"Did you ever wonder why the two of us met? Kaasan calls it destiny. She thinks the Kaious sit around up there deciding everyone's future and laughing about all the stupid things we do." Trunks said with a smile, squinting up at the sun. They lay stretched out next to one another on their backs, their clothes rumpled and their hair disheveled after hours of passionate kissing. His body still tingled everywhere she had touched him, and he didn't think it would ever fade. The feel of her tiny, warm body next to his was enough to take his breath away. He had never, in his entire life, ever dreamed that he would feel this way about someone. When her lips touched his, it was like home, a familiar aching, and a distant acknowledgment that they were meant to be together in more than one life.
Tayhei thought about it for a moment, then rolled over on to her stomach and faced Trunks with her hands clasped under her chin. "I think maybe we decide our own futures to some extent, but there has to be some outside help."
Trunks nodded. "The Kaious must really enjoy their job. They must have got a side ache from laughing at all the stupid things that I have done lately." He groaned.
He picked a wildflower from the ground and twirled it between his fingers, inhaling its sweet scent. If he could have any wish, it would be to stay like this, with her, forever, until time no longer had boundaries and things like the jinzouningen didn't exist. It was heaven. Tayhei rolled over and crashed into him, knocking the flower out of his hands and draping an arm over his stomach. "Stupid things?"
Trunks blushed. "I never really considered myself to be stupid, but now that I look back on life, look back on our relationship, I realize that I have been more than stupid." He paused and she rose her head and watched him with a quizzical look in her eyes. He took a deep breath and continued with his speech. "It took me so long to figure out that I loved you. And it took even longer to admit to you. We would have had so much more time together in love if I had only told you earlier."
She lay her back on the warm ground, but a smile appeared on her beautiful face. Trunks grinned at her and picked another wildflower from the ground, holding it out to her. "I don't even know why you put up with my antics, I really don't. You could have done so much better than me, you know. I may look good, but I do have my imperfections."
Tayhei laughed and excepted the flower, holding it to her nose to smell it's scent and run the soft petals over her face. "Imperfections? You mean your incredible arrogance? What was all that 'I may look good' talk?" She inquired, hiding a smile.
"Well, I believe in myself now...You made me believe in a lot of things. Before you came along, I couldn't even look in the mirror. Now I know what an incredible man I am. It was nice having you trust me, and having you to protect." He explained.
She frowned when he mentioned the word 'protect' and rolled over on her side, her back to him. Trunks sighed. Honestly, she doesn't really need my protection....and doesn't really want it either, but I know I am doing the right thing.
He spoke up again and she turned her head slightly to hear him better. "Remember what you told me before? About how when the love of your life dies it is like losing half of yourself? I don't want to lose half of me, okay? I don't think I'd be able to go on that way. Just knowing that you're hurt causes me actual physical pain."
She turned around and propped herself up with one arm. "I understand why, and I guess I do like the fact that you care so much, but why? Why is it that I my life matters so much to you?"
He grinned and tapped her nose with his pointer finger. "Because Tay-chan, you make me smile."
She gave him a half smile and reached up to flick his nose. "You smile too much anyway, baka."
He grabbed her hand and held it like a child, not intertwining their fingers together, but grasping her palm and placing his fingers in the space above her thumb. Tayhei had this selective smile that she only used when she absolutely couldn't help herself from grinning. Although she rarely smiled, when she did give him one of the few smiles, it was absolutely radiant and her entire face glowed with happiness.
"Did you ever think that when everyone was created, they handed out a certain number of smiles to each person? Every person only got a certain amount of smiles and was supposed to ration them throughout life?" She asked him. "I'm sure you have wasted many of your smiles on things that did not really make you happy. What if your next smile is your last?"
He thought about the idea, squinting his eyes at her in question. "If that is true, you are the smarter one of us, only smiling when you really want to, so you won't run out of smiles when you get older." Trunks decided after a while, then rolled over on his back and pulled Tayhei on top of him. She stared down at him with an expressionless face, her golden hair trickling over his face and in his ear, warming his entire body with her touch.
"I would love to be there with you when you finally decided to just smile all the time. When you don't have much life left, and a whole lot of smiles stocked up." He mused. The corners of her mouth moved up, not quite a smile, but close enough. He reached up and brushed her cheek with his hand, following the smooth line of her jaw. "You're beautiful when you smile, you know that right? You're beautiful all the time, but when you smile, your entire face lights up with this heavenly glow."
"You’ll be there." She
whispered softly, and bent down to kiss him.
Now that Trunks is a major part of my life, I feel it might be hard for me to crawl back into the person that I was before him. Not that it matters much, I like myself better this way. I like being able to smile for no apparent reason, grinning senselessly at strangers and feeling that tight, butterfly sensation whenever I see his face. I know for sure, with or without him, I will never be the same....
Tayhei's journal;
Vol 2: Page 70
They appeared in the doorway of her workshop, shyly clutching each other's hands, seemingly to be one person. The fact that she hadn't seen the girl in nearly a month didn't change much about her. Tayhei's hair was a bit longer, and she looked tanner and thinner than before, but she still looked the same, except for the delighted grin that had fallen on the girl's usually expressionless face. The smile looked so oddly foreign and different on her face that she seemed to glow with an entire aura of change. Of course, the reason for the change lay in her son, how was beaming himself, holding his head high as he held onto Tayhei's hand.
Bulma looked up from her work and peeled off the goggles that rested above her hairline, a smug smile of satisfaction. ChiChi, sitting in the corner of the lab on a high stool reading a magazine noticed that they came in, but paid no attention. They had known without a doubt that this would happen; they had known since the first day they saw the girl. Her and Trunks were soulmates, a true pair, and they were destined to be together, no matter what the cost. The fact that they had found each other here, when Earth was shattering into a thousand pieces as they stood, watching the jinzouningen helplessly, was astounding. Briefly, she entertained the thought that maybe the Trunks of the past timeline, the different dimension, would find a Tayhei also. She hoped they did, for love that precious should never be wasted.
"Okaeri nasai." Bulma mentioned casually, while swinging the goggles down and resting her elbow on her knee, dangling them precariously in her hand. She was on her workshop floor, next to the time machine, checking the progress of the charging that had to be done before Trunks returned to the past. Last minute adjustments were also being made, to better the time machine and assure Trunks's safe return to the past and back home. "I was wondering when you'd come back."
Trunks smiled down at Tayhei fondly, and she stared up at him, her face again expressionless. "She helped me fight the jinzouningen yesterday, when I went out to retrieve the things from your lab, Kaasan." He informed her, still staring at Tayhei.
Bulma nodded, hiding a smile. "I see you two have finally figured it out, ne?" She inquired in a teasing tone.
ChiChi looked up from the magazine that she was reading at Trunks and shook her head slowly. “Engin is not going to be very happen with you….”
They looked at each other blankly, then turned back to Bulma, whose smug expression returned as she leaned back against the time machine with her hands behind her head. "If you two hadn't been so damn stubborn, you would have figured out you were in love a long time ago. Don't waste your time being in love, kids; before you know it, it's gone." She declared in a wise voice, throwing a wink at them. "And by the way....I want no promiscuous behavior in my house. If you are going to do 'it', do it somewhere else."
Both Tayhei and Trunks turned several shades of red and stumbled out incoherent responses to her advice before turning and practically running out the door. She guessed they would have been a little embarrassed at her little speech, it was a little personal, but she didn't think they would take it that far. Bulma tossed her goggles up in the air and turned her gaze over to where ChiChi sat, reading a women's magazine that no longer in print, due to the jinzouningen.
"What do you think ChiChi? Did I scare them off?" She questioned in an innocent voice, catching the goggles and placing them back over her eyes as she dropped down to go underneath the time machine.
"No, Bulma." ChiChi stated in a tone that was dripping with sarcasm. "I think you should have brought up the subject of marriage and children while you were at it."
They met eyes briefly and began laughing again as Bulma slid under the time machine to check out the wires beneath. In the darkness under there, all her mind would concentrate on was what she had told the two about love minutes ago. It was true, love did go by fast, so fast that you didn't know whether you were travelling backwards or forwards anymore. When she thought of Vejiita, and the time she had spent in love with him, she mentally kicked herself for not admitting it to anyone -- not even herself. They could have had so much more if they had only admitted their feelings for each other; their true feelings. But....Did he really love me too? She mused, reaching up for the wires on the time machine.
"ChiChi?" She ventured timidly. She heard a slight rustle as ChiChi set the magazine down on her lap, waiting for her to speak. Nervously, she cleared her throat, wondering why this woman's opinion mattered so much to her. "Do you think....Based on what you saw, that....Vejiita loved me?"
ChiChi hopped off her stool, flopping the magazine down on a nearby counter, and walked over to Bulma; only her legs were visible from under the time machine. She bent down slightly and tilted her head in question, and Bulma was thankful that she couldn't see her face.
"I think, that someone like Vejiita could only have so much room for love in his heart. He was like Gokuu in a way....They both lived, slept, ate, and drank fighting. It was a part of them, almost consuming their entire souls." She paused for a moment, and Bulma froze in her repairs on the machine until she continued. "But every time I looked into his eyes -- Gokuu's eyes, that is --, I saw clear through that urge to fight, and that almost idiotic disposition; he loved me secretly you could say, it was hidden in the very deepest, most unreachable part of his soul."
She paused for a moment, and Bulma felt her throat tighten when she heard her friend's breath catch in emotion. "I cannot begin to tell you how special and amazed I felt that I was able to see that in him, and even more so, that he was able to love me the way I loved him. I think, even though Vejiita might not have been as caring, or as open as Gokuu, he loved you in the same way: quietly. Just because we say things softly doesn't mean that they don't have as much emotion and feeling behind them."
Bulma lay transfixed for a moment, before sliding out from beneath the time machine, with tears glinting in her blue eyes. ChiChi fell to the floor next to her and leaned her head back against the time machine, her eyes closed, but tears streaming down her cheeks. They sat in silence for a moment, simply enjoying each other's comfort and crying in the echoing quiet of the workshop.
Bulma suddenly snorted in laughter and wiped the tears away from her face harshly, grinning. "Look at us, ChiChi. We have turned into those women you see on TV or read about in romance novels. Damn crying fools."
ChiChi cracked a smile and shrugged her shoulders with an innocent look falling on her face. "Come on Bulma, we aren't that pathetic."
A wry smile covered
Bulma's features as she turned to ChiChi and took the woman's hands in
her own, twining their fingers. "I'll get them back for us someday.
You have my word."
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