Welcome to DBZ Love Garden
~ Where Saiyan Hearts Thrive ~
When There Are Two of Me
by Chayron
More by this Writer
Trunks wakes up to find himself in a ward where he has spent two months. He realizes that he has a chance to start his life anew. Which side will he choose and is it really his life after all?
Chapter 01
Author's Note : This fic is completely independent of my other fics. GT doesn’t exist.It's a mix of a thriller, mystery, detective, drama and soap.
The credits would go to Achillona for her support, to my brother who doesn’t even know what I’m doing but is a lot of help, and I also want to thank Camaro for being my inspiration and for not writing crap.
Note 2: age: Goten 18; Trunks 19.
XXXXX
Something smelled wonderful. Something so…so wonderfully and indescribable… And yet it was so very familiar. So very affectionate…
The scent was reaching his senses, making him long for something, making him rouse from the land of dreams.
Blue eyes opened. They slowly concentrated on the sight before him. Actually they couldn’t see much. But then they got incredibly wide.
The blue-eyed man shot up in the bed.
“Ayeee!” The ear-piercing shriek echoed in the hospital, making the glasses jingle. The lavender-haired man gasped for air, perplexed. “What are you doing?! Who are you?! You…you…” He stared at the dark-haired guy he had just tossed away from him.
Goten stared back at Trunks from the white-tiled floor.
“You kissed me,” the blue-eyed man said in shock. “You…kissed me,” he repeated in disbelief, looking at stunned Goten.
“It’s…it’s… Ehh… I… It’s…” Goten tried to regulate his breathing. It took almost a minute for him to finally set his thoughts in order.
The blue-eyed man startled as Goten got up suddenly.
“Okay…” Goten stopped, not approaching the bed. “Trunks?”
“Uh?” The blue-eyed man blinked. His eyes got wide once again. He quickly lifted the cover. He then lowered it. “Where?” he asked.
Goten wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or was about to faint. Probably both. “It’s your name – Trunks,” he said carefully.
“Huh?” The blue-eyed man looked at him. “Trunks?” He gazed at Goten for some time. “Who are you?” he finally asked. “And where am I?”
“Uhhh…” Goten drawled, hesitating. He wasn’t sure what he should do now. “I’ll phone your mom first, okay?”
“Mom?” The lavender brows crossed in concentration. “My mom…”
With shaking hands, Goten reached into his pocket to draw a blue NOKIA. He found the number.
“Hey, Bulma? It’s Goten. I…” Goten rubbed over his sweating forehead. “I…I don’t know how to tell you… Trunks just woke up.” He gasped and pulled the phone farther from his ear. “Yeah. He’s sitting here and…” He pulled the phone farther from his ear again. “But he… I don’t think that he… There’s one thing…” He sighed and put his phone back into his pocket. “Darn. She hung up.”
Goten looked back at the lavender-haired man, who had watched him all the time he had been talking on the phone. They stared at each other for about a minute. Black against blue, blue against black.
“Okay…” finally the lavender-haired man drawled. “I’m Trunks. My mother is Bulma. Who are you? Where am I? Why have you been kissing me? And why the hell I can’t remember anything?”
“Uh…” Goten scratched his spiky head. “Just take it easy,” he said, not being sure what or how much he should tell Trunks. “Don’t wanna anything happen to you again. Okay?” The lavender-haired man gave him an annoyed look. That really was Trunks, even if he didn’t remember anything. Trunks could handle everything. Almost.
“I am Goten, your best friend,” Goten chose to ignore that raised brow for now. “You are in a hospital. You got into an accident. You were seriously wounded and had been in coma for almost two months. They didn’t believe you’d ever come round… But I did!” Goten suddenly launched himself to the bed. “I knew you’d! I knew! I knew it!”
The lavender-haired man gazed at the dark back of the head of the guy who was hugging him, crushing him to his body and sobbing his head off. He stayed silently for some time. The scent was very pleasant. Masculine, somewhat sharp and spicy, but pleasant nonetheless.
“Have we been-?”
He didn’t finish his question because the next moment a blue-haired woman stormed into the ward.
“Trunks! Oh Gods! Trunks! My baby!” she pushed Goten away and squeezed Trunks in her embrace. “Oh, Trunks…” She didn’t even try stopping the tears from flowing.
‘Your mom,’ Goten mouthed behind Bulma’s back.
Trunks watched Goten wipe his tears away. He mused, then. Probably he was supposed to feel glad, be happy or… True, he was moved to some point; it was nice to know he had people who cared a lot for him. But more than that… He knew only the name of the woman who was suffused with tears and babbling his name hysterically. So he patted her back and said that it was all okay. She had born him after all.
Her scent was very familiar, and he definitely was able to tell that she was his relative. Though…there was something not very clear with the scent. It was the same as with the black-haired guy’s scent – something was off with it. Somehow…too sweet, too…faint.
While patting the woman on her back absentmindedly, he watched the black-haired guy. They gazed at each other eyes until Goten lowered his dark ones. There was a connection between them, too. He could tell that. But he wasn’t very sure what sort of connection it was. Why had Goten been kissing him earlier? Certainly, he hadn’t dreamt that. The guy had kissed him. Had they been lovers? Or had it been only one-sided affection? He hoped it was the latter, for he didn’t want any complications.
Bulma cupped Trunks’ face in her palms. Laughing with joy, she kissed her son’s eyes and cheeks. She only stopped after noticing Trunks’ passiveness. She was used to Trunks’ passivity during such displays, but she could tell that right now it wasn’t that.
“Trunks, are you okay, baby?” she asked, concern marking her voice clearly.
Trunks shrugged, unsure what to say. Even if she felt like a stranger to him, it felt like a sin to disappoint this woman at this moment.
“He doesn’t remember anything,” Goten said softly from behind their backs.
“What do you mean?” Bulma turned around to look at Goten.
“I mean he doesn’t remember anything. Nothing at all. He doesn’t even know who you…” Goten bit his tongue. “He doesn’t even remember his own name.”
Bulma gazed at Goten for several seconds then slowly turned back to Trunks, who simply nodded, confirming. Bulma was silent for some time.
“Does your head hurt?” she asked then. “Do you feel sick? Is your sight well?” She gave questions to which Trunks answered shaking his head in denial. After that Bulma fell silent again. With a shaky hand she squeezed Trunks fingers. “Okay. Everything is going to be fine.” She smiled tentatively. “Everything is okay. There’s no need to panic. Really. I promise everything will be okay. Don’t you worry…”
“Woman, let go of him. It’s you who’s panicking.”
He turned to look at the man who was leaning on the doorway. So this was his father… This time the scent felt just right – strong and spicy; a completely maturated male. Though, the hair… How the hell was it able to stand like this? Of course, Goten’s to-all-directions-pointing hair made several questions arise, too, but this was just… If his father looked like this, then how did he look himself? Though…despite that crazy hair and quite short height, the man was very attractive. Even in a blue sweat-suit.
Trunks rolled his eyes at Goten, who mouthed: ‘Your father.’ At least his father wasn’t jumping around and making him uncomfortable. Moreover, after the words he said, the blue-haired woman seemed to have finally gathered herself.
“I’m Vegeta, the Prince of All Saiyans,” his father said then.
Trunks rolled the sentence over in his head several times. “What is a Saiyan?” he asked.
“I think we have a problem…” Goten muttered.
XXXXX
Trunks looked at himself in a mirror once again. “I can’t believe I have purple hair,” he sighed, tossing the small mirror further onto the covers. “My mother has blue, my father has black and as a result I have purple? A damn joke.”
“Well… Your granddad has…lavender hair, too,” Goten scratched his head. He couldn’t remember Trunks ever complaining about his hair earlier.
“Say it straight – it’s purple.” Trunks tugged at his hair. “I wonder what it would look like if I dyed it black.”
Goten scratched his head once again. “But purple does suit you…” He blushed faintly.
Trunks gave him a scan. It really did seem that Goten liked him a lot. “Well, I don’t like it. But at least I have nice eyes and it seems that I’m already taller than my father,” he said then.
Goten scratched his chin. “Yeah…” he drawled. “A big plus.” He shifted in his chair. “So when are they going to release you?” He looked at Trunks, who was sitting in the bed under the covers.
Trunks shrugged. “I was told that there are still plenty tests to run.” He paused then. “Well, yeah, as far as I know, it isn’t possible to simply forget some of the things and perfectly remember others. I remember the speech and I can make logical presumptions pretty well. The doctors seem to be somewhat at a loss…” He shrugged again. “But I heard Vegeta, my father,” he corrected himself, “talk to my mother. He said that it was pretty common for Saiyans. He said that when the brain got damaged, it usually restored itself with a new tissue which prevented such things like dementia or disturbances of efferent nerves.” Trunks reached for the mirror again. “And then, for half an hour, he kept talking about some Kakarott who hit his head long ago…” He grimaced at the mirror. “He clearly doesn’t like that Kakarott.”
“Goku is my father,” Goten said. “Only your dad calls him Kakarott. Besides, I wouldn’t be so sure that the hit left Goku’s brain intact…”
“Umm?” Trunks’ brow rose. He sighed at his reflection in the mirror again. “Yeah, Vegeta said something like this, too. He had also said that Kakarott’s muscles substituted his brain.” He looked at Goten questioningly.
Goten sighed. “You’ll see…”
“Do I have any siblings?” Trunks asked. It didn’t even occur to him that Goten might have gotten insulted after the comment about his father.
Goten shook his head. “No. But you have grandparents from your mother’s side.”
“Nice,” Trunks nodded. “The more, the merrier.” He leaned on the headboard and thought for a moment. “I suppose it’s a waste of time asking what I liked doing or what my favorite hobbies are…” he drawled. “How old am I? Where do we live? Where do my father and mother work? What did I do before the accident and what accident was it?”
Goten blinked. “Well… You’re nineteen. Your mother is the president of Capsule Corporation which is well known globally. Your family is the richest in the world. Your father…uhh…he trains. Like mine does, too.” Goten smiled sheepishly.
“At least no problems with money.” Trunks scratched his chin absentmindedly. “My father… Is he some kind of athlete?” Trunks wondered. He could imagine that – the man seemed to be very fit.
“Ehh…more like a connoisseur of martial arts.”
“Okay… So my father is jobless,” Trunks drawled. “Don’t they, my father and mother, fight because of that?”
“Your mother knew who she was marrying.”
Trunks nodded. “Continue.”
“Well, you live in a big building that is connected with the main labs.” Goten thought what he could say more. “Your mother and grandfather are well-known scientists. Concerning the accident… You and your mom had been testing some device. I don’t know much about it. It was somehow connected with pressure. Something went wrong and the receptacle exploded. A splinter of the container hit you directly on your head.” He fell silent. “As said, it happened two months ago,” he added.
“I took part in some testing?” Trunks interested.
“You used to work together with your mother.”
“Hey, if I’m nineteen, I still haven’t finished…” Trunks faltered. “I do study at some university, don’t I?”
“Actually you had only several months until you finish it.” Goten scratched his head sheepishly. “Though, now…”
“How the hell did I manage to do that?” Trunks wondered.
Goten considered his further words carefully. “You are a child of two geniuses. You skipped half of the high-school helping out your mom with her researches and you still had the best marks in all fields. You… Ehhh…” he faltered, not being sure if he should continue. “You…you always had a very logical way of thinking and you used to act quite…unattached. It…it sometimes scares others. You didn’t have many friends.”
“I see,” Trunks nodded. “So you were my best and the only friend?”
“Yeah, this is exactly what I mean… Even now, after not remembering a thing…you are so damn calm,” Goten drawled. “You never get panicky or flustered.”
“You mean I feel less human?” Trunks wondered. “But if I started panicking, you’d panic tenfold. Besides, that wouldn’t change anything.”
Goten silently gazed at Trunks. “So you mean you’re panicking, only not showing that?”
Trunks shrugged. “I’m not panicking, I simply have no idea what I’ll do now.” He brushed over his covers with his fingers absentmindedly.
“You are at a loss…”
“Did you always help me to express my thoughts?”
“Not your thoughts; you can express them pretty well. It’s more about…”
“Feelings?”
Goten blinked. Trunks was really fast. “Yeah. Sorta.”
“And how about you and your family?” Trunks changed the subject. Goten’s face seemed both relieved and disappointed at the same time. That told Trunks everything he didn’t know earlier.
“Well, I’m first year student in Haidago University. It’s…it’s the same university you’re attending. But I’m just finishing the first year and I am in one specialization.”
“Umm? One specialization? Then how many of them did I study?” Trunks wondered.
“Three.”
Trunks blinked. “Wow… I was a pretty clever guy, wasn’t I?”
Goten nodded silently. “This year you’d have gotten diplomas in bioengineering, computer science and mathematics.”
“Damn, that’s pretty good,” Trunks brushed over his hair. He laughed. “I wonder if I remember anything at all from those things.”
Goten leaned back in his chair. “It’s not a laughing matter.”
Trunks didn’t say anything to that. “So what about your family?”
“Well, I don’t live with my parents anymore. As said, my father is Goku; the one your father calls Kakarott. My mother is Chichi. And I have an older brother, Gohan, who is already married and has a five-year-old daughter. Otherwise… Right now, I am renting a flat in the city. I used to have a part-time job at a phone company. But after this accident I skipped many days, so they fired me. As I have no money to pay the rent, I suppose it’s only a matter of time when I’ll lose the flat, too.”
Trunks watched Goten. “Did we hang out a lot? You said we were best friends.”
Goten squirmed uncomfortably because of his earlier words. “Well, at least we used to be…three years ago.”
“Hmm? And why is that?”
Goten was silent for some time. “There are several reasons for that. At first you were like your mother, but as years passed you turned out to be more like your father. But… I don’t really want to talk about this.” He turned his head away to the window.
Trunks’ blue eyes followed his look. “Are you gay?” Even if Goten didn’t react visibly, he could feel a wave of coldness and disappointment pass through the ward.
Goten nodded silently.
Trunks decided he didn’t need to know anything else; he already knew more or less what it was all about between them. “Hey,” he called. “Could you bring my textbooks tomorrow, in the evening, after you attend the university?”
Goten looked at him, surprised.
“Well, it’s not that I have anything better to do. And I’m curious if I can remember anything.” Trunks shrugged, choosing not to explain anything more to that searching gaze.
Goten watched him for some time then nodded. “Alright. But your father won’t be very happy if I go to your house to ransack for books. He doesn’t like me.”
“I see… How about telling that I asked you to do that?”
“Ehh…well… It might work,” Goten still faltered. “But on the other hand he might just…”
As predicted, Goten didn’t ask why he didn’t ask his father or mother to bring the books. Goten was pretty clever or simply too desperate.
“Ah. Could you also bring some decent food?” Trunks asked. “Here they are giving some watery porridge.”
“Ehh… I think you should simply eat what you’re given. I mean you haven’t been eating for two months.”
Trunks scrunched his nose. “At least some fruit? Pretty please?”
Goten blinked at him. “Well, okay. And…” he faltered, “well, if you wouldn’t be able to remember anything, then I could ask my brother to help you with your stuff. He works in the same field as you do. Though, I suppose your mother could help you best.” He scratched his head, being a bit unsure.
“Ah… And my dad is an ass who cares only about training?”
Goten was startled. “You remember?”
Trunks burst out laughing. “No, just a simple deduction.”
Goten smiled, too. It was the first time Trunks saw him simply smile. Trunks chuckled again. “Hey, later, if I’m such a genius as you say, you could bring your textbooks, too; you could study, too, and maybe I could help you out. I don’t want you to fail your exams because of me.”
Goten slowly nodded. He stood up then. “Well, I’ll let you rest now. See you tomorrow, then.”
Trunks waved. “See you.”
XXXXX
The soft sounds of rain were permeating the room. Water flowed down the windows and walls and down to the ground. It had become dark outside; grizzly clouds had gathered in the sky.
Trunks was sitting in his bed and watching the flowing water through the window. He had decided that he was depressed. All day he had been trying to figure out several stupid things such as what he liked to eat or what his favorite color was, but didn’t manage to. But at least now he knew that he hated porridge and hospitals overall.
He quite liked the ward itself: it was spacious, had a big window, next to which was standing a table with a chair. His bed was standing a bit farther from the window and the table. There was a small cabinet next to the bed. There also was a sink in the corner and one wardrobe against one of the walls.
Despite of how he acted or what he told Goten, he felt slightly panicky…probably. Well, he hadn’t lied to Goten, it was that at that time he hadn’t been panicking yet. He wondered if that was a delayed shock or something else, but then decided that he was simply bored and because he didn’t know what he liked doing to occupy himself, he got depressed. Though, that realization didn’t help much – it made him only more depressed.
He was waiting for Goten to come. Truly. Simply wanted for Goten to come faster. Bulma, his mother, came to the hospital in the very morning; his grandparents came at about 10 o’clock; his father snuck in at about noon; Gohan, Goten’s brother, came to see him in the afternoon. All of them… Well, they somewhat annoyed him. His mother, even though she tried to appear calm, seemed on a verge of a nervous breakdown. He was truly sorry for her, but it didn’t stop him from wanting that she’d leave his ward as soon as possible. He simply didn’t know what to tell her and it pained to see the woman like this.
His grandparents… He didn’t think that he liked them. The blonde babbling-nonsense-nonstop woman simply pissed him off and his grandfather had just been sitting and trying to put several words in when he got a chance to use the pause when his crazed wife shut up for a second.
His father… Well, the man said “hello”, sat down, asked how he felt and if he had remembered anything. Then his father kept silent for ten minutes, got up and simply left. Nothing was wrong with that. It was much better than the visits of his mother and the grandparents. But he felt weird while the two of them had been sitting in a cutting silence. He supposed that the weird feeling appeared because his father and he were too similar – they didn’t need words to know what both of them wanted to say. Though, why that made him feel weird…why that made him somewhat uneasy… Maybe it was because that simply made them not interesting to each other.
Goten’s brother smelt nice. The scent was very similar to Goten’s but much stronger. Probably due to his older age. Goten’s brother wore horrible glasses, had a horrible hair-cut and wore horrible clothes. The man smiled nonstop and asked various questions until he realized that the man acted like his doctor and after he asked the man about it, it appeared that Bulma had included Goten’s brother in taking care of him; she thought that familiar people would do him better. He didn’t know how it used to be before, but it seemed that he had an instinct to hate doctors. So he didn’t like Goten’s brother, or at least that what he was doing.
When Goten came, he was glad to see the guy.
“Hey.” Goten lowered the huge bags he had been carrying to the white-tiled floor. “Got the books for you.”
“I see.” Trunks nodded, observing the bags. “Sorry, didn’t know I had so many of them; wouldn’t have asked to bring them. How can you lift them at all? Your weight and frame doesn’t seem to…” Trunks wondered.
“Always logical to no end,” Goten rolled his eyes while ransacking one of the bags. “Here.” He tossed a banana to Trunks. Then an apple followed. “I see your reflexes are well,” he said after Trunks swiftly caught both fruits.
“Yeah.” Trunks nodded. “Kinda weird, too… I expected a full rehabilitation program. But it seems I’m perfectly fine.”
“I suppose you should peel that apple off.” Goten pointed at the apple that Trunks was threatening to sink his teeth in. “The skin might be too hard to digest. I can peel it for you,” he suggested.
Trunks shrugged. He looked at the apple. “Okay.” He tossed it back to Goten.
“So which of these fruits I didn’t like earlier?” Trunks asked while Goten was peeling the apple. Trunks wondered if Goten always carried a knife in his pocket.
Goten raised his head. “It would be no fun if I told you now.”
“True,” Trunks chuckled. “But I suppose I used to hate bananas. It stinks.” He sniffed at the yellow fruit. “It reminds… soap?”
Goten laughed. “Yeah, you never ate them.”
“Hey, Trunks.” Gohan entered the ward, a needle in his hand. “I need…”
Goten hid the apple and knife behind his back. Trunks stuck the banana under the covers.
“Oh, Goten. Hey,” Gohan greeted his brother. “What’s that?” He looked at two bags on the floor.
“Books,” Goten said. “Trunks said he wanted to see if he could remember anything.”
“Ah.” Gohan nodded. “Don’t overstrain yourself,” he said to Trunks. “I think I told you not to eat anything else except what you’re given?”
“But I am given this…”
“Smartass.” Gohan rolled his eyes. “Okay, eat that apple but nothing else.” He pointed at Goten, who sighed and pulled his hands from behind his back.
“Your glasses are horrible. You are an attractive man. Why don’t you buy something nice?” Trunks wondered, taking the apple from Goten.
“It’s about the sixth time you’re telling me this. Some things never change,” Gohan said, coming over to Trunks’ bed. “Give me your arm. I need a blood sample.”
Trunks frowned. “I’m really fine. I hate being stabbed.”
“It’s just for your own good.” Gohan inserted the needle into the vein.
“More likely for my mother’s.”
“Don’t be such a prick.” Goten plopped down onto the chair. He snorted. “Sure a mother would do everything what’s in her power to help her son.”
Trunks wanted to say something, but then closed his mouth. After Goten’s words, the face of Goten’s brother had drained from color. In addition to that, Goten’s words were filled with anger and wrong.
“How is dad doing?” Goten asked.
“Ehh…” Gohan drew the needle out. “He said he was going to pay a visit to Trunks.” He disinfected the sting then pressed a roll of cotton to Trunks’ arm. “He’s fine. I…” he mumbled, unsure.
Goten looked at his brother. “It’s okay, I’ll visit him one of these days.”
While eating the apple Trunks silently listened to the strange conversation. He was glad his coma had ended. The world seemed to be an interesting playground.
