Make a Difference   von Nevaeh
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                                  Kapitel 6: 
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Bra had stopped talking to him altogether. He knew that she was annoyed with
him, but he didn’t really know what she expected him to do. It probably
didn’t even matter, because everything he did was wrong anyway. She hadn’t
stopped snooping around on the ship. No one had seemed to care about it since he
really couldn´t believe that no one had noticed it.
 
Goten rolled around on his bed. He understood her. In some way, he understood
her need to do something. He just... He still wasn’t sure that this was all
real. Nothing made sense, no one acted in a way that he could understand. Yasai
hadn’t asked him to train her right away, she hadn´t even talked to him
again. He had told her most of what he knew about Super Saiyans, how it was able
to achieve it for everyone, though he wasn´t even sure if that was true, that
training would help, and strong emotions, and that he could show her. But that
was it. She had been delighted, at first, at least he thought she had been. But
nothing followed.
 
And no one asked them anything. He thought someone would be curious, they
hadn´t even been asked their ages or anything. They were headed for Vegeta-sei,
that was all Yasai had told him, with another stop in between. It could be all
the questioning was delayed until then, until they could talk properly, until
someone higher up than Yasai was available. It was just… it was easier to
imagine it wasn´t all real after all. His life had been… pleasant. He hadn´t
really appreciated it before he landed here, but now that he got so much time to
think, just lying around in the little prison cell they had been assigned to, he
realized that it had been exactly that. His job was working out well, his last
novel had been a decent success. He was on good terms with his family, his
friendship with Trunks hadn´t suffered much after Trunks had married and…
 
Goten grinned. He had known about Bra and Pan. Trunks had told him, Pan had
occasionally slipped a remark. But he hadn´t seen Bra in almost four years and
that was the only thing he regretted. It would´ve made everything a lot easier.
If he had Trunks with him… but Trunks was currently expecting his third
daughter and if they never made it back…
 
He turned around again. Only some people would miss them. But that was okay. 
He had tried to… he wasn´t the most experienced person in the world when it
came to relationships, most of what he had had in the past were some casual
flings. But it wasn´t hard to lend an ear and Bra was so private and careful it
probably would help if she just got it out of her system. They had enough to
deal with, they really didn´t need her baggage as well. Every time though he
interrupted their language lessons and tried to switch the topic she completely
ignored it. As if she didn´t want to understand that they were both in this and
they had to stick together because there was no one else.
 
He got up. Bra was out, god knows where. He hadn´t asked, she wouldn´t have
told him anyway. Snooping around was unlikely, it was the middle of the day, so
maybe she was banging someone else for stress relief. He understood the need,
but then again she knew nothing of those people, they could even have some weird
alien STDs. Goten groaned and rubbed his face. Bra would be the death of him.
And he still would try to do everything to get them out of this mess.
 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
Goten took his tray and looked around the room. There was someone sitting alone,
a bit to the left and close to the door. He wasn´t staring at his phone or
whatever they had here, so Goten figured he was allowed to talk to him.
 
“Hello. Sit here?” Goten pointed to the seat and waited for approval. The
other one was looking up, his black eyes big and surprised. He had a buzzcut and
really thick eyebrows, wonderfully framed with two equally big ears. Goten
smiled at him, hoping it would help.
 
“Yeah.” His voice was very deep and hard to understand. Goten sighed
silently and hoped it would work out as he had planned.
 
“…You …colony?”
 
Goten only understood a few words, but it was enough to make sense. “No, no
colony. Somewhere else.” He paused for a second. “Goten.”
 
“No colony? Mum colony.” Big ears grinned widely. “Goten name? I Negi.”
 
“Yes, name.” Well, they did ask questions if they were confronted… that
was good. “You friend colony blue eyes?”
 
Goten frowned. He wasn´t sure he understood what Negi wanted from him.
“Sorry?”
 
“What sorry? No sorry. Your friend, blue eyes?”
 
Goten´s eyes widened. “Oh, Bra! She is my friend. Yes.”
 
Negi nodded slowly, shoving some food in his mouth. Goten did the same. It was
bland but it filled up quickly and he was really hungry.
 
“You people sex asking? Or sex only with partner? My mum colony only sex with
partner.”
 
Goten coughed, some of his food had taken a wrong turn. Had he just been
asked… “Bra and I not partner.”
 
“Great! She okay for sex?”
 
Goten stared at Negi for a few seconds. He wasn´t sure if Negi wanted to know
if Bra was a prostitute or asking him for permission to fuck her, either way it
wouldn´t happen. “No, she is not. She has partner on planet.”
 
Negi´s face turned sour. Goten was also pretty sure Bra wasn´t into guys at
all.
 
“Blue eyes Saiyan never seen. Is great.” He shrugged. “You sex her?”
 
“No.” That explained why more people stared at them when they walked around
the ship together. He hadn´t paid attention since everyone was wearing the same
uniform, but now that Negi pointed it out, Goten noticed it as well. There were
a few Saiyans with blond or brown hair, but all of them had black eyes. He
should give Bra a hint.
 
“Food tastes boring.”
 
Negi stopped his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “Yeah Gohtin me colony food
good so much we have…”
 
Goten didn´t understand anything that followed, except that wherever Negi was
from everything tasted great. It hadn´t gone exactly as planned but it hadn´t
been completely useless. And hearing someone chatter while eating wasn´t all
that bad after the stony silence from Bra.
 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
Two days later and he hadn´t found an opportunity to tell Bra anything of
significance at all. Somehow, her mood had become even worse and she barely even
wanted to do the language lessons with him. He preferred practicing without her
anyway. Unfortunately, he hadn´t been able to get much out of the Saiyans he
met at the mess as well. One other guy had asked about Bra as well, one of the
women had immediately stopped talking when he had asked her where the ship was
going and another guy had used the opportunity to blabber about how cold it was
on the ship and on other ships it wasn´t that cold. There was some hidden
social commentary that Goten couldn´t understand thanks to lack of context so
he just nodded. It was freezing cold on the ship, that´s for sure.
 
The next day he smiled at the girl who was handing out the food and she smiled
right back, so bright it was radiating. Goten took a quick look behind, no one
was in line, before he decided to try another tactic.
 
“Thank you for food.”
 
She smiled even brighter. She had really big teeth. “Yes. But not taste good.
Mensa food.” She rolled her eyes. Her thick, black hair was braided and rolled
up in a huge bun. It looked like someone had pooped on her head.
 
“Same everywhere.” They both laughed. It was ridiculous. He wondered how old
the girl was.
 
“You wanna meet later? I have shift three hours.”
 
“Yes. I come back later.” Goten gave her his best dashing smile, a bit
diminished by the stupid beard he couldn´t cut thanks to his lack of a razor,
but the girl didn´t seem to mind. She just hugged her laddle and stared at him
until he sat down.
 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
“Me Budou.”
 
“I´m Goten.” Budou had already been sitting in the mess, still in her
kitchen uniform. When she had seen him, she had grabbed him by the arm and
dragged him halfway across the ship to another kitchen. Not what he had
expected, but he would wait and let things play out.
 
“You colony, right? Me Vegeta-sei, have learned cooking where good food best
food!”
 
Goten acted surprised and nodded. She started rummaging in the kitchen drawers
and pulled out some pots. So she was going to make him something to eat? At
least he didn´t have to fend off unwanted sexual attention. Especially since
she was probably still a teenager. Though the night was still young…
 
“Me make you better food mensa food is…” She rolled her eyes. “Cheap.
Like heat. Everything cheap.”
 
Not another rant about the temperature… “Budou, what is this ship?”
 
Budou stopped for a moment with her preparations and turned around. “Ship of
Commander Yasai. Soldiers for Commander Yasai. You not know? I only here
cooking.”
 
That didn´t help at all, but Budou was busy and started chatting about food so
he decided it was best to wait until she was done. Half an hour later he was
almost lulled to sleep by her voice and the clattering of kitchenware. He hardly
understood anything she said, but it reminded him of home somehow.
 
“Gohtin! Food done!”
 
Goten she gave them curiously. It looks like some kind of grains with yellow
vegetables, but it could’ve been some meat as well. He took a bite, and…
 
“This is… very good!” He would’ve said a lot of other adjectives, but he
didn’t know them in her language. She was delighted nonetheless, and grinned
with her big bright teeth again. Maybe he could take some with him…
 
“Why you here colony Gohtin?”
 
He looked up. So he wasn’t the only one who was curious. “I… we help
Yasai.”
 
Budou’s eyes got wide and she immediately sat straighter. “What? Wow. You
not know ship, but you help. How?”
 
Oh that was fabulous. He could hardly tell her the truth. He shrugged, and
continued eating. She understood the hint and stopped asking questions. Instead,
she started talking again. He understood a few things about her home, and food,
and more food, and he slowly realized that it was the only thing the girl wanted
to talk about. It hadn’t been successful, but at least he’s gotten something
out of it. It was probably more than Bra had managed so far.
 
And when he got back to his room, she was indeed sitting on her bed. What a rare
sight.
 
“I got something for you.”
 
Bra looked up from the tablet, her eyebrows raised suspiciously. “And what?”
Her gaze drifted down to the container in his hand.
 
“Managed to get some food. It’s not from the mess.” Well, she didn’t
complain about that. She immediately took the container and started digging in.
The noises she made while eating showed him that she appreciated it.
 
“So, have you found out something interesting?”
 
Bra looked up, the last pieces of grain still sticking to her face. “What?
Don’t say you actually care?” She grinned at him, wide and scary. He liked
Budou’s smiled better.
 
“I never said I don’t care, I just wanted you to be careful. I mean, these
people here are weird. You don’t know what to expect.” He leaned back,
sighing. That had went well… “It's just... no one asked us any questions.
They asked where we come from, but besides that nothing. Not how old we are or
what we do for a living or anything at all.”
 
Bra stared at him. “Guess of they just don’t care.”
 
“They want me to train them. They should care at least a little.” It was
futile. The first time they talked in days, and they were already on the
defense. “Anyway, I talked to a few people here, to get a feel for what we
have to deal with.”
 
Bra snorted. “Guess what I’ve been trying to do. But no one wants to talk to
me, they all just want to fuck me.”
 
“It’s because of your blue eyes. Everyone has black eyes.” He hesitated
for a second. She had been wearing her scarf on her head… “But… You know
that already, right?”
 
“Yeah. At least you figured something out. Or is there more?”
 
Goten rubbed his knee. “Everyone likes to talk about food and how cold it is.
When I ask questions about the ship, they stop talking. Don’t know the reason
for that.”
 
“Hm.” Bra let her eyes wander around the room. “I found a recreational
deck, with a view of the stars. We should go there.”
 
Maybe it was a thanks for the food. Or maybe Bra really wasn’t mad at him
anymore. Either way, he was sick of sitting around in the tiny room anyways. Bra
put her scarf on her head again, and led the way. They met a few people, but
most of them didn’t bother to stare at them.
 
“How’s it going with the gravity? I think it’s up to 10 G now.”
 
“It’s fine.” She shortly looked up. “You know, they don’t only stare
at me. No one has a beard here.”
 
“Ah, don´t they like my new hipster look! Should´ve gotten me a razor
then!” He grinned and Bra giggled and he almost felt as if they were back home
again.
 
It took them only a few minutes to get to the deck. It was a medium size room,
curving slightly and a few soft benches were arranged in a line parallel to the
huge window. And… it was a sight worth watching. Goten felt a slight pang of
anxiety when he looked at it, just a window separating them from the
nothingness, though the beauty of it was overwhelming.
 
“Wow…”
 
“Said so. Don’t know how we´re travelling that you can still see the stars
but it´s pretty impressive. It´s like diamonds.”
 
Goten managed to get his eyes away from the view for a second just to see Bra
smiling a tiny little bit.
 
“The bench over there is pretty secluded.” She picked on his sleeve when he
didn´t move immediately. “The window is all the way around, come on.”
 
Bra had been right, the benches were very comfy and from where they sat they
could see most of the room but not everyone immediately saw them.
 
“Listen, this is some military vessel, but I haven´t found out what they are
doing here exactly. We´re on our way to a planet called Dunja, but I also
don´t know why or for what. Every time I ask someone they look irritated and
leave. I guess they think we´re not allowed to know otherwise we would know
already.”
 
It made sense, somehow. He could just ask Yasai, in the end she wanted something
from him not the other way around.
 
“It´s probably important, since Yasai didn´t want to see us again. You
haven´t started training her yet, right?”
 
“No…” Not that he hadn´t thought about it. “It´s dangerous to try it
in space.”
 
Bra looked at him incredulously. “I guess.” She paused shortly and fished a
cigarette out of her breast pocket. “So the ship is huge, but there are mostly
areas for the crew. There are also a lot of restricted hallways, you need
keycards or something. Haven´t found a hangar yet. A ship this size should have
a few, it´s a bit weird.” She fished something else out of her side pocket. A
little booklet.
 
“What´s this?”
 
“Map of the ship. Can take it in the mess halls. It´s only for the quarters,
though.”
 
Well, she had been busy, that´s for sure. Goten absentmindedly skipped through
it. It still didn´t help at all. They couldn´t leave and even if, they had
nowhere to go. They should just stay put. With a sigh, he handed it back at Bra.
Bra only leaned back and quietly finished smoking.
 
“I´m sorry for what I said. About you and Pan.”
 
Bra rubbed the stub out in the ashtray next to the bench.
 
“Okay. I´m not sorry for the slap.”
 
Goten grinned. He probably had deserved that.
 
“You…” She rubbed her forehead and grabbed another cigarette. It was nice
to see that she could be nervous as well. “Did Pan talk to you? Has she
mentioned something, that she was unhappy or… I don´t know.”
 
Her eyes were so blue. No wonder those people were so mesmerized by it.
 
“No. I mean, I don´t see her that often and she had occasionally mentioned
that she was meeting with you for lunch or something and lately she had just
said that a lot was going on for her and that she was stressed. But nothing in
particular. I just guessed.”
 
Bra´s mouth twitched, but it wasn´t a proper smile. “Well. Good guess.”
She was quiet for a while again. Goten´s gaze wandered back to the stars. He
wondered if they were still in the milky way or somewhere else.  He wondered
what the people here called the galaxy.
 
“I didn´t know something wasn´t right.”

Goten´s head jerked back. She sounded so small and vulnerable.
 
“I thought it was alright. I thought we would… stay together.” She huffed.
He hoped she wouldn´t start crying. “And now we´re stuck here and who knows
if we ever make it back and the last thing I talked with her was… she said
that she was unhappy, but not why!” Bra made a wild gesture with her hand and
ash was flying down on the couch. Goten carefully rubbed it away.
 
“And I didn´t even… I said nothing. I thought there was nothing to say. I
thought maybe a few days and she could think about it. And now we´re here and
if I never see her again that would be the last  thing she would remember about
me! Me not saying anything, looking as if I don´t care! I do care!” She threw
the stump into the ashtray to the other one, her mouth pressed together in a
bitter line. Goten wasn´t sure if he was supposed to say anything or if it
would even comfort her, so he just carefully put his arm around her. Bra didn´t
shove him off. It was nice, feeling her warmth seep through his layers of chilly
clothing. He had forgotten how familiar it felt, back then when Bra had been
more of his little sister, a little bit annoying but still a part of his family.
 
“Don´t worry. We´ll make it back. As long as we work together we´ll find a
way. I promise.”
 
Bra made a non-committal sound. It was ok. They would be ok.

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