Cosmic Crisis 2 - The Return of Orion

Chapter 19 - Confessions

Trunks and Kira slept soundly that night. After all, they had spent the day exerting themselves tremendously. The little girl had fallen asleep in Trunks' lap while he was talking to her before bed. It reminded her of being home.

The next day, Trunks awoke early. The sun was just beginning to peak above the horizon, signaling the start of a new day. He then looked at Kira, who was stirring. He couldn't understand how he could love someone so much that he had just met. There was something about her that just captured his heart. He was extremely upset that Natalie was not here to see her daughter. But, somehow, he knew that things would work out in their favor.

Natalie, Goku, and Vegita were all sprawled out on the ground of King Kai's planet, sleeping. After an extremely trying day of training, the three were completely worn out. Kaio-sama had cooked a large meal in reward for their work, which they had devoured within five minutes. Piccolo, of course, being a Namek, just asked for a glass of water. King Kai was personally worried about Natalie. She knew that she, like all Saiyans, had a dark side to her. He knew that when she got infuriated, her instincts would take over and she would be helpless to stop it. There had to be something he could so to purge that evil form so that she would be free of it forever. He watched as she tossed and turned in her sleep, narrowly missing Vegeta as she swung her arm around to the side. Piccolo was in the corner, meditating of all things.

"Doesn't he ever get bored?" King Kai asked himself. Bubbles grunted, signaling his disapproval of the present situation.

"Great breakfast mom!" Gohan said, burping uncontrollably. He had come home for a visit, bringing Videl and Pan with him. Goten sat at the edge of the table with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Ever since his older brother had arrived the previous afternoon afternoon, nobody had so much as looked at him for longer than a few seconds.

"Hey, why don't we pay Bulma and Vegita a visit?" Videl suggested.

"Sounds good to me. What do you say, mom?" Gohan replied, looking at his mother. Pan, of course, agreed. She wanted to see her friend again. Goten sighed. There was a gnawing at his stomach that had been bothering since yesterday. Something just wasn't right. Maybe Trunks knew something about it as well. After everyone helped to clean up, they all filled the aircar and set out for Capsule Corp.

While Trunks and Kira sat downstairs, Bulma tended to Bra. She had been sick with a high fever for a couple of days, and hadn't even ventured outside her door. Trunks then realized that Bra hadn't met Kira yet. Kira seemed to have read his thoughts, because she spoke up.

"Daddy, where's aunt Bra?" she asked. Trunks looked at her with surprise. Aunt Bra? Of course! It just seemed strange since Bra was only five years old at the time.

"She's upstairs with a fever." He replied, glancing at the ceiling as if he were to see through it and locate his sister.

"Let's go see her!" Kira said, jumping up from her seat. Trunks began to protest, but he figured that it wouldn't do any harm. Kira bounded up the stairs while Trunks trudged after her. The little girl was in such a hurry that she almost smacked straight into Bulma, who was just exiting Bra's room with a tray full of empty soup bowls and juice boxes.

"Whoa sorry, mom." Trunks said, as he caught the fallen items and handed them back to Bulma, who was still in shock.

"Where do you two think you are going? Your sister is very sick. If you go in there, you'll catch her virus!" Bulma snapped.

"Relax, mom we'll be fine." He replied, and nudged Kira, who had been standing next to Trunks with wide eyes. The two continued while Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Those two are relentless. I'm going to get grey hair."

Kira cracked the door to Bra's room, causing it to squeak a little. Inside, it was dark and stuffy, and sniffles could be heard within.

"Who's there?" Bra asked, her voice raspy and barely above a whisper.

"It's me...er...us." Trunks replied.

"Is Natalie back?" Bra asked, not even turning her head. She was neck high in her fluffy comforter and her blue-green hair was matted to her head.

"Well, no." Trunks said. Bra had obviously heard of Natalie's death from his mother.

"Bra?" Kira asked softly. She then realized that her aunt was the same age as she was. This should be fun!

"Who-?" Bra said, sitting up on her elbows and turning to face her visitors. "Who are you?" she asked, studying Kira. Kira wasn't sure how to answer the question, so Trunks spoke up for her.

"Uh...she's my daughter...from the future! She's from the future." He said. Bra's eyes went wide and she sat up completely, but swayed from side to side a bit as a result of light-headedness.

"What's your name?" Bra asked, coughing a few times.

"Kira." She replied. She was shy at first, but then strolled over to Bra's bed and examined her carefully. "You look different." She commented. Bra sneezed in Kira's face accidentally.

"Is your mom Natalie?" Bra asked cutely. Kira nodded sadly and Bra chuckled in response. "Where did you come from?"

"The future." Kira replied.

"Let's go, Kira. We need to let Bra get some rest." Trunks said, leading Kira out of the room. The girl waved to Bra as she left and Trunks shut the door softly.

"She looks kinda like me." Kira said. Trunks laughed.

"You two look completely different." He said. Of course, this was because Bra was his sister and she wasn't particularly his favorite person in the world. "First of all, she has blue hair. Yours is purple." He began. "And her eyes are blue, while yours are green." He continued.

"You're funny daddy." Kira said happily. "Will you give me a piggy-back ride?" she asked. Trunks couldn't resist, and hoisted her onto his shoulders. She laughed with delight as he carried her around Capsule Corp., and even outside a bit. Suddenly, just as he ran outside again, he saw the Son aircar pull up.

"Oh, no." Trunks thought to himself. "How am I going to explain this situation? They don't even know who Kira is, and now I have to tell them that Nat is dead!"

Goten jumped out of the aircar and ran up to his friend.

"Haha, what are you doing Trunks? Babysitting?" he said, looking at the innocent-eyed girl.

"I'll explain later." Trunks whispered to Goten.

"Well hello Trunks! And who is this cute little girl?" Videl said, walking up. Gohan followed, with Pan and Chi-Chi not far behind.

"Gohan, Chi-Chi. What a...nice surprise." Trunks said, doing his best to play it cool.

"Well, we thought we'd stop by and say hello. Is your mother in?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Yeah she's in the lab." Trunks replied. When everyone had gone in except for Goten, Trunks turned to his friend and sighed, trying to think of how to explain the situation. Before he could open his mouth, Goten spoke up.

"Where's Nat?" he asked. "Does she know you're with another woman?" he said, laughing. When he saw the seriousness on Trunks' face, however, he stopped.

"Nat...she isn't here right now." Trunks said with a stone cold look on his face.

"Mommy's gone." Kira blurted out. Goten looked up at her suspiciously.

"What?" he said with a flat tone.

"Uncle Goten you're funny looking." Kira said joyfully. Goten glared at the girl, but her happy look remained.

"Trunks what are you not telling me here? And where is Nat?" Goten asked. Trunks could tell that he wasn't kidding.

"Goten...she isn't here." Trunks said, his voice breaking off. "She-"

"Mommy died." Kira said, her eyes teary. Goten looked up at Kira once more, this time with curiosity instead of annoyance.

"Trunks? Is this true?" Goten asked. Trunks nodded, staring at the grass as is swayed in the light breeze. He looked up and could see Goten's eyes starting to water. He forced them back down, however, and looked at his friend.

"She was training." Trunks began, almost choking on his words. "She trained too hard. Too hard..." his voice trailed off.

"Oh man I'm so sorry Trunks." Goten said. "Wow..."

"I couldn't save her. I just couldn't get to her fast enough." Trunks continued.

"Trunks stop. You're blaming yourself again." Goten said sternly. "You can't blame yourself!"

"How can you say that Goten!? You weren't there! You didn't see her die!" Trunks said, shouting at his friend. Goten stepped back and Kira stiffened in fear. "You didn't have to watch helplessly as the life slipped from her body!"

"Oh, really?" Goten said, gritting his teeth. "You think I haven't seen anyone die before? You think I haven't had my fair share of it? You can't let this eat away at you! Sometimes, you just can't control it." Goten cried. Trunks looked at his friend in disbelief. Seeing Goten angry was rare, and seeing him red in the face furious was even more remarkable.

"Look man I'm sorry." Trunks said, calming down and lowering his power level, which had risen with his anger. "You just have no idea..."

"I know, Trunks, I know." Goten replied. "You know that we're going to wish her back and everything will be fine."

"Yeah." Trunks said, emitting a sound that was mixed between a laugh and a cough. "I just don't know what I'm going to do with myself until then."

"So, about Kira?" Goten asked, smirking. Trunks looked up at Goten and smirked as well.

"Oooh, Trunks you devil." Goten said. "So you scored in the future." Trunks blushed and then laughed it off. Kira once again produced the joyful look on her face, though she didn't have a clue of what they were talking about.

"How am I going to explain this to dad?" Trunks said, looking towards the building, though he knew that Vegita wasn't in there. He then wondered if King Kai had told him already.

Speaking of King Kai, he was sitting happily on the hood of his car with a bowl of rice in his hands, watching Goku and Natalie spar.

"Don't be afraid to make contact!" King Kai yelled at the two, who were reluctant to deliver blows to each other. "You'll never get anywhere if you hesitate to hit one another."

"Sure." Vegita said. "I wouldn't mind kicking my foot straight up Kakarott's-"

"Vegita don't go any further with that!" King Kai shouted. The Saiyan prince just chuckled as the mental picture appeared in his head. Goku and Natalie picked up the pace and sparred more fiercely. Natalie managed to punch Goku in the jaw, and Goku landed a couple of blows to her arms and face. After a few more minutes King Kai let them rest.

"Vegita you and Piccolo are up." He said. Vegita walked out into the clearing and Piccolo looked up from meditating.

"I'm not sparring." Piccolo growled. King Kai looked at him with an irritated look on his face.

"All you've done since you've arrived has been to meditate! Why don't you join us just this once?" he shouted. Piccolo kept his temper under control and joined Vegita.

"So green been has decided to join in the fun." Vegita sneered.

"If you're tying to anger me, then you should save your breath." Piccolo shot back. Natalie, who was standing next to Goku, laughed in between heavy breaths. Vegita shot her a glare, which she disregarded. Goku watched as Piccolo hit Vegita in the gut, to which the prince responded to with ki blast to Piccolo's face.

"Vegita! I said no ki attacks!" King Kai shouted. Vegita and Piccolo stopped sparring for a moment while Vegita turned to King Kai.

"Come on old man!" Vegita protested. "We didn't come here just to perform hand-to-hand combat."

"Don't disrespect King Kai, Vegita." Goku spoke up. "He's here to help us. If we don't perfect our fighting techniques then we'll be no use in battle."

"Right. What he said." Natalie said, examining her nails and not even bothering to look up.

"You stay out of this girl." Vegita yelled.

"Why should I?" Natalie said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Stop it you two!" Goku shouted. "Get back to fighting." Vegita growled and began sparring with Piccolo again.

Back at Capsule Corp., Bulma, Chi-Chi, and Videl were sitting at the kitchen table sipping tea while they talked amongst themselves.

"Oh Bulma honey we're so sorry." Chi-Chi said, after hearing the news about Natalie. "She seemed like a great girl."

"Oh that's not even the beginning." Bulma said, taking a sip of her tea, which was in a mug with "I Love You Mommy" written in red crayon. "That girl you saw. She's from the future." She continued. "And you won't believe it. She's Natalie and Trunks' daughter!" Everyone grew wide-eyed at the recent discovery.

"That must have been a shock to learn." Videl said. Bulma nodded in agreement.

"What does Vegita think?" Chi-Chi asked.

"He was already gone by the time she arrived. I don't think he knows." Bulma replied.

"Well that's probably a good thing." Videl commented.

Meanwhile, Gohan had joined Goten and Trunks outside. He was just as surprised to learn about Kira as Goten had been, but was more mature about it.

"I can't believe she's already gone super Saiyan. She's so small." Gohan said, looking at Kira, who was now sitting in the grass. "I'll bet she has some interesting DNA combinations as a result of the mixed races." Gohan continued.

"Say what?" Goten said, obviously confused. Trunks and Gohan laughed at Goten's naiveté.

"Well you always said that science was never your best subject." Trunks commented, nudging Goten in the ribs.

"Hey cut it out." He complained. "Just because I'm not the child of a super genius or the product of vigorous study habits doesn't mean you have to laugh!"

"Sorry." Trunks said, but with a smile still on his face. Gohan nodded, showing that he felt the same.

"So what are you going to do about their school?" Chi-Chi asked Bulma.

"I don't know Chi-Chi." Bulma sighed. "Obviously this isn't going to work out. I guess I'll just have them home schooled until things are back to normal...if that's even possible." She finished. Videl shook her head sadly.

"Well Pan should be starting kindergarten next year, so I hope that things will going smoothly by then." She said.

"Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it anymore." Bulma started, taking a sip of tea in between sentences. "It's so aggravating to be the wife of a Saiyan prince and the mother of two half alien-half humans and trying to take care of myself at the same time."

"I know what you bean, Bulma. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if we were just ordinary women with ordinary families out there with relatively no problems, leading a relatively carefree life and not having to worry about whether our husbands come home." Chi-Chi said. Videl and Bulma looked at her in surprise.

"I've never thought of it like that before." Videl said. "You know, I think I'm glad that I don't lead an average life. It makes it that much more exciting."

"You're right. I don't know what I'd do if I married an ordinary man." Bulma said. And then the other two women knew exactly what was coming. "Like Yamcha. I mean look at him! He leads the most boring life."

"Well, Bulma we'd love to stay but we have some things to catch up on. And Gohan was going to take us all out shopping today." Chi-Chi said. "That little Gohan. Always thinking of his family." This comment, as was expected by Bulma, stung. She knew that Vegita would never do some of the things that Goku did for Chi-Chi and Gohan for Videl. She decided not to dwell and forced a smile onto her face.

"That's nice of him. Have fun then." Bulma said, showing them to the door. She saw that Goten and Trunks were wrestling while Gohan did his best trying to teach Kira how to find the circumference of a circle.

"Let's go boys!" Chi-Chi called out to her two sons. Gohan said goodbye to Kira and joined his wife and Goten looked up from being pinned to the ground.

"I'd better go get Pan from Bra's room." Videl said, rushing back into the Capsule Corp. building.

"Oh, come on mom. Can't I stay here for the day?" Goten pleaded with Chi-Chi.

"Goten you don't even have Bulma's permission to stay. You don't just invite yourself." She replied.

"Oh that would be fine. Trunks would love it." Bulma whispered to Chi-Chi.

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose..."

"It's fine. Now go on." Bulma said, seeing her friend to the aircar. Just then Videl and Pan came running out the front door.

"Don't leave without us!" Videl said, jumping into the car. After a few seconds getting situated, the Son family, with the exception of Goten, took off down the road.

"Thanks for letting me stay Bulma. I hate shopping." Goten said.

"Oh it's my pleasure! Besides I could use a little extra help with the dishes." She said wryly. Goten took a few steps back and stammered a bit. "Just kidding. Now let's get inside I have to go give Bra her lunch."

Goten stayed the night after much pleading by Goten and Trunks. Bulma and Chi-Chi finally gave in, realizing that their grown sons were acting like eight-year-olds again. Kira camped out in the boys' room as well, enjoying every minute. When the three finally got to sleep, it was well past midnight. Trunks stayed up a little longer then Kira and Goten, just so that he could watch his daughter sleeping.

The next morning, the three slept in until their bodies signaled the start of the day. Bulma planned to go to Trunks and Natalie's school to get their books so that they could begin home schooling as soon as possible.

"Who's going to stay with Bra?" Trunks asked in between bites of his breakfast. "I want to go along just to see the place one last time."

"I can stay if you want." Goten volunteered. After all he didn't want to change out of his pajamas just yet. "I'll watch Bra and Kira both."

"Thanks Goten you're such a nice boy." Trunks said, trying to imitate his mother's voice. Goten and Kira started laughing while Bulma rolled her eyes.

After rushing around getting ready, Trunks and Bulma left for the school. Bulma even let Trunks drive the aircar, as long as he promised to stay under the speed limit.

"You just don't understand." Trunks wailed, checking the speedometer every ten seconds. "After jetting through the sky at super Saiyan speeds it's so hard to keep it under sixty."

"I don't care! You're going to have to get used to it unless you plan on hiring someone to do it for you!" Bulma replied. They reached the school after a few miles of tension and aggravation, not to mention a ticket for running a red light. Trunks got out of the car with hesitation, not wanting to run into any of his friends and try to make up an excuse. Fortunately for him, everyone was already in class. As he walked down the hall towards his locker, he passed the physics room. He looked inside and noticed that his class was inside. Everyone was there, with the exception of himself. Then, he noticed something strange. Where was that kid, Ryan? He hadn't been going to the school for long...so surely he hadn't left already.

"Strange." He thought to himself as he passed by. He passed Natalie's locker on the way, and grabbed her books to take home with him. When he finally collected his things, he headed back to the front of the school where Bulma was waiting for him.

"Did you get everything?" she asked, observing him struggle with the armload of materials.

"I-I think so." Trunks stuttered.

"Okay let's go." She said, and turned for the door. Trunks did his best to balance the books in his arms and headed after his mother. He drove home, this time managing to knock the side-view mirror off of a parked car. When they arrived at Capsule Corp., Goten was outside with Kira, and Bra was sitting on the steps wrapped in a blanket. Trunks unloaded and headed towards the three.

"I thought she could use some fresh air." Goten said, gesturing at Bra, who had now huddled next to the boy, clinging to his arm.

"Looks like you have a new girlfriend." Trunks joked. Bra stuck out her tongue.

"When you get finished, you wanna spar? I haven't fought with anyone since the battle and I'm getting restless." Goten said, fidgeting. Trunks sighed and remembered when he and Natalie used to spar, just for fun. "Trunks?" Goten said, snapping his friend out of a daze.

"Oh, yeah. When I get done we'll go out back." Trunks said and headed for the door quickly. Goten knew that there was something bothering him. He had an idea of what it was, too.