Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dude Looks Like A Lady ❯ Chapter Sixty-Two ( Chapter 62 )

Innocence is Futile
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Dude Looks Like A Lady
By Raven Pan and Alison Sky
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Chapter Sixty-Two
April 21, 799 - Saturday
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"Damnit Hisa, it's not like that," Trunks muttered in his sleep, a habit he'd had all his life... but that wasn't what was strange. It was the name, a name he hadn't spoken in over sixteen years.

Goten was sitting up in bed, trying to keep from coughing, his inhaler in his hands as he heard Trunks speak. He looked through his drooped bangs at his best friend. Hisa.... that's an old name....

Trunks fell silent, tossing in his bed, the covers beginning to twine around him, constricting. A few minutes later another name was spoken, one Goten'd only seen written. "Noriko... not you too! You can't... but I thought...."

Goten lowered his head, sighing, then laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his inhaler gripped in his hands. He wished he could help Trunks... he really did.

More silence, then very quiet, a whimper - "Don't hate me Goten...."

Goten lifted his head. "Trunks?" he asked softly, coughing a bit from using his voice so soon after a fit, even a small one.

There was muttering, so swift and impossible to catch what he was saying. Then, he tossed more violently, falling off the bed and waking with a start, sitting straight - tangled in his blankets, breathing hard while blinking away the remnants of his dream... nightmare... memories.

"Trunks, are you.... ok?" Goten asked, sitting up quickly.

He jammed a hand through his hair, and looked up at Goten, "Sorry, did I wake you up?" he asked, concerned.

"No... I was awake..." Goten said, showing his inhaler. "Are you ok?"

Trunks shook his head then nodded, as he worked to untangle himself. "Yeah, I'm fine...."

"Want to talk about it?" Goten asked softly.

He shrugged, "I dunno... yeah kinda - but I don't think you wanna listen," he said, still not looking up as he tried to untangle himself.

"You mentioned Hisa..." Goten stated.

Trunks closed his eyes tightly, lowring his head. "Talking in my sleep again, huh?"

"Sometimes your dreams are where your problems come out to be worked on..." Goten said softly.

"You sound like a shrink," Trunks chuckled slightly, looking up at him from where he was still sat on the floor. "No wonder I dream so much."

"Gohan had a lot of bad dreams when I was little... he would tell me about them and when he talked, he was able to figure them out."

"You sure you don't mind, though? I mean, it's been a long time since I talked to you about a nightmare." Trunks could pinpoint when the last time was, too... Senior Year of University.

Goten nodded, sitting on the side of the bed, then sliding down to sit on the floor across from Trunks.

Trunks half-smiled - thankful. He had to talk to someone and, quite frankly, he'd never bothered to get close enough to feel comfortable talking to anyone... other than Goten, that is. In reality, Goten really was his only friend. "Well, it started I was in highschool," he picked at the lint on his blanket, frowning. "When Hisa broke up with me."

"I remember that day.... I had a dentist appointment, so I was late to school..." Goten nodded.

"Yeah - I'm still glad you weren't actually there for it," He sighed, leaning back against his bed and closing his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "It was pretty nasty."

"Tell me?"

"Well it... it started with things I could handle. We'd argued on and off for a few months by then. Little things, like me pulling out a chair, or opening a door for her - would just set her off. Back then I couldn't figure out why - it's what I was taught to do." He sighed, his head back on the bed as he stared at the ceiling. "I guess she was too independant or something. I pulled out the chair for her at lunch, by accident, and she started going off on me. 'Too nice, Mama's boy....' Then she got in on my heritage, that she didn't expect to be treated like an actual person, by someone who didn't even have a real family." Funny how, after so long, it all just seemed to start pouring out.

"Y'know, cause nobody ever really knew about my Dad... and everyone knew about the 'bastard heir of capsule corp'," he shuddered. "Apparently she went through some old news items or something. I hate the fucking limelite."

Goten nodded. "What can you expect, Trunks? I mean, when someone is TOO nice, they think there's something wrong with them."

"No kidding," He frowned, lowering his head again to stare at his tangled blankets. "Then she got on about me, I can handle that - I mean I was used to it by then. 'Y'know, with that hair of yours, you're really trying to make a statement huh? What is this, overcompensation?' she said. I told her it was hereditary, that my grandfather had purple hair too, and she damn well knew mine was natural. She said she knew that, proved through and through I wasn't what I told people I was. That I was a freak," he sighed. "That, I could take, I could handle that... but then she... she started in on you, Chibi."

"Me?" Goten cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, about how I spent all my time with a freshman when I should be spending more with her. She said I had to stop being friends with you, if I knew what was good for my status. Of course I told her she could just fuck off, because I wasn't about to stop being best friends with you," he said quietly.

"Yeah, well... not a lot of people in high school understood us..." Goten pointed out.

"I know, but she... Damnit, it was in front of everyone, she couldn't even argue with me in private. She told everyone that she never should have tried dating me - and I... That I should 'go back to being Goten's fag bitch', because no self-respecting girl would want to be seen with me," He grit his jaw angrily as he gripped the blankets. "I asked her what the hell was wrong with our being friends, but by then she, and well, everyone else, were all laughing so hard I couldn't take it - so I left," He finished in barely a whisper.

Goten pulled his knees to his chest and hugged them. So because of our friendship, Trunks was never able to keep a girlfriend... it's all my fault this happened... Goten told himself.

"I'd take you over any dumbass woman any day though, Chibi," Trunks said firmly, looking up to see how Goten was sitting. "Anyone who can't let us have our friendship, just isn't worth it."

"Yeah... they don't know what we've done together... hell, if it wasn't for our friendship, none of them would be alive even."

He smirked, "No kidding. Kinda makes you wonder if they were worth it," he shrugged. "Anyhow, that was the first part of my dream... more of a memory, I guess - except you were there that time, laughing with everyone else. Then you glared at me as I flew off.... When I landed I was in," he shook his head - "You don't need to listen to my neurosis, you should go back to bed," he sighed, jamming his hand through his hair before pinching the bridge of his nose again.
"Trunks, you're my best friend... you can talk to me, you know...."

"Yeah, I know... hell, if I can't talk to you, I can't talk to anyone," He shrugged, a half smile. "Next part of my dream, well... maybe I should backtrack a little."

"Go ahead." Goten leaned back, then took a deep breath through his inhalor.

"There was this girl, Noriko," Trunks sighed. "She was really nice but, well - I guess I'm a little too scatterbrained for her."

"I saw a picture... I think it was her... in the trash..." Goten stated.

"The night we got you home from the hospital?"

Goten nodded.

"Yeah, that's her. Anyhow, yeah, I was a little too scatterbrained for her, and we broke up. Part of the dream was that, too - only you were there again, laughing again... then you glared at me again...." Trunks's eyes just watched as he picked at the lint on his blanket.

"Why... why do you think I'm glaring at you?" he asked.

"I dunno, just seemed, y'know in the dream, that any time someone broke up with me, you were glaring at me," Trunks shrugged.

"I don't know why your mind would think I would do that... I mean... I do want you to be happy and all..." Goten played with the pullstring on his pants.

"Maybe you were glaring at me because I messed up?" Trunks shrugged.

"Well... you know, you need to figure out what you really want, Trunks... I mean, it seems you keep losing your girlfriends cause you're unsure of what you REALLY want in life..." Goten stated.

"That's kinda what Noriko said. I know what I want, I just can't seem to find it," He grumbled.

"Can I help at all?" Goten asked.

"Not sure," Trunks sighed.

"Well, you do know I'm here for you, man... I know for a while I was kinda out there... but I'm here now, Trunks... for real. No jokes, no games. Just me." Goten looked up, his eyes serious. "Whatever you need, just let me know and I'll help, ok?"

"It's nice to know that, Chibi - cause in my dream you took the kids and left. I got home from work and you were all gone, except for a note you left, that said that if I ever tried to see you or the kids again, you'd get a restraining order put on me," he said quietly, not meeting Goten's eyes.

"You know I wouldn't do that Trunks.... at least, not unless you really went psycho or something..." Goten chuckled.

"Yeah well, you'd have every right to - I'm hopeless," he sighed.

"Nah, you're not." Goten smiled. "Not yet at least."

"Thanks," Trunks chuckled.

Goten coughed, then stood up. "Seeing as we're up... I'm hungry now...."

"I'll go make us something," Trunks continued untangling himself and finally was able to get up. He still didn't understand why his nightmare was the way it was.... and he wasn't about to admit this wasn't the first time he'd had it.

"You sure? I can make it myself..."

"Consider it payment for being my shrink," Trunks shot his best friend a smirk, dumping his covers on the bed. "Besides, I need a drink."

"I don't think we have anything left..." Goten chuckled.
"I have a stash," Trunks admitted, his back popping as he stretched.

"Figures... " Goten shook his head, smiling.

Trunks just spread his hands, "Hey... it's me!"

"Sure thing, Mr. Han Solo," Goten laughed.

He just grinned, and clapped Goten on the back. It looked like things were finally back on track.

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