Darkness cannot drive out darkness   von Lans13
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                             Kapitel 9: Chapter 9
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1 year later, Trunks: age 9

Goten was sleeping over at Trunks’ and even though Bulma knew that the kids
will enjoy themselves, she was a little worried if the house will remain
standing at the end of the day. The two half-saiyans were more than challenging
together. She just entered Trunks’ room to ask them to come to lunch, when her
son was just about to jump out of the windows. Goten was already out, floating
in the air shouting for his best friend to hurry up.
	“What do you think you are doing young man?” She asked, causing Trunks to
jump and so he hit his head into the window-frame.”
	“We just wanted to go out to the pool.” Trunks answered, while he jumped
out and floated in the air as well.
	“How many times do I have to tell you to use the door?”
	“But why? It’s so much quicker!”
	“Because normal people just aren’t jumping out of the 2nd floor!”
	“But we are not normal” Goten called. “Can we go?”
	“Come back and have lunch first!” Bulma signed.
At the mentioning of food Trunks and Goten rushed back through the windows as
quickly as possible, almost knocking Bulma down.
	“Next time, use the damn door!” She cried.
	“What is it this time woman?” Vegeta asked, entering the room.
	“Never mind. Are you coming to eat as well?”
	“No, I have already eaten. I will visit Kakarott, he promised a sparring
session.” The prince explained, then without any further ado, he flew out of
the windows.
Bulma wanted to shout after him, but he was already far away before she even
opened her mouth. No wonder Trunks behaved like this, if his father wasn’t
showing any better example. 
Later that day she had an another conflict with the kids. It was already 11pm
and they were still up, playing some stupid video game, which was also quite
loud.
	“I already told you once that you need to sleep!” she stormed into her
son’s room.
	“Come on mum, we will just kill this boss and then we will sleep.” Trunks
said, not removing his eyes from the screen.
	“Yeah, just this one” Goten nodded, with his eyes also glued to the
screen.
	“No! You already told this 1 hour and 2 other bosses ago.” Bulma sighed as
she threw a quick glance on the TV as well.
	“Sure, sure!” Trunks nodded, not paying any attention at all.
	“That’s it, I said go to bed now!”
She knew it was a long fight; it always took her more than 4 attempts to finally
make them to go bed. Trunks was just about to disagree, when he suddenly put
down the controller almost the same time as Goten and they both jumped into the
bed. Bulma never expected that they will actually obey, so she couldn’t
repress a satisfied smirk. She turned off the TV and left the room. She almost
bounced into Vegeta, who was standing behind her, with his arms crossed on his
chest. She put two and two together quickly and realised that the boys must have
felt Vegeta’s Ki and that’s why they obeyed. It had nothing to do with her.
	“You are not strict enough with them.” Vegeta smirked.
	“Easy for you to say! You just look at them and they do whatever you say,
even if you would ask them to the dishes.”
	“Might be.”
	“Seriously, I think one day you will cause somebody to have a heart attack,
just by looking at them. Like… remember the man who brought the pizza last
week?”
	“The new delivery guy?”
	“Yeah. I couldn’t even pay, he left so quickly when you looked at him.”
	“He was looking at your breasts.”
	“It happens. You know I’m still a desirable woman.” She winked. “He was
just looking anyhow.”
	“I was also just looking.” The prince smirked.
Bulma had to laugh as she remembered how the man suddenly began to tremble, then
without taking the money from her, he simply run back to his car and drove away.
He was in so much hurry that he almost crashed into the post-box as he tried to
turn around.

“I think it’s time that Trunks goes to a public school” Bulma raised the
topic a couple of weeks later, when she ate dinner with Vegeta.
Trunks was sleeping over at Goten’s so they had the house for themselves as
Bulma’s parents were also out.
	“Why are you telling me that?” Vegeta asked, while he filled an another
plate with food.
	“Because you are his father. It’s something what normal parents
discuss.”
	“Do you actually think that we are normal?” Vegeta asked with a smirk on
his face.
Bulma had to laugh. As unexpected as it was, Vegeta had a sense of humour. Sure,
sometimes it was dark, still… He seemed more relaxed around his family and she
was extremely happy about it.
	“Ok, maybe not exactly normal. Still…”
	“If you are interested in my opinion I’m saying it’s just a waste of
time. Seriously what good does it do to learn about human history? Or
literature? He should rather train.”
	“Why am I not a bit surprised to hear this?” Bulma smiled. “Children need
to attend school and they say it can be fun. I have not the best experiences
from my side but Gohan seems to like it.”
	“Do you want Trunks to end up like him?”
	“No, it’s not like Trunks cannot train at all. He can. Maybe he will have
less time to do so, yet you always say how much better he is than Gohan or
Goten, hence I believe he can manage it.”
	“Whatever…”
	“I had a long discussion with Chichi and we decided to put Goten and Trunks
in the same class. Normally Trunks should be one year upper to Goten, but I
think it would make it easier for both of them to be in the same class.”
	“Do I really have to go?” Trunks asked looking at his father, when he was
just about to go to school for the first time.
	“Your mother said so, hence you have to.” The prince answered.
	“Come on Trunks, it will be fun!” Bulma smiled at him.
	“Why do I have to go?” Trunks asked, still looking at his father.
	“Beats me, I think training would be more useful, then school.” Vegeta
answered.
	“Vegeta!” Bulma shouted. “We talked about this! You have to show a good
example and agree with me that it’s important!”
	“I won’t lie woman, it’s a waste of time.” He answered and left,
ignoring all the swearing Bulma shouted after him.
“Such a jerk…” Bulma sighed, then looked at his son, who witnessed the
whole conversation. “Come on Trunks, we will be late!”
	“Can’t I as least fly?”
	“Honey, we discussed this. You and Goten need to act as normal children and
normal children cannot fly. Now come on!”
Trunks signed and reluctantly followed her and climbed into the car. Bulma
couldn’t help but feel a bit sad when he got out and entered the building.
Time sure flew by and her little son wasn’t so little any more. Oh, how she
missed when he was still just a baby!
The first week in school passed without any incident, at least nobody called
Bulma to report that Trunks beat-up somebody or destroyed a classroom, so she
started to assume there is hope and he can behave like a normal human. Sure
Gohan managed to do that more or less, but he was much older when he first
started school. She was just sitting in the kitchen, having lunch with Vegeta
when the phone rang.
	“I hope it’s not Trunks’ school” She said, while she got up.
Vegeta only looked up for a second from his food, then he resumed eating, not
really caring who was at the other end of the phone. He hated that damn device
and he never picked it up, unless there was really nobody else around. Mostly it
was some salesman, wanting to sell some shit, but as soon as he threatened them
to blow them to pieces those kind of calls decreased a lot. Though there was an
article connected to this saying: “Psyco at Capsule Corp?” but Bulma just
shrugged it off smiling and Vegeta never even saw the magazine. He heard as
Bulma greeted whoever was at the other end of the phone and then after some
short discussion she put down the phone and looked at him.
	“What?” He asked.
	“It was one of Trunks’ teachers. He said we need to talk… I will have to
go now.”
Vegeta just continued eating and Bulma left. She was afraid of what Trunks did,
as she knew it was too good to be true that nothing happened for a week. When
she entered the teacher’s office the man greeted her and asked her to sit
down. He was in his late 50s, with grey hair and glasses. He introduced himself
as Randolph.
	“I’m a bit concerned about your son, Mrs Brief” He began. “It seems
like he has a really vivid imagination.”
	“A what? Are you saying I’m not here because he was in a fight or
something?”
	“No” Randolph answered surprised. “Are you saying he also have issues
with his behaviour?”
	“No!” Bulma shook her head quickly. “He is a good boy.”
Judging from the look of the teacher she wasn’t convincing at all and she
cursed for not keeping her mouth shut. To her own defence though, she never
assumed that Trunks would cause any other troubles then fighting. Randolph
looked at her a little longer, then he handed her a paper. Bulma took it,
entirely confused.
	“Go on, read it!” The teacher said.
Bulma had no idea where this was going. She looked at the paper and began to
read: “How my parents met”. Gosh, what could Trunks possibly write about
that? It’s not like she ever explained it to him and it’s unlikely he asked
Vegeta. Anyhow, she decided to read further: “My dad came to Earth to blow it
up and kill everybody on it, but after he lost the fight, he went to Namek.
Technically he met my mum there, but they were not in love then. Namek was blown
up (but it wasn’t my dad) and my father was whished back to Earth after he was
brought back to life, ‘cause Freeza killed him. So as he had nowhere else to
go, mum offered him to stay with her and he did, because mum had a gravity
room…” By the time Bulma reached this part she was already white like a
ghost and her hand was shaking so much that she couldn’t continue to read it
any further. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to anyway. Geez, how did Trunks
know all these? Not from her, that’s for sure! She suddenly snapped out of it
as the teacher was looking at her, obviously expecting some kind of
explanation.
	“It seems like he watched too many fantasy movies” She answered, her voice
barely audible.
When Bulma finally left, she was drenched in sweat. Trunks’ class just ended
and he was surprised to see her mother inside the building as she always waited
for her in the parking lot.
	“Hi mum!” He greeted her, then he suddenly stopped feeling that something
was wrong.
	“We need to talk! At home.” Bulma said and he grabbed his son and led him
out.
Trunks had no idea what was going on and Bulma never spoke a word until they
arrived home. Vegeta was just coming out of the gravity room, so she shoot him a
look and said:
	“Both of you, in the living room, now!”
	“What did you do?” Vegeta asked looking at his son, while they followed
Bulma.
	“Beats me! She didn’t say a word.” Trunks shrugged.
Bulma watched as Trunks throw his schoolbag in the corner and hopped on the
couch. Vegeta sighed and he also sat down.
	“What is it?” Vegeta asked.
	“This!” Bulma said and pushed Trunks’ essay into the prince’s hand.
	“What the hell is this?”
	“Just read it, damn it!”
Vegeta had no idea what pissed off Bulma so much and sincerely he had no time
dealing with whatever it was. He just wanted to be over with it. While he began
to read, Trunks stretched out his neck so he also caught sight of what was on
the paper.
	“What’s wrong with that?” The prince asked after reading the first 3
rows.
	“Yeah, it’s just my homework.” Trunks nodded.
	“What’s wrong with it? Seriously?! He just wrote that you came to Earth to
blow it up!”
	“And?” Vegeta asked, still not seeing the point.
	“And? And?! And!” Bulma shouted so loud that father and son had to cover
their ears as it caused them pain. “You… He just cannot go on and tell that
to people!”
	“It’s the truth.”
Trunks decided to wait and see what will happen. Her mother seemed to be way too
angry for him to try and talk with her. Also now she seemed to be more angry
with his father, then with him. He had no idea why, but he felt relieved.
	“Yeah, but… How the hell does he knows it in the first place?!”
	“I told him.”
	“You, what?”
Bulma was shocked. She had no idea that Vegeta talked about his past with
Trunks. Heck, he never even talked about it with her, not really. She just knew
what she learned during the years, but it wasn’t like he was willing to
discuss it with her. Yet, he told it to Trunks? She never expected it. Recently
she was afraid that Trunks will ask questions, but he never did. She was happy,
as she had no idea what to tell him about his father, how to make him understand
that his father was a good man, despite what he did in the past. She tried to
think back on Trunks’ relationship with Vegeta, but apart from the fact that
they managed to bond a bit more, nothing changed. Could it be that Trunks just
accepted it?
	“Woman, clear your ears! I won’t repeat myself.”
	“But, when?”
	“About a year ago.”
	“Why?”
	“He asked questions and I told him the truth.”
Bulma looked from one to another and then she held Trunks gaze and said:
	“Remember when I told you that you cannot tell the others that you are
half-saiyan?”
	“Sure. But I never wrote that father is an alien, I’m not that stupid!”
Bulma sighed knowing it will be a long talk to explain him why she was so
angry.
	“How come you never told me that you talked with Trunks?” Bulma asked, when
they were already in bed.
	“You never asked.”
	“I never assumed that you told him… everything.”
	“Just the highlights” Vegeta smirked.
	“How did he react? I mean he seems fine…
	“He took it better than I ever expected. I have no idea, why he seems to be
so attached to me. Truth is, I still don’t know why you put up with me all
those years.”
	“Because he loves you and so do I” Bulma answered and she kissed him
lightly.

1 year later – Trunks: age 10

Vegeta was in the kitchen, just finished his lunch, when the phone began to
ring. He wanted to let it ring, but realised that he was the only one at home
right now. He rushed to the phone and answered it, as charming as ever:
	“What?”
On the other side of the phone a nervous principal explained to him that they
need to talk.
	“Does it have to be right now?” The prince asked.
	“Yes, please. Can you come in?”
	“I will be there straight away.”
During that time a really nervous Trunks sit in the principal’s office. As
soon as he heard that it was his father who picked up the phone, he became white
like a paper. Then it just hit him that his mother was in a conference with some
investors and her mobile phone was turned off. Trunks heard the whole
conversation on the phone and when he heard his father saying he will be there
soon, he wasn’t surprised at all when he stormed in the room in the next
minute. While on the other hand the principal jumped and he tripped in his chair
and almost fell. He had no idea how Vegeta managed to be here so fast. He called
their home phone, not his mobile so there was no way he was already in the
neighbourhood.
	“Oh, Mr Brief!” The principal said as soon as he managed to gather himself
a bit.
	“I have better things to do, so just tell me what it is!” Vegeta called,
while he threw an angry look at his son.
Not because he cared how he behaved in the school, he was just angry for not
being able to train right now. The principal never quite expected this reaction.
He already knew Bulma, but she was nothing compared to the prince. Also, he
couldn’t help feeling that the man in front of him could kill him just with
his look. He was seriously afraid of him, which sounded strange, as Trunks’
father wasn’t some mass murderer. Maybe if he knew the truth, he would have
collapsed in his office, having a heart attack.
“He had a fight with one of his classmates…” the principal began, grabbing
his left hand with his right nervously.
“Tell me you didn’t kill him!” Vegeta looked at Trunks.
The principal thought he didn’t hear it right. The man couldn’t seriously
ask this question. No, he must be imaging things.
	“No, I haven’t killed him! I was careful, not to even cause some permanent
damage.” Trunks answered.
By now the principal couldn’t convince himself that there was something with
his ears as the boy just repeated the word “killing” as well. And he
wasn’t shocked by his father’s question, he answered like it was a natural
question to ask.
	“Let’s go home, now!” Vegeta said and looked at his son.
	“But sir, Trunks still has a lesson for today and…”
	“I’m his father and I say that we are going home. I will settle the matter
with him there.”
	“But…” the principal began, then stopped as the prince simply left the
room.
Trunks hesitated a bit, then he decided to follow him. When they arrived back to
Capsule Corp, Bulma was already home and she shouted at Trunks as soon as they
entered the house:
	“How could you fight?! I just listened to the principal’s voice message!
Sure, it wasn’t the first time that he called me, but so far you “only”
broke some glass, set a classroom on fire and talked back to some of your
teachers. But fighting… Why?!”
Trunks just looked at her, without saying anything. Vegeta was just about to
leave, when Bulma looked at him and said:
	“You should talk with him about this!”
	“Me?” Vegeta asked amused. “Do you think that I’m the right person for
this?”
	“You are his father!”
“You know damn well that I don’t mind him kicking some asses.”
“Vegeta!”
“What?”
“At least ask him why he did it. I have to go finish up a project.”
With that Bulma left them alone, but when she almost disappeared in the next
room, she turned back, looking at Trunks:
	“We will have a talk, young man!”
When she finally left, Trunks half hoped that his father would also leave. Yet,
he remained there standing, looking at him with his arms crossed on his chest.
	“So?” Trunks asked.
	“You heard her, I need to find out why you did it.”
	“Since when are you doing what she is telling you?”
	“I’m just curious. It’s the first time that you fought in the school;
why?”
Vegeta clearly saw that Trunks considered his options. He must have come to the
conclusion that the only way out was to spill it so he explained:
	“There is a guy in our class and he is always making fun of me and Goten. We
are ignoring him, even though we could beat him up really bad. I don’t care if
he calls me a rich boy or whatever, he is just a dick. But today he said that my
mother is a bitch and you surely just married her for her money as nobody could
put up with her bad attitude. It’s one thing what he is saying about me, but
nobody will insult my family! Ever! I lost it and I beat him up and I would do
it again. Hell, I will do it again if he didn’t learn from this.”
Vegeta almost laughed, which he managed to reduce to an amused smile. Trunks
become so angry as he recalled what happened, that his face became a bit red.
When he looked at his father and saw that he was smiling, he felt relieved.
	“Next time, chose a time to fight when your mother is not in the office
holding conference the whole day. I have no time to pick you up!” Vegeta said,
then he left his son there.
When Bulma heard the whole story from Vegeta later, she somehow could understand
how Trunks must have felt. Still, he shouldn’t have hit his classmate.
	“Didn’t you say that even normal human kinds fight in school?” Vegeta
asked.
	“Yeah, but it still doesn’t make it ok for Trunks to fight.”
	“He can control his powers.”
	“That’s not the point!”
	“Whatever…”
They were sitting in the bed, their backs leaned against the wall. Bulma
snuggled closer and Vegeta put his arm around her. Bulma recently struggled with
a topic and she had no idea how to talk about it with Vegeta. She though up tons
of possible scenarios but neither were good enough. She decided to simply come
out with it and see what happens:
	“Vegeta, I want an another child.”
	“What?” Vegeta asked, completely taken by surprise.
He pulled away to be able to look at Bulma to see if she was serious.
	“Trunks is already 10 years old, he is growing up so quickly. I miss when he
was a baby, also I don’t see why we couldn’t have an another child.”
	“Do you really think that it’s a good idea for me to be a father?”
	“I know you never wanted Trunks, but I know you love him and he loves you!
You are a good father, Vegeta.”
	“I’m nothing like Kakarott!”
	“As much as I like Goku as he is one of my best friends, I think you are a
much better father, then he is.”
	“Care to elaborate?” He asked, totally confused how she could say that.
Kakarott was always cheerful, he hung out with both of his kids, he played with
them! As much as Vegeta changed, he knew he will never be the type who is
playing hide-and-seek with Trunks or any other bullshit. Yes, Trunks loved him
and enjoyed their time together, which mainly consisted from trainings.
	“You see Goku didn’t come back straight away from Namek to his family, but
he decided to train in space to be stronger. Then after Cell, he decided to stay
dead and he simply left Chichi and Gohan alone, not to mention Goten. Sure we
heard that he was doing it for the safety of the planet, but he shouldn’t have
left his family even for that. He was away for 7 years and when he finally had a
day to come back, he decided to spend it on the tournament, instead with Chichi
and his kids. Sure you are also training most of the time, but you are here at
least.”
	“I wasn’t here when Trunks was born.”
	“See? Now you can be here when our second child is born!”
	“If I recall correctly, you suffered a lot when you were pregnant.”
	“It wasn’t so bad and it was worth it. I don’t mind going through that
again. Sure, it will annoy me to hell how much I need to eat again, but I can
live with that.”
Vegeta had no idea what to say. Truth was, he never thought about having a
second child. Hell, he never even though about having a child at all. Not that
he had any problems with Trunks now, but it took him years to bound with the
boy.
	“So, you are serious?” He finally asked.
	“Now more than even. I wasn’t sure how you would react, but the fact that
you didn’t say no is encouraging.”
	“I never said yes!”
	“True. Still, not saying no straight away means that you are actually
thinking about it.”
She was right, he was thinking about it. Why? Sure it was party because Bulma
wanted it, but could it be, he would also like to have an another? He could try
not to repeat the mistakes what he made the first time, but was he capable of
doing so? Was he really that much of a better person to dare to try to be a
father from the beginning? Hell, he wasn’t sure. Bulma leaned closer to him
and smiled:
	“You see, even if we begin to work on it right now, you will still have 9
months to prepare yourself.”

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