----Trunks's journal; Vol 1: Page 3

“Absolutely unacceptable!” Bulma screamed at her son, gripping the steering wheel as tight as she possibly could. Her long, manicured nails bit into the leather of the wheel, nearly breaking from the strength of her grip. “I can not believe that you had the audacity to actually run around the airport like that and cause a scene like that.”

She didn’t understand him. All this time, she had tried to raise him to grow up and be a man. And she had also given him the opportunity to make some money and gain some experience as the company president. And what thanks did he give her? None! It made her so mad to think that she had placed her trust in him and given him a chance, only to have him completely mess up in such a way. And after she had just been praising him and his maturity in a recent interview, the press was going to think that she was a liar and a terrible mother as well. She just couldn’t believe that her son would do something so irresponsible and stupid. His little stunt today had to be one of the most immature, idiotic things that he had ever done. And to blame it on some mystery girl that had run into him in the airport? She could barely stand it. She had a lot of patience when it came to the stupid actions of men, after all, she was married to Vejiita. But when their stupidity directly affected her, it really pissed her off. If she weren’t such a kind and caring mother, she would have simply left him in the Airport Security office and disowned him then and there.

Next to her, Trunks was slouching down in his seat, managing to look both sheepish and defiant at the same time. He looked out the window and sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make a scene. I just wanted to cheer Goten up. And the whole thing wasn’t even my fault. I told you, if that girl hadn’t started saying bad things about you and the company, I would never have---”

Bulma cut him off, refusing to look at him as she glared at the road ahead of her, driving towards Capsule Corporation. “No excuses, Trunks. You could have handled it a lot better than you did. And you should have never been there in the first place, especially since you knew that the security guards were already aware of you two and your little game.”

She was still fuming, her deep blue eyes glinting with fury. She could think of a million other ways right now that she could be spending her time. She was actually supposed to be at an appointment right now, one that had been made over a month ago. It made her so angry to know that he had caused her to miss all of her commitments and look as though she were an unorganized or just plain stupid. She glared over at him. “I had a lot of things to do this afternoon, you know. And picking you up from the Airport Security office was not one of them!”

He bitterly tightened the seat belt over him and stared back her, looking a little annoyed and frustrated. “I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”

She stared at him opened-mouthed. She certainly did not appreciate him quipping an attitude with her, not after what she had gone through today to get him out of the clutches of Airport Security. “How about some respect? I really do wish that someone would come along and teach you a lesson.”

As she turned her eyes back to the road, she watched from the side as his face grew from more and more furious. His blue eyes narrowed into slits, looking alarmingly like her husband as he glared at her. “Me?! ?I need to be taught a lesson?! What about Bra? She’s more of a spoiled brat than I will ever be! You and Otousan treat her like she’s a princess.”

It was true, sometimes she and Vejiita showed Bra a lot more attention than Trunks. This didn’t mean that she didn’t love Trunks of course. She loved him as any mother loved her son. She just simply felt a little closer to her daughter, most likely just because of the fact that she was a girl, and she had always wanted to raise a miniature version of herself. She knew that Vejiita also made a point of being more gentle and caring with Bra. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Trunks; it was just the fact that neither of them had taken a very dynamic role in raising Trunks. When he had been born, they just simply did not know what to do with him. The boy had been a mistake, and neither one of them were willing to become a parent at that moment in time. However, Bra was expected --- even anticipated, and while she was just as special as Trunks, Bulma couldn’t help but feel more attached to her. Trunks had by no means been neglected, though. She had tried to raise him well and teach him all of the things about life that she could. She didn’t like the fact that Trunks felt unloved, but if he was ever going to grow up, he needed to show some responsibility. And if he was ever going to grow up, she needed to be stern with him.

“You might bring up a valid point Trunks, but this isn’t about Bra. This is about you and your lack of responsibility.” She reasoned, pulling to a stop at a red light. “If you are ever going to become a great man, you need to be more responsible.”

He looked defeated, possibly even on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry.”

Her words had been harsh, but they had been true. Her son had to recognize that fact on some level. She was only saying what she was saying because she wanted him to be able to grow as a person. As much as she would like to shelter him and keep in inside of a bubble for the rest of her life, she simply couldn’t. He needed to grow up, and since he was now approaching his twenties, it was a good time for it.

“I know you’re sorry.” She said, in a softer tone. “And I’m sorry for yelling at you as well. But protecting the name of the company is a very important thing to me. Also, as president, you should show responsibility in front of employees also. Do you realize that I was supposed to meet my new lab assistant over an hour ago and show her around the house? She is probably stuck there now with Vejiita, for god’s sake. I shutter to think about what he might be saying to her.”

Her eyes slid over to meet his, and he looked away, out the window again. “You were supposed to meet someone?”

“Hai. This has been a longstanding appointment, made over a month ago. And because you and Goten chose to run around the airport and play commando, I am late. If I am late, what does that tell my employee? As her boss, I should have been there on time and ready; as a good example of what her own work ethics should be. I am not a lenient employer, but things like this are going to give people the wrong impression.”

“I really am sorry, Okaasan.” Trunks lamented. His blue eyes looked at her pleadingly, as if he were begging for her forgiveness. She tore her eyes away from the road and looked at her son. No matter how old he got, he could still manage to look like a child at times. Whenever he stared at her with those watery blue eyes, she couldn’t help but love him and feel bad for him. Sure, she was trying to teach him how to live life out on his own, but to her, he would always be her little boy.

“I know.” She smiled at him. “And I’m sorry for having to give you the lecture. Now, let’s go home and comfort the poor girl. She’s probably scared to death right now with only Vejiita to keep her company.”

She looked up and met his eyes again from across the kitchen table. The man was still staring at her, just as he had been staring at her for the past fifteen minutes. Or rather, glaring at her. His dark eyes were narrow and fierce, and his mouth was drawn into such a deep scowl that it seemed as though it had been chiseled into his face. As simply a specimen, he was quite handsome, with a body that was undoubtedly strong and well proportioned. She even found his hair, a mass of black that flew up from the top of his head like a flame, rather intriguing. However, she did not appreciate the way that he was glaring at her, and the way that he was treating her like a prisoner.

“A lab assistant?” He questioned again, making it sound like he thought it was a complete lie.

“Hai. I was hired by Bulma-san and flew here today.” She repeated. She had already explained it to him several times, but obviously this man could not comprehend the concept that she was a new employee. Idly, she played with a strand of long golden hair that had come loose from her ponytail and fallen over her shoulder. Although she knew probably shouldn’t, she rolled her green eyes casually and looked away from the man. It was getting rather boring actually. She had been sitting here, listening to him trying to intimidate her for quite awhile. It was pathetic really, his entire demeanor. He sat in the kitchen chair completely rigid, his eyes harsh and his voice brash and rough. He hadn’t offered her a drink, hadn’t even offered her a chair. He just simply sat there and glared at her. He was really trying hard to make her feel uncomfortable.

She smirked. No one intimidated her.

“Lab assistant?” He repeated again, in the same disbelieving tone.

Annoyed, she stared at him. She was a different kind of person, a person that did not appreciate being degraded or thought of as anything but the perfect girl that she was. She especially did not like the way this man was treating her, disliked it so very much that she could feel anger seeping in through her blood and wrapping around her heart. Besides irritating her to no end, he had kept her in the kitchen here for much longer than necessary, and she had appointment with Bulma. She didn’t know where the woman was or what she was doing, but she knew that she just wanted to move her stuff into the house, get settled, and start work as soon as possible. She had been through a very long, very rough day, and she did not need the added pleasure of being treated like a trespasser by some idiot old man with an ego. In fact, she was so irritated by him that she couldn’t help but drop her act.

Her act, or so she privately referred to it, was her outside personality. A shield of some sorts that she had developed over the years. Most people that met her perceived her to be sweet and charming, a kind girl with a good heart. But every once and a while, someone would come along that she felt she had to be defensive with. And whenever someone like that happened to fall into her life, she would immediately be driven to hurt them --- before they could even think about hurting her. Instead of being sensitive and getting hurt by the comments and actions of others, she had decided that she would be the one who controlled how she felt. So, a long time ago, she had placed an icy exterior around her true self and had never let anyone through. And that icy barrier around her heart was vicious. When she decided that she wasn’t going to like someone, she really did not like them. Her tongue was sharp, her attitude was insolent and un-agreeable, and her entire personality took on a very different, very mean change. Luckily, she was a very talented girl, and no one had ever been able to see through her act.

She had come to Capsule Corporation with a smile, expecting to meet Bulma Briefs --- whom she had looked up to for many years, and be introduced into this household. Instead though, she had found nothing but her watchdog, who had greeted her at the door with little more than a grunt and a barrage of rude questions. She could put up with an awful lot, but he had eventually annoyed her enough so that she didn’t even want to try anymore. Instantly, she let the sweetness fade out of her smile and her icy exterior slipped down and formed around her like a thick, impenetrable wall. It was always like this, when she decided to show someone her true self. There were two of her really; one was the sweetest girl imaginable, and the other was the most wickedly sarcastic, rude girl that had ever walked the Earth.

“Yes. Lab Assistant. Try to remember it for more than five seconds this time.” She added, and crossed her arms over her chest, just like his arms were crossed over his.

He didn’t display any evidence that he cared what she had just said, but slightly turned his head to the side, as if he hadn’t heard her right. She assumed that he was surprised to see her change so quickly before her his eyes. Most people usually were. She smirked deeply, and raised one delicate eyebrow, her trademark stare of importance, and leaned slightly forward.

“Do you even understand what I’m saying, old man?” She asked him, letting out a small chuckle at the comment.

Vaguely, she noticed a vein was beginning to stand out on his forehead, and if that was any indication of anger, she was finally getting through to him. His body language, however, was completely unreadable; his eyes were showing nothing. They were like deep, black abysses that held so many secrets and so many thoughts that it was hard to look away from him. Again, she smiled. The eyes were usually where she was always certain to find signs of anger, but this man was obviously a professional. He gave nothing away, and she had to admire that. He was a hard one to figure out. She might have fun living here after all.

“I’ve had quite a few surprises in my life. For someone my age, I have been through an awful lot of strange and unexplainable events. How many children get to meld into one body with their best friend and try to defeat an evil enemy from destroying the Earth? I’m only nineteen years old and yet I’ve still seen an entire lifetime worth of crazy things. By now you’d think I’d be used to this kind thing. But I don’t think I’ve ever been more surprised and disgusted than when I came home from the airport….”

----Trunks's journal; Vol 1: Page 4

I walked into the kitchen after my mother, following behind obediently. I honestly did feel awful about what I had done. I never meant to ruin her reputation as an employer, and I certainly didn’t want the Capsule Corporation name to be dragged through the mud of the tabloids. I had simply acted on impulse and done something that I probably shouldn’t have. Goten and I probably shouldn’t have been at the airport running around and causing trouble. We hadn’t meant anything by it, of course, but we managed to cause trouble anyway. It seemed as though I was always doing things like this. I felt as though I were constantly disappointing my mother, who had such high hopes for me. All she wanted was for me to be responsible and be able to take care of the company, but I kept messing things up. I felt bad, of course, but I didn’t feel as though the entire ordeal was my fault. I still blamed most of the incident on the girl I had run into. After all, if I had never gotten into a fight with her, I would have never gotten caught. And if I had never gotten caught, then I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.

Dragging my feet, I followed her and saw Otousan sitting at the kitchen table with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. I almost cringed when I saw him, because I knew that Okaasan was going to have to tell him what had happened at the airport. He was never that big on discipline; he didn’t rule over me and punish me like my mother did, but he still wouldn’t be happy with me. More than likely, he would get tired of my mother complaining and get mad at me for making her drone on and on about how he needs to teach me responsibility. When I looked at my father at the table, though, I noticed something very strange: the vein in his forehead was standing out in high relief. I knew from experience that this was not a good thing. He was about to snap, about to rip into Super Saiya-jin and attempt to blow someone’s head off. At first, I thought it might be about me and the whole airport scenario, but there was no way that he could have known about that --- Okaasan and I had just gotten home. I looked at him in confusion, wondering just what had made him so angry, then noticed for the first time that he was sitting across from someone.

I froze.

It was her.

“Trunks!” My mother chirped happily, and put an arm around the girl, looking back and forth between us. “I’d like you to meet someone. Your newest employee. This is Tayhei, my new lab assistant.”

Let me just explain something quickly. My mother has had a string of lab assistants before. They have come and gone as the times changed, and some of them were pleasant to be around, but mostly they were exactly the same. For instance, the last lab assistant that she had was an older lady, one that had been in the field for a very long time and always smelled vaguely of pickles and gardenia perfume. She had been nice enough, but definitely not fun to look at or even talk to. So you can imagine when my mother said that she was hiring a new “lab assistant”, I expected to see some old, run down woman with huge glasses and a grotesque face. I expected an older woman, an old bat, a complete social outcast, who would eventually just be faded out of the picture because she was so boring that no one even paid attention to her.

I did not, however, expect to see the bitch I had run into in the airport sitting at my kitchen table.

If she was as startled to see me as I was to see her, she didn’t show it. Instead, she just looked at me with soft green eyes and a small, embarrassed smile; as if she did not know how to react to my mother’s attention. I was incredibly confused. It was definitely the same girl; she had on the same dress that she had been wearing earlier, and her hair was the same as well. A lab coat had been added to the ensemble, but it was still the same girl. I was certain of it. What I was simply not comprehending was the fact that she was sitting in my kitchen. After completely bashing Capsule Corporation and my mother, she was sitting at my table, smiling and talking to her as if nothing of the sort had ever happened. I stared at her, absolutely puzzled. She looked over at me, blinked then stood up and walking towards me, presumably to shake my hand.

Before she could even reach me, I jumped back and glared at her with intensity. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

The girl blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently.

I frowned, confused. “Aren’t you the girl that I ran into in the airport?”

She nodded. “Hai. I am.”

So, she admits it. And if she was the girl from the airport, then what in the world was she doing in my kitchen. After the things that she had said, she didn’t even have a right to step on my property, let alone be inside my own, in my kitchen, in my chair. Glaring, I motioned around the room. “Then what the hell are you doing here after you called Okaasan an idiot and bad mouthed Capsule Corporation?!”

Her full lips were pulled down into a frown, and her chin began to tremble delicately. Her green eyes looked moist with tears as she stared at me. “I never said anything like that. I asked you where I could find this place and you told me to leave you alone because you were in a hurry, trying to get away from the security guards.”

Okaasan looked at me quickly, angrily.

What the hell? Something was very, very wrong here. No one could forget something so easily and accidentally switch around events like that. She had to be purposely trying to screw me over. Actually, purposely trying to make me look terrible. And the more I watched her pretty face drawn into sadness and confusion, the more I began to pick up the slightest hint of mirth in her eyes. She knew that she was making me look bad, knew that she was gaining the sympathy of my mother, and she was enjoying it. She was actually sitting there in my kitchen, lying to everyone, making me look like an ass, and having the time of her life. I felt like strangling her. The entire situation was so frustrating that I simply couldn’t handle it. My anger snapped, and I all but growled at the girl.

“Look, I don’t know what you are trying to pull, but you need to leave, right now!” I yelled, pointing at the door.

“Trunks!” My mother exclaimed. “How dare you say something so rude to guest. And if you honestly made up that story about Tayhei being so rude to you at the airport, I am going to really mad at you. You got into trouble, it was your fault, and I’ll be damned if you don’t take responsibility for it. I cannot believe that you would go so far as to try and ruin someone else’s reputation, just because you don’t want to ruin yours.”

“Are you kidding me, Okaasan?” I was actually very hurt that she did not believe me, but considering all of the trouble that I had gotten into lately, I guess it was understandable. Still, I’m her son, so she should be giving me the benefit of the doubt anyway. I pointed at the girl. “That girl is a liar, not me. And I want her to leave our house. Right now.”

My mother practically snarled at me, slamming her hand down flat on the kitchen table. I jumped, surprised by her anger. I suppose that I had finally made her cross the line from being angry into being evil. She looked positively livid, as though her eyes were going turn red and horns were going to come bursting out any minute now. “She will do no such thing! Tayhei will be living with us, whether you like it or not. And you are going to show her your utmost respect. As for the fact that you lied to me, you are in serious trouble. I cannot believe that you do something so terrible. I am extremely, extremely disappointed in you. ”

"I'm not giving her any respect.” I yelled. “And if you had heard what she said about you, you wouldn’t give her any respect either.”

She glared back at me, her blue eyes furious and blazing. “That is enough, Trunks. I don’t want to hear another word about what Tayhei supposedly said to you at the airport. Just give it up, because I am not going to believe you. I am so mad at you right now that I don’t even think I can look at you. It is going to take a long time for you to make this up to me.”

She turned towards Tayhei, who sat in the kitchen chair with tears still pooled in her emerald green eyes. “Tayhei, I am so sorry about this. My son has been very rude to you, but I promise you that it will not happen again. You are honestly very welcome here, and I don’t want this incident to change your mind about taking the position. I was really looking forward to working with you in the lab.”

Tayhei blushed, pink spreading across her smooth cheeks. “Thank you, Bulma-san. I appreciate that. And I haven’t changed my mind about the position. I’m sure that it was all just a big misunderstanding.”

Misunderstanding? She insults me, my company, and my family, and then she comes here and lies until my mother has completely turned against me? I don’t think that’s all a big misunderstanding. I think it’s bullshit. And I think if she wants to stay alive, she better have some explaining to do. Because I refuse to put up with that kind of behavior from anyone, let alone someone that is actually living in my own home.

I felt so helpless and outnumbered. There was no use in trying to reason with Okaasan now. Once she makes up her mind, there is absolutely no arguing, and I knew that she had already made up her mind. If anything, because she was so mad at me, she would probably start treating Tayhei even better now. For someone as intelligent as my mother, she could certainly be vindictive and vengeful at times. I felt so completely helpless as I watched her tuck her turquoise hair behind her delicate ears and stare at me with disgust. There was really nothing I could say right now that would make her believe me, so I simply had to take the look, and try not to let it hurt so bad. I knew that she would forgive me, she always did. But in the meantime I would have to suffer that awful feeling of coldness and distance from her, until she decided she was able to forgive me. And what made the whole situation even worse was the fact that I hadn’t even done anything --- I was really, honestly, completely innocent.

“Vejiita, I think we need to have a discussion about your son.” My mother spoke, and she crossed her arms, leveling her eyes at me. “And as for you, you had better apologize to Tayhei and explain your actions to her. I’ll let you have a little bit of privacy, but if I find out that you said anything mean to her while I was gone, I am seriously going to pound you into the ground.”

Wordlessly, he stood up from the table, and met my eyes with a look that quite plainly said I was in trouble. He hated getting lectures about me from Okaasan; hated to hear her say that he wasn’t doing a very good job of raising me. More often than not, he would give me the cold shoulder for a while as well, and that was another thing that I was definitely not looking forward to. The two of them silently left the kitchen, both of them glaring at me in turn as they excited through the door and out into the yard where they could talk.

And I was left alone with her.

I didn’t speak to the girl at all, just stood there glaring at her, then took a seat at the kitchen table across from her. She wasn’t looking at me at all, but simply staring at the floor in concentration. I watched her with a mixture of puzzlement and hatred, wondering what the hell she was doing. I noticed that I could faintly hear my parents’ footsteps and voices growing more and more distant as they walked away from the house. Only when they were completely out of earshot did she look up at me.

Her face made an instant change then, from sweet and innocent and practically crying to a deep, satisfied smirk. The change was so startling that I almost cried out. She seemed completely at ease with the change though, as if she had done it a million times. She slid out of her chair, and stood with one hand leaning on the tabletop, staring at me. The long golden ponytail fell across her left shoulder, and she stared at me with complacent green eyes.

“Oh. Poor little Trunks got in trouble." She mocked in a baby voice. Slowly, with a walk that was very practiced and very womanly, she made her way over to my chair. She stood only a foot away from me, still smirking.

I gazed at her in confusion. I had no idea what was going on or what was wrong with this girl, or why she had lied, but I wasn’t about to sit around here with her and find out. And I would rather die than apologize, as Okaasan told me to do. I had absolutely nothing to apologize for. I grunted in reply to her remark, then slowly began to get out of my chair. I was so disgusted and angry with the girl that I didn’t even want to be in the same room as her. Besides, I had more important things to do.

As I started to stand up and get out of my seat, she kicked at the chair legs quickly. Because it happened so quickly and I didn’t have any time at all to react, both me and the chair fell to the floor in a crash. She giggled and innocently put a hand over her mouth as I landed on my back, sprawling out along the floor.

"Oops."

White hot fury rose inside me instantly, and I had to fight turning Super Saiya-jin and ripping her pretty little head off. I angrily stood up from the floor so fast that my head swam and I glared at her, inches away from her face.

“What did you do that for?!” I hissed through clenched teeth.

"You know what the best thing is about my new job Trunks?" She replied, tilting her head and smirking at me. "I get to make your life miserable twenty four hours a day.”

Chapter 3
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