C-7 It Never Ends
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Goten said as he rubbed the back of his head and looked at his very angry looking niece. "I didn't do anything!"
"No, but that idiot Trunks did and you two are best friends!" Pan snapped. He looked like she was about to hit him again.
"Then why don't you go hit him!" Goten said moving a little bit away from the powder keg.
"I am to mad at him right now!" She said and then stormed out of the room.
What the hell was that about?
................
Gohan watched his daughter storm through the house. He thought of asking what was wrong, when she charged up to Goten and smacked him rather hard.
What did Trunks do to upset her so much?
He had never seen her look so angry, as she stormed past him up to her room. Videl had mentioned something about her hanging up on Trunks earlier.
What did he do to his little girl?
He knew that she could take care of herself. He knew that, very well. She was a very strong girl, both mentally and physically. What could be upsetting her so much now?
The last couple of days had been full of turmoil, with Soyna in her state of fury and Junior no longer coming over to help Goten with his homework. He could see Goten trying hard to study. He was trying to understand the problems and he was too proud to ask his older brother for help. He also looked quite sad. He probably tried talking to Junior again. Goten still wore that bandanna around his neck, to hide the scar. He wouldn't admit if it hurt.
There was a loud bang upstairs and the sound of Pan giving out a frustrated scream. "FRY!"
Gohan sighed. They found the last of the glue now.
...............
Trunks banged his head against the desk. He had said all that and right in front of her kid too.
He was such a dead man now.
She didn't seem too angry with him, then, but he was sure it would come back to haunt him. Big time.
But whatever had possessed him to say such things while Legen was there? The kid worried about everything so much as it was, it was just not right of him to have done that.
And when dad finds out!
"Stupid. Stupid." He chanted and hit his head against the desk.
"What the hell is your problem?"
He looked up to see his dad standing in the doorway. He looked extra grumpy and tired. He had been the one that had been watching Soyna and trying to keep her under control. He was the one that would drag her back into the house after she exhausted herself. He was the one that sat in the chair beside her bed and slept while keeping and eye on her. He couldn't believe that it was his father doing those things. They had all told him that she was very over protective, even more than he had been of Bra, with Soyna. He didn't really see it until this last week.
"Nothing," Trunks said.
He saw his father's eyes narrow. Gohan had told him story's of what is father was like before and how much he had changed since his coming to earth. He was young then and didn't really believe that his father could be all that evil. I mean, he was his father after all. But then, he had seen the other side of his father a time or two since then. He looked like he did now. Angry, mean, and ready for a fight.
His father made a non-committal sound and walked away.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Maybe he should move out? But where would he go? He didn't want to live downtown. Too many people, he could never fly if he were late, like he does now. Then he would have to worry about...
He shook the thought out of his head. He had other things to worry about that were much more pressing! The problem was, he didn't have a clue what he was going to do about it.
..................
"But mom," Legen said as she put on a sweater over her t-shirt. "You told Vegeta that you weren't leaving."
"I am not going out to train," she said as she squeezed the cast into the sleeve.
"Then can I go with you?" He said. He didn't know how to fly but he didn't really trust his mom to go on her own. She still looked so tried. "Please! Please mom. I won't be a burden." He especially didn't want her to go into a fury out in the middle of nowhere. He was quite surprised that mom wasn't mad at Trunks and the comment she made, just confused him. He expected half the kitchen to be gone after he left but she had just sighed, nibbled at her food in silence and then started to get dressed to go out.
She sighed and looked at him.
That was a yes sigh!
"I'll go get my jacket!"
He loved to fly with his mother. He didn't get to do it very often but when he did, it just felt great. She wasn't flying very fast and he knew that was because she was carrying him under her good arm. He loved how the wind felt in his face and how it whipped his hair around. He really wished he knew how to fly, but no one would teach him. He didn't dare ask Vegeta! Benot learned that mistake the hard way. Vegeta flew him up quite high and let him drop. Benot still didn't know how to fly.
They didn't go very far from the city.
They landed near a nice little stream that surrounded by trees and was alive with the sounds of birds. It was quite beautiful. "Wow! Do you come here often?" He asked as he looked into the clear stream.
"No." She said and sat beneath a tree. She looked distressed. Why was she upset?
"What's wrong mom?" he asked and went to stand in front of her.
"This place is just like it is in my time," she whispered and picked some grass and twirled it in her fingers. "It was one of the few untouched places that the androids didn't destroy."
She looked up at him with uncertainty in her eyes. He didn't like when she did that.
"Did I ever tell you how much you look like your father?" She said.
He shook his head. She seldom even talked of his father. He knew that he had died trying to save her and his uncle. He knew that she had loved him dearly because every time uncle would mention it, she would get upset.
"Uncle told me once," he said. What was she trying to say? Why were they here? This place seemed to be upsetting her more than being at the house had. Was it because he insisted on coming?
She gave a small smile. "Yes. I believe he did," she said and her eyes turning to the trees. It was as if were remembering things from a time that he never lived in. He wanted to know what she was thinking but didn't dare ask at the same time.
"This place is where I come to think about the part of the family I lost. My Father. My Mother. Your Father. I miss them a lot," she said.
Legen sat beside his mother. "It's not so bad here, is it?"
"No. Just different," she said. "You boy's are safer here than you ever would have been back then. You have proper schooling. You have so much more here. You have all that I never had. But you still don't have a father," her voice was soft. "That is the one thing that I wish I could give you."
What the hell was she saying? Legen gave her an odd look. "You could."
"What?" she said.
"You just have to find a boyfriend," Legen said. "Then you could get us a dad! One that is not grumpy like Vegeta or a nervous wreck like Trunks." He said. "You can date you know!"
There was a look of utter shock on his mother face. He smiled brightly at her. "Then you wouldn't be so lonely and then maybe your nightmares would stop!"
She gave out a rather unusual laugh! He was pleased to hear it. She messed his hair. "Silly kid. Let's go home now."
"Aw, but we just got here and it is nice here," Legen said with a wide grin. "Can't we stay a little while longer?"
"A little while, if you don't mention dating again."
"It's a good idea though mom. You can't spend your whole life just worrying about Benot and I. We will grow up. You need to find a guy that will look after you and make you happy," he said.
She shook her head. "You have been talking with your Oma."
"Well. You could look like a girl if you tired!" he said unaware of the glare his mother was now giving him. "If you didn't wear your fighting clothes all the time. I know guys look at you. When we went to the mall, there was a whole bunch ogling you! Didn't you see how upset Vegeta was with that one clerk, whom you were buying those boots from? I am sure you could find a nice guy that would be our dad."
Legen was quite surprised to feel his mother's hand over his mouth. He looked at her. "That is quite enough," she said with a smile. "I don't think I could go through that again."
What was that supposed to mean?
......................
Junior got home late. He forced himself to stay at the school and study and try not to think about the weekend. He was also a little scared to see what condition his sister was in. He was glad that the lawn bore no signs of a fight. That was good. The house was even quiet.
He walked in listening for any sign that his sister was still in a fury. It was quiet. He went up to her room and was grateful that she was there. She was sitting in her overstuffed chair going through the only thing they had from their time. The picture book that the OTHER Bulma had placed in the time capsule when they knew that they were going to have to escape.
She didn't look through it often. He knew that. It upset her a lot to see those pictures. It was bad enough that she thought about it all the time.
"Sis?" he said as he slowly entered the room. She looked up from the book. She looked mildly distressed, but nothing like how she looked when she was in a fury. She looked better. Tired, but better. "How are you feeling?"
She shrugged and looked back down at the book. Her fingers were tracing a picture. He approached her and looked at the one she was looking at. It was a picture of her when she was about 5, in the arms of a very proud father. She was all bruised and beat up looking, but she was beaming at her proud catch of a wild pig. Her first hunt. Her grin could not be bigger in the picture.
His father didn't change much from that time. His purple hair, not as vibrant as THIS time's counter part. There were streaks of gray throughout. The reason that his father kept his hair shorter than in his younger days.
She flipped the page to another picture that she was always fond of. It was a picture of her and Brennen. He looked at the picture and saw how much his sister seemed to age from that time. Her hair was a little shorter then, a little wilder, but she was so happy that day. She was sitting proudly beside him with such a wide grin and starry eyes. He was all of 6 and was sitting on her lap. It was also the only day that he ever saw her in a dress. It was her wedding picture. She didn't have a big white frilly dress, like Bra did at her wedding, but the simple white skirt and blouse was more than enough on his sister, who usually wore baggy clothes or her battle armor. He remembered how stunned dad was to see her in that dress. He couldn't believe that it was his daughter! He could hardly believe it was his sister. Even Brennen was shocked.
This little photo of her, with her hair in disarray from a night of dancing and drinking, her husband without his formal jacket and his suspenders down his waist and his tie loosened, with him on her lap in his best clothes that have gotten as mussed up as Brennen's, was her favorite for some reason. There were some that he preferred better, when they didn't look so rough. But she liked this one.
Her fingers traced the image of her former husband. He was a big man that had towered over her and even rivaled Dad in height. Most people were intimidated by that fact that he was so large, but Soyna was not one to be intimidated by anyone. They looked like an odd couple, with Soyna being so small, but then, if you knew Soyna, you knew better.
"Legen is going to turn out just like him," she said. She didn't look up. She just flipped to another picture. An older one. One of their mother holding her when she was a baby. She sure looked a lot like her. Dad was nervously sitting beside her, unsure of what being a father to a girl would be like. You could see the look on his face.
"He did save us, didn't he?" she said.
He knew she was referring to Brennen. "Yes, he did."
She closed the book and set it to the side of the chair. "Things would have worked out."
What brought all these thought on? "Sis?"
She looked up. "I am feeling sorry for myself again."
"Are you going to be okay?"
"I won't go into a fury again. I think I worried everyone enough and I can't fight with a bum arm," she said. "I'm not mad anymore."
He blinked, Soyna, not mad at someone? That certainly was odd. Especially with the recent shocking news. Not mad? "Are you sick?" He asked and touched her forehead. She shook his hand away.
"No," she said. "Nothing like that you fool!" she said and stood. "I got to prepare smarter. He won't come down and try to sell us salvation. He will come down in a different way. He will catch us by surprise. We got to minimize it."
He blinked at his sister.
"I will train harder. I will make the next level and I will destroy him," she said. "I won't loose this family."
She was more determined that ever.
She yawned, "I'm going to sleep now and I will begin my training tomorrow again."
"But you arm..."
"My arm is not the only thing to fight with," she said. "I am the big sister. I know what is best."
He sometimes wondered.
...................
Trunks darted back into his room. Eavesdropping was something that he was getting very good at, he wasn't proud of it, but it was invasive way of finding out information.
Soyna still didn't seem to be upset at him. He was a little scared about that. She was always hostile towards him and now, even after yelling at her in front of her kid, she didn't seem to care. It confused him.
He wished that he didn't get Pan mad at him. He wished he could talk to her.
.................
Bulma smiled.
It wasn't very often that she saw her husband like this. He had collapsed on the bed, with only one of his boots removed. He was still in his day clothes and snoring lightly.
It was adorable, she wished she had a camera handy.
She stared at him a bit. These were the times in which she didn't wonder why she fell in love with such an arrogant jerk.
"What woman?" he said groggily after awhile. He just opened one eye a slit. He gave no indication that he was planning on moving.
"Nothing," she said with a smile.
She liked the slight changes in him that happened since Soyna's arrival. He wasn't so harsh towards anyone. He was still Vegeta but there was a softer side that showed more often. She liked it. Soyna's own arrogance and pride compensated for it.
She turned and went to wash up for the evening. Upon her return, Vegeta was back asleep. He worried so much about Soyna at times. She was a big girl and was able to make her own decisions, but Vegeta sometimes coddled her too much. Encouraged her excessive training and her taste for vengeance. Something, that he could never have against those that hurt him in the past. Maybe that was why he allowed it. He would not allow his own daughter to learn to fight, but he did not even try to hinder Soyna once. She was still sometimes disturbed by a comment he had made about Soyna. She still didn't know if it was a good thing. She didn't know if she like the fact that Vegeta saw her as an equal. "She doesn't act like a silly sappy human, but like a true fully blooded Saiyian."
If that were the case, she was glad that there was only him left. A bunch of grumpy people with tails running around the universe was kind of scary.
She sighed.
Life was a lot easier when she didn't have to worry about Saiyian pride.
...................
Trunks went to the only place that he could think of to talk. His sister. He didn't want to talk to his little sister, but he couldn't talk to anyone else.
He confessed to her what he told Soyna. She just listened to him. When he looked at her, he wasn't sure how to read his sister's face.
"She didn't get mad at you?" she finally said.
He shook his head.
"And you said that right in front of Legen?"
He nodded.
Bra just looked at her distressed brother. He was truly upset and what he did but she could also see that he was leaving something out too. "You two have never really talked, have you?"
He shook his head.
"Maybe you should."
"How can I? Every time I go into the room, she leaves and then she gives me that icy stare. I usually clam up when I'm near her. She just makes me feel so uncomfortable!" He said, frustration creeping into his voice.
"I know," Bra said. "But you should really try harder. You shouldn't be so worried about hurting her. She is strong enough to take it. Prove to her that you aren't a wimp and she may respect you."
From the look on her brother's face, she could tell that the words weren't helping. She sighed. She had talked to Soyna about how cold she was towards him. She just shook her head and gave a cruel little laugh. "He is not my father. He doesn't act like him at all. He just runs to the office all the time to hide."
She knew that it was true.
"You are not helping," he growled. Sometimes he could sure act like dad.
"You came to me," she said. "What caused you to loose your temper? Bad day at the office?"
He straightened and stiffened. Oh, it was more than a bad day at the office? A girl? "I don't want to talk about it. I came to talk about Soyna."
Bra shook her head.
"What?" He snorted. "Don't you give me that look! That only works on dad!"
"Is it a girl?"
He twisted uncomfortably in the chair. Yep, it was a girl all right. She didn't know that Trunks was interested in anyone. She couldn't help but smile.
"It nothing like that!" he said. He stood. "I'll just go home. You're not being any help."
She laughed at her brother. "Don't run off Trunks. I won't ask any more questions. I promise!" She said. "I'll heat you something to eat. You look hungry."
She knew he was hungry. His stomach was growling quite fiercely. He hesitantly sat back down. "How can I say that I am sorry for all the stupid things I have been doing lately?" He looked so crushed.
................
He had left his sisters around ten and just flew around for awhile, hoping to beat off some of his frustration that was haunting him.
It didn't work.
He didn't think anyone would be awake when he walked into the house and was startled to see Soyna in the living room, in the chair that she usually claimed for her own. She was looking in a book.
She looked at him, but there wasn't that cold look in her eyes that was usually there to haunt him.
He wondered all over again what it would have been like to be her real father. What was it like watching her grow up into the woman that was so sad? Did he do that to her? Would he raise his own children differently that his OTHER self did?
She flipped the page in the book and looked back down. In a low voice, he heard her whisper, "I like this picture the best."
He slowly approached and looked over her shoulder at the photo album to see a picture of his OTHER self holding a beat up little girl that must have been Soyna.
..........
A.N. -- More hopefully coming soon!!!