A Little Pain

'T' for Trunks

"So, how do you know my daddy?" Gohan asked as our mysterious stranger handed me a cola while Krillin and the others drank pop in the middle of a desert wasteland.

"Well, you see, I don't. I've only heard things about him, but I've never met him. Not yet at least."

"So how do you know he's going to be exactly here in a few hours then?" Yamcha growled from the back of the group. "And who are you even?"

"I-I'm sorry," The stranger stuttered. "I can't really divulge that information right now." It was obvious the stranger was feeling uneasy from everyone's pestering questions.

"So if you can't tell us your name, or who you are, or where you're from, and you don't know Goku, how the hell are we supposed to believe a thing you say? I don't trust you at all." Yamcha said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No one asked for your opinion, and besides you're the last person to talk about trust right now!" I blurted out, scolding Yamcha for his childish behavior. "Whether or not this kid speaks the truth, he saved us all from Frieza and his father. God knows you wouldn't have been able to stand against Frieza's wrath. And if he honestly was a questionable person, he'd have turned on us already. So why don't we all just shut up and lay off the kid?" I growled, taking a deep breath. The mystery man nodded at me and the ones who clearly opposed him seemed to back off. "But---um---mystery stranger, can you answer a question or two of mine?" He nodded at me. "What should we call you?"

His faced turned red. "Oh, I never really thought about this. I guess you can just call me 'T' for right now."

"Well, Okay, 'T", do you know what time Goku will be home?" I asked sheepishly, anxious to see my lover after so long apart. "And is he really coming home?"

'T' smiled at me and nodded. "Yes, without a doubt Goku will be home within the next three hours." He paused looking around. "I promise, I'm on your side, everyone. I'm here to greet Goku and talk with him. I'm not here to harm anyone."

Yamcha and some of the others rolled their eyes and walked off to lounge around on some of the shadier rocks of the wasteland we were stranded in. I saw Gohan move from my side to chase after Piccolo. Vegeta was sitting opposite of myself, but a few yards away, just out of earshot, studying our newcomer with a lethal gaze. Bulma and Krillin were whispering between themselves and everyone else just seemed to be in their own world. Riku and I were the only one sitting with the stranger as he let out a loud sigh. "There seems to be a bit of tension between everyone here." He commented as he took a sip of pop.

"Ehh, it's mainly just Yamcha, the guy with the stained shirt." I said gesturing towards the guy who sat with his flying cat. "He's in a pissy mood because he got caught being shady and is probably just taking it out on everyone else."

'T' blinked. "He was being shady? With who? Hopefully not his wife."

I burst out laughing. "What wife? He's always been a total player!" I reached for another drink as 'T' stopped me. "What? Why do you look so surprised?"

"Yamcha wasn't married? What do you mean by that? He's never been a player."

I gave him a strange look as I opened my pop. "Yes, he has. Where do you get this preconceived notion that you know Yamcha anyways?"

"Well, I know all of you in some sort of way, I may have not met most of you, but I've heard all kinds of stories. And in all of them, Yamcha's had the same girl. He's been married to Chi-Chi ever since she was of legal age."

I spit my Coke out, choking partially. "WHAT?!" 'T' nodded as everyone looked in our direction. "You've got to be joking me! No way! Okay, I know. Let's play a game. You tell me what you've heard about each person here and I'll tell you if it's true."