Goten bounded into Capsule Corporation, and made a beeline for the kitchen, not caring to announce his presence to their family just yet. He had stopped by on a chance that Trunks might be home, but at the moment, food was more important than Trunks’s company. Actually, food was always more important than Trunks’s company. These days, it seemed as though food was more important than anything. He was hungry, astoundingly hungry. It actually felt like he hadn’t eaten in weeks, and just the thought of that huge refrigerator in the kitchen was enough to make him want to start drooling. He had been outside all day sparring with Gohan, and his body was simply craving a huge, beautiful feast of a meal. Luckily, Bulma always had plenty of food stocked in the refrigerator. She was a horrible, horrible cook, but at least she realized that food was a must for a house full of Saiya-jin warriors. Knowing that she had no skill herself, she always supplied her family with more than enough store bought items to get by. Goten knew that he would find enough to make a meal in the refrigerator, and was imagining all of the glorious things that he could make when he entered through the kitchen doors. He wasn’t that great of a cook, but he knew all the basics. He had watched his mother often enough to know how to make a few simple things. He wandered over to the refrigerator and opened it swiftly, leaning back on his heels to survey the contents. Gratefully, he began shoveling items into his arms with no rhyme or reason. He would simply dump it all out on the counter, sort through it, then make his meal.

“Hello?” A sweet, female voice asked quizzically, and he turned around, holding various objects of food in his hands.

A very beautiful girl stood behind him, looking at him strangely. She had the brightest green eyes he had ever seen and long blond hair that was swept back in a ponytail. She looked at him with confused eyes, probably wondering exactly what he was doing in the Capsule Corporation kitchen. He smiled at her. He wasn’t at all a perverted kind guy; he never thought of girls that way, but his eyes couldn’t help but fall to her chest, where a nice tan section of soft, plump skin was showing. She had curves like nothing he had ever seen before, but she seemed so innocent that it was almost shameful to think about her in that manner. He averted his eyes at once, concentrating again on his food. It wasn’t like him to be this awed by a girl, and it wasn’t that she was that pretty….There was just something about her that made his heart beat faster.

“Can I help you?” She asked, still looking at him like he was crazy. She took a hesitant step forward.

Goten smiled at her again, and was very careful to keep his eyes where they belonged. She was a little confused, of course, but she seemed like a nice girl. Any other time he would have been glad to give her his full attention and talk to her, but his stomach was starting to roar, and he needed to get some food into his system fast. “I think I’ve got it. Thanks.” He plopped the food down on the counter and moved past her to check out the pantry on the far wall.

She stared down at the food and then looked back up at him. “I take it you’ve been here before?”

“Hai. Just like one of the family.” He called from inside the pantry. He poked his head out for a moment and smiled at her again. “By the way, my name is Goten. I’m a friend of Trunks.”

She returned the smile, and he noted that it was one of the most fabulous smiles he had ever seen; it actually lit up her entire face, and her emerald eyes sparkled. He stared at her again, taking in her appearance. She had very white teeth and soft, kissable lips that were shiny with some kind of gloss. Again, he couldn’t help but think that she was a very pretty girl. He didn’t know why she was hanging out at Capsule Corporation, but at least she was a nice accessory. Trunks was a lucky guy if he had girls like this showing up at his door all the time.

Still smiling at him, she began sorting through the food that he had put out on the counter. She looked as though she was very confident in what she was doing, reading labels and discarding food items. “I’m Tayhei. Bulma hired me as her lab assistant.”

“Hajimemashite.” Goten said politely, before dumping another load of food onto the counter beside her. She began sorting through that as well, and he wondered what she was doing. “By the way, would Trunks happen to be here?”

She frowned. “No, I’m sorry. He is at a meeting with Bulma and the other Capsule Corporation executives.”

“That’s too bad….But at least he won’t try and eat all my food this time.” Goten laughed. More often than not, if he made himself a glorious sandwich, or found some sort of treasure in the refrigerator such as a cake, Trunks would fly into the kitchen and take it right out of his hands; and it always happened the moment that he was going to eat it, too --- just a split second before he tipped it into his mouth.

“Are you fixing yourself a snack?” She asked him, looking down at all of the food items that she had just sorted through.

“Hai. My mom doesn’t seem to want to cook anymore.” He replied. He thought about that for awhile, frowning. His mom had always loved to cook before, and she was so amazingly good at it. That was one of the things that he loved the most about her; she always seemed so happy to cook for him and so proficient in the kitchen, just as if she belonged there. And the food that she made was unlike any other that he had ever tasted. It was perfect, better than perfect. She could make the simplest dish into an amazing masterpiece. It was a gift that she had always prided herself on before. But now, just as if she had never cooked at all, she had stopped. Well, she hadn’t stopped all together. As upset as she was, he knew that she would never let her son starve. She still cooked for him, but she did it without putting her heart into it, cooking only what was needed, just as the directions called for. He knew that she had stopped being herself because of his father. These days, they barely saw or heard from him, and he knew that it was killing her. She became more and more depressed every day, which in turn made him even more and more depressed. He hated to see his mother upset. She was all that he had for a very long time, and probably the most important person in his life. Because they had been so close while he was growing up, he felt very protective of her. He didn’t want her to be unhappy at all, and it was really beginning to make him mad at his father for not visiting more often. And it was really too bad that she didn’t want to cook anymore because food was the one thing that always managed to cheer him up.

Tayhei smiled at him again. “Well, I just happen to love cooking. Would you like me to make you something?”

He paused, his sad thoughts leaving him. A goofy smile appeared on his handsome face as he stared at the girl. It looked as though he may have found someone that could cheer him up, after all. And if she cooked even half as well as his mother, then he knew it was going to be great. He understood now why she had been sorting through the food that he had scavenged: she had been planning a meal. Immediately, he began to like her.

“How long are you going to be here, Tayhei?” He asked.

“As long as I want.”

He put an arm around her. “Good! I think I’m going to like having you here.”

“I don’t like her. I really, really do not like her. She is slowly beginning to alienate everyone in my family against me, and keeps lying to make me look bad! There must be something seriously wrong with this girl. This morning at breakfast, I could have killed her, I really could have. I don’t know how she did it, but one by one, every single one of my family members turned against me. I would have expected this kind of behavior from Bra, but my parents are supposed to be adults! They’re supposed to listen to reason, not believe every lie that comes out of that pretty little mouth of hers.”

----Trunk's journal; Vol 1: Page 5

My alarm beeped loudly and continuously, breaking the perfect silence of slumber and signaling that it was time for me to get up and face the day. I yawned loudly while stretching my arms over my head, my eyes still shut. I really, really did not want to get out of bed today. My soft comforter, which had twisted around me in my sleep and gotten tangled up around my feet, felt as if it were the most comfortable thing in the world. I was so warm and safe in bed, and here I could almost pretend that nothing bad had ever happened to me. Although the day before had been one entire nightmare, the night had been peaceful with absolutely no bad dreams, and for that I was thankful. Not only did I have to suffer through a very long board meeting the other Capsule Corporation executives, but that bitch was now living in my house. I still couldn’t believe that she was living here, in my house, under my roof, eating my food, being with my family. It was absurd, and a total disrespect to me. The only comfort I was getting from this entire ordeal was the fact that Otousan didn’t seem to like her at all either, and that was always hope. Then again, he didn’t really like anyone, so I wasn’t sure how much of a hope it actually was.

It was already 8:00 in the morning, and I could smell breakfast cooking downstairs. It was something that smelled very wonderful and very inviting --- definitely not my mom’s cooking. Just inhaling the scent of food was enough to make me want to bound out of bed, no matter what I had been through the previous day. I opened my eyes slowly, blinking in the sunlight that was pouring in through the shades. I had neglected to shut them tightly the previous night, and I was paying for it now as the morning sun began assaulting my eyes. When everything finally came into focus, and I was able to see again, I noticed something was very wrong.

My room had been ransacked.

Clothes, CD’s, sport equipment, papers, pictures, video games, files from work....Everything had been pulled out of its rightful spot and strewn all over the floor. My closet doors were open and off the hinges, and clothes hangers had been scattered all over the ground, along with my clothing. And not only that, but there seemed to be even more stuff in my room than there normally was; another dresser, a couple boxes, and a rather happy line of toilet paper carried itself around the full length of my living space.

In a hurry, I threw the warm heavy covers off of my body and got a better look. Even the drawers had been pulled out of the desk and thrown around the room, their contents spilling out all over the floor. It was just like one of those old black and white spy movies, where the hero comes home to find that someone had been searching through the drawers and found the secret key, or the hidden jewelry. My normally neat and orderly room looked…..terrible. And I wasn’t sure about the extra stuff in the room; I had no idea where all of that junk would have come from. It looked as if a hurricane had come through my room.

I narrowed my eyes. There was no doubt that it had been hurricane Tayhei.

Furious, I stalked downstairs to the kitchen, still clad in only in my purple boxers, not caring whether she saw me half-naked or not. It didn’t matter, she was going to die anyway. I was going to kill her. I don’t care how pretty she was, the girl was going to die. If there is one thing that completely irks me, it’s a messy room. Unlike most guys my age, I am absolutely meticulous about my appearance and my belongings. I even had the clothes in my closet color-coded and categorized. My drawers had been neat and tidy, and all of my clothes were ironed and clean. My room was neat; my room was orderly. And now all of my organization efforts were destroyed, lying among the ruins of boxes and a line of toilet paper.

When I reached the kitchen, my shoulders were already hunched in anger and my fists were clenched at my side. I was absolutely shaking with fury as I stomped through the door, but when I entered, I stopped --- suddenly unsure.

My entire was family seated around the kitchen table, eating what looked like a fabulous breakfast. There were platefuls of food on the table, and much of it had already been eaten or distributed onto everyone’s plate. The aroma of food was so strong and so wonderful that I nearly fell over. Wearing a simple white dress with an apron tied around her waist, Tayhei was over at the stove, busy cooking something that appeared to be steaming hot and delicious. Out of the corner of her eye, she took notice of me standing in the doorway, and I saw her look a little surprised at the fact that I was so scantily dressed. However, she averted her eyes once more and began sprinkling a bit of what looked like seasoning into whatever it was she was cooking.

She smirked.

Bra looked up from her pancakes and smiled a syrupy grin at me, looking excited and a lot more hyper than she normally was at this time of the morning. Normally they were both absolute slugs when they first got out of bed, but Bra looked as though she had drunk about fourteen cups of coffee. She patted the seat next to her expectantly, which was the chair that I usually sat in. "Trunks! Tayhei made us breakfast! It's almost better than ChiChi-san's cooking! Isn’t Tayhei cool, Trunks?"

I had quite a few ways to answer her question, but I didn’t feel like swearing in front of my little sister. Instead, I just didn’t answer her. I stood in the doorway glaring at Tayhei and trying to ignore the delicious aroma of the food that she was cooking. After what seemed like a lifetime, Okaasan finally looked up and noticed me standing there, clad only in my purple boxers. She put down her fork with an indignant look on her face and pointed at me.

“Trunks! We have a guest!” She cried, glancing over at Tayhei, who appeared to be paying no attention to the conversation. “Go back upstairs and put some clothes on. What are you thinking, coming down here like that?!”

I crossed my arms tightly over my bare chest. “I doubt she cares, Okaasan. Besides, I’m not about to try and please her. She messed my room all up this morning, and was probably going through all of my stuff. Do you realize how long it’s going to take for me to clean all of that up? I had it all organized.”

Bulma shook her head. “Trunks, I told you that I will have no more of that. She is moving into her room and needed a place to put some things for a while. It’s only temporary. Besides, Tayhei got up early this morning just to cook us this wonderful breakfast. You should be happy --- it’s not every day that you get to eat a meal like this. And after the way that you treated her yesterday, you should be glad that you’re even getting to eat!”

She gave me a stern look that told me I should sit down immediately and eat my breakfast. I looked to my father for help, but he gave no sign that he had heard any of the conversation and merely continued to shove food into his mouth. I groaned, defeated. She had actually won my father over with food. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to argue with my mother again, especially since it looked as though she had calmed down a little since yesterday. I sat down next to Bra and crossed my arms again, defensively. The rest of the family wasn’t paying much attention to me anymore, becoming involved once more in their food, and so I had a chance to glare at her again.

As if on cue, Tayhei spun around from the stove and gave me a pretty smile. With quiet footsteps, she made her way over to my side of the table, carrying a plate fresh from the stove. I glared at her.

"What took you so long Trunks-kun?" She inquired sweetly. "Almost all the food is gone. I had to make you a special breakfast." She handed me the plate and gave me another smile. "It's very special Trunks-kun. Made just for you."

I gave her a smile that was just as fake as her own and stared down at the plate before me. It did look amazing, still warm and steaming, and with the syrup already on the pancakes. I knew that I needed to eat --- my stomach was growling so loudly that I could have woken up the dead. Just staring at the pancakes made me want to dive into it with my fork and never look back. But there was just something about the way she had informed me that she had made me a ‘special’ breakfast. Repeating her words again in my head, I got a strange feeling as I looked down at my plate, and it made me hesitate. I picked up a bite with my fork and stared at it. Tayhei sat down in the chair across from me with her own plate and watched me like a hawk.

"Did you know…” She began, speaking to no one in particular. “that far back in history, the feuding countries and kings would invite their enemies into their home for dinner and poison their food?" Tayhei asked, never taking her eyes off me.

Bra shook head no, looking at Tayhei with worshipful big blue eyes, giving her full attention, but neither one of my parents were paying much attention to the conversation about poisoning food --- which I thought was very interesting and actually quite frightening because I was certain that there was more behind her little story than it seemed.

I paused with a mouthful of Tayhei's cooking perched on my fork. I stared at the food. I stared at Tayhei. I stared back at the food.

"Hai, they would make their guests feel at home and make them a meal, then when they least expected it, they would put poison in their food that would kill them instantly." Tayhei continued, meeting my eyes and smiling sweetly. "It was their way of getting revenge."

I critically examined the food, lifting up the pancakes and pushing the syrup around the plate. The pancakes looked okay, and so did the eggs, but it all had some sort of seasoning on it that no one else had on theirs.

I made a big show of putting down my fork and pushing my plate away.

Okaasan eyed me critically, while pouring more syrup on her plate. "Why aren't you eating?" She demanded. "Tayhei spent all morning cooking for you."

"You don't like my cooking?" Tayhei inquired in a wavering voice.

Tayhei's light green eyes misted over with fake tears and I couldn't help but think that she was a professional at getting sympathy. She must have been practicing this stuff for years; I couldn’t think of any other explanation for it. She simply sat there with a pitiful look on her beautiful face, as if she couldn’t possibly understand why I didn’t want to eat her cooking. Almost instantly she captured Okaasan’s attention, and she looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and apology. She reached over and rubbed a comforting hand on Tayhei’s back, all the while shooting me the ‘look’. I knew that I was not on good terms with her at the moment and I really couldn’t afford to make her any angrier, but I was honestly afraid to eat Tayhei’s cooking.

My mother glared fiercely, and waved a threatening fork at me. "Eat it."

I looked down at the food, thinking about what Tayhei had hinted about poisoning. My mind was thinking like crazy, wondering if it were actually poisoned or not. It could be, she certainly seemed capable of that kind of treachery, but then again, she had lied so often lately that I wasn’t sure. It was better to be prudent about it, though. I didn’t want to die, after all. I raised my eyes again to stare at Tayhei, and found a wicked grin on her pretty face, as if she was daring me to eat it. I shook my head rapidly, instantly making up my mind.

"No way." I declared. "I'm not eating that."

Both my mother and my sister glared at me.

“You’re mean!” Bra yelled, and she kicked me under the table with her little foot, trying as hard as she could to cause me pain. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying. I really didn’t like the fact that my whole family seemed to love Tayhei so much. It made me almost physically ill. I turned to my little sister and glared at her, speaking through clenched teeth.

“Knock it off, you little brat.”

“Do not talk to you sister like that!” Okaasan said, slamming her fork down on the table with a loud smack. “Trunks, you have been getting into so much trouble lately; I just don’t know what to do with you. It’s almost as if you want to make me angry! If you don’t start turning your act around, I am going to start taking away privileges. Starting with your afternoon free time. You can plan on spending the day at home. In fact, you can spend it painting Tayhei’s room.”

“Okaasan!!” I whined. “Goten and I were supposed to spar today!”

She folded her arms and glared at me, unrelenting. “Well then, maybe Goten will help you and you’ll get it done faster.”

I stood up from the table, shoving against it with my hands and practically threw my chair back. With a snarl, I leaned forward into Tayhei’s pretty face.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but this is going to stop! You aren’t half as smart as you think you are!!” I threatened, and then stalked away from the kitchen.

Chapter 4
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