Dude Looks Like A Lady

Innocence is Futile
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Dude Looks Like A Lady
By Raven Pan and Alison Sky
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Chapter Sixty-Six
August 10, 799 - Friday
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Trunks remained practically locked in his office each day for the past week, and this day was no different. He'd asked his Secretary to put all calls to voicemail, he would contact people should the need to actually speak with them arise.

Work was difficult though, He found himself repeatedly pushing off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose in attempt to rid himself of the shame and disgust he felt over himself for what he'd done one week earlier.

Even drinking hadn't worked. He glanced over at the bin with empty bottles in it and sighed. "I just want this to be over," he muttered to the empty office.

There was a knock at the door.

"Ms. Shimizu, I told you I don't want to see anyone today!" he called back gruffly.

"She's out to lunch," Gohan stated as she opened the door, stepping inside. She was dressed in a very professional dress suit, red and sleek, complete with matching hat and gloves and purse. "We need to talk."

Trunks's head shot up and he pushed his glasses back on, sitting back as though he'd been stung. "Uhm.. Sure, have a seat..."

Gohan nodded, closing the door and locking it so no one could disturb them. She then looked around the office as she took off her hat and put it with her purse on the table near the door. "Nice office," she remarked, coming to sit across the desk from him.

"It serves its purpose," he responded, not meeting her gaze.

Gohan sighed. "Trunks... I'm sorry..." she said softly.

He looked at her, blinking. "No, Gohan... I.. I should be the one apologising," he waved a hand. "I should never have taken advantage of you like that - it's inexcusable for me to have done so." He paused to take a breath before he could go on.

"Trunks..." Gohan tried to inturrupt.

 "I couldn't control my libido around you, and I forced you to commit adultery, and I'm so sorry - I never wanted to hurt you," He looked at the table, trying to figure out if he'd said everything yet.

"But Trunks.... you didn't hurt me..." Gohan pointed out. "I guess... well... I wanted it as much as you needed it."

He played with the mechanical pencil on his desk. "I caused yo be be unfaithful to Videl. She's right, I've got plenty of experience, I didn't need to add you to my list of conquest," he said quietly... bitterly. "I should never have taken advantage of you, Gohan - you were just trying to help me get over a break-up. I had no right to do that."

"She was plotting it anyway, Trunks... and she's not upset.... what she said back there... well, you know she can be a bitch sometimes," Gohan sighed. "I don't know why...."

"She's right, Gohan."

"About what?"

"Me," Trunks sighed, watching his pencil flit around between his fingers.

Gohan sighed. "Trunks... she didn't mean it like that..."

"Then how did she mean it?" He asked softly, looking up at her. "Everyone knows I'm some kind of male whore - probably been with more women than any paid ones. I know what people think of me and my dating record, I've seen the articles, celebrity shorts. I know what people think of me, and they're not off the mark. I'm a womanising asshole, plain and simple."

Gohan sighed. "No you're not, Trunks... you're a man trying to find comfort for something... that's all."

"Why are you making excuses for me?" He asked curiously.

"I'm not making excuses.... I know you too well, that's all."

"You know more about me than I do, then," he muttered.

"Trunks... I watched you grow up... you're as much as my little brother as Goten..." Gohan stated. "You've been striving for people to care about you all your life... but you'll never admit it, passing it off as a physical need... instead of the emotional one that it really is."

"Hn, I've never heard anything so far off the mark," Trunks scoffed. "Go give your pity to someone else, I'm not worth it."

Gohan leaned over and ran a hand along Trunks' face gently. "Am I now?"

He started to flinch away, but when her fingers touched his cheek, he turned his face into her hand before he could stop himself. A moment later, he pulled away. "What kind of game are you playing at, here?" he frowned.

"I'm not playing anything, Trunks," Gohan said softly. "I did a lot of thinking this week, Trunks... and I think that what's happened... to all of us... I think there was a real purpose to why Dende let it happen...."

"He's a namek with a sick sense of humour?"

"I think he needed us all to see our female side... to learn something about what we really need through it." Gohan stated.

"Oh? And what've you learned, oh guru of the fates?" Trunks asked sarcastically.

"I've learned that sometimes, what my mind thinks, and what my heart thinks, are two different ies.ies... and not to talk with one until I listen to the other." Gohan stated.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Trunks blinked.

"Remember how you guys used to get mad at me cause I talked before I thought about what I was saying?"

"Oh, well you do that all the time - we figured you were just being a dork," Trunks shrugged.

"Notice how I haven't done that in awhile?" Gohan tilted his head.

"Oh. Hm, well the theory works for you, then." Trunks decided with a shrug. Then he half smiled, "I'm glad you don't hate me."

"I can't hate you, Trunks..." Gohan smiled. "And honestly, I really do thank you... what we did... was something I don't think I could ever experiance any other way... and I probably would have kicked myself when this is all done, had I not felt that."
"Even so, it doesn't make what we did, right," Trunks sighed, dropping his gaze to his desk again.

"Trunks... it wasn't conventional... that's true... but, well... I wouldn't have done it if it was anyone else," Gohan stated. "You made me feel safe... secure...."

"Well if you were going to do something like that, it's better me than some random bum on the street," he sighed in agreement

"Will you stop beating yourself up, please," Gohan stated.

"Someone has to."

"Leave that to your kids when they're older," Gohan smiled.

"I was agreeing with you, you know."

"I know, but you've been so depressed lately... " Gohan leaned back.

Trunks shrugged, "Maybe my feminine side taught me to take off my masks once in a while."

"Maybe..." Gohan smiled. "You know... back then, you were so happy... it made me wonder something."

"Back when, what?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"When you were female... and the year after... you were so happy... except when you were complaining about being the female in the beginning, that is..."

"What about it," he snapped. He didn't like to think about those years... the thought hurt.

"You found something then... something you've seem to have lost again... except for a few moments every now and then.... and I wish I knew what it was so that I could help you get happy again."

"I don't need to be happy, Gohan - it's an unecessary privilidge for good people - and I'm not good people.

"See, that's it exactly," Gohan stated. "You don't think you're good enough. Why is that?"

"Because I'm realistic, Gohan." Trunks rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm sure you have better things than to try and wend your way through my neurosis."

Gohan just sat back, shaking her head. "I'm just worried about you, Trunks...."

"Why worry about me? I'm not worth the brain cells, Gohan - you know that."

Gohan stood up and leaned over, kissing Trunks' forehead. "Yes you are... you just need to remember why we all love you...."

"Because you're all sentimental fools, Gohan," he answered cooly, sighing.

"Yeah, but that's why you put up with us," Gohan smiled softly.

"Somebody has to watch out for you."

Gohan just looked down at Trunks, then mussed his hair. "You'll be all right, kiddo... just take care, ok?"

He ran a hand through his hair, wishing he'd put it in a ponytail today. "Sure, you too."

"I will..." Gohan walked over to the table and picked up her hat, then turned back to Trunks. "Ok... I know this is stupid, but I have to ask..."

"What?"

"Do I look fat in this?" Gohan asked, turning to the side a bit.

Trunks just looked at her and blinked. "Uh, you're a bombshell, Gohan - you couldn't look fat if you tried."

Gohan smiled brightly. "Thanks!"

"Go home, Gohan," Trunks smirked, shaking his head as he pulled another paper to him.

"Take care, Trunks. Tell Goten and the kids I said hello." With a wave, she unlocked the door and walked out.

Trunks sighed. I will... when he decides I'm done pissing him off for forgetting to pick up the kids last week... he thought to himself

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September 7, 799 - Friday - One month later
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Trunks paced through the livingroom as he spoke in low tones on his cell. "No, it's not like that Yukina," he jammed a hand through his hair.

Goten opened the door, Truten in a toddler backback as he came in, some grocery bags in his hands. "Trunks... I'm home," Goten stated.

He waved a hand at Goten as he continued pacing. "Yukina, honest! What would make you.... It's a TABLOID, you can't believe everything you read!!"

Goten raised an eyebrow, then put the bags down. He then took off the backpack, putting Truten on the ground to run around. He then took the groceries and walked to the kitchen.

"What do you MEAN, Goodbye? Yuki- Yukina?" He blinked holding the cell out and looking at it. She'd dumped him, and she'd hung up on him. "Damn Paris!" He growled, throwing the phone hard up against the wall, indenting it to the plaster then pieces falling down as he went through to the balcony, slamming the wooden balcony door behind him, breaking the hinge.

Goten swooped around, eyes wide. Truten started to cry in shock, running to Goten's leg and hugging him. "Shhh, Truten," Goten said, leaning over and picking the toodler up. "Just let M... Uncle relax, ok?"

Trunks perched on the corner edge of the rail around their balcony, glaring into the sunset. It wasn't fair! What had he done to deserve this?!

Goten quickly wrangled the toddler, putting her in the highchair, opening a ricecake and breaking it into a few pieces in front of her. "Papa be right back, ok?" he said, kissing her forehead, and then walking to the balcony. "You ok?" he asked, coming out.

"Fine," Trunks muttered, hands in his poc.
"What did Paris do?" Goten asked, not being a tabloid reader.

"She didn't like that I told her she didn't have a chance - and has got a story cooked up that I had my kids' mother killed because she was a threat to my social standing," He growled. "That woman is pure evil - and that's just the tip of the iceberg she's got going through the rumour mills."

Goten leaned against the doorframe. "The story's so crazy, how can anyone believe it?"

"Because I'm Trunks Briefs, and anything juicy and scandelous must be true - even bumping off a paramour, then getting the kids birth certificates under a fictional cousin's name, and that of my best friend, so that I don't have to be responsible," he but, ut, still glaring at the sunset. "Yukina's not the first to fall for it, either."

"Ok, that we can prove instantly... I mean, those kids have our blood...." Goten's face fell. "Oh."

"They don't. The twins have mine, Truten has yours... but the other would be too altered, and they wouldn't find it."

Goten sighed. "Can't your mom take care of this?" he asked.

"Legitimate news, no problem - that's why you haven't heard this yet, it's been going on for months now. Tabloids..." he shook his head. "And as long as they keep blowing these lies out of proportion, my chances of keeping a girlfriend, let alone finding one, are getting exponentially close to nil anymore."

"Well, would you want to be with someone who falls for something as stupid as a tabloid?"

"No, but still - everyone reads them, and sometimes they're so believable, when it's a celebrity it must be that they're keeping it out of the real news," He grumbled, balancing on one foot for a moment.

"But if you're going to date a girl, she's going to end up in them too... so she's going to need to be someone who doesn't believe them. Se ase as that, Trunks."

"Where am I going to find a girl like that?" He asked, looking over at Goten. "I'd rather find someone from around here...."

"Well.... maybe if you go to the library? Mom used to say that educated women were more realistic when it came to finding a good mate." Goten shrugged.

"Maybe..." he sighed.

"Sometimes you just have to be willing to look deeper, Trunks," Goten shrugged.  "I mean, you're looking at girls on the surface... ones you meet during the day... the supermarket, work... but you need to go deeper, find the niches... find the unique ones that hide...."

"Unique ones that hide," Trunks said thoughtfully, putting his other foot back down on the railing. He looked down over his shoulder at Goten, "I think you're giving me an idea, Chibi."

"I am?" Goten tilted his head to the sideR>

"Yeah," he nodded, turning completely and lowering himself gracefully to, now, sit on the rail. "Who do we know, that's a tiny bit on the shy side, pretty unique, is kind of hidden.... I need to think about it more though, that's not something to rush into, hurt her and you'd get yourself killed," he added to himself, looking at the concrete.

"I think you lost me, Trunks..." Goten stated.

He looked up at Goten, "You hang out with Marron a lot... is she seeing anyone?" he asked bluntly. "Are YOU seeing her?"

Goten's eyes closed a moment, and he sighed, then opened them thoughtfully. "No, we're just friends. And no, she's not dating anyone. We just hang out alot. She moved into the city last year for grad school, and we ran into each other while I was job hunting.

"I wouldn't want to break anything up if you were," he said in response.

"Nah, we're really just friends. I can't see us together past that," Goten chuckled, looking down at his shoes.

"Maybe I'll ask her out sometime," Trunks mused, closing his eyes thoughtfully. "She's a really nice girl... and I wouldn't hao hio hide anything from her, she knows all about us anyway."

"Yeah, she does. Loves the kids too, except when Truten pulls on her hair," Goten chuckled. "Want me to invited her over to dinner so I can hook you two up?"

Trunks smiled, looking up at Goten, "You'd do that for me?" he asked, disbelieving - somewhere inside he still believed Goten didn't want him with anyone.

"Of course!" Goten smiled. "You're my best friend, Trunks... I want you to be happy."

"You're awesome, Chibi."

"That's what best friends are for," Goten smiled... the tiny twinge of pain inside well hidden by now.

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