A/N: And welcome to another installement of Crimson Shakugan: Rays of Light. Next chapter we'll focus on Kousagi, but for now let's backtrack a bit and get some exposition on why Hotaru showed up in Trunk's timeline two chapters ago. I know you guys are curious to find out what's going on with them.

Disclaimer: I do not feel like writing it right now.

Warnings: Exposition ahead.

Chapter 11

Memoirs of Death Part 1

March 6th, Age 784

7:00 a.m.

The mission of all Sailor Soldiers is as follows: protect and assist the one who holds the power to save the universe. At one time, that mission entailed protecting Sailor Moon a.k.a. Serena Tsukino, the one who would one day eliminate chaos and take her place as queen of the world. The mission also involved protecting those Serena loved which included not only us, her dear friends, but her husband Darien Chiba and Rini, her daughter.

For many years Serena, taking on the name of Neo Queen Serenity, shouldered the burdens of the entire world with the sort of grace and confidence she hadn't been able to muster when she was a teenager. Even when she became queen she was always escorted by a number of advisors and us, her friends and bodyguards. The kingdom of Crystal Tokyo flourished under her rule. At the same time, Rini took on her duties as princess, following behind her mother and father constantly until she got older. From then on she would periodically take long trips to the past. In one of those return trips is how Rini and I officially met, but that's a whole other story and quite frankly a complicated one.

"Hotaru, I can't thank you enough for helping out around here."

Blinking out of my reverie of memories, I spared a glance at the blue-haired woman beside me. "There's no need to thank me Ms. Briefs. I'm just repaying you and Trunks for taking me in like this."

"Oh nonsense! With those Androids wreaking havoc out there we have to stick together or we're all going to end up six feet under." She let out a soft sigh as the oven beeped. "But for the hundreth time Hotaru, please call me Bulma. Addressing me so formerly makes me sound old."

Chuckling I turned back to the can of biscuit dough I'd been previously opening. Folding my hands over it I popped it open. Kneading my fingers in it, I brought some of the dough out from the can and began to mold it into the muffin tin nearby. After filling it up I began to spoon in some pre-made mixture of scallions, Monterey jack cheese, salt, mayonnaise, chopped red bell pepper, a bit of chili powder, and a bit of minced garlic into the dough.

Bulma stared over at the muffin tin I was spooning the mixture in with curious blue eyes. "Gosh, you make it look so easy. Up until the Androids showed up, my cooking skills had been nonexistent. The best I could do was not burn a plate of scrambled eggs." Laughing again she crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the counter. "Even now I manage a victory in the kitchen if I make a decent looking omlete."

"Well, I'm not much of a cook either Ms. Briefs..."

"Bulma," she cut in.

"Right," I replied while quickly pulling an oven mit over my right hand. "Sorry about that. Anyways, I actually learned this recipe from a friend of mine a long time ago. She's an expert in the kitchen and this particular recipe is quick and easy. No hassle and most of the ingredients are things we already had on hand."

"It's a good thing that they'll be bite sized too," Bulma commented, watching me as I placed two muffin tin trays into the preheated oven. "When Trunks gets into training mode he hardly eats anything. I don't blame him for it, but when it comes to defeatig the androids, he's overly obsessive. He won't even take the time to rest properly. He worries me sometimes."

"I understand what you mean," I answered, thinking of Rini's younger sister Kousagi, "I have a friend who's similar."

Bulma smiled. "Sounds like you have a lot of friends. Do you think..." she trailed off for a moment, shaking her head. "Nevermind. I better get back to work on the time machine. If Trunks catches me out here he'll make a fuss."

"Would he really?" I asked, moving to the sink to wet a washcloth so I could clean the messy countertop.

"Of course," she replied, making her way to the garage, "but like any good mother, I know how to set my boy straight."

A small laugh escaped me as I cleaned the counter. The distant sound of the door closing echoed through the kitchen a few seconds later.

"Rini, Kousagi...I hope everything is alright back home," I thought, wringing out the washcloth over the sink before wetting it again to clean off the cooking utensils I'd used to make the filling.

Fourteen years ago, when Serena found out that she was pregnant with another child we were all excited at first. Rini was especially ecstatic, stating that she would make sure she was at every doctor's appointment to see the ultrasounds and everything else. However, two months into her pregnancy, the queen became gravely ill, to the point where she had to be placed on bed rest indefinitely. During that time, Setsuna and a woman none of us thought would ever appear in our lives again warned Serena, Darien, and Rini that this second child would not only bring about Serena's death but would lead the world to its demise thanks to the powers her child would come to yield shortly after birth.

Despite learning these things, Serena was determined to go through with the pregnancy even though half of the Sailor Scouts and her own husband were dead set against it. Rini, along with Ami, Rei, Mina, and myself were among her supporters, Lita, Haruka, and Michiru were on Darien's side, and Setsuna stayed on the fence, addressing the matter in the most objective way possible. Mostly she helped me give moral support to Rini, who was forced to watch Serena's condition worsen without the presence of her father. It was a very arduous time where few laughs and smiles were shared. Instead we shed tears.

As the news of Serena's condition spread throughout the world she had come to rule more than a decade earlier, the society around the kingdom began to slip into social unrest. Many were divided on the issue, unsure of whether their queen was doing the right thing by going through with the pregnancy. On the one hand, it was yet another testament to the queen's goodness that nearly all the civilians rallied behind. On the other, it was an omen in which the peaceful utopia that had ruled over them for so long was facing an uncertain future.

The king's mental state began to crumble during the last months of Serena's life. He became a recluse, hiding away from the public eye, his wife, and his daughter like they were all plagues seeking to destory him. On more than one occasion, Rei took the initiative to set him straight and get him back on track during Serena's greatest hour of need, but despite her best efforts (which included some vicious fire attacks) Darien, dubbed King Endymion by the people, would not leave from his chambers of the castle.

All the while, Rini was forced to prepare for a role she wasn't expecting to have for decades to come. At sixteen, she was mentally unprepared to face the death of her mother let alone the responsibility of maintaining the order of the entire planet. Her guardian angel and boyfrined, Helios, struggled to teach her the ways of modern diplomacy. He drilled her on law, the status of the global economy, the structure of the kingdom's military, and all sorts of other things that would take days to list. As her secondary advisor and best friend, I was tasked to stick with Rini through all of her tutoring, through each hospital visit, and some of the failed attempts to get her father to snap out of his depression before it was too late to say goodbye.

Nine months passed and Kousagi was born. Neo Queen Serentiy died at the same time, just as predicted.

Immediately after her death, Rini took a long trip to the past. She stayed there for months on end, leaving the world without a leader to follow. Thanks to this, public outcry erupted, which later turned to violence. Helios became a victim of that violence during Rini's time away. When she returned, she had to face both the death of her mother and Helios along with the responsibilities that came with being next in line for the throne and as a big sister to an innocent little girl who would slowly become the target of everyone's hatred.

I watched it all without saying much. Aside from offering words of comfort to Rini when she needed it, I stayed silent about the aura of death surrounding Serena, about the death that was coming to the civilians who were protesting the loudest about Kousagi's brith being an abomination leading to the return of chaos. There were countless attacks on the castle and on Kousagi during her childhood. I combatted them all with limited aide. The Sailor Scouts are now two seperate teams with similar yet completely different end goals.

Death comes to all in the end, but in the thirteen years since Kousagi's birth, the rate of those deaths has increased tremendously. There are two reasons for this. The first is because of rage and mistrust towards Kousagi for being unable to control her tremendous and destructive abilities and for simply existing at all. It's unfair treatment that I've known firsthand. Secondly, last year Kousagi forcibly enlisted herself in the army, taking over on the front lines against the rebels who wished harm to Rini. Though I know differently, in the eyes of the people, she is a ruthless killing machine.

Rini and Kousagi have had to cope with living without a mother and an emotionally distant father. Kousagi in particular has been through unspeakable traumas, having fought in the front lines of battle against ten thousand men on her own for about a year now and she's only thirteen. To protect Rini she's stained her hands in blood over and over, even placed forbidden seals on herself to weaken her powers so they wouldn't create earthquakes or tsunamis anymore. She trains constantly to maintain control over them, just like Trunks does.

"Beep, beep!"

My ears catch that distant beeping and instantly my movements cease. The beeping continues. I stare down at the small bowl in my hands, watching as the suds of soap eat away at the grime covering the edges of it. The shrill sound of my communicator continues.

"Duty calls," I thought with a sigh, inclining my gaze over my shoulder to stare at the device lying underneath my black cardigan on the kitchen table. As the beeping continues to sound, I silently march over to the table, picking up the communicator with one hand and my cardigan in the other. For a split second my eyes dart to the microwave. Eight minutes have passed since I put the shrimp puffs in the oven. They'll be done in twelve minutes. Enough time.

Silencing the device, I quickly shoved my arms into the sleeves of the cardigan and swiftly opened the door outside. The air was a little humid, but the cool steady winds made the humidity bearable. Once I had closed the door behind me, I flipped open my wristwatch communicator. The image was fuzzy. I could barely identify who it was.

"Setsuna?" I asked immediately, walking a little ways from the front doors of Capsule Corporation. "I wasn't expecting for you to check up on me so early in my mission. The point of this mission was to gather field data of this dimension right? I'm here to figure out whether Ami's hypothesis about this dimension affecting ours is feasible or not. Given the limited data she had, this mission was expected to take at least a year. I've only been here for three months..."

"Ho...taru..." the image completely disappeared for a second but then returned with a bit more clarity. "We have a crisis situation and your current mission is now null in void."

"What?" I questioned, my eyes widening in fear for Rini and Kousagi's safety. "What's wrong?"

Setsuna sighed. "Well...before I tell you the exact situation, you need to know that I've been keeping a secret from the rest of the scouts."

"What secret? What's going on Sailor Pluto?"

Another sigh escaped the guardian of time. "Well, just as I gave you a device to help you travel to the dimension you're in now, I gave Kousagi a similar device that allowed her to travel to the past as Rini did when she was young."

It took a few seconds for my mind to catch up to the news. "Setsuan-chan..." my mouth ceased to move for a moment. I had to collect my thoughts.

"I know," she cut in, noting my state of shock. "Kousagi believes that she's the cause of the war surrounding our kingdom. While it's true that her birth did begin this downward spiral, she can't be held responsible for any of it for the simple fact that all of it was out of her control. Even so...she's determined to go to the past and see Serena. She wants to change the past to make it so she's never born."

"Why would she..." I stopped mid-sentence. Setsuna had already explained why Kousagi would want to erase her own existence. "Does Rini know about any of this?"

"She's unaware for now, but it's only a matter of time now before she figures it out," Setsuna replied. "Even if she didn't, at this point there's no choice but to explain the entire situation to her. For now I'm avoiding her. She's been frantically searching the castle all day and all the while she's been screaming like a lunatic, demanding to know where Kousagi is. Telling her the details of the situation now would be counterproductive in the search effort."

"I understand the neccessity of keeping this from Rini right now," I told her, "but why tell me?"

"Because you may be the only one who can find her at this point."

Blinking I asked, "What do you mean? Can't you..."

"Let me explain first," Setsuna cut in again. "Yesterday around midnight, I tried to prevent Kousagi from taking her routine trip. As we both know, she leaves the castle for twenty-four hours for one day each month. On this particular night, I made a strong attempt to stop Kousagi from going because earlier that day I had sensed that someone was going to be traveling through timeline at the same time."

My eyes widened at her words. "Oh no...Trunks..."

"Who?"

Letting out a small breath of exasperation I raised my hand to my forehead, feeling a headache settiling above the bridge of my nose. "Trunks...he's the boy in this dimension I told you about two weeks after I arrived, remember? He and his mother concocted a plan to go to the past so he could warn his father and friends about two Androids that were going to kill them and turn the present world I'm in now into a living nightmare. I didn't see the need to interfere because I was only supposed to be gathering data, but if I had known about Kousagi's trips beforehand..."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I am," I answered, my heart pounding in response to the epiphany I was having. "Trunks left in his mother's time machine yesterday, but he told her that the trip failed because of a distortion in the timeline. It's obvious to me now why there was a distortion. The timeline is already unstable with just one person traveling through it, but two?"

Setsuna nodded, the screen of the communicator still buzzing with slight snow. "If that's the case Hotaru, then the time warp either sent her to where you are now or to the past this Trunks boy was attempting to reach."

There was another possibility Setsuna wasn't saying, the possibility that Kousagi could simply be lost in between timelines and dimensions, unable to escape at all in which case we only have a small window of time to save her before she dies inside of the time warp.

After a few minutes of silence between us, Setsuna asked, "Have you sensed her at all?"

"Not in this area," I answered while letting out a long sigh. "In order to be sure, I have to travel around and look for her. Still, Setsuna-chan, could you not locate Kousagi yourself? That would make things easier. You are the guardian of time and space after all."

Setsuna let out a sigh of her own. "Believe me, I've tried, but my powers have been acting up ever since Kousagi left. Today I could barely see the timelines or dimensions clearly. Luckily for us this inter-dimensional communicator still works. It's what enabled me to contact you, but the connection won't last. It's unlikely that I'll be able to contact you again after this and vice versa."

I stayed silent for a long time, my gaze shifting to the houses and buildings of the city falling apart around Capsule Corporation.

"I can't locate Kousagi at all Saturn," Setsuna continued. "If she still had her time travel pen, I could pinpoint what dimension or time she ended up in. I can't get a read on it which means it must have been destroyed. The state of my powers doesn't help matters because I'm unable to go through the gates of time to find her myself."

With each word Setsuna spoke, my stomach twisted in knots alerting me of the potential danger this situation could case. If only I had known about this before...I should have known about this before. I could have told Rini and she could have talked Kousagi out of taking these trips to the past to prevent her existence. The state of Crystal Tokyo is not her fault. There's so much more to it, things she doesn't know, things that all of us have done to shift our peaceful world into one where only hatred can thrive.

"I'll start searching for her as soon as I can," I stated, forcing myself to talk in a neutral tone. "However, if she isn't in this timeline and is stuck in the past..." I trailed off, unable to say it.

"Go on," she pressed.

Once more I shifted my gaze to the desolate city surrounding me. My thoughts drifted to Crystal Tokyo, how the city surrounding the palace was slowly turning into a reflection of this place.

Ami was right. This dimension is linked to ours somehow.

"Because of the earlier distortion in the timeline," I began, speaking far more calmly than I felt inside, "the time machine Trunks was piloting won't be fixed for a whole month. If I could, I would travel to the past of this world myself, but this pen you gave me can only jump from this dimension to ours..."

"I'm well aware of that!"

My body reacted involuntarily to the intensity of Setsuna's voice, causing me to flinch. No sound escaped my lips, yet Setsuna still noticed the shift in my posture.

"Forgive me Hotaru-san," the older woman relented, hanging her head. "I have no right to take out my frustration on you. Nevertheless, Kousagi being gone for more than twenty-four hours is already proving difficult to handle. Telling the queen that her sister has disappeared without a trace and that it'll be a month or more before we can find her..." Setsuna trailed off for a moment, her eyes widening as another thought struck her.

"So, she's finally seeing the big picture, the real problem in Kousagi's disapperance."

Setsuna frowned deeply. "The rebel army will strike if they notice the weakened state of our military force."

"How long until that happens?" I asked.

"A week, two at the most."

I nodded. "For the sake of the kingdom I hope she ended up here but if not...Setsuna-chan I wish you would have said something to me about Kousagi's trips before this could happen. Rini and I could have prevented this. We could have told Kousagi everything."

"I apologize," Setsuna muttered, her magenta gaze reflecting how weary she was from the stress plauging her mind. "My incompetence is what caused this."

Silence filled the air between us. There was no point in arguing with her on that, even though I hated the fact that she was calling herself incompetent. My feelings don't matter in this though, do they? At the end of the day, I still have one mission and one mission only.

Protect the rulers and kingdom of Crystal Tokyo at all costs.

"I have to go now," I finally answered. "I'll bring Kousagi back to Crystal Tokyo when I find her. If you can, try to keep me posted on what's happening there."

"Understood. I'm counting on you Hotaru."

My fingers pressed against the "off" button as soon as Setsuna finished speaking. Once the screen was black I shut the lid and placed the device in my jeans pocket. Eleven minutes have passed.

A gust of wind blows, chilling me despite the humidity thickenning the air. Turning back toward the entrance, I attempt sucking in a deep breath but it does no good. The air is too thick, suffocating.

I have to leave quickly.

A minute later I'm standing in the kitchen again, gently removing the muffin tins from the oven with covered hands. I set the tins on the clean counter and inspect the bite-sized biscuits to make sure they were fully cooked.

"Looks good," I muttered, moving to the small kitchen island behind me to get a fork from out of the drawer.

"Smells good too."

"Aaaah!" I shriek, dropping the fork on the countertop as my eyes dart to the stairs nearby. Trunks is standing near the bottom, smirking slightly at my surprise.

"Did I really startle you?" Trunks asked, clearly in better spirits. He slowly walked into the kitchen. "That's never happened before."

A blush rose on my face when I noted the state of his attire. He was only wearing that sleeveless black shirt he always wears, grey sweat-pants ripped at the knee on the right pant-leg with frayed edges on the left, his usual yellow boots, and a white towel over his shoulder, which he was still using to wipe sweat away from his brow.

Shaking my head, I pick up the fork and turn back to the shrimp puffs, "Only a little bit."

He chuckled a bit then sat down at the kitchen table. "Is Mom in the lab?"

"She is," I answered while carefully using the fork to move the shrimp puffs from the pan to a plate, "so I've been tasked with the cooking this morning."

"I wonder what new concoction you'll make me try today," Trunks teased.

"Just a recipe a friend taught me a long time ago," I told him, still transferring the puffs from the tin to the plates.

"How many did you make?"

"I only had enough ingredients for a dozen."

"So four for each of us."

"Actually, six each. For you and your mother," I thought, smiling sadly. "Yeah, four for each of us. How many do you want now?"

"Two should be good for now," he replied. "I have to get back to my training soon."

"You never stop do you," I answered, placing his two shrimp puffs on a saucer before turning to face him. We locked gazes instantly, causing me to jump a bit. He wasn't frowning at me or anything. His expression was more like a contemplative stare.

I moved to my left. His gaze followed my movements. I moved to the right. His gaze followed again.

Uncomfortable with him staring at me like that I finally asked, "Is there something you want to say to me?" Walking forward I placed the plate in front of him.

He didn't answer at first, instead choosing to pick up the biscuit and take a moderately sized bite. For a second I was worried that it was still too hot to be consumed, but he didn't say anything about it. Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I watched him chew the food with that same contemplative look on his face as before, only this time he had chosen to stare up at the ceiling to avoid my stare.

Raising an eyebrow I watched him swallow. "So?"

"It's delicious."

"Not what I was referring to Trunks," I stated.

"Ummm, thank you?"

"You're welcome, but that's not what I was talking about either."

He took another bite of the food, purposely avoiding my question from earlier. I waited.

When he was finished he finally muttered, "Hotaru, earlier I...are you alright?"

I blinked in confusion. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just...you just seemed...off."

"Off?"

"Yeah, I don't really know how else to say it," Trunks explained, looking away from me. "But I could just sense it, you know."

I let out a small sigh. "I keep forgetting that you're half Saiyan. You're more intuned to the rise and fall of energy around you."

Trunks' gaze snapped to me. "Hotaru..."

I shook my head, cutting him off before he could continue. "Trunks, I'm fine. I just have some things on my mind is all." Turning my back on him to go back to the main kitchen area, I added, "It's nothing important."

That added bit was a lie, but a neccessary one to keep Trunks from finding out the course of action I needed to take in order to fulfil my duty. After all, as far as he knows, I'm just a normal human girl with a little knowledge of ki and what not thanks to the time I've spent with him and Bulma.

If he were to know the history of my past...he would understand that normal isn't a word in my vocabulary.

"Would you like coffee?"

He didn't answer.

I turned away from the coffee machine. "Trunks?"

He had that cotemplative expression again, but this time he was decidedly frowning at me.

"Hotaru, we haven't known each other for long..." he trailed off for a moment, shifting his gaze so it would lock with mine again, "but I want you to know that you can talk to me...about anything."

I closed my eyes. "No, I can't Trunks."

"Friends share each other's burdens, right?" Trunks asked. "My mentor Gohan used to always tell me that. Hotaru, you've seen me at my worst. You...you..."

He was struggling for the right thing to say, but words were unncecessary. I understood.

Smiling softly, I opened my eyes and turned away again, pouring a cup of coffee for him. "You want to repay me? Is that it?"

"I..." Trunks trailed off for a second before saying, "I don't know. I guess that's part of it."

With gentle hands I set the mug of coffee in front of his plate. "Trunks, you don't owe me anything." Leaning over him, I placed one of my hands on his shoulder. His gaze met mine once more.

"You saved my life. I'm the one that owes you..."

Trailing off I closed my eyes and pressed my lips against his cheek. He inhaled sharply at the contact, but I pulled away long before he could register what I'd done in his mind.

For all I know, this could be goodbye, so...

"Thank you for caring about me Trunks," I told him, keeping my gaze away from his. "I appreciate it. Truly I do."

"Hotaru I..."

"You should probably get back to your training now," I interrupted, going back to the kitchen. "I can't clean if I'm distracted."

He didn't leave right away, choosing to eat his breakfast and drink his coffee in silence as I continued to clean. A few minutes later he was gone.

"You're a good person Trunks," I thought, setting the empty muffin tin in the sink filled with hot water to soak. "I hope you succeed in finding the secret to destorying those Androids out there."

All that's left now is to prepare for the journey ahead of me. Still for that...I'll have to talk to Bulma about supplies and about keeping this a secret from Trunks. I hope I can convince her, otherwise he might follow me and get himself killed.

Because I'm certain that at some point, I'll run into 17 and 18 while I'm gone.

In the labratory

"What!?"

A bit impusively, I slap both my hands over Bulma's mouth while glancing to the doorway a the top of the metal steps. "Please, not so loud." Once certain that no one was coming to the lab, I released her. "I don't want Trunks to hear you."

Bulma immediately placed her hands on her hips. "How did you expect me to react to a request like that? Hotaru, going out there is a suicide mission..."

"I hate to interrupt you Ms. Breifs..."

"Bulma," she corrected.

I let out a sigh, "Yes of course. Anyway, Bulma, I realize how dangerous this is and wouldn't ask you to assist me without a good reason."

"And what reason would that be?" Bulma questioned, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "You mentioned you had to look for someone?"

"There's no way I can tell her the truth," I thought, fixing my gaze on the floor for a few seconds, "thing is...I'm not sure if I have a good lie to offer."

Bulma's narrowing gaze alerted me that I was beginning to try her paitence. "Well?"

"My best friend is missing," I offered, deciding that giving her a piece of the truth was better than outright lying. "She called me earlier, asking for help."

"Then perhaps Trunks should go with you," Bulma offered, "There's no need to go off by yourself with the Androids wreaking havoc. To be honest, I don't like the idea of either of you going out there, but if you're determined to go..."

Shaking my head, I interrupted, stating, "I couldn't ask him to do that for me, especially not now when he's riled up. You know better than anyone how he gets when he's like that. If we ran into the Androids out there..."

Bulma held up her hand to stop me. "You don't need to say anymore. I understand what you're saying. Still, are you sure that you must go...especially on your own?"

"Yes."

The older woman turned away from me, dropping her arms to her sides. "I really don't like the sound of this. How are you going to defend yourself against the Androids if they spot you?"

"Trunks taught me a few moves." It didn't feel good t lie to someone who had opened up their home to me, but it had to be done. The last thing I want is for Trunks to get hurt because of me...that already happened once before.

On the night the two of us met...I...

Bulma started speaking before I could begin to reminisce. "I can give you a pack of capsule vehicles and a couple of bombs, but that's the best I can offer."

"That'll be more than enough," I thought, smiling as she pushed aside some things on her work table. "Thank you and please don't mention any of this to Trunks. If he asks where I've gone, just tell him that..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say. Trunks is no fool. He won't fall for just anything.

"I won't mention anything about your dilemma," Bulma answered, "but I'm not going to lie to my son either. If he asks me where you've gone, I'll tell him the truth."

For a few seconds I panicked. "Which is?"

Bulma grinned cheerily as she turned to face me, "That I don't know. After all, you never said where you were going and I'm not going to ask." With a small sigh she placed a small white case in my hands. "Here. Be sure to use them wisely."

With a widenning smile of my own, I gently folded my fingers over the small case. "I will. Thank you. Someday soon, I'll find a way to return the kindness you've shown me."

"You don't have to pay me back at all," Bulma replied, stepping forward. In the next second she was wrapping her arms around me. "You just need to come back safely so my son's heart doesn't break. He'll never admit it, but I'm pretty sure he has a massive crush on you."

A blush sprang to my cheeks. "Ms. Briefs, I highly doubt..."

Bulma pulled back, a stern glare in her blue eyes. "Are you saying that I don't know my own son?" Her grip gradually tightened on my shoulders.

"Um...no of course not...I'd never..."

"Good," she cut in, her cheerful demeanor returning. "Now, hurry up and get out of here before Trunks comes downstairs for lunch. Knowing him, he'll be wrapping up his morning training any minute."

Her words caused my good-natured smile to falter as I remembered the task I was facing. This alternate dimension is a large one, filled with many cities just on this planet. With the knowledge I've gained from Bulma and Trunks, there are many other planets, inhabited by all sorts of creatures.

Bulma once gave me an account of the Saiyan race, the race Trunks is connected to through his deceased father...contrary to what Trunks knows; the Saiyans weren't typically good guys and the tyrant that destroyed most of them was very powerful, certainly more powerful than I am. The Androids alone have already proved difficult for me to handle by myself.

Kousagi would be able to manage...but only with her full powers in tact.

"The seals..." I muttered, forgetting momentarilly that Bulma was still in the room with me. Almost immediately she questioned me, but I barely heard her and halfheartedly waved in her general direction without casting another glance at her. My quiet footfalls echoed through the large room as I came to the small side door that led outside. Bulma called out to me again, but I didn't answer her. There can't be anymore distractions from the mission. The bonds I've made here have to be severed...for good.

"I won't see them again," I thought, opening the small case of capsules. Withdrawing a random one, I pushed the trigger down and tossed it. A loud popping sound followed by a large puff of smoke filtered through the humid air. Looking up, I noted the darkenning clouds. It's going to rain soon.

Looking back down, I noted a moderately sized motorbike. Not good for storm weather, but it'll have to do for now.

There was a small helmet on the seat of the bike. With quick movements I picked up the helmet and attempted to get it on my head, but after a few seconds it was obvious that it wasn't going to fit. Tossing it aside on the ground, I threw my left leg over the seat and sucked in a small breath. Motorcycles and I don't have a good history together, but I do know how to maneuver one moderately well thanks to Haruka-san.

Thinking of Haruka almost made me hesitate a bit as I moved my fingers to the key already in the ignition. Turning it caused the motorbike to roar loudly. Trunks will have definitely heard that, but hopefully Bulma can deter him from trying to follow me.

"Come on," I breathed, gripping the handlebars. The machine made another loud roarring sound, then started to move across the gritty pavement of the old driveway. Without a glance back at Capsule Corporation I manuevered the bike to the awaiting road. I'll search through the remians of West City first, then head to Gingertown. It's overly optimistic to think that Kousagi would be anywhere close by, but at this point it's all I can hope for. Kousagi being lost in the time Trunks had hoped to reach or lost in the timeline between dimensions would be a disaster for Crystal Tokyo...for Rini...

"Please, Kousagi. Please be somewhere close."

A/N: And that's the chapter. Very Hotaru centric and I'm honestly not sure if I did a good job with this one, but I gave it my best. Stay tuned. There's going to be more exposition coming soon, mainly about how Hotaru met Trunks and what not, but first, we have to get back to Kousagi's situation and how she and the other characters are going to deal with it. I'm working on an update schedule, so hopefully updates will be faster in the future. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed. Seriously, I did not expect for such an awesome response to this particular work and I am really grateful. Special thanks to Princesa De La Luna for recommending this to so many people and for helping me in the writing process. You are fantastic!