By: Saiyan Serpent
Disclaimer: I do not own db, dbz, dbgt, or any of its characters.
Last Time:
Slowly his eyelids were pulled together. He struggled to keep them open, willing himself to stay awake, but it was no use. His body refused to obey, choosing instead to retreat into the subconscious realm. The dim light of the room quickly faded as the curtain of darkness fell once again.
Chapter Four: Sorry Mom
Trunks awoke suddenly when he heard his bedroom door slammed open. Startled, he rolled off the side of the bed and landed on the floor with a loud thud.
He could hear screaming and an arsenal of words being launched at him, but he could not make out anything specific. Then, something he heard distinctly through the verbal onslaught got his attention.
"What the hell happened to the lawn!"
Everything clicked as he recognized his mother's voice. Trunks sat up and leaned against the side of the bed, running a hand over his face. He rubbed his eyes trying to open them. Slowly the room came into focus, but when his eyes settled on her small form he realized how upset she was. Man was she pissed.
She was standing there, one hand on each hip, a misplaced hair antagonizing her scrunched up face. She was still in her clothes from yesterday. They contorted and clung to her body in an unnatural way causing even more wrinkles to appear.
Her hair was pulled back into a hasty ponytail, stray hairs sticking out all over. One piece in particular seemed to be testing what little restraint she had left. Both of her eyes were bloodshot sporting a set of dark circles to compliment them. She looked like hell.
He frowned at her recognizing what her appearance meant. She had fallen asleep in the lab again, sleeping in some unimaginable position. He didn't know how she did it. It had to be very uncomfortable to say the least.
"Well!" She was still awaiting his answer, her foot tapping madly against the carpeted floor, making a loud thumping noise.
He ran a hand through his long hair, pushing it out of his face. Taking a deep breath, he slowly answered her.
"Sorry mom. I…well…I…had a little accident."
"Little!" It sounded more like a challenge than a question.
"I'm sorry mom really. I was thinking about some things last night…and…well…I guess I got a little carried away."
She seemed to be calming down some, but she was still fuming.
"Things! What kind of things?" She was following his words, hoping they would lead her to an explanation; like why her lawn was currently decorated with the second floor balcony. It was lying in a heap of mangled metal in the back yard and she wanted to know why.
"Yeah, you know…things," he replied. Apparently, that was not good enough because she screamed at him again.
"Trunks Vegeta Briefs…you will tell me what happened to that damn balcony right now!"
Trunks winced as he swallowed the lump in his throat. She had used his full name, and this was never a good sign. He thought she must have slept in a very uncomfortable position last night.
He wanted to answer her, but he was almost ashamed to tell her the truth. Confessing to her meant admitting his weakness and he wasn't prepared to do that, not entirely. He looked down at his hands as he answered her.
"I was thinking about Gohan………" He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want to elaborate either. He hoped she would take the hint and leave it at that.
The words he spoke drifted out barely loud enough for her to hear. She did hear them though. As soon as the words entered her ears, her features softened considerably.
"Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
Trunks cut her off by looking up at her and saying, "Mom, it's okay. No big deal." He didn't want her to break down and embrace him like she used to when he was younger.
If he allowed her to baby him constantly, he would only need her more. In the end, it would cause him more pain. That's something he had enough of already.
He had to be strong. If he could hide his pain, she wouldn't feel driven to comfort him so much. To make sure this conversation ended he plastered on one of his best smiles, stood up, and pecked her on the cheek.
"Really mom, it's okay. How about breakfast, I'm starving." On cue, his stomach growled loudly causing his mother to scoff and forget their conversation.
"You saiyans and your appetites. I'm lucky you don't eat me out of house and home," she exclaimed as she threw her arms in the air.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to leave, but not without adding, "I expect that mess to be cleaned up by noon."
Trunks collapsed back on his bed grumbling. She didn't forget. He should have remembered whom he was dealing with.
After taking a shower, Trunks headed out to the back yard to take care of some business before breakfast.
'Might as well get it out of the way,' he thought. The longer it sat there, the greater the potential for it to irritate his mother further.
Trunks grabbed the heap of metal with one hand and flung it in the air. When he thought it was far enough away, he shot a ki blast at it. The former railing disintegrated completely as the blast engulfed it.
Though he hadn't hurt anyone, his little clean up had definitely made a lot of noise. Trunks looked at his handy work and smirked in a way that would have made his father proud.
He was still wearing that smirk when he walked in to the kitchen and sat down at the table. His mother looked shell-shocked as she asked him the first thing that rolled off her tongue.
"What in Kami's name was that!" She turned seeing his face and her features immediately turned into a scowl. "And just what are you smirking at young man!" She tried to sound harsh, but the hint of amusement escaped from her guise.
Trunks stifled a laugh as his smirk turned into a smile. "Finished cleaning the lawn up," he said quite satisfied.
Bulma didn't say anything. She merely walked over to the table, frying pan in hand, and knocked him upside his head with a solid THWACK!
"Owww…What was that for!"
"You know very well what that was for mister!"
Trunks glanced back at his mother while rubbing the back of his head. He felt a sudden wave of bewilderment wash over him. The feeling soon turned to amusement and he tried to suppress his laughter. After a few seconds, he could contain it no longer and he began to laugh hysterically.
His mother looked back over her shoulder at him as he continued to laugh.
"And just what is so funny mister!" She was wondering what had gotten in to him this morning.
"You………you………hit………me!" He managed to choke out the sentence in between his laughing and his gasps for air.
"Your point being?" She was curious as to what had sent her son into such hysterics.
"It………hurt!" He was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of the chair.
"Well son, that's kinda the point…" She was trying not to giggle at the fool her son was making of himself. Still, she wished he were like this more often.
She continued to stare at him thinking he had suddenly lost his mind.
Trunks noticed the look of puzzlement on his mother's face as she stared at him. It only fueled his antics further. 'She really doesn't have a clue,' he thought.
He was crying now, and his stomach muscles began to spasm from his chaotic movements. He finally fell out of the chair and rolled on the floor clutching his stomach with both hands. He stayed there continuing his laughing fit as she looked on.
She thought he had finally gone off the deep end.
After several minutes passed, Trunks sat up as the waves of laughter subsided and his sanity slowly returned. He was breathing heavily trying to stifle a few laughs, which came out as giggles instead.
She thought he looked so cute and innocent there trying to recover from his humorous display. She sighed mentally remembering the many times he had done the same thing as a baby. Those were good times, but they did not lasted for long.
The darkness came and washed away all the joy of his childhood. How she wished she could have given him a better childhood, one where he could run around laughing and screaming, playing pranks on people; the things little boys are supposed to do.
She shook the thoughts from her head, as she turned back to the stove. 'No use dwelling on the past.'
By the time Trunks had come back to his senses, he saw the table covered with food. It was a meal fit for a king or a saiyan anyway. The smell was calling for him to return to his place at the table. He heard his mother yell at him while he wiped the remaining tears from his face.
"Well, are you going to lay on the floor all day, or are you going to get up and eat all this food?" She tried to sound serious, but she knew she had failed miserably. Her son's comical behavior was too much to ignore completely.
Grinning widely, he climbed up in his chair and reached for the food. She had already starting working on her normal sized portion of breakfast.
In minutes, the meal was completely devoured by the saiyan warrior. Trunks was leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach.
Bulma looked at him as he sat there in complete satisfaction. She noticed the familiar pat on the belly scene as she continued sipping her coffee. It was adorable, and it reminded her so much of Goku.
She sighed mentally at the thought. Though she would not often admit it, she missed her friend. He always had a way of making things better, and that's something everyone could use these days. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Trunks address her.
"Mom, you alright?" He seemed concerned.
She smiled. That was her son, always worrying about her, probably more than she worried about him. It was not that she loved him less; it was because she knew he could take care of himself.
"Mom…hello?" He was waving his hand in front of her face trying to break her out of her trance.
"Sorry dear." She smiled at him again. She didn't want to worry him.
"I was just thinking," she replied truthfully.
"About what?" It was his turn at interrogation.
She recognized the hint of humor in his voice. She knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Well, I was wondering what got you so worked up like that." It wasn't a total lie, more like a half-truth.
She looked at his face as his lips curved into a smile again allowing a few chuckles to pass them. She really did want to know what he thought was so funny.
"Mom…you're a human…and I'm half saiyan…you hit me and it hurt." He said it like it was something she didn't already know.
"Trunks honey…I kinda figured that out a while ago." She wasn't sure what he was trying to tell her.
"Mom!" He was getting frustrated now.
"What!" She didn't get it. He was simply going to have to spell it out for her.
"You are human……I'm half saiyan……you hit me……it hurt!"
"Yes dear, I think we established that already."
Trunks threw his hands in the air. Surely, this was not his mother before him. She must be an imposter. She had to be. There was no way that the woman sitting before him was the infamous Bulma Briefs self-proclaimed genius.
"Mom! I'm a Super Saiyan for crying out loud! It's not supposed to hurt!" He was waiting for her to turn into some sort of freaky alien from having her cover blown. Instead, she sat there with a look disappointment etched in her face
"Oh, that's all." She said it like it was the most normal thing in the world. "Trunks, do you really think I spent all that time around your father and didn't learn a thing."
Trunks looked surprised. He certainly wasn't expecting to be the one that was confused.
"Mom, what are you talking about?"
She giggled a little at the look on his face. It was priceless. He looked like she had just discovered the key to defeating a Super Saiyan.
"Honey, all men have their weak spots, even Super Saiyans." She looked at him thoughtfully as she took another sip of her coffee.
Trunks just smiled at her. Yep, it was his mother after all. He should learn to stop underestimating her.
She stood up from the table and patted him lightly on the top of his head. He looked up and was met with a grinning face, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
"Besides, I'm your mother I'm supposed to know where it hurts." She kissed him lightly on his forehead before turning to clean up the dishes.
"Now go on, I know you have things to do today."
He smiled at her back before wiping his mouth and standing up at the table. He darted over to her placing a small kiss on her cheek. "Love you mom…later!" He called out as he took off running out the front door.
"Bye dear, see you later!" she replied absently as he took off. "That boy……" She smiled to herself before returning to her dishes.
Even though she had the worker robots to help her around the house, she still liked to do things with her own hands every once in a while. Besides, doing domestic chores helped to calm her nerves and give her time to think about things.
Working in her lab was definitely her favorite past time, but things could get a bit stressful in there. If she couldn't figure something out, she would get frustrated, drink way too much coffee, stay up half the night, and end up falling asleep on her desk.
'Being a genius isn't the easiest job in the world,' she thought to herself. 'Even we need to kick back and relax once in a while,' she added as if she was trying to convince someone.
Bulma knew the chores helped keep her hands busy, but also allowed her brilliant mind a vacation of sorts. Focusing back on the numerous piles of dishes before her, she sighed mentally. She had to get this mess cleaned up if she was going to get any work done today.