Uncharted Waters

Chapter VII:


Mashed potatoes were not supposed to come out of a box. They definitely were not supposed to be crunchy. Goten tried to take another bite, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. His father had meant well, but the man simply could not cook. He longed for his mother’s baked ham, or chicken, hell even her meat loaf—which he never liked—would be welcome now. Anything other than river fish and fake foods that came out of boxes.

With a sigh he leaned back in his chair to study his father as he consumed his plate in record speed. The young man did not know how he could stomach it, but then again, he always had thought his dad would eat a rock if it had gravy on it. More likely, he considered, he’s eating so fast as to not taste the food. The Saiyan was hunched over his plate shoveling bite after bite into his mouth, eyes glued to his food. It took several minutes for him to discover that he was being stared at.

“Not hungry?”

Goten shook his head and pushed his plate away towards the other occupant at the table. Goku eyed his son for a moment, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m full.”

With a shrug he pulled the hardly touched meal towards him and began to devour it. The demi-Saiyan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and instead looked at the door. He fanned his senses out searching for a familiar ki, hopeful it was nearby. His shoulders slumped, he found the ki but it was at it’s home, far away from him. He wished Trunks would hurry the hell up and get here. The dark haired teenager had mixed feelings about his father’s return. On one hand he was furious with him, for several reason, yet, on the other, he was glad to see him. Still, hidden away deep inside, there was a part of him that didn’t care. But slowly, that place of darkness was healing.

Pulling himself up, he began to clear the table and place the dishes in the sink. He plugged the disposal and began to run the water squeezing a bit of soap in.
“Need any help?”

“No, dad. I got it.” Goten said without turning around, knowing full well that his father wouldn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, and most probably would break the majority of the flatware in the process.

“Oh”

The tone of the earth-bound Saiyan’s voice was disappointed. He felt useless, his son seemed to pick up on it because he quickly added;

“But, the laundry needs to be done. You could go gather the clothes and throw them in the laundry room.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Goku said and then cheerfully went to his task. Goten finally allowed himself the luxury and rolled his eyes. His dad was like a little kid sometimes, it drove him nuts.
But, he had to admit to himself, that it was for the best that he was home. It was nice having someone here with him. He had missed his father, even through all of the anger, he had missed him. There was a knock at the door.

“About time.” Goten sighed with relief.

Abandoning the dishes he dried his hands off and answered the door. His childhood friend greeted him with a grin.

“Hey.”

Goten returned the formal greeting, “Hey.”

Trunks walked passed him into the living room straight to the television. He pulled two capsules from his pocket, with a hiss and blast of air they opened to reveal a modest, but modern television and dvd player. The lavender haired boy set to work, unplugging the current TV and hooking in the new one.

“What are you doing?”

“Well” Trunks said while his hands were untangling wires, “I just got a new dvd, and I wanted to watch it tonight, but not on your crapola television, and I know you don’t have a dvd player so I brought one.”

Goten shut the door and turned towards his friend with a raised eyebrow, “Well” he retorted with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “us poor folk make due where we can.”

Trunks peeked around the television and smirked, “Yeah but us rich folk have to take every opportunity to rub our wealth in.” His smirk turned into an obnoxious grin, “We have to keep you poor people in line, after all.”
“Douche bag.”

Trunks laughed and finished hooking up the entertainment center. A small smile played on the younger boy’s face as he settled himself on the couch.

“What did ya bring?”

“You’ll see.”

Goten leaned back, “Bet it’s a chick flick,” he said muttering under his breath.

“Nah,” Trunks replied throwing the remote at his friend, “you’d enjoy that too much. Go ahead and start it I’m going to raid your fridge.”

“Heh, good luck finding anything.”

“What? Your dad clean it out or something?”

Goten shrugged, “What do you think? To be honest there wasn’t much to clean out in the first place.”

Trunks shook his head. Goten was getting better, no doubt about that, but he still hated leaving the house, even for grocery shopping. The past few weeks Videl had been kind enough to stop by with supplies, but they were only the bare essentials. The older boy made a mental note to drag the other’s ass out later.

He opened the refrigerator; Goten hadn’t been kidding, it was nearly empty. His eyes found a lone can of cola hiding behind a box of baking soda. Snatching it up he was about to go back into the living room, when movement caught his eye. Curious by nature he went to investigate.

Goten’s father was standing in the laundry room, a box of detergent in his hand. Black eyes darted back and forth over the label, mouth turned down in puzzlement.

“Hey Trunks.” He said, without looking up.

Trunks was taken aback, he didn’t think the older man had seen him.

“Hi, Goku. You need some help there? You look kinda lost.”

The Saiyan looked up from the box with a sigh. “That obvious?” He smiled slightly and continued, “Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind. I was never good at this kind of thing.”

The teenager nodded, placing the can of soda on the dryer to free his hands up. He took the detergent away from the taller man and glanced in the washer.

“Um, well, first thing you need to do is separate your colors.” He reached in and pulled out some of the clothing and tossed them to the floor, “You don’t want to mix red with white, trust me.”

Goku watched the shorter teen with fondness; he looked so much like his parents but was so little like them in personality. Trunks was among the strongest warriors on the planet and no one could deny his intelligence. He was only 17 and all ready had more than 30 college credit hours under his belt. Though he opted to stay in high school to spend time with his friends and attended a university only part time. However, unlike his parents, he also had patience to him and was genuinely kind. He went to great lengths for his friends and family, with little to no thought of himself. Although, the relationship may have not worked out, it was truly a blessing that Vegeta and Bulma had gotten together if only to produce such a talented young man.

“…and that’s all there really is to it.” He shut the lid of the washer, “The dryer part is simple, just throw the clothes in, set the timer on ‘most dry’ and push the button.”

The Saiyan nodded, “Thanks.”

“Not a problem.” He seized his soda back up and was about to return to the living room.

“Trunks.”

He looked over his shoulder.

“Thanks for looking after him…Goten I mean. It really means a lot,” he paused, his voice dropping so as not to be heard “he doesn’t show it but I know he’s really fond of you. I think you’re the reason he’s getting better.”

The teen was at a loss for words, finally he settled on, “I do what I can, but thank you.” He paused. “You shouldn’t sell yourself short either, he’s glad to have you home.”

An unreadable look crossed the older man’s face. “If you say so. Though I don’t think he cares if I’m here or not.”

Trunks tilted his head, unsure of what to say. This was his best friend’s father he was speaking to, not one of his peers. He was confused as to how casual he could be so he proceeded with caution;

“He does care. Like you said, he’s not showing us how he feels, but I can tell. He’s…” he broke off here, gathering his thoughts, “he’s not so weighed down now and he’s talking more. I didn’t do all of that myself.” Shrugging he opted to shift gears to lighten the mood. “It’s obvious that he needs to get out more, though. In fact, I was going to take him to the store later tonight, I noticed that your refrigerator is nearly empty.”

At that the other man scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, we tend to clean it out pretty quick.” Dark eyes softened as they settled on the young man, he smiled, “I would appreciate it, but you know you don’t have to.”
“I know,” Trunks said returning the smile, “but I like to, it gives me a reason to stay longer.”

“Oh? Are you having trouble at home?”

“No. Mom’s just riding my butt about colleges. She wants me to go full time. I keep telling her that she only has to wait another year, but she’s really being pushy on the subject. I’m not ready to up and leave my friends to attend some snotty high class university.”

Goku gave him a sympathetic grin, he knew all to well that when Bulma had her mind set on something she usually got her way.

“She only wants the best for you. What does your dad have to say about it?”

“He agreed with her!” he looked scandalized, “He said that he didn’t understand why I was still ‘loafing’ around high school when I was already taking upper-level courses. They don’t get that I have friends here, and I want to spend as much time with them as possible.” He paused, “Yamcha seemed to get it, but mom just waived him off.”

“That’s strange.” The dark haired man tilted his head considering, “Granted, I don’t know much about your father’s past, but when Bulma was your age we went on all kinds of adventures. I don’t seem to remember her going to school.”

“Exactly!” Trunks exclaimed. “She went to an ivy-league university when she was 19 and graduated with a Masters by 23, but every free chance she got she was out there doing something. And dad, well, dad doesn’t talk too much about his life with the Planet Trade. I know that he got a really good education, but he was out there seeing all sorts of places,” he had the good grace too look sheepish at this point, “granted, he was helping destroy most of those places, but still.” He gestured, speaking with his hands, “You know how it was, you, mom, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Krillen; you guys were seeing the world when you were young, always on some great adventure, and here I am stuck being forced to go to some university I have no intrest in. You don’t know how much I envy you guys for that.”

“Well it’s true that we’ve done quite a bit, although at the time, Piccolo was having his ‘adventures’ at our expense.” He corrected.

Trunks grinned,ah hah he told me.”

Goku shook his head at the memories, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“Anyway,” he said getting back on course, “looking back, we did some pretty stupid stuff. You have no idea how many times we risked our necks.”

“Yeah, but you did it for a good reason. Goten and I have been involved in one major battle and have been only on a few escapades. We haven’t seen that much. I was hoping that we could take some trips and stuff before I left for college, but,” he frowned, “it doesn’t seem it’s going to be that way.”
Goku smiled, “You never know what’s going to happen, Trunks. I’m sure you and Goten will get to see the world before too long.”

Trunks returned the smile, cheered a little from the other man’s words. Just then Goten called from the other room wondering what was taking them so long. Without hesitation they left the laundry room and joined the other boy in front of the television.

Goten eyed his fat who who sat in a recliner to his right, and then his best friend next to him on the couch. A hidden smile formed on his lips, it was starting to feel like home again.