“You look so pretty, Tayhei-san.” Bra mused, staring at Tayhei with wide blue eyes. The little girl looked amazed, almost transfixed by her appearance. Tayhei looked down at herself in satisfaction.
She normally did look pretty --- she was a girl that was very conscious of her appearance, but tonight, she had put extra effort into it. She wasn’t sure why, but she had wanted to look fantastic tonight, beautiful enough to take anyone’s breath away. The long, white, pure silk dress that she had on had cost her an absolute fortune, but it was worth it. And she had looped her long golden hair into an elaborate style behind her neck. In fact, the more she thought about it, she realized that she had never looked so good. She had always been beautiful, ever since she was a small child, but now that she was older, her beauty had matured as well. Her features were no longer soft and babyish, but smooth and delicate, making her appear much older than she really was. Because of her highly developed figure and her mature and beautiful face, she was often respected more like an adult than the teenager that she really was.
Capsule Corporation was having its annual party that night; an event that she had read about before, but never been invited to attend. Really, the whole affair was very fancy, and she knew that Bulma had been working very hard on the details of the party and the dinner. Early on in the day, almost as if it were an afterthought, Bulma had asked her to attend and to keep an eye on Bra during the party. She had agreed of course, just like a good lab assistant should; but inside she was really very excited to about going to the party. It had been a long time since she attended a real party with proper dancing and décor. And after she had informed that her cooking talents extended beyond that of breakfast, the woman was delighted to ask her to make appetizers for the guests. It was odd, how much she loved to cook, but for some reason, it was something that she really excelled at and really enjoyed doing. And Tayhei had a fabulous time in the kitchen preparing the food with Bra. The little girl had sat by her side the entire time and followed her directions without question, but basically she just kept her company. It was nice to have her there; it had been a long time since she smiled like that and honestly had fun.
She was beginning to become fonder and fonder of the little girl, who had won her over on the very first day that she came to live with them. Normally, she was standoffish with everyone at first and never, never let anyone into her heart. But Bra was so different from the rest, and reminded her so much of someone that she once knew, that she couldn’t help herself. She had received a hug from her first thing, and it seemed as though Bra wanted to be permanently attached to her leg. She was adoring and in awe of everything that Tayhei did, and she had to admit that it made her feel special. It had been a long time since she had been adored like that.
“Tayhei-san, will you fix my hair?” Bra asked, and handed Tayhei a small, pink brush as if it were nothing at all, and she had done it a thousand times and lifetimes before. They were sitting in front of Bra’s vanity, both of them getting ready for the party that evening. Tayhei had to smile as she looked around the little girl’s room. It was like every girl’s dream: soft, beautiful colors, nice furniture. She even had her own bathroom, which was nearly as big as the room itself, and this little vanity in the corner. A row of antique perfume bottles was lined up on the smooth surface of the vanity, but Tayhei suspected that they were probably just filled with water and placed in the room for effect. The room reminded her of the room that she used to have when she was a child --- huge, plush, and decorated. On the other hand though, Bra’s room was also more personal. Instead of blank walls, there were pictures of her family hanging up everywhere, as well as various works of art that the little girl had produced.
In her mind, Tayhei smiled. Bra was adorable, in so many ways and at such appropriate times. She was sweet, just as every little girl should be, but she was not a normal girl at all. At times, especially during times of anger and frustration, Bra could be savvy and witty and full of maturity. Bra reminded her so much of her younger self that it was almost eerie. She also felt almost the same way about Bulma, who seemed to have fond the perfect balance between beauty and intellectualism. All in all, she felt instantly close to this family, though she had warned herself not to fall to deeply in love with them. Things happen, they always did, and in the end she would be hurt very badly if she let herself get to close.
Bra sat down at her mirror, on the plush pink stool that stood before it, and placed her hands in her lap, eager to have her hair fixed. A purple bow lay innocently on the surface of the vanity, next to several hairpins, and what looked like a small box of hair ties. Tayhei stood behind her, the brush held awkwardly in her small hands, not sure what to do. It had been so long now since she had fixed someone else’s hair that she could scarcely remember how to do it. She almost didn’t want to run her fingers through the little girls hair, almost didn’t want to feel the crush of memories descending down on her. But Bra was so sweet, and so irresistible that she felt her self almost unknowingly drift back in time.
Hesitantly, she brushed Bra’s shoulder-length turquoise hair. She stroked down gently with the brush, smoothing it all out at first, getting rid of all of the tangles that come from childhood playing. It all came back to her then, the evenings spent with her own little sister, getting ready to attend one of their parent’s infamous parties. They would be the perfect dolls of the evening, with stainless dresses and perfect hair, and all the guests would comment to their parents about them, and they could care less. The two of them were a team, and unbreakable alliance against their parents and the party and society. They had both realized early on that the only love they had was in each other, and were fiercely loyal to one another. They were in this world alone, able to survive the loneliness by only by finding comfort in each other. Their parents were fake, and awful. Much like the perfume bottles that were lined up on Bra’s vanity, they were filled with nothing but water and deceit on the inside, but still tried to maintain their flowery, perfect image. They had children not because they wanted to have children, but because children were accessories, and something that was expected of a married couple. They hire someone to dress them up, and someone else make sure they were instructed in the arts and eloquence; they would hire someone to watch them when they did not have the time or the patience to watch them on their own. And then, on nights much like this one, they would parade their daughters through the party crowd and show them off so that they would be examples of the picture perfect parents with picture perfect children.
And before every party, Tayhei would stand behind her sister, at a vanity just like Bra’s and fix her hair into some elaborate twist or bun, and they would talk about what they had always wanted to have, and what they wished their parents could have been like. They would share their childish hopes and dreams with each other, enjoying the only moment that they would have to themselves that night; the only moment when they could be real.
Bra smiled, and in the reflection, Tayhei saw not Bra, but the girl that had been her little sister, so long ago. Instead of straight, turquoise locks of hair and crystal blue eyes, she saw chestnut brown curls and chocolate colored eyes. She remembered the way that her sister used to laugh, and the way that her face crumpled up when she was about to cry. She remembered everything then, every memory, and every smile, and every heartache that came with it all. She was so caught up in the memories, and so lost in the moment, that she dropped the icy barrier around her heart, dropped all of the false pretenses. Before she could think, the words just slipped out of her mouth.
“I used to have a sister, you know.” Tayhei told the little girl, then brushed another strand back into the ponytail, thinking that she would turn the hair up into a french twist. She paused briefly, wondering why she was telling Bra this kind of information, then continued. “She had soft hair just like yours, and when she smiled, she smiled just like you.”
Bra opened her blue eyes wide and stared at Tayhei’s reflection in the mirror. Tayhei’s eyes refused to meet hers, but the girl stared at her anyway. “Really? Where is she now?”
The brushing stopped, and Tayhei’s hands fell away from Bra’s head, her turquoise hair falling back down around her shoulders once more. Devastated, reliving all of the memories from the past and all of the pain from the past, she couldn’t help but feel her heart began to ache in her chest. Tayhei blinked, fought like hell against her tears, and turned away from Bra, unable to look at her. She cursed herself for falling out of her routine and becoming an emotional mess like this. She had put up walls and barriers for a reason, and those walls were meant to stay. She didn’t want to attach Bra to her memories of her sister, didn’t want to let herself fall in love with the little girl. Because sooner or later everything good would come crashing down, and she would only end up hurt. Nothing good ever came from loving someone --- the pain you felt when they left simply overpowered any happiness that you might have felt while they were there. Tayhei was staring down at the ground, a contemplative look on her beautiful face, biting her lip to rid the prick of tears in her eyes.
Oblivious to what was going on in her companion’s head, Bra turned around to face her. Gently, with only the compassion that a child could use, she brushed Tayhei’s long bangs out of her eyes and frowned.
“Tayhei-san, why are you so sad?” She inquired.
There was no need to confess her sadness to the little girl, no need to tell her anything about her life. In fact, there wasn’t even a need to be thinking about her life right now; it was all in the past, and she was meant to forget it. It was over now, it had been over for nearly half a year, and it was time that she started forgetting about it. In fact, she had promised herself before she came here, before she applied for the job at Capsule Corporation, that she would forget about it. Realizing that she was probably scaring Bra, Tayhei shook herself out of the trance and smiled softly at the little girl, spinning her back around so that she faced the mirror. She raised the brush again and started pulling the hair back into a ponytail, quicker and more determined this time.
“She has been gone for a long time now, Bra-chan.” Tayhei told her, with no emotion whatsoever. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Why not?”
Tayhei shook her head, not wanting to continue on with this conversation. It simply wasn’t important enough to talk about. Besides, the two of them needed to get down to the party pretty soon; she was eager to see if everyone was enjoying the appetizers that she had made, and to show off her beautiful new dress. She bent down until she was eye level with Bra in the mirror and smiled at the twist that was now set in Bra’s hair. To complete it, she fastened a butterfly barrette to the middle of it, an accessory that was both childlike and mature. The butterfly’s silvery wings set off the lighter tones in the little girl’s turquoise hair, and bought attention to the elaborate hairstyle immediately. Tayhei smiled, satisfied.
“How does that look?” She asked her, and Bra grinned and nodded enthusiastically. She helped her down off the stool and reached for Bra’s tiny hand. Again, a wave of sadness washed over her, but she was strong, stronger than most, and she shoved it away. She was determined to have fun tonight. She stared at her reflection in the mirror once more, noting the absolute perfection of it; she looked like an angel. Completely satisfied that she was going to impress everyone --- even Trunks, she looked down at Bra again.
“Are you ready to go down to the party?”
“Ah. Yes. The Party. Or as I like to refer to it: “an exercise in making Trunks look like a complete idiot”. I didn’t know if I was expecting something new and different, or if I expected Tayhei to actually act like a human being tonight, but whatever the case, I was dead wrong. There was that weird moment when I thought that there might be something there. Just one little moment when I thought I saw more than who she really appeared to be, but she….well, we just won’t get into that. All in all, I still stand my case as this: the girl is a bitch. And to make matters worse, I think Okaasan now wants to disown me.”
----Trunks's journal; Vol 1: Page 7
I shoved another appetizer into my mouth, and stared around the room in boredom. Most of the crowd was centered around my mother as she told a story, her hands moving wildly as she explained the events. She had captured their attention, just like she always managed to, looking beautiful and sophisticated in an amazing green dress. This was the kind of thing that usually happened at these kinds of parties: even though I am actually the president of the company, she always ends up getting more attention that I do. Normally I would be kind of annoyed with her for stealing the limelight from me, but at the moment I really didn’t care. I wasn’t in that great of a mood. I had gotten in an extreme amount of trouble over my little episode of indecent exposure. Again, none of it was really my fault, but Okaasan wasn’t interested in hearing any kind of excuses. She merely told me that I could just forget having a social life because I was grounded until I was eighty. The events of the past few days were just too much for me to bear, really, and I wanted tonight to only be about relaxing and eating some good food. These kinds of social parties were not exactly my idea of a good time anyway, though there were some pretty secretaries from the company floating around the room. They all seemed preoccupied at the moment, however, and I felt kind of lonely and ignored. Idly, I looked around the room, admiring the decorations and all of the expensive clothing that was proudly being displayed on every body.
My father was no where to be found. He usually disappeared around the time of the parties, not wanting to be bothered with them. At least he had the sense to leave before it started --- I was completely bored. I picked up yet another appetizer, and stared at it for a moment, wondering what exactly it was. I had eaten dozens of them already and didn’t seem to be able to stop. They just seemed to melt in my mouth, and were so appealing that I almost wished I could lift the tray and dump the entire contents down my throat. Luckily there was an entire mound of them, and they would at least last me another ten minutes or so.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tayhei enter the room, looking fantastic, of course. Actually, she looked more than fantastic….she looked like an absolute vision. And now that I had seen what was under that long white dress, she looked even more attractive. There wasn’t a male eye in the entire room that didn’t follow her as she crossed the floor. Her appearance however, didn’t faze me at all. I expected her to look completely perfect. Tayhei would never let herself look anything but perfect, especially for a fancy party such as this. Attached to Tayhei’s hand was Bra, who looked oddly out of place and very scared as she looked around the room, bustling full of the people. Tayhei appeared to be in absolute ease, moving gracefully in her long dress, looking polished and reserved. I guessed that she must have had some sort of practice with these kinds of social gatherings. She had probably been to parties like this many times before. She had probably looked just as beautiful as she did tonight for all of those parties as well.
When she and Bra came up to me, I couldn’t help but stare at her. She brushed a long stand of hair back behind her delicate ear, then smirked, as if she knew that I found her attractive --- as if she had purposely worn that dress and put her hair up like that, just so that I would have no choice but to think she was beautiful. She nodded at the tray of appetizers. “Enjoying the food, I presume?”
I was still mad at her, so I refused to answer. Instead, I shoved another one of the appetizers into my mouth and chewed it rather openly in front of her; a purely childish, yet satisfying action. Bra picked one off the tray and admired it from every angle possible before popping it into her mouth and chewing slowly.
“It’s really good!” She exclaimed after swallowing. “Tayhei, you did an excellent job!”
I scowled. “You made these?”
Tayhei smirked at me, and took one off the tray to eat herself. “Hai.”
“They’re the worst I’ve ever eaten.” I decided haughtily, pushing the tray away from me. I knew she cooked, but I didn’t expect her to make the appetizers for the party….I longed to have another one, but I wasn’t about to lose face in front of her and admit that she could do something well. She had actually almost caught me in the act, but I thought that I covered it up well enough. I just didn’t expect that Okaasan would have hired her on to do such a thing.
She did a lot of things that I never expected, like make me smile when I wasn’t watching myself, or make me stare as she sauntered down the hallway wearing some expensive dress. And then there was Goten, and her whole ‘relationship’ with him, which basically consisted of her being overly nice to him and always talking about him pleasantly --- and as for Goten, he was basically just happy that someone was making him food. It wasn’t as if they were having a love affair or anything, but it still made me kind of angry that she chose to befriend someone like Goten. And I didn’t like the fact that she kept hinting around to me that she liked him. I never expected her to fall for someone like Goten. Tayhei didn’t seem like the type of girl that couldn’t fall for anyone, let alone someone like Goten. She shouldn’t even be allowed to get involved in a relationship, but if she was going to fall for anyone, it should be….
Stop it right there Trunks; you’re talking crazy. I shook my head quickly and forgot about it, becoming suddenly annoyed with her for making me think about such things. I was certain that it was all part of her evil plan to destroy me, anyway; I could never tell if the girl was plotting something or not, but considering what had happened lately, I thought that I had better be on guard.
Tayhei dismissed my earlier mean comment and smiled down at Bra, who was looking rather uncomfortable. I felt a little bad for my sister; this was her first party, and she was probably pretty nervous. Tayhei, however, seemed to be doing her best to get the little girl to have fun. She bent down and took my sister’s hand lightly. “Shall we dance?”
Bra nodded at her, looking a little bit happier and the two of them began to walk away from me. On impulse, I reached out and grabbed onto Tayhei’s shoulder, just as she was turning away from me. They both stopped and stared, and Tayhei’s green eyes narrowed into confusion and annoyance.
I don’t know what came over me then, but suddenly, I just couldn’t stop my mouth from forming words. It was as though I had been possessed. “I think you should dance with me.”
If she was startled, she didn’t show it, and merely chuckled at the proposal. “I don’t think so. I would rather dance with anyone than you.”
I reached out and grabbed Tayhei roughly around the waist, expelling Bra gently and pushing her away from the dance floor. “I don’t think you have a choice.”
"I do not want to dance with you!" She declared, and fought harder to push me away.
The girl had a mean set of nails, and she definitely knew how to use them, but I ignored her desperate scratching and pushing and simply held on tighter. Maybe it was the furious look on her face, or the way that it felt to hold her like that, but my arms simply refused to let go of her, and I pressed even closer, not even bothering to sway along with the music. She fought desperately to free herself from me and bared her teeth in a snarl, but I barely even noticed her struggles. I was closer than I had ever been to her, and from this view, I could see the different colors of green in her eyes, and the light shining on her hair. Despite what a complete witch she was, Tayhei was astoundingly beautiful, and for a moment, I almost lost myself in that.
What am I doing?! I cried out silently, and shook myself back to reality. This was all about revenge, and nothing more. It was time to make Tayhei pay for every single thing that she had done to me so far.
I smirked down at her. “What? You don’t want to dance?”
“No!” She shouted, not too loudly, for fear of attracting a crowd and embarrassing herself. At her answer, I only held on tighter, and began spinning the two of us around to the music. Tayhei struggled against me, and continued to claw at my arms, but I ignored it, and just kept holding on. A look of fury passed over Tayhei’s eyes, then was replaced immediately by a mischievous, dangerous look.
Without warning, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine, hard.
A million sensations flew through me then, as my body went from being lukewarm to nearly being on fire, and I lost myself in the most amazing kiss I had ever had. I forgot who I was kissing, forgot that anyone else was in the room, forgot that we were supposed to be dancing --- even forgot my own name. It was a tremendous rush of sensations and feelings, something that I definitely had not been prepared for at all. It was as if with one like kiss, she had simply opened up the floodgates. I had never in my life felt anything that was so equally thrilling and terrifying. For a moment, she just froze, and I froze too, because I couldn’t possibly ignore what I was feeling at that very moment. Maybe it was because I was kissing a girl that was the very definition of evil and mischief, or maybe it was because I was kissing someone and feeling the sweetness of revenge.
And maybe, just maybe, I felt this way because she was Tayhei, and because I had fallen….for….her?
I released my grip slowly, completely puzzled. In return, she pulled her lips away from me and smirked. The smirk on her face threw me off, surprised me, because I was certain that she must have felt what I just felt as well. I stared at her bright green eyes in confusion.
Before I could even blink, she pulled her arm back and punched me as hard as she could in the jaw.
I fell to the ground more in surprise than in pain, grasping my jaw in shock. Tayhei lightly stepped over my fallen form, then looked down and glared at me so fiercely that it made me sick to my stomach. All of the hate and humiliation and hurt that I saw in her eyes was more emotion than I had ever seen her display.
“Don’t ever do that again!” She hissed, then stomped away and out of the room, leaving me on the floor, feeling confused, angry and embarrassed. I shook my head, disbelieving that only a few moments ago I was thinking almost romantic thoughts about her.
Nope, I still hated her.
In fact, I was pretty much furious with her. How dare she hit me like that? How dare she kiss me like that? What kind of a devil was this girl, anyway? Did she think that playing with people’s emotions and feelings was some kind of a game? I rubbed my sore jaw and stared as the girl exited the room quietly, managing not to cause any kind of scene at the party. If she honestly thought that she was going to get away with this, she was in for a very, very big surprise. I quickly hopped to my feet and was about to chase after her in anger, when Bra appeared in front of me. She stared at me wordlessly for a few moments, then pulled her little leg back and kicked me straight in the shin.
“You’re so mean!” she cried, and stomped away, following Tayhei.
That was the last straw. Absolutely infuriated, I yelled a stream of profanity after them, completely forgetting that I was at a public party setting. None of it even made sense; I just said whatever words came to mind. Still cursing up a storm, I bent down to examine my shin, while still rubbing my jaw. It was one of those times when I felt so angry that I could barely even breathe, so angry that I couldn’t even think, though I wasn’t sure if I was more angry at Tayhei, Bra, or myself.
The guests of the party scattered to the far corners of the room, murmuring in confusion about what had gone on with me just now. I sympathized with them. After all, I had been shouting words that most of them had never even dreamed of saying, at the top of my lungs. As the president of Capsule Corporation, they all expected a little more politeness out of me, especially Okaasan.
She was absolutely irate, standing before me practically quivering in her tight green dress, her eyes blazing. I knew that I was in deep trouble. Her hands were placed on her hips and she was leaning forward, a sure sign that she was about to yell at me for all that I was worth. I knew I was in trouble, I accepted the fact that I was in trouble, but right now, I just simply didn’t feel like being yelled at. Before she could even speak, I jumped up and disappeared from her sight, flying at a speed faster than the eye could follow. I flew out of the banquet room windows and into the night air.
I found Otousan sitting alone on a cliff, looking off into the distance in concentration, his eyebrows drawn together in a scowl. Although he was merely sitting, and looked to be relaxing, I could feel the tension coming off of him. It was tension that he always carried around with him; some unseen hatred or unwanted memory. It was something that he would never be able to let go of --- that was just how my father worked. He refused to let go of things like his pride and his views. Even when he was proven wrong, and even after he was defeated, he still held onto those things. My father never looked approachable, but tonight especially, he seemed to not want to talk to anyone, or be around anyone. I did want to speak with him, but I wasn’t sure if I should approach him at a moment like this or not. Usually, he grew very angry when his time alone was interrupted. I crept hesitantly behind him, wondering if I should just forget the entire thing and fly away, but before I could, Otousan spoke.
“If you’re going to bother me, get it over with. I don’t have all damn night.”
I grimaced. I never managed to start off on the right foot in our conversations --- if they could actually be called conversations. It usually consisted of me talking and Otousan grunting and saying mean comments. Every once and awhile, he will open up a little and give me an interesting and strong perspective, but usually, I just get yelled at. And seeing as though he was not happy with at the moment, I was even more likely to get yelled at. It was at least worth taking a chance, however. I know that my father is very smart, and he always seems to know what to do in a tough situation with adversity. Out of anyone, he was the one person that I could talk to. Besides, he was the only one that understood about Tayhei, and didn’t think she was the most perfect, gifted girl in the world.
“Otousan, it’s about Tayhei.” I said, stepping up closer to him.
He didn’t move, but his eyes brightened in their usual glare. I could tell that he was picturing her in his mind, detesting the very thought of her. “Brat.”
“I don’t trust her.” I continued. “You know how much she lies, and I think she is up to no good. I want her to leave.”
“I’ve wanted you to leave for years.”
“Hai.” I looked down at my feet. I decided to ignore that comment, mainly because I knew that it wasn’t true, and also because I was trying to hold a serious conversation with him. I didn’t need insults weighing it down. “But I’m serious Otousan. I want her out of the house.”
Vejiita turned towards me sharply. “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, you idiot. If you want to kick her out, kick her out yourself!”
“But---”
“What are you still doing here?!” Vejiita yelled. “Go!”
I bit my lip, and retreated away from him, sensing that he needed to be alone and that this really hadn’t been a good time to approach him at all. Oddly enough though, he had in fact told me exactly what I needed to hear. Maybe he was right; I should just kick Tayhei out of the house. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really wasn’t my say, it was Okaasan’s. And Okaasan thought that Tayhei was the greatest thing since the dragon radar. There was no way I was going to win that battle. I suppose that some things could not be changed, and that no matter how much you didn’t like it, you just had to live with it. Defeated, I flew away, heading back towards Capsule Corporation. As much as I hated it, I was just going to have to face the problem head on and deal with Tayhei by myself.
And to be honest, I didn’t even know what the problem was. She was mean to me, yes, but I wasn’t sure if that was really the thing that was making me so upset. I couldn’t explain, couldn’t even began to let my brain work that hard tonight. There had already been too many things that happened: the party, the kiss, my mother, my father. Everything was jumbled up in my mind, bouncing around and not really making any sense at all. I resolved that I would think about it, and perhaps in the morning I would have a clear head.
Chapter 7
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