reena smiled cutely as she cocked her head to the side slightly.

"In that case I guess it stays." She said. Ceres, who had been rearranging things around the room, looked over at the pair. Her face was emotionless as she stared at them.

"Ceres is something wrong?" Goten asked, looking past Reena and at the blonde-haired girl. Ceres blinked and looked up at him.

"Nani? Oh...no. Gomen." She apologized. "My mind just...left or something."

"Oh, well if you need help don't worry about asking, ok?" Goten offered. Ceres nodded emptily and turned back to what she was doing. Goten and Reena exchanged glances and then continued as well.

Sirius was sitting in another guestroom, which was on the first floor, deep in thought. He could hear the muffled voices of Goten and Reena above him, seeing as the room was directly overhead. The end of his tail was twitching, not to his knowledge, as he stared out the window. Where was he going to go? Living here forever didn't seem like the best plan. But there weren't many other options he had to choose from. The only people he knew on this planet were the other guardians and his sister.

Just as he thought this, Natalie popped in.

"Hi Sirius, you ok? Is this room too small?" she asked, taking a few steps into the room and pacing her arms behind her back.

"No, it's fine." He said.

"Because Reena, Ceres and I are going out, and so I was going to ask you to come with us." Natalie continued. "If you want, that is."

"Sorry, I'm going to pass." Sirius said. Natalie nodded and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

"Is he coming?" Reena asked, standing next to the front door. Natalie shook her head no and continued walking out the front and into the front yard of Capsule Corp.

"Nope, he wants to stay here. I don't really blame him, what guy really wants to go shopping with three girls?" Natalie explained.

"Well...I don't know." Ceres said, looking around. "Who has the money?"

"Oh, I do." Natalie said, pointing to her pocket. "We can go crazy. I haven't even been shopping since last year, because I usually wear the same type of thing."

"You'll have to help us, Natalie." Reena said. "Because we aren't familiar with clothing here."

"Don't worry, I'm sure the style can't be too much different."

Three hours later, Goten and Sirius were training in the gravity room, and Trunks was watching them as he handled the controls. Sirius' goal was to go super Saiya-jin. None of them knew exactly what level Sirius was at when it came to fighting, but they guessed it wasn't very much, seeing as his strongpoint was psychic power instead of brute strength. And, if he could build his skills to at least super Saiya-jin level one, combined with his other powers, he would prove to be a formidable warrior.

They continued sparring for a few more minutes when there was a knock on the door of the gravity room. Trunks, who was in the immediate area, shut off the gravity and walked to the door. Goten and Sirius, covered in sweat, walked over to see who it was.

"Hey Trunks!" came a voice as the door opened. Natalie stepped into the room, arms full of shopping bags. Just then, Ceres and Reena stepped in, their arms full as well. "We did really good today."

"That's nice Nat." Trunks said, impressed at the size of their purchases. He couldn't fathom the ability to shop on hours end for clothing, and knew that it was best not to question it.

"You should see some of this stuff. Good thing we took Bulma-san's credit card. I don't think we could have carried that much money in our pockets." Natalie continued. "I was reluctant to spend so much, but Bulma said we didn't have to worry about it since we all needed new clothes. I think you guys should have come, but that's just me."

"Yeah, just you." Goten commented. "I just wear whatever my mom comes home with."

"Hah!" Natalie said, pointing a finger at him accusingly. "What are you going to do when you move out one of these days? Depend on your kaasan for clothes?"

"No..." Goten defended. "I'll just get them myself. It can't be too hard."

"Sure. Sure." Natalie said. "We're going back inside to get this stuff unpacked. If you guys are LUCKY we'll wear some of it around you." And with that, the three girls walked back out of the gravity room and back inside the living quarters of Capsule Corp.

"Uh...huh." Sirius trailed off. "Trunks, this what you live with, is it?"

"Yeah." He replied. "It's not to bad. You'll get used to it, I'm sure."

"Don't worry." Sirius said. "I've lived with her for 14 years. How much different can she be?"

"REENA!" Natalie cried as Reena stood in front of her, wearing one of the outfits she had purchased earlier. "It's great! You had better be careful with this one."

"Why is that?" the purple-haired girl asked.

"You'll have to beat the guys away with a stick, and poor Goten out there might get a tad jealous." Natalie teased. "It's really a good outfit Reena."

"Well...thanks, I guess." Reena said. "Ceres, have to tried yours on yet?"

"Nope." Ceres answered.

"Why not? You have some great stuff too." Natalie said. "Or, do you want to go in the bathroom to change? We don't mind, it's not like we're looking anyway."

"It's not that." Ceres said. "I just don't think I look as good in mine."

"B...but Ceres!" Natalie stammered. "You're the one who has the most going for you up top, if you know what I mean." She gestured to the girls' torso, specifically, her chest. "Don't tell me you don't think your clothes look every bit as good."

"I'm just not sure." Ceres continued. "You two finish trying your stuff on, I'll just sit here."

"No way." Natalie said, walking over and placing her hands on Ceres' shoulders. "Now here's your problem, Ceres. You're so hard on yourself, you can't accept one compliment when it's given. This isn't an insult, it's just friendly advice. I want you to start thinking about all the things you have going for you instead of all the things you have going against you."

Ceres, who was rather shocked, just nodded her head. "If you say so, princess."

"On Earth, Ceres, I am just Natalie. That's all I expect to be called, ok?" she continued. "I think it would be somewhat weird if you called me princess in public, don't you?"

"N-no...but-"

"No but's." Natalie interrupted. "Just Natalie. And if you get mat at me, Natalie Holmes. Or Nat for short. No Carina, no princess, no highness, no majesty, just Natalie."

"Okay, Natalie." Ceres said. "You can take your hands off of my shoulders now."

"Alright." Natalie said, smiling and dropping her hands by her sides. "Now try on those clothes, Ceres, I want to see."

Trunks, Goten, and Sirius were standing outside Natalie's door, listening to the girls converse.

"What do you suppose they're doing in there?" Trunks asked, leaning his ear against the wall.

"Maybe they're doing their nails or something." Goten proposed. "Isn't that what girls do when they're together?"

"No, you idiot." Trunks whispered harshly. "They're styling their hair."

"Actually..." Sirius interjected. "They're probably just trying on clothes."

"What makes you so sure?" Trunks asked, looking at the Saiya-jin hybrid suspiciously.

"Maybe the fact that they came home with about a dozen bags?" Sirius said sarcastically. "Of course, I could be mistaken."

"Very funny." Trunks retorted. "Well whatever they're doing, they take a long time."

"Are you sure we don't have anything better to do?" Sirius asked, looking around. "Something more entertaining than this?"

"What do you mean? This is quality entertainment." Goten commented. "You never know what happens next."

"You never know what happens period. You can't see them, you can hardly hear them, and you don't know what they're thinking." Sirius explained. "I don't see what the big deal is with that."

"Well you can read minds, right?" Trunks asked. "What are they thinking?"

"I can't just read their minds like that." Sirius said. "They have natural...mental blocks, you might call it. So, in other words, I can only read the minds of beings with less evolved minds. No offense."

"We're evolved!" Goten responded. "We're Saiya-jins."

"My point exactly." Sirius said.

"Well if Saiya-jins are so...primitive, how come you're so great, being one yourself?" Trunks asked. "You can't insult the race if you're one of them."

"I wasn't insulting the race. I know I am Saiya-jin but I'm still part Sidra-jin, and hybrids usually have a more advanced edge to them anyway." Sirius said. "I didn't mean to start an argument."

"You guys!!"

All three boys turned around to see a pissed off Natalie stranding in the doorway with Ceres and Reena on either side of her.

"Would you shut up? We can hear you guys arguing from inside the room! What are you guys doing out here anyway, trying to prove who's more manly? After all, isn't that what guys do when they're together?" Natalie spoke, and the walked back into the room, slamming the door behind her.

Trunks, Goten, and Sirius stared at the closed door for a few minutes before shrugging and continuing their conversation.

"Hey they looked good in those clothes." Goten said. "Well, I guess you were right Sirius."

"Of course I was right." He said.

"Hey let's get them to come back out." Trunks said. "Come on."

"Why do you want to do that?" Sirius asked.

Trunks and Goten looked at each other, and then at Sirius.

"Are you sure you're Saiya-jin?" they asked simultaneously. Just then, the girls walked back out. Natalie and Reena had their arms folded, and Ceres had her fists rested on her hips. All three Saiya-jin hybrids took on the look of "what did we do" and stood in alignment with each other.

"I can't believe you guys didn't notice." Natalie said.

"Isn't it obvious?" Reena asked.

"You must be blind." Ceres accused.

The three guys gulped and tried to think of what they were talking about. However, this was to no avail.

"We got our hair cut!" Natalie spat. "We got rid of almost two feet of hair, and you didn't even notice?"

"Well...we weren't paying attention." Sirius said defensively. "We don't look for things like that."

"Oh so what do you look for, Saiya-jin?" she said, pointing her finger accusingly at her brother.

"Whoa, Nat..." Trunks interrupted, stepping between them. "You don't have to get angry. We made a stupid mistake."

"I'll say you did." She retorted, folding her arms. She honestly couldn't believe that they had not even noticed that their haircuts were all shorter. Then again, they were boys, and they were stupid.

"Oh whatever, I don't want to argue over something so pointless." Trunks said, and stepped out from in between the siblings.

"It's not pointless." Natalie said. "It means that you guys don't pay attention to us, and you probably aren't even listening to me right now. You're too busy thinking about cars and money and whatever else you guys think about."

"Nat..." Trunks started, sighing in frustration and dropping his hands to his sides.

"Well it's true! Maybe if you three could at least pretend you care enough, it would make things slightly better, but you can't even do that!" Natalie complained.

"Guys and girls make mistakes!" Trunks argued. "Stop fretting over something so trivial and pointless as a haircut and get over it already, so you can worry about things that actually matter."

"Fine...fine whatever." Natalie said, throwing her arms out to the side and sighing in extreme frustration. She turned and walked back into the room where Ceres and Reena had already departed to. When she shut the door again, two pairs of Sidra-jin blue eyes met her.

"Natalie-sama, are you sure you're okay?" Ceres asked.

"I'm fine. Don't call me sama." She spat, slumping onto the bed. "I'm just so pissed off that those guys, especially Trunks, just seem to be too busy for us girls; they don't even give us the time of day."

"That's not true, you know it." Ceres argued. "Sometimes people forget to notice things like that, or they just don't mention it because they don't see fit. It doesn't mean they pay any less attention to you."

"You make it sound like I want to be the center of attention." Natalie accused. "Well I don't. In fact, I'm tired of being the center of attention. I don't know why I have changed so much since I was younger, but I have, and now I hate the way I am."

"Actually, you're not too much different from when you lived on Vela-sei." Reena pointed out. "So don't make assumptions like that. Stop worrying so much, you and Trunks, you two will be fine. Don't worry about the other boys because me and Ceres can handle them."

"I don't know why I'm so mad either, but I am, and I'm sure there is a legitimate, underlying reason for it." Natalie said. "You two handle them, I'll handle myself, and Trunks can do whatever the hell he likes."

"Well that's exactly what he was doing, which is what you were mad about in the first place." Ceres said. "You should give him some space, don't smother him."

"I don't smother Trunks!" Natalie snapped. "I do give him space! What, am I some kind of annoying pest just because I like to be around him, and because I want him to notice things about me, like the fact that I cut my hair?"

"I didn't say that, but-"

"No but's!" Natalie interjected, folding her arms and glaring angrily at the two girls. "Trunks takes it for granted that I'll always be there when he needs me."

"What are you saying?" Reena asked.

"I'm saying that maybe I should just leave for a while." Natalie answered.

"How long is a while?" The purple-haired girl inquired suspiciously. She knew that Carina, when they were younger, tended to exaggerate and go to extremes to make a point, which is what worried her about this particular situation.

"I don't know." Natalie said. "I just need...to think. That's all."

As Natalie jumped out the window, landed on the ground, and walked in the opposite direction, Ceres and Reena looked at each other.

"Hard to imagine she is the same one who is responsible for our existence." Ceres commented.

"What do you mean by that?" Reena asked.

"You know what I mean. She brought us back to life. After the fight, anyway." Ceres answered. "I don't understand why she is so testy lately. Do you think it's because she's...well, pregnant?"

"No, she's not." Reena stated. "She's not pregnant."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know." Reena said, looking out the window and at the sky. "But I am sure...that she isn't."