God, I just can't fucking quit this fic! I love it so much and I love the responses I've been getting from yall, thank you so much! Only one thing that bothers me; to the couple of guests I've had post impatiently, wanting them to mate right away? It's slow burn. You want instant gratification, I've got 54 other stories you're more than welcome to peruse for smut. We'll get to it eventually in this story, but remember that the journey can be just as awesome as the destination!

"Happy birthday," Usagi whispered several moments after waking and finding him watching her with deep worry in his eyes, managing a weak smile for his benefit when he frowned slightly, clearly wondering if it actually was his birthday. "It is… I think, anyway. How long have I been out?" Judging by how dry her throat was, it was awhile, but not insanely long, right? Judging by his expression, too long.

"You've been unconscious for nearly three days," he said as calmly as possible, but the trembling in his voice gave him away as well as the same subtle tremor in the fingers that were running through her hair. "I… I thought…"

"Sorry," Usagi replied hoarsely, "I know I couldn't help it, but sorry all the same." Trying to swallow, she only wound up coughing and gagging, but Trunks was there with a cup of water. It was stale, as if he'd been sitting there and waiting with it in hand the whole entire time she'd been out, but Usagi had never tasted anything finer in her life as he propped her up against him and held it to her lips, slowly tipping it back, his hand controlling the flow so she wouldn't choke in her desperation to drink it all at once.

"Slowly," he breathed. "Slow, Usa. That's it, good girl. Now lay back down," he ordered once she was through drinking, his voice and hands still shaking as he eased her back onto the bed.

"Trunks… what's wrong?" She was awake now, so why did he look like he was going to cry? What was wrong with him?

When a few tears leaked from his eyes and he wiped at them quickly, sniffling softly, Usagi's heart ached for him and she pulled him down to her, holding him tightly as he wormed his way beneath the furs and he accepted the comfort she freely offered him. "I won't leave you," she whispered, guessing at what was wrong by utilizing the bond. There was so much relief and affection there that it was overwhelming, and beneath it, a lingering fear that bordered on raw terror. "I need you like you need me, Trunks. Trust me, I'm not going anywhere, ok?"

"I… I trust you," he choked out, unaware and uncaring of how his face was pillowed on a soft, warm breast. There was absolutely nothing sexual about the embrace, it was just comfort. Soothing, wonderful comfort, and her light was filling him, calming him, assuring him that she was there and was never going anywhere no matter what—"Stop," he croaked, clinging to her tightly. "Usa, stop, don't use your light, you're too weak!"

She wasn't too weak to use the small amount of power she was drawing on from the ginzuishou, but his fresh dread stopped her and she didn't argue with him, choosing to simply hold him instead, breaking through the sound of his continued, quiet crying with a soft, cooing song her mother always sang her as a child.

Trunks couldn't understand the words because it was in Lunarian and Usagi's voice was still dry and slightly off-key, but the fact that it was her voice was the most relaxing, soothing thing he'd ever heard in his life—even more soothing than his own mother's voice. "Usa m'yo," he whispered, forgetting himself momentarily as his eyes slipped shut and he drowned in the scent and sound of her, very real and very much alive.

It wasn't until nearly an hour later that Usagi realized he'd gone limp some time ago, and when she withdrew to check on him she found him dead to the world. No wonder, either, the bags under his eyes could have been used for shopping, and his face looked a little thin even with a thick beard growing in, like he'd been forgetting to eat. "Three days," she sighed as she kissed his forehead, then slipped out of the bed to answer nature's call.

She'd noticed a bad smell the moment she'd risen from the bed and found it behind the bathroom curtain, grimacing at first, then turning bright red in mortification as she realized what she was seeing. "Oh… gods bless him," she finally managed once she'd gotten over her embarrassment and had popped all the dirty blankets and towels into her subspace.

Trunks had taken care of her as she'd slept, and Usagi was suddenly very glad that all of the clean linens in her subspace had been piled in a corner; if not, she would have been sleeping in nothing but the fur by the time she'd woken. "At least my period didn't start, too," she mused, still embarrassed as she thought of Trunks needing to clean her up every time she'd soiled the linens, wondering just what had been going through his head as he'd attended to her basest needs. "I need a bath just thinking about that," she muttered, "and I might as well let poor Trunks get some sleep while I wash all the linens, too."

She pondered sticking around until he woke, but something told her that it was afternoon and she didn't have a lot of light left, so Usagi kissed his forehead after she was dressed and smoothed back his hair, then scribbled a quick note as an afterthought and left it on her pillow.

After the battle with the wer'kha she wasn't worried about getting attacked, and the moon princess strolled confidently to the lake, cringing at how cold the water was when she reached it and vaguely recalling a deliciously hot bath just before she'd passed out. "I should have told him to feed me first," she realized aloud, knowing that to be the real reason she'd been unconscious for so long. With food, she might have only slept a day, but without it, it took a lot longer for her body to recuperate from the strain she'd put it through by tapping out all of the crystal's power so quickly. "I'd better eat something once these linens are clean, too," she decided as she began to wash them with some soap in her subspace, letting the filth wash out and into the lake, musing that she was very glad that they'd started drinking only from the end of the creek that fed into the place where they bathed and did their washing.

It was nearly dark by the time she was finished, but Usagi wasn't about to be denied her bath, which was also the fastest she'd ever taken, scrubbing rapidly in the ice cold water, her breath getting sucked right out of her lungs the moment it hit her sex, then her breasts. "Oh gods, that's so fudging COLD!" She yelped after dunking under the surface to wet her hair, for once wishing that it was so much shorter so she wouldn't have to spend forever washing it. The sooner she was clean, the sooner she could get the hell out of the frigid water that would have had her balls in her stomach had she been a man.

After a lot of shivering and more shrieking than she'd ever done in her life, Usagi stumbled to the shore and dried hurriedly in a towel, dancing and jumping between feet to keep her blood flowing even after she'd pulled on her clothes and then her hefty fur coat for the first time. She noticed then that she could smell snow, the scent of it unmistakable, and as she looked to the west and the sunset, she realized that there were heavy-looking and dark gray. "Oh gods… oh no," she breathed. They had enough food to get them through for sure, but did they have enough wood!?

That thought got her moving, and she put everything in the subspace before sprinting for the house, only to come to a screeching halt and smile at the sight of huge piles of logs beneath the house's shadow, neatly stacked against the trees that supported their home. Trunks hadn't wasted his time while she'd been dead to the world, apparently, and as Usagi climbed the ladder she decided that she would need to make up for her lack of productivity.

She started by cooking and eating a full meal, making extra for Trunks in case he woke, smiling brightly when she found one of four cakes still tucked away in her subspace. Usagi might have been late for his birthday, but she had every plan of celebrating it with him when he woke, and that including the matching armbands she'd made to go with his necklace, which she sat on her pillow in place of her note.

In the middle of her meal, it dawned on Usagi just why Trunks was so much thinner than when she'd fallen asleep, and her mouth hung open in shock at their total lack of foresight.

She had all the food. All of it. Every last bit of food had been tucked in her subspace to keep it fresh, and Usagi was appalled at how very, very stupid they'd been. "He could have starved to death," she whispered in horror, immediately leaving her meal in favor of unloading several huge hunks of raw meat, cutting them and setting them on to cook.

It was enough for two days, and Usagi decided that they could eat whatever she cooked in advance, and she would cook some to replace the backup supply for Trunks just in case. And when he woke, they could go through her subspace and figure out what could be left out of it and wouldn't go bad as quickly as the meat or the cookies and sandwiches she had.

Her next thought went to vegetables as the sandwiches crossed her mind, and Usagi sighed in relief to find her plants alright. A little wilted, yes, but nothing her light didn't fix in a jiffy as she poured some of it over them with a healthy amount of water.

Usagi felt drained after her revelation about the food and finished her meal after washing her hands in a bowl of water, taking breaks between bites to tend to the steaks on the fire, then checking on Trunks once it was all finished. "Poor thing," she sighed, running her fingers through his lank hair, noting that he hadn't bathed in at least two days. Other than to make sure they had enough wood to weather the snowstorm coming, he probably hadn't left her side.

He must have been so bored. What in the world had he done, cooped up in the house for so long? Her answer to that came as she looked around, and she wondered how in the hell she'd missed the extra white fur in the corner, wadded up in a massive ball that took up quite a bit of room. What was wrapped in it…?

Curiosity always got the better of the moon princess, but when she peeked inside of what was revealed to be a giant makeshift sack. And it was filled with… "feathers?" She mumbled in confusion. "Heh… guess I'll find out when he wakes up, but where in the hell did he get so many of them? Gods, that's a lot of dead birds… unless he got them from She?"

Doubtful, but she wouldn't have an answer until he woke, so she decided to just let it be and busied herself with tidying up and lighting scented candles to get the lingering scent of nastiness out of the bathroom area, then sitting down on her side of the bed to work on sewing Trunks some new pants.

She was just finishing them when he stirred awake, and when he opened his eyes in the dim firelight, she smiled down at him gently, stroking his hair out of his face and tracing his jawline with her fingertips. "Hey," she whispered tenderly, wiping at a tear when it fell, then another and another.

"I thought it was a dream," he breathed. "I… I thought I'd dreamed you woke."

"No, honey," Usagi replied. The word had come out of her mouth without a thought, but rather than try and take it back, she thought that it sounded good and just smiled, only to choke for air when he suddenly leapt to his knees and dove into her arms, hugging her so forcefully that it knocked the wind out of her. "Holy… Trunks," she choked out, her voice strangled. "Lemme breathe!"

"Oh gods, I'm sorry!" He babbled out as he withdrew, his hands resting on her sides as he just looked at her in happy disbelief, trying to get a grip on the flood of jumbled emotions that he felt. "You're ok, Usa?" He asked after a minute.

"I'm a little tired, but I've eaten, so yeah," she giggled, trying to make light of everything so he'd lose the haunted, scared look in his eyes. "Come on, Trunks, I made extra for you. It's cold, but I figured you could use your ki to heat it up, right? You look like you haven't eaten in days, honey," she added, her voice full of concern for him as she took in just how haggard he still looked even after a solid seven hours of sleep.

"I haven't," he admitted. "I just… I wasn't hungry. I even gave all the meat from the birds I killed to She." He was hungry now, though, and Trunks gratefully took a platter from Usagi, accepting the second and third steak she heaped on the pile after she'd looked him up and down and had obviously decided that he needed more.

"So that's where all the feathers came from," Usagi said once he was scarfing down the meat with that typical Saiyan single-minded intensity. "What'd you want feathers for?"

"The bed," Trunks said shortly. "There's more in the bathroom, too, I tucked them away from—oh shit," he said suddenly, stopping himself and blushing hotly, rising to his feet to go behind the curtain, sighing heavily at the lack of dirty linens. "Usa, I'm sorry. I'd meant to wash them, but I was afraid to leave you for too long and—"

"Trunks, it's alright," she replied easily. "You took care of me and that's so much more than I would have ever asked of you. Thank you… and I'm sorry that you had to do that. That must have been hard."

"Usa… I…"

The Lunarian waited patiently and quietly for him to say whatever it was he wanted to say, sensing through the bond that it was important, that it was something that had weighed on his mind the entire time she'd been out. Whatever it was, he was definitely troubled by it, his jaw flexing and his cheek twitching as he tried to find the right words.

"The bond," he finally answered in a whoosh of air. "I think… I think it might be survival instincts, too, since you're a woman and I'm a man… but I…"

Hiding her disappointment, Usagi swallowed hard and nodded slowly. "It's alright, Trunks. We need to let the mark heal, I know… and I understand."

That hadn't been what he was going to say at all, but Trunks caved to his own stubbornness, swallowing the confession he'd been about to utter in the wake of her finally regaining consciousness. Usagi would never, ever know how distraught he'd been the last three days, how ready to end it all he'd been if she'd died, and how he'd told himself a million times that if she was awake he'd kiss her and admit his growing feelings for her. But now… she wanted to let the mark heal, and if his beast hadn't still been gone he would have likely been usurping control and pinning her to the furs to mate her. His beast was on vacation for a few more hours, though, and Trunks just nodded in agreement, unwilling to argue with her about anything at all after three days of thinking that he was going to lose her. "If that's what you want, Usa."

Usagi didn't miss his slightly deflated tone and lifted a questioning eyebrow as he sat back down to eat, only not with the same zeal as before. He seemed subdued now, cowed and submissive, and that was not the Trunks she knew and lov—er, not that word. Not like that kind of love… not yet, at least. "Trunks? What do you want?"

"I… I don't know," he muttered into his food. "It's the bond, I know that. I just… … … I want whatever you want, Usagi," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair in frustration, noting how oily it was, as well as how long his beard was getting. "And a bath… and a shave." Desperately needing a change of subject, he headed towards the hatch. "You got a clean towel in there, Usa? Maybe a razor?" She nodded quickly, but when she hesitated with her hand in her subspace and gnawed on her lower lip, Trunks knew that something was definitely bothering her about his request. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"I… it's just… I only have five razors left," she confessed in a rush, coloring brightly at the selfishness of it all. "Gods, I'm horrible," she sighed as she withdrew one, still capped and brand new, holding it out with her head down in shame. "Happy birthday… but I don't want to hear any jokes about my hairy blonde legs and armpits when I run out of stuff to shave with, ok?"

"You won't have to," Trunks chuckled. "Ten credits says that you never learned how to clean these properly when you're done shaving. I can make one of these last me a couple of months if it's properly cleaned and dried when I'm through with it. I'll show you next time we take a bath together," he promised, flashing her the patented royal grin when she handed over a towel and a bottle of soap and she beamed happily at the offer.

Shooting through the early morning sky towards the lake, Trunks managed to make it into the water and heat it some before falling to his knees, trembling there as he tried not to have some kind of nervous breakdown. "What does she want from me?" He finally asked himself once he could control his shaking hands long enough to lather himself up. "Does… does she really, actually want me? Is that why she asked what I wanted? Or am I just reading too much into it? Fuck, why can't this be easier!?" he wailed at the rising sun, actually missing his beast's presence for the first time in his life. "Why can't she just be Saiyan!? Hell, at this point I'd happily be fully Solarian just so I wouldn't have to worry about my father trying to kill her!"

Now that he was away from Usagi and out of earshot, trunks took full advantage of his privacy and ranted and raved as he scrubbed himself meticulously, unaware that he wanted to look and smell good for her on a subconscious level, even paying attention to cleaning his fingernails with the knife that had been strapped to his pants and making a mental note to ask Usagi for a file later on. And once his entire rant was done about how he wanted her but couldn't possibly act on it, he flopped back into the hot water and remembered the last time he'd been in the lake.

With her.

Naked.

Lying on his chest so that she wouldn't drown, both of them ignoring his arousal as it had pressed enticingly against her belly, aching for her to slide up and straddle him. "Oh, gods damn it all to hell," Trunks huffed in annoyance when he felt himself instantly harden at the memory. "Kio, are you lurking? You seriously have to be for me to start getting a boner when I'm thinking about how weak and helpless she was."

No response came, and rolling his eyes, Trunks started to swim to shore, only to stop and realize that he was alone. Totally and utterly alone. Absolute privacy. Hell, he couldn't even smell a wer'kha anywhere nearby. Licking his lips as he let the naughty thoughts take over again and he slid back into deeper water, Trunks took himself in hand and contemplated his odds of getting caught in the act. "Slim to none," he finally decided. "And besides, it'll probably do wonders for my mood and make it a hell of a lot easier to keep my hands to myself."

############################################

Unbeknownst to either of them, Queen Serenity and her daughter woke at the exact same moment, but the former of the two was still as weak as a newborn kitten and let out a soft groan as she trembled from the loss of the power that was always steadily humming through her.

"Shit! Ren, you're awake!"

"Geta…?" She asked softly, taking in his deeply worried expression and the bags beneath his eyes. Like grandfather, like grandson; Vegeta had been up just as long as Trunks had, nursing a beautiful Lunarian back to health. "Oh gods… I remember," she breathed in a mixture of awe and horror. "And… and I'm alive." Casting a look back up at him, Serenity clutched the sheets around her, aware of her nudity beneath them, but Vegeta was already backing off and backing down, no longer looming over her and moving back to the chair he'd occupied at the side of his own massive bed for the last three days.

"I didn't share the bed. I promised I wouldn't and I won't," he rumbled, a twinge of pain in his tone as he ached to join her. Not to mate, but just to hold her again like it was old times. A few stolen kisses would have been nice, too, but he wouldn't have pushed his luck; he would have just been happy to hold her in his arms again without any fear of violence.

Feeling his emotions and sensing the train of his thoughts if not all the details, Serenity managed a watery smile for his benefit and beckoned him back over. "Just that and nothing more, Geta. And… I won't object to you sharing the bed with me, but no funny business. Fair enough?"

"Yes," he said softly as he rose from his chair again, hesitating to slip under the covers until she gave him a reassuring nod.

Vegeta drew off his shirt and toed off his boots, but he left his pants on as he slid in beside her, hesitating yet again to draw her into his arms. She came to him instead, and he sighed happily at the feeling of her curves meeting his unyielding muscle, and he instantly remembered the last time they'd curled into other just like this.

She had just given birth to Usagi and she'd had a lot more softness to her, something that Vegeta had enjoyed immensely as well as the feeling of squirming new life lying on his chest and little hands tugging curiously on his beard, then stilling as he'd chuckled at her liveliness and purred for her.

"I wonder if you would have chosen differently if you knew just how much I'd adored your daughter," he mused aloud.

"I knew, Vegeta, but my people needed me. If she was really so dear to you, you could have abdicated to your son," she reminded him none too gently, sick to death of the same conversation over and over, the could have beens and should have beens. He'd had the choice and he'd made it… and so had she.

"Vegeta was never fit to be king," the king admitted aloud for the first time in his life. At least his son had recognized the same and had very willingly relinquished his title of crown prince the moment his own son, Trunks, had been born. "To leave my people with my son as their king would have been a harsh sentence, Ren. I have no doubt that he would have tried to do a good job at it, but he's just not cut out to be in charge. He's too selfish, he doesn't know how to sacrifice his own well-being for anyone else… including his mate," he finished bitterly, feeling a pang of guilt as he thought of Bulma, who had all but completely rejected the prince and had refused to see him for nearly a decade.

Sighing tiredly, Serenity couldn't help but agree and decided that they needed a change of subject… and a change of venue, according to her protesting bladder. "Geta… I need to pee," she admitted, blushing self-consciously at the admission, hoping that her legs could even hold her up to carry her there.

"Oh. Why didn't you say something sooner?" He snorted, shifting back up to his knees and scooping her up naked, ignoring her protests about her lack of clothing as he slid out of the bed and carted her to the toilet. "Ren, who in the hell do you think took care of you? You were out for three days. No one can hold their water that long, not even a Saiyan warrior."

He'd taken care of her!? "Oh… but… but why…"

"Because no one knows you're here except for Venus and Pluto," he drawled out patiently, "and Venus is none too happy about the fact that we're mated… ugh, I need to call and give her a report like I promised, too."

"Wait… none of your people knows I'm here?" She questioned incredulously.

"Nappa does, but I was hardly going to let him see you naked, Ren," he replied dryly. "I didn't tell anyone else because I wasn't sure what their reaction would be. I thought it would be better to tell my people once you were awake and capable of at least running if you couldn't defend yourself. Can you still teleport?"

"I don't know, and I'm honestly still too weak to try," she confessed. "By all rights I should have died when I gave the crystal—oh gods," Serenity gasped, her hand going to her throat. "Usagi! Is she alright!? Did Setsuna say if—"

"It worked," Vegeta assured her gently from just outside of her line of sight, waiting for her to finish using the facilities. "They're both just fine, and Setsuna's been letting me take a peek into what's happened whenever she comes to check on you. They're falling in the L word, you know. And they felt the pull. And Trunks has partially marked your daughter in order to find his way back to her when he leaves to hunt for rescue. Wanna take bets on how long it takes them to mate?" He chuckled.

In the bathroom, Serenity was just gaping and shaking her head in disbelief, and when the king poked his head around to check on her, she scowled up at his pleased expression. "I would have thought you'd be as mad as I am."

"I was at first, but I've had three days to get used to the idea and… I approve. You should see how they've been together before you make any judgments, Ren. Just trust me, alright?"

"Fine," she sighed, linking her arms around his neck when he scooped her back up and carted her back to the bed, ignoring the very real warmth she felt in his arms as he carried her and when he crawled back into the bed with her and held her tightly. "Is Setsuna going to come back by? I'd like to see for myself if she'd let me."

"I was just waiting for you to get settled again," Setsuna replied as she teleported in, smiling brightly despite Serenity's immediate glare. "Usagi woke up a little while ago, too. Poor Trunks," she added, her smile falling as she recalled his fear of losing Usagi and his tearful relief when she'd finally woken up. "He's sleeping right now… here, look," Setsuna offered, holding out a mirror she borrowed from the Gates of Time, waving her hand over it so Serenity and Vegeta could see what was happening on Vegeta-sei Five.

"Boy looks even worse than when I looked in yesterday," the king rumbled in concern, flinching at the sight of Trunks crying his eyes out as Usagi held him tightly and sang to him softly, cradling him securely in her arms. "Is he going to be alright?"

"He will be after he gets some rest," Setsuna assured him. "He still hasn't even napped, and it's not like he had me, Minako or Nappa to talk to and support him while he took care of Usa. You know how terrified he's been since she passed out."

Vegeta was waving her off when she opened her mouth again, gaping at the mirror in surprise. "Did… did I just hear… rewind it, Setsuna!" He ordered excitedly, only to listen even closer and grin when he confirmed that he'd heard right. "Heh… well, it's about damned time."

"What?" Serenity asked in confusion. "I couldn't hear it."

"He said 'Usa m'yo,'" Vegeta explained happily. "Well, that seals it for me as far as I'm concerned. They'll be mated in a week. Want to throw in on the betting pool, Ren? Nappa said it'd be two weeks. Mina said it'd be a few days at most. Setsuna's not allowed to bet because if she doesn't know the outcome already, I know she'll cheat and look," he added teasingly, winking at the goddess of time when she rolled her eyes at him.

"Get some sleep, Vegeta," Setsuna huffed. "The lack thereof has made you as loopy as a teenage girl."

Serenity couldn't help but think that Sets had a point; she'd never seen Vegeta this happy in all the years she'd known him, and even though she was really enjoying the change in him, she was a little worried as well. "When was the last time you slept, Geta?"

"Oh, don't start mother-henning me, Ren. I slept a couple hours in the chair while Nappa kept watch last night. I'm fine, just hungry… speaking of which, you need to eat something as well and—"

"Give her some of your ki, Vegeta," Setsuna reminded him, nodding in approval when he immediately slipped a hand beneath the covers and pressed his hand to Serenity's chest to give her some of his energy.

There was an immediate change in her from it, and the queen perked up in surprise, no longer feeling like she just wanted to doze back off. "Oh, wow. Thank you, Vegeta," she said in surprise, smiling as he nuzzled her shoulder, the thought never even crossing her mind to ask him not to do that. Not when his contentment was rolling through the bond along with his total exhaustion and she could feel him fighting sleep even as he maintained the façade of feeling completely rested.

His happiness wasn't faked in the least, though, he was genuinely thrilled that she was finally awake and thanking the gods that she'd recovered from nearly dying even as he reinforced his vow to her not to force her into anything she didn't want. He would continue to refresh her mark to keep her alive and they would technically be a mated pair, but if she never wanted to consummate the bond, he would honor her wishes. Don't know how often I can be around you if that's the case, though, he admitted, his mood growing sullen.

"We'll… I don't know. We'll figure something out," Serenity decided aloud, not used to communicating through the bond. She was no stranger to telepathy, but it was like they actually shared a large part of their own distinct minds with each other, and that was definitely going to take some getting used to for her. "How do you do that so easily, anyway?"

"Kalera," he answered with a shrug. "And before that, communicating with my beast. It way you use the bond is pretty much the same way you would talk to your beast if you were a Saiyan. You'll get the hang of it. Setsuna… I waited to ask until my queen was awake," he added towards the time goddess. "How long until we can retrieve the children?" When Setsuna fidgeted in place and wouldn't make eye contact, the king frowned and waited for her to look him in the face again, fully aware of how nervous she seemed. "How long, Setsuna?"

"You won't like it."

"Sets, just tell us," Serenity huffed, "and then you can tell us why we can't just go get them now."

"Not until summer after next. A year and a half, Your Majesties," she replied evenly, steeling herself to teleport out just in case they both exploded.

"BUT WHY!?" They chorused angrily, both of them sitting up so fast that they nearly bumped heads.

"The survival of both races depends on it," Setsuna said as calmly as possible. She'd planned this conversation out a million times, but when faced with two of the most powerful rulers in the galaxy, she found herself on edge and trying her best to remember her rationally planned arguments. "If they're taken from Vegeta-sei Five before their due time, there's a large risk that one or both of them will be killed in the aftermath, which will spiral both Solarians and Saiyans into all-out war. No honor, no morals. What's been going on during the last ten years will look like a barroom brawl by comparison. I'm talking about the total eradication of both races within twenty years. But if you wait to rescue them, none of that will come to pass. King Vegeta, your son will accept their union if you wait eighteen months. If you pull them out before that, shit will hit the fan."

King Vegeta bit his tongue and counted to ten before replying, reminding himself several times in that span how much he loved his grandson, and how this was for the good of them all. "Alright. They stay. But what's the damned difference, Setsuna? I can understand waiting for them to mate. But eighteen months? Why so long? What difference would that make to my jackass of a son? Why would he possibly react any differently now or then?"

"Because eighteen months from now… there will be babies."

####################################

Usagi's stare drew his gaze, and Trunks looked at her curiously when she just kept staring as he put his damp towel away, the razor wrapped up in it. "What? What's wrong?"

"I liked the beard better," she said honestly. "I dunno why… it just looked good on you. Gave you some character."

His mood much improved from his alone time in the lake, Trunks flashed her a grin and knelt where she was working, kissing her cheek before pressing his shaven jaw against it. "I thought that girls liked the baby-faced look. Did I at least get it close enough?"

"Yeah, definitely nice and smooth," she answered, blushing when he nuzzled her. She missed the tickle of the beard and the mustache, though, even if she'd never confess that out loud. "I'm not saying you don't look handsome, Trunks. I just liked the beard. Not sure why… it just looked good on you," she repeated.

"Well, maybe I'll let it grow back out, then. Heh… I saw my reflection in the water, too. I looked just like my grandfather," he snickered. "I bet the old man would get a kick out of seeing me with a goatee like his, especially since Father hasn't started growing facial hair, yet. Ah, the joys of being a half breed."

"Trunks, is that—" Biting her tongue, Usagi smacked her palm to her forehead. "Sorry, you said not to talk about your father. Moving on."

His smile fading, Trunks was silent for a minute before sighing heavily, and to her surprise, he actually answered the question she'd been about to ask. "Is my lineage the reason my father's an asshole to me? No and yes at the same time. My father's racist, yes, with my mother being the one exception, but they felt the pull, so there wasn't a choice in the matter. The pull is destiny," he explained quickly, not wanting to discuss it in depth out of fear that he'd finally confess feeling it for her. "Resistance is futile, and a Saiyan's beast will go batshit crazy if it's fought for too long. But yeah… my father doesn't care much for other races and probably never will. He thinks that they're inferior. That probably part of the reason he hates me, but I honest think it has more to do with the fact that I wasn't planned. He was happy to finally have an heir and someone to pass the crown to since he never wanted it, but he wasn't ready to be a father. My mother gave him a lot of shit for it, too, so I think his resentment has more to do with their relationship than it does with me personally. It's complicated," he continued, "and I don't like talking about it because just thinking about my father makes me angry. He dotes on my sister, but unlike me, she was planned… and she's not a boy. Father's always had a soft spot for women, just like my grandfather, and yes, ja'ja'ta has never treated me like something on the bottom of his shoe, but… "

"But your grandfather loves you," Usagi offered gently, recalling all the times he'd talked freely and extensively about King Vegeta since they'd become friends, while Trunks only mentioned his father in passing. And like he avoided the subject of his father, she still had yet to bring up her own and ask the questions that had been weighing on her mind for two weeks. "I get why you don't want to talk about him, though. I don't want to talk about mine, either. Change of subject… what in the hell are the feathers for? You never told me."

Managing a smile for her benefit, Trunks pointed at the fur they were sitting on. "Get up, it shouldn't take us long."

"Long for what?" She asked as she stood, only to notice that Trunks had doubled it up and sewn the edges together while she'd been asleep. There was still a three foot gap at the corner though, almost as if… "Oh gods, what a brilliant idea, Trunks!" She exclaimed as she ran over to the fur in the corner that was gathered up around all the feathers. "A real bed, this is going to be so wonderful!"

"I might not have enough feathers to make it as comfortable as we'd like," he said thoughtfully as he went to get the other equally large bag of feathers while Usagi went right to stuffing them into the makeshift mattress, "but I can always fly south for a day and ambush some more waterfowl. They're ridiculously easy for me to catch. No, don't put the prime feathers in there," he said quickly, snagging one out of the handful she had. "I should have separated them as I went, but I was in a hurry to pluck all the birds before sundown since it was going to rain. Speaking of which, we need to waterproof the roof before it warps. I wish I'd thought of that when we built it, but at least there's a quick solution that I can use to do it today."

"Well, then get on that and I'll take care of the mattress," Usagi offered. "Unless you need my help? I don't like getting filthy, but I will if I have to."

Smirking at the way her chin had tipped up and how he could feel her pride through the partial bond, Trunks knew she meant it but shook his head. "Nah, it's not that big of a surface, so I should be able to handle it fine. You got a paintbrush or something I can use? I'll need a couple of buckets that you don't mind never using again, too."

"Shit," Usagi swore when she only found one bucket and no paintbrush. "What do you need it for, anyway?"

"Tar. There's some tar pits I flew over about a thousand miles south of here. If I go Super Saiyan and fly at top speed, I can get there and back in about a half hour. Guess I can make two trips, but that's gonna leave me with no pants if I use the cloth instead of a brush."

Removing the bone combs he'd made her and setting them aside, Usagi stood and pulled a pair of scissors out of her subspace. "Do it before I lose my nerve," she said sadly, handing the scissors over handle first. "Paintbrushes are made from hair and mine's more than thick enough. Come on, do it before I lose my nerve," she urged him, turning around with her back to him.

They needed the paintbrush sorely and Trunks knew that it would grow back, but he hesitated the moment he was on his knees and shook his head slowly. "I don't think I can, Usagi." He loved her hair—it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and he loved to wind his fingers in it as they slept… and whenever he kissed her. "I don't think I can."

"Trunks, it's not like you're shaving my head," she huffed. "Just cut it to a couple inches above my ankles. It's been dragging the floor anyway and I was due for a trim before I even left for Vegeta-sei. Really, it's ok," she added gently when he still just knelt there on the floor, his fingers running through the golden strands. "It's less than a foot, Trunks. It's alright. Please don't make me do it, because I'm sure to botch it and make it uneven as hell if I do."

"Fine," he sighed, "give me a hair tie and a brush." Once he had the requested items, he started brushing her hair out until it was smooth and shiny, then he started from the top and began braiding it. It took twenty minutes just to get it into a single, ridiculously thick plait, and when he was done he quickly cut six inches off of the bottom and tied her braid with another rubberband that she'd provided. "There, done," he sighed. "I wish my hair was long enough for it, I would have given mine in a heartbeat."

"The hell," Usagi countered with a grin. "You shaved off the beard; I'll be damned if I let you cut off that little ponytail. The long hair looks hot on you, Trunks."

His father was always telling him it made him look like a sissy, so Trunks blushed even as he stepped closer to rest his forehead to hers, fighting the urge to dip his face in and kiss her. "So… you think I'm hot?" He teased. "Because that's how I heard it. Saiyan ego and all, you understand."

After their discussion about the bond, Usagi was also fighting the urge to kiss him, but she couldn't help herself and cupped his smooth face in her hands, her heart pounding as she dared to initiate a mostly chaste kiss. "There's your answer," she whispered when she finally broke it, noting with some disappointment that he'd held absolutely still. He didn't want her, then… maybe she'd read him wrong this entire time and it was just the bond making them act so amorously, but to her it felt real, and his lack of reaction to the kiss hurt her in a way she hadn't expected. "Sorry," she added when he also didn't answer, the look in his eyes indecipherable as she boldly held his gaze for what felt like forever.

Usagi wasn't ready for it when his mouth violently collided with hers, and she let out a squeak of surprise as he bunched his hand at the base of her loose braid to hold her to him, his lips savage and demanding as he devoured her, the kiss downright raw and desperate as he lifted her against him and backed her into the wall. Her shock was gone quickly, though, and she returned it just as heatedly, one of her hands mirroring his and fisting in his lavender strands, the other clutching at his bare back, a needy moan leaving her as he ground his stiffening arousal up into the junction of her thighs.

This was what she wanted, this was what she needed—that raw passion she'd felt with him the very first time he'd partially marked her shoulder and the steadily growing warmth filling her from head to toe whenever she so much as looked at him. He'd asked her before what she wanted, and well, this was it.

Oh yes, she thought as their tongues danced and she arched into a calloused hand that had snaked its way up her shirt, another moan leaving her when a zing of pleasure shot to her core at the sensation of him cupping her breast. This is what I want. He feels so good… he feels so right…

But Trunks wasn't as on board with it as she was, and was fighting the desire to take her back to the bed and strip her down and claim her, choking out a whimper when she rolled her hips against his in a clear request for him not to stop. "No," he groaned between kisses, drawing in a shuddering breath when he felt her nails digging into his spine, just above his tail, making him harden painfully. Fuck me running, I love it when a woman digs them in… fuck… gotta stop… can't… we can't… "Usa, no," he managed again even when she whimpered with need and ground down against him.

"It's ok," she breathed, her voice hoarse and sultry with desire, the sound of it nearly breaking him. Usagi broke the kiss then, looking up at him with eyes darkened with lust, panting softly as she fought the urge to kiss him again. "You asked me what I wanted, Trunks," she whispered nervously, her voice beginning to tremble. "I want this. I want you. I never wanted Endymion or anyone else before, but… I want you… and… and I want to make love with you." I think I love you, she added silently, unable to speak the words out of fear that he'd get angry with her. Saiyans didn't say that word, after all, and the last thing she wanted to do was upset him when she could already feel how torn he was.

Trunks wanted her to, she could feel it, but at the same time…

"We can't," he somehow managed despite his pounding need for her, the words coming out in a husky, mournful tone. Gods, if he hadn't taken care of himself in the lake, he would have probably already taken her. "Please, sweetheart… please understand. I don't want to hurt you, and the thought of hurting your feelings is killing me right now, but we can't and you know why."

"Your father," she whispered without hesitation, knowing full well why he'd stopped, why he was fighting this mutual attraction they felt for each other with every ounce of willpower he had. "I… Trunks, I… I just…"

The heartbreak in her eyes made his chest ache and nearly changed his mind, but Trunks managed to strengthen his resolve by thinking of how his father would probably kill him—or her—if he took her as his mate, and he knew there wasn't a chance in hell he could bed her without fully marking Usagi and demanding the same of her in return. The pull was just too strong for them to do it half-assed and try to let a half-bond fade before they were rescued. "I wish it could be different, atti. I really, really do. If I was fully Solarian, I'd happily make love to you. Dra knows I want to. But we can't. We need to let the mark close up, and I promise you that when it does, we won't want each other as much as we do now. It really is just the bond," he lied softly. "It's not real."

Usagi didn't want to sound like she was begging, but that last part just didn't ring true for her and she leaned in to kiss his chest just above the stained leather string of the necklace she made him. "Trunks… it feels real to me," she finally whispered, fighting the urge to cry. No, she wouldn't cry, not in front of him, not over this. She wasn't going to manipulate him with tears, even if those tears were genuine and not some ploy to make him feel guilty. If she was going to cry, she'd wait for him to refuse and then leave to get the tar for the roof. "It really does. I… I don't think it's just the bond. Not for me." I think I'm in love with you, she thought again, wanting nothing more than to say the words out loud. "This feels… right."

Trunks couldn't agree with her more, but he shook his head even as he pressed a single apologetic kiss to her lips, keeping it short and sweet. "No, atti. Please don't be upset. Please understand," he repeated as he lowered her to her feet, knowing that if he held her much longer like that, he'd lose his resolve. "I'm sorry, Usagi, I really hope you know how sorry I am that I can't be that man for you."

The Saiyan prince watched his princess shut him out slowly, her eyes hardening as she nodded and pushed past him to sit at the edge of the bed, going right back to work, stuffing feathers into the fur mattress steadily. "Go get the tar," she whispered without turning to face him as she addressed him.

The bond was closed, too; she'd somehow figured out how to build walls around her emotions despite the fact that they'd never closed one another out before, and Trunks stared shamefully at the back of her head, gnawing on his lip as he tried to think of something to say to make it better between them. He didn't want to break her heart. That was the last thing he wanted, but they couldn't be together and he couldn't think of a nicer way to tell her that than the way he just had. "I'll be back in less than an hour," he told her as gently as he was able, silently willing her to look at him. She wouldn't, though, she only kept steadily stuffing the mattress, so Trunks picked up the bundle of hair she'd sacrificed and the bucket she'd given him, going to the hatch. "I'm sorry, Usagi."

Ain't I being so nice updating regularly! R&R and I'll keep it up, your reviews never cease to inspire me! SeleneA, don't you dare bitch, you TOLD ME to end it there! :P