So this is where the story ACTUALLY begins. Tell me what you think :)

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.


Coincidence

Chapter 2

I never fell asleep. It was torture. Every time I could feel exhaustion taking over, my mind slowly slipping into that blackness, that foggy cloud consuming my entire frontal lobe; the image of his smirking face would penetrate that mist and cut straight through that elaborate atmosphere. I would be left awake, frustrated, despairing, and swooning over something that could never be mine.

I had to see him. I felt it so strongly. The more I knew he could never be mine, the more I wanted to see him.

It felt like a cliché, pining for his body, sweat glistening in the scorching sunlight as he stared at me longingly from behind that sinister smirk. Yes, it was all just an elaborate daydream, a fantasy, nothing more.

Ah, how cliché it was.

I walked into the kitchen and noticed my mother had set up quite a feast. There was white toast, butter, milk, and…buttermilk pancakes? The rest of the food eluded me, slowly dissipating from my peripheral vision, my favorite breakfast already presenting itself before me.

"Go ahead." I heard her voice in the distance.

It felt like a dream, my hazy sleep deprived eyes seeing stars and twinkles surrounding the fluffy pancakes. They were like clouds. Sweet, sweet clouds. My hand reached out absently and snatched a pancake from the plate, stuffing it into my mouth with apathy unheard of in the Son residence. I didn't even bother to close my mouth as I chewed in my zombie-like state.

"Goten," she screeched, "What is the matter with you?" she folded her arms across her chest and gave me a glare.

So early, yet so late.

"Srry, Mom," I spoke, the food muffling my words, "I'm jst so trad…"

"What?" she all but yelled.

"I think he said he's tired, Mom."

Everyone's eyes focused on the voice coming from the doorway.

"Gohaaan!" she rushed over, her face suddenly beaming.

He was back, finally some peace. Having Gohan around left Mom to dote over her prodigy and gave me the opportunity to do what I do best. Be left alone. I didn't exactly like it, but I was used to it by now. When I'd been but a little kid, all I'd done had been to whine for attention, but as I reached puberty that had changed. And besides, at the moment I was deadly tired, and not feeling up to anything. So right now, I was glad Gohan was here.

"Eh, little bro." he said coming up behind me, patting my head.

"Hullo, Gohan." I muffled over my pancakes.

He chuckled.

"You're still the same I see." He smiled, eyes glittering.

I nodded, eyes half-lidded in my terrible exhaustion.

"So what's new?" my brother attempted a conversation, but I was just too damn tired.

"Hmm." I replied.

"Well," my mother interjected, "Goten has a big test coming up, don't you, Goten."

I nearly choked on my food. Fuck, how could I forget?

"You haven't forgotten have you?" she challenged, arms as crossed as ever.

I shook my head violently to the left and right. No way in hell…

"I'm sure Goten has it all under control." My brother smiled behind me, saving me once again from a sticky situation.

I made a mental note to thank him later.

"Well, best be going." I said as I stood up from my chair, the wooden legs screeching as they scraped the floor.

I heard Mom begin to protest, muttering something under her breath about "time" and "off", but before I could defend myself or at least come up with a lie, Gohan was there, momentarily interrupting her and causing her to forget about me.

I took the opportunity and raced out the front entrance and took off into the cool mountain air.


School was as predicted. I seemed to zone out the moment I entered the establishment, and I just seemed to go on without a single thought entering my mind all day. All was blank. I suppose it may have to do with my lack of sleep, but on a certain level, maybe it wasn't even that. Maybe I just missed Trunks. He'd only really been gone a week, and I'd actually skipped a few days of school, but, boy, did this thing drag out when he wasn't here. After lunch, I decided I'd had enough. I had to do something to get myself out of this rut and it seemed there was only one thing I could do about it. Go see Trunks.


I snuck out of the school with relative ease. There really weren't that many people in the hallways or outside for that matter. The weather had been relatively sunny all morning, but now the sky was overcast with clouds and threatening to rain. I didn't mind though, I liked the rain.


Once at Capsule Corp, I let myself into the large dome, slipping into the infirmary wing and seeking out my best friend's room.

There he lay, cozily snuggling his pillows, his blanket up to his chin, looking like he'd been swept up by a fluffy little cloud. What I wouldn't do to be him right now.

Cerulean eyes blinked momentarily before registering my presence.

"Goteeeeeen!" he all but shrieked.

He must be excited.

"Trunks, oh man, have I missed you." I sputtered as I rushed to him, throwing my arms around him, wailing like an upset child.

"Calm down," he laughed, shrugging my embarrassing behavior off, "what's up?"

I sighed and lean back in the chair that I failed to notice was behind me all along.

"School." I stated plainly.

He started chuckling, already understanding my dilemma, as if he could read my mind, and started biting his thumbnail in a very amused way.

"What about school?" he laughed.

"You asshole," I slapped him, "It's so fucking boring."

"Well, it has that tendency." He shrugged.

"Ugh," I grunted, exasperated, "it fucking sucks without you, when are you coming back?" I said nonchalantly, but in fact, I was going to start crying if he didn't say it would be soon. Very, very soon.

"I don't know." He said truthfully.

He really didn't.

"But don't fret," he continued, "I'm sure I'll be back before you know it." He started smirking at what he was about to say, "And you know, it probably isn't all that bad without me."

"Hmm, why so?" I asked, too naive to even get his meaning.

"Oh, you know, without me to steal your spotlight, I'm sure there's lots you could get up to, if you know what I mean." He winked.

The bastard winked.

I picked up a pillow and threw it at him.

"Bastard!"

It's all in good fun though. He didn't mean it and I didn't either.

I know there are lots of pretty girls at our school, and boys too for that matter, but they're just too boring. Looking at them is fine, and admiring their stunning good looks and beauty, but if ever one of us were ever serious, I wouldn't be here, in this hospital room, with my best friend. I'd be out there fucking some ditz or…bitch…or, whatever. I don't know the right term for it.

"Rela~x," he said, waving his arms around, "I'm only joking."

"Yeah, you better be." I huffed, pouting.

"Unless," he paused, "there's someone."

He grinned at me, expectantly.

I let out a loud laugh.

"What!" I chuckled, highly amused.

"So, no?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No." I shook my head.

He shrugged.

"What about you, pretty boy," I asked after a moment of silence, "Someone come visit you in here?"

He stared at me for a moment, seemingly thinking, then began to chuckle.

"Not unless you count my Dad."


I stayed there for a few hours; not wanting to come home too early for fear that my Mom might realize that I skipped school once again. It really was becoming a habit of mine.

I talked with Trunks for 2 hours straight, not realizing my need to relieve myself had become so overwhelmingly strong. He'd told me a particularly funny joke involving a Priest and his father, and I, unknowingly, had laughed so hard that I didn't even notice the warm liquid seeping through my pants.

"Holy shit, Goten!" he cackled, "Did you just wet yourself!"

It was indeed a question, but came out as a statement, nonetheless, as I had indeed, wet myself.

I stood up, frantic, and tried to cover myself up with whatever object I could find in my vicinity, which wasn't much.

I'd picked up his night lamp and this set him off into another bout of hysterics.

"Haha, Goten! Don't fucking wet the lamp too, OK!" His eyes were scrunched shut, and his whole body was convulsing in fits of laughter, which didn't exactly help the reddening of my cheeks.

"Fuuuuck!" I muttered as I sprinted out of the room, leaving the purple haired prince to recover from his hysterics.

With my Saiyan speed I was rushing to the nearest bathroom, desperate to find something that could make this embarrassment go away as soon as possible, so I could quickly go back and give Trunks the thrashing of a lifetime for putting me in this situation. It was, after all, his fault.

I rushed in the direction of Bathroom B, as it was called, being the nearest washing room I could think of.

Why does this stuff always happen to me?

I slammed hard into something warm, but this time, I didn't fall backwards as I had done just a few weeks before.

I heard the gasp underneath me as the man angrily tried to get me off of him.

"Get off of me, you clown!" I heard him bark.

There were a variety of other curses directed at me, but the onslaught was suddenly brought to an abrupt halt, and I felt him go rigid beneath me.

"What…" his voice trailed off, not quite being able to utter whatever he wished to say, in his anger, or was it…

I was suddenly thrown off him as he seemed to regain his bearings and I looked down in horror to find that his Saiyan latex had been sullied. By none other than my own wet patch.

I gulped.

His eyes flashed what can only be described as red.

I started shaking at the pure absurdity of the situation. Anybody looking might have thought I was going to soil myself again, that is, until they realized the laughter slowly building up in my chest.

I let out a nervous cackle, much like a madman's, and continued laughing so hard I fell backwards, my eyes shut so tightly I could see stars, not really wanting to open them for fear of seeing those eyes again or stop laughing for fear that he may see the fierce trembling state my body was currently in and find me weak. Not that it would matter now anyway.

I felt a foot connect to some body part, but I couldn't tell which, and then I lost consciousness.


"Go~ten, Goten, wake up!" I heard the muffled voice in the background.

I guess I began to stir, because the voice only got louder and more persistent after that.

"Goten! Goten! Goten!" and I guess, when my mind couldn't stand the screeching voice anymore, I fully came to.

My eyelids fluttered open, and I felt a stabbing pain in my side, and as I looked up I could discern a distinct blur of blue, hovering above me.

"B-Bulma?" I stuttered out.

"Goten, are you OK?" her voice ached in worry.

My head throbbed painfully and my back felt stiff.

I looked around, and found that I was still lying on the floor, where the prince had knocked me out.

"Yeah." I breathed absently, confused.

She helped me get to my feet, and I swayed slightly, but then steadied myself by grabbing onto her smaller frame.

Her concerned blue eyes never left me, and it was starting to make me uncomfortable.

"Do you need to lie down?" she asked.

I shook my head, no. But, nonetheless she dragged me into one of the rooms and laid me down on the cold, white sheets, and left me there to rest for a while.


When I woke up, I was surprised to find that I'd been tucked in, just as snuggly as Trunks had been when I came to visit him. I wondered how long I had slept, and my eyes unconsciously wandered over to the nightstand. There was a lamp there, similar to the one I had tried to cover my embarrassment with earlier, and I blindly searched for the switch.

With a click, the area was illuminated with a golden glow. I looked around, taking in the surroundings, while searching for a clock, a watch, anything that could tell me what time it was.

Knock.

Knock.

The door creaked open slightly, and blue eyes peeked in.

The muffled voice whispered, "Goten, are you awake?"

There was no doubt who the figure was. The forced hush of the whisper only furthered to emphasize the demanding personality of the owner.

"Yes," I sighed, loud enough for the voice to hear, "You can come in, Trunks."

He flung the door open, and shut it tightly behind him, taking special care to do it quietly so that no one would hear.

He snuck slowly and quietly over to my bed, eyes wide and a grin plastered broadly on his face, and as he plopped down on the bed, next to me, pushing me over slightly. He sighed.

"What the fuck happened to you?" he dramatically proclaimed after a moment of deafening silence, turning his head to face me, piercing my onyx eyes with his sapphire.

I shook my head, disbelieving.

"I dunno," I stared, earnest, "I just…passed out."

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Passed out? More liked knocked out." he paused, "What the hell did you do?"

"Nothing!" I blurted out, appalled that he should accuse me of losing consciousness.

He knew very well that my passing out had been Vegeta's doing, my bruises attesting to it, and he seemed to have already decided to take his father's side.

He sighed again, unusually somber.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" he trailed off, then laughed, "He can be that way sometimes."

He smiled to himself, then closed his eyes, his whole body relaxing as he seemed to drift into sleep.

"Trunks?"

"Mm?" he hummed, never opening his eyes.

"Are you ready to go back to school now?"

He chuckled.


I woke up to chirping and was greeted with a blinding light as someone rapidly opened the blinds.

"Fucking shit!" I blurted out in my agony.

"Language!"

It would always surprise me how adamant Bulma always was about swearing in her household and around her in general, when she was the person who'd taught us all these words and expressions in the first place. Well, her and Vegeta. They made quite a team when it came to verbal abuse.

"Sorry, Bulma." I whined, not really meaning it.

"It's OK." She smirked, not really meaning it either.

For some reason I had spent the night, in a hospital bed, nonetheless, with my best friend at my side. Or rather, underneath the covers with me. It might seem unusual for some, but Trunks and I had known each other since we were, well, since I was born, considering that he was a year older than me. So really, when Bulma found us like this she really didn't pay it any mind. She would often call it a "chemical attraction", and she and her son would laugh, obviously understanding the amusement behind it, while me, and everyone else for that matter, were left in the dark, not being as intelligent as they were.

"Goten, time for school." She called, clapping her hands to stress her point, or just to stress me; it was hard to tell.

I quickly got out of bed, failing to notice Trunks' laziness, and put on all the clothes she'd laid out for me. I swung my messenger bag over my shoulder and went to the door.

"Aren't you coming?" I called from the door to my lifeless friend.

"Nah, but you have fun." He smiled, not opening his eyes.

"What!" I hollered, disbelieving.

At that second, Bulma found it convenient to enter the room. Apparently she'd overheard our conversation, and she immediately cut in.

"Trunks needs his rest, you can come by after school if you want, though." She said as amiably as she could.

Bulma was really a nice person, but at times like these I just detested her. How dare she? It was so obvious that Trunks was fine. He was a Saiyan for God's sake, and even with beatings from Vegeta he wouldn't be in this bad shape. Either she was just naïve or he was really, really manipulative.

Not wishing to make a scene in front of his mother, I stormed out of Capsule Corp. and flew straight to school.


Not only had today been boring and uneventful, it had actually been worse! I was informed that I had apparently missed the all-important test yesterday, and that my mother had also been informed of this little bit of information. I was then told I would be having detention for the rest of the week for my skipping school, and having to take this horrid test, on my break, nonetheless.

As I was going through the various questions of the paper, I quickly came to the conclusion that this was some sort of entry exam for something. I figured it would be for the same College Gohan went to, although I couldn't know for sure. I didn't want to go there anyway, hell, I didn't even want to go to College at all, but I had to take this stupid test anyway, so I decided to have my try at it.

There was a perfect mixture of math, science, and social studies questions, none of them too hard for me, but none of them too easy either. Usually with these types of questions, a fairly extensive answer was due, but not really having attended most of my classes covering this, I just wrote down whatever came to mind, and left it at that. No doubt, I would fail.


When school was out, I took off for my own home instead of the yellow dome I'd spent the night in. I knew my Mom would come right to Capsule Corp. if I wasn't home to explain my sudden "absence" from school the previous day, and I had no desire to be embarrassed further in front of either Vegeta or Trunks. So I just sped off, hoping for the best.


When I got home, she was already waiting for me, as expected.

Before my feet even reached the ground she was out, throwing her hands in the air and making a sound between a shriek and yell. She had pulled her sleeves up, revealing her slender, yet very powerful, arms, as if trying to convey to me the thrashing I was in for. The sight before me could be described in no other way than Banshee-like. I was sure Gohan had never seen this side of our mother before. I smiled to myself. She was fuming.

As she approached me, I just closed my eyes, not desiring to look into those devilish eyes as she raised her fist, preparing to pound me.

And pound me she did.

It was nothing like being beaten by any of my sparring partners, but my mother was no weakling either. I would undoubtedly be left with a few bruises. She could hold her own. Not like Bulma. I was sure Vegeta must be slightly envious or at least a little angry that my Dad had managed to find someone with at least a little fighting power.

In a normal family, I guess this would constitute as abuse, but not in our household. Both Gohan and I were used to her temper tantrums so when she felt the urge to "punish" us, we just let her have her way. We were Saiyans after all.

"You done?" I asked nonchalantly, and slightly defiantly.

This did not go well with my mother, who proceeded to pick up a large branch and swing it at me.

Before she could actually hit me with the thing, someone swiped it from her and she turned around to confront the culprit, whom she figured would most likely be my father, by the look on her face.

But, our eyes were met with a fuming Gohan.

"What the hell are you doing?" he screamed at her, consumed in his momentary rage.

"Gohan!" she almost stuttered.

Apparently she hadn't been expecting him to be here.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked, shock written all over her face.

"Were you going to hit him with this?" he shrieked, disbelieving as he waved the branch as if it were but a small twig.

Her mouth opened and moved, but did not utter any words. She was rendered speechless.

His eyes turned to me.

"Goten?" he asked, his voice softening as his eyes met mine, yet still disbelieving.

"Yeah." I sighed, rubbing my nape in the trademark Son gesture, my eyes feeling compelled to stay plastered on the floor.

His eyes flashed back to her, darkening as he focused on her trembling frame.

"Mom?" he asked again, same disbelieving yet angered tone as before.

She sprinted up to him and flung her arms across his shoulders, wailing like an abused dog.

"Oh, Gohan! I'm so sorry!" she said, feigning tears, "I just wanted…" her voice trailed off.

My brother pushed her off him and asked with an appalled expression, "You wanted to what?"

She sniffled, hiccupping as her tears were being brought to an end.

Her self-pity caused me to sigh and inwardly roll my eyes, but I still had no interest in this confrontation. I just wanted her to get this over with. Let her hand out her "punishment".

But, Gohan seemed unusually frustrated at our mother's behavior. Why was he so riled up?

"You hit him?" he spat with seemingly clenched teeth, eyes widening until his eyeballs were round enough to pop out of their sockets, absolutely seething.

She fell to her knees and bent down to kiss the ground, begging him. Begging him for what?

He reached down and with his hand brought her chin up, to look him in the eyes.

And then he slapped her.

It happened so quickly that I almost didn't see it myself.

She brought her hand up to cradle her burning cheek, and if I hadn't seen it myself I would never have thought it possible.

My brother had just hit my Mom.

"Gohan, what are you doing?" I screamed, so scared, yet so angry at the same time.

He looked up at me, eyes furrowed in confusion, and then he smiled. The bastard smiled.

"It's OK, Goten." He reassured me and then went back to stare at our mother.

By this time, I was fuming.

How dare he? Mom only needed to relinquish some of her anger, blow off some steam. He knows she's like this, he knows she has a temper, so why does he go and do this? Why?

I lunged for him the moment I got close enough and I actually hit him. I hit him hard enough for him to fall over.

I heard a shriek behind me and deduced that it was my mother. I was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled back, and the next thing I knew, I was being subsequently slapped, again, and again.

Why was she hitting me?

Smack.

Smack.

Smack.

"Don't touch him!" she wailed.

I didn't think it was possible for my eyes to get any wider, but seeing her do this to me really put me in a trance.

So she really doesn't hit Gohan. Huh.

"I'm gonna go now." I said in my new trance state, surprisingly monotone, as I stood up and wavered for a moment before taking off.


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