Chapter eight – Revelations from the Past

Tara woke up with a slight headache nagging in the back of her head. She had barely opened her eyes, when she heard Vegeta's familiar harsh voice say: "Don't ever do that again."

He was standing by the window, his back towards her.

"My sincere apologies, your Highness. I didn't know the truth was so hard to handle for you," she said sarcastically.

He turned around, clenching his fists. "So what if it's true that I don't like to be surpassed? Why would you care about what I feel?"

"It's my duty," she sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head in the pillow to avoid his intense gaze.

"You're a pathetic liar, Tara. It wasn't your 'duty' to restore my tail. You did that for me. Why?"

"You figure it out, Prince," she said, getting upset now. She felt like a cornered animal and wanted to get away from Vegeta's attention as soon as possible.

He approached her bed and leaned over. "What if I already did?"

"Then you shouldn't be asking me this," she hissed and got out of bed. "Stop fucking around with MY feelings, Vegeta. I'll leave you alone if that's what you want."

"You got that right." He walked out the door, leaving her in a storm of contradicting emotions.

"Curse you," she whispered. She went into the bathroom and took a long shower. Since she had missed dinner, she went downstairs to see if there was anything left in the kitchen. While preparing the food, she tried to figure out what Vegeta was up to.

'Maybe he's just playing hard to get. Who knows what's going on in his twisted little brain? Oh, what am I thinking? He'll be after Bulma pretty soon… There's no way he'll be interested in me. And he shouldn't be anyway. Trunks won't be born if he and Bulma don't get together. That would be a waste.' She suddenly saw a connection.

"Oh my God. What if I intervene between Bulma and Vegeta in this timeline? Then Trunks won't be born! So why don't I exist in Trunks's timeline? Because King Vegeta never experimented with any hybrids! But if that's true… then this whole timeline could be different due to my existence!"

"Thank Kami it's me who just walked in, and not Vegeta or Bulma. Could you try not to think out loud?" Trunks walked into the kitchen. "Are you okay, Tara?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "I'm sorry, you're right, I shouldn't have yelled like that, I was just…"

"…having a brainwave. I understand. So you think that King Vegeta never experimented with hybrids like yourself?"

"That, or someone interfered and somehow caused the failure of my… birth."

"What exactly did you mean by 'intervene between Bulma and Vegeta'?"

She blushes. "You weren't supposed to hear that, Trunks. Just forget about it, alright?" She stands up and wants to leave the kitchen, but Trunks grabs her arm and stops her.

"You're saying that you're in love with my dad? With Vegeta?"

She breaks free. "YES! Alright, I'm in love with that son of a bitch. I know it's selfish and I can't fucking help it even if I wanted to. I'm not supposed to fall in love with him, I'm supposed to protect him. Hell, I don't understand what I feel myself. But what I do know is that this timeline is different and that you may not be born in this dimension."

She took a deep breath to regain control of herself. "I'm sorry, Trunks. I never wanted it to be like this…"

Trunks looked utterly defeated. "Vegeta…" Then he looked up to her and yelled at her: "Do you have ANY idea what you're getting yourself into? You know him better than anyone! You know you're going to end up hurt. Why? Because he's a jerk!" He suddenly stopped in the middle of his lecture and turns around.

"Don't do it, Tara," he said softly. "He's not worth it." He walked out of the kitchen.

He had to do something with his rage right now. He felt like killing Vegeta, but he knew he would never get away with it. Tara would probably be there in time to save him.

'That baka of a father… He really has to ruin everything, doesn't he? Well I'll make sure he won't get her… Tara is mine!' Trunks turned Super Saiyan and blasted the whole area, blinded by his own jealousy.

'She doesn't even suspect it. She probably thinks of me as her little brother or something like that. Goddamn it, I know I'm a lot younger than she is. Who cares?'

He didn't even want to think about the consequences of his feelings. After all, he was from a different timeline and he had to go back someday. He couldn't leave his mother alone, she would never survive the terror of the androids. This was almost a FUBAR situation, but maybe he could manage to find a way out of it.

P.S. FUBAR means Fucked Up Beyond All Repair in case you didn't know! What'll happen to our beloved heroes? Stayed tuned for the next exciting chapter!!!