Trunks came out of the back kitchen door with a flourish, carrying a large cake in his hands. He stepped down onto the wooden deck and ducked under the archway of flowers, heading towards the large table that had been set up in the back. It wasn’t a party really; they hadn’t wanted to call it that. It was a celebration of sorts, to take joy in all of the good things that had happened to them, spending their last night together at Capsule Corporation. ChiChi had argued to have the dinner at her own house, but Trunks had insisted on Capsule Corporation; it just felt as though it fitted the situation better. But he hadn’t minded the fact that ChiChi had wanted to cook. She had put in him charge of decorating and he was perfectly fine with that job. Streamers and party hats had not been set out, but he had at least thought to place some of the prettier flowers from the garden into vases. They lined the back porch, along with nearly thirty candles, all flickering beautifully in the glow of the setting sun. He set the cake down in the center of the table and stared down at it proudly. It was a bit lopsided, but he had done a much better job than the last time that he had attempted it.

Mirai Trunks stared at it skeptically, with the faintest of smirks on his face. “Trunks, you really didn’t have to bake a cake. Really.”

He ignored the comment and flopped down into his seat next to Goten, folding his hands behind his head. “I figured you should have at least one good dessert before you left for the future timeline. And I’ve had some practice with cakes, just ask Tayhei.”

He shot a look over at her and made an attempt to smile, but she pretended as though she hadn’t even heard him. She was seated at the end of the table between Bra and Gokuu, wearing one of her infamous little white dresses and her hair tied neatly at the nape of her neck. Her dinner sat in front of her still, completely untouched. Her fingers were lightly tapping to the beat of the music that was playing, but her face was void of any kind of happiness. Instead, she actually looked as though she were sick. He didn’t know if anyone else had noticed that something was wrong with her tonight, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. She hadn’t spoken to anyone since they had all returned to Capsule Corporation. She hadn’t even volunteered to help with dinner, which was really unlike her. Normally Tayhei was the star of the show, but it seemed as though she just wanted to be left alone tonight. He frowned again, looking at her with concern. He knew why she was upset; he was one of the few that had figured it out. He just wished that he knew how to talk to her about it.

“It was a very nice thought of you to make the cake, Trunks, but is it edible?” Mirai Bulma asked with a hesitant smile. His father poked at his piece with a fork, as if he were afraid that it might explode. No one else seemed to want to eat the cake either, although he didn’t really see what the problem was. Sure, it hadn’t come out exactly the right color or texture, but at least he had put the right ingredients in this time. ChiChi hadn’t been there to supervise him, but he had done his best to remember how Tayhei had made Bra’s chocolate cake last time. He thought that they should at least try it before making fun of him. It might even be quite tasty.

He decided to try and bait Tayhei again, shooting her a playful smirk. “I wouldn’t have had to bake the cake, but Tayhei here obviously decided to go on strike.”

But Tayhei still didn’t respond to him at all. Her green eyes were staring straight ahead, unfocused. Again, he felt concern for her welling up in his chest. He couldn’t say that he knew exactly what she was feeling, but he knew that it had to be awful. She had given up the one thing that she had wanted more than anything else in order to make someone else happy. And even worse --- no one had even given her credit for it. Trunks guessed that they were probably all too busy celebrating the supposed miracle to truly stop and understand what had happened. He knew that Dende definitely knew what Tayhei had wished for, along with him and Mirai Trunks. They were the only ones that had known about what Tayhei had been planning to do in the first place. Well, Goten knew as well, but he was pretty much oblivious anyway. His friend didn’t even seem to realize that something was bothering Tayhei; he just went right on joking with her and carrying on a one-sided conversation, not even bothering to ask her what was wrong.

“Well, I suppose I should make a toast.” Gohan said professionally, snapping Trunks out of his thoughts. He turned to see Gohan standing up at the other end of the table, raising his glass towards the center. “We’re here to celebrate two things --- a miracle and the fact that our future visitors are leaving.”

Mirai Bulma opened her mouth in mock indignation. “I take great offense to that remark, you know.”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if you stayed. But you have to admit that your presence has caused quite a bit of trouble.” Gohan reminded her in a light, playful tone. He reached down to ruffle Pan’s hair, then moved his dark eyes across the table to where Juuhachi-gou was sitting. He smiled at her gently. “Although, if it weren’t for Mirai Bulma, Juuhachi-gou would not be with us tonight. It’s thanks to you that she is completely human and completely here. I really don’t think that we could have done it without you. Even thought Juunana-gou didn’t make it, it’s still comforting to know that Juuhachi-gou was saved. Don’t be surprised if you get a great big kiss from Kuririn before you go. I think he was really worried there for awhile.”

Mirai Bulma’s cheeks went pink with embarrassment. “I didn’t really do much.”

“You did enough.” Vejiita said gruffly, finally giving in and taking a bite of the cake. His face instantly registered disgust, but he kept on eating it anyway. Trunks figured that his father would probably eat just about anything. When it came to appetite, it would be a real contest to see which one of them would win. His father would eat just about anything, but he was pretty sure that Gokuu could consume more food. He had seen Gokuu eat more food than he thought was even possible. He was just glad that ChiChi was Gokuu’s wife. If not, he would probably starve.

Gokuu paused thoughtfully as he lifted a bite up to his mouth. His usually cheerful dark eyes grew a little sad and distant. “I wish that Bulma and Yamucha could be here for this.”

ChiChi patted his arm comfortingly, and smiled a soft smile at all of them. “I think that Bulma and Yamucha would have enjoyed this. Juunana-gou too, as well as all of the lost loved ones of the future world. It’s so rare that all of us are together to celebrate. We’re fighting so often that it seems as though we’re never able to just get together and have dinner. It’s nice to have just a moment of peace and happiness, isn’t it? But I think that it is important for us to avoid talking about what we’ve lost for now. I doubt that any of them would want us to sit here and be depressed. They would want us to enjoy our moment of peace together; we all know that we rarely ever get moments like this. Let’s celebrate our victories tonight and dwell on our losses tomorrow.”

When everyone had finally said their goodbyes and left, Vejiita gave an inward sigh of relief. It was annoying as hell to have all of those people wandering around his house and touching his things. He could handle some social situations, but he liked to take them in moderation. Having everyone here at once had been just a little too irritating for him. He was certain that if he had to hear one more of Kakarroto’s idiotic jokes tonight or listen to one more of Gohan’s boring speeches, that he was going to shoot himself. And the women were even worse. He had forgotten just how nagging and loud Bulma could be. He was just glad that Kakarroto’s mate had spent most of her time in the kitchen. That woman annoyed the hell out of him. Videl was useless, and even though Juuhachi-gou was no longer a wind-up toy, he still didn’t like her. And the children? Goten was just as idiotic as Kakarroto, Pan was nothing but a hyperactive little insult to the Saiya-jin blood, and Marron was nothing more than a smiling, lifeless doll. He felt like kicking something. He hated having company over. Why hadn’t he just flown off like he had wanted to? Was it really important that he be there to say goodbye to the future visitors and celebrate that damn tin can’s miraculous revival?

The only good thing about the night was that Tayhei hadn’t spoken so much as a word. He wasn’t stupid enough to not be able to figure out what had happened. It surprised him that she had done what she did. He still didn’t approve of her though, and he knew that he never would. Tayhei was human. And he knew all too well what happened when a Saiya-jin took a human as a mate. They died far too quickly; their bodies were simply too weak and too fragile to live the long, full life of a Saiya-jin mate. Trunks was heading straight for a lifetime of suffering. Vejiita didn’t blame him, though. He knew just how tempting and seductive the members of the female species could be. One minute you hate them and the next minute you’re rolling in the grass with them outside the Capsule Corporation work shed. However weak and delicate they might be, they certainly had enough power to wrap any Saiya-jin around their fragile little finger. That was what he liked about them.

“Vejiita?”

The voice startled him and he turned around to face Mirai Bulma. He guessed that she just must have come from the kitchen, because there was still a towel slung over her shoulder and a few strands of turquoise hair had fallen into her eyes as though she had been hard at work. In the glow of the candlelight, she actually managed to look young again --- the way that she had so many years ago. It was just the two of them out on the porch; everyone else had long since gone inside to clean up. The table had been folded up and put away, but all of the flowers were still out and surrounding them. The strong smell of lilacs and gardenia floated through his senses, mingling with the scent of freshly cut grass and warm summer air. The soft music was still on in the background, and it made him think of the times that he had spent out here with his own Bulma, bickering about some absurd, insignificant thing before the two of them went upstairs to bed.

“You know that I’m leaving tonight, right?” Mirai Bulma asked him tentatively. She placed her hands behind her nervously and tilted her head down, avoiding his gaze. “You haven’t really said anything about it.”

He crossed his arms and stared at her, forcing his eyes to narrow down into a suspicious glare. “What do you want me to say?”

“Just answer one question for me.” She said quickly, the words tumbling over each other as she said them. A faint blush appeared across her cheeks, but she lifted her head up anyway and met his eyes. He had a feeling that this one question wasn’t going to be a very easy one to answer. It wasn’t often that he had seen her nervous or embarrassed; it was true that she sometimes got emotional about things, but she had always been confident in most areas. And his own Bulma had never, never been nervous when she talked to him. If anything, she had always acted as though he were incredibly beneath her. But Mirai Bulma was different, and he could tell that she was obviously embarrassed about what she was about to ask him. She nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath, making a tremendous effort to look nonchalant and calm. “If you’ll just answer this one question, you’ll never have to see or hear from me again.”

“Did you love me?” She asked him bravely. “Back then? Before you died?”

He knew what the answer was --- of course he knew. He had had so much time to think about it lately that it seemed as though he had always known. But these things weren’t easy for him to discuss. They weren’t even easy for him to think about. “Love” was not a part of the Saiya-jin vocabulary. It wasn’t something that he was supposed to know about, and it certainly wasn’t something that he was supposed to feel. But he couldn’t deny the fact that he had cared so deeply for her that he would have done anything to please her. He couldn’t deny the fact that she made his heart feel a kind of peace and joy that he didn’t even know existed. He knew that he had loved Bulma. At first it had been nothing more than attraction --- just a lustful craving for something that was so beautiful and soft. But the more he grew to know her, the more he learned about the vivacious women with wild turquoise hair and deep blue eyes, the more he began to care.

But these things were still not things that he could share with anyone. He could barely even bring himself to think about it. And even though Mirai Bulma was standing here before him, practically begging him to give her the affirmation that she needed, he simply couldn’t do it. Besides, he had no idea how she couldn’t already know. Even back then, he had still let his guard down enough to show Bulma that he had cared. And he had stuck with her for those years, hadn’t he? He hadn’t even looked at another woman, hadn’t even thought about another woman. If Mirai Bulma didn’t really know how her Vejiita had felt about her, then she was blind. She of all people should know just how much power she had over the proud, emotionless Saiya-jin no Ouji. Somewhere deep in her heart, she knew. If she hadn’t known, then she wouldn’t still love him in return, she wouldn’t still be waiting for him to come back to her. She knew the truth. She just needed to find it within herself.

He smiled at her --- a real smile. “You shouldn’t ask questions that you already know the answer to.”

With a faint smile still on her lips, Mirai Bulma glided back into towards the kitchen, still thinking about the Vejiita that she had loved so long ago. It was true that Vejiita hadn’t given her an answer just now, but she knew that it was the closest that she would ever come to getting him to admit something like that. When it came to things like emotion, Vejiita had always been closed off and distant. But if she really, honestly thought about it, she didn’t see how he couldn’t love. If Vejiita hadn’t loved her back then, why had he stayed with her? Why else would he stick around and endure all of her yelling and nagging? He had nothing else holding him back --- not even Trunks had been an issue back then. He could have left any time that he wanted to; he could have even flown off into space if he had asked for some form of transportation. But he hadn’t done any of that. He had simply stayed with her. And if he didn’t love her, then she couldn’t think of any reason for it.

That made her heart jump even more. A thought had been brewing in her mind for a long while now, almost ever since she had stepped into this perfect world. It wasn’t a complete thought of course, and it wasn’t something that she could do by herself, but she had made a promise a long time ago and she intended to keep it. Not just for herself, but for her dearest friend and for the son that she loved more than life itself. Their world was so lonely and so bleak, but this trip here had been like a breath of life. It had renewed her hope, and given her a chance to dream of new things, new ways. She had thought it about it a lot recently, and at every free moment that she had gotten, she had written it all down, knowing that it might help. Because this thought did not depend on her. It was all up to someone else --- someone that she knew was capable of doing it.

When she reached the kitchen she found Tayhei there, scrubbing the sink full of dishes with an expressionless face. Her sharp green eyes were focused on something outside the window and her hands were moving slower than usual, as if her mind were completely overtaking her body. Bulma knew that something was bothering her, but she wasn’t sure what it was exactly. She would have to pry it out of her son once they were back in their own world. She knew that he would know. And if she knew Tayhei as well as she thought she did, she knew that the girl would not want to talk about the problem at all. She just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t going to work for Bulma. She had things that she needed to discuss with her. “Tayhei?”

“Hai?” The girl answered, and Bulma noticed that her hands sped up a little bit. She was paying an awful lot of attention to that dish.

“Do you think you could follow me down to the laboratory?” She asked her in a professional tone. She began to head out the door in the direction of the lab, knowing without a doubt that the girl would follow her. “There is something that I wanted to show you before I left. In my spare time, I had been looking over some of your notes and I think that I might have an idea. It’s tentative of course, and I’m not entirely sure how it can be done. I took some notes myself and cataloged them for you, so that might make it a bit easier. This isn’t really my field of expertise though, so I’m not sure how much of a help my notes will be to you. I just knew that I would never forgive myself unless I let you know about this idea --- even as tentative as it is.”

Just like she had assumed, Tayhei placed the dish on the drying rack and wiped her hands on a towel. The girl’s expression barely changed, but Bulma could sense a bit of curiosity lingering in her eyes. It didn’t worry her at all. She knew that Tayhei would be able to do this, without question. She had placed her faith in Tayhei once before, many years ago. And she would gladly trust something as important as this to her again.

“Thank you for helping….and for being here.” Trunks told Mirai Bulma softly, doing his best to keep his emotions at bay. The woman had just come back from the laboratory with Tayhei, clutching a Capsule that he knew held the time machine. They were gathered out in the yard again, and the sun was just disappearing behind the mountains in the distance. “At first I thought that it was going to kill me to have to see you every day, reminding me of what I lost. But now that you’re leaving, I think I’m actually going to miss seeing you around. It was kind of comforting to know that you were there, even though you aren’t really my mother. You guys share the same determination though, the same spirit, and I think that was enough for me. It was like having a ghost of my mother around for a little while --- and that was really something that I needed to get through this. I know that I still have a long way to go before I can honestly say that I am completely over what happened to her, but I’m getting there.” “I’m already proud of how far you’ve come. And I have to admit that I’m going to miss your smiling face.” Mirai Bulma replied. She shot an agonized look over at Mirai Trunks. “I don’t see my own son smile very often.”

“Speaking of you.” Trunks joked in a harsh voice and pointed jabbed a finger towards the future warrior’s chest. “You’ve been on my nerves from the very beginning. I’d say it’s about time you packed up and went home.” He smiled, and then reached down to shake his hand, all feelings of anger and jealousy draining out of him in an instant. Mirai Trunks had done a lot for him; he had talked to him like an adult and pushed him in the right direction. And more than that, he had proved that there was more to love than what Trunks had originally thought. “Thank you. You’ve honestly helped me a lot, in many ways. Take good care of that sword and be careful out there.”

Next to him, Vejiita looked down at his leg, a stern expression on his face. “Bra, say goodbye.”

She clung tighter to him and whimpered quietly. “Why do they have to leave?”

Mirai Trunks bent down to her level and smoothed a hand over her head, smiling at her with kind blue eyes. “We don’t belong here. We have a whole other world that we have to take care of. There are people that need help there, and cities that have to be rebuilt. Bra-chan, if we could stay in this world, we honestly would. Anyone would want to stay in a place where it was this perfect and this happy. But sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to do in order to help people. I’m sure you don’t want the future world to suffer either. You’re a good girl, Bra, and a kind person. I know that you want to help people too. So you can probably imagine why it’s so important that we go back and help those that need us.”

She was quiet for a minute, then released Vejiita’s leg and ran over to a box that she had brought out with her. She opened the lid with small, shaking hands and pulled out a familiar hand drawn picture and a worn, pink hippopotamus. She handed Mirai Bulma the drawing and hesitantly gave Mr. Hippo to Mirai Trunks. Trunks’s heart nearly burst with pride and love for his little sister, and longed to hold her in his arms. He would never understand how a little girl could be so childlike and yet so mature at the same time. Bra’s little voice quavered slightly when she spoke, her deep blue eyes were dry and clear. “You can take these back with you so that you can remember me.”

For the first time that night, Tayhei suddenly spoke up. She was standing next to the time machine, and bent down to read examine the word ‘hope!!’ that had been painted near the bottom of it. Her green eyes sought out Mirai Trunks’s. “What is this?”

“Okaasan wrote that before I went back to the past timeline the first time.” Mirai Trunks explained in a gentle tone, running his hand over the word. “She meant for it to be something of a message to the world, and to herself. At that point in the future timeline, things were so grim that all we really had to hold onto was hope. It was honestly the only thing that pulled us through the days and the nights; it was the only thing that kept a lot of people alive. All of my mother’s hopes had been placed in me, for this one trip back in time. She had been planning it for years, wishing and hoping and dreaming of the right solution. We knew that I couldn’t fight the jinzouningen and win. As strong as I was, I was helpless against them. The only way for our world to be free was to undo everything that had happened. If I went back and time, kept Son Gokuu alive, and gave them a warning about the jinzouningen, maybe it would undo all of the horrible events of our own timeline.”

He paused for a moment and shot his mother a look of admiration. “And when that did not work, my mother went right on hoping again, moving on to new projects and new ideas. But she never once gave up; she fought so hard, every single day of her life, just so that our future world could be peaceful once more. Hope was so alive in her heart that she simply could not force herself to give up. It was the hope for something better --- hope to find peace and love and comfort once more. All of us had that kind of hope running through us. It was the one thing that the jinzouningen couldn’t take away from us --- the only thing that we could treasure and keep and build on. I don’t expect you to understand; sometimes it’s hard for people outside of our world to grasp why we put such a high value on something as flighty as hope.”

“No, I understand.” Tayhei replied calmly. She brushed the long golden hair out of her eyes and looked towards the place where the sun had just set. The faintest line of thin yellow light was still glowing there. “You never once ran away. You fought for what you believed in and for what you hoped would come. It was very brave of you.”

“You’re pretty brave yourself.” Mirai Trunks told her with his eyebrows raised. He reached out a hand to touch Tayhei’s shoulder, and for once, Trunks didn’t feel himself bristle at the thought of them touching. If anything, Mirai Trunks was treating her like a younger sister now, or a dear friend. The future warrior’s sky blue eyes were full of kindness and wisdom as he stared at her. “It takes a lot of courage to sacrifice what you truly want in order to help someone else.”

She ignored his comment and met his eyes with a look of dead seriousness, the green inside of them sparkling with assurance. “You will find happiness someday. You will find love again.”

“And so will you.”

Tayhei watched the time machine disappear with a terrible feeling in her heart. As soon she had seen Mirai Trunks’s kind face flash out of sight, she felt the loneliness overtake her again. She hadn’t loved Mirai Trunks --- that wasn’t the case at all. But she had liked him. She didn’t mind being his friend. He was kind and knowledgable and possessed the exact love and support that she needed in her life. She knew that there bond was based on nothing more than what had happened in his past, but it was still a bond. He still managed to understand her, even though he didn’t really know her. And she didn’t think there was anyone else out there who was able to do that. There used to be, a long time ago, but Yakosoku was never coming back.

The thought of it made her stomach churn again and she turned away from the others and started walking back into the Capsule Corporation building. The loneliness was overwhelming. So overwhelming that she was finding it difficult to breathe as she walked, her breaths coming in ragged and short. She knew that she had made the right decision, but that didn’t mean that she was happy with it. Being able to see everyone else so happy and peaceful was truly gratifying to her, but that still didn’t make up for the aching loss that she felt. She didn’t know whether to be angry or sad anymore; she didn’t even know what to say to anyone. She knew that some people were certain of what she had done and that others suspicion it, but she would never say anything about it. It wasn’t really a good deed if you expected to get recognition for it. And she pretty sure that they wouldn’t care anyway. One good deed did not make up for a lifetime of insults and cruelty. Besides, no one would be able to understand why she did it anyway.