Author's Note: I want to quickly interject that like all good story-telling, all questions will eventually be answered, and if they aren't, then I'm a bad, bad person and you can criticize me for it. Thank you for your patience. I know it's starting off a little slow, but it will pick up soon - lots of drama and angst and even some fighting!

Anyway, on with it. And as always, any suggestions you have for how I can improve my writing, please feel free to voice them. :)


The disturbed silence that was left in the wake of my brother was palpable. I couldn't believe that after everything, after I had come all this way, my brother didn't even care that I was alive. I could feel my heart stinging and the rage in my stomach building. I was dimly aware that I was clenching my fists and that my tail was bristling with anger, but I didn't move. All I did was stand there completely still, too afraid to move or say anything for fear I would explode. I wanted nothing more than to blast that contraption off its base and make my brother come out to talk to me. I could sense that the others were too nervous to approach me for the same reason.

After a minute or so, though, I managed to gain control of my emotions again. I took a deep breath and felt the pain slide down into my stomach where I would keep it safe until I had a moment alone to reflect on it. I would not show such emotion over this in front of these strangers. I mustered up a wan smile and turned around, hoping my eyes wouldn't betray me. I had become quite good at concealing my emotions, I thought.

"Thank you for helping me – each of you," I said as plainly as I could, bowing my head slightly to the group. I refused to look at any one of them in the eye for too long – I didn't want to see if they felt sorry for me.

"I will leave you all in peace now. I have done what I came here to do," I said, hoping that my words sounded convincing enough, as though everything that had just happened had been entirely planned on my part. I also felt like a total jerk for making a deal with these people to tell them everything and then going back on it. But I supposed… I could live with that crime, as long as I didn't have to hear their inevitable words of sympathy. I had done worse things, after all.

When that particular thought struck me, it struck the same sensitive spot that Vegeta's words had and it was a difficult task for me to cover up my breath catching in my lungs. I had done worse than lie to these people. So maybe this was what I deserved.

Bulma's mouth had been hanging open like the others', but she was the first to recover and stand up taller, resuming her dominating role among them.

"All right," she said, turning to each of them. "Gohan, don't you have some studying to do? And Krillin, I'm sure your wife is waiting on you. And Piccolo." She paused briefly as she turned to him last. "You should be off too. Don't worry about things here." She added a threatening twinge, one that almost sounded defensive, to what she said to the Namek.

In spite of myself, and with so many conflicting emotions inside, I remained where I stood while she dismissed the group.

"Okay, Bulma," Krillin said, glancing at me as he lifted off the ground. "We'll catch ya later." A moment later, he vanished into the sky.

Gohan lingered for a moment, shifting from one foot to the other, looking like he really wanted to say something, but as he opened his mouth to speak, I turned away from him and I heard Bulma again ask him to leave.

"Okay, Bulma… See ya later, Aqua?" he said.

No, you won't be seeing me later… I thought. There was no hope in getting the kid's hopes up – I had no intention of sticking around for long now and I was fairly confident that I would never see him again. Perhaps he sensed this too, as I could almost feel the waves of disappointment rolling off of him as he departed.

"Piccolo, you really should be going now," Bulma chided when she saw that he hadn't moved since asking everyone to leave.

"I don't think so," he said gruffly. "I don't care how innocent you think she is; I'm not leaving until I know for sure whether or not she's a problem."

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Well fine then, go ahead and be a paranoid jerk, but you can do it outside of my house."

Piccolo opened his mouth to counter, and that was when I finally found the strength to speak up. "I appreciate what you're doing. But it isn't necessary. I've done what I came here to do and now I can leave." Neither Bulma nor Piccolo looked convinced, and even I didn't believe the words as they were coming out of my mouth. "I came here on a ship. I asked them to wait for me, so I will go back to them now," I lied further, knowing full well that the ship I came here on was long gone and that I would never see it again. "Thank you for helping me."

"Now wait just a darn minute here," Bulma suddenly snapped, setting her hands on her hips and looking offended, seeming to temporarily forget about the offensive Namek. My eyebrows went up slightly in surprise at her reaction. "Who are you trying to kid? I went out of my way and stopped what I was doing to help you, and showed a little faith in you as a fellow woman—and we just met, by the way—and this is how you show your gratitude? Oh no you don't," she reprimanded, and I could see now why Krillin was acting intimidated by her earlier. I felt my cheeks flush. "I can call a bluff when I see one and I know you aren't going to just up and leave now. Not after you came all this way. No, you come with me, Aqua. My mother put some more cookies in the oven for us, and I intend on making you try some." She took a few steps in the direction of the Capsule Corp. building. "Come on, now. Not you, Piccolo."

I hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do. I stole a glance at the Namek. He eyed me with undisguised suspicion but remained where he stood. Apparently he was going to stand outside as he was told, just so he could be nearby if I decided to cause any trouble. I withheld a scowl at his wariness of me and turned my attention back to Bulma.

"But—…" I felt my willpower breaking, even though I had just met her. "What about Vegeta…"

"Don't worry about him. He's all talk. I make the rules around here, not him."

My head was spinning from everything and I did feel hungry, even if I didn't know what cookies were. Maybe food would help clear my mind.

"Okay…" I muttered in agreement, following her in an odd sort of daze, unsure of what had happened and what was currently happening. I could practically feel the Namek's gaze burning into my back – the feeling made my skin crawl but I had no choice but to ignore it.

"I hope the boy is okay," I said.

Bulma sighed. "He'll be fine. He's a tough little guy. Though Vegeta is definitely in trouble for the stunt he pulled back there."

"It's not his fault," I said quickly. I wasn't exactly sure why I was defending my brother after everything that had just happened. For some reason it felt necessary, even though I still felt sick from his reaction. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused."

"Hush. Cookies first – talk later," she said as she walked into the home through the door in the garden. "I'm telling you, my mom is the best baker around." Her voice was suddenly cheerful. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or forced, but I felt like it might have been more an attempt to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. "Don't tell Krillin you got some of her cookies, though – he'll get jealous and then you'll never hear the end of it."

It was my turn to release a sigh. As much as I appreciated her generosity and efforts to be kind to me, especially after what she just witnessed, all I really wanted was to be left alone. It was strange, really. When I had spent so much time alone, I felt like I wanted to be around someone. But now, I found, once I was around someone, I just wanted to be left alone. I guess I really just missed my friend. It was almost like… I knew I could probably be friends with these people if I wanted, regardless of Vegeta wanting me to leave, but at the same time, I didn't want to have any new friends. What I wanted more than anything was to have Jacinth back. He wouldn't have asked me any questions, or made any dumb jokes, or tried to force me to be tough – he would have just let me be me. Or he would have seen that I was looking glum and then dragged me off to get wasted. I know now that that was not a good way of dealing with my inner turmoil, but at the time it was all I had and I treasured those moments.

I knew in my heart that those were not the only reasons I wanted him back. I missed our connection most of all. It was my belief in that moment that I would never again have that connection with another being.

Nevertheless, I went with Bulma and watched as she went over to a table and took a seat. The blond woman from earlier was there, wearing gloves and fiddling with some flat piece of metal with some flat, round, sweet-smelling pieces of dough splayed out evenly on it. I guessed that they were the cookies that had been mentioned. I had never had cookies before. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a real meal – just a series of processed foods on the drifter colony I had lived on and then whatever I could get my hands on out in the wilderness of the Chrysolite Star during the war. I certainly never remembered smelling any food quite so sweet before.

"You don't have to stand there, you know. It's okay to sit at the table," Bulma said with a smile.

I blinked at her for a moment before going over and taking a seat across from her. To say I felt awkward was a gross understatement.

"Hello again," said the blond woman to me. "Care for some cookies?"

"Huh?" I was still in a daze from everything.

"Yes, Mom, we'll take some. I was just telling Aqua here about how your cookies are the best in the city."

Bulma's mother blushed. "Oh stop it, they aren't that good."

"You're being too modest. You really should learn how to take a compliment…"

Their voices faded into the background as my thoughts once again began to flood my mind. Of all the scenarios I had imagined for that day, I never thought that this would happen, least of all that my brother would accuse me of living a cozy life somewhere. Anger stirred in my stomach again at what he had said. What I wouldn't give to give him a piece of my mind...

"Here you are," Bulma's mother interrupted my thoughts.

I blinked the anger from my eyes and stared down at the brownish discs on the plate before me. Both of the women were watching me expectantly, so I slowly picked up one of them and found it was quite warm to the touch. I hadn't noticed until then that there were bits of darker brown poking out from it as well. What a curious item it was.

After I took my first tentative bite, I understood why Krillin had made such a fuss about them earlier. They were bloody fantastic. I had never tasted anything so sweet before. It actually caught me by surprise and my face involuntarily scrunched up at it.

Mrs. Briefs looked worried. "Oh my, is it okay? Did I get a bad batch of eggs or something?"

"No, it—…" I swallowed, trying to hold back the urge to eat them all right then and there. "It's really good. I've never had anything like that before."

"Oh wonderful!" she exclaimed and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Here, I'll make you as many as you like!" And the effervescent woman skipped back into the kitchen to begin making some more.

"See? I told you so," Bulma said.

As I finished off the first one and started on the second, I wondered bitterly how indeed Vegeta had come to the conclusion that I had been the one slacking off when he obviously had such a giving family who baked him things like cookies, and had enough spare time in his rigorous training regime to reproduce. He had no idea how grateful he should have been to have been blessed with such gifts.

By the time I finished the second cookie, some of the bitterness I felt inside began to wane. Something in the cookies was making me feel a little better. The sugar, maybe. Or those particularly rich, melty pieces that were settled in the crunchy part.

"Look at how scrawny you are. When was the last time you had a good home-cooked meal, hmm?" queried Bulma's mother.

"I'm.. not sure…?" I answered, uncertain if I had ever really had one.

Bulma had her head resting in the palm of her hand and was propped up on the table, watching us in amusement. I felt as though she had planned this and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. All of these people struck me as strange. Even stranger to me was how my brother had come to settle with them.

"Well, that is just unacceptable," she replied. "You wait right there and I'll make some real food for you."

"Okay…" Even as I spoke, my stomach let loose an embarrassingly loud groan. I looked down, feeling warmth rush into my cheeks again.

"While we're waiting, I have to ask," Bulma interjected. I looked back up at her, wondering when this was going to end and at the same time realizing that I had the power to up and leave at any time, regardless of what the Namek waiting outside would do. I would have fought him if I had to. "There isn't really a ship waiting for you, is there?" she asked.

My gaze fell away from hers again. "No."

"So you have no place to stay." It wasn't a question, but more of an observation.

I kept looking down and my silence must have been enough of an answer for her, because she then said, "Well that settles it then."

"Huh?" I looked up, bewildered.

"You can stay in one of our guest rooms."

My mouth almost fell open at the bluntness of her offer. I somehow managed to regain my composure and said, "But I can't stay here."

"Don't be shy now. I told you to forget what Vegeta said. This is my house and I want you to stay."

"Bulma… I can't." I was trying hard to get her to understand and be as polite as possible, but I was finding just how difficult it was to turn this woman down, she who had instilled the smallest amount of trust in me. "I only came here to see my brother, and since I've done that, there's no reason for me to stay. I appreciate the offer, but—..."

"But what?"

"But… I can't."

"That's not an answer. Quit trying to get out of our deal. You're staying. We don't have to talk about anything tonight – I wouldn't expect you to. But I think you should at least stay a day or two to see if we can work things out. I don't know how long it has been since you and Vegeta last talked, but it certainly hasn't been within the last twelve years that I've known him. You two are kind of like strangers now, so maybe he just needs a few days to warm back up to you."

I realized that on some level, she was right – Vegeta and I were kind of like strangers after over a decade of not interacting with each other. But I also knew that Vegeta and I had pretty much always been strangers to one another – we had never really been all that close. On top of that, I could have argued that I had grown up with Vegeta, so obviously I knew more about him than she did, but I knew that just wasn't true anymore. There were other people who now knew more about my brother than I did. I was distressed with this knowledge but there wasn't much I could do about it. And I did, more than anything, want to fix things between us. I knew it was what my father would have wanted and, despite everything, I cared for my brother, too.

I let out a breath of air and nodded once in agreement. "Okay," I said. "That makes sense. You're right."

"Of course I am. I'm always right," she said with a friendly smirk. "You know what else I think?" I looked at her questioningly. "If I were Vegeta... I think I would be kind of in shock if my sister showed up at my door after so long. I'm just speculating, of course," she added quickly, "because who really knows what goes on in that head of his?"

I frowned at that, despite her attempts at lightening the mood. "You really think so?"

"He's never mentioned you, Aqua," she said gently. "Never even hinted or suggested that he might have a sister, or any sibling for that matter. He probably thought you were dead... so when he saw you there... it was like seeing a ghost from his past, something he had endeavored to leave behind once he decided to stay here."

She paused in her musings to allow those words to hang in the air. They indeed sank in deeply and a feeling of guilt crept up on me. I wasn't sure if that was what she had meant to make me feel, but there it was either way.

"Please don't ever repeat any of this to him," she continued cautiously. "I'm sure he'd deny it either way, but I'd rather not have to argue with him about it. I do have more important things to do with my time, after all."

"I understand," I said.

"I'll bet... right now he's trying to pretend none of this happened, but deep down... I think he knows things are about to change and is just... panicking a little, that's all. You know how he is, I'm sure."

"Yeah. I get it," I said quietly.

I did get it, even though I was still reeling from how he had reacted to seeing me there. After Bulma's explanation, I really felt stupid for being there. How presumptuous had I been to just show up in my brother's life after having left him, having made him think that I was dead, and expect him to accept me back into his life with open arms? He had no way of knowing why I had left or of anything that had happened during the interim, so of course things wouldn't just fall into place so easily. I realized in that moment how much I had been deluding myself into thinking a happy reunion would take place. Not only had we never been close to begin with, but I guess I felt that after so many personal tribulations, a happier outcome was bound to be in my future. It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

I decided to keep my insecurities on the issue to myself. I didn't really feel like going into our dark history with Bulma – she was still a stranger as far as I was concerned.

"I will give him time," I announced. Bulma nodded in acknowledgement and sat back in her chair, almost with the air of having diffused a bomb. "I honestly didn't mean to cause him any trouble by coming here – or any of you, for that matter... I just thought..."

I shook my head.

"Thought what?" Bulma prompted.

I released a sigh and looked away. "I don't know anymore."

The other woman gave me a sympathetic look and tactfully decided not to push further on the subject. If she had guessed that the door to what I was willing to talk about was closing right then, she would have guessed correctly. I had already talked more than I was used to and I was feeling exhausted from both that alone and the prospect of another long journey just ahead. I was nowhere near out of the woods, as I had thought.

"Well," she said, "I think you should rest after you eat and later there will be plenty of time for us to talk and get to know each other and all that."

I didn't tell her that I planned on sneaking out in the middle of the night, of course. The Namek didn't have to know that I was leaving either – I would just have to be careful. I ignored the fact that he and the other two males had somehow known I had arrived and sought me out without any visible means of being able to do so, and resolved to not let that get in my way of escaping.

A short amount of time later, after I had consumed the strange, but filling, meal Bulma's mother had placed before me, Bulma excused the two of us and got up to show me to where I was to stay for the night.

"Thank you. I am tired after my travels," I admitted. That was no lie.

"I bet. What was that, several billion light years of travel?" she asked in a humored tone.

"Something like that," I quipped.

"Here you go, then," she said as she opened a door. "I hope it's comfortable enough for you."

I stepped into the room, feeling suddenly timid as I stood there surrounded by the foreign decor. It wasn't what one might consider to be a large room, but it was larger than anything I had ever personally stayed in – I was used to staying in small, compact quarters for space travels, after all.

I glanced at the collection of books and a square, black screen that were all recessed into a wall opposite the bed and wondered if this was some type of surveillance system. I decided not to ask and that it didn't matter anyway – I would do what I wanted, when I wanted, and no surveillance system was going to stop me. If I had once run away from Frieza without being caught, then surely I could run away from these folks.

"Oh," Bulma said suddenly, causing me to turn to look at her. "If you'll give me your clothes, I'll have them washed for you."

I looked down at the dark blue and brown shirt I was wearing that reached down to my knees, under which was a similarly colored, light-weighted pair of pants. As I had long since ditched my Saiyan armor, a symbol of my life of servitude to Frieza, the Chrysolitians had made some clothes for me to wear while I was living with them. My clothes were dirty... but—

"I'll give you something of mine to wear for the night," she said reassuringly, as if she had read my thoughts.

"That's okay," I said nervously, suddenly alarmed by her idea. "You really don't have to."

"But your thing is filthy." My tail twitched at her having called my clothes a "thing". "Come on. I'll have it ready for you in the morning, I promise. Besides, you probably want to shower, and when you're done with that, do you really want to change back into dirty clothes?" she asked sweetly and with a pleasant smile.

"Okay," I finally conceded, although I didn't move to take off any of the articles. I didn't care if she had a point or not, there was no way I was going to strip down in front of a stranger, or in front of anyone for that matter.

"Well," she said, making a move for the door, "Just leave it on the bed and I'll grab it while you're in the shower."

"Right," I replied, and waited for her to shut the door completely before pulling off the clothes and shuffling over to the small bathroom that was a part of the bedroom. I pushed the door open, flipped on the light, and peered into it, feeling so out of place there. Everything with its fancy, floral, pastel colors was happily sitting in its place, and I most definitely did not fit in.

I peered at my reflection in the mirror behind the sink. I hadn't realized how disheveled I must have looked to the others. My bluish-black hair was windblown and sticking out in ways beyond that of its natural Saiyan manner and there were dark patches under my eyes from lack of sleep. My flesh looked sickly and pale from living under artificial sunlight for so long. And, as Bulma's mother had pointed out earlier, I did look scrawny, perhaps even a little gaunt. I looked dreadful to say the least, but it wasn't like I had ever really had the opportunity, or necessity, to stand in front of a mirror to make myself presentable either.

My eyes lingered on the long, smooth, straight scar that marred my body, stretching from where my shoulder met my torso to just above and to the left of where my heart was. It stood out from the rest of my features like an ugly, sideways grin, serving as a grim reminder of my troubled past and how I should have died upon receiving it.

Feeling suddenly self-conscious about my appearance, I turned away from the mirror and climbed into the shower, relaxing once I felt the hot water cascade through my hair and down my body. I couldn't remember the last time I had gotten to enjoy a shower like this. The Chrysolitians, being feline-like both in their appearance and in their nature, weren't renowned for liking water, so I hadn't gotten to shower often, at least not in the conventional way. My thoughts once again became bitter as they flitted to how lucky my brother was to have such luxuries at his disposal.

Once I was finished with the shower, I wrapped myself in one of the towels that had been hanging up on the rack ready for use and cracked the door open to peek into my room, to make sure Bulma, or anyone else, wasn't there. No one was there. But what I noticed on the bed once I stepped out into the cool room caused my skin to grow even paler.

Lying casually, almost tauntingly, on the bed was a long, alarmingly pink gown that looked too large to have belonged to Bulma until I lifted it up and saw that it was only that size for maternity purposes. I examined every angle of that thing to make sure I wasn't imagining its abhorrent hue and was horrified to see that I wasn't. I felt cold disgust spread through my chest followed by an even colder sense of dread when it dawned on me that I had no option of leaving in the middle of the night now. The Namek would have spotted me for sure in that thing and Saiyan pride was an instinct that was too large to stifle. All I could do was scowl while I changed into the damned thing.

I sat there in the dark after I turned the light off, with the moonlight illuminating the ghastly gown that had been offered to me, contemplating how I had landed myself in such an absurd position. I had been to countless worlds, seen countless deaths, endured servitude for many years of my life, and somehow I had managed to end up perched on the edge of a bed in my brother's home, wearing a deplorable, pink maternity gown that wasn't even my own, thinking twice about escaping on account of it. I seethed silently and began to despise that woman for outsmarting me in such a ridiculous way. I fleetingly wondered if this is how my brother had come to remain in this place.

I finally decided to lie down after a while of fretting. Just because I planned on leaving at the first available moment, didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the softness of the bed that I had been allowed to sleep in. I laid there for quite some time, thoughts of the day's events turning over and over in my mind, until sleep finally claimed me.