"Your father," Bulma started as she placed plates on the table for dinner, "Is an egotistical, argumentative, stubborn, arrogant jerk who simply has to look at someone to scare them away with his ugly mug."

'Gohan is wrong,' Trunks thought to himself as he stared at his mother with disbelief. 'No one likes my dad.' Trunks sat down and listened to his mom rant about his father. His confidence in his father seemed to diminish after every single insult directed towards his dad. He even gave up writing in his little note pad of information because he was only getting the same answer from everyone else.

As Bulma went on, no one knew that Vegeta simply stood on the other side of the wall, listening to his own mate talk about him. Usually, he never cared about people's opinion about him, but for some reason hearing his own mate say the very things other people say seems to hurt. It angered him so much that he felt like retaliating just to piss her off. What pissed him off even more was that he was even pissed off in the first place. It was almost dinner time, but he couldn't even stand to see her at the moment. He turned around and walked away, refusing to listen to everything else.

Bulma walked up to her and Vegeta's bedroom, wondering why he wasn't at the dinner table earlier. She had sent Trunks to look for him, only to have him come back hungry and alone. So she, he, and her parents ate together. The empty seat at the head of table made things a little awkward.

She entered her room and the first thing she noticed was an empty bed, neatly fixed, meaning that no one had rested in the bed at all today, which also meant that Vegeta hadn't been here.

Confused, she went looking for him around the house. Capsule Corps was a humongous building, and she knew it would take her a while. Luckily for her, she saw light peaking under from a door to a guest room. She knew everyone else was in their room, so she figured Vegeta would be in here. As she reached the door, she realized this was his old room before they started sleeping together.

"Vegeta?" she called as she knocked on the door. She didn't hear anything from him. "Vegeta?" she called a second time, worried about this. Ever since he had moved into her room, it was weird to see him in any other.

She opened the door and saw him simply lying on his old bed, arms resting under his head, and his legs spread out. He didn't even look at her, but was staring at the ceiling. In his eyes, she saw anger. Pouting sadly, she sat at the edge of the bed, only to be surprised to see him roll on his side, turning his back to her.

"What's wrong, hun?" she asked hesitantly, fearing that maybe her presence wasn't wanted. She placed her hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off.

"Leave me." He simply said. It was curt and cold. Such a short reply seemed to hurt her though.

"Did I do something?" Bulma continued as she hovered over him, trying to see his face.

"I just want some privacy."

Bulma sighed. She was getting irritated already. It's as if she was dealing with a stubborn child who wanted to be left alone because he didn't get want he wanted.

"Will you stop doing this already?" Bulma said. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I said…leave…me…alone…," he said slowly, each word dripping with venom and anger…and a tint of...hatred…?

"Ok, Vegeta. You're aggravating me. Tell me what's wrong already and I'll leave you alone, ok?"

His next reaction was so unexpected and scary, that Bulma had fallen off the bed onto her bottom.

He had propped himself up on his elbows, glaring at her with anger and disgust. "I SAID GO AWAY!" he yelled at her, shaking the walls around them. His teeth gritted against each other, the muscle in his jaw twitched.

Bulma looked up at him with fear, confusion…and pain. She jumped up seconds later, running out the room as she wiped her tears away. Vegeta watched her running form, her back hunched over, her arms to her face…He almost felt a little guilty but then he remembered everything she had said and knew she didn't have feelings for him anyway.

He covered himself with his blanket with vicious movements, as if he was pissed off by the bed. He tried to go to sleep, but the tears in her eyes ran through his mind, refusing to let him go to sleep.

Trunks had heard his father scream at his mother. He screaming at her, or her screaming at him was usual to Trunks, even embarrassing, but this time…it was different. Their arguments were usually filled with anger, and they were usually about something small or not…threatening to their relationship. He figured they loved each other too much that they felt their relationship was strong enough to withstand anything.

But this…this wasn't even an argument. It only consisted of Vegeta yelling at Bulma, but Bulma had not fired back, which she usually did. She hadn't this time, and to Trunks, he knew it must have been something serious.

He looked down at his paper, wondering if he should even bother writing anymore. Maybe he should just take the "F" for the assignment; it won't hurt his class grade too much; it might just bring it down to a B. But he was almost done anyway, and he felt so proud of himself for even writing what he wrote.

'Tomorrow,' he thought as he continued writing his conclusion, 'tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.'

Everything was not, in fact, back to normal. Trunks realized that when he ran into his house, holding up his graded paper. He looked around his big house for his parents so he could show them his grade. He had gotten an A+!!

"Mom! Mom!" Trunks called, the happy grin on his face not once leaving his face. He found her in a balcony, sipping some tea as she looked at her view of the city. She looked at him when he reached her, holding the paper to her face.

Laughing a bit, she took the paper and smiled, but Trunks realized that the smile was weak and almost regretful, but she didn't say anything but a "good job" and a pat on the back before returning to what she had been doing earlier.

Confused, Trunks asked, "Something the matter?"

She didn't even look at him, but she shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Trunks decided to leave her alone. She was in a fragile state and anything could make her explode. He knew that, so he walked away, wondering if he should show his dad the grade. But then he knew that he wasn't interested. Trunks instead began looking for his grand parents instead. They were excited about anything Trunks had to say, so he knew his grade would make them happy.

Vegeta was in his room, changing into some house clothes after his shower, when he heard voices outside. They were the voices of his son, and the parents of Bulma.

Curious, he walked to the door and slightly opened to hear them.

"An A+, eh?" the old man said with a chuckle. "That's a good job, my boy."

"Oh, Trunks!" the bubbly older woman said. "I knew you were so smart! I mean, you shouldn't have to even do a make-up in the first place, but this is great! Your father would be so proud!"

Vegeta watched his son's good mood falter a bit as the little boy took his paper back. "I don't think he would want to read this," he said regretfully.

'Of course not,' Vegeta agreed in his thoughts as he closed the door and walked to his bed, cutting out the conversation, 'who wants to read about something meant to insult him?'

This time, Vegeta ate at the table, gobbling all the good food, not once looking at anyone at the table.

Trunks was probably the only one who noticed that his parents had not looked at each other once. His father seemed so busy with his food, while his mother was in a deep conversation with her parents. Usually, she would say at least one thing to him, but she didn't even so much as look at him.

Such scene made him lose his appetite. He knew something was up. Suddenly, he remembered some kids talking in his class a while back…

"Yeah, that's how it happens," one said, "First they start to argue…then they avoid each other…and then--BAM! They have a divorce."

"Yeah," another agreed, "I know by experience. My parents had a divorce."

"Really?" a girl asked. "Is that how it happens for everyone?"

"Yup." The first boy said.

"That's not true." Trunks cut in, looking bored. "My parents argue all the time, but they don't plan on having a divorce anytime soon…or ever for that matter."

"That's what I said about my parents," the second boy replied, "But they did. Arguments usually result in a divorce."

Trunks laughed insultingly, "That's stupid. Not all relationships are perfect. My parents will never have a divorce."

"That's because your parents aren't even married in the first place!"

Gasps erupted from the little group of children as they whispered furiously to each other, glancing at Trunks. He looked at all of them with anger. "What makes you think that?!" he argued.

"If they are, how come they don't hold hands?!" another girl asked in a nasty voice.

"They don't have to be glued together!" Trunks said, hoping to avoid letting them know that his parents are indeed not married.

"I saw them once!" another boy added. "Not only were they not holding hands, but they weren't wearing wedding rings!"

More gasps. "Trunks is a bastard?" This time Trunks didn't know who that came from. He was growing furious.

"Those things are usual, aren't they?" another said.

"Yeah, I think they're everywhere, but I've never seen one before. Wow! They look like everyone else!"

"Haha, and who knew that we'd have one in our own class!"

"Trunks is a bastard!"

"Bastard!"

"Shut up!" Trunks cried, but no one listened. "Shut up or I'll beat you all up!!"

And that's exactly what he did. He was suspended for a week when he was caught. Teachers came in time to see Trunks reach for a seventh boy, while six others lay on the ground, crying or unconscious. The girls, on the other hand, were squished in the corner, terrified by Trunks' rage.

Vegeta had to come pick him up this time because Bulma was in an important meeting. As they were leaving the building, Trunks overheard one of the kids say, "Hey, he's right. Trunks' dad isn't wearing a wedding ring."

He looked at his parents, and then at their hands. Bulma was resting her head on her left hand, and he didn't see a wedding ring. He turned to look at his father's, and saw his left hand, which held up a chicken leg, and saw no wedding ring either.

"Bastard!"

"SHUT UP!" Trunks cried out as he slammed his fists on the table. Belatedly, he realized he had said it out loud. Even Vegeta looked surprised. Trunks' eyes darted from one adult to the other with panic. Suddenly, tears weld up in his eyes. "Mom! Dad! Are you guys ever going to get married?"

"T-Trunks?" Bulma glanced awkwardly at Vegeta, then to her parents, as she slowly began to stand

But Trunks didn't wait for an answer. He then looked at his dad. "Is it because you two argue so much that you two won't marry?"

"Did something happen, Trunks?" Mrs. Briefs asked as she neared her upset grandson. She, too, was at the verge of crying simply by looking at how distraught Trunks looked.

He looked at her as she held him in her arms. "Is it possible for two people to get a divorce when they aren't even married?" he asked her, but without waiting, he pushed her away softly and ran upstairs to his room.

To be continued.