The ringing of the alarm clock woke her up out of a dead sleep, the harsh beeping seemingly screaming through her ears. With a defeated groan, Mirai Bulma rolled over and slapped the contraption off of the night stand, sending it sailing across the room and crashing to the floor.

She felt as though she were about to die. Although she knew for a fact that her stomach was completely empty (she had most likely thrown up everything that she had ever eaten last night), it still churned with nausea. Her limbs felt heavy and numb, her mouth felt like a dry wad of cotton, and with every heartbeat her head seemed to cry out in pain. The simple, everyday noises of the house around her were suddenly much louder than necessary. The vacuums of the cleaning staff were roaring in full force outside of her door, and she was certain that someone outside was operating a jackhammer. She covered her ears and crumpled her face up in pain when she heard Trunks and Goten take off running down the hallway. Normally it would have only been mildly annoying, but at the moment, it sounded more like a herd of elephants stampeding over her head. As she lay in bed, flat on her back and sprawled on top of the comforter, she swore that she would never drink again.

When she was finally able to drag herself out of bed, she immediately regretted it. Standing up was far worse; her head spun and she almost fell over when a new wave of dizziness and nausea swept over her. She wrapped a robe around herself, tied her hair up, and spent a few minutes trying to make herself not look like she had just been run over by a Capsule Car. She wasn’t very successful at all. There was nothing that she could do about the bloodshot eyes and the pasty skin, but she at least managed to look presentable. She knew that Vejiita would probably be downstairs, but at the moment, she didn’t really care. There were only two thoughts running through her mind as she descended the stairs and headed towards the kitchen: Trunks and coffee.

When she entered the kitchen, she was greeted by yet another barrage of inhumanly loud noises, including Goten slamming cabinet doors shut and banging kitchen utensils on the countertop. She squinted at the assault of bright kitchen lights, and wished desperately that they could just eat breakfast in the dark today. She noticed with a sigh of relief that Vejiita was not in sight; he had probably already gone out to start his training. Her son, Trunks, and Bra were there however, seated at the table looking hungry and forlorn. She thought it was odd that breakfast hadn’t been started yet, but even the thought of food made her stomach flip and churn. Without a second thought, Bulma headed straight to the coffeemaker and started making the strongest brew she could possibly manage. It felt like she was definitely going to need it.

“Where’s Tayhei? Where’s breakfast?!” Goten wailed painfully, flopping down into a chair and burying his head in his hands. “I’m starving!”

Normally the young boy’s comment would have roused a smile, but today Goten’s voice sounded more like a grating foghorn. She winced, held a hand up to her head, and slid into the chair next to her son while she waited for the coffee to finish. Despite the fact that she could barely see straight and couldn’t concentrate with Goten and Trunks arguing over who was going to make breakfast, she could still sense that her son was still really hurt. He was studiously avoiding her eyes and nursing a glass of orange juice quietly and thoughtfully. Her heart ached at the sight of him, and she felt even more terrible about what she had said to him before.

“Trunks….I need to apologize to you for what I said yesterday.” She whispered to him softly, hoping that the others wouldn’t notice their conversation. “It was really uncalled for. I want you to know that I wasn’t really mad at you; I was frustrated and depressed and I just unleashed all of that anger onto you. I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I just want you to know that I didn’t mean what I said. I would never think that. I don’t want to fight with you. You’re all I have left. You just have to understand --- I didn’t want to see you get hurt again. It could happen so very easily. I’m sorry for trying to crush your hopes; I just wanted to protect you in a way.”

It took him a moment, but he eventually replied with a sad look on his face. “I’m sorry for the things that I said, too. I was just kind of hurt that you would even bring her up during the argument. It really wasn’t fair. But I understand why you did it. And I’m sorry that I didn’t let you know why I really wanted to come here. I should have told you.”

He should have, but she wouldn’t hold that against him. He had only done it to try and protect himself and protect her as well. Her son knew her well; she would have viewed this mission to find his lost love in a completely pessimistic way. If he had told her earlier, she probably would have done everything in her power to prove to him that it just wouldn’t work out. There were just too many things that could go wrong, and they would be really messing with the two different worlds if something happened. A visit was fine, but a romance between two different timelines was probably not a wise idea. Most of all though, she hated to see her son disappointed, and she was terrified that things weren’t going to happen the way that he had planned them to. She had no idea what that would do to his spirit. It would mostly likely kill whatever was left of his heart. He had undoubtedly been harboring these hopes for a long time now.

Finally, Trunks’s eyes traveled to hers and his eyes widened at her disheveled appearance. He actually looked scared for a moment, as if he were staring at a ghost or a sea monster instead of his own mother. A look of immediate concern crossed his features and he reached out to place his hand on top of hers. “You look kind of….tired, Okaasan. Are you okay?”

Her first impulse was to snap at him. She knew that she looked horrible, but there was really nothing she could do about that. Until she got some nice, thick coffee in her veins and worked off the last bit of her hangover, she was just going to have to keep looking like a banshee. She just hoped she would be able to clean herself up by the time that dinner rolled around. Vejiita might have missed breakfast, but she was certain he would be around for dinner. The Saiya-jin no Ouji didn’t like to miss his meals. Bulma hoped with all her heart that Tayhei would be back in time to feed the hungry Saiya-jin. She knew how cranky he could get if he didn’t have food in his stomach. If not, then her looks weren’t the only thing she would have to worry about. She would have to try to attempt to cook as well. And everyone knew that her cooking skills were not exactly polished.

She placed a hand at the back of her head, and let out an embarrassed chuckle. She felt very self-conscious all of the sudden. “I’m okay. I just have a bit of a hangover. I think I drank enough alcohol for two lifetimes last night.”

It was a beautiful summer morning, the kind of morning that made Mirai Trunks want to stay outside until long after the sun went down. These kinds of days made him think about the times he had gone out into the future world alone, away from the Underground City. Unable to find the jinzouningen sometimes, he was simply forced to end his search and spend the rest of the day outdoors, enjoying the fresh air. He remembered how free it had made him feel to sail through the air alone and warm in the sunshine. It had been so quiet back then, so peaceful. On days like that, it was easy to forget the jinzouningen existed. He looked out through the open window of his bedroom and smiled at the sight of two birds flying through the sky. Things might be different here --- the world was busier and the threat of the jinzouningen wasn’t lingering in the background, but the sky was still the same. It was still open and blue and pure.

Although he had stayed up all night last night paroling the Capsule Corporation grounds, he was still full of energy. In fact, his body hadn’t felt this alive and energized in years. He had been planning on a friendly spar today. It had been so long since he actually had someone worth fighting. Sure, it would be nice to take out a few hits on Engin, but it just wasn’t the same. He needed to have someone actually fight back with a strength that was greater or equal to his own. His first attempt at a partner would be Vejiita, but if the Saiya-jin prince wasn’t willing to fight, he would find Gohan or Gokuu. He dressed in fighting clothes, slipping on the loose pants and familiar, worn boots. He opted to leave his jacket behind; it was so nice out today that he probably wouldn’t need it.

Leaning down, he scooped up his sword by the strap and slung it around his shoulder, clipping it into place. As he straightened up, a small piece of paper fluttered down to the carpet, landing face down. Curious, he crouched low and gingerly picked up the note --- a Capsule Corporation memo, and turned it over to read the words.

His heart skipped a few beats as he read the words, staring at the familiar, precise handwriting. It was exactly the same. His mind flew back to the journal entries that he had memorized over the years, reading them over and over again in a pathetic attempt to grasp at some of the lost pieces of his life. He could remember the way that she would bend over her notebook, her hair brushing over the soft cover, her eyes moving back and forth to follow her pen as she wrote. He could remember the intense frown on her face and the way that she paused to brush those long golden strands out of the way:

"It has been roughly seventeen years since the coming of the jinzouningen. They came without warning and proved themselves to be fearless, ruthless, and entirely too powerful to control. In that span of seventeen years, they managed to annihilate almost the entire human population. This horrible tragedy is known as the "Jinzouningen Holocaust": an almost complete destruction of not only the Earth, but also its inhabitants by the malicious creations of Dr. Gero…."

He didn’t know what Tayhei needed to speak to him about, didn’t even care. At the moment, the only thing that mattered was the fact that she wanted to talk to him. Although he wasn’t necessarily ready to take on a conversation with her yet, he knew that he had to. He couldn’t wait around forever just because he was scared. He glanced down at his watch immediately. It was almost noon already. Without a moment of hesitation, he unclipped the sword and swung it off of his shoulders, dropping it back down to the floor. It looked as though he wouldn’t be sparring today, after all.

The afternoon sunlight was just beginning to burn as they relaxed out on the back patio. Tayhei hadn’t been there to make them sandwiches and iced tea, so they were surviving on leftovers from last night’s meal. Trunks, in his usual manner, was seated comfortably in a lawn chair with his long legs stretched out in front of him and high priced sunglasses shading his eyes. Just because there was no one around to see it didn’t mean that he couldn’t look his best. It was important to keep up his appearance. Goten, who was consistently growing larger every day, nearly engulfed the lawn chair; his feet dangled off the edge of it. He looked awkward in the big chair, but there was still a grin on his face. There was no doubt in Trunks’s mind that he would be as big and goofy as Gokuu someday. Bra was stretched out in the lawn chair between them, wearing a girlish bathing suit and big pink sunglasses. Trunks couldn’t help but notice how sophisticated his little sister looked as she sipped her soda and flipped through a fashion magazine.

Goten squinted over at him through the sun, lifting a hand to shade his eyes. “Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Mirai Bulma alone in the laboratory with the jinzouningen?”

Trunks considered that for a moment. He didn’t think that it was particularly wise; although the jinzouningen were controlled, they were still dangerous and unpredictable. He trusted that she had them in submission and was safe, but there was still the lingering shadow of doubt in the back of his mind. Under normal circumstances, he would have insisted that he stay in the lab and stand guard over her, but the woman had seemed so adamant about making them go away that he didn’t dare argue with her.

“Goten, she threatened to stick us in the eyes with a scalpel if we didn’t leave.” Trunks reminded him. “I don’t think we’re really wanted in there. Besides, now that she has the jinzouningen under control, there really isn’t anything to worry about. All she’s doing is looking through files and other junk like that right now. She’s just researching. No danger every came from looking at a bunch of dusty old files.”

Bra looked over at him and wrinkled up her little nose. “She was in a bad mood this morning.”

“That’s nothing.” Goten exclaimed, shaking his head with laughter in his eyes. “Trust me; you don’t know what a bad mood is until you’ve been hit over the head with a frying pan.”

Trunks had often wondered which woman had the worst temper. Most of the time he was certain that his mother was the champion, but some of Goten’s horror stories made him think twice about that. He guessed that ChiChi and his mother had to behave the way that they did. They had to be strong and forceful, and even vicious at times. They weren’t married to normal men and they weren’t part of a normal marriage. It would be difficult to tame any Saiya-jin. Trunks was definitely afraid for Goten’s future wife. Not only would the poor girl have to spend her entire life over the stove and cooking, but she would have to deal with his family, as well. Trunks couldn’t even imagine having Gokuu and ChiChi as in-laws.

“Where do you think Tayhei is?” Bra asked with a sudden sigh. She sounded genuinely frustrated that she wasn’t able to see her mentor today.

Honestly, Trunks was a bit concerned as well. It wasn’t often that Tayhei disappeared like this. She was usually up much earlier than anyone else in the household, either working away in the lab or making breakfast for everyone. She might be cruel and manipulative, but she was a hard worker. He especially thought it was odd for her to take off now, right in the middle of a crisis. Mirai Bulma was slaving away down in the laboratory while Tayhei was probably shopping, or on a date, or something equally ridiculous. She really had no consideration for other people. Besides, Tayhei shouldn’t be dating anyway. There was no need to spread evil influence around like that. If she had honestly found some poor fool to manipulate and torture, that was just fine, but he didn’t want to hear about it. Not that it really mattered, anyway. Tayhei had barely spoken a word to him in days. She was probably plotting something. That’s the way it always was with her: she’d make it so that you let your guard down and started to trust her again, then she’d turn around and kick you straight in the ass.

Trunks let out a low growl. “Maybe she crawled back into the swamp that she came from.”