Mirai Trunks sat on the couch across from the younger version of himself, listening intently to the boy’s explanation of all that had happened over the past few years. It was interesting. He had always assumed that this past timeline was perfect and that they never had any problems after the jinzouningen, but it seemed as though they had their own share of troubles. It was disturbing to hear that the Bulma of this timeline had been killed. She had been so kind to him while he was here. Much like his own mother, she had shown him a lot of hospitality and warmth. And that was something that he appreciated very much, since he didn’t feel entirely too comfortable in this world at first. It was sad to know that if they had come just a bit earlier, he could have seen her again. He felt bad for her family, especially for the little girl --- Bra. She looked so young and it must have been awfully hard to lose her mother at a young age like that. He would have been devastated if he lost his mother; she was all that he had ever known. And on a personal level, this Bulma’s death struck him hard as well. He had lost far too many people in his lifetime already, and it really hurt him to realize that he had lost one more. He didn’t understand why everyone that he loved seemed to drop out of his life.

As Trunks continued talking, he noticed the sound of a door opening in the background. There was a rustle at the door, as if someone was fighting with a pair of keys and then footsteps came towards the living room. He assumed that it was Vejiita, since they had yet to see him. He mentally prepared himself to face his father again, remembering what it had been like the last time he had seen him. He knew that there would be no friendly words or emotional greeting, and was ready for it. He barely knew the man, but for some reason he could sense how his mind worked. Vejiita cared about him, he knew that. But there was no way in hell that he would ever show it. He was too full of pride to ever let anyone know how he felt. And he knew that when his father walked in through the doorway, he could not show his feelings either. That just wasn’t the way that things worked between the two of them. He looked up at the doorway, his eyes expectant and ready.

But instead of narrowed, dark eyes full of pride and anger --- they were green.

They were beautiful green eyes that he had dreamed about every night in his sleep for years now. Eyes that he had spent hours staring into, eyes that were wide and open and full of life, eyes that he had grown to love more than anything. And instead of a wild mane of black hair that flamed up to the sky, there was long, golden blond strands. The same silky golden strands that he had spent countless hours running his fingers through. It wasn't his father at all --- not even close. It was exactly the reason why he had crossed space and time to be here, with his heart full of hope and love. The reason why he had kept on living all these years, even when he wanted to give up.

Tayhei was paused in the doorway, her beautiful face frozen into a smile.

Next to him, his mother gasped and suddenly gripped his hand, holding onto it so tightly that her nails dug into his skin.

He wanted to say something, knew that he should say something, but all that he could do was stare at her. In his chest, his heart began to beat so frantically that he feared it might jump straight out onto the floor. He had strongly felt that he would find her in this past time-line….Somehow knew that he would get to see her again. But he never expected this. He certainly did not think he would find her here at Capsule Corporation, less than two hours after he had just arrived. He had thought he was going to have to search, going to have to use all of his energy and determination in order to find her. But she was....here. Just as if fate had intended for him to be with her again; perhaps for once in his life had decided to grant him exactly what he had wished for. He was so shocked that he could barely breathe as he stared at her face. She looked exactly the same. Exactly the same as she had when he had last seen her. He remembered what it had felt like to brush his fingers over her check and run his hands over that long, golden hair. He remembered what it was like to hold her hand in his and feel her heartbeat against him. He remembered what her voice sounded like and how her face would light up so beautifully when she smiled. And here she was again, standing in the doorway with a puzzled look on her face. She was exactly the same. Exactly the same. All of the emotions that he had been pushing down and hiding for so long came rushing up to the surface again as he stared into those familiar green eyes. He had come all this way just to find her and it had worked. Here she was, standing before him, exactly the same. And he couldn’t think of a thing to say --- Neither his mouth or his heart would not allow him to speak. Instead, he just sat there and stared at her, memories and thoughts and flying through his mind faster than he could follow.

Tayhei thought she might be seeing things. She had walked into the living room only to find two identical copies of Trunks and a woman that she thought was dead. She was a strong girl, the kind of girl that held back any kind of emotions and feelings. She was cool, she was calm, and she was refined. But when she walked in there and found Bulma sitting on the couch, just as if nothing had happened at all, she began to feel as thought she was going to faint. She stared at them all, feeling dizzy and sick, happy and scared all at the same time. She had no idea what was happening or where the other Trunks and Bulma had come from; she definitely was not used to this sort of thing. On the outside, she appeared to be calm --- she had trained herself to be that way. But inside, her heart was racing at a dangerous pace and she felt as though she might cry. She wasn’t sure about the other Trunks, but if this was really her Bulma sitting on the couch….Her heart swelled with hope. She knew it wasn’t possible, but her mind wasn’t really being rational right now. All she cared about was the fact that Bulma had come back. The woman had been like a mother to her, and nothing would make her happier than to know that she was back and alive and well.

“Bulma-san?” She said softly and she desperately tried to keep the emotion out of her voice. “What’s going on?”

Trunks looked at her, his eyes sympathetic. She guessed that he must have gone through this same kind of experience when he found them. He gestured to Bulma with a heavy hand, his eyes still locked on hers. “This Mirai Bulma, not….not my mother. She and her son came from the future. I don’t know if Okaasan told you anything about when Mirai Trunks came before, but this is him and his mother.”

Understanding came to her quickly. It hit her hard and all of the hope and excitement that she had been feeling rushed out of her, leaving her empty and cold. She felt foolish for jumping to such unreasonable conclusions. She was an intelligent girl and she shouldn’t have let her heart fool her into believing things that she knew couldn’t possibly be true. Bulma had indeed told her about when Mirai Trunks had come before and the story had intrigued her. For some reason, she just couldn’t picture the Trunks that she knew doing such a thing. He was too arrogant and self-centered to take a trip back into time and help a different world fight off an enemy. Unless of course he thought he could get some benefit out of it. She turned her eyes towards the infamous Mirai Trunks, who was staring straight back at her. As she looked into his eyes, she wondered if he were anything like the Trunks that she knew. Perhaps personality varied between timelines. He didn’t appear to have the same arrogance of self-assurance, though. His blue eyes were clouded with darker thoughts and secrets than the Trunks she knew would ever carry. He was looking at her strangely, like he was completely amazed to see her standing there. The look was curious, and she decided that she would have to find out more information about this Mirai Trunks later.

Recovering from her earlier shock, Tayhei stared at her two guests with a pleasant smile on her face and nodded happily. “She did tell me about. It’s nice finally meet both of you. Forgive me for being so rude, I was just kind of shocked for a moment. I thought maybe I was seeing a ghost. My name is Tayhei. I run the laboratory here at Capsule Corporation.”

Mirai Bulma gave her a funny smile. “You run the laboratory?” She had the same amazed look on her face that Mirai Trunks did, and she couldn’t quite figure out what that look meant.

“Hai. Bulma-san hired me almost a year ago as her lab assistant.” She informed her, smiling proudly. “And when she died, I decided to stay on and run the lab for her. She had started a few projects that I wanted to finish for her.”

A thought occurred to her as she stared at Mirai Bulma. She looked so much like the Bulma that she knew. Except for a few barely noticeable wrinkles around the eyes and the long hair, she could have been an exact duplicate. And if both her and Trunks had mistaken her for the Bulma that they knew, then that meant Bra had probably made the same mistake. Her and Trunks were old enough to deal with that sort of thing, but it had probably devastated Bra when she found out that it wasn’t her mother. The little girl had not been dealing with her mother’s death very well in the first place. She missed her very much and was having a hard time letting go. Something so traumatic as this could really be hard on her. And since the girl was obviously not in the living room, she had probably gone away upset. Tayhei hated to think that Bra was up in her room alone and crying. She had guests to entertain here, but she felt that taking care of Bra was more important. Besides, the Mirai mother and son had Trunks to keep them occupied. She could always talk to them another time. Right now she just wanted to make sure that Bra was okay.

“Does Bra know?” She asked Trunks.

He nodded sadly. “Hai, I think she ran upstairs to her room. She’s kind of upset.”

After Tayhei had exited the room to tend to Bra, Trunks turned to his companions and sighed. He had been half hoping that she just wouldn’t come home tonight. He imagined it would only be a short time before the wicked girl turned Mirai Bulma and Trunks against him as well. That’s exactly what she seemed to do with everyone else in his life. It was like she was purposely trying to destroy his life sometimes. She hadn’t done anything yet; in fact, she had been rather pleasant. But he just knew that she was probably going to start using her evil influence any day now. And with all of the things that were suddenly going on in his life right now, he certainly didn’t need that. He wanted both of these people to like him, and he wasn’t about to let Tayhei wrap them around her little finger. No doubt she would be down here as soon as she was done with Bra, offering to make tea and cookies and acting like the perfect little hostess. He should try and cut her off from their affection while he still had the chance. They were both staring after her with amazed looks on their faces. He didn’t know how Tayhei did it, but somehow she managed to charm everyone that she met --- even if she barely said a word. But he wasn’t going to let her get away with it this time. He would warn them about her and her manipulative ways before she even tried anything.

“The girl is a menace.” He affirmed, pointing to where Tayhei had disappeared. “I swear she gives me a headache just by walking into the room. You should hear about some of the stuff she did to me when she first came here. If it weren’t for the fact that Bra loved her so much, I’d lock her out of the house. She is a complete bitch.”

“Bitch?” Mirai Trunks repeated in a voice that had a slightly threatening edge to it. He looked over to find blazing blue eyes staring back at him. His future counterpart looked as though he wanted to rip his head off. Trunks shrank back with a sheepish smile. As Mirai Trunks continued to stare him down, he began to feel very uncomfortable. He had the kind of glare that his father did --- the kind of glare that could stop someone dead in their tracks. He felt cold all over just looking into those fierce sky blue eyes. Even though they were technically his own eyes, he still felt uneasy. Now he knew what other people felt when he chose to glare at them in such a manner. It was almost impossible to not feel the weight of that penetrating, angry gaze.

I don’t know how she does it! Trunks thought to himself angrily. She was only in the room for less than a minute and the guy is already on her side! It was frustrating to think that she had already won. She had barely even said anything to the guy. It simply wasn’t fair. And judging from the look that Mirai Trunks was giving him, he didn’t think that he would be switching sides anytime soon.

Luckily, Mirai Bulma came to his rescue. She placed a hand on her son’s arm as if to restrain him and smiled tensely. “About Bra….Vejiita is her father, right?”

“Hai.” He answered, thankful. Mirai Trunks seemed to relax slightly, and Trunks breathed a sigh of relief as he continued talking. “Otousan and Okaasan were together up until the very end. Bra is kind of the favored child of them both. Even Otousan has a soft spot for her.”

“Where is he now?” She asked hesitantly. Good question. He thought. Not even he knew where his father had gone off to. Sure, he could find him easily enough, but he was well aware that he did not want to be found. He was certain that he would come back eventually, though. His father was far too proud to let something like death scare him away. Besides, as he had thought earlier, as soon as his father was aware of the presences of the Mirai daughter and son, he would come. He might be kind of a loner, but he was not the type of person that wanted to miss out on any type of action or fight. And since the last time Mirai Trunks had come, he had warned them of an impending danger, Vejiita probably assumed that he had come back for the same reason. He didn’t expect them to understand all of that, though, so he stated it in the simplest terms that he could think of.

“He kind of ran off for awhile.” He told them. “Okaasan’s death hit him pretty hard and he needed to get away. I’ve been taking care of Bra by myself for quite some time now, but both of us are getting used to it. I don’t imagine him being gone for long. You know how he is. Besides, when he notices that you two are here, I’m sure he’ll come around.”

Tayhei knocked softly on the little girl’s door before entering. The only light on in the room was the purple lamp that stood on her dresser, dimly lighting the large room. She loved the way that Bulma had decorated this room for the little girl. Everything was purple, of course, but it didn’t look bland or overdone. It was clean and strategically designed to bring out both the strength and the softness of the color. It was a mature room, too. If it weren’t for the mound of stuffed animals in the corner and the childish drawings hanging up on the walls, it could have easily been an adult’s room. Tayhei wouldn’t mind staying in here herself, but she much preferred the color white over purple. Her eyes traveled to the bed and found her sitting on top of the covers, holding her beloved Mr. Hippo. She looked so tiny sitting on that huge bed and so lost and sad.

“Hey Bra-chan.” She said, and took a seat on the edge of the bed. The little girl barely even acknowledged her, just sat there holding her hippo and frowning. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were red, as if she had been crying. Every once and awhile she sniffle. Tayhei absolutely hated to see her like this. Normally Bra was so happy and energetic, such a typical little girl. But when she was sad like this, it seemed as though she had matured years in a mattered of seconds. And that was never a good thing. Tayhei wanted her to be able to enjoy her childhood while it lasted. Those things came and went far too quickly.

Tayhei reached over and patted Mr. Hippo on the head. “I guess you must have met Mirai Bulma and Trunks. It’s pretty strange, isn’t it? She looks an awful lot like your Okaasan. I thought it was her when I first came in through the door.”

Bra looked over at her and sniffled again. “You thought it was her too?”

“Of course!” Tayhei exclaimed. “They look exactly alike. It’s nearly impossible to tell them apart.”

Bra’s chin trembled slightly. “I was so happy. I thought she had come back.”

“Me too, Bra.” Tayhei said. If she thought she was having trouble keeping the emotion out of her voice earlier, this was practically a full scale battle. “It was kind of sad when I found out that it wasn’t really her. But it’s nice to have Mirai Bulma, right? She’s a nice lady and she can probably tell you all kinds of stories about what things are like in the future. Just think of her as a grandmother or an aunt. She probably knows more about your Okaasan than anyone! Wouldn’t you like to hear some stories?”

She nodded, looking a little brighter. Her face had dropped the deep frown that she had and returned to just a normal thoughtful glance. “I guess.”

Tayhei smiled warmly at her and ruffled her hair. “Good. You’re a brave girl, Bra.”

As she tucked her into bed and kissed Mr. Hippo goodnight, her mind began to wander. Laying there in bed, holding her stuffed animal tightly, Bra looked exactly like the little sister that she used to have. There had been a lot of moments since she had come here to this place that Bra reminded her of her sister. Yakosoku had been around this exact age when she lost her. In a way, it was comforting to have Bra around to fill the gap that was in Tayhei’s soul --- the kind of emptiness that only came from losing someone that you loved. But it was hard to have Bra around sometimes as well. A lot of the memories that Bra had unlocked in her heart were painful; things that she did not want to live through again. Tayhei prided herself on being strong and confident, but that defense barrier nearly collapsed every time Bra said or did something that triggered a memory of Yakosoku. When her little sister died, it had actually killed a part of her. She was completely lost for a while, unable to think or function. And though she didn’t want to admit it, she was still grieving. It hadn’t even been a year ago. Less than a year ago, she had packed up and left everything behind her, hoping to forget all of those memories and live a new life. But it seemed as though no matter where she ran, she just couldn’t get away from those things. No matter what she did or how hard she tired to get those thoughts and memories out of her head, they followed her relentlessly.