Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Beneath the Surface ❯ Emptiness ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: Emptiness

Zeusu stood in the middle of the large entertainment room, with his guests and parents located on all sides, trying to make sense out of the conversation he had just walked in on. He stood there, with his short, sandy blonde hair going off in every direction. He stood there, with his innocent blue eyes, penetrating through his mother with his wondering gaze, like a knife through melted butter. He stood there, with Brolli's face, his weakened aura, his scent, triggering old suppressed memories of ancient battles with the legendary Super Saiyajin himself inside the Z-fighters.

"What did you say Mom?" Zeusu asked quietly. He hadn't had the best day. He refrained from participating in school sports because something inside of him just would not let him compete. As much as he wanted to play football (American football) some invisible chain always snapped him back from signing up. He always dressed nicely, as if the others didn't, but because he had just a little more money than the average rich kid, he dressed extra nice, and got taunts in return. He was always referred to as a "pussy" because he would not sign up for football, or any sports, and he seemed to spend more time on his looks (which he did not, he never could fix his hair so he gave up, he wore what his parents bought him, had they bought him rags he would have worn them with his chin held high) and this got people questioning his sexuality, mainly the young men at the school. Nearly the entire male population at Myth City High School signed up for football tryouts, minus the nerds, slackers, and Zeusu, who seemed to fit in neither category. Many of the young women of the school thought nothing of the sort, his nice, yet slightly messy look seemed to be a major turn on for them, so most of his actual friends were girls, which only added more dents in Zeusu's questionable character.

Zeusu had nothing against homosexuals, but no one likes to be labeled something they were not, especially if a negative tone was applied to it. Though Zeusu was not lacking in friends, he wanted more guy friends, guys he could talk to about girls, guys that would understand some of the stuff he was going through growing up, just a guy to hang out with. But what he wanted most was acceptance. Yet he was denied decent treatment because he just couldn't play football. Damn that sport.

Nonetheless, Zeusu's school day was everything but peachy, and he walked home to a bunch of strangers having a deep discussion about him. What the hell? He had heard actually quite a bit of the end of Afurodite's statement in the foyer, though it was quite a ways from the entertainment room. Zeusu never thought that there was something wrong with him being to hear that far away, he thought it was normal, whereas the butler had really no idea what was going on when he stood beside Zeusu in the foyer.

Afurodite sighed, along with Marusu. She looked up at the Z-fighters and said, "we need to have a talk alone with our son for a few minutes. We'll tell him what's going on. Why don't you all help yourselves to our kitchen? Jaku can show you the way." Goku was the first one up and out of the door before anyone could blink, with the rest of the pack following suit, leaving the butler staring after them in confusion and wonderment.

"Sit down Son," Marusu said, motioning for his son to take a seat. Zeusu obediently settled himself in a nearby armchair, but he already knew what his parents were going to tell him. He just didn't want it to be true…

"I'm sorry we never told you this before today," Afurodite said, teary-eyed, "but some things have come up where you need to know now. We were going to tell you eventually, but eventually has caught up with us." Zeusu just sat still, expressionless, he knew now.

"The truth is," Marusu said, "you are not our biological son, BUT THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE OUR SON," Marusu emphasized, not wanting his son to feel any different with this new information. But it was too late.

"I can't believe this," Zeusu whispered, staring hard at the floor, still not able to come to terms with the awful truth.

"Honey--" Afurodite began.

"What do they have to do with this?" Zeusu asked coldly.

"Who?" Marusu asked.

"Our strange guests. "

"Oh, that is another matter," Afurodite answered. "They came to protect you. They told us that your father, was a…a…super something, and that makes you strong too. Someone is coming to try and kidnap you. They want to take you back with them and train you to help them fight this alien."

"Hmph," Zeusu grunted. "Fighting aliens huh, like I'm supposed to be some super hero? I don't feel very strong. But then I felt like I was your son, so that doesn't surprise me. Guess I am strong." With that, Zeusu got up and retreated to his room. Afurodite and Marusu just stared after him in silence.

*****

Once Zeusu entered his private chambers, he immediately began packing his things. He hadn't actually agreed on going, but it seemed his parents, well if he could still call them that, wanted him to go. Plus deep down inside, he felt the need to go. It was the perfect escape from the hell whole he was living in now. And training…sounded like no school was in the regimen, also a plus. He didn't really know what kind of training they had in mind, but anything beats going back to Myth City High.

Zeusu tried to keep his hopes up on his upcoming adventure, but he just couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of betrayal. His chest burned with anger as he tried to come up with reasons why his parents lied to him about what really happened. How could they not tell him? How could they make him think he was theirs? It never occurred to him that he looked nothing like them, but a lot of kids were that way. He felt so, empty. Like everything that he was, just flew out the window and left him stripped and unidentified. Before he walked in his house today, he knew who he was, Zeusu Grishinwa, a boy battling some inner and outer conflicts that would be dealt with. Now, everything was erased, he was not even Zeusu Grishinwa anymore, he didn't know who he was. Why did you do this to me, huh? How could you pretend that I belonged to you? Who do I belong to? Who am I know? Those people I used to call Grandma and Grandpa, don't exist anymore, we are not even related, yet they pretended too. Why? Why didn't my mother want me? Was I a bad baby, or young kid too far back to remember? Who is my real family? Why do I feel so disconnected now? Or have I always felt disconnected, but didn't know why? (Zeusu did not overhear Afurodite speaking of his mother trying to kill him)

Zeusu sat on his bed, face covered delicately with his hands. He tried hard to come to grips with what had just happened. Had they given him a few days forewarning, maybe he would be able to accept it some how. He tried hard not to get too terribly upset with his parents, but now he just could not look at them the same. They were not his blood, he was indeed, not the spawn of their love-making as he had prided himself in believing just a few hours ago. He thought his parents were the perfect couple, they rarely fought, they gave him everything he wanted, yet he, nor they, took advantage, it was all in harmony. It was something that Zeusu knew money couldn't buy, like in so many other relationships, something special, rare, and he was apart of it. Was, now it was all washed away.

What made him then? What happened to his super whatever father? And his mother, where was she? Did they love each other? Did the die? Where they good people like his parents? But no, they weren't his parents, just some people that took him in. It was almost too much for his already tired body and soul to take right now. Yes, he had to leave, right away. Get away from this treachery, from that awful school, with its thousands of kids, all the same, rich, spoiled kids. Zeusu continued his packing, taking only clothing, which was pretty much all he had to pack. He wasn't much of a "stuff" collector, only other things in his neatly kept, yet bare room, was a chest of drawers, night stand and a stack of CD's. He quickly scooped up some of his favorites, before finally stuffing everything into one of those nifty capsules. Whoever invented these things must be filthy rich, Zeusu thought to himself as he finished up the remainder of his preparation to leave.

*****

Two hours later, the whole group was ready to head out again. The Z-gang spent most of the two hours that passed since Zeusu's arrival eating almost everything in the Grishinwa kitchen and astonishing the cooks and the butler, who watched in awe as it seemed the whole pantry was just about emptied. Zeusu descended the stairs from his room with a blank expression. This day had turned out to be one of the worst days, yet it almost meant turning over a new life and having a different life. He was ready.

Afurodite and Marusu hugged their son, though he did not make an attempt to return the gesture. "Call us when you get to wherever they are taking you ok?" Afurodite said teary-eyed again. She stroked his unruly hair, but still his eyes remained expressionless.

"Ok," he replied stiffly. The Grishinwa's walked their departing guests outside, where Trunks opened up a copter capsule for all of them to travel in. Everyone piled into the rather spacey aircraft, with the Grishinwa's saying their good-byes.

"Be safe!" Afurodite yelled as Krillin started the engine.

"Call us when you get there Son," Marusu bellowed over the roar of the engine. Zeusu just knodded. Despite the previous events that lead up to this point, he was going to really miss his parents, or guardians now, since they weren't even related. Nevertheless he was determined to make the best of this new journey.

*****

"Which direction from here Trunks?" Krillin asked as they took flight.

Trunks rummaged though his capsules and pulled out the one that had his map tucked away. "From what my mom said, go northeast from here, the next city is called Senshi."

"Senshi?" Zeusu asked. "That's like over a thousand miles from here, is that where you guys are going to train me?"

"No," Piccolo answered. "That is where we will find one of your two sisters."

"I have sisters?" Zeusu whispered. He had never had the pleasure of having a sibling, but now all of a sudden he had two! How his life changed in just a blink of an eye. He would have never known.

"Yes, they too have inherited your father's strength," Piccolo informed him. Zeusu just knodded. He still didn't fully understand what was going on, he would have them explain it to him later though.

Zeusu took this time to study his new companions. He took a seat beside Goten and Trunks since they seemed about his age. They were talking amongst themselves. They look like best friends, Zeusu thought to himself, as they seemed to joke around. Hope I get a chance to be friends with them too. They actually looked very familiar to him, like he'd seen them some where before, but he wasn't quite sure.

Zeusu turned his gaze to Piccolo and Goku, who were standing next each other, not talking. They too, looked strangely familiar, what was going on here? And what the hell was Piccolo supposed to be? Once Zeusu actually got a good look at all of them, he felt like he had déjà vu. Where had he seen all these people. He returned his stare back to Videl, she started to stick out in his mind somewhere. He knew her, she was supposed to be famous…

"If you don't mind me asking," Zeusu finally said, "who are all of you. You look so familiar to me."

"I am Goten Son," Goten said cheerfully, extending his hand, which Zeusu gladly shook.

"I'm Trunks Brief," Trunks said calmly, extending his hand as well. Zeusu stared hard at him for a bit, then it hit him.

"Trunks Brief, that won the Junior World Tournament when I was eight," Zeusu exclaimed. "And beat Mr. Satan, haha, that was great. You Goten, now I know you too, you were in the final with Trunks, I remember. My parents took me as a birthday gift. Who would have thought that I would get to meet you guys. You guys were my heroes!" Everyone else laughed. Zeusu was elated, this day had turned out better than expected. "I know that was a long time ago, but I still think it was awesome. I'll never forget that."

"Thanks," Trunks said modestly. He wasn't one that liked to be in the spotlight.

Zeusu turned again to Videl, then a rush of memories flooded his mind. "You are Videl Satan, the great Mr. Satan's daughter! Though I wasn't born when Cell was here, they made us learn about how your father saved us from him in History class. And you were in the tournament too. You're just older now." Videl smiled back.

"Yeah that's me, but I'm Videl Son now." Videl winked at Gohan, who slightly blushed.

"Who is he," Zeusu said, pointing at Gohan. "I don't really remember him."

"That," Videl said with a smirk, "is the former Great Saiyaman, my husband Gohan Son."

"Oh the Great Saiyaman, no wonder I didn't remember you, you had a costume on." Gohan smiled sheepishly, taking off his glasses to polish them on his shirt.

"I think I remember all of you from that tournament, now I remember number 18, she was in the final with Mr. Satan!" Eighteen raised an eyebrow, but did not smile. Zeusu didn't seem to notice.

"I'm Krillin, 18's husband," Krillin said from behind the wheel, glancing back to give Zeusu a quick smile.

"I'm Yamcha," Yamcha said politely. "I didn't fight in the tournament."

"Ok," Zeusu said, smiling like a child receiving a toy they really wanted for a gift.

"I'm Goku," Goku said in his characteristic jolliness. "That is Piccolo," he said pointing towards the Namek who replied with a small nod.

"Cool," Zeusu said excitedly. "Just hope I can remember all of your names."

The excitement died down after a few minutes, and the inside of the speedy copter was virtually silent. Goten nodded off to sleep every now and then, Trunks pulled out the map and some of the photos his mother packed away to study some more, and everyone else seemed to stare off into space. Zeusu was still not quite used to these new people, and got a little nervous when no one would speak. He cautiously slid his body around to be seated next to Trunks and silently studied the information he had. After several minutes, Zeusu finally spoke up.

"How did you know it was me, Trunks?" Zeusu asked, after he realized he still wasn't quite sure what was going on. Zeusu placed his index finger directly in the middle of his cheek and slid it down his face, as if thinking about something. Trunks thought this an odd habit, but began to answer Zeusu's question anyway.

"Well," Trunks began with a sigh, as he began to fold up his map, "it's a rather long story, but we have time. I'll try not to bore you." Trunks smiled, and Zeusu returned the gesture. Trunks noticed how utterly innocent Zeusu looked. He really had no clue what his life was really about, what it might turn in to, where he was from, nothing. Trunks thought it rather unfair that Zeusu was deprived of knowing the secrets that lay in his past, haphazardly covered up. Only time would tell how he would react to this big change.

"Alright," Trunks said, "lets start with your father. His name was Brolli. He was from Planet Vegeta along with my father, Prince Vegeta, and Goku, who's saiyajin name is Kakarot."

"What's a saiyajin, exactly?" Zeusu said. He looked genuinely interested.

"Well a saiyajin is just an inhabitant from Planet Vegeta, that are almost exactly like humans from Earth, except they have tails, and incredible power. But we also have a minor setback within our genetic make-up. Like werewolves, saiyajins transform in the midst of a full moon into huge gorillas with extraordinary power, and we are quite dangerous, because we have no control. That's why none of us have tails anymore, without the tail we can't transform. I know it sounds funny, but that's just the way it is.

"Anyway," Trunks continued, "your father was known as the Legendary Super Saiyajin, he was able to transform, you know, make our hair golden and our eyes green, without excessive training. But your father, I'm sorry to say, was a dangerous man. He had something out for Goku, and he repeatedly tried to destroy him, but failed. He almost had no control over himself either. Well we finally destroyed him, for what we thought was for good." Here Trunks stopped, Zeusu looked grief stricken. It must be hard to wake up one day and find out that your parents aren't really your parents and that your father was a maniac. Trunks felt for him. "Hey are you ok?"

"Yeah," Zeusu said, instantly shaking himself as to rid his body of the sadness that crept around him. "Please continue." In truth, Zeusu felt as if he were breaking inside. If his father was supposed to be like the gold fighters he'd seen at the tournament when he was younger, wasn't he supposed to be a good guy?

"Well, as sci-fi as this sounds, across the galaxy, an evil lord, goes by the name of Iriyoku, is out to try and kidnap you, your sisters, and resurrect your father, and use you guys to take over the Earth, then the rest of the universe. He studied your father and you guys, calculated your potential strengths and decided that he needed you guys to help him."

"Well I'm not one to exactly be bossed around," Zeusu said defiantly, puffing out his muscular chest, despite his lack of weight training.

"Well," Trunks said with a smirk, surprised at Zeusu's defense, yet all the same happy to see the fighting spirit inside him, waiting to be let loose, "Lord Iriyoku has some magic up his sleeves, and would have used it to take over your mind, then he would have trained you to become a very strong fighter, maybe even stronger than us, and the whole Earth would have been doomed."

"Oh I see," Zeusu murmured to himself, running his hands through his sandy ruffled hair, revealing a characteristic saiyan hair line. "But how did you know I was one of them, how did you find me?"

"My mother has a huge lab and her own satellite," Trunks said. "We found out that Iriyoku discovered our planet with probes, so Goten and I went back to my mother's lab to hook up her satellite and see if we could find it, then intercept the information on it. It turns out that a lot of Iriyoku's men are here already, and they were on the brink of nabbing you guys before we got a chance to save you. It had your addresses on there and since Iriyoku trained his men to detect your energy pattern, they led us to you."

"My energy pattern?" Zeusu asked?

"Hmm," Trunks said, not sure how to explain it. "Well when we get you trained, you'll know more about what I'm talking about. When you get extremely strong, its like others can feel your vibes. When you first walked in the room we were all sitting in, it felt just like your father had entered. You're almost just like him Zeusu, in a good way I mean. You definitely have his strength within you." Zeusu looked a bit proud now, and Trunks felt a bit better.

"Well you must be pretty well off if your mom has her own satellite," Zeusu said once the current information he was given sunk in. Goten chose this time to awaken from his short nap.

"That's because his mother owns the Capsule Corporation," Goten said sleepily, rubbing his eyes and stretching obnoxiously.

"Your mom," Zeusu whispered, clearly surprised. "Your…mom…is Bulma Briefs?"

"Yeah that's her," Trunks said shyly.

"Wow talk about being famous!" Zeusu exclaimed, a bit loud since everyone on board the copter turned and stared at the conversing three. "Sorry," he muttered, bowing his head in embarrassment. He quickly got over it and turned to Trunks once again, with a look of eagerness, and almost desperation plastered on his young face. "What's the name of my sister that we are looking for in Senshi?"

"Um," Trunks mumbled as he dug out some info, "her name is Shinobi Bushi."

"Shinobi…" Zeusu said to himself, turning away and losing himself in the tide of realizations that washed over his body. Shinobi was a beautiful name, it would belong to his sister, at least one of them anyway. Zeusu pondered on whether they would look anything alike, maybe they had the same mannerisms, or the same messy hair. Zeusu chuckled at the thought of a girl being cursed with his hair. He couldn't wait to meet her, yet he was afraid of what he might see. Since Trunks said his father used to be a bad guy, maybe she was too?

But something kept tugging in the back of Zeusu's mind about Shinobi. He knew they had come in contact before now that he thought about it. His parents had taken him to Senshi to actually visit his paternal grandparents. He had been about ten at the time. His grandparents had taken him to the park to play, when a girl a few years older than him just happened to walk by as he was swinging. Zeusu had felt a strange sensation go through his body, almost like déjà vu but not quite. She stopped and stared at him with her penetrating, yet innocent blue eyes, the same as his, as if she had felt the spark too, but then quickly shrugged it off and walked on. Ever since that brief instance, Zeusu always felt like a part of him was lost somewhere in Senshi, but he had immediately thought that it was his grandparents that kept his part of his heart stored away within them. Now he thought otherwise, it was that girl…Shinobi…

At that instant, another realization came to him. He know knew what was keeping him from playing football or any other sports. Deep down, Zeusu knew that he would seriously hurt someone playing sports, because he strength far surpassed that of an average human. Perhaps also that is why his hair was so messy! He took a good look at Goten and chuckled to himself, yeah I think this shaggy hair is a saiyajin thing. It seemed that when his whole life was about to fall apart, and none of it made sense, a simple twist of events turned the meaning of his life around to where he could actually understand it.

Two hours after the Z-warriors and their new companion left Myth City, they safely landed on the outskirts of Senshi. It was a rather small town, not anything like Myth City. No tall sky scrapers, or endless sidewalks void of people. As a matter of fact, it seemed this city was rather heavily populated, for its small size.

Krillin returned the copter to its capsule as soon as everyone exited the aircraft. Trunks pulled out his maps and tried to get a sense of their location in relation to where Shinobi was supposed to be found. "Lets see," he mused out loud, with all the other members crowding around, including Yamcha. "She actually lives about a mile from here, and if we go around the outskirts, we can fly-" Trunks stopped short when he realized Zeusu didn't know how to fly. "Nah we'll get there just fine if we walk, only 10-15 minutes."

Since they were taking the back way, the Z-fighters decided to stick together, not many people would notice them if they kept out of site. The actual city looked rather nice, and cozy. The atmosphere here wasn't nearly as uptight as it was in Myth City, where it seemed a sin to miss a step in the beat of everyday life there. Here it was much more relaxed. Fast-paced walking got the group in front of an apartment building in about 10 minutes. A large, plain white building stood before them, about 10 stories high. Trunks walked up to the doorstep and rang the bell marked Bushi. They all waited about a minute, then Trunks rang it again. No answer.

"Maybe she is still at school," Goten said as Trunks turned back towards the group in frustration.

"If she is its because she's in detention or something," Trunks said tiredly. "It's almost 6 pm, I seriously doubt she is there."

"Well maybe she does play sports and is having a late practice?" Zeusu said meekly, not sure if he had the right to comment yet.

"Well let me try," Goku said at last. Trunks moved out of the way and Goku rang the bell marked Boman on accident.

"Hello?" a feeble voice barely said back.

"Hello?" Goku answered, scratching his head. Wasn't Shinobi supposed to be a young woman?

"What do you want?" the woman asked sharply

"We've come to speak to Shinobi Bushi ma'am, are you her mother," Piccolo asked, stepping up.

"Shinobi Bushi?" the woman asked, then laughed slightly. "I'm sorry sirs but you have the wrong apartment. Shinobi is probably still at work anyway."

"Do you know where she works ma'am," Piccolo asked patiently.

"Who wants to know," the woman said defensively. "Sounds like two males out there, how am I to know you won't do any harm to her. She's just a girl, you stay away from her!" Piccolo's facial expression turned to one of exasperation and the rest of the Z-fighters sighed impatiently. This was not going well.

"We aren't going to hurt her, she needs our help," Yamcha bellowed, since he was towards the back of the group and wanted to be heard. He was pretty tired of this hunt already, and almost wished he hadn't come.

"What, another young man?" the old woman said surprised. "What on earth is going on here?"

"Excuse me," a strong womanly voice said from behind the Z-fighters. Everyone turned to look at where the sound had come from, and there stood a dark haired girl, no taller than Videl. Her dark brown hair was wavy and to her shoulders, beautifully cupping her small face. She had Zeusu's nose, and most noticeably, his eyes. Her eyes were just as strong and determined looking as that of her little half brother standing in front her. The invisible ki swirling around her girlish frame was the last clue that gave away her identity. Shinobi had returned from work.