Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or have any rights to it.


Eighteen gave a bored sigh as he blasted away another group of fleeing humans. "This is getting boring Seventeen. Let's get out of here. I'll bet all the people here are dead or gone."

"You know, you've been getting harder to please," replied Seventeen nonchalantly. "Fine, we'll go look for something else to amuse us."

As they turned to leave, a sixteen-year-old Trunks landed behind them. He was powered up as a super saiyan and ready for combat. "How about picking on someone your own size? Will that amuse you?"

Eighteen rolled her eyes at his immaturely spiteful tone. Well I'd better beat this nut job before Seventeen has a chance to kill him. "I'll deal with him Seventeen." Then she phased in front of him and sent him into a crumbling building with a right hook to the jaw.

The battle didn't last long, in fact, it ceased being a battle after Trunks burnt off all of his energy and became a beat down. Trunks proved to be as reckless as ever, when compared to Gohan. In the end, Eighteen had to step in and deliver a blow that would leave him alive, before Seventeen could blast him to death.

When Eighteen was done, she and her brother decided to leave. Even if Trunks survived, he wouldn't be much of a threat to them. As they flew towards their home in the south, Seventeen spotted a city, ripe for depopulating.

The cyborg smiled cruelly as he stared down at the people wandering through the streets without a clue. "Hey Eighteen, look, I found another city." His sister simply stared down at the city with an indifferent face. "Those people look like ants from up here. Want to squash them?"

"No, I've had enough for today," replied with a shrug and a fake smile. However as she turned to leave Seventeen grabbed her arm, when she turned to glare at him she saw a concerned expression on his face. "What, Seventeen?"

He placed a hand on her forehead despite the annoyed glare he was receiving. "You don't seem to be sick. So what's up, why are you so…out of character all of a sudden?"

She freed herself from his grip before removing his other hand from her forehead. "Mind your own business, besides, I'm not out of character. I just feel like doing more with my life than just killing people."

He gave her a wide-eyed stare. "You've never said anything like that before. Where's all this coming from?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Has someone been filling your head with ideas?"

"Nobody's been filling my head with ideas," replied Eighteen harshly. "I just came up with this on my own, call it a revelation or something. If we keep killing people at our current pace, soon there won't be anybody left to kill."

Seventeen gave out a relieved sigh. "You had me worried for a minute there. I could've sworn that you'd changed, but I guess you're just thinking about our future. You're right; it does make sense not to kill the humans too quickly. We've got to give them time to reproduce and make more humans."

"Right," replied Eighteen, rolling her eyes. "Well I'm off."

"Where are you going?"

"Shopping. Why? Do you want to come with me and help me carry my bags?" She couldn't help smirking at his shocked and somewhat offended expression.

"Never! I'd never do such a boring thing with you. No way, count me out."

"Fine, suit yourself," replied Eighteen before taking off. He's so easy to fool, she thought as she changed direction mid-flight, heading towards Gohan. She was relieved that Trunks had managed to live through the battle, because otherwise, Gohan wouldn't have forgiven her, not that he forgave her for what she had done so far.

She still couldn't get over why she was so worried about displeasing him. It couldn't be out of fear. Eighteen couldn't wrap her head around why someone could desperately try to avoid displeasing someone out of anything but fear. Had Gohan gained some sort of power over her?

When Eighteen arrived at the cave, she found Gohan sound asleep. He seemed to be sleeping in more often than he used to. Had he grown complacent with his current situation?

Instead of waking him up immediately, Eighteen noted how different he looked from the time she had brought him here. His skin was now ghostly pale, and his scars stood out in stark contrast as permanently dark marks. His hair had also grown down to shoulder-length, and he had some facial hair developing.

Eighteen didn't like this change in him. Being confined for so long had definitely made him less concerned with himself. She decided to fix that today. Smiling mischievously, Eighteen reached out and shook him gently; Gohan stirred, but didn't get up, so she had to shake him a little harder the next time to get him to sit up.

Covering his mouth as he yawned, Gohan gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, I've just been feeling drained lately." Gohan's eyes widened as Eighteen grabbed him by the ki-inhibiting collar around his neck and dragged him into the bathroom to force him to look at his reflection in the vanity.

"What happened to you?" She sounded like she was worried, though there was also a hint of frustration in her tone. "You look so unkempt…and unhealthy. What happened, I thought that I was providing you with meals and the bathroom was there to help you get cleaned up."

Gohan wanted to laugh at how wound up she was getting over him, but instead decided to pout. "I take a bath everyday, but I don't have a razor or scissors to cut my hair. It's not my fault that my hair is getting out of control." He thoroughly enjoyed watching her get wound up over something so trivial, though he knew that his energy had gone down over his period of confinement. Still, though, he found her growing concern for him to be quite amusing, though he didn't think it would last too long. Eighteen would probably only go so far out of her way to keep him safe.

"And what about that pale skin of yours? It's lost the healthy glow it used to have." Crossing her arms she raised an eyebrow. "I've been letting you eat your meals in privacy, was that a mistake? Are you trying to starve yourself because you don't want to see me anymore?"

"No, I think it's because I'm not getting any direct sunlight. Humans need sunlight to get their daily dose of vitamin D. It's no wonder that I'm not at top shape, and on top of that, I've never really done anything besides lying around here waiting for you to come around."

Eighteen couldn't help smiling at that. So he was waiting for me…how cute. "So what do you expect me to do about it? Should I let you go outside while I'm here?"

"That would be nice," replied Gohan. "Though I'm not going to lie, I still wish I could leave here. I just don't feel as threatened by you anymore."

Her grin broadened as she leaned in to unbuckle the chain from the ki-inhibiting collar around his neck. Better be cautious, even though he's only go one arm, he could still try to run away. Why is it that I don't want him to leave me, thought Eighteen begrudgingly. "Follow me," said Eighteen as she stood up straight and turned to leave.

Gohan wasn't in the mood to complain, though he had begun to question his own obedience to her. He wasn't a muscle-head who would remain spiteful just for its own sake, but why wasn't he at least trying to make her life a living hell? He could easily be the worst houseguest and make her want to kill him, but it was against his character to be rude. Sometimes, Gohan thought he was too nice for his own good.

He let out a happy sigh as he felt the fresh outside air. The bright sunlight forced him to squint briefly, but when his eyes adjusted, the scenery around him was not very encouraging. Some of the alpine forest remained, but most of it was gone along with North City, whose ruins were like a scar on the land.

She quickly picked up on his dampened mood. "Well you got your fresh air," said Eighteen. "So why are you still sad?"

"This place is so barren," replied Gohan, his gaze fixed on the scar that used to be North City. "It would be nice if we could replant the area."

"Wouldn't you rather rebuild the city?"

Gohan shook his head and smiled. "Everyone's gone. It's not as if they'll just come back if I manage to rebuild the infrastructure, and with your brother roaming the Earth, I doubt they'd attempt something that big." He let out a sigh. "Plants would really spruce the place up. I can tell that it's happening slowly. The forest is coming back, but we can easily speed this along."

She raised an eyebrow and stared at his serene expression, which held an underlying sadness about it. "What makes you think I'll be helping you? I only let you out, on a leash I might add, so that you'd look nicer."

Gohan shook his head and chuckled. "Sorry about that. I forgot that you're still not entirely on my side." He was amused by her sour expression. "After those acts of kindness towards me, I suppose I'm getting carried away." His expression became serious. "You're still a destroyer, aren't you?"

She gave him a disgruntled close-eyed sigh. "I never said I wouldn't help you." She turned away from him as a light blush appeared on her cheeks. "Come on, let's go look for some seeds."

Gohan was briefly confused, but quickly shook it off with a shrug and followed her. She always does this. First she acts tough to exercise her authority, but when I say something that implies that I don't like her, she responds by doing something nice, and then makes up an excuse to justify herself. I just can't figure her out.

"Hey Gohan, you'd better not try to run away," said Eighteen in order to break the silence and reassert her authority. "I'll catch you."

"Fine, I get it," replied Gohan before silence came over them again. They were walking slowly, and Gohan turned her head left and right, scanning the area for anything he recognized as the seed of a tree. Off course, he knew that Eighteen would probably find any seed before he would as she was leading the way, but she didn't recognize as many seed types as he did. It was one of the advantages of growing up in a rural home.

Eighteen spotted an acorn and bent down to pick it up before turning to Gohan. "I found one," she said blankly. There was an awkward silence, which annoyed her. "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"

"Congratulations…" replied Gohan awkwardly. It's just one acorn…what was I supposed to say? Oh well, I guess I should be grateful that she's even helping with this at all.

"You should know that I have no idea what to do with this," said Eighteen.

"Don't worry," replied Gohan. "I've planted many trees with my dad when I was a kid. I'll guide you through it. We shouldn't need to do any watering or maintenance though, the trees should be well adapted to growing here on their own."

"That's fine," replied Eighteen as she knelt to pick up a few more acorns. "So how many of these do you want to collect?"

Gohan chuckled nervously. "I actually didn't think this through." He noticed her stop to glare at him. Strange, I don't find that nearly as menacing anymore. I guess I really am used to her. "Sorry, but I didn't think you'd actually let me go through with this." He cupped his chin thoughtfully. "Let's see…our over all goal should be to help the forest fill in the space North City used to occupy. Instead of filling it up ourselves, we should established stands of trees space throughout the open space. They should naturally fill in the spaces between them."

"Numbers Gohan, I need numbers," replied Eighteen in an annoyed tone. "What's a ballpark estimate of how many…tree seeds we'll need?" She realized that she disliked being mal-informed on a relevant subject. Gardening was outside of her comfort zone. Why couldn't Gohan have asked for new clothes…I know a lot about that? Wait! Would I actually take him out to get him some new clothes? It's not as if I'd do something solely because he wanted me to.

"Hey Eighteen," said Gohan, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Maybe we should just stop at around twenty. We can always gather more later on, and eventually, the forest should start recovering on its own."

Eighteen shrugged casually. "Fine, twenty it is." She then noticed clouds beginning to form on the horizon. "Looks like we won't have to worry about watering them, but I don't want to stay out here too long and get my clothes wet."

"You're call," replied Gohan as they continued searching. Eventually they were able to gather around thirteen acorns before Eighteen decided that it was best for them to plant them and go inside. Gohan had no qualms about getting wet while gardening, but he knew that Eighteen didn't share his opinion. In fact, she didn't seem to like this activity at all, which made Gohan wonder. Is she really doing this for my sake? Has she actually started caring for someone other than her brother?

Following Gohan's instructions, Eighteen began planting the acorns in pits she dug in the ground. Getting her hands dirty was annoying, but she endured it. However, she noticed that the acorns were being planted a great distance away from each other, which seemed to go against her instincts.

Eighteen turned to him with a questioning look, taking a brief moment to watch him work with his one arm. She had to admit that it was impressive to be able to work with only one arm, while she was relying on both of hers. "Why are we planting them so far away?"

"These trees can get pretty big," replied Gohan, directing her attention to some fully-grown trees several yards away. "We should take that into account, otherwise they'll be crowding each other out when they get bigger."

"Oh…that makes sense," replied Eighteen. She was somewhat embarrassed that she hadn't been able to figure that out by herself. Turning to look at Gohan again, she saw him performing the tasks with ease, despite his handicap. He'd definitely gotten used to having one arm, and now, Eighteen felt somewhat guilty at using both her arms so liberally.

When he looked over to check on her progress, Gohan was amused to see her working with only one of her arms, keep the other one folded behind her back. Eighteen was able to plant the acorns with only one arm, but she was quite a bit clumsier that he was. "What are you doing?"

Eighteen let out a sigh before turning to face him. "How are you able to work with one arm? It's so…inconvenient. I can't imagine life without both my arms."

Gohan chuckled darkly. "Yeah, I used to think that as well. However, while I do still wish I had my other arm, I'm used to it. When you think about it, there are a lot of things a person could get used to. I was clumsy with this for a while before I finally got the hang of it. It's still a bit of an inconvenience."

"If you can get used to it, then so can I," replied Eighteen before turning back to her task. However, she would never tell him that it didn't feel right for her to be using both her arms, while he could only use one. As long as he worked with arm, she would do so as well.

It took them a full hour before they were finished, and it left them around half an hour to get back to the cave before the rain started. Once inside, Eighteen proceeded to fix the chain back on Gohan's collar. With the rain pouring outside, she knew that she'd be staying the night. It didn't matter much though, she didn't need to sleep, and she actually enjoyed Gohan's company.

Seventeen's going to have some questions tomorrow, thought Eighteen with a smile. Still, I can just make something up. "How about dinner Gohan?"

"Sure," replied Gohan.

"Alright, it'll be ready soon." Eighteen turned to kitchen where she began preparing Gohan's meal. He wasn't trying to engage her in a conversation, which gave her time to collect her thoughts. She could tell that Gohan affected her and that she didn't want to displease him.

Not that she would always bend to his whims, but she did have this desire to make him like her, or at least see him happy. That's why she let him outside, video taped Trunks' birthday and helped him replant part of the forest. She had also taken pains to make sure Trunks survived for Gohan's sake, and though she hated to admit it, she felt a sense of guilt whenever she watched him performing daily routines with only one arm. There had to be a reason behind it. She would never go this far for anyone else, besides her brother.

Could it be that I've fallen for him? To Eighteen, that would explain a lot, and the thought wasn't as detestable as she had previously assumed. A small smile graced her lips as she picked up his meal tray and carried it to him. So this must be how it feels, though Eighteen as she handed him the tray.

She didn't disturb him as he ate, being content to watch him eat. Gohan ate at a steady, yet rapid pace, a balance between his father and his more refined mother. It didn't take him long to finish and Eighteen quickly took his tray and came back moments later. When she came back there was a knife in her hands.

She pushed him into the bathroom and into a position where he was looking into the vanity with her standing behind him. "Hold still," said Eighteen and she infused the knife with ki. "I'm going to shave you."

Gohan complied, not wanting to get nicked. She was surprisingly skilled at this, in spite of the fact that she was relying on his reflection in the mirror to shave. The ki made sure that his skin wouldn't feel sore. It was a slow and tedious process, but thirty minutes later, she was satisfied with her work, and Gohan could breathe again.

"Wash your face," said Eighteen as she exited the bathroom. "I'll be staying over, because I don't want to get my clothes wet."

That last comment caused Gohan to sigh. Guess I won't get any peace from her tonight. A smile formed on his face. Well maybe she isn't so bad after all…as far as her personality is concerned. I might even be able to convince her to stop killing humans; she's smart enough to understand my logic.

When he re-entered the cell, Eighteen was reclining on the bed, at the wall's side, leaving him the side closest to the gate. He felt uneasy, lying down next to her, but he had little choice, and he knew that neither one of them would try anything.

"Hey Gohan, tell me about love."

The request caught him off guard, but it didn't show. Gohan never had time for a love life because of the androids. The love for his family and friends was all he had to go on when answering her.

"I guess it's basically the feeling that someone else's life has value to you, regardless of what they can or cannot provide to you. I really don't have much experience here, but what really seemed to separate love from other emotions was that it meant a person cared deeply for someone else, in spite of any flaws the other person had, and would often take that person's feelings into consideration before doing anything."

"That's all I need to know," replied Eighteen. "I guess it must be what drove you to challenge me and Seventeen, even when you knew you didn't stand a chance." Maybe I do feel it…

"That's right," replied Gohan. "I knew that if there was ever the slightest chance I could free them and everyone else from this nightmare, that any amount of injury would be worth it."

His comment made Eighteen think about his missing arm. "Was your arm worth it?"

"Yes…it was." They fell into an awkward silence. He did miss his arm, and if given the choice, he would get it back, but Trunks' life was at stake. Saving that boy had been his top priority, and Trunks had been helping even more people over the years while he had been trapped in this cave.

Eighteen couldn't help pitying him as she stared at his silent form. You've given so much, yet received so little. Is this what love, and honor are all about? Slowly, she began inching closer to him. He noticed her presence just as she cupped his chin and turned his head so he would look at her. He's so young, yet so scarred. She ran her hand over the large scar on his cheek, tracing its path up to his forehead.

He closed his eyes as her hand passed over his scar. When he opened them, she was staring down at him intensely. "Eighteen…what are you doing?" However, her only answer was to straddle him, causing him to stiffen up.

She smiled at his naïveté. He's probably never had any experience like this. Closing her eyes, she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. Pulling away, she noted that he was nervous. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Please trust me." He didn't reply, but she knew he wouldn't interfere.

After receiving another kiss he worked up enough nerve to speak. "What am I supposed to think?"

Eighteen took a deep breathe before speaking into her ear. "I'm going to be clear about this. I still don't see why those humans are so important to you. But I do know that you are important to me. Now rest."

Gohan relaxed somewhat as she continued to kiss him, and eventually, she stopped and he drifted off into sleep.


That may or may not have been a pleasant surprise at the end. With exams over, I'll hopefully be able to start updating faster. Anyway, the battle at the beginning was the same as the one in 'The History of Trunks' but the Time Machine is still a way off from completion, and Trunks probably spent over a month recovering from that battle.