By Kaycee Ronin

I don’t own Dragonball Z or any of its characters. But I do have a Trunks pillow and some chocolate Easter bunnies. Please be nice to this fic, it’s my very first attempt at a DBZ fic . Please Read and Review! Arigato! ^_^

The man had absolutely no heart. He was cold and he cared about nothing but his own damn self-preservation. Trunks was sure now that he had no idea what his mother had ever seen in him. Perhaps this was why she never talked about him. How could she, the most loving and sweetest person he know have...have feelings for the heartless being he had been calling ‘Father?!’ Why had he ever wanted to meet this man?

Trunks narrowed his light blue eyes in fury as a cloud of debris and dust rose high into the air, then plummeted back to the ground. He scanned the damaged area carefully, looking for anything moving. There could have been people or animals there! The blast had taken out almost a fourth of a large forest. Behind Trunks, a man’s deep voice laughed.

“Woops,” It said sarcastically. “I missed.”

Strands of his light lavender hair flew in front of his face as he spun around in mid-air and fixed Vegita with the angriest glare he could manage. “What did you do that for?!” The young half Saiya-Jin demanded. “We’re training! This isn’t real battle! You don’t need to blow up everything in your way!”

“If it’s any consolation,” Vegita replied with an arrogant smirk. “I was aiming for you and you moved. I wasn’t trying to destroy that stupid human park.”

Trunks scowled. “You could have hurt innocent people!” He shouted as he flew to within inches of his father and clenched his fists angrily. “We’re trying to protect this world! Not destroy it!”

Vegita folded his arms and continued to smile smugly. “You’re whining boy,” He said in annoyance, not losing his cool smile at all.

“You don’t understand!” Trunks cried, fury continuing to steadily build within him.

“You’re causing mass destruction instead of trying to help this world, and you don’t even care!”

The older Saiya-Jin laughed. “You’re right, I don’t. Why should I? Trees can re-grow in time boy, and this planet is already overcrowded with humans. Why does the idea of eliminating a few bother you so much? You have no reason to care. We Saiya-Jins can overcome any threat to this puny planet easily. It isn't our job to protect it."

For a few minutes, Trunks said nothing. He continued to glare at his father, but images of the hellish world he had come from continuously flashed in front of his eyes. The Androids. They destroyed without thought or feeling. They didn’t care who or what they destroyed. Could Vegita really be just like them? The same as the pair he had grown up loathing and wishing he could stop? Trunks scolded himself. Why hadn’t he seen it before? Vegita just wanted to be the strongest and the best, and to hell with anyone or anything that got in his way. He knew now just why his mother had never really talked in detail about him. But something must have been there before. Something had brought them together until Vegita died.

So what...what could she possibly have seen in Vegita that drew her to him? Maybe if Trunks could figure it out, he’d be able to see past the heartless, destructive side to his father. The side he wished he could ignore. He and Vegita were nothing alike! How could someone he was supposed to love lack such respect for everything? He had only seen something so revolting in the Androids, and they were certainly cold blooded enough that Trunks didn’t consider them to be living creatures. Would he have to lower his father to the level of those monsters to understand him?

Trunks suddenly screamed, his power raising to Super Saiya-Jin level as he did so. He swung a fist furiously at Vegita and missed completely, blinded by his fury. Strands of golden hair fell across his face as his father planted one well-placed punch to the boy’s rib cage. Trunks’ eyes went wide with pain, but he couldn’t gasp or cry out. His entire body seemed to collapse against Vegita’s fist.

Vegita smiled cruelly and leaned in closer to his son as his hair changed to a light gold color as well. “You missed boy,” He said flatly. He removed his hand from Trunks’ underside and drove both fists into his back. Trunks was thrown to the ground with such force that his body left a deep indent in the dry earth.

He forgot how to breathe for a few moments. Trunks couldn’t get any air in or out of his body. Pain shot through his spine and ribs as he struggled to sit up. He still lacked the breath to speak, but his lips silently repeated “Otousan,” over and over. Vegita landed softly in the grass nearby, only a few feet away from his son.

“Do you know just how pitiable you are boy?” Vegita said icily, his arms folded firmly across his chest. “You’re too angry to fight properly and you’re upset over nothing! Pathetic…”

Trunks lowered his head as his father’s insults reached his ears. He let his ki drop and his hair turned back to the normal pale shade of lavender. Finally he raised his head again, his pained eyes regarding Vegita calmly. He took in a deep breath and managed to weakly choke out, “I’m not…pa-thetic…”

“What are you then?” Vegita asked, still smiling. “A coward? Stupid brat, you can’t let you’re feelings get in the way when you fight. That makes you weaker than you already are! You are pathetic.”

“I’m not,” Trunks shot back wearily, trying to ignore the aching pain in his ribs and back.

“I am fighting…to protect this world…and keep it from…from becoming the hell I’ve lived in my whole life!”

Vegita scowled and delivered another well-placed kick to Trunk’s chest. “Weak, stupid brat,” He scolded as his son fell to the ground and lost consciousness. “A Saiya-Jin fights for his own glory, not to protect any worthless planet.” He glared down at the boy, still frowning in stern disapproval. “You’re too much like your mother,” He added as he turned and walked away.

~ How? How can he be my son? ~ Vegita thought as he took a few slow steps. He would have been hesitating if he had known the meaning of the word. Something was stopping him from going any farther. ~ That boy is nothing like me at all… ~ He turned slowly and looked back at Trunks. He made a strange face as the half Saiya-Jin coughed and a bit of blood sputtered from his mouth. Vegita remained completely still a few moments longer before he walked over to the still body and picked him up.

“You’d best not be hurt too badly boy,” He said as he rose into the air with Trunks in his arms. “Your mother would never forgive me if you are.”