AN: DBZ and all its respective characters are not my property; they're owned by Toei Animation and by Akira Toriyama.
Seven Years Later…
I can't believe I'm going to be late.
Eighteen-year-old Gohan Son ran down the streets of Satan City as fast as he reasonably could, making sure to keep himself in check so as to not seem like anything other than a normal panicking high-school student. He looked the part – long sleeved white shirt, blue vest, and red pants – but bursting off into the sky would shatter whatever illusion he had managed to craft for himself. It was frustrating to feel the power surging under his skin, knowing that he could jump forward at any second and bolt his way to the goal, but giving in to the temptation just to make sure that he arrived before the final bell rang would make his earlier actions completely pointless. His actions were stupid and inane and why the hell did he feel the need to stop off and try to prevent a robbery, why didn't he just act like every other unsuspecting citizen and mind his own damn business? Butting in was stupid, interfering was stupid, transforming into a super saiyan was the definition of stupid.
All in all, the start of his illustrious career to become an educated student was not beginning on the foot that his mother probably hoped it would. Maybe if he got all his stupidity out of the way now he wouldn't be so tempted to act so stupid later, but it seemed like a pretty dismal sign for the teen.
Mom is going to have my head on a platter for this is she ever finds out. I am so. Absolutely. Deeaaa... hello…
A woman bumped into Gohan, mumbling a low apology as she glanced up and smiled briefly at him. She was fairly pretty with lightly tanned skin, dark eyes, and dark hair – incredibly familiar, in fact, though he couldn't place where he had seen her before. The moment she set eyes on him, though, she appeared startled and jerked away, lowering her head as she hurried away.
Gohan paused, a sudden dilemma setting in. He was going to be late, that much was certain, but how late he was depended on whether or not he kicked his ass into gear again or if he indulged in his curiosity and followed the woman. It wasn't just that she looked like someone he used to know ( though if he was pressed to answer just who exactly that was Gohan doubted he would be able to say ), it was that she felt familiar too. Everyone had a certain amount of energy that flowed about them, often too low to register. Hers was higher and curled and spiked in a pattern he knew he had felt before once upon a time. When…? Where did I see you before…?
It really wasn't a hard battle, choosing between first day of class and the mystery of the mysterious girl. Class was always going to be there and he was going to be late, whether he hurried or not. If he left now he may never catch up to the girl again, though, and he could miss his one and only chance to reconnect with someone from his past. That rationale seemed as good as any and the teen nodded before skulking off after the woman.
The woman wasn't fairly tall, maybe only five foot four, and her hair curled to an end at her waist. She was dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt that had some sort of logo on it, though his brief encounter hadn't given him enough time to be able to make out what was on the front. A red and silver arm warmer covered her left arm, something he found rather odd; it was a fairly warm day out so she couldn't be doing it for any practical purposes, and if she was wouldn't she have on both? Maybe it was just a weird trend that he wasn't familiar with as fashion wasn't exactly Gohan's forte.
She went a few blocks, stopping to look back every now and again to see if she was being followed. It wasn't hard to keep sight of her, especially since she seemed to be so on edge she was making the most basic of mistakes – glancing suspiciously back to make sure no one was following you was a sure fire way to make sure someone would. After watching her turn a corner Gohan paused, allowing her a few seconds to stay ahead before rounding after her just in time to see the door to a small café sliding shut, the bell hanging above the door still ringing softly.
So, in the mood for a good cup of coffee, eh? he thought, creeping after her. There was something terribly wrong with what he was doing, stalking after a woman who had just happened to bump into him on the sidewalk, but he felt that her response to his actions completely justified it – freaking the shit out and running off to hide was not the normal reaction. This needs to be investigated now.
The café was decorated by a large glass window adorned with its logo, a giant cup of steaming coffee above the words 'Java Hut'. Gohan crouched down, making sure he was below the pane of glass, and pressed up against the brick of the building; saiyan hearing may not rival that of namekian, but it was far better than humans and the woman was frantic, her hissed whispering coming through loud and clear to the eavesdropping youth.
"… not safe!" There was a scrape and a thud; she must have pulled a chair out and sat down in it. "What in the hell were you thin-"
"I was thinking, 'Mei, that we needed to get some information and this was the only place it was available." The voice ( both voices, actually ) and the name were familiar. Mei? When did I meet a woman named Mei…? The second voice was male and was full of barely-suppressed anger. "Look, I knew there were going to be risks, but it was something we both accepted when we decided to do this."
"It's not the danger that I'm worried about – we did this because it was either this or something worse. But running around, flaunting that we're here in plain sight?" The conversation was slowly slipping into confusion and the teen frowned, brow knitting together. "We're safe already. I think we should just go and find some place to hide…"
"We're not going to be safe until we're absolutely sure we can't be followed here," the man responded. "And until we get our hands on something that can do that, we stay here."
His curiosity was burning too badly at this point; hearing without being able to see the conversation wasn't providing enough information. With a deep breath Gohan slowly inched his way up, eyes scanning the nearly empty café for the two whispering cohorts.
They were surprisingly easy to spot, and when he did the memory of when he last saw them suddenly came flooding back. The woman with black hair, the man with purple. He was glancing down at the table but just as the teen was looking up in shock he happened to raise his eyes, their gaze meeting, and Gohan knew that he was caught. It didn't matter; nothing compared to sudden knowledge that what the crap Trunks is back from the future with his crazy violent female friend.
Even that knowledge suddenly seemed unimportant when both the female and Trunks got up, expressions of pure rage on both their faces as they turned to hunt the teen down. Gohan's eyes widened as he pushed away from the wall, scrambling to run. He wasn't nearly fast enough, however, before a black gloved hand clamped down on his shoulder and he found himself whirled around, face-to-face with a scowling violet-eyed man as the bell from the shop still dinged in the background.
"… so, you come here often, or…?"
----
Rage wouldn't begin to touch on the emotion that boiled through the veins of the cursing female. It wasn't all geared toward the young peeping tom, though given the chance she would gladly smack him through a wall ( it was starting to seem like a reasonable solution to the problem at hand anyway ), and most of it was screaming for her to grab the colored-locks of her 'companion' and yank his head back while screaming in his ear. It was his fault that they were even in this mess; his idea for them to come back, his idea for them to go around the city, his idea for them to not run for the hills and hide when they had the chance.
Gohan was terrified, jaw convulsively dropping down slightly before shutting with an audible 'clack', the process repeating over and over and over as he took one, two, three nervously stuttered steps back. Trunks paced him, the rather foreboding glare practically permanently plastered on his face, and Mumei realized it was a wonder that the teen hadn't collapsed from shock already. If this continued much longer the younger teen was going to piss himself like one of those worthless rat dogs and, if they were lucky, collapse in a state of catatonic shock.
The alternative to that scenario involved another act that only worthless rat dogs did, the violation of Trunks' leg, and Mumei couldn't help but grin and snort at that mental image.
"Boys, boys!" She stepped forward, forcibly inserting herself between the hunter and the prey. "We can deal with this in a fashion that's semi-rational that doesn't have to involve killing someone." Her words did little to relax the frightened and trapped teen, but Trunks' expression smoothed out slowly, the scowl fading into a displeased frown. "Let's just… sit down, and talk, and then move on to the irrational beatings."
"You…" The word came out a bit higher than Gohan intended, squeaking a bit as he shook his head. "I thought you two went back to your time. Wasn't that the big speech, let's not pollute this stream so that everyone could live happily ever after?" Mumei had to give him some credit – the kid was practically shaking in his boots but managed to give Trunks an evil eye that could kill. "Was it just a cover? Are you guys actually androids-"
"Oh for the love of-!" Trunks grabbed the front of Gohan's shirt, jerking him forward roughly to abruptly cut his statement off. The woman winced, lifting a hand up to cover her eyes. "No, we are not androids. Yes, we really are from the future and yes, I really am Trunks Briefs. No, we did not stay back in your time for all these years – I'm guessing from how you look we would probably be in our mid twenties if we had and do we look that old? If you would shut up and calm down we would explain. Does this satisfy you?"
Mumei tapped him on the shoulder before giving a little shrug. "It might satisfy him a little more if you weren't strangling him while screaming the answers at him."
"I wouldn't be doing this if he wasn't acting so fucking stupid!"
"Okay, okay." Pushing Trunks back from Gohan a second time, Mumei stepped in between to make sure there were no more physical attacks for the moment. The few patrons left in the café were starting to stare and point, signaling their cue to get the hell out of Dodge, so she grabbed onto the young half-saiyan's hand tightly. "Look, I'm sorry, but you need to come with us for now. Just until we can explain what's going on and we get some of this mess sorted out." Something a bit like a smile quirked at her lips and she tilted her head slightly. "I promise you, we're not the bad guys. We came back to save you once before, remember?"
Gohan nodded slowly, wondering how he could forget? When she had first appeared to stop Cell from wrecking havoc it was like something from a nightmare – wonderful, but too confusing and frightening to be appreciated. He knew, though, more so than anyone else, just what they had saved and what they had prevented. The feeling of being lost, of the world suddenly being yanked out from under him and walking, topsy-turvy, through unfamiliar territory was coming back, but he owed them time for an explanation before jumping to conclusions. "All right but…" One hand reached up, rubbing the area below his throat where Trunks' burst of anger had violently snagged. "Look, I don't know what's going on here. Don't take your anger out on me."
Trunks nodded reluctantly, hands shoved into the pockets of dark jeans. "… I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way." It was the understatement of the century, but it was the best the younger teen was going to get.
"Okay, so as adorable as this is we should probably book ass now before one of the concerned citizens calls the police us on for beating up and kidnapping an unsuspecting youth." Gohan hesitated, feet planted firmly on the ground as she tugged on his hand – human strength wasn't comparable to that of a saiyans – but the thought of what would happen if his dad, Vegeta, or holy shit his mom found out that the police had to intervene made him suddenly break forward, jogging alongside the other two as they hurried away from the scene.
