If Tomorrow Never… - Ch

Nope, don't own any of 'em! 'Cept Ana, I guess.

Warnings for this part include major-bad language and shortness. Don't think anything else came up…

Looking for a beta reader, so if you're interested, email me, please! lil.dreamer@excite.com

If Tomorrow Never… - Ch. 8 - Family

In the Son home, which had somehow evolved into "Anyone who wants to stay over"'s house, the first day after Trunks' explosion was only the beginning of the weirdness. As the hours turned to days and the days to weeks, soon a whole month passed. Everyone became more concerned about Trunks' behavior. He never mentioned Bulma, and if anyone ever said anything to him about her, he didn't respond. His attention seemed focused on other things, and he slept more and more, as much as 14 hours some days.

Vegeta came up with excuses to spend time with the boy, sparring, taking Chibi-Trunks out, anything he could think of, and their sparring became much more focused. Goku spent hours every day talking to them both, but neither of the full-blooded Saiya-jin could see a difference in the boy's mental state. Gohan, Chi-chi, Yamcha, they all did what they could to help as well, but nothing worked any better than leaving him alone had.

Unfortunately, none of the Z-senshi would soon be able to spend any time at all worrying about Trunks' unnatural reaction if Kami's prediction was right. Piccolo had left the day before to talk with him about it, but no one had heard anything back from either of them.

The search for the Androids had continued, as well, with no traces found. If the supposed backup even existed, it was great at covering its tracks. They rarely took time to search for them now, preferring to spend time training for the threatened enemy.

But Goku and his friends weren't the only ones preparing to go up against this enemy, nor were they the only ones worrying about the peculiar new habits of one of their own.

Not too far away from the Z-senshi was a somewhat dysfunctional family also facing the prospect of a new enemy. Unlike the senshi, though, this group had information. They knew the name and mission of their target, and they even had its designer's original specs.

They also had one or two problems working together.

"'Ji-san, tell Juunana he can't come! He has to stay in the house, remember?!?" A very petulant Ana was tired of being treated like she was a little doll. All she wanted was to be able to go out without a baby-sitter. Just one small thing, really. For the last month, though, or ever since those Androids had come into her life, she'd been under a figurative lock and key. They had taken their new programming, watching and protecting their princess, very seriously. Too seriously, some may think watching the obvious disgust, anger, and frustration play across Ana's face.

"Your concern is noted, Juunana, but in this case, she's right. Ten, if you insist on going out tonight, at least get the groceries while you're gone." Though he didn't like letting her go out alone after the way she'd been acting lately, he couldn't leave, and letting one of the Androids go with her would be inviting trouble. This last month had been hard on all five of them. Something was affecting the princess' dreams, leaving her generally tired and cranky and causing her mind-blowing headaches, and her dreamwalking was becoming unstable, leading to physical side effects that frightened her caretakers.

"Hai!" Score! Ana raced from her position in the doorway to grab her uncle in the hugest hug he could remember getting in a very long time. The lines caused from worrying about Cell, from trying to instill some discipline into his charge, from life in general these last few years magically vanished, and the near-smile made him look much younger. Ana beamed back at the large man before snatching her coat and running out the door.

"That girl," he calmly announced to anyone within hearing range, "is going to be the death of me yet."

***

Ana slowed as she reached the end of the block. Alone time was a good thing, especially now that she had people around to remind her of that fact. She adored the Androids, and they'd become indispensable quickly, helping her uncle with his projects and keeping her boredom at bay. But they were clingy, and since they didn't require any type of downtime, they were always around. Sometimes a girl just had to be alone, and tonight was one of those nights.

Since that first night, she'd continued to meet Trunks three or four times a week in the dream world, where the kindred spirits found they had a sympathetic ear for all their problems. Slowly, the two got to know almost everything about each other, and though they didn't live far apart, they decided to keep their communication restricted to their dreams.

For two weeks Ana didn't know who was pulling them together, and now that she did, she didn't know what to think about the whole thing. She didn't tell Trunks about the third presence, keeping it from him as she had so many other things. Ana felt the anger rise as she thought about that bitch. If only it weren't impossible to kill someone in a dream… Or someone already dead…

"You're still hiding from him. Still lying to him."

Ana turned to the voice, stopping abruptly as the face came into view. "You! Why the hell-"

"Have I brought you here? For your own good. For your father's well-being. For your brother's. You need-"

"What the fuck do you know about what I need? Or what they need? You're the one who left. You left your rights to butt in at the same damn time!"

"Oh? Then why am I here, Eriana? I want what's best for them, and you happen to be it. I never was."

"Maybe in another lifetime you would have been. Maybe I could have liked you. Maybe you don't care. But what you did to my family was unconscionable!"

"You don't think I realize that?!? I'm not the only one who's hurting them, you know. How do you think he's going to react when he finds out about you, sister? You've lied to him for as long as you've known him."

"Maybe so, but those lies keep him from getting hurt. He doesn't need any part of my screwed up life right now."

"Tell him."

"No, not until he's ready."

"You're just like your father, you know, a stubborn Saiya-jin." The voice was quieter now, almost affectionate.

"I am nothing like him. Ask him yourself. Oops, I forgot. You can't. You have no power over someone consciously blocking you out. Go, Dad." With that, the spirit threw Ana violently out of the dream world.

Ana woke from that dream sobbing and with a headache that lasted for days. But that night was the first of many conversations/confrontations between the two. They continued to talk every night after Trunks left, though there was no hope of a reconciliation between them. There was too much resentment because of what the other had or gave up or refused to take.

Ana's only stop that night was to pick up her uncle's groceries. She was too lost in thought to stop anywhere else. She still didn't know how to tell Trunks that the one pulling them together was none other than his own mother, who also just happened to be Ana's wicked stepmother.

@@@

Short, I know, but this story had totally run away from me. I'm on the trail, but it doesn't want to be found!

I'm leaving the country June 1 and won't be back until July 5, so don't expect any updates during that month. Gomen. I hope to get some more out before I go, though.