Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Somewhere Only We Know: Sequel to Becoming Trunks ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6

Miyuki and Trunks continued to walk around the neighborhood for a while. Trunks was getting very hungry and asked if she would be willing to continue their conversation over dinner. She agreed and he handed her the capsule car that he had picked out for her. They drove the car to purchase some fast food, which they took back to Trunks' place. Trunks started to eat, like any other hungry Saiyan might, but then stopped and looked up at the woman sitting next to him, "I just realized something about you."

Miyuki was about to put food in her mouth, but stopped and glanced at him. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No," said Trunks as he lifted an eyebrow. "I noticed that you're not smoking. In fact, I haven't seen you pick up a cigarette since you returned."

"I quit two years ago," she replied and finished placing the bite in her mouth.

"Good for you! Do you miss it?"

Miyuki swallowed and looked at him, "Every second, of every day."

Trunks chuckled at her answer. "So, tell me about this business venture of yours," said Trunks between bites.

"What do you want to know?" asked Miyuki, looking at him and winking.

"Well, first of all, what is it?"

"I am opening a photography studio. I have some art that I have drawn, too, but hope to hook up with some other artists in town to display some of their work. I was also hoping someone really well known would pose for some photographs to get my business going. You wouldn't know anyone like that would you?" She winked at him again.

"You don't want me to take my clothes off for that, do you?" he asked.

"Only if you want to. If you did, I certainly wouldn't share those photos with anyone."

"I would do anything you asked me to. I am completely under your spell."

Miyuki rolled her eyes. What exactly was happening between them? Since yesterday afternoon, they had spent quite a bit of time together and she actually was enjoying herself. She hadn't taken his marriage proposal seriously, but deep down she wished he had been serious when he asked. "There is something else I quit doing about two years ago that I didn't tell you about."

"Yeah?" asked Trunks, trying to figure out what she could possibly be talking about. "What would that be?"

"I stopped taking birth control pills." Miyuki looked down at her plate, not wanting to meet his gaze when he realized their night of passion had gone unprotected.

Trunks was taking a drink when she answered him. He choked a bit and cleared his throat before placing his glass on the table. "Oh?"

"My period just ended, so we should be safe-you know, last night?"

"Yes, I remember last night. I was hoping to have a repeat tonight," he said, winking at her.

"You're not mad?" asked Miyuki.

"No, should I be?"

"Because if you're looking for a repeat tonight, you are going to have to wear a condom," she stated, and took a drink of her water.

Trunks flared his nostrils and scrunched up his mouth as if the thought of wearing the condom was a fate worse than fighting evil enemies. "If we were safe last night, why wouldn't we be safe tonight?"

"Do I need to explain the female menstrual cycle to you?"

"Please don't!" Trunks protested, looking back down at his food, and suddenly losing his appetite.

"Do you mean to tell me that, after all this time," mocked Miyuki, "you still don't know anything about women?"

"I'll wear the condom, if you will stop talking about…female stuff."

Miyuki shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I can't go back on the pill `till my next period, so until then, that's the way it's got to be."

At that moment, Trunks' cell phone began to chime. Trunks glanced at the number on the display, and immediately recognized it as Sachi's. He looked at Miyuki and back at the phone, deciding not to answer it. Once it stopped ringing, he turned it off, and threw it on the table.

"Was that your girlfriend?" joked Miyuki. Trunks was caught off guard by her remark. He was torn between not wanting to lie to her and not wanting to say whom the caller was. Knowing her recent state of mind, he chose not to say anything, inwardly hoping that Miyuki's curiosity would end there. But his silence gave Miyuki her answer and an uneasy feeling, similar to the one she experienced in the shower that afternoon, came over her. "It was your girlfriend, wasn't it?" she whispered, slowly setting down her fork.

"Not anymore," replied Trunks and placed his hand atop hers on the table. "You are my only `girlfriend' right now."

"I'm not jealous-much," said Miyuki as she gritted her teeth.

"As of yesterday afternoon, there is no other woman in my life but the one with whom I am sitting at this table."

Miyuki eased her hand out from under his, and continued picking at her food in silence. She wanted to trust him, but then she remembered his well-publicized reputation as a womanizer. He had undeniably gained more experience as he had gotten older. He was a good businessman, when he wanted to be, but he was an even better manipulator.

Trunks could see that she was visibly irritated with him. He took his hand back and continued eating, until he couldn't stand the now-icy silence hanging between them anymore. "You're pissed, aren't you?"

"Why would I be pissed? What you do in your personal life is none of my business," she stated matter-of-factly. Her voice was cold but her features told a different story.

Trunks put his utensils down and pushed his plate away. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at Miyuki. "I don't believe you. Tell me what you are thinking."

Miyuki took a deep breath and scratched her forehead, trying to formulate what she was thinking in the kindest way possible, although what she had to say was far from kind. "I might be able to believe what you are saying, if I hadn't been privy to the corporate rumor mill surrounding your escapades with your secretaries. Not to mention, every time I picked up a newspaper or magazine, I also had to see photos of you, accompanied by a different knockout goddess on every single one. Do you really expect me to believe that you haven't said the same exact thing to every one of those women?"

Trunks rested his elbow on the table and put his head in his hands. He supposed he deserved that little jab, but it didn't make it any easier to hear her say it. "Miyuki, you may not believe this, but none of those women meant anything to me. I was only looking for a replacement for you. I never got over you."

"I, on the other hand," she continued loudly, "chose to spend my time working and putting my energies into Capsule Corp., in order to get over you. I tried to date other men, but never did I flaunt those relationships in public." She gulped, stopping for a minute to compose herself, then lifted her head to continue, "And never, for one second of the last seven years, did it ever occur to me that you had done anything but move on, to forget about us and what we had." Miyuki felt an overwhelming urge to run away as far as she could from the man sitting with her. He scared her and excited her all at the same time. She didn't want to admit to him that she had tried to date other men, but once she had experienced him, no one else could compare. She quickly stood, grabbed her coat and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" shouted Trunks as she began to open the door.

"I have to go and think. Call your girlfriend back. She is waiting." Miyuki rushed through the door, stifling the release of her tears until she made it a safe distance from his apartment.

As Trunks stood and stared at his front door, he could feel his anger brewing. Papers and other objects began flying about the room as his furious ki rose. Unable to control his growing rage, he got his release by smashing the table in two pieces. As Trunks stood there looking at the damage he had inflicted on the defenseless piece of furniture, his father's words came to him from long ago, "Let her go." Recalling that piece of fatherly advice, he forcibly reined in the sudden urge to fly after her. Instead, he walked over to his couch and plopped down in the middle of the cushions with a frustrated sigh. She had a lot on her mind, and he knew he shouldn't pressure her into anything right now. He picked up the remote and turned on the television, hoping he could find something mindless to help him forget that he had just let the love of his life run from his apartment.

Miyuki ran and ran until she could run no more. She was mentally smacking herself for getting caught up in emotions and passion. "I know better than that!" she thought as she stood breathing heavily from the running. She pulled the capsule car from her coat pocket and depressed the plunger, revealing the car Trunks had loaned her. For now, she was going to keep the car. "Another stupid thing I forgot to do when I left Capsule Corp. was take my capsules with me." She opened the car door to sit forcefully in the driver's seat, then dropped her head on the steering wheel. "When exactly did I lose my mind?" she asked herself out loud. Miyuki put the car in gear and began speeding to Sayuri's house. She willed herself not to cry, but a few tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She aggressively rubbed them away. "Why does he always make me cry?!" she screamed and pounded the steering wheel with her fist. "I hate you Trunks Briefs!"

The same words filled Trunks head in Miyuki's unmistakable voice. He closed his eyes realizing how miserable being with him made her, and the last thing he wanted was for her to be unhappy. From that moment on, he made a resolution to change the manipulative bastard he had become, and to prove to her that she was the only thing that mattered.

+++

"Morning, Mom!" chirped Bra as she bounced into the kitchen. "Morning, Daddy!" she said and kissed her dad on the forehead. Vegeta grunted in acknowledgement of the kiss, but did not look up from his paper.

"What do you want for breakfast, honey?" asked Bulma as she placed a huge plate of food in front of her mate.

"I'll have what he's having," replied Bra as she stole a couple morsels when her Daddy wasn't looking.

"I saw that!" warned Vegeta. "Try that again and I will eat your finger."

"Whatever, Dad." Bra wasn't the least bit moved by her father's threat. Vegeta shook his head wondering when the two most important women in his life had made him so soft.

Bulma placed an equally full plate of food in front of her daughter and sat down next to her. "So, what's in store for you today?" asked the blue-haired scientist.

Bra went into a long, chatty dissertation about all that was going on at school and between her friends, while Vegeta tried desperately to tune her out. With one hand he busily shoveled food into his mouth, while the other flipped over to the morning paper's Society Page. Normally, he didn't bother with such fluffy gossip but, in trying to tune out his daughter, he inadvertently began to scan the headlines. When his eyes landed on the biggest headline in the page, he nearly choked.

"What's wrong Vegeta?" asked his mate.

"Did you know our son was having a child?" asked the puzzled Prince of all Saiyans.

"What?!" Bulma shrieked and grabbed the paper from Vegeta before reading aloud, "Super-Model Sachi Burondo Pregnant; Claims Capsule Corp. Heir Is Baby's Father" Bulma stared at the glaring words on the newsprint for a few moments then sank back into her chair. The thought of becoming a grandmother almost made her faint. A puzzled anger quickly replaced that faint feeling when she realized her son hadn't said a word to her. "This can't be right. I know for a fact that Trunks doesn't even like this girl."

"You don't have to like a woman to conceive a child with them," remarked Vegeta, immediately regretting the words as son as they came out of his mouth.

"I am going to ignore that remark!" Bulma said, glaring at her husband and pointing a finger at him. "I have to get to the bottom of this!" With a determined look, she stood up. "I'm going to see him at the office."

Bra's blue eyes lit up with mischief. "Mom, can I go? I love to see Trunks get in trouble."

Bulma gave her daughter a sharp look and shook her head. "What you're going to `get' is to school, missy, and I strongly suggest that you forget about all of this. I am sure it is a misunderstanding and nothing more." Bulma had just seen her son and knew that he was ecstatic about Miyuki's return into his life. She hoped in her heart that this was a mistake, because she desperately wanted her son to be happy.

+++

Determined to turn things around, Trunks arrived at the office early that morning, long before even Ms. Cho had gotten there, and he had wasted no time diving into his workload.

"Mr. Briefs? There is a woman here to see you." Trunks looked at his intercom and shook his head. This would be the third day in a row that his secretary announced the arrival of a woman to his office. And, if his luck were running true to form, no doubt this one would also be making his life difficult.

"Who is it this time?" asked Trunks, a hint of dread in his voice.

"It's your mother," declared Bulma as she entered Trunks' office.

"Oh, Mom! I am so glad it is you. I have narrowed the potential candidates to replace Miyuki down to three people. Would you mind taking a look at these resumes? I need you to tell me if you recognize any of these people and if you think they have good credentials?"

Bulma didn't say anything, but just stood there in front of her son's desk with her arms crossed and the paper in one hand. She glared hotly at her son and tapped her right foot on the carpet.

Her son remembered seeing that particular expression more than once when he was younger. "What? What did I do now?" pleaded Trunks.

Still glowering, Bulma forcefully waved the Society Page in front of his face. "Would you care to explain this to me please?"

Trunks took the paper from her outstretched hand and stared, his eyes becoming wider with each word he read. Loose papers in the room started to fly around as his temper began to flare up. Bulma could see his lavender hair starting to ruffle upward and little sparks emerging from his clenched fingers. "Trunks, calm down! Did you know about this?"

Trunks threw the offending paper into the air before blasting it with a small ki blast, sending the charred remains across the room. Bulma grabbed a nearby magazine and started trying to fan out the fire that the still-burning paper had created. Since her efforts weren't doing much good, she ran for the fire extinguisher and used it to put out the rest of the flames. Upon hearing the blast, Ms. Cho ran into the office, shocked at what she found. "I think you'd better round up a few more of these so we can keep them within reach," said Bulma to the secretary, handing her the emptied fire extinguisher. Ms. Cho nodded and scurried out of the office on her mission.

As his hair returned to its normal state and fell back into place, Trunks sank down in his office chair. Groaning loudly, he slumped forward over his desk and put his face in his hands. "This can't be true, Mom. What if Miyuki reads this? She will never forgive me. I am already on her shit list!"

"In two days you made it to her shit list?"

"It's a long story," said Trunks. He relayed the events of the past two days to her, who stood patiently taking it all in. Trunks ended his story by stating adamantly that there was no possible way he could have gotten Sachi pregnant. "Mom, she is making this whole thing up; I swear she is. This is just her way of getting back at me for dumping her."

Bulma looked thoughtfully at her son, who appeared like the very picture of misery. "I believe you, Trunks," she said softly. All at once a plan began to form in her mind, one that would reveal if this woman were really as pregnant as she claimed to be. "You know, I think Vegeta and I should pay this lady a visit," she said with a sly smile. "Your father will know right away if she is pregnant or not, and in the meantime, he can scare the crap out of her just for kicks."

Trunks chuckled at her idea. If anyone could scare someone straight, Vegeta could. Then his face fell again. "What about Miyuki?" he whispered.

"It sounds like she needs some time. Just concentrate on Capsule Corp. right now. She will come around. She loves you, I know she does." Bulma walked around the desk and gave her son a hug. She touched his face gently brushing at the moisture on his cheeks but he pushed her hands away, embarrassed by his tears. Bulma then kissed the top of his head and walked back to the other side of the desk. "Now, where do you suppose those resumes ended up?" said Bulma as she looked at the papers strewn everywhere around the room

Trunks picked up his phone and buzzed Ms. Cho. "Akemi, would you get a florist on the phone for me? The best florist in the city, please."

+++

Miyuki slowly awoke from slumber. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, but figured getting out of bed and occupying her mind with things other than Trunks Briefs was better than moping. As she arose from her bed, she went over in her head the list of appointments she had that day. Miyuki was going to meet with a lawyer, an accountant, and then an architect; all important people who would help her start her business. She smelled brewed coffee and managed to drag herself down the stairs to the breakfast table.

Sayuri was sitting at the table with coffee cup in hand and the Society Page spread out before her, while Hana sat in her high chair attempting to get the cereal into her mouth. The moment Sayuri heard Miyuki's footsteps coming down the stairs, she immediately gathered up the paper she was reading and stashed it under her chair. "Morning, sleepy head."

Miyuki shuffled over to the coffee maker and poured herself a warm cup. "Morning," she mumbled and walked, zombie-like, over to the table before plopping into a chair.

"You look like shit," observed Sayuri teasingly as her friend sat down.

"Thanks so much. I can always count on you for moral support," replied Miyuki.

"I just tell it like it is," said Sayuri. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, I have several appointments lined up, and I thought I would maybe drop by where Miya works, just to check it out."

"And maybe see your father?" questioned Sayuri.

"Maybe, maybe not. I will see how my appointments go first." Miyuki stretched some of the kinks out of her back and let out a groan. "Hand me the Society Page, would you?"

Having already seen the sordid headline, Sayuri felt a pang of panic. After Miyuki had returned home visibly upset the night before, her friend did not want her to find out about Trunks latest scandal. Sayuri knew Miyuki loved Trunks and, in some strange way, she also knew that Trunks loved Miyuki, but things had gotten so complicated between them. This distasteful new wrinkle in the equation did not need to be divulged quite yet. "Um, we didn't get the Society Page for some reason. I guess there wasn't one."

Miyuki shrugged her shoulders, and then focused her attention on Hana. "How's my little angel this morning?" Hana held out her hand to Miyuki, offering a piece of her cereal. Miyuki made a show of taking the cereal in her mouth and making a funny noise, which made Hana giggle. Miyuki then picked up a piece of the cereal and put it in Hana's mouth. The baby tried to make the same noise, but it didn't come out quite the same. They both giggled anyway. Taking advantage of Miyuki's distraction, Sayuri stuffed the paper under the back of her shirt and casually walked out of the room. She came upon a wastebasket in the next room and placed the newspaper inside, carefully buying it under some other trash. She strolled back in the kitchen and the two were still playing their game.

"Well, Hana, I would love to sit here and eat cereal all day with you," said Miyuki as she ruffled the baby's hair, "But I got some important, grown-up stuff to do." Hana babbled a reply in her baby talk and Miyuki nodded her head in complete agreement, as if she understood every word.

"Let me know if you want me to go with you anywhere today," volunteered Sayuri as she watched her friend's progress up the stairs.

"Thanks, I'll let you know."