When I Look Into Your Eyes, I See Forever
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Trunks thought he was so clever, but his family knew something was wrong. His parents were worried, and Bra was watching him curiously. Even Pan was tense with concern. They fought often when they were together, and he hated it. He hated the need for secrecy, but he knew no one would understand what he felt. So, he was making the effort to be more "normal" for his loved one's sakes.
Still, he was often lost in daydreams, not paying attention to his responsibilities. He was looking worn, and seemed to be older than he should be, like he wasn't feeling well, and that was ridiculous. Being half Saiyan, he didn't get sick, really, and he should be aging slower than a full Human. Yet he looked far older than his actual age of thirty-two.
Also, though he denied it, he disappeared for at least one weekend a month, sometimes two. No one knew where he went, and he insisted he wasn't getting the pages and other messages his family sent in their attempts to find him. The biggest fights with Pan were over these disappearances. But he was firm about the fact that he was just getting away, wanting to be alone after a stressful week as the President of Capsule Corp.
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Vegeta cursed under his breath as he felt for Trunks' Chi, and failed to find it. It was Friday afternoon, and he had made it a habit to look for his son, to try to keep track of him. Vegeta was very concerned about his son, but didn't really know what to do about it. He wanted to catch Trunks as he left for wherever he was going when he disappeared, but he hadn't been able to yet. The boy was too much like his father, sneaky and clever about hiding himself when he wanted to be invisible. Vegeta closed his eyes and stretched his senses harder than he had ever done, and after about an hour, came to the realization that Trunks wasn't even on Chikyu-sei! He leapt to his feet, and went to find Bulma; this nonsense was going to end this weekend!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two hours before his Father was trying to find him, Trunks had landed on the Tenka platform, and called for Dende. The young Kami walked out of the Sanctuary and smiled gently at the eager man.
"Ah, Trunks-san, how are you?"
"I'm ready for a break, Dende-sama... What?" Trunks saw the slight frown flicker across the young God's face. Dende sighed.
"Its your family. Even your Tousan is worried about you. If they come to me, and ask about you, I cannot lie, Trunks. You do understand that, don't you?" Dende's black eyes were kind yet firm. Trunks hesitated, and then nodded.
"I do, I mean, you became Kami because of your goodness and need to help others. But, couldn't you, I dunno, just not say anything?" He said hopefully. Dende shook his head.
"Trunks-san, no; to say nothing is no better than to lie. I understand that you have found love 'there' but I have to agree that you are too involved in this love. You are lost in it, and you might be destroyed by it. Be careful." Trunks hung his head and sighed.
"I know, I know. HE says that too, but I can't help it. Please, let me go, Dende."
Dende smiled and turned to lead Trunks to the room of Space and Time, the building that could send someone to any time and any place one wanted or needed to go to. He took Trunks to the Sacred Center (Trunks called it Satori, like the Zen Principle) and had the young Saiyan lie down. The Kami stepped back and raised one slender hand. The room went dark...
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Trunks opened his eyes and smiled at the clear blue, unpolluted sky. The air was clearer, cleaner here. Then again, there was still so little industry here, and what factories were being built were using "Clean" technology.
He stood, and shook himself, brushing off loose blades of grass. He reached out with his Chi and sensed his companion coming. He smiled and took off, not wanting to wait.
Sure enough, he met the figure, also flying, and they tumbled to the ground, laughing happily. The Other was also a man, but Trunks had never felt bad, or even "gay". He just felt deep attachment to this person.
"So, how are you? You look tired." The Other asked.
"I am, and Dende is concerned about my Family. But I wanted to come so bad... "
"Dende is right. You are getting too old, too fast here. You've gained what, a couple of years now, you're older than I am now!" Trunks frowned as he realized that truth of his words. It was a penalty of using the Room of Space and Time, even though the time displacement was far less than its sister space, the Room Of Spirit and Time.
"I see, I never even thought of that!" He looked so startled, the Other just smiled.
"You are so innocent! I'm glad the peace I brought made this possible... " They smiled, and slowly Trunks leaned over and kissed his cheek. They sat quietly, leaning on each other, and then the Other jumped up.
"Come on, Kaasan will want to see you. Did you bring a picture of him?"
"Yeah, but I had to sneak a pic of him, he hates pictures you know." They took off flying, and came to a place very familiar to Trunks; Capsule Corp.!
"Oi, Kaasan! Look who's here!" The Other called.
"Is that you Trunks?" Came Bulma's voice. They both replied, as she came into the kitchen. She smiled at them, both her son, but not. Mirai Trunks (Just Trunks here) and "Chibi" Trunks looked almost alike, but there were some differences. The Mirai version was harder, in better shape, and was more serious than the Chibi version. They were nearly identical in the face, but Mirai Trunks had longer hair, pulled back into a ponytail, while Chibi Trunks wore his hair short, clipped close to his neck. Bulma smiled at them, and hugged the visitor.
"My, you look tired! You need to rest more, is CC so hard to run? How's your Tousan?" They sat and he caught them up on things for a few hours.
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"Dende!!!!" Bulma and Vegeta yelled in unison as Vegeta dropped to the Tenka's floor. He set Bulma down and strode to the Sanctuary. The Kami stepped out then, and raised one hand in a peace gesture.
"Yes, Vegeta, I know where Trunks is... He's here, but you can't see him yet." The young Namek said. Both parents stared is surprise.
"Why the hell not? He's here?" Vegeta said angrily. Dende nodded, and asked them to come in for refreshments while he explained what was going on with Trunks. "You see, he came to me one weekend. He was feeling a little... inadequate. Vegeta was riding him about training, and Goten had actually beaten him in a spar. He wanted to talk to his Mirai self, visit that once hopeless world. I think he wanted to be inspired by that version of himself, but he fell in love there. I'm not sure who this person is, but they can't come here and be with him, and he still loves Pan as well. So, he comes here once or twice a month to see this person." Vegeta snorted but Bulma sniffed in tears about this news.
"He's in love? Oh, my poor son, torn by two different loves, it's so sad!" She sighed. Dende frowned at this, as did Vegeta.
"There is a real problem to this, Bulma-san. The stress of the Room of Space and Time is getting to him. And he's aging too fast because of it." Vegeta's eyes widened at this.
"So that's it! He's looks years too old, and seems tired a lot!" He said, and didn't even look away when Bulma looked at him oddly. "He's spending more time there than here; that room compresses time, so while he's gone for two days here he is gone, what a month there?" He turned to Dende, who shook his head.
"No, it's longer yet. Mirai world is different than our own, and the time flows different to ours. I don't really know how long he spends there." Bulma gasped, the seriousness of this sinking into her mind.
"Well, call him back!" Vegeta snarled, the love he felt for his son showing in his stricken eyes. He leapt up, glaring at the Kami of all Chikyu-sei without fear. Dende stared back, fearless as well.
"I'll try, but we have to wait for at least three more hours. I don't know why, but it isn't safe until then. The Kami who designed it has passed his knowledge down to the Kami's who came after, but we never understood his reasons for the warnings." He said softly, his eyes showing his sympathy for Vegeta and Bulma's concern. Bulma stood, and took one of Vegeta's hands in her own. He turned to look at her, and she was startled to see the fear there.
"What's wrong?" She whispered.
"I don't know... There's something wrong; he's in danger. And I can't help him this time... " Vegeta frowned, trying to hide his weak feelings from his mate, but she wasn't fooled. Not at all.
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"Hey, Chibi, want to go see the new school Mom built?" Mirai Trunks asked. Trunks nodded, and they left, waving to Mirai Bulma in her garden. They flew south, and Trunks saw that New Hope City (Is that only in DBSZ? Sorry if it is!) was growing nicely now. The Jinzouningen had been gone for years now, and Mirai Trunks had even destroyed the Mirai Version of Cell, so everyone felt safe with rebuilding their lives. Trunks could see the new school, gleaming in the sun, and that there were kids there even on a Saturday.
"They are helping with some finishing touches. And they are even getting extra classes on weekends if they want. I was surprised by how many go there seven days a week voluntarily!" Mirai Trunks laughed.
"They have been without for so long, it must be nice to meet and feel normal again!" Trunks said. They hovered over the area, though they didn't land, since it would be hard to explain his presence. After a while, they headed for a mountain spring where they liked to talk, and maybe do "other" things, things they couldn't do at Capsule Corp, or Mirai Bulma would freak out.
They romped in the water, and lay out under the sun, both naked, and comparing their scars and other differences and similarities. The explorations sometimes got more intimate, but Mirai Trunks sometimes felt odd about it, so Trunks held back today. Certainly it was weird, being sexually involved with oneself, even if they were in fact so different. Then, surprisingly, Mirai made the move, and began touching his other self hungrily, and they forgot about everything else for a while...
