02: Chapter 02
“But Dad, I wanna stay out here with Goten and Gohan!”
“Trunks!! You’ll do as I damn well tell you to!”
“Dad!! Don’t do that! Get off, let go of me!”
“Hold still, brat!”
“DAD!!! NO!! GOTEN-KUN! GOHAN-CHAN! HELP ME!”
“GET OUT OF HERE YOU TWO!! NOW!!”
“WAAAIIIITTTT!!! HEEELLLPPP!! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!”
***
“GOHAN-CHAN!” Trunks sat up abruptly, cold sweat soaking his sheets. Breathless, he eased out from under the bed sheets and reached out his palm, putting it his forehead. Muted cries jammed in his throat as tears stained his cheeks.
“Dad… I didn’t mean to… Stop Dad…God…I never wanna sleep again if that’s what I’m gonna see.” Trunks cleared his throat, gripping the glass of water on the table side and bringing it to his lips. Icy shivers ran down his spine as the cool water slid down his throat. A snowy colored light filled the room as the curtains blew around with the open window. Open? The window had been closed, ever since Trunks had gotten here. He was staying at a quiet, isolated country house out of town; he’d only planned on renting the room out for a few days, purely to clear his head.
Shuddering, Trunks picked himself up off of the bed and shuffled over to the window and pulled it shut. The cool air had chilled his spine, and evidently, the whole room. The windows had steamed up, and the walls were like icicles. Shaking his head, Trunks sat back down on the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hands.
“Brrrr… I knew the heating wasn’t great but geez, I’m frozen!” He exclaimed. The air had thickened somewhat since the window had been closed and the light switch had been flicked on. The mirror at the far end of the room shone in the lamplight, reflecting onto Trunks’s features. Trunks ran his fingers across his jaw, then his lips, feeling a strange compulsion to bite his finger. His features creased up in disgust as he peered unto the reflection in the mirror.
“Dad…I love you so much but what you did…I hate you so much for it…my face, is your face, and I wish it wasn’t!” Trunks snarled staggeringly at himself before looking at his hands, and then at the dresser the mirror sat upon. A tear unchecked streaked slowly down his face, resting on his cheek momentarily just long enough for Trunks to see himself again in the mirror before plummeting from his jaw line. Disgusted with himself, he looked away from the mirror, and returned to his bed.
“Dad, I promise, I wont do it again…Good night Father…Gohan? If you can hear me…help me…”
***
Goten shuffled across his room hastily as he woke, almost blurring in his movements.
“Gohan-chan!!” He yelled angrily, his voice shaking the building. Goten’s eyes were dark naturally but not as dark as they were at the present. The hazel brown of his iris had almost morphed into a form of black, almost an anti-Saiyan rather than a super-Saiyan.
Gohan peered around the bathroom door questioningly.
“Haigh, Goten?” Gohan had his father’s eyes, very beautiful, but oh so vacant looking.
Goten grunted, “ Gohan-chan, didn’t you hear him last night!?”
Goten looked unusually distraught, his skin paler than normal, and his tone of voice was almost strangled.
“Goten-kun, you mean Trunks’? I didn’t need to hear him, I saw him.” Gohan looked calm, almost apathetic. Goten was stunned beyond belief.
//He’d heard Trunks but he didn’t try to comfort him or anything else? He just watched him? What kind of friend does that?//
Goten began to redden in his cheeks, the anger overwhelming him.
“Gohan!!!! He wanted comfort! You saw him and you didn’t care!?”
Gohan’s eyes widened. “Goten-chan, that’s not what I said. I said I saw him. It doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
Goten felt sickened by his older brother. He knew about Trunks and Gohan, he had for a long time, and had held his own emotional output inside his shell to try and keep the two people he loved most happy. It hadn’t been easy. But, the latest turn of events had given him knew insight into the feelings of both these people to whom he thought he knew everything about.
“ * Sniff * Gohan…Get him back… No, screw that, I’ll do it…if you don’t care, then I’ll go find him!” Goten’s eyes were all Gohan needed to see to understand how serious he was being, his eyes welling with tears.
“Goten-chan, he needs and wants time alone to think. Leave him be for a few days.”
Gohan hesitated with his words but knew they were necessary to hold in Goten’s hidden feelings. Gohan knew how Goten felt, he knew all there was to know about his brother, although he hadn’t been told, he had picked up all of Goten’s subtle hints along the track.
