I've wanted to write a one-shot like this for a while, but until now, there was never the time, nor the real inspiration for it. Then, I happened to watch one of the "what-if" battles from the new dragonball z game, Raging Blast, and the wheels in my mind began to turn.

The setting of the story is about a year prior to the fight with Majin Buu. There are footnotes in certain places, just in case. And, that's about it. Enjoy.

Note: This may or may not be the final piece. I'm hesitant with the ending, and would like feedback.

Sometimes a reflection shows not just the present person, but who they might become as well…

………………………

"Yes, Kaa-san?" (1) Trunks asked as he entered the greeting room. He was rather surprised to see that she was talking to someone. It was before noon, so it was a little unusual for a guest to be in the house.

"Ah, there you are! Trunks-san (2), I'd like you to meet someone," she told him happily. She then thought about her statement for a moment, "Well, technically, this isn't your first meeting, but I doubt you remember him." She then motioned towards the young man behind her. "Trunks-san, this is Trunks-san. It's the first time that he's been able to visit in a few years." (3)

The young man inclined his head slightly at the introduction. "It's nice to meet you," he told him. Although it appeared that he was being polite, a faint trace of amusement could be seen on his face.

Trunks stared in utter confusion at the stranger. The only phrase he was able to say was: "Why do you have my name?"

His mother and the stranger shared a glance before she began to chuckle. "I'll explain later. Go run along now. There'll be a party later, so you'll need to get ready."

Unsure of how to reply, he left the room, but not before taking another look at the stranger.

………..

Trunks was beginning to become irritated. What was with the stranger who had his name? His mother treated him with a special form of companionship that she only reserved for her old friends, especially those from Goten's family. She had even dismissed him so that she could continue to talk to the stranger. He found that almost intolerable.

Curious as to why she would pick this man instead of her own son, he began to spy on them; placing himself in nearby areas where he could sit and listen without being seen. They only seemed to talk about simple things; family, friends, current events. He really was not able to get anything out of it, save for the man seemed to live in an area that had once been destroyed, as he spoke of reconstruction.

They way the man spoke didn't help either. Although his mother spoke openly with him, he retained the polite form of speech and spoke in guarded sentences. He also seemed to be both embarrassed and reluctant to relax around her, which, in a way, reminded him of how Gohan tended to speak (4).

Since they man's speech didn't give any of his secrets away, Trunks began to focus more on how he looked. He was a young man, older than Gohan, but clearly younger than his mother. The clothes were rather modern, which included a jacket with his mother's company logo on it. That was odd; usually the only people who wore that logo were company workers. But he didn't look like a worker, nor did he look like much of a fighter, but Trunks was clearly able to sense that the young man was much stronger than a normal person (5).

Trunks was becoming frustrated with the man's paradoxical appearance. At first, he thought that maybe the man was a distant relative, or something, of his mother's. It sort of made sense as it would explain why he would wear the Capsule Corp. logo and why they shared some features, such as hair and eye color. (6) But it soon became clear that this man was more than that. Trunks had noticed that the stranger occasionally made expressions that were mirror images of some of his father's, which he didn't think could be duplicated by someone outside the family.

Speaking of his father, Trunks had watched him enter the room where his mother and the stranger was talking and acknowledge the stranger, in his own way, after his mother explained that the stranger was visiting. That was really surprising! Trunks knew that his dad rarely acknowledged anyone, even his son and wife on occasion, so to know that his father found this stranger worth his time, meant that he was no ordinary person.

…………

"Okay… so it's clear that this guy's important, but who is he? And why does he have my name!" Trunks angrily whispered to Goten from their hiding place. The party had started and several of his mother's old friends had arrived, including Goten's family. Everyone recognized this man, save for Goten, and eagerly greeted him. So, since he realized that Goten was just as confused as he was, he took advantage of that and convinced his friend into helping him spy on the stranger.

"I don't know," Goten whispered back. "I just know that Nii-chan (7) said that he helped everyone defeat Cell."

Trunks looked at his friend in surprise. He would never have thought that the stranger would have anything to do with something that earth-shaking.

"You know…" Goten said somewhat hesitantly when Trunks didn't reply, "he kinda looks like you."

He was rather appalled by that. "You're seeing things. There's no way I look like him!"

Goten was about to argue, but both of them were rather distracted by someone asking the stranger why he was there. The stranger chuckled before he answered. "I'm just here to visit. It's been a while since I've had a chance to speak with everyone."

"Really? And here I was under the impression that you only appear when there's a threat." Trunks was surprised to see that it was his father who had spoken this time and that he was joking!

The stranger seemed to be taken aback for a moment before he again smiled and reassured them he was just visiting. Trunks again found it weird that this man decided not to make a joke out of his reply, like many of his mother's friends did. He just seemed uncomfortable; was he really one of their friends?

"Why's he so serious, nii-chan?" Goten asked his brother a little too loudly, which caused almost everyone to turn to them. Trunks immediately grew alarmed. He had told Goten not to talk to anyone while they were spying on the stranger since it could possibly give them away.

Laughter rang through the room. Apparently Goten's question seemed to be nothing more than a joke between friends, although, Trunks was a little offended that he was not in on it.

The stranger then tried to answer his question with, what Trunks perceived as a vague statement. Yamcha then decided to elaborate the answer with a little more humor. That then managed to start the story telling.

When that began, his mother had coaxed him out of his hiding/observing place, and he reluctantly joined the circle as the stranger began to speak. Although Trunks had pretended that he was not interested in the back story of this stranger, he soon found himself entranced.

He was surprised to learn that the man also had Saiyan blood, like he did, and that he had been fighting alone against the androids for years. In fact, it had been him who had warned his father and the others about them. He was hesitant too in depth with what he had witnessed prior to meeting with everyone, but from what Trunks could gather, whatever he had seen, it was very sobering.

He also noticed that the stranger was hesitant to go into much detail about his family. Every time he would start to say something about them, he would glance at him and answer vaguely, even when it came to where he lived. It also bothered Trunks that this stranger had difficulty when it came to saying his father's name. It was almost as if he wanted to refer to him by another name, but caught himself before he could get it out.

When the story progressed to when Cell appeared, the stranger willingly allowed someone else to do the narration. It was clear to him that he enjoyed listening and just being a part of the group more than he enjoyed being the center of attention.

By the end of the story, Trunks had decided that this stranger was his complete opposite when it came to personality. He was too reserved and too serious for his tastes. Yet, he had developed a strange sort of reverence for the warrior, who he knew would do anything to protect the lives of those around him, even though there was no way that he was going to admit that to anyone, let alone the stranger.

Soon the story came to an end, and the young man gave a quick update as to how his life at home was going now that the androids were gone. Relief and sadness was visible under the mask of politeness he wore as he spoke, which then turned into an embarrassed blush as Trunks' mother asked him about any girlfriends that he may have. He had such a hard time trying to speak that Yamcha decided to tease him a bit, which started a completely different conversation.

A little later, the party finally came to an end. The stranger surprised everyone when he turned down Trunks' mom's invitation to stay the night at the house. He explained that he had come without letting anyone know that he was coming, which was not the best idea, seeing as what had happened in his life. That seemed to upset everyone, to some extent, but yet, everyone seemed to understand.

Well, everyone except Trunks. It just didn't make sense to him that this man, who would be able to fly to his home, would be so hesitant to stay. He could even let, whoever it was he thought should know, by phone that he was at a friend's house.

The stranger then said his goodbyes to everyone, before he came over to Trunks, which surprised him. "Take care of your parents," he told him in a tone of voice that was difficult to place. "Your future looks bright, so make the most of it, okay?" Trunks didn't have any idea how to react to the man's odd statement, so he just hesitantly agreed.

Everyone then followed him outside to where a very strange machine was randomly sitting in the yard. Trunks was very surprised to see that no one found this machine odd and even ignored Goten's questions as to what it was. He was even more surprised to see that the stranger opened the glass dome on the top of it and jumped inside.

After starting it, he waved and did something that made the machine rise up in the air and disappear. It was so surprising! The man's presence was physically gone. It was as if the man just disappeared from the face of the earth. Trunks was actually rather startled by it.

"Kaa-san… is he going to come back?" Trunks asked his mother after it was clear that the stranger was not coming back.

"Maybe…" she replied as she continued to stare at the place where he had disappeared. "It's hard to say though, since he lives in a different world than we do."

Trunks did not know how to reply to that so he decided that he needed to ask a different question. "So… who was he? Why did he have my name?"

His mother looked at him fondly before she began to chuckle. "To find out, all you have to do is look in a mirror. Although, you might not understand it until you're a bit older."

"Huh?" His mother's words made absolutely no sense to him. "But… wouldn't I just see me?"

She just laughed before she mysteriously answered: "Exactly." She then moved off so that she could talk with some of her friends.

………….

"I don't understand what she was thinking… Who am I supposed to see other than myself?" Trunks wondered aloud after sneaking into one of the bathrooms and looking at himself in the mirror. The party had finished sometime prior, and everyone had left, which gave Trunks the opportunity to secretly try what his mother had suggested.

He frowned as he looked at himself. Goten had been right; there were some similarities between him and that man. Was it possible that they were related? Trunks shook his head. He knew he was being silly. His parents would have told him if he had an uncle, cousin, or even a brother.

Then an idea donned on him, which made him both irritated and amused. His mother probably wanted him to use that man as a role model! That had to be it! Why else would she have said such a strange thing?

He laughed as he continued to think about it. His mom must think that his dad is not the best person for a role model, so he suggested for him to look at someone else. There was no way that was going to happen though. His dad was the strongest person on earth! No one could stand up to him! Well… maybe Gohan could, but that was beside the point. Anyone like that was worthy of admiration!

He decided that tomorrow he was going to show her how unlike her guest and similar to his father he really was. Pleased with that idea, he turned off the light and snuck out of the bathroom, but not before taking one last glance in the mirror.

1 Kaa-san is an informal way of saying mother. I have a tendency to use Japanese names, family titles, and suffixes within my work, so please bear with me.

2 San is a respectful suffix. It tends to be more or less used with people who don't know each other as well, but oddly, Bulma does use this suffix with her son.

3 It's suggested in the anime and manga that Mirai no/future Trunks did visit the past/present again after he defeated the Cell from his time which (contrary to popular belief) actually occurred about 3 years after he killed 17 and 18 from his time.

4 In the Japanese versions of the anime and manga, both Mirai no/future Trunks and Gohan are seen to be very polite (meaning they tend to use a more formal speech pattern). This is usually missed when translated into English as there is not as much of a distinction between very formal, formal, and informal as there is in Japanese.

5 When Mirai no/future Trunks is wearing his jacket, he doesn't tend to look as buff as he really is. It's not just him either: Gohan and Goku look less buff in civilian clothing too.

6 For those who don't know, in the manga, Bulma is usually shown having hair the same color as her son's.

7 Nii is an informal way of saying older brother; a suffix is almost always attached. In this case, it's chan which shows that Goten has a very close relationship with his brother.