Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, or DBGT.

A/N: I dislike that many people seem to think that Goten has to hook up with either Bra or Marron, or that Trunks ends up with Marron or Pan. I decided to change things around in my story and keep you all guessing. -smiles- This is a romance, but nothing too mushy (those of you who know my writing style can vouch to that). I don't mean for their to be too much OOCness, but keep in mind that Goten isn't just Goku's clone, he has a personality all his own. ;)

Setting: There are a few holes in the DBZ-DBGT timeline, making it a little hard for me to get all the character ages correct. First, the Tenkaichi Budoukai is suppose to be held every three years on May 7th, at Papaya Island. However, it is evident that this is not always the case. There were eleven years between the 23rd and 24th Tournaments (because of rebuilding the arena, thanks to Ma Junior -Vs- Son Goku), seven years between the 24th and 25th , and ten years between 25th and 28th. So, doing the math the best I can (with what help the internet has given me) I'm trying to make the ages and times of the story as accurate as possible. But, as we all know, sometimes that's difficult.

Roughly, Goten is 10, Trunks is 11 and Marron is 6.

Chapter 1

26th Tenkaichi Budoukai

Jr. Division Semi Finals

Round 7: Briefs Trunks -Vs- Hoto Ray

Goten leaned against the marble column and watched Trunks enter the ring with a much larger boy than himself. This boy was blonde and at least a head and shoulders taller than the demi-Saiyan. But Trunks obviously wasn't worried, it was apparent this would be a quick fight and he would certainly win, so Goten casually watched the two adolescents bowed to each other.

Goten really hated the Junior division. It was pointless and boring, he couldn't even have a crack at the adults until he was sixteen. He wished the monks would stop making the children fight separately from the adults, it was a stupid rule that shouldn't apply to him and Trunks. If anything, the dynamic duo could very well take on all the adults at once and still win. That is, so long as their parents didn't participate.

The blonde boy started the fight with an attempted hit to the gut, and failed. Trunks side stepped two punches and a kick, then swatted away his opponent's fist from an oncoming chop. The blonde boy turned red with anger and tried much harder to pin at least one punch to Trunks, but it wasn't happening. Soon Trunks yawned and landed one single punch to the blonde boy's chin…the boy never got off the floor.

"And Trunks is the winner!" The announcer shouted over the intercom, after only five short minutes. "Ray has been knocked unconscious, he won't be getting up after a punch like that!"

Goten smiled as Trunks made an irritated face and walked nonchalantly out of the ring, marching directly up to Goten with a scowl planted firmly on his face.

"That was too easy." He said. "This stupid tournament is a waist of time."

"Yeah, but it would be more fun if they'd let us fight the adults." Goten said.

"What?" A boy behind them asked. "You think you could really take on Mr. Satan?"

Goten looked at the boy, who must have been roughly his own age, and shrugged. "Yeah, I know him and he's not that strong."

The boy made a face, then bent forward in a fit of amusement. "You're killin' me, that's too funny!"

The boy walked away still laughing, Trunks and Goten exchanged looks, the younger Saiyan shrugged again.

"Makes me wish dad didn't want me to fight in this so bad." Goten said, flicking imaginary dust off his shoulder. "He said I didn't have to, he just wished I would…he might as well of made me do it. I really don't want to disappoint him."

"Yeah, well, I wish my dad had given me a choice." Trunks griped. "If you fight in the Tournament, I have to too."

There was a sudden outburst of laughter from behind them, back inside the warm-up building. One of the young teenagers had apparently passed around an old shoe of his that, to their amusement, stunk very badly. The other boys gathered around him to laugh at just how disgusting it smelled.

Trunks and Goten, however, didn't have to hover so close to them to be able to smell the object. Both Saiyans rolled their eyes and moved over to the next column.

"He's an idiot." Trunks stated flatly. "They all are."

A young, slightly high pitched voice to their right chimed in just after Trunks made his last statement.

"Only the boys." She said.

Trunks and Goten both looked over to find a young girl walking up next to them. She must have been close to their age, but she certainly didn't look strong enough to be fighting in the tournament. She had slightly long, brown hair tightly braided down her back. Her eyes were a mixed green and brown, her face was plain. She wasn't too pretty, Trunks noted, but she had a slightly higher ki than most of the other children. She wore a dark crimson colored gi with a black sash, and a black long sleeved undershirt beneath the deep red top.

"Who are you?" Trunks asked.

"Morioka Senora." She said, making a soured face. "But I go by my middle name, Clair." She held out a hand for Trunks to shake, so he did.

"You fighting in the Tournament?" He asked.

"Yes." She nodded, turning toward Goten to shake his hand too. Goten suddenly snapped to attention and uneasily grabbed her hand. He'd not been around young girls very much, save for the occasional playtime with Marron, meaning he knew very little about them. So he carefully lifted her hand twice and let go, not knowing really what else to do.

She quirked an eyebrow and lifted one corner of her mouth. "Nice to meet you too."

"Yeah, well, we haven't been paying close attention to the fights. You must have beaten someone to make it to the Semi-finals." Trunks said, nodding toward the ring where two young boys were fighting. That must mean Round eight had already started.

"Yes, I beat a boy named Gerome. He wasn't very tough, just fast." She looked from Trunks to Goten, but only Goten bothered to nod his head.

"Oh yeah," Trunks started, breaking short-lived silence. "My name's Briefs-"

"Trunks. Yes, I know." She cut in, smiling. "You're the returning champion for the Jr. Division. And Son Goten was runner up. I watched the last tournament from the eighth row with my grandfather."

"Why didn't you fight?" Trunks asked.

She made an outrageous face and giggled. "I was only six. Just because you two can fight that good doesn't mean I can."

Goten smiled and pushed himself off the column. "So your nine?"

"Yep, and your ten. Trunks is eleven…you two have been best friends for years and train together all the time. Trunks lives at Capsule Corp. and Goten lives near Mt. Paozu." She said, slightly proud.

"D-mn girl, do you have the stats memorized?" Trunks asked sarcastically.

The girl's eye widened a little and she shook her head. "Only yours and Goten's. I wanted to be prepared."

"Yeah, well - Ouch!" Trunks said, rubbing his sore arm. Goten had swiftly and sharply hit his forearm hard enough to make it tender.

"What was that?" Trunks nearly yelled, glaring at Goten.

"You can't cuss in front of girls." Goten whispered harshly.

"I can if I feel like it." Trunks said, then let out a deep breath, turning toward Clair. "Sorry."

"It's okay." She said, smiling at Goten. "Really, it's okay. I hear those words a lot more than I should."

Goten shrugged and looked to the ring, where Round 9 was just finishing. Some boy was fighting some other boy, one of them won. Odd that Goten hadn't heard the last Round end, or this one begin. Must be because he was actually paying closer attention to the conversation with Trunks and Clair.

The announcer entered the ring and declared a winner, then called attention to the upcoming Round 10. Goten licked his lips and shuffled his feet, he knew he was next up. But to his surprise the girl walked close to him and patted his back, making him stare at her wide-eyed.

"May the best fighter win." She said.

Goten looked at her and wondered for just a second what she was talking about, and he noted she looked anxious all of a sudden. Then the loud-mouthed announcer waved toward the warm-up building and yelled for the competitors to come forward. Goten didn't pay too close attention, though he knew he was suppose to be walking ahead. He was still watching the girl and trying to figure out what she was getting nervous for.

"Now, it's Round 10 of the Semi-finals." The announcer said. "Son Goten -Vs- Morioka Senora!"

Goten's eyes became wide and he snapped his head toward the ring. He realized he was about to face off against the girl, that's why she was getting so antsy. She turned and winked at him, walking on ahead toward the ring; her smile fading once she reached it's steps. Goten stood rooted in place for a few seconds until Trunks gave him a none-too-gentle shove toward the marble ring.

Goten no longer wanted to fight. He should probably forfeit the match and let the girl win, that way he wouldn't have to embarrass her in front of all these people. He reached the steps and the announcer went droning on about their stats and ages. He looked to the girl and talked as quickly and quietly as he could.

"I'll just forfeit." He said to her. "I don't mind letting you win."

She jerked her head around and gave him a hardened frown. "No you won't." She said.

Goten just nodded and looked straight ahead. His father had always told him never to argue with a girl, it'll just end up painful for him. Not just that, this Clair was more than a little intimidating. And he'd learned first hand, with his mother, what a Martial Artist woman can do when angry…and Goten certainly didn't wish to be reminded.

"Look at me." She said, and Goten turned toward her. Her face was as serious as he'd ever seen anyone look, so he listened to what she had to say.

"I've worked really hard these three years to make it this far. I don't want you to let me win, or not try your hardest. Do NOT take it easy on me, got it?"

Goten just stared slightly dumbfounded at her, then remembered to nod.

When it was time, Clair marched up the first few steps and noticed Goten wasn't moving behind her. She turned and grabbed his arm, guiding him to the middle of the ring. Then both children stepped far enough apart so to bow to one another. Afterward, the announcer said to begin the match. Goten looked to the side of the ring for help, hoping Trunks could show him what to do about this. Trunks was just smirking, probably knowing Goten didn't have a clue how to handle fighting a girl…and a feisty one at that.

She took off at him, nailing a hard kick to his left temple. She thought for a moment she'd broken her foot doing so, but he just shook his head and watched her back flip away from him. She'd apparently anticipated some kind of reaction, but Goten stood frozen in place. He did admit, though, his head was just slightly stinging.

"Well, you gonna attack?" She yelled.

Goten rubbed his fingers against his thigh, trying to lessen the moisture on them. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? Was it because he felt like he was doing something wrong? He'd always been told never to hit a girl, not under any circumstances. So, didn't this count?

"I…uh, don't think I can hit you." He forced himself to say.

She glared from a few feet away and growled. "What do you mean, you can't? Is this some stupid trick?"

Goten raised his hands and waved in symbolic surrender. "No, no. I'm just not allowed to hit girls…ever."

She cocked her head and, apparently, had some moment of enlightenment. She walked up to him and stood only a few inches away from him. "It's okay."

Goten nodded slowly. "What is?"

"It's okay to fight me right now. We're sparing, that's all. The rules say you can't kill me or play unfair, otherwise anything goes."

Goten furrowed his eyebrows and concentrated really hard on what she said. "You're sure? I don't really want to fight you, ya know."

"Well, you don't have a choice." She said, returning to her competitive self. "Now attack me and let's get this match started!"

Goten nodded, feeling a tad defeated, and lowered to a fighting stance. In his mind he was trying to remember all the things Gohan had taught him about controlling his strength. Don't hit her too hard, don't punch her too hard, don't fly around because she can't, don't use any ki blasts, don't faze in and out, don't move too fast, don't twist her body around too much, don't use energy waves…not even little ones.

It was a lot to remember and it was hard to focus on that and the fists that quickly began flying at his face and stomach. The girl wasn't half bad, for a human, but Goten knew one wrong move could send her flying across the arena; or worse, one badly aimed intense hit could certainly kill her. And he didn't want to hurt her, he just wanted this match to be over with.

She kept yelling for him to step it up a notch, not to take it easy on her. He let his guard down more times than he would ever have normally done, letting her hit and punch him to a small degree. He really wanted to just pick her up and place her on the grass outside the ring. But, he figured that would make her mad, more mad than his beating her fair and square. They'd been playing this little game of theirs for the better part of fifteen minutes, making the crowd grow anxious for it to end and the adults' division to be well on its way.

And then, as if Fate were in charge of the entire display, the girl landed a harder than usual punch to Goten middle, making his knees buckle. Call it Saiyan instinct or just simple self-defense, whatever it was Goten forgot about his needing to pull his punches back before contact…and he hit her gut. He hit her hard, as hard as he might have hit Trunks during one of their frequent matches.

She was sent flying, as Goten had feared he'd do, out of the ring and into the white stone lining of the stands. There was a hush that grew over the crowd as the girl fell face first, unmoving, to the ground. Goten was in shock looking at his own grim handiwork, and he felt a rushing sense of humiliation growing inside of him. The girl's impact had left a slight crack in the wall and Goten knew that was something damaging to any full-blooded human child, even if she was a little stronger than most.

Dende-sama! Goten thought frantically, pushing himself off the ring floor. What have I done?

He felt very nauseous all of a sudden, and he knew it was not because of her punch. He walked slowly toward the edge of the ring, not caring that the announcer had not declared him winner yet. He'd not even gotten to the edge of the ring when he had the sudden urge to just fly away and never look back, he truly didn't want to take a look over the edge at her.

Please…please let her be alright. He prayed, to whatever deity happened to be listening.