Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Story Of You And Me ❯ Part One (continued) ( Chapter 2 )

"So... H-how long... was that?!"

I catch my breath and glance down to the watch I set on the ground near my shirt. Fifty-seven minutes...? That can't be right. "Trunks, I think we've been fused for almost an hour, but... I don't know how we did it."

"I'm almost dead - that's how we did it. I can't even move," he breathes out in total monotone.

"Yeah, but we're not supposed to be able to fuse for that long in the first place. Thirty minutes and that's it, remember?" There's more of a confusion in my voice than an explanation. "...I- I don't get it."

He rolls over to his knees and stands on shaky legs, leading me to believe that he really does have nothing left in him as he wipes the dirt off his pants in lazy brushes. Well, at least I'm not the only one so spent here. Peeling off his sweat soaked shirt, he throws it to hit the tree behind me and it hits with a wet smack.

If that would have hit me, I'd have killed him.

"Maybe it's because we're older, or something...I don't know? We didn't know how to really control our energy back then, Chibi," he thinks out loud to me. "Not like we do now, anyway."

I run my hands through my hair as I listen to him try to come up with an explanation for all of this, and I'm reminded of how weird everything feels after you just split. Sometimes, I think I can still feel him inside of my body - like in my head - and my hair always seems to get this different texture to it for a little while, like it's trying to get softer and smoother like his.

I wish I understood more of how fusion actually worked. I don't even think my dad really knows how or why it happens, even though he was the one who taught us back then. I'll probably never be able to explain it to anyone besides whoever was present for that first time at The Lookout, especially since sometimes I still get a little weirded out about it myself.

When we were kids, it was different then it is now. All that we knew was that if we went through with the movements in the exact way we were supposed to, we'd be powerless to stop our bodies from blending together. The next thing we know, we were separate again and only had a spotty idea of what happened while we were together. Our memory did get better the more we did it, but it was never completely controllable - at least not on my end of it. I don't know if it was the same for Trunks, but most of the time I felt like I was just along for the ride.

"It felt good," I smile to him. He pauses a while before looking back to respond.

"Yeah it did."

I suggest the only thing on our minds at the moment since I know he can sense what I'm about to say. "We should try it again."

Trunks rolls his eyes, even though I already know he was thinking the exact same thing before I said it. He walks over to where I'm sitting in the grass and offers out a hand, yanking me up with one jerk before wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "I think we should wait a little, huh?"

I do suppose he's right. While we usually fuse at full strength, there has been the occasional fusion when we probably should have waited to recover. We may be exhausted right now - especially since we were together for so long this time - but trying to do it again would surely be suicide.

Two hours. Three tops. Then we'll go for round two.

I've always wondered why Goten's energy always seems to regenerate faster then mine after beating himself to a bloody pulp? Man, doesn't he exhaust himself anymore? He did as a kid, if I recall correctly, and I can distinctly remember several occasions where he's fallen asleep right in the middle of sparring with me and Gohan, or his dad. Fusion drains should be no different, but yet I can tell he's already getting antsy to try it again. Maybe he just needs a release for all that energy he has pent up - to calm him down. I know that's what I could use about now.

You know... maybe that's what both of us could use right now.

We ready ourselves and have another go at it with semi full energy. It's not like we need to be pushing our max now, so I'm sure this will be fine, but I remind myself that the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is take a nap. Goten's still a bundle of nerves, or energy or something. Who knows? Don't get me wrong, Goten is the one who drives me to keep going with my training and to want to get better and stronger, but every now and then, I wish he was a little more laid back like I am. Maybe that's what my new goal should be for this summer - to focus him and help him to chill the fuck out. He can be such a space case sometimes. Just like his father. But, I do have an idea...

"Goten, don't go Super Saiyan this time - it takes too much out of me," I tell him. There's absolutely no way I'll still be functional afterwards if we do, and besides, I have better uses for that energy anyway.

He gives me his trademark stare in return. I love it when he looks confused like this. "I thought you were the one that wanted to power up last time. It wasn't-"

"It doesn't matter, just... keep it low this time. Cool?"

He nods back, mirroring the opening pose we've done so many times since the first. I hadn't even noticed until now that we haven't been needing to check our alignment anymore, but yet I can just tell we're on the same plane with each other. It reminds me of how we used to be all the time.

I get a little sad at the thought before focusing my mind back to the task at hand.

"Okay - Round two!"

"FUUUUU....SION....HAAAAAA!"

What the-... Why am I so out of breath? What happened?

I look up to Trunks, standing besides me slumped with his back up against the tree. He's in the same condition as me, except the smile plastered across his face that's making him look drunk or half asleep or something. I know for certain that we we're fused way longer than last time, but this... this isn't what it's supposed to feel like afterwards. This is different. I feel numb, and almost.. good? I can't explain it...

"What did you think?" he whispers to me in labored breaths, like there's someone out here that's going to hear us. I don't react to the nudge of his knee against my shoulder that tries to get my reaction. "That's what we should be doing with fusion, Chibi. That was awesome!"

What?

I look down to my right hand and feel something sticky and wet between my fingers. I'd examine it closer, but I already know exactly what it is since it's on his right hand too, and the feeling in my groin is now starting to make sense. My hand slowly turns to a fist as I try to control myself from killing my best friend.

To say I'm pissed right now would be putting it very lightly.

"Are you fucking nuts?! How could you do something like this?!" I scream at him, stumbling over the roots of the tree I was sitting against and scrambling to my feet. "You're such an asshole, Trunks, you know that?!"

"Hey, don't get mad at me! You could have stopped it if you didn't want to do it," he jokes, trying to make it seem like this isn't a big fucking deal. I can't stand it when he acts so smug about shit like this. "You're every bit a part of him as much as I am, you know. Are you going to tell me it didn't feel good?"

I don't want to hear it. Careful not to touch my pants with my hand, I shove past him to wipe it off with something, anything. I actually plan on using his shirt, if I can find it. I feel mortified, but I'm not about to let him make me feel like a little kid again about this. My shoulders flex as I try to suppress my rising power level.

"You know, you don't have to get all embarrassed," he adds. "We both know we do stuff like this anyway..."

I don't even turn to face him before cutting him off. "That's completely different and you know it! I just... I don't want to discuss this with you, Trunks! Is that okay with you? Why can't you just drop it?!" I snap back, deliberately making it obvious to him that I'm using his tee-shirt as a towel for the mess. It seems that he doesn't even give a shit about that either! Doesn't anything bother him?

But he's quiet. No comeback? This isn't like him to not tease the life out of me.

I throw his shirt down, trying to look all tough about this and stand my ground, but the expression on his face isn't the one I expected him to have. He looks disappointed. At me? Better not! I'm not the one that's going to pretend that it's not totally fucked up that we just got off together in the same body, I don't care if he's my best friend or not! In fact, I think that makes it worse.

He pauses a long time before defending himself. He doesn't even raise his voice. "We used to talk about everything together, Chibi. No secrets, remember?" It sounds like he wants to say more, but stops. "I'll just meet you back at the house."

Without another word, he picks up the shirt I threw down and takes off for Capsule Corporation, leaving me alone in the empty field to dwell on what he's left me with.

I know he's right. Things aren't the same anymore. We've still been with each other constantly, but there are so many things we don't talk about now. At least I know that's how it is from my end of it. I've never felt embarrassed around him before. Never. We've always been so comfortable around each other, but things are different from when they were... I don't know, things are just more complicated now, I think. I know I can trust him with anything, but I feel... awkward talking to Trunks about some things. I don't want to be, but I am.

Was it because we were so simple back then - just two half Saiyan kids that liked to fight? Besides food and learning new ki attacks, nothing really mattered to us back then. At least not before Majin Buu happened. I really can't imagine what my life would be like now if he hadn't been there for all that stuff with me. I'd probably be dead for one. The responsibility of having to save the world isn't something normal kids our age could possibly ever understand.

But I want things to go back to the way they used to be between us - before he started going to high school in West City. Before he stopped sleeping over my house like he used to. Before girls became so interesting to us, even though we never talk about it.

Before our friendship got awkward.

Since it's still the middle of the day, I touch down at the edge of West City and walk the rest of the way to Capsule Corporation instead. I'm still a little mad about what happened and still I'm not too sure I want to see him yet. I know I can't avoid it forever, but I just know Trunks will bother me about it during lunch, and dinner, and for the rest of my life, so no sense of stalling. I know him too well.

Capsule Corporation is only a ten minute walk from the edge of town, but I have to consider that I'm slowing myself down significantly to seem as normal as I can around other people. That's why running or flying is not an option. I already get weird or surprising looks as it is, if not just for the fact that I don't exactly have the body of an average, human fourteen-year-old either. I forget that sometimes. I'm just around Trunks so much, I've never been aware of it.

After an only six-and-a-half minute walk, I'm already at the front door of Capsule Corporation, but I don't dare go in - I've done this enough times to know that after sparring, there's no going through the main entrance. Ever! The last thing I need is Bulma down my throat for tracking mud and sweat through her living room rug again, so I head around to the back atrium entrance, carefully stepping through Mrs. Briefs' garden as a short cut. I keep extra careful to not squash any of her plants that fill the floor of the open sun room. Dende knows they've taken enough of a beating from me and Trunks over the years to deserve a little respect, at least now that we're not ripping up the house all the time anymore.

"Oh, hello Goten, dear!" Busted by none other than the owner of the garden herself, even though Bulma's mom never gets mad at me. "Are you flattening my violets again, young man?"

I turn on my most convincing I-wasn't-just-sneaking-though-your-plants-again look, and charm her over as best I can. That's turning out to be one of the more useful talents that I picked up on from Trunks over the years.

"Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. Briefs! I knew you'd be out here so I didn't want to miss an opportunity to say hello." Perfect execution.

"Oh, you're such a ladies man, aren't you?" she squeals, as I let her pinch my cheeks to sell the excuse. She's one of only two people in Trunks' entire family that isn't completely psychotic, and I'd like to keep her on my side. "Are you looking for Trunks? Because I think he's inside, dear."

Sometimes I wonder why everyone automatically assumes that I'm looking for him, if he's not with me at the time. Were we once that inseparable?

I thank Mrs. Briefs for helping me out or for letting me off the hook - whichever - and head into the house to get some of the lunch that is surely prepared by now. That's definitely the one great perk about staying at Capsule Corporation: The kitchen staff! Even as much as I love my mom's cooking, she doesn't quite match up to the professional chefs here that will fix you anything you want and as much as you want anytime of the day! I guess you kinda have to if you have Saiyans living under the roof... which makes me wonder how my mom did it by herself when there used to be three of us living home at one time! It's just me and dad now, but before Gohan got married, mom would pretty much have to cook around the clock just to keep up with us.

Suddenly, I don't feel bad for staying here so much - It gives her a break! And besides, I don't usually get a chance to be with Trunks this much anymore during the school year, but I think now it's that time we spend apart that's making things so strange between us lately. I want to be comfortable around him like I used to, and I don't want to be awkward anymore.

I want us to be best friends again.