Disclaimer: LindaN doesn't own DBZ or the characters therein, she simply writes about them and loves them.

Summary: From this point forward in the story, you will be brought headlong in to Trunks' world. We find out in this chapter that he's gay and that he has returned to the past, not only to seek out Vegeta and his family, but to seek out that Z fighter that he fell in love with during his last journey back to our time. You will very surprised to know which of them sought out our Mirai Trunks while he was here getting ready to train to fight cell, starting something they have yet to finish.

(Kleenex: I'm not sure. This is an intense chapter)

The Heart of Hope

Becoming the object of Frieza's brutal passions and hatred was why he was taken from the King in the first place ..*

The Shattering, Chapter 10

After it had became apparent to Bulma that both of her son's were safely out of the house for a while, she picked up the phone and began to make preparations for Trunk's Welcome Home party. And she had managed to contact everyone this time, even Tien, and personally invited him so he had no excuse not to make an appearance. And when he asked if he could bring along a guest, Bulma assured him that would not be a problem as her home, as well as her heart, was large enough to hold whoever wished to be there.

In the meantime, Chibi had taken Trunks to Bulma's woodworking shop where he carefully crafted a new memorial marker for Mirai Bulma. It was made from oak and not cherry and he chose not to create an inset. He simply wanted her presence to be part of the beauty of the quiet place, and after he placed the marker in a spot he thought she would like, they both stood talking for a few minutes with Chibi beginning to try to talk Trunks into going over to Goten's house, so he could be shown off a little bit by Chibi.

"How come you don't want to go to Goten's house?", Chibi asked teasingly, with a fake pout on his face.

"I think you're stronger than Gohan", Chibi said proudly. "Gohan's a wimp compared to you big brother, he really is! So why don't you want to go?"

"Oh, I don't know Chibi, I just don't feel like company today", Trunks answered him.

"That's a lie Trunks! Poppa has been teaching me to read a person's ki, and yours just went weird!" Chibi said, standing with feet apart and arms crossed, assuming classic stance of his father.

"Okay, I was trying to be polite. I do not want to go to Goten's house right now. And yes, I do know why. And no, I do not wish to tell you my reasons. Was that better?" Trunks asked with a tinge of sarcasm added to his voice.

"Much! But you were getting mad at me, weren't you Trunks! Your ki went right through the roof" laughed Chibi.

"Chibi! You're starting to drive me nuts with your ki readings and analyses of me. Stop it."

And with that, the two of them decided to go sit beside the waterfall and just enjoy the day together.

"Trunks, have you ever done what mom and dad where doing yesterday?" the little lavender hair boy asked, obviously still impacted by it.

"Chibi, I hate these stupid games people play sometimes when it comes to talking about sex. If you're going to talk to me about it, which you seem to need to do, then I want you to either say having sex or making love, okay?". Trunks said, remembering yesterday.

"And now, to answer your question, no, I have never made love to a girl", Trunks answered.

"Has a girl ever made love to you?" Asked Chibi with a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Chibi, girls don't have boy parts, but there are ways that they can make love to boys. And no, a girl has never made love to me", Trunks answered.

"Have you ever kissed a girl?" Chibi continued

"Chibi! What's with all your questions?" Trunks answered, trying to avoid Chibi's questions.

"Trunks, you are such a grownup! Just a second ago, you were all talking big about not playing games and now listen to you!".

"I'm sorry Chibi ask me again. And while you're at it, for the next 5 minutes ask me as many questions as you can think of and I be forced to answer each one honestly. But, after the 5 minutes are up, you give on your questions for a while. Okay?"

"Okay! Complete honesty, right Trunks? Even if you don't like my questions? Right?" and Chibi was reveling in the opportunity that lay before him. Yes!

"You have my word on it!" And Trunks smiled, and wondered what harm could possibly be done in 5 short minutes.

And with that, they synchronized their watches, and smiled at each other as the contest began.

"So, have you ever kissed a girl? Chibi asked again.

"No".

'How come? Don't you like girls?"

"Not so far, Chibi"

"Trunks, do boys ever make love to boys?" And Chibi asked this question of Trunks in all innocence, but was noticing a wild change in his ki.

"Sometimes, Chibi, I don't know where your questions are going, but would you please say man or men rather than boy?" And with that, Trunks became aware of how intensely Chibi was watching him.

"Have you ever made love to a man? And Chibi felt as though he had just hit on a tender spot with Trunks as his ki was literally bouncing of the walls now.

"No Chibi, I have not"

"Has a man ever made love to you" And Chibi wasn't sure just what he had asked Trunks, but it sure was a sore spot with him.

"Chibi! this line of questioning is going nowhere. Please stop it, okay?

"Cut the crap, Trunks!"

"Chibi, you're only eight, where did you learn to talk like that?

"Cut the crap, Trunks!"

"I know you're going to be mad at me Chibi, but this conversation is over." And Trunks was wishing he could simply dig a hole and crawl into it.

"You are such a grownup, Trunks. You lied to me and I hate you. I'm sorry you came back here!"

"Chibi, if I answer your question, will you stop being so mad at me and not ask me any more questions?

"We still have 2 and a half minutes left Trunks. Don't promise me something if you don't mean it or can't do it. It's all or nothing".

And Chibi continued to watch him intently, and it was obvious that he was reading Trunks ki and was demanding now, in a manner remarkably like his father's, that Trunks finish what he started.

"Yes Chibi, a man has made love to me". Trunks told Chibi, unable to make eye contact with him.

"Oh wow, Trunks!" Chibi said smiling "How many times?"

"Once, a long time ago".

"Chibi, I can't do this anymore. Be mad at me if you have to, but I can't answer anymore of these questions."

And with that, Trunks went and sat down alone over by the grove of pine trees and he wondered how long it would take Chibi to figure out who he was talking about and he was saddened because he missed Gohan so much.

But now, someone both new and old was looming on the horizon and it would be the continuation of a love started during the training right before the Cell Games. They hadn't made love yet, but they were destined to. And Trunks wondered if he'd be at the party tonight. He hoped he'd be there. He needed for him to be there.

Trunks glanced over at Chibi, who was deep in thought and Trunks knew it was only a matter of time until Chibi figured out that he had been with Gohan all those years ago. And while he loved Gohan and always felt that he was in love with him, he no longer felt as comfortable about what happened between them, and after finally feeling his father's embrace and what that type of love was supposed to feel like, Trunks found that he was not feeling right about it at all. And he wished his father was here right now so he could tell him that it wasn't Gohan's fault, that he was the one who wanted it to happen and that he wanted his touch so badly that he pushed Gohan, and pushed until he responded. No, it wasn't Gohan's fault.

And Chibi Trunks was extremely bright, far beyond his years, and he set about in his mind to see if he could figure out who the person was who had made love to Trunks.

'Okay', Chibi Trunks thought to himself, 'Trunks didn't want to go to Goten's house, which was weird. But he said it happened once, which meant it was probably with someone from the future. So, who would be at Goten's house who would have also been in the future', Chibi asked himself. And you could have knocked him over with a feather! Gohan! And Mirai Gohan. With that, Chibi tried to remember how old Trunks would have been when Mirai Gohan was killed and he realized that Trunks would have been only 13 years old when this man would have made love to him.

'How could this be!', Chibi thought to himself. He knew adults shouldn't touch children because from a very early age, his father had told him that while most males in the world were harmless, there were also those males who liked to hurt little boys in intimate ways and told him that he needed to be careful. And his father had also told him that sometimes these hurtful men wouldn't even have to force themselves, that the worst times were when the hurtful men would be kind, persuading a little boy to do grown up things to them all on their own. And he told Chibi to never let an adult, male or female, touch him in an intimate way until he was an adult himself.

Chibi felt so sad for Trunks that something so awful could have happened to him and he seemed so clueless about it, that he started to cry.

"Chibi, are you crying?

"It's okay, Trunks. Something just made me really sad, is all. No, that's a lie! It's not okay. Hold me Trunks!"

And with that, the little warrior, wise far beyond his years flung himself into Trunks arms, allowing Trunks to envelope him. And for the first time his young life, Chibi was going to break a promise and tell his father what had happened to Trunks. Because something else his father would tell him about those hurtful men is that they would never wanted anyone to know what they were doing, that their behavior was protected only by secrecy. 'I'm sorry Trunks', Chibi thought to himself while cradled in Trunks' arms, 'I love you too much not to tell Poppa. He'll know what to do."

"Gees Chibi, please tell me what is wrong with you. If it's me, whatever I did or said, I didn't mean to. Chibi, say something!"

"Just shut up for a while, Trunks', Chibi said, "then I want to go home." And when his tears had run their full course, Chibi took to flight without even saying goodbye.

And he arrived at Capsule Corporation to a flurry of activity as Bulma was putting the finishing touches on the house for Trunks' party later in the day.

"Mom, where's Poppa?'

"I think he's upstairs getting cleaned up for later. Chibi, are you okay?" Bulma asked, concerned about her son now.

"No, mom, I'm not. And I gotta go find my dad right now."

Chibi found his father standing by the edge of his bed wearing a fresh pair of sweats, and he was still wet from his shower as he was arranging the garments he was going to wear for the upcoming party. Detecting his young son's ki, Vegeta looked up to see the boy standing there with his tear stained cheeks and he went over to him and asked him what had happened to make him so upset. And in what seemed like one long nonstop breath, Chibi blurted the whole thing out, complete with how he tricked Trunks into telling him most of what he told him. Vegeta then sat down on the bed and asked Chibi to sit there too.

"Son, first of all, it is not trickery to demand that a person to be true to their word. Had you tricked him into promising in the first place, then the fault would have been yours. You showed the true nature of your warrior spirit today when you chose to hold him accountable to his promise, and for that I am very proud of you, son".

"And now, I know this will be difficult for you to hear, but I will not dishonor him by telling him that I know about that event you believe happened when he was 13. If he ever chooses to tell me of it, it will become an entirely different matter. Believe me son, I probably know better than most what would happen to his pride if I approached him with the knowledge I now have. And you are right, Chibi, if it happened as you fear, it would have been horrible and had I been in his life at that time, I would have destroyed any man who touched my son that way. Yet that is not the case, and we must deal with it as it is now. You must never tell him you told me.

"But Trunks, I know this has hurt you and I want you to come to me and we will freely discuss whatever might be troubling you about it".

"Chibi, I will have a problem with any mate Trunks winds up with only if that choice causes him to live a life without honor or pride. And I will personally defend my son's right to live his life as he sees fit. Just as it is of concern to no one how your mother and I live our lives together as a mated pair, it is also of no concern to anyone how Trunks and any mate he chooses or accepts will live their lives either. I have noticed that many people from this planet are overly concerned with things that are of no harm to them.

"And Chibi, now I want you to know that I realized that my recent behavior with your mother in front of you has been shameful, I've hurt you and I am sorry, son. We have spoken, your mother and I, and we will no longer just up and retreat to our bedroom, leaving you on your own to imagine what we must be doing in it. I hadn't realized how cruel that was to you. You are growing up, Trunks, and we…..no, Trunks, me, I had forgotten that".

Vegeta looked into those soft lavender eyes that had begun to well up with tears and he told young Trunks just how fortunate that brand new baby girl was going to be to have a big brother like him. Then he asked his young son if he would mind spending most of the very next day with him, helping him work in the baby's room, because there was much to assemble and he was a warrior, not a builder, and he was not good with such things. Vegeta then told Chibi that he knew he possessed incredible skill in those areas, and would appreciate his help.

He looked again at his young son who was now sitting beside him proudly, chattering away about all the things he was good at, preparing in his mind for tomorrow and Vegeta was touched as he wondered if he hadn't actually found something in his life that he was better at than Kakarotto. And he never, not in his wildest imaginations, would have believed that he would find himself so completely in love with fatherhood. He sat in wonder as he watched young Trunks continue beside him with his imaginary tools in hand as he assembled the crib and decided which wall it should go up against, and their time together was interrupted only by the sound of Bulma's voice reminding them to hurry up and get ready because company would be arriving soon. And with that, Chibi jumped off the bed and ran down the hallway to get ready..

Vegeta arose from the bed and walked over to window and thought about his adult son and he wondered if Trunks was controlling his world, or if his world was controlling him. He knew all to well the effects of violations, but at least for him it was obvious from the very beginning who was the aggressor was and who the victim was. And he wanted to go to his adult son and talk to him, but he knew he couldn't as it would only serve to hurt him more right now, and all Vegeta could do was wait to see if Trunks would come to him. Yet, Vegeta realized he was not good at waiting and thought that perhaps the time had come to put the horrors of what had happened to him at the hands of Frieza to good use and go to Trunks with it, and have it be the basis for building trust without violating his pride.

And Vegeta decided that he himself had kept Frieza's secrets long enough, that what happened to him when he was a little boy and young adult wasn't his fault, that he had survived it and emerged triumphant and that the telling of it wouldn't change that. He determined to share with Trunks that the most painful times for him throughout those years were when his little body would be persuaded by Zarbon to respond to his touch, time and time again, in spite of his efforts to the contrary. And even though each time, he would beg him to please stop dishonoring him in that way, he was told that it was his fault and that he wanted it, and then his little body would used and violated in unspeakable ways, and when Zarbon was done with him, he'd always would be delivered back to Napa with a full accounting of what an eager little boy the proud Prince had been and then he would have to live with the look in Napa's eyes.

And since was forced to share a small room with Napa on Frieza's ship, he was also forced to live with humiliation of knowing Napa heard him weep uncontrollably after the lights went out, crying himself to sleep at night.

And then one night, in the middle of being "handled" by Dodoria and Frieza, and without conscious effort on his part, he safely tucked his heart deeply away inside of himself for safekeeping, and forgot where he had put it so that no one could ever find it or hurt it again, and then he went and found all of his tender feelings -- love, compassion, empathy, joy, and even hope -- and safely tucked those away for safekeeping as well. He loved himself enough to do whatever he had to do to insure his own survival. And the only way he knew to survive was to become part of very thing that was trying to destroy him, realizing that it would have to destroy itself in order to destroy him. And when he was delivered back to Napa that night, no tears were shed, no feelings of shame were felt, no feelings existed at all anymore, at least none that he was aware of.

And when Zarbon came to get him the next day, he was the one who was brutally attacked and Vegeta delivered himself back to Napa. And he became consumed with hatred and the quest to become strong enough to defeat Frieza. And he stayed that way until the power of love entered his life in the form of a beautiful blue haired woman he first encountered on the Planet Namek. And she wouldn't let go, and then his son wouldn't let go, until all three of them together, went and found those hidden places deep within him.

And now, if his adult son had actually experienced intimate touch at age 13 by a man in his twenties, then he too had been violated and would need to begin his own healing, and Vegeta determined to stand beside him every step of the way. He planned to tell Trunks that there was no shame to be found if his little body responded to hands that that shouldn't have been there in the first place. .

And Vegeta was relieved to finally realize that his eyes were no longer welling with tears over the thought what he had endured in his life, that his shame had been replaced by a need to embrace the hopeful heart of that little boy way back to that first night Frieza raped him when he was just 5 years old. He came to realize that over time he had been returning to that little heart of hope that had been left alone to gather the shattered remains of itself, and he had been systematically repairing it and putting it back together again all along.

For no one was there to comfort him that night his beautiful young mother was brutally raped and killed by Frieza, and no one there to help him pick up the pieces of his shattered little 5 year old body after Frieza had raped him too that night, and there was no one there to protect him from the daily brutality and humiliation he was forced to endure after Frieza had taken him from the King. Becoming the object of Frieza's brutal passions and hatred was why he was taken from the King in the first place ..

The Shattering, Chapter 10

Vegeta's onyx black eyes now began to well with tears though, as he came to realize that while he would always carry the scars of that shattered little 5 year old heart, they were honorable scars earned in a battle for his very existence. And he determined that he was a very remarkable man, even if no one else would ever know the full of extent of what he had overcome in his life. He would know, and Anuhea would know, and he found that he was okay with that.

Sources

The Shattering, chapters,7,8,9,10* by LindaN

The History of Trunks, Funimation Studios

Dragonballz by Akira Toriyama

~~~

Imagine

"and they say, I'm a dreamer,

but I'm not the only one,

I hope someday you will join us,

And the world will live as one."

John Lennon.

~~~

Intolerance is intolerable.

LindaN

(to be continued)