Disclaimer: I think it's pretty clear by know that I am not Akira Toriyama.

~*~*~

"No, no, that's not what I meant..." I sighed heavily, leaning back to let the swivel chair to support my weight, rubbing my throbbing temple gingerly. It was an alternating conversation between me, and two of the company's most valuable partners over the phone. The mix between panicky drabble and testy hisses were causing me a nagging headache. I now fully understand what my mother had to do everyday. I was lucky though, I had the weekends off.

"Listen," my voice becoming firm, cutting into all commotion, "I told you the presentation will be ready by tomorrow, yes? Then you have nothing to worry about. I assure you."

"You had better hope Mr. Briefs." The most boisterous partner spat, his words like verbal whips. "Your mother was depending highly on this merger; it would be wise not to fail."

The dial tone danced promptly into my ear, signaling that I was the only one on the line. I cast the forsaken head set aside, dropping my head on the table without any resistant. I closed my eyes from the invisible weights of distress, the bitterly truthful message mocked over and over in my mind.

  "Your mother was depending highly on this merger; it would be wise not to fail."

No matter how obnoxious the person or tedious the job, I couldn't give up. To quit now would be a tragic waste of all that the family had strived for, beside who else would do it if I didn't step up to the plate?

"Mom, how did you do it..?"

That subtle sixth sense feeling of another presence suddenly kicked in the back of my head. Judging by the low ki and cherry scented perfume, I could tell it was Bra, either that or father had made a severely drastic change.

"Hey Trunks, are you awake?" She poked my head and leaned closer to me.

I frowned and sat up on my elbows. Her face was covered with make-up that made her look way too old to be only a preteen, not that I'm an expert but I'm pretty sure that it was too much. "What now? And no, you're not getting my credit card."

"I wasn't going to ask you for that, I've got my own thank you."

"Then what?" That's one thing I hated, when someone took their dear sweet time to get to the point.

"Well, you have to take me to the mall today."

"No way. Says who?"

"Daddy."

"Like I'm supposed to fall for that. I know you've got school, speaking of which, you should have been there an hour ago."

"Think again. Its some kind of teacher conference day thing at my school today so, I don't have to go." She'd smirked smugly in triumph and sat on the desk.

"... Humph, that may be true but I still don't see why I'm in this. Why can't father take you? I'm sure he'd love to spend hours waiting on you hand and foot." Sarcasm was almost literally dripping from ever word, something I'd come quite good at doing and I don't have any intention of changing either.

"I did, but he told me, to tell you to do it."

"Well, we'll see about that."

I scoffed at her incredulously and headed downstairs. 'The nerve, didn't people realize I have work to do around here.'

"Father..."

My serious tone had completely diminished when my gaze meet with his. 'Damn, there was that "Less than thou" feeling again...'

"Well...?"

"Um... well... Bra told me that you said that I have to take her to the mall..."

"And?"

"... I-I don't have time to wait on her..." I was trying my best not to be disrespectful but I wasn't so sure that worked. Most likely not.

"Then make time." His voice was stern as if that was the final say on the matter, which it was on my father's terms.

"Yes sir..." I frowned on the inside as father walked away, most likely to train again. This was totally unfair; Bra always got what she wanted one way or the other.

"Hm, what happened to "Well, we'll see about that."?" Bra had laughed from behind.

"Shut up..."

"Whatever. I'll be in the car."

I snorted and looked at my watch. It was a quarter past nine, that meant I had about two to three hours to go shopping, get Bra back home before his afternoon classes began at school, and try to finish the presentation by tonight for tomorrows meeting at the eastern district's Capsule Corp. In light of that, I'd just remember there was a trig. test today that I'd hadn't studied for. Just because I'm practically a master at science was not completely true for math.

And much to my annoyance the car horn blared outside, correction, my car horn. "I'm coming!"

I threw on the leather coat from the rack and slammed the door behind myself. The car was already running when I got to it.

"Where did you get the key?"

"I have a spare."

"What? You have spare to my car?! Unbelievable." I threw the car back in reverse and took to the streets. The headache from earlier was spreading, now hot and evil, stabbing its way to the back of my head.

"Oh calm down, it's not that big of a deal."

"Actually it really is, if you didn't know. You can't just take other peoples stuff, Bra. Incase you haven't noticed, everything is not for you."

The car suddenly grew silent. I had glanced out of the corner of my eyes at her. Her face was firm and distant, she might have even cried but didn't. If I weren't so aggravated, I would have felt sorry for her, but I meant what I'd said; the world was not her oyster and it was high time she'd realized that.

The sullen sense of stillness was the third passenger along for the ride. I wasn't even sure if there was noise at all anyway, it was just a strange mesh of seeing the road and my body reacting on instincts for the car. I was more focused on the small tick of pressure that continued to come like dropping grenades on my brain. The yellow stripes of the road seemed doubled on and off, and my joints began to burn like salt on a fresh wound.

I'd blinked and shook my head to shake it off, refocusing on the freeway again. It didn't help much but it at least got into the parking lot of the mega mall before it got worst. The car jerked when its passenger door was shut. Bra had said something along the lines of "I'll be back in a minute" or something or other. It didn't matter because I wasn't planning on getting out of the car anyway, especially now.

I rested my elbows on the steering wheel and rubbed my eyes with the bases of my palms, they were clammy and cold. I reached over to the glove compartment and rummaged around until I came across the bottle of extra strength aspirin. 'I could have sworn I had more than this in here, the bottle's already half gone and I only got it a few days ago...'  I shrugged the thought away and swallowed a few pills. Since I rarely took medicine, my metabolism was already naturally high; I don't bother to look at the dosage that was taken.

~*~*~

It seems that Bra's definition of "a minute" was highly inaccurate; for approximately four hours I sat in the parking lot until she casually strolled up to the car as if I was her chauffeur. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy, mainly because I was now late to school. It was a shame too, I mean, how could I be late to an afternoon class? I don't think the teacher will let me slide anymore either and as you could have guess, she didn't. She gave me my trigonometry test a few seconds after I came in, which I believe I didn't do to good on. Damn Bra... Afterward, I met up with Goten in the courtyard. He was smiling that ever-so-cheerful smile he always had, which made me feel better, a little bit. 

"Hey Trunks, so what's been up with you lately?"

"A lot." I sighed out with more constrain then I planned.

"Care to elaborate on it?" He said carelessly as I sat on the grass beside him.

I shrugged. What the hell, maybe talking would make me feel a little better. "I just have a lot more to do since I'm the head of the company now. I knew it was going to be some work but not this much. I think I can handle the load but sometimes I'm not so sure. It's so weird to have so many people depending on you, you know?"

He nodded then said, "I have a feeling, you're weren't just talking about work when I asked you what's been up."

"Gee, what gave it away?"

He laughed off my sarcasm and said, "Hm, let me guess, your house seems colder than an ice burg lately?"

"Yeah... I mean, Bra is still in her old selfish ways and father... Let's just say, we barely say two words to each other, less than the usual, too. Its like every time he looks my way, I feel so inferior all of a sudden as if I get too scared to even breath too loud... I'm not afraid of him but more of his judgment. Dammit, I hate went he does that. Why does he do it to me and only me?" I closed my eyes and choked down the lump in my throat, subconsciously clinching my fist.

I heard Goten sigh through his nose. "Trunks, how long has this been going on? Since we've known each other right? You've got enough stuff to worry about then what you're dad thinks."

"Yeah, you're right. But you don't have to live with them." I winced and rubbed my temple again, damn headache...

"Something wrong?"

"Not really, I think I'm catching a cold or something."

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but now that you mention it, you look like crap."

"Thanks Goten." I snort sarcastically and dust of my pants. "I better get back home and get started on that presentation for tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'd better get going too. My mom'll hit the wall if I'm late." He stood from the grass too and tossed his book bag over his shoulder. "You know, you can spend the night over my house."

"I know." I threw on a casual smile and headed for the student parking lot as Goten went home on the nimbus cloud. I couldn't help but think about the last time I went flying, man, it seems like it's been almost forever.

I glanced down at my watch; it was about two o'clock now. Hm, that's strange, still not hungry yet. Well, that confirms it; I probably do have a cold or the flu. It has been spreading around but then again, I've never got sick a day in my life, what makes it so different now? Feh, maybe I'm just working too hard...

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Chaotic Bystander: Apologizes if this chapter wasn't what you expected. It seemed a bit rushed to me but I really didn't have any ideal how to start this chapter. You see, I have a strange quirk that when I think of a new fic, I think of the beginning and the end, I rarely give any thought to the middle, and I didn't want to dive too deep into the story in the second chapter. But next chapter is free range! And I'm not neglecting Vegeta. *insert another strange quirk* Well, the thing is... I have an IMMENSE fear of writing lines for him, worried that I'll make him too OOC... Yes, I know it's silly but I'm strange that way. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated! ^_^