Dragon Ball © Toriyama Akira, Shuheisha, Inc.
Chapter 10: The Door
When waiting for the time machine to garner enough energy to bring them back to the past, both Trunks and Tenten were doing their usual routines—training, aiding the Earthlings, and helping Bulma to work on her machines.
Half of the Earth population had gone since the first time the android began terrorising the Earth, and they only had a few to protect. It was rare for them to find a peaceful day where they could just go shopping to stock their foods or cook together—just like what they did at that moment. But the moment was even more special as both had their own special memories to be reminisced about …
The moment they met their fathers.
Even the memory of being hugged by her father could upturn the corner of Tenten's lips. She would sometimes smile without any reason at all, giggling at her father's comment regarding Bulma and her mother, and then let out an exhilarating sigh at the contentment of talking with her father.
"Otō-san …" Calling her father in real, and not only calling his name when she was telling stories made her feel special and privileged. The reason she could go through her days was the fact that she would meet her family altogether when they went back to the past and she couldn't wait for the day to come.
Would her father teach her a move or two? What would her other family think when they see her?
She let out a soft hum of her mother's lullaby as she cut the carrot, stopped at a moment to check her mother's recipe book just to make sure she had cut enough.
"15 carrots to serve four Saiyans. I think I've cut enough then." When she took the meat, she sensed Ki coming behind her and smiled as she knew who it was.
"You're smiling a lot recently."
Tenten responded with a smile. "Can't I?"
He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her waist from her back. "There's a risk of drawing me to you every time you do that."
"And risking yourself to get cut?" She snorted at his cheesy line as she pointed at the knife she was holding.
"I'm a swordsman, my lady. How a little knife can harm me?"
"That will depend on who's holding the knife, don't you think?" She finally put down her knife and turn her body around so she could face him. "Keep distracting me and dinner will never be served."
"I don't mind … I want this for my dinner" He leant closer to her to close the gap between them while she smiled as she closed her eyes to accept his invitation. Slowly, she put her arms behind his neck and tiptoed to meet his height.
"Hey, Tenten, what's for dinner?" came Bulma's voice as she approached the kitchen.
She quickly pushed him down to the floor without mercy and gracefully turned her body around, putting all the meat to the boiling water on the stove. "We're cooking Soya Sauce Chicken Stew, Bulma-san," she said, trying to stay composed. When Bulma peeked into the kitchen, Tenten was already busy with her cooking while Trunks was down on the floor, awkwardly wiping nothing from the floor.
"And… what does my son do to help you?" Bulma asked as she glared down at Trunks.
"Cleaning some spilt sauce," Trunks coolly answered.
Bulma rolled her eyes. "Cleaning some spilt sauce? Why every time I come to the kitchen that's always the thing you're doing? She's cooking for all of us! Try to make yourself useful!" Tenten pretended to be busy with her cooking, all the while stifling her laugh also her desire to see Trunks' priceless look at that moment.
"Yeah, I'm going to… uh… cut the potato now…" He took the cleaned potato and was about to cut it.
"A-ah! Peel the skin first!" Tenten quickly said.
"Right! Peel the skin first." Trunks forced a smile and showed her mother the potato. "I'm going to peel the potato skin. Peeling potato skin is fun!"
"Alright. Be a useful man and help her, okay? Call me when the dinner is ready."
"Aye, aye, Kā-san!"
After dinner, Tenten cleaned up the dishes while Trunks helped his mother check on the time machine. It was the most usual thing a half Saiyan like them could do, but they enjoyed every bit of peace they could have. She was stretching her body as she made her way to her room, decided to call it a day. However, Trunks had been waiting for her at the end of the stairs. She could only smile because he had made it a habit.
"Why do you have to send me to my own room every night?" she asked, walking beside him as they climbed the stairs together.
"Well, since we're living together, I can't send you home, right? So at least I have to send you to your room."
"Which is only beside yours?" Her lips tugged into a smirk.
He chuckled. "Tiger has to make sure that he'd scare his lady's nightmare out." Trunks put his arms around her and pulled her so he could rest his forehead on hers as she chuckled. He caressed her cheek with his thumb before slowly descending his head down to her until their lips met. Tenten smiled in between their kiss, slowly put her hand on his face, and returned his kiss. He kissed her slowly and deeply, wanting to convey every affection he held towards her. But every time he did that, she would slowly retract herself from him, just like what she did at that moment.
Then she would guiltily stare at him, caressing his cheek as if she wanted to say sorry.
"Good night, Tiger. I'll see you tomorrow…"
"Sweet dream, my lady… I…" He stopped and let out a small smile instead, then kissed her forehead. His eyes never left her as she entered her room and remained in front of the white door as if he could stare right into her room, watching what she was doing.
With his current strength, he could break any kind of door, hell, he could even destroy a building—a lot of building. But never the invisible door that separated him and Tenten. There was a door she would never let him reach, never let him marvel into. It was the door to her heart.
They might look like a happy teen couple that was so much in love… But the word itself had never been shared between them. They were just together because he wanted them to and she tried to make it work.
Things might be working differently, should she never lose her family…
Should she never lose the pillars that support her strength...
That day four years ago…
Fourteen years had passed since the androids began their attacks on the Earth. Fears had cloaked the world like it had replaced the oxygen because people were living like they could die any second. Some had accepted the fact and lived normally, but others were pushed into depression. Dead bodies sprawled untended became a normal sight. What remained of the once modern cities were nothing but debris.
The only good thing that came from the apocalypse was that the countries that used to have wars on each other were now realising that they had only one enemy altogether—the androids.
However, even with the uniting power, the Earthlings alone weren't enough to bring them down.
Hope had long deserted their hearts.
"Peppertown is experiencing the absolute worst of all terrors!"
"The Androids are running mad!"
Every time she changed the radio channel, the bad news kept screaming at her. Finally fed up with all the stress, Bulma turned off the radio in her hovercar.
"Those miserable Androids! They won't get away with this! I don't know what it is on their mind, killing their creator Dr. Gero, and all those innocent people, one after another! They're just a pair of monsters who takes pleasure in killing. Can't anything be done about them?" she said through gritted teeth.
Sitting beside her was her fourteen-year-old son, who was looking down to his feet while entwining his fingers together. Trunks Brief was divided between making sure his mother was getting home safely or diverting the android's attention away from the city. Glancing at his frowning mother, he took a deep breath as he made his decision. His mother wasn't going to be pleased with his request.
"Kā-san, would you go on home without me?"
Bulma stomped her foot with all her might to stop the car, making the hovercar shriek a sickening squeak before it completely stopped.
"Trunks, what are you thinking of doing?" Bulma's pupils dilated the moment she noticed how Trunks had tightened his knuckles until they turned white. "Trunks, you're not thinking …" She hadn't even had a chance to finish her sentence when her son briefly glanced at her before jumping from their car and flying away. "Trunks!"
It didn't take him long to arrive but the androids were nowhere to see. No matter how many times he had seen the city's wreckage, Trunks' hands were still trembling. He had to hold his hands together to stop them from shaking. He tried his best not to breathe too much because the smell of roasted flesh churned the content of his stomach.
Closing his eyes, he tried to detect Kis for any survivors, or any voice—anything for any signs of life.
There were none.
Trunks fell to his knees and spotted a bunny doll with an ear almost torn apart, lying on the floor. Whomever the owner was, he could imagine a kid, probably no older than four-year-old, and probably was no longer in this world.
And he could do nothing about it…
He bent his body down, as low as possible as he silently asked for forgiveness for being so weak and not strong enough to allow all of these happened under his watch.
When a familiar Ki approached his spot, he cracked his eyes open to see the remaining Son family, Gohan and Tenten. She knelt beside him and gave a light squeeze on his shoulder. Her presence was all the comfort he needed at that moment, but he was too emotional that he was on verge of shedding tears.
"Trunks, are you okay?" she asked with worry glinted in her onyx eyes.
He didn't respond to anything at first, handing the bunny doll to her. Biting his bottom lip, he turned his face away because he didn't want to show his tears in front of her.
"I c-couldn't save them…" he stammered. "I…"
Tenten pulled him into her embrace. "Shh… say no more," she whispered. "It's not your fault, okay? Let's bury their bodies properly. It's the least we can do for them." Trunks vaguely nodded and returned her embrace, tightening his hand around her shoulder.
Sadly enough, they were getting used to burying bodies. It was common to see children, even younger than them, burying the bodies of their loved ones. Because the number of death, for the first time in history, was more than the number of the world's population.
They prayed for the unnamed souls, the people they never get to know, so they could find happiness in the afterlife. After the burial, Tenten brought the ID cards she had collected before to the city memorial just so they weren't forgotten. Meanwhile, Gohan followed Trunks to his house to have a man talk about the recent occurrence. However, Trunks only listened to Gohan's words at first without really responding. Trunks spent his life training in shadow, making sure his mother knew nothing of it because she didn't want to lose him to the androids. However, his warrior had been boiling ever since he reached the Peppertown.
"Gohan-san…" he called Gohan when Gohan was about to go home.
"What is it, Trunks?"
"I want to train harder," he said. "I've enough of remaining useless every time the androids attack! I want to get stronger, Gohan-san! So please—" Trunks was down on both of his knees, "—please train me harder, Gohan-san!"
Gohan responded with a small smile. From that day on, his training to become a warrior had begun.
"Get angry! You must become angrier! Angry will make you a Super Saiyan!"
However, Trunks still didn't get how 'angry' he must be to achieve the form. He was angry, every time he reminisced the things the android had done to the world, he was angry. But that wasn't enough. That wasn't a wave of strong anger that would allow him to unleash his pure energy out.
Gohan watched his apprentice training from the back of the coconut tree because he thought Trunks might need some time to train alone. Trunks definitely had a great potential to be a great warrior. They only trained for several days but Trunks had already been so close to becoming a Super Saiyan when it took him years.
Glancing up, Gohan smiled even wider when he saw his sister flying in his direction. Tenten landed on the ground with a bag and hopped into his arms.
"Onii-san!" she squealed.
"Hey there, Tenten!" Gohan greeted her back.
"I made you and Trunks dinner. Please eat them while they're hot," she handed Gohan a bag that contained two packs of bento inside a small blue insulated thermal bag.
"Oh, what a great timing. I'm really hungry and I think Trunks must be too. Thanks a lot!" He took the bag and patted her head. "How's your training by the way? Is it true that you've managed to become a Super Saiyan yesterday?" Gohan deliberately said it loudly and it reached Trunks' ears.
The purple-haired boy quickly turned his head around and hid behind the tree to eavesdrop on the siblings. The fact that Tenten managed to master the form before he had pricked his pride.
"Yeah, I did," she sheepishly said.
"You might want to share advice or two to Trunks, maybe? About what triggered that strong anger so that you can change," Gohan tilted his head a little.
"Well, I… about that…" she cleared her throat. "I… rather not share anything about my way to achieve it."
"Why is that?"
"Because… it has something to do with women's thing?" she whispered the last part. Tenten was still ashamed of the fact that her period symptoms had played a big part in her transformation. It was the privilege none of the Saiyan men ever get.
"Oh…" Gohan chuckled. "I think Otō-san would be very amused to learn about that. I never thought that it could work that way." Gohan laughed really hard while Trunks who had been eavesdropping had no clue about the women's thing she mentioned. "No wonder you never need my advice in that department."
"But even if I did achieve the form, my strength will never match yours, Goten, or Trunks…" Tenten sat on the bench near the tree and stared right onto her palms. "I don't think it will do anything."
"Of course, you will! What are you saying?!" Gohan playfully slumped his hand and pulled Tenten to his body and tickled her side, making her laugh. "With your mysterious barrier and healing power, how could you say that?!" Tenten stopped laughing at the mention of her mysterious power. Ever since she was a child, it was always a mystery for her because she gained it neither from her father's side nor her mother's side.
"That too… I possess the power, but I don't know how to improve it," she said. Gohan sighed at this. He didn't know how to help her in that department himself. When she discovered these abilities, he had no one to ask to.
"But they're still useful and helped many people numerous times. Don't feel bad about it," Gohan said. "You can't say that you're not strong at all, Tenten. Sometimes strength isn't something you can measure by brute force alone. It is your desire to protect."
"Desire to protect?" Tenten repeated.
Gohan nodded. "So all you have to do is practice, practice, practice, and practice," Gohan said as he gently patted the back of her head every time he repeated his word.
"I will. Thank you, Onii-san!" She giggled. Trunks smiled as he watched her from the back of the tree. He always loved her sunny smile. It was his sun in the dark age they were living in. He crushed on her ever since they were kids and that feeling was only getting stronger day by day. Of course, it wasn't something Gohan didn't notice. The eldest Saiyan glanced at Trunks from the side of his eyes, then back to his sister.
"Say, Tenten… How do you feel about Trunks?" The question snapped Trunks out of his trance, lost his guard, and almost bumped on the tree if not he quickly kept his balance.
"Uh… why are you asking me this out of the blue?" Tenten creased her forehead a bit, then turned her head a bit to look at her back, but Gohan's arm kept her from it.
"Just asking. You never talk about romance so… I'm just wondering."
"He's…" Tenten entwined her fingers tightly, but tugged her lips in a confident smile, "not bad. I think he's quite nice too."
Gohan didn't miss her body language. He smiled and put his hand over her, striking another question to melt the situation.
"Then do you want to be his girlfriend?" Gohan snickered as he glanced at Trunks from the side of his eyes again. Trunks was blushing hard at the question. He wanted to run because he couldn't bear to hear her answer, but at the same time, he wanted to know as well.
"Maybe. If he becomes stronger than you are," she playfully answered.
Gohan chortled. "I don't think it will be long until he surpasses me."
"How do you know?"
"I'm his teacher, Tenten. I know him the best," Gohan proudly said.
"Well… we'll see about that," she said, shutting her eyes as she let her head rest on her brother's arm. Gohan used the chance to wink at Trunks, who was shocked to learn that Gohan knew that he was there all along. The two didn't know that Tenten knew that he was there as well.
"When he does surpass me, Tenten. Try to give him a chance, okay? I can assure you that he isn't as naughty as he was back when he was a kid."
Tenten gradually lost her smile and chose not to respond to her brother.
Because she didn't know whether or not would she truly accept his feeling when the time came…
AN: I know that Trunks had been able to become Super Saiyan long before Gohan's death in the History of the Future, but I decided to follow the OVA timeline for this. XD
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