Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 32 - The Night

Natalie forced back a scream of repulsion and shock. Pregnant?? What had she done on Vela!?

"W...what?" Natalie stammered, unable to grasp the concept fully.

"It's not definite, Carina...Natalie." Ceres said. "Just possible."

"No...I can't be...I can't." Natalie repeated to herself, staring at the bed. "I can't..."

"First things first, Natalie. The reason I think this is because of something Hermes said."

"What did he say!?" Natalie cried, nearing hysterics.

"Well, when we first...met him, he said something about continuing the Sidra-jin race." Ceres began. "Preserving a warrior of the highest class, which was Orion. But he never said whether you two had-"

"Stop." Natalie said. "I really don't want to hear that part."

"Gomen, I was just-"

"Ceres, no." Natalie said, placing her left hand over her mouth and looking down again. "I can't...baby...Trunks..."

"Don't get worked up yet." Ceres said, placing her hand on Natalie's shoulder. "It's not guaranteed."

"D...does anyone else know?" she asked, struggling to talk with the lump forming in her throat.

"They all heard. Reena, Sirius, Trunks, and Goten." Ceres said.

"Trunks..." Natalie trailed off, and then looked back at Ceres, her face red with exasperation. "Did he say anything?"

"Not to my knowledge, he didn't." Ceres said. "Maybe you should talk to him about it."

"I will later." Natalie said. "I don't want to think about this now. I just want to have fun tonight."

"Good for you, Natalie." Ceres said. "Just know that we will all be here for you should anything happen."

Natalie just nodded, turning her head away as she fought back tears. Pregnant...how could she have...with Orion...it made her sick to her stomach.

Reena walked out into the room, with a towel wrapped tightly around her body. There was another towel wrapped around her hair, with stray purple strands poking out from underneath.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, looking at Natalie's distressed expression.

"No, I just feel...nauseas." Nat replied. She was telling the truth, just not all of it.

"Well you were right about that shower." She said, grinning. "It was definitely...different."

"My turn." Ceres said, getting up immediately. She turned and looked at Natalie one more time before going into the foggy bathroom and closing the door with a click.

"Did you find anything for me to wear?" Reena asked.

"Oh, kuso...I forgot to look." Natalie said. "Just a minute..."

Natalie dropped to the floor and sorted through her bag, trying to find something for Reena to wear. She finally came across a blue cap-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Is this okay?" she asked, holding up the selection.

"Of course it is." Reena said, taking the clothes is her hands. "Um...anything...else?"

"Huh?" Natalie asked, not quite hearing her friend the first time.

Reena placed her thumbs on the inside rim of the towel she was wearing, near the inside of her underarms.

"Do people on Earth not-"

"Yes, we do wear them, but I don't think we're the same size." Natalie said.

"Just rub it in..." Reena teased.

"No I didn't mean..." Natalie trailed off, slapping herself on the forehead. "Don't worry. When we get back to Capsule Corp., you and I can go shopping for...stuff."

Reena laughed.

"Stuff." She said. "Sounds good. I'll just stick with this for now, but I don't know about Ceres, because she's bigger than both of us."

Natalie just shrugged her shoulders as Reena sat on the floor, still in her towel, and looked through Natalie's collection of clothing.

"I think you should wear this one." She said, holding up a little yellow top. "It suits you."

"You think?" Natalie said, looking at the shirt. "But I don't like wearing yellow with khakis, it's too bland."

"Aren't we an expert on Earth fashion?" Reena jeered playfully.

"Oh of course I am." Natalie smoothly replied. "I'll just wear the yellow with regular denim shorts then. You need to get dressed as well, Reena."

Reena nodded and started to change clothes. Natalie went to the opposite side of the room and did the same. Just as they finished, Ceres walked out of the bathroom, wearing towels around her body as well as her hair, since it was still long.

"I never thought having long hair would be such a pain in the ass." Ceres said. "It took me forever to wash."

"Well I can cut it for you." Natalie said, making scissors with her two forefingers.

"I'll stick with this length for now." She said. "But later, if I don't adjust well to long hair. It's a nice change so far."

Natalie tugged on her hair, which was longer than Ceres and Reena's both, just at her waist.

"I don't like mine so long." She said. "As soon as we go home, I'm chopping half of it off." She then walked over to find clothes for Ceres.

"Ceres do you want to wear the khaki shorts I just had on? I only wore them this one time." She said, holding up the shorts. Ceres just shrugged and accepted them. "And...how about this?"

Ceres took the sleeveless grey shirt from Carina and immediately started to change. When she was dressed, the three girls decided that they needed to do something with their hair.

"I have a hairdryer with me if you want to use it." She said, digging through her bag.

"Sure."

Trunks, Goten, and Sirius had already showered and dressed by now, and were waiting in Gohan's room, since they had used his shower.

"Goten why in hell do women take so long to get ready?" Trunks asked. "I have never understood it."

"Because they do all that extra stuff, like put ten different shampoo's in their hair and shave their legs and all that stuff that men will never understand." He replied. "Luckily in my family it's all boys except for my kaasan."

"You three going somewhere?" Gohan asked, walking into the area of the room that the three Saiya-jins were sitting.

"Dinner." Trunks replied. "For Nat's birthday."

"Oh that's right. Are you going to do anything special?"

"I have something for her." Trunks said. "I just hope she likes it."

"When did you get her a present Trunks?" Goten asked, looking at his friend strangely.

"About a week before we came here." Trunks answered.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Gohan answered it, revealing three young Sidra-jin women.

"Natalie!" Trunks said, standing up and walking toward her. She smiled at him as the other two stood up as well.

"Ready?" she asked.

"We've been ready for about thirty minutes." He said, snickering. "Let's go."

Goten tried not to stare at Reena too obviously. She had her purple hair down and it bounced off of her shoulders, cascading down her back, and her blue shirt hugged her curves perfectly. He caught a glimpse of her blue eyes before she smiled and grabbed his arm, pulling him out into the hallway where Natalie, Trunks, and Ceres were waiting. Sirius was the last to walk out, saying goodbyes to Gohan, whom he had just met.

"Have fun." Gohan said, waving them off. "Just don't be loud when you come back, I don't want Pan to wake up in the middle of the night."

"Hai, niisan." Goten said as they all headed toward the elevator.

The six teens left the hotel and stepped into the warm air. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, casting a gorgeous array of colors throughout the heavens above.

"Where to?" Natalie asked, looking at Trunks.

"I don't know, let's walk around and find something." He replied. They headed toward the inner city, searching the streets for a promising restaurant.

About ten minutes into their journey, Trunks was snapped back to reality by a tug on his shirt.

"H...huh?" he said, shaking his head and looking down to see Natalie looking at him.

"Look over there." She said, pointing. "Does that look okay?"

Trunks looked in the direction that she had pointed. There was an average sized restaurant on one of the corners, labeled "Yellow Hibiscus Café"

"You want to go there?" he asked. Natalie nodded, and then turned to the others. After conversing with them briefly, she turned to the street again and walked toward the building with a smooth stride, her long brown hair bouncing behind her.

"Look at this Trunks." Natalie said, pointing to a picture on the menu. "Doesn't that look good?"

"What...is it?" Trunks asked, eyeing the menu that Natalie held.

"Lemon-pepper mahi-mahi!" she explained. "I am DEFINITELY getting this."

"Steak for me." Trunks proclaimed. "It never fails."

"Goten I don't know what's good on this planet." Reena said. She then realized she said it a bit too loud, and got a few weird stares from the other people inside the restaurant.

"Meat." Goten said plainly. "Especially meat."

"Oh...well then I'll order some meat." Reena said.

"But you have to be more specific than that. You can't just ask for 'meat'." Goten explained, looking through the menu. "Do you like sweet stuff?"

"Oh yeah!" Reena explained.

"Uh...pineapple glazed pork?" he said, pulling the menu away from his face while still staring at it.

"Sounds fine." Reena answered.

Fifteen minutes later, they had all ordered and the food had just arrived. Since about sixty five percent of the group was Saiya-jin, the food went quickly. Reena and Ceres stared in awe as Trunks, Goten, Sirius, and even Natalie finished off their meals as they themselves had barely taken two bites.

"How can you eat so much?" Ceres asked, perplexed. "Even the stomachs of a Saiya-jin have to end somewhere."

"Didn't I eat like this on Vela-sei?" Natalie asked, swallowing a bite of her fish.

"No..." Reena said. "Not nearly this much."

"I think I know why, though." Goten said. "Since she is more active here, her metabolism is higher. We're all like that, especially when we train."

"I'd like to start training again." Reena said, poking at the pineapple rings on her plate with the tip of her fork.

"Remember Reena," Natalie said, pausing to gulp down her third glass of Coke, "Everything begins when we get back. Training, shopping, you know. The works."

"I'm looking forward to it." Reena said. "I hope Vegeta-sama approves of me staying in his home."

"Ah, Veggie-chan won't mind." Natalie insisted. "Besides, if he does, me and Trunks will take care of him." Natalie grinned and winked at Trunks, who just chuckled and shook his head as he shoved another bite of steak into his mouth.

Twenty minutes after that, all six teens were finished. Reena and Natalie picked at the leftovers on their plates while the guys sat back in their chairs and relaxed. Yes, a full stomach definitely contented any Saiya-jin warrior. The waiter passed by and placed a check on the table inconspicuously, and departed once again to tend to another group of hungry customers. Trunks looked at the check.

"That's not too bad." He said, digging in his pocket. "You should have been with us for breakfast on our first morning." He explained to the Sidra-jins. "The bill was like 400 dollars."

"Is that a lot?" Ceres asked. "We don't know the currency, after all."

"For food, yeah. But that's average for us when we all get together." Trunks replied. "We could clean the place out if we wanted to."

"How much is it tonight?" Reena asked, biting her lip.

"Just over 90. Like I said, not that bad."

"I'm sorry we don't have money..." Reena apologized. "We'll make it up to you."

"No way. It doesn't even bother me, I borrowed the money from kaasan." Trunks said. "I wouldn't make you guys pay even if you did have money."

"Trunks is stubborn like that." Natalie whispered in Reena's ear. "Believe me, I've tried it all."

After the waiter had come and collected the money, plus his tip, the six teens stood up and pushed in their chairs, leaving behind a table full of plates, napkins, glasses, and scraps of food. The busboys wouldn't be happy with this one.

They all walked out into the warm night again. The sun had now set, and the sky was a dark navy color, not quite pitch black, and a few stray, wispy clouds littered the starry night sky.

Trunks looked at Natalie, who walked a few feet ahead, and his heart raced. He wanted to give her the gift he had bought for her, but he didn't want to do it in front of the others. The brown-haired hybrid turned back and looked at Trunks as she continued walking ahead.

"Why are you lagging behind, Trunks-kun?" she asked, slowing her pace to match his. "If something the matter?"

Natalie tried not to look nervous. What if Trunks had found out that she could be pregnant? Did he remember what Hermes had said? Was this why he wasn't talking to her?

"No, nothing is the matter." He said, looking at her and smiling slightly. "I was just...thinking."

"A...about what?" Natalie asked, smiling nervously.

"Nothing really. Different things." Trunks said. He looked over at Goten, who was walking a few feet away, his hand locked with Reena's. He had to admit, they were a great match. Things were almost too good to be true.

<Oh Kami...he knows...> Natalie thought to herself, trying not to wince. <He's probably in shock, or denial.>

"Trunks." Natalie said, stopping in her tracks. The others kept on for a few feet until they noticed her fall back, and they stopped as well. "I need to talk to you."

Trunks looked at Goten and nodded him off as he returned to Natalie. The remaining four started walking again, most likely heading back to the hotel.

"Nat, is there something wrong?" he asked. "Is this about what happened earlier today?"

Natalie was lost for a few moments until she realized that he was talking about her talk with Goku.

"No, it's not about that, Trunks." She said, forcing a smile. Trunks smiled as well and took a step closer.

"Do you want to walk on the beach?" he asked. "It's not even a mile from here."

"Hai...that would be nice." She replied. They both walked, holding hands, toward the coastline.

When they arrived just over five minutes later, the beach was deserted, and gentle waves lapped at the shore as a salty, calm evening breeze blew in from over the ocean. They began to walk along the shore, just feet from the constant, rhythmic ebb and flow of the waves.

Natalie walked at a slow pace, dragging her feet slightly and kicking up damp sand as she looked out over the ocean. If it weren't for the sickening feeling she had, it would be the perfect ending to the long day.

"Natalie..." Trunks trailed off. She stopped and looked up at him, her back facing the vast Pacific Ocean.

<He's going to bring it up.> Natalie thought. <I knew it. What am I going to say?>

"Yes Trunks?" she asked softly.

"I..." Trunks began, trying to think of the right way to say what he wanted to say. "I have...something...for you."

Natalie blinked. She hadn't been expecting that.

"You...do?" she faltered. "Trunks you didn't have -"

"Hai." He interrupted. "I know I didn't have to, but I did. Close your eyes."

Natalie forced her eyes shut, giggling slightly like a schoolgirl, excited to see what gift would be bestowed upon her. She jumped ever so slightly as he took her hand in his, raising it until it was level with her chest.

"Happy sixteenth birthday, Natalie." Trunks said, and slipped something onto the ring finger of her left hand.

Natalie's eyes snapped open and she cried out in surprise.

"It's a promise ring." He said.

Natalie couldn't contain her surprise and excitement. She screamed in joy and jumped up, wrapping her arms and legs around Trunks and holding him as tight as she could. As soon as she jumped down, she looked at her hand. It was a white gold band with a diamond in the center, framed by two small blue stones on either side.

"T...Trunks I don't know what to say." She said, stumbling her words with excitement. "It's beautiful...how did you ever-"

Her words were cut off when Trunks leaned his head down and pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her deeply.

Natalie felt extremely at ease in Trunks' arms and she was overjoyed at the events that had taken place. However, one thing still worried her.

Trunks wrapped his arms around Natalie's body, pulling her closer as they continued to kiss.

Natalie's mind was going a million miles an hour. Everything was so perfect, she should have expected something to come up and ruin her life again. She was never at peace. The news about her possible pregnancy had been one of the most devastating blows she had received in a long time. She wanted to tell Trunks badly, but she was afraid of how he might react. Still, she could not keep a secret like this from him, for he would eventually find out, and then he would be furious, to say the least.

She finally pulled away from his embrace gently, breaking off the kiss. Trunks looked at her with confusion in his eyes.

"Nat...I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Trunks it's not that." She said. "I have to tell you something."

Trunks wasn't sure if this was going to be good news or bad.

"What is it, Nat-chan?" he asked.

"Trunks...Ceres told me something today." She began. "While we were getting ready, and Reena was in the shower. We were sitting on the beds, and we were...reminiscing, more or less, about Vela-sei."

"Yeah..." Trunks said, not seeing where this was leading.

"I told her that I had no memories of the fight with Hermes. The only thin I did remember was killing him at the Shiroi no Tenshi state." Natalie continued. "Therefore, I don't recall the events that took place before or during the...confrontation."

"What is your point?" Trunks asked, growing impatient. He looked into her green eyes, which had a dark cast to them in the dim light of the night sky. Shadows were cast over her body and the wind played with her hair. He now wished that she hadn't broken the kiss, because he was having a hard time fighting off the urge of doing it again. But he saw the seriousness in her eyes and told himself that he had to pay attention.

"My point is, Ceres told me that on Vela-sei, Orion and I were a couple, that's what, and we were most likely going to get married." Natalie spit out.

"I know." Trunks said. "Was that what you wanted to tell me?"

"No." Natalie said. She couldn't tell if the shaky feeling was from her nerves, or if she was literally trembling. She finally used every reserve of courage that was left and broke the news, rather harshly. "Trunks, Ceres said I might be pregnant."

Trunks' face, which had been previously relaxed and calm, suddenly tightened and his eyes widened for a few moments before narrowing.

"W...what?" he asked. He didn't appear hostile...yet.

"Trunks I'm sorry." She said, nearing tears. "It's not certain, but there is a high possibility. Ceres told me...she said that Hermes had saved Orion so that we would continue the race. She said that she didn't know whether Orion and I had actually done anything, but that Hermes had hinted toward it, and I can't be sure one way or the other because I have no memories."

There. She had finally gotten it out. Now came the part that was the hardest of them all. Facing Trunks' reaction.

"I'm sorry." Natalie said, finally allowing two tears to slide down the side of her face. "I know you probably hate me now and you think I'm some kind of slut, but I really don't remember. If I did do anything with Orion it was not on my conscious will. You know that I-"

"Natalie stop." Trunks said. His face was flat; emotionless, and his eyes suddenly took on a distant, dazed appearance. "I don't hate you."

"Trunks please, don't lie to make me feel better. I want to know the truth." Natalie sobbed.

"I said I don't hate you." Trunks repeated, his voice taking on a slightly harsher tone than before.

"Trunks-"

"I said I DON'T hate you god damnit!" he shouted, losing the vague expression and taking on one of anger.

Natalie took half a step back in surprise, almost falling back at the increase in his temper, not to mention his ki. Her lower lip trembled and she had to bite it to keep herself from breaking down. It was then that she knew he was angry. He was furious. At her, at Orion, at something. She was frozen in fear, and had no idea of what to do or where to go.

"Y...you d-don't have to y-yell." She stammered, her breath catching in her throat.

"I'M NOT YELLING!" Trunks barked. He didn't know what had come over him. He subconsciously transformed into super Saiya-jin as a result of the rush of anger.

Natalie struggled to keep her footing. Trunks was super Saiya-jin. He wasn't going to try and hurt her, was he? Then suddenly, it came back to her. The day on the beach...they had been swimming. He had choked her. Choked!

"Trunks...no..." she said, her voice barely a whisper. She hadn't imagined this kind of reaction from him. She now feared for her life. He could overpower her in a split second. Deep down, she thought she knew that Trunks would never hurt her. But when that memory had come back to her, she had lost all of her trust. Who was she going to turn to now? Then, it hit her. Sirius.

Natalie straightened herself out and fought off the trembling sensation that had consumed her. Trunks remained in super Saiya-jin, glaring at Natalie threateningly.

"Where are you going?" he growled. "I'm not through talking to you."

Taking in a deep breath and exhaling shakily, she looked into his eyes

"Trunks...I'm leaving."

She then placed her two fingers to her forehead and disappeared, leaving the super Saiya-jin Trunks standing alone on the beach, under the stars.