As she waited for her brother to get cleaned up, Bra went to her room to inspect the damage made to her hair. Staring at herself in the mirror, the young woman frowned as she lifted a lock of her hair. In all reality, her hair was perfectly fine, but for some strange reason she found something wrong with it. Sighing, she lifted her brush and began maneuvering it through her long, blue locks. The exact replica of her mother, Bra was truly a beauty; but no matter how beautiful others told her she was, self-esteem was a huge mountain she had yet to climb and conquer. She went into her own little world as she did this, staring, but not staring at herself in the mirror.

I don't know what to think right now. Bra thought to herself, frowning. I mean, is Marron out to get Satori? Is she jealous? I know Satori isn't worried about her, but still. If she wanted to, Marron could be a big threat. This is all so confusing.

"Bra!"

"AHH!" She jumped and turned quickly to see Trunks standing behind her. "Ugh, Trunks! Don't do that!"

"I've been standing behind you for the past ten minutes!" Trunks lifted an eyebrow at his younger sister. "What are you thinking about?"

"None of your business!" Bra rolled her eyes, pushing past her brother to grab her very comfortable jacket from off her bed.

"Excuse me for asking. I'll be outside in the car." Trunks walked out.

Bra stared after him, a frown on her pretty face. I wonder if I should tell him about what's going on…maybe I should let Hotaru tell him instead. Aye! All this stressing will make me old! Bra shook her thoughts away, jogging from her room and down the stairs. Her first stop: the mall.

Once in the mall, Bra's senses went into overdrive. It wasn't long before she had her brother carrying tons of bags from different stores, a feat that could only be somewhat accomplished by the demi Saiyan. Currently, the pair was in another shoe store as Bra tried on many shoes.

"Trunks, what do you think about this pair?" Bra asked her brother, prancing in front of him in a pair of high heeled boots, with laces.

Trunks sat resting in a chair, opening one of his eyes. He opened both to look at the shoes better, tilting his head slightly. "You like those?"

"Of course! Though, these are not for me. They're for my best friend!"

"Hotaru?"

"Yes! We wear the same size and I've always wanted to shop for her. So, do you think she'll like these?"

Trunks frowned, thinking of Satori and the shoes he had seen her in. "I don't know Bra…these seem more like your type of shoe." He smirked. "Are you just buying those for her so you can borrow them a lot?"

"Ugh, no! I have these shoes already in grey and I wanted to get Satori the same pair, but in black." She turned away from her brother to look in a mirror at herself. "She'll like these, I'm sure." She kicked the shoes off, going back to her normal height.

"So, may I ask why you're buying so many shoes and clothes, Bra?" Trunks asked as he stretched his arms over his head, watching as she picked up the shoes she was going to buy. She had at least four boxes in her hands.

"I already told you. I'm shopping for Hotaru as well. You know she really doesn't shop. She's been busy lately…" Bra frowned, her voice going soft.

Trunks frowned as well, thinking of what he encountered with Hotaru and Marron that night. As Bra paid for her shoes, Trunks gathered all of her other bags and headed out of the door. His sister wasn't too far behind him. Stepping in front of him, she grabbed some of her bags from him.

"So you can see." She told him at his surprised face. "We can go home now, Trunks. I'm done shopping for now."

"Okay, this is not my sister talking." Trunks stated, walking behind her as she led the way out of the mall. "What's bothering you, sis?"

Bra didn't turn to face him. She continued walking, gathering her thoughts. She could feel her brother's eyes on her and she sighed, being to talk in a soft voice. "I'm just worried about her, you know? She's my best friend…and I support her with everything, but…I'm scared for her."

"Scared why?"

"She's gotten herself in trouble…" Bra whispered.

They had made it to Trunks' car and as they loaded everything in the trunk, Trunks looked at Bra fully. "Bra…what do you know about a guy named Duke?" He asked as he closed the trunk.

Bra froze, and the color seemed to drain from her face. She looked at her brother with shock in her blue eyes. Trunks' eyes narrowed and he looked at her seriously. "Bra…talk."

"How…how do you know about Duke?" She asked him quietly.

"Just tell me what you know about him."

Bra closed her eyes, shaking herself. She climbed in the car, her eyes down. "Fine…just get in the car. I'll tell you on the way home."

Trunks lifted an eyebrow, getting into the car and starting it up. As they got on the road back to Capsule Corp, he glanced at his sister. "Okay. Talk."

"Duke is the guy Satori is in trouble with. She and Marron got caught up with this guy somehow. From what Hotaru has told me, she needed some extra money so she could save up for something for her mom and dad. She didn't tell me exactly what they do, but it's not good. She and Marron want to get out of it, but he's making it hard for them. Especially Satori. He's taken a liking to her and won't let her leave him so easily. I used to think he liked Marron, but Satori told me he likes to keep Marron around only as his bait for smaller jobs, because with her blonde hair, she's seen as very beautiful by the masses. But anyway, I'm so scared for her." Bra's voice hitched in her throat. "He's hit her before, Trunks. He may be human, but Satori won't hurt him for the simple fact that she owes him…and that he could really hurt her and Marron. He doesn't know of her strength…of Marron's strength. He thinks she's just a regular human. True, half of her is…but it's that Saiyan part of her that she won't let show."

Trunks was truly confused and angry. He needed to talk to Satori, but he knew what would happen if he confronted her. He kept his eyes on the road, silent. Bra looked over at him and saw that his jaw was clenched and his hand held onto the steering wheel so tightly, until his knuckles were white. In a rare moment of affection, she lightly placed her hand on his and leaned against him.

"Trunks…I don't know how you found out about what Satori has gotten herself into…but I can tell you it'll be okay. I know Satori will be able to get herself and Marron out of whatever they're involved in. They're both strong women…they'll survive it unharmed."

Trunks nodded, only half hearing her. He needed to talk to the Saiyan female when he got home. He needed her to explain things to him. Thoroughly.

At the Son home, Satori and Pan were outside sparring. Goten and Gohan sat in the grass watching them, a smirk plastered on both of their faces. Gohan was studying his girls' fighting styles, seeing so much of his father in the way they threw their punches and the utter amusement in their eyes as they fought. The proud father watched as his girls jumped away from each other, moving into a fighting stance.

"Panny, maybe you should go back to training with Gramps." Satori told her twin, clenching and unclenching a gloved fist.

"Hmph. It's not me who needs the training the most. Maybe you should train with Grandpa, Hotaru. I see Gramps fighting style has rubbed off on you…meaning you have none!"

Satori growled, launching at her sister. Goten chuckled at the two. "Say, Gohan. Have they always been bad at taunting each other?"

Gohan laughed, adjusting his glasses. "Yeah. When they were younger, they never taunted each other; just fought each other. They've never had a chance to learn the art of taunting."

"KAMEHAMEHA!" The brothers looked up when they heard Pan shout from the air, their father's signature attack flying towards Satori.

"MASEKO!" Satori shouted out, her attack meeting her twin's.

Their ki blasts made the darkened sky light up, the interlocking attacks easily seem from a distance. Neither girl was letting up their attacks, each trying to overpower the other. Upon seeing these attacks outside the window, Videl and Mei joined them outside.

"What are they doing?" Mei asked Videl, blinking her blue eyes.

"They're just playing around, Mei." Videl told her. She looked to Gohan. "How do they look, dear?"

"Well, I don't know how much training they can get done in five months, but I'm sure they'll make it pretty far in the tournament. They have my faith." Gohan told her, watching his daughters.

"And why didn't anyone tell me my granddaughters were going to be entering the tournament?" A voice asked.

Pan and Satori ended their attacks and looked over at the voice at the same time the rest of the family did.

"GRANDPA!" They exclaimed, running over to Goku, nearly tackling him.

"Hey girls! It's been a while since I've last seen you two." Goku laughed good-naturedly, hugging his granddaughters close to him.

"Dad! I wasn't expecting to see you today." Gohan stood, a bit surprised as he looked at the strongest fighter in the world.

"Goku, you've got to stop popping in like that." Videl frowned at her father-in-law. "You know I like to have things ready for when you arrive."

Goku laughed again, placing a hand behind his head. "Sorry, Videl. I'll let you know next time, promise."

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Goten asked him.

"I sensed the power levels of these two," he squeezed Satori and Pan, "and I wanted to see what was up." He looked down at his granddaughters. "You two are getting pretty strong. Are you getting ready for the tournament?"

"Yes!" They chorused, smiling. They tended to do this more around Goku than Hercule, seeing as though the full-bloodied Saiyan was more good-natured than their human grandfather.

"Are you going to enter Grandpa?" Pan asked him.

"Well, I wasn't thinking about it…"

"Come on Grandpa! It'll be fun. Trunks told me that Vegeta might enter!" Satori was bouncing on her toes.

Goku chuckled. "In that case, I will. It's been forever since I've sparred with Vegeta."

"Yay! Just like old times!" Satori and Pan punched the air, cheering excitedly.

"Well, come on everyone. Let's go inside." Videl lead the way into the house, the Saiyan clan following her.

At Capsule Corp, Bra was sorting through her purchases, separating what she bought for herself and what she bought of Satori in equal piles. Sighing, she sat on the floor amongst all the shoe boxes around her and laid back, staring up at her ceiling. Her thoughts went to her best friend, and frowned came upon her pretty face again.

True, Pan was a best friend to her too, but Satori had been her very first friend growing up. Can you believe that she was a shy girl growing up? Bra chuckled at her childhood self, letting her thoughts go to a memory of them.

"Hi! My name is Satori! What's yours?" A five year old Satori stood in front of Bra with that signature Son smile on her face.

Bra hid behind her father, peeking over his leg at the dark haired girl. Satori blinked her brown eyes at her, turning to look up at her Grandpa Goku.

"Grandpa, why is she hiding?" Satori asked Goku, honestly confused at Bra's behavior.

"She's just shy, Hotaru." Goku smiled, picking up his granddaughter. Goku's friendly smile went to Vegeta. "She looks just like Bulma, but I bet she has your attitude huh, Vegeta?"

Vegeta only glared at Goku as he picked Bra up. Bra's blue eyes were staring at Satori. Waving at the other girl shyly, Bra spoke. "I'm Bra…"

Satori smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you Bra! Hey, you know what? We're gonna be the best of friends starting today, okay?"

Bra smiled softly. "Okay."

Bra shook her head at the memory. They had become the best of friends since that day. Bra soon met Pan a couple of days later and was surprised to find out that her new friend was a twin. The three clicked instantly, and when Marron came around, the trio became a happy quartet. Thinking of their friendship now, there were many secrets floating around and Bra could tell there was something dark when it came to Marron and Satori's friendship. Not wanting to think on it right then, Bra gathered her shoes and clothes and began to put them away.

At both houses, the night was winding down for all of them. At the Son house, Videl had placed Mei into bed, the five year old tired after all of the excitement of the night. Gohan and Goten talked with Goku for a while before he had to go back home. The twins hugged their grandpa tightly before they let him depart their home for the night. They disappeared upstairs to shower and get ready for bed, as did their parents. At the Briefs' home, Bra had cleaned herself up and gotten into bed. Vegeta and Bulma had fallen asleep in front of the television, the Saiyan prince holding his mate close to him as she curled up beside him. The purple haired demi-Saiyan lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling with the image of Satori on his mind. Closing his eyes, he went into a troubled sleep.

As morning arose, the sun shone into the Son home. Pan was already awake at this time, having been up before dawn to train. She stood in front of her home, throwing a combo of punches and kicks at an imaginary opponent. Her orange bandana cover her hair and her partially gloved hands were clenched into fists. A serious was look was on Pan's face as she trained. Though she may not show it, she was worried about being in the tournament. She had been five the last time she entered and you couldn't call being in the dojo training exactly, because most of the fighters trained under the Grampa and didn't want to fight her. There was no telling who she would be placed up against. If it was any of the former Z fighters, she would have a problem. She was strong, but she was nervous about fighting against Trunks and Goten, seeing as though they were half Saiyans…what scared her even more was having to fight against her Grandpa and Vegeta. Now that would be a true challenge.

Pan didn't hear someone come up behind her until they touched her. She spun around, nearly hitting her twin in the face. "Ah! Sorry, Satori!"

Satori blinked her sleepy eyes, noticing that her sister's fist wasn't too far from her face. "Why are you up so early Panny?" She asked, covering up a yawn with her hand.

"I'm training. I was going to wake you up, but I decided to just leave you alone." Pan studied her twin, noticing that she hadn't gotten out of her night clothes yet. "Aren't you going to get ready for work?"

Satori lifted an eyebrow. "Panny, it's the weekend."

Pan blinked and lightly hit herself in the head. "Doh! You're right. Guess I got a little confused on the days." She said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

Satori chuckled. "Hey, I was going to go to Capsule Corp after I changed clothes. Want to go with me?"

"Go to Capsule Corp for what?"

"Well, since we're entering the tournament, I wanted to get some intense training done. Maybe go to the gravity machine with Trunks and spar a little. You can join if you wish."

"Sounds like fun." Pan shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, let's go." She told her sister as they went into the house.