Author's Note: Nizyuuichi means "twenty-one" in Japanese. Please ask any other questions in reviews. ^_^

~~~ There Goes My Hero ~~~

Chapter One: Something New

-School-

It hadn't really been his decision—to go to school. It had been his mother's, as things usually were. And when Bulma came into his room that morning bright and early at seven o'clock, he began to entertain thoughts of murder... whose murder he wasn't sure of. Maybe if he met an annoying kid at school....

"Mother. Let's re-think this, huh? I mean—"

"No chance, Trunks. Get moving. This is your only year left to go, anyway. And you're the one who wanted to get away from the pressures of the job and the press. So come downstairs and eat some breakfast before you have to leave."

He really was not keen on the fact that it was, to him, the crack of dawn and he was being rushed out the door, but at least now his mother was doing something else besides working in her lab all day. She actually came into my room this morning to wake me up. He shook his head, Amazing. He got up and looked in his closet. All suits. I guess I'd better get some more clothes, huh? But after a little digging, he found some old training sweats and a t- shirt. He smiled,

"I guess this won't be so bad after all." He came downstairs and inhaled his breakfast. As he was heading towards the door, Vegeta came out of the gravity room and he almost bumped into him. "See ya, dad."

"Just where are you off to? You're usually just getting up at this hour."

"Oh. School. Mom didn't tell you?"

A grunt, "The woman never tells me anything." He rolled his eyes, "Well goodbye."

"Bye." He gave a short wave and walked out the door, heading for his car.

"I hope you'll do your best to welcome Mister Briefs—"

"Just 'Trunks' thanks," He did his best to smile at the teacher and then glanced around the room. It was a large lecture hall, and about thirty girls stared dreamy-eyed back at him. Oh boy. I forgot about this part.... But then he noticed a girl sitting practically by herself, seeming nonplussed by his presence. She was looked down at her notebook, not really paying attention. He ran a hand through his hair and listened to the voices of people volunteering a place beside them for him to sit.

"Why don't you sit, uh, over there, by Katie." The professor directed him to a seat next to a pretty brown-haired girl who was chewing loudly on some gum.

"Hiya!" She said cheerily. The girls behind Trunks' back were staring at her enviously.

"..Now take out your books and we'll begin section one: anatomy of the ameba."

Groans from the rest of the class. Oh well, this is better than work...

"So, Trunks! What made you decide to come to school this year?" Katie asked him after school, chomping on a new piece of gum. He flinched when he heard her voice behind him—she had proved to be insanely annoying throughout all his classes. But he was saved when a couple of guys he had met at lunch came over to him in the parking lot,

"Hey, Katie. Want a ride home?"

"Oh, sure Brian!" She began to twirl some locks of hair. "But what about you, Trunks?"

"Yeah, what about you, man?"

"Oh, uh, I drove myself this morning." He smiled and then caught sight of the shy girl he had seen earlier today. He motioned towards her, "Hey-who's that? I didn't see her except for this morning. I didn't see her at lunch with any friends or anything."

"Oh, her." A guy named John said just a tad maliciously, "She calls herself Nikki," He said, circling around to face Trunks, "But everyone knows her real name is Nizyuuichi." He paused and looked over at the girl, who was walking away from the school and then back at Trunks, "And, uh, you wanna know something interesting?"

Trunks nodded mutely, his eyes still following her retreating back.

"There's been a rumor going around since when she came here last year that she's a witch."

"A witch?" Trunks laughed, "What the hell?"

The guys and Katie laughed with him, "Well, you know. Just a rumor..." John looked at the others with a smirk, "But she's still way weird."

"How?"

"Well for one thing, her name is Nizyuuichi! Who names their kid that? Another," He started, perching himself on a car, "She never talks to anyone. I mean, anyone. She has no friends, belongs to no other activities outside of school, and sits by herself in class and at lunch."

"So how does that make her a witch?" Trunks asked, still smiling at their ridiculous assumptions. "And has anyone ever tried to talk to her?"

"Of course!" Chimed in Katie, "We tried to say hi and stuff her first day here and she only looked daggers at us with those weird eyes of hers!"

"Yeah, that's another thing, man, she's got like these freaky black eyes!"

Trunks shrugged, "My dad has black eyes, and he's not a witch!" He laughed again, "Guys, you're a real crack-up." He slapped John and Brian's back as lightly as he could without sending them halfway across the parking lot and smiled at Katie. "I'll see ya tomorrow." He unlocked his car and threw his books in on the passenger's seat. He revved up the engine and heard Brian's voice when he wound down the window,

"He'll find out once he's been in classes with her enough..."

"Yeah, he didn't even hear half of it! How could some girl be so strong?"

He shook it off and pulled out of the lot, giving a final wave to his newfound group of friends.

The next morning Trunks was in a much better mood, actually enjoying going to school wearing comfortable clothes instead of going to work wearing constricting suits and worrying about getting reamed out by his mom for flying out the window for lunch. As he pulled up to school, he thought about how he really needed to go shopping soon. He only had about two more pairs of normal pants left in his drawer.

When lunchtime rolled around, he sat with John, Brian, Katie and a couple of other girls. And then he saw her—Nikki—she was sitting by herself as the others had told him she did all the time. Again, he couldn't get a good look at her face because her back was towards them, but he could spot her shock of pure black, long hair anywhere, especially since she was sitting alone. His friends noticed where his gaze was aimed and John nudged him, "Why are you so interested in her, Trunks? Think she's hot or something?" Chuckles from around the table.

"No. She just seems so... mysterious. It's like she fits in with the crowd, but yet you can't miss her." He said bluntly, his face crinkled in thought. The others looked at each other and shrugged. Then one girl name Gina stated loudly,

"It's because she's a witch! I guess she naturally has that effect on people." The girl smirked as the people around her giggled. Trunks noticed Nikki move her head slightly, as if she had heard the comment. And then she turned her head just a little, allowing Trunks a quick glimpse of one of her eyes that was partially hidden by her hair.

Familiarity. He knew her. How? He had no clue.

"Guys, couldn't you be a little more polite about your stupid notions?" He said, a bit annoyed with their rudeness. Everyone looked surprised,

"Sorry, Trunks. But honestly, I don't think she cares. And if she did, maybe she should actually open her mouth." He raised his voice towards the end of his last sentence and Trunks frowned.

"Whatever." He said, and tried to shake it off.

-The Dare-

After school that day, Trunks was heading out to his car, not planning on hanging around for his friends when John's voice stopped him.

"Hey, Trunks!" He jogged to catch up to Trunks' place in the lot.

He saw Nikki walking the opposite direction, her hands deep in the pockets of her light sweater. And then the strangest thing happened: he tried to feel her ki and realized he couldn't feel one. It wasn't just that she was weak—she had no readable ki. He frowned in exasperation. He turned to John, who was tapping on her shoulder.

"Hey, man, I think she's got you under a spell or something." He grinned and Trunks' expression finally changed.

"So what did you want?"

"Oh yeah. The guys and I came up with an idea—a way we can prove our point about how weird the girl is. No one has ever done it. You up for a bit of a dare?" A sly look came over his face, and Trunks' smile faulted again.

"What?" He snapped. John held up his hands,

"Hey, you don't have to do it. It's just something we thought might convince you that we're not idiots."

Trunks looked back where Nikki had been walking and nodded, "So what's your idea?" His face lightened.

"Follow her." John said simply, "No one's done it before. So now you can come back tomorrow and tell us all where she goes after school and if she talks to anybody."

"I'm not going to stalk the girl for Dende's sake!"

"No, no, dude! I'm not talking following her everywhere, making sudden noises behind her and freaking her out or anything like that! We're just saying that you see where she lives and stuff—you know, does she even have a family?"

Trunks sighed and looked from where Nikki had been to his car to John and the others behind him, "I guess so."

John hi-fived a reluctant Trunks, "Cool. Now are you going to do it today or tomorrow?"

"I guess it's now or never." Muttered Trunks and jogged off down the street.

"He's gonna do it, guys." Said John.

"So brave..." Murmurs of agreement spread around the slowly emptying parking lot.

A/N2: So how'd you like? Please leave reviews! If I get enough, the next chapter might be longer. ^_^