Dark Past
Chapter 2
Katrina's jaw dropped. This was unbelievable! How cool! Her, living with Bulma's family!
"Let me show you inside," Bulma said, motioning for Katrina to follow her. When they walked in the door a little blue-haired girl ran up to Bulma and gave her a big hug. She looked like a type of mini-me for the woman.
"Is this the girl mommy? The girl who was 'apposed to live with us," she questioned looking at Katrina. "Yes it is dear. Katrina, this is Bra, my daughter." Katrina knelt down to the little girl and shook her hand.
"It's nice to meet you Bra." The small child giggled and ran off to another room. It was then that Katrina saw a man. His hair was spiked up and he wore a scowl on his face. He stood there with his arms crossed. Bulma went up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Okay, so this was her husband, Katrina thought. His expression did not change as he looked Katrina up and down, examining her, as if to see if she was up to his standards.
"Katrina, this is my husband Vegeta. Vegeta, this is Katrina, the girl I told you about." Vegeta just grunted and mumbled something about weak and that he was going to go and train some more. Bulma just rolled her eyes. Then she looked around, as if expecting to see someone.
"Bra, where's your brother gone off to?"
"He said he was going to Goten's really quick and that he'd be right back." Bulma sighed and looked somewhat frustrated. She motioned for Katrina to follow her and led her through the kitchen. Katrina noticed that their refrigerator looked rather large. They went up a flight of stairs and into what was going to be Katrina's room for a while. It was a nice sized room. It had a TV, telephone, and computer in it. A window was on the opposite end of the room from the entrance they were standing in. There was a dresser on one side of the window, and a bed on the other. The computer was on the opposite wall of the bed and was sitting on a desk along with the telephone. The television was on it's own little nightstand next to the desk. A few feet away, there was a door, leading to a bathroom complete with bathtub and shower.
"Here's where you'll be staying. My room is down the hall a ways and to the left. Bra's room is down the other way," she motioned to the right, "and on the right side of the hallway. My son, who's decided to go off with Goten and do Kami knows what, is named Trunks and his room is right next to yours. But I told him that if he bothers you too much, or plays any pranks he'll have hell to pay."
Bulma left Katrina to unpack her stuff. It didn't take very long for her to put everything away; it wasn't like she had that many things. Katrina wondered how she'd get the money to buy the things she needed, but figured that either she'd get a job, or that Bulma would give her a hand. She decided to play on the computer a little bit. She found it was connected to the Internet and started looking for places nearby that had a bargain on clothes she liked. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw two figures land in the backyard. But that was ridiculous, people can't fly all by themselves.
"Just where do you think you're going," an angry Bulma yelled. Hmm, her son must be home, Katrina thought. She logged off and went downstairs to go see who he was.
"Awww mom, I wasn't gone that long," a voice pleaded.
"I told you we had a guest coming today," Bulma roared.
"He just forgot, he is sorry though. When he remembered, he flew back as fast as he could," another voice chimed in.
"Fine! But next time, I'll get your father to handle it!" Katrina had finally reached the last step. There were two boys standing next to each other, across from a very angry looking Bulma. Both were slightly taller than Katrina was; she came up to their chins. One had purple hair; the other had black hair. Bulma saw Katrina, and her face softened slightly.
"Oh, there you are Katrina. This is my son Trunks," she motioned to the purple haired boy, "and his friend Goten."
"Hi," they both said. Katrina looked at Goten, and then at Trunks. Wow, she thought, his eyes are very blue.
"I'll bet you guys are all hungry for some hamburgers," Bulma said, the boys' heads snapped in her direction at the mention of food,
"Why don't you guys hang out for a while, and I'll come get you when the food's ready." The duo nodded their heads and walked over to Katrina. They told her to come on, and she followed them into Trunks' room. Goten shut the door and sighed.
"Man, I thought you were in for it Trunks, she looked really pissed."
"Yeah, thanks for helpin' me out though." The two boys looked at Katrina, as if they had just now noticed that she existed. She felt uncomfortable with them starring at her like that. She wanted them to stop. Stop looking at her like she was a freak. She couldn't help that she was in the tank. Why were they doing this to her? She looked out the glass at the people in white coats. They were saying something she couldn't hear. Of course, with so much stuff sticking out of your body, it was hard to concentrate on anything else. She heard something shatter in the background, and then a red light went of. A bell sounded and a voice came over the intercom shouting something about a security breach.
"Hey..." a voice snapped her back to reality, "are you okay, Katrina," it was Trunks. He looked a little concerned. Goten was looking worriedly at her too.
"Yeah...I'm fine. Sorry, I just sorta blanked out. It's probably because of all the changes that've happened in such a short time," Katrina lied, "It's all a bit overwhelming for me." For now, the lie seemed to work. Trunks and Goten just nodded their heads. "Yeah, I can see that," said Goten, "I mean, being in the hospital for a while, then coming to live here, and meeting Vegeta..."
Trunks smirked at Goten. "You know, my dad isn't that bad once you get to know him. He's just a little..."
"Scary? Antisocial? Insane?" Katrina laughed. It felt very good to do that again. She liked these two boys. They seemed to be really good friends. Like they had been through a lot together. Of course, Katrina had no idea how much.
'Ahhh, so you can laugh' Goten thought.
"So tell me, you have met Vegeta right," Goten questioned.
"Yes, I have. He seemed a bit... high strung to me. Does he ever relax?" It was the boys' turn to laugh.
"So, Katrina, my mom didn't tell me much about you, other than they found you and took you to the hospital. Why didn't your parents come and get you, are they okay?" inquired Trunks.
"No... I mean...I don't know. I don't remember anything from before walking down the street. I don't know where my family is, or even if I have one for that matter."
"Oh," Trunks fell silent for a few moments.
"Hey guys, the food is ready!"
The two boys jumped up and ran faster than Katrina thought humanly possible toward the food. She went downstairs and saw everyone gathered around the table and already eating. There were about thirty hamburgers and three bags worth of french fries. The most amazing part about this was that the guys were eating every bit of it. It wasn't human, the way they could pack away so much food. Bulma and Bra sat there, like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. She must have had a look of sorts on her face because Bulma motioned for Katrina to sit down next to her.
"It's because they're saya-jins," Bulma said plainly.
"There what?"
"Saya-jins," Bulma repeated.
"You mean, they're not human?"
"Nope."
"But..."
"Let me explain..." Katrina didn't eat much during that lunch. She was too busy listening to Bulma explain all about the saya-jin race. Occasionally, Vegeta would correct her some of the details, but he was mostly busy with eating.
"So that's about it. They're a warrior race. Trunks, Goten, Bra, Gohan, and Pan are all hybrids. Saya-jin and human genes mixed together."
"And, your husband is the prince?"
"Yes, but his ego is big enough as it is, so I wouldn't mention it around him."
"I heard that woman!"
"And what exactly do you plan to do about it?" Vegeta scowled and finished up eating. Once everyone was done, they cleaned up (all except for Vegeta, he'd gone back to training) and went back to...whatever it was they were doing. Trunks, Goten and Katrina hung out for a few more hours. They didn't really talk about anything in particular. Soon it was dark outside, and Goten had to go home.
"Want to come with," Trunks questioned.
"Sure, how long will it take?"
"Oh, only a little while."
"Okay, so, where's the air car?"
"Car? Oh that's right- um, we don't need cars."
"Why not, what are you gonna do, fly to his house?" Trunks and Goten just looked at her and smiled.
"No way. You guys fly too?"
"Yeah, I thought my mother told you all about us."
"Yeah, she said you're a warrior race and that you could make ki blasts and other stuff, but she forgot to mention that you could fly."
"So can you?"
"Can I what, fly? No way, I never thought it was possible."
"Then come here." Katrina walked over to Trunks and he put her arms around his neck and picked her up. Katrina held on tightly and the three lifted off. It was an experience Katrina would never forget. The wind flew past them as they went on at break neck speed. She smiled and hugged Trunks closer, afraid that she might fall. She didn't notice but Trunks was blushing slightly. Goten, however, did and began to crack up. After a little bit, they arrived at the San house. Chi Chi came out and greeted the two boys, but stopped when she saw Katrina.
"Who's this," she asked.
"Oh, mom, this is Katrina, she'll be living with Trunks' family for a while."
"Oh, nice to meet you."
"Hi," Katrina said sheepishly.
"Hey mom, where's dad?" Chi Chi went scarlet at the mention of Goku.
"Oh that bum! He ate a huge lunch then said that he and Piccolo were going to go and train. But did he think for one moment who was going to have to clean up? Does he ever! Uugghhh! Your father makes me so mad!" Goten led his fuming mother inside and then said his good-byes to Katrina and Trunks, who then made their way home. When they arrived back at Capsule Corp. Trunks let a shaky Katrina down.
"That was the best experience I've ever had," She looked at Trunks and smiled, "Thank you."
"No problem."
When Katrina went to bed that night she kept going over the last part of the day. The way the wind felt going past her. How the ground looked as they sped past it. And his eyes. Trunks' eyes had held most of her attention during the flight. They were so...blue. There was always such a warm and caring feel to them. Every time she looked into them she had to smile. And...
"And maybe you should go to sleep," she said aloud to herself.
The next two months were fairly uneventful. The only thing that happened was the all-girls shopping excursion. Chi Chi, Videl, Pan, 18, Marron, Bulma, Bra, and Katrina all went shopping for a new wardrobe. She had a lot of fun, and met some new people. All day long they tried on outfits and talked. They came home exhausted, but happy. Goten would drop by a lot, or Trunks would go over to his house. Though they asked Katrina to come with, she usually declined saying that she was tired, or not feeling well. They'd always just shrug and go off to do...whatever it was they did. She always felt like a third wheel with those two. They would talk to her, but so far their friendship hadn't progressed much farther than what it had been the first day she came to live with the Briefs family.
She and Vegeta had reached an unspoken agreement. She left him alone, and he left her alone. Both seemed satisfied with the arrangement.
Katrina had become Bra's favorite playtime buddy. She wasn't afraid to play with dolls and was only a little reluctant to the occasional tea party. One thing Katrina was good at was playing dress-up. Bra's hair was long and easy to style. She was the little sister Katrina never had, or couldn't remember, and she treated her like one. The only exception was that they didn't fight like sisters do.
The only unusual thing that happened was the monthly blood sample Bulma would take and analyze. She said it was to make sure Katrina was in good health. Bulma was a scientist, and probably knew what she was doing, so Katrina didn't question it.
One morning Katrina woke up late, at about eleven a.m. No one seemed to be home. Katrina checked in the gravity chambers, the science wing, and the rest of the house, but no one was there. She checked in Bulma's room, and Bra's room, no one was to be found. She opened the door to Trunks' room and saw him sprawled out on the bed sleeping. She stifled a laugh as she noticed his blue Scooby-Doo boxers. She also noticed how nicely built his body was. 'Very nice' she thought. She went over to his bedside and poked him. No response. So, she poked him again, this time a little harder. Still no response. A little bit frustrated with how soundly the teen slept, she shook him. This time, she got a response. Trunks, startled by the sudden awakening, jumped up and fell on the floor in front of Katrina in a heap, along with all the sheets. His hair was messy, and his eyes were still only half-open. He looked up at the person who had awoken him, and his eyes widened a bit as he realized who it was.
"Oh," he yawned, " It's you, wadda u ant," he said as he tried (and failed) to discourage another yawn.
"Where is everybody?"
"Oh yeah, well, mom woke me up at seven to tell me they were going out for the day and that they'd be back sometime tonight. I'd go over to Goten's, but he's sick... Hey, what time is it?"
"Eleven thirty."
"Mmmm...Okay then." He stifled yet another yawn, "Why don't you go downstairs and let me get dressed, then I'll make us some lunch."
"Okay," Katrina walked over to the door; right before she left she looked back over at Trunks,
"Hey Trunks?"
"Hmmm?"
"Nice boxers." Trunks' face went bright red as Katrina closed the door and went downstairs with a grin spread across her face.
After they had eaten lunch, Katrina decided that she had been in her purple dragonfly pajamas long enough, and went upstairs to get changed. She took a quick shower and wore a semi-tight dark blue T-shirt with a regular pair of blue jeans. She looked for her hair tie and realized she had left it in one of the rooms down the science hall when she was looking for people earlier that morning. She walked pass Trunks, who was watching TV, and down to the room she had left the hair tie in. She didn't know it, but he had noticed her and followed silently a few feet behind. Katrina finally found the room it was in. Her hair tie lay innocently on the table, forgotten by its owner. Katrina picked it up and her hand was pricked by something. It was a needle. Suddenly, Katrina was no longer in the science room at Capsule Corp.
"No, not again," She cried while squeezing her eyes shut and covering her ears.
She was trying to get the images that were flashing in her head to go away. Her memories were coming back to haunt her once more... She was on a bed, but couldn't get up. The restraints on her wrists and ankles made sure of that. She wanted to get up but couldn't, she was struggling with all her might. A person in a white lab coat came up to her and another held her arm down as they injected something into her with a needle. Her arm recoiled as the sharp point pricked and entered her skin.
"Why are you doing this to me," she shouted at the people around her,
"Leave me alo- Aahhh!" She squirmed as the needle penetrated the skin on her other arm. They started to lift up her gown, exposing the upper portion of her leg to repeat the procedure they had done to her arms, which felt tingly from whatever it was they had managed to do. One of the scientists had come up right beside her. She reached her arm up, and was a little surprised to see the strap no longer restrained her arm. Reacting quickly to this newfound advantage, she grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt.
"No," she hissed, "I won't let you mess with my body."
"What? Katrina, snap out of it!"
"Uhn..." she looked closer at the scientists face, it was Trunks, "Wha...What?" She looked at her surroundings and found she was back in the science room at Capsule Corp. She was lying in Trunks' lap, and she was grasping his collar.
"Trunks..." she began, and her eyes filled with tears. She hated herself for them, but couldn't stop them from flowing from her eyes. Nor could she control the small pathetic sobs that came from deep within her.
"It's okay... it's okay..." he said soothingly as he sat there and hugged Katrina. He had no idea what had just happened, but knew that it scared him and that he didn't want I to happen to her again. After a short time, Katrina's tears dried up, and the sobs subsided to a slight whimper, then were gone.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him. "What happened?"
"
I don't know. It's happened twice before. Once when I first met your mom, and then again when I blanked out in your room; when you and Goten were starring at me."
"Well, what do you think it is?"
"I think that it's my memories coming back to me. Something triggers them sporadically. But... none of my memories have ever been that violent."
"Yeah, you went nuts. First you said something about 'not again' and fell to the ground. I caught you before you landed, but then you started struggling."
"And then?"
"Then you asked me why I was doing this to you. You grabbed my shirt collar and finally seemed to snap out of it... what did you see anyway?" A chill ran down Katrina's spine. What did she see?
"I was tied down in a bed. These men... I guess they were scientists, were injecting things into my arms and legs. They were saying...something...but I couldn't make out what it was. It just doesn't, doesn't make any sense! Why would I remember something like that! What the hell happened to me! Why can't I remember!"
Trunks and Katrina flinched as all the glass in the room shattered. The needle that pricked her completely melted, and a science textbook came bursting out of a locked drawer, flew across the room, hit the wall, and fell lifelessly on the ground. The two teens looked at each other with wide eyes, and promptly left the room. Trunks fixed a very shaken Katrina a small snack and then told her to go and watch some TV while he went to go clean up the mess in the science room.
"No, I'll go with you," she said.
"No you're not. I don't want you to have another...whatever it was that happened to you last time."
"Trunks, it was a momentary thing. I don't think it'll happen again-"
"So what happens if it does? I was terrified that you were hurt. I didn't know what I was going to do if you had broken something -or worse..." Trunks' blue eyes were intense with emotion as they pierced into Katrina. She had no idea he cared at all for her. Still, she wanted to help him; she felt like the shattering glass was her fault.
"Trunks...I'm a big girl. I can handle it, it won't happen again I promise, but you have got to trust me, now let me help you."
"Mmmmm..." Trunks sighed, "Fine, but you really had me scared there for a moment. I don't want you to go through that again." Without realizing it, Trunks had taken Katrina's hand into his as he spoke. Once he realized what he had done, he quickly let go and headed down to the lab, with Katrina at his heals. They grabbed brooms and a dustpan on their way, and the two managed to clean up all the glass in about half an hour. They pondered for a bit on how to get the melted needle off the science table. After scrapping at it, poking it, and even firing a small ki blast at it in frustration, it remained there. A rock hard blob on the otherwise neat little table.
"Guess we'll just have to cover it up," Trunks finally said.
"Yeah, but with what?" "Well, how about with that text book that flew out of the drawer?" Katrina looked down at the desk, and noticed a rather large hole that was in one of the drawers toward the bottom. When she tried to open it, she found it to be locked. Not that it made much difference; the hole made it easy to peer in and see the little diskette and videotape in there.
"Ummmm... I don't think the book flew out of this thing so much as it busted out," she commented as she showed her finding to Trunks.
"Well where did it land," he asked no one in particular as he scanned the room, "Ah here it is." He found it in a far corner of the room; no glassware was by it, which is probably why they hadn't noticed it before. It was your average sized book, wasn't too thick either. The navy blue covering on it had the words Experimentation on Psychic Abilities on the front in small yellow letters. Trunks opened the book up and began to read silently:
Over the past several Years, Certain threats have overtaken the earth. While the military has attempted to stop these occurrences with their formidable manpower and technology, they have fallen short every time. Small footage clips from the encounter with the android known only as Cell have been analyzed by top government scientists, and it has been concluded that the power that Cell had was in fact a reality. It was also concluded that the power contained within Cell was more than ever thought imaginable to put into a single being. While the military is still investigating how Dr. Gero could have accomplished such a feat, his long sought after laboratory has yet to be found by intelligence agents...
"Hey Trunks," Katrina cut in. Trunks stopped reading and snapped the book closed. Why would his mom have something like that in her lab?
"What's wrong with you Trunks?"
"It's nothing, I'm just tired is all. Here," He said placing the book on top of the melted needle, "This should do the trick."
"But what if Bulma still sees it, will she still be mad?"
"I don't think she comes in here that often. She usually hangs out in the room with all the electronic stuff. She likes to tinker around with robotics. You know, she's the one that made the androids that my father and I train with."
"Oh." Trunks looked at Katrina and sighed. "Wanna go somewhere?"
"Where?"
"I don't know, anywhere but here. I don't like how it feels in this room."
"Sure," answered Katrina. She wasn't exactly fond of the room either. They ended up going to a nearby park and just sort of walked around. They talked about everything imaginable. They found out a lot about each other. As the day went on they got some ice cream and sat down on a bench to watch the other people roam around.
"Hey Trunks?"
"Hmmm?"
"When you fly, how do you do it?"
"..." Trunks just shrugged, "I never really think about it, it's just something I do."
"Do you think I could?"
"Yes..." Trunks said carefully, "but it's not an easy thing to learn for humans."
"Oh, and what's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that what's easy for saya-jins to learn may not be easy for humans to learn also."
"So will you still teach me?"
"...Sure." Katrina smiled and hugged Trunks, who was caught of guard, so he almost choked on his last bit of ice cream. Fortunately for him, he just ended up swallowing a bit more than he wanted to.
"When do we start?"
"Well, you gotta give me a while, I have to figure out a way to teach you how to..."he trailed off as he started thinking. He just sort of sat there, going through each step of the flying process. Katrina watched the kids play. It was getting near dark and Katrina turned and gave Trunks a little shove.
"Look."
"At what?"
"The sunset..."
It was as if the sun was setting the sky on fire. The sun was a ball of orange fire that turned to red, which melted into pink and finally cooled into a purple blue color. It looked like a picture. Katrina still hadn't let go of Trunks' arm as she took in the scenery.
"Katrina?"
She looked over at Trunks who was giving her a look she hadn't seen before on his face. It wasn't anger, wasn't sadness, it was happy almost, but she couldn't put her finger on it...what was it? Their faces leaned in closer together. Katrina's heart raced. What in the world was she doing? She was his friend; she only had gotten to know him well today. But it was right, her whole mind and body were screaming at her that it was. Just kiss him, she thought. She could feel his slow breath on her... he was so close. Just let it happen she thought all this suspense was making her nervous.
Just let it...