Nope, don't own any of 'em! 'Cept Ana, I guess.
Warnings for this part include major-bad language
and shortness. Don't think anything
else came up…
Looking for a beta reader, so if you're interested,
email me, please! lil.dreamer@excite.com
If Tomorrow Never… - Ch. 8 - Family
In the Son home, which had somehow evolved into
"Anyone who wants to stay over"'s house, the first day after Trunks' explosion
was only the beginning of the weirdness. As the hours turned to days and the days to weeks, soon a whole month passed. Everyone became more concerned about Trunks'
behavior. He never mentioned Bulma, and
if anyone ever said anything to him about her, he didn't respond. His attention seemed focused on other
things, and he slept more and more, as much as 14 hours some days.
Vegeta came up with excuses to spend time with the
boy, sparring, taking Chibi-Trunks out, anything he could think of, and their
sparring became much more focused. Goku
spent hours every day talking to them both, but neither of the full-blooded
Saiya-jin could see a difference in the boy's mental state. Gohan, Chi-chi, Yamcha, they all did what
they could to help as well, but nothing worked any better than leaving him
alone had.
Unfortunately, none of the Z-senshi would soon be able
to spend any time at all worrying about Trunks' unnatural reaction if Kami's
prediction was right. Piccolo had left
the day before to talk with him about it, but no one had heard anything back
from either of them.
The search for the Androids had continued, as well,
with no traces found. If the supposed
backup even existed, it was great at covering its tracks. They rarely took time to search for them
now, preferring to spend time training for the threatened enemy.
But Goku and his friends weren't the only ones
preparing to go up against this enemy, nor were they the only ones worrying
about the peculiar new habits of one of their own.
Not too far away from the Z-senshi was a somewhat
dysfunctional family also facing the prospect of a new enemy. Unlike the senshi, though, this group had information. They knew the name and mission of their
target, and they even had its designer's original specs.
They also had one or two problems working together.
"'Ji-san, tell Juunana he can't come! He has to stay in the house, remember?!?" A very petulant Ana was tired of being
treated like she was a little doll. All
she wanted was to be able to go out without a baby-sitter. Just one small thing, really. For the last month, though, or ever since
those Androids had come into her life, she'd been under a figurative lock and
key. They had taken their new
programming, watching and protecting their princess, very seriously. Too seriously, some may think watching the
obvious disgust, anger, and frustration play across Ana's face.
"Your concern is noted, Juunana, but in this case,
she's right. Ten, if you insist on
going out tonight, at least get the groceries while you're gone." Though he didn't like letting her go out
alone after the way she'd been acting lately, he couldn't leave, and letting
one of the Androids go with her would be inviting trouble. This last month had been hard on all five of
them. Something was affecting the
princess' dreams, leaving her generally tired and cranky and causing her mind-blowing
headaches, and her dreamwalking was becoming unstable, leading to physical side
effects that frightened her caretakers.
"Hai!" Score! Ana raced from her position in the doorway
to grab her uncle in the hugest hug he could remember getting in a very long
time. The lines caused from worrying
about Cell, from trying to instill some discipline into his charge, from life
in general these last few years magically vanished, and the near-smile made him
look much younger. Ana beamed back at
the large man before snatching her coat and running out the door.
"That girl," he calmly announced to anyone within hearing
range, "is going to be the death of me yet."
***
Ana slowed as she reached the end of the
block. Alone time was a good thing,
especially now that she had people around to remind her of that fact. She adored the Androids, and they'd become
indispensable quickly, helping her uncle with his projects and keeping her
boredom at bay. But they were clingy,
and since they didn't require any type of downtime, they were always
around. Sometimes a girl just had to be
alone, and tonight was one of those nights.
Since that first night, she'd continued to meet
Trunks three or four times a week in the dream world, where the kindred spirits
found they had a sympathetic ear for all their problems. Slowly, the two got to know almost
everything about each other, and though they didn't live far apart, they
decided to keep their communication restricted to their dreams.
For two weeks Ana didn't know who was pulling them
together, and now that she did, she didn't know what to think about the whole
thing. She didn't tell Trunks about the
third presence, keeping it from him as she had so many other things. Ana felt the anger rise as she thought about
that bitch. If only it weren't
impossible to kill someone in a dream… Or someone already dead…
"You're still hiding from him. Still lying to him."
Ana turned to the voice, stopping abruptly as the
face came into view. "You! Why the hell-"
"Have I brought you here? For your own good. For
your father's well-being. For your
brother's. You need-"
"What the fuck do you know about what I need? Or what they need? You're the one who left. You left your rights to butt in at the same damn time!"
"Oh? Then
why am I here, Eriana? I want what's
best for them, and you happen to be it. I never was."
"Maybe in another lifetime you would have been. Maybe I could have liked you. Maybe you don't care. But what you did to my family
was unconscionable!"
"You don't think I realize that?!? I'm not the only one who's hurting them, you
know. How do you think he's going to
react when he finds out about you, sister? You've lied to him for as long as you've
known him."
"Maybe so, but those lies keep him from getting
hurt. He doesn't need any part of my
screwed up life right now."
"Tell him."
"No, not until he's ready."
"You're just like your father, you know, a stubborn
Saiya-jin." The voice was quieter now, almost
affectionate.
"I am nothing like him. Ask him yourself. Oops, I forgot. You can't. You have no power over someone consciously blocking you out. Go, Dad." With that, the spirit threw Ana violently out of the dream world.
Ana woke from that dream sobbing and with a
headache that lasted for days. But that
night was the first of many conversations/confrontations between the two. They continued to talk every night after
Trunks left, though there was no hope of a reconciliation between them. There was too much resentment because of
what the other had or gave up or refused to take.
Ana's only stop that night was to pick up her uncle's
groceries. She was too lost in thought
to stop anywhere else. She still didn't
know how to tell Trunks that the one pulling them together was none other than
his own mother, who also just happened to be Ana's wicked stepmother.
@@@
Short, I know, but this story had totally run away
from me. I'm on the trail, but it doesn't
want to be found!
I'm leaving the country June 1 and won't be back
until July 5, so don't expect any updates during that month. Gomen. I hope to get some more out before I go, though.
