Welcome to Boxer & Rice

Trunks woke and pain coursed throughout his whole body. He couldn’t even think straight as he stumbled out of his bed.

The purple haired prince reached the bathroom and didn’t bother with the light as he sank immediately to the ground, clutching his head. His thoughts were beginning to spin around his head now.

Slowly Trunks opened his crystal blue eyes, only to be met with blood dripping down his face from his hands.

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines he wrote a poem

The blood dripped dismally from his palms where he had clenched his fists too tight during the nightmare that had haunted him once more this night.

“I can’t take it anymore…” Trunks whispered, as he ran a tentative fore finger over the new cuts.

He slowly moved his finger further down his right hand and stopped at his wrist.

And he called it “Chops”
because it was the name of his dog
And that’s what it was all about

A scar ran ragged across his right wrist.

Trunks shut his eyes again, letting real tears streak down his pale face this time.

How he longed for the times when the scar didn’t exist. For the times when he didn’t need it to exist.

And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star

The one thing that his beloved Gohan had always admired about him was innocence. It was the fact that Trunks had never trained to kill the androids, he always trained to save the children’s lives that were threatened.

Trunks’s innocence had vanished a long time ago, though.

And his mother hung it on the door
and read it to his aunts

It really all had to do with the scar across his wrist. It was that scar that had taken his innocence but not his life.

His mother had been able to give him back the empty life he had been leading…but no matter what she had attempted, Trunks could never have love or innocence again.

That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And let them sing on the bus

Flashback

Trunks had woken and scarcely been able to move. The room he was in was familiar, it was part of his home after all. Knowing this, he groaned and shut his eyes again.

He had so wanted the androids to finish him off this time, his desire to live had dwindled to nothing.

And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair

He didn’t want to live his life anymore. Why couldn’t he be someone else? Someone with a perfect family, a sister, a father, a mother, in a perfect place untouched by this chaos. Why couldn’t his love still be alive? Why couldn’t he destroy the androids?

And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of Xs
and he had to ask his father what the Xs meant

Trunks leaned over in the bed, and picked up the scalpel that was lying so close to his bed. He fingered it gently and flinched as it cut into the skin of his thumb.

And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it

It was not the first time he had cut himself on any account. He had done it many times. The first had been right before he met Gohan to train. He had felt so useless, worthless, and alone in the world. He had just picked the razor up and slashed it across his upper left arm. Slowly he watched the blood well up and begin to pour out of his skin. He had watched it amazed, and then quietly without telling anyone, he had bandaged the tiny cut. No one had asked about it.

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem

Then, he had met Gohan and everything was okay again. He had never been so happy in his entire life. He and his love were going to avenge the world’s pain but things hadn’t worked out…

and called it “Autumn”
because that was the name of the season
And that’s what it was all about

The pain had filled his heart completely again. He couldn’t stand it. There was no way to free himself. So, again he had picked up a razor and cut himself, down his right wrist he cut. He had no intention of taking his life this time, for he had still believe that he could defeat the androids. Again the blood had poured out of the cut on his wrist but this time spots appeared in front of his vision.

And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly

This time he cried as he bandaged his wrist and wished more then ever for Gohan to be alive. Now, as he held the scalpel, he knew that Gohan wasn’t coming back, and that he couldn’t defeat the androids, so he intended to bring himself to Gohan.

And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint

But as he began to drag the scalpel across his wrist, praying for death, his mother intruded. She began to cry as she saw his blood falling to the floor.

“Why Trunks?” Bulma whispered as she tried to help her injured son.

And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes

When Trunks told her what he knew to be the truth, she cried more as she tended to the gash he had created on his wrist. His blood began to mix with her tears as she cried harder seeing his other scars.

That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames

“I want to help you see what I believe to be the truth…” Bulma had whispered as she hugged her son. “Go to the past…see your father…see your love…see Goku…see the truth, Trunks.”

And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot

Present

So Trunks had come but when the threat arose, his feelings of being no help arose again. His father cared little for him and Gohan… Gohan was a child.

And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it

As Trunks stood in front of the mirror, the want and need to hurt himself set in again. No matter how many times he told himself not to, he always would in the end. So, Trunks did the only thing he could. He seized the razor.

Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem

Trunks held it carefully as he began to pull it across his silky skin. The blood began to fall again and so did Trunks’s tears.

And he called it “Innocence: A Question”
because that was the question about his girl
And that’s what was all about

“Sensei… Help me!” Trunks cried out to his long dead koi.

Suddenly, he heard the creak of the door opening.

And his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look

Trunks’s head snapped to where the door had opened and black eyes met his own.

“Oh, Trunks…” came the whisper.

“Don’t look, Gohan…” Trunks answered, ashamed.

And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her

Chibi Gohan entered the bathroom anyway and seizing Trunks’s bleeding hands with a gentleness that Trunks had never thought possibly, he began to rinse them off under cool water in the sink.

That was the year Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle’s Creed went

Gohan sat Trunks down then and began to wrap bandages around Trunks’s red hands.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, looking up into the elder’s face.

And he caught his sister
making out on the back porch

Trunks shook his head, the tears still coming down his face.

“It hurts,” he said simply.

“Of course, it does. You were bleeding,” Gohan answered, innocently.

And his mother and father never kissed
or even talked

“Not that…” Trunks replied. “Everything hurts.”

Gohan paused and looked back up at Trunks.

“Tell me.”

And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup

So, Trunks spilled the whole story, blood, tears, love, and death to the chibi that stood in front of him, healing him slowly.

When Trunks had finished, Gohan didn’t speak a single word but leaned forward and hugged Trunks.

That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do

Trunks finally wrapped his arms around Gohan in return and Gohan leaned farther forward and kissed Trunks on the cheek.

“Let me be your innocence and hope then Trunks because I believe that I love you,” Gohan whispered into Trunks’s ear.

And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed
his father was snoring soundly

Trunks broke farther down into tears.

“Thank you, Gohan… I love you too…”

Trunks didn’t realize the truth in his words right away, but after he had spoken them, he knew in the depths of his soul that he did love Chibi Gohan.

That’s why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem

Gohan had led Trunks back to the room that he was sleeping in then, and put Trunks into the bed, before curling up next to him, snuggling close to his love, and holding his bandaged hands.

And he called it “Absolutely Nothing”
Because that’s what it was really all about

However, Trunks was to get his first wish granted anyway. In the midst of the battlefield, his life was snatched away. This time though things were different…he didn’t want to die; he wanted to continue living with his love.

And he gave himself an A
And a slash on each damned wrist

And then it was Gohan’s turn to cry tears of blood as his loved ones were taken away but his wishes were answered too as his love was returned…and many years later his father.

And he hung it on the bathroom door

And when Trunks left for his time, Gohan’s own heart was tested, as he picked up the razor he had found Trunks with.

because he didn’t think

But just as he was about to cut, he heard the door creak open. He looked up and found himself gazing up at his prince who had returned to him after all these years. Gohan had jumped up and grabbed his prince, forgetting his thoughts of blood and tears, and Trunks had whispered a few words to him.

“Never again will either of us hurt…”

he could reach the kitchen.