| Feeding the Flames part 9 By: Juuchan Gohan came back to himself nearly an hour later. He sighed, and relaxed from his stiff position, resting his head on the edge of the couch. Trunks' ki level had recovered well, and the voracious little motes of energy he carried were temporarily sated. Now would be a good time to make a supply run, especially if Trunks had found everything edible in the kitchen. Now -he- was hungry, and Gohan had the sinking feeling that it would be a vicious cycle; Trunks would eat heavily to recover his energy, Gohan would give him more, then - he- would eat to recover, with their food supply the definite loser. As he moved to stand up, Gohan noticed something that seemed to be quickly becoming an unconscious habit of Trunks': his tail had wrapped around the arm resting on his stomach. Sighing, he carefully disengaged the tail, then turned around, nearly bumping into Bulma. Gohan blinked in surprise, then shushed her as she tried to talk, motioning to the sleeping form behind him. She peered over his shoulder, then began speaking quietly. "How is he? He looked fine when he left the lab, but I have no idea whether mood swings are part of a Saiya-jin pregnancy. It wasn't mentioned in the file, but then again he's half human.." She trailed off, visibly pursuing the line of thought, as she was wont to do when something new occurred to her, even in the middle of a conversation. If you lived around her for long enough, you learned to live and deal with it. "He seems to be doing surprisingly well. Hell, at the moment I think -I'm- doing less well than he is. Four?!" He wasn't over that yet, but managed to put himself back on track. "What do we have in the way of supplies? Trunks cleaned out the pantry, and now I'm hungry as well. We're going to need to increase our general level of supplies." He didn't even want to -think- about how much food the babies would need once they were born, and where would they possibly be able to acquire that much milk or formula anyway? "Don't worry, I noticed the kitchen and it's restocked now, but our supplies won't last long at this rate. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to scrounge up enough on my own. At the least I might need you to pick some things up. I can trade a lot of the materials we've gathered around the city, and I'm in contact with several of the villages and towns that have sprung up. It would help a lot, too, if you could go hunt some food down." Now that he had her agile mind on the track he wanted, she was sure to find some way to deal with their situation. He left her muttering over the logistics of the trades she was planning and moved to the kitchen, glad to see it as fully stocked as she'd promised, even if he was about to decimate it again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When he'd placed the last dish back in the cupboard, and was satisfied that the room was just as clean, if emptier, as when he'd entered it, Gohan stepped outside to check on Trunks. Some time while he'd been eating he had woken up, and from the location of his ki he was enjoying the fading sunlight in the remains of his grandmother's garden. Peeking around the edge of the house, Gohan spotted Trunks perched on a slab of concrete, steel beams still protruding from one end where it had once been joined to the complex. He paused to assess his student's current state, as he intended to broach a fairly delicate subject. Trunks appeared to be gazing off into the distance, in a direction he knew changed quickly from the remains of a city to thick forest. Thanks to the food he'd consumed, the nap, and the time Gohan had supported the children in his stead, he appeared just as he had before the entire mess had started. Except for one major detail, his apparent attitude and expression. Before, he had always been tense, constantly prepared for battle, and most of the time, no matter what he was doing, there was a sadness, a determination in his eyes. He was also harder than anyone his age should be. While something in his stance and expression made him appear -more- mature now, he had actually relaxed earlier, and the expression of amusement when he'd told Gohan of the children's number had truly reached his eyes. He also seemed a lot more mellow and calm, though Gohan had admittedly been exposed to him now for a short period of time. Deeming Trunks' emotional state as good as he could hope for at the moment, He stepped forward to politely inform Trunks of his presence. In return, Trunks waved casually at the stone beside him, inviting him to sit. Gohan settled down cautiously, then turned so he could observe his charge closely. "Trunks?" "Hm?" "How good is your memory?" Trunks blinked at Gohan in surprise, turning to face him as well. "What do you mean?" "Do you remember.." he sought for the best choice of words, ".. about the.. Heat?" The puzzled look remained for a moment, then comprehension washed across his face. He looked Gohan in the eye very seriously. "Gohan, it's all right. I don't blame you for anything, and if you feel it very important, I will forgive you, but I think, -know-, it was necessary. I'm very grateful that you valued my life enough to do it." His words took on a joking tone to knock Gohan from his somber mood. "Though I wouldn't have minded if you'd let me out sooner! Being stuck in that lab wasn't fun!" While Gohan managed to smile weakly, he was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice that Trunks was carefully monitoring his reaction to all he'd said, the expression in his eyes during it, or note the phrasing in parts of it. He was busy wondering how much of it Trunks really meant, and how he could apparently take it so lightly. |