Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Unexpected ❯ The Past and the Present ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: DBZ belongs to Akira Toriyama - unfortunately - so don't sue me.

Author's note: About Trunks' and Goten's tails - I remember that Gohan had been born with a tail and is shown with it in several of the earlier episodes of DBZ, so I naturally assumed that since Trunks and Goten have just as much Saiyan blood as Gohan, they'd been born with tails too. Sorry if I'm wrong in this assumption, but I happen to like tails and if I have made a mistake regarding this, it's an AU fic, right? ^_^

The Unexpected

Chapter Two: The Past and the Present

Isn't it funny how sometimes you can think of nothing but the past? How you become completely unaware of your surroundings, too absorbed in thinking what went wrong, what mistakes you made, and how come you never saw them before?

Well, now is one of those times.

A while has passed since then, but I still can't help but criticize my past self. True, nothing of extremely disastrous proportions actually resulted from my actions - but that doesn't stop me from putting myself down. Coward. That's what I was - a coward.

My family and friends, especially my two brothers and Vegeta - although the latter tries to act as if he doesn't give a Saibaman's ass about me - constantly tell me that I'm over-analyzing the situation, that I'm too hard on myself, and that I should stop my goddamn moping, shut the hell up, and start training instead of wallowing in self-pity like a pathetic human. But I can't. The shame will stay with me forever, because I did the most unthinkably pathetic thing any Saiyan could have ever done. I ran away.

Yes, perhaps I am over-analyzing. But I still can't avoid the bare facts. I ran away with my tail between my legs - okay, maybe it wasn't between my legs, only wrapped around my waist - but anyway I bailed, just because I felt pain.

Right now I may seem like an overly sensitive blob of emotional mush, but I don't want to mislead you; I'm actually quite the contrary. I am a warrior - strong, smart, and proud - sometimes a little too proud, but hey, you don't train under Vegeta for the majority of your life and not walk away without some of his habits rubbing off on you - but that doesn't mean that I don't feel. My feelings are the fuel to my power. And not to be arrogant or anything, but that's saying something when I'm Gohan's equal and second in power only to Vegeta and my Dad. But that's beside the point. No matter how hard I try to hate myself for turning around without a thought and running from my problems, I can't lie - I'm happy that I actually followed through with it. The trip I took taught me more than I ever could have learned otherwise, and I am stronger as a person because of it. But enough of this pointless reminiscing - I won't waste your time with any more of this incessant chatter than is necessary - you probably want me to get started. So for the reasons that I have already listed above, I am telling you my story.

This is the story of Son Sereri.

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I had always been told that Dad was a great man - that he was the most powerful, as well as the most selfless, being in the universe. Let me tell you something - that's pretty hard to swallow when you've witnessed Vegeta's highest power level and you hang around my brothers - who, I have no trouble saying, have thought of every single nice thing to do possible. But enough of that. This is how I grew up - believing these stories about my Dad, (I was innocent, gullible, and happy-go-lucky as a child), and seeing him every day in the faces of my older brothers and in old family albums. But sometimes, if provoked enough, I was actually like the black sheep in our family - questioning everything and having a temper that surpassed even my mother's - but I had my good qualities too. Sure, I was sometimes feisty, but I never gave up, I was stubborn almost to a fault, loyal, smart, and the few times I actually had a fiery nature, I knew when to draw the line.

I guess that's why I got along great with my brother and Trunks - he was the more controlling of the three of us, so I was passive, supported most of his ideas, and let him play the leader of our little group - and adding Goten, the three of us made quite the mischievous clique when we were young. It almost seemed that I had been born a Briefs - I even preferred Vegeta's fighting style to Gohan's - but I was nevertheless a true Son. How? Well, by the anger I felt every time I saw an unjust act being performed, and by the fact that my power fed on my emotions. Even so, throughout my life, the curt Saiyan prince who taught me pride, honor, and even the Saiyan language - Saiyago - was the most prominent father figure in my life.

My character was shaped throughout the different stages of my life - on the day I was born, when my father returned to the living world, during the Tenkaichi Budokai, and after Majin Buu threatened to decimate the planet - but the one occasion that affected me most occurred years later, when I was nineteen years old. By this time, Trunks was twenty and had left Japan for the United States, where he was currently attending school and had a steady girlfriend of one year - who, I have no problem admitting, had no more brains than a blade of grass. Goten had opened his own dojo; Mom hadn't liked the idea of not getting at least a bachelor's degree, but Goten didn't really do that well in school anyway, so she let him off the hook. Gohan and Videl had gotten married and now had a five-year-old daughter, Pan - the same age as Bura, both of whom I took the liberty to train. Marron also had left to the US for school, while I stayed in Japan attending the University of Tokyo. This way, I would get to stay near my family, spar with Vegeta everyday, and still get an education like my mom wanted.

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I sat on a tree branch overlooking the front yard of Capsule Corp., where Buruma was holding a reunion of some sort. This long weekend, all the Z-senshi had gathered at CC to catch up - most of us hadn't seen each other for many years, since the attack of Majin Buu. The Briefs, Krillen, 18, Marron, Master Roshi, Oolong, Yamucha, Puuar, Tien, Chaotzu, Uub, Piccolo and all of us Sons were there, and unfortunately, Trunks had also brought his slut of a girlfriend. The majority of people were socializing in the courtyard, but a few of us weren't. Piccolo was meditating at the base of the tree I occupied, and Vegeta - naturally - was nowhere to be found. I smirked. The bastard was probably training without me, trying to get even stronger. // Can't let him do that, now can we? // I said to myself, and so I nimbly jumped off of my branch and landed gracefully on the grass, making a beeline for the GR.

"Hey, Seri, come over here!"

I saw from the corner of my eye Trunks waving at me, with the ditzy bimbo clinging on his other arm. Shit. I had yet to speak with both of them, knowing that only something bad would happen as a result. Oh well, there was nothing I could do now but try to get this over with. I turned around and smiled.

"Hey, you guys." I tried to sound bored.

Trunks beamed. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Seri? How's everything been since I left?"

I raised an eyebrow. // You would know if you had called home at least once, Trunks. Buruma was pretty upset because of you. //, I wanted to say, but didn't. "Fine." // That's right, just keep giving him one-word answers and maybe he'll get a clue and stop talking. // Apparently he didn't, because as I turned to walk away, he tried once again to engage me in conversation.

"You know Madison already, don't you?" He indicated his girlfriend, who giggled. I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Trunks, we've already met. You introduced us when you first started going out in high school, remember?" He grinned sheepishly, and was about to reply when the pink-haired idiot spoke. "So nice to see you again, Seli." She gave me a fake smile. I growled under my breath.

"Oh yea, it's been the highlight of my day getting to see you again," I said sarcastically. "And by the way, get my name right. It's Seri, with an R."

"Whatever." She waved her hand dismissively and turned to Trunks. "Come on, Trunksie, let's leave your friend alone. She's having fun without us and can go back to being a tomboyish social outcast if she wants." She gave me another fake smile.

Shit. Someone tell me she just did NOT call me a tomboyish social outcast. I was furious. This meant war. I walked up to her, going slowly and putting on my face an expression that could kill. Vegeta would have been proud. Clearly intimidated, she started to fidget and looked to Trunks for help. He was looking at me pleadingly, asking me with his eyes to forgive her for her insult. No chance. I was already on the brink of Super, I was so angry. That little bitch was going to die.

"What did you just call me?" I made sure I used a dangerously soft voice and nearly laughed out loud at the terror on her face. This was fun. No wonder Vegeta always liked scaring the hell out of people. Madison tugged at Trunks' arm.

"Come on, Trunks. Can we leave?" She started to pull Trunks in the opposite direction of where I was standing with that maniacal glint in my eyes.

"I asked you a question," I growled, letting her see my anger and relishing in the fear that I smelt on her. I was seeing red. There was no way in HELL I was going to let a pathetic slut of a human get away with insulting me. I raised my hand, palm up, to her face and formed a ki blast in my hand. Trunks yelled at me to stop, but I ignored him and grinned evilly. "Nobody fucking insults me," I growled. "I'll give you to the count of five until I blow your head off." She screamed.

"What the HELL are you?"

I simply smirked. "One….Two…."

She finally figured that I was serious and ran. Trunks went after her, yelling, "Madison, wait!" I laughed, satisfied with my work, and let the ki ball dissipate. Feeling Vegeta's ki on the roof, I hoped he had seen the little confrontation. He always was uptight about preserving Saiyan honor. I laughed again and turned around to go to the GR when Trunks phased into my path. He was livid.

"What the HELL were you thinking?" he yelled at me. "Do you have any idea of what you just did?"

"I have a perfectly good reason for have doing that, Trunks," I said coolly. "She pissed me off."

"Oh, so now you're going to kill anyone who pisses you off," he spat. "That's something I would expect from my father, but not from you, Sereri."

"You make that sound like a bad thing," I replied. I refused to lose my cool over a bimbo like Madison, who had no business polluting the air around Trunks. My expression softened. "Besides, I just did you a favor. You've been my best friend since forever, Trunks, and you could have done so much better than that bitch who just left. I've hated her since the day we met - you know why? Do you know how many times I walked through the halls and saw her making out with some other guy? Do you know how many different guys she did that with? She betrayed you, Trunks, but you keep making excuses for her and forgiving her. Why? She just keeps on hurting you. I'm your friend - you know how much we've been through together. Trust me when I say that she's not right for you."

I just looked at him for a while, waiting for him to absorb what I had just said and waiting for a response. I had never told him that Madison had repeatedly cheated on him, not wanting to seem jealous and not wanting to hurt him. I could tell he genuinely liked her - for reasons unknown - and so he had always disregarded what others told him about her. Now was the time for his blindness to end. I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing by telling him, but I had second thoughts when his expression changed. It turned cold, and then I was thrown back by the force of his slap, landing on the ground in a heap. He looked down at me coldly, condescendingly, and when he spoke, his voice cut into me like a knife.

"She's not right for me, you say? What do you know, Sereri? What do you know about love and relationships and caring?" he practically shouted. "All your life you've just been an annoying tomboy, following me and my best friend - Goten! The only reason I ever put up with you was because you were his twin - we were never friends! And now you have the audacity to threaten the life of my girlfriend - don't you DARE ever call her a bitch again - thinking that I could have done better than her? With who, huh? YOU? Stop kidding yourself - by doing what you just did, you only reinforced the fact that you're nothing but a hot-headed, immature fool!"

He spun on his heel and stormed into the building, leaving me sitting in a heap on the grass, holding my throbbing cheek with my hand. I was shocked. Never, outside of battle, had Trunks ever struck me. I was overcome with hurt. Pain. Loss. // We were never friends…// he had said. I could barely see my surroundings through the tears that fell. My whole life had been spent under the assumption that we were the closest friends - and it had all been a lie. I was nothing to him. Nothing but an annoying, hotheaded, immature fool of a tomboy. All my feelings of friendship, concern, and yes, even love, amounted to nothing. He would never return these feelings to me - my heart crumbled. The pain in my chest grew to an unbearable level, and so I let out a strangled cry and began to power up.

Immediately I went Super - but there was no relief from the pain. In fact, it was building. Blinded by tears, I still hadn't moved from my spot on the ground, and I pushed my energy level higher than it had ever been before. It felt as if my body was going to give under such immense pressure, but at least it took my mind off of the hurt I felt. Disregarding the straining of my muscles and the warning in the back of my mind, I kept raising my ki, the energy swirling around me in massive flames.

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The Z-fighters were desperately trying to avoid being blown away by Sereri's power. Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta had all ascended to Super Saiyan and held together a ki-shield around Capsule Corp. to keep the building and their mates from disintegrating. Trunks emerged from inside and watched in horror as Sereri just kept on powering up, oblivious to the calls of her twin. She screamed in agonizing pain, and that was when it happened.

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It felt as if my body was being torn apart by the stress of the power when I sensed it. It was like a small barrier, holding back a huge amount of power - the sheer quantity of it was incredible. I let myself become consumed in the rage and pain that I felt, and my emotions finally caused that invisible barrier to fall. Releasing one final scream, the wall holding back my sleeping powers collapsed, and I became an Ascended Super Saiyan.

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There was a blinding flash of light, forcing the Z-senshi to cover their eyes. When the intense gleam subsided, they lowered their arms to be met with an astonishing sight.

Sereri was now floating above an enormous crater. Her formerly black spikes had long since bleached themselves gold and had snapped out of her hairband, leaving her hair to defy gravity in masses of sharp golden points. Her previously warm, brown eyes were now a shockingly cold sea green, and her musculature had become more defined. Her tail, now gold, lashed the air behind her like a whip while bolts of electricity crackled in the air surrounding her.

Her expression was cold; it was as if a mask had been pulled over her face to conceal the emotion that had been felt - there was no longer any trace of any feeling on her face whatsoever. And then she took off in the direction of the Gravity Capsule.

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I had to get out of there. My pride demanded it. I couldn't let them see how much he had hurt me - my emotional breakdown demanded to be hidden. I couldn't tolerate the fact that he was there, staring at me in my new transformed state, knowing how his rejection had affected me to this extent. That he was the cause of my power, the reason for my sorrow. It was because of this need that I made a decision - the decision to leave the planet in Vegeta's gravity capsule.

I blasted off directly towards it, hoping that I would have taken off before anyone registered what I was doing. Luckily, I had trained in there enough times to have learned both how to fly the damn thing and the entrance code. Punching it in, I immediately raced to the cockpit and started the engine. Within seconds I had taken off and was heading into the vast mysteries of space.

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A/N - Sorry I took so long to post, but this chapter was rather long and hard to write. Plus I've been having trouble with accessing FF.net the last few days. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter - in other words, review!!! I'm desperate for feedback!!! ^_^