Chichi stretched theatrically and batted her dark eyes at the clock on the wall. Fair enough, this strange girl was fascinating and told them intriguing stories of her world, but it was getting late and Gohan had school tomorrow.

"Goku? I think it's time we went home. I have to get dinner started and Gohan has school tomorrow."

That was the first time Chichi hadn't yelled at him all day, and Goku wasn't about to push it.

"Alright, Chichi. Gohan, Goten, come on. We'll go home and give Jade some time to get used to this place. You can visit her another time, okay?"

"Okay daddy," Goten chirruped at his father's knee.

Gohan stood somewhat reluctantly, and was joined by Videl who moved to go home too.

"I should go too. The last thing you need is my father putting in an appearance." She rolled her eyes dramatically and everybody laughed in sympathy.

"Yeah, we should probably all stop being so nosy and go home too," Krillin added with a stretching yawn.

Thank goodness for Chichi, Bulma thought privately, if she hadn't spoken up I don't think they would have left. Everyone bid polite farewells, drifting away, and for some strange reason the family that had moved to leave first were left still standing in the near-deserted living room. Promising to come back and visit soon, Chichi and Goku walked toward the door while Goten made for the window.

"Use the door, Goten." Chichi ran a hand over her face in exasperation, then watched happily as Gohan bid Videl goodbye, passing his hand over hers as she leapt off the windowsill in the exact gesture Chichi had just chided Goten for attempting.

Gohan ran to join his family, and the room fell quiet.

Jade, Bulma, both versions of Trunks and Dr Briefs looked at each other in the silence. Curiosity overcame discomfort, and Jade spoke up.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look around. I will come back soon." She moved toward the window Videl had taken off from, and Bulma's mind went into matchmaker mode.

"Hey, Trunks can show you around –" Bulma placed a restraining hand on her little boy. "—not you, you." She gestured with a nod of her head towards the older version of Trunks.

Dammit, not this one too. No matter where he went, no matter what he did, a version of his mother was always harrying him about this girl or that girl. Rather than face her, Trunks got up wordlessly and followed Jade out the window.

"DOOR, PEOPLE!" a frustrated cry from inside, and Trunks felt a little better.

Jadali frankly wasn't in the mood for company, and was minorly irritated with Bulma for pressing the young man on her. For goodness sake, she was seventeen and well and truly capable of looking after herself.

But maybe you're not, a little voice nagged at the back of her conscience. Maybe you're not as independent as you think you are…not as strong…not as fast…you've put yourself completely at the mercy of these people…what have you gotten yourself into? The voice seemed to sneer. Shut up! I can handle this. I have to. She spoke harshly to herself and shook her head to clear it.

Flying alongside and a little behind her, Trunks was quite impressed with the façade of control Jade had managed to erect around herself like a granite wall from the moment she'd walked into the living room.

It didn't seem possible to him that anyone could remain so completely calm in a world so foreign. Maybe it was just his natural reticence, but Trunks recalled being distressed and unsettled when he was fronted with people he'd had information on for the first time. She knew nothing about them. She had to be hiding something.

Up ahead, Jade pulled to a graceful halt and hung vertically as she called back to Trunks.

"I'd really like to…work some things off my mind. Maybe you should go back now. I rely on my speed, and I don't think you'd keep up – no offence intended." She gave him a pointed green look through her eyelashes. She'd fully understood Bulma's intentions, and she had no intention of fulfilling that little whim of hers.

Trunks gave her a piercing blue stare in return.

"I won't know until I try. Do you mind?" He raised an eyebrow in innocent challenge. There was no way that this girl could be faster than a Super Saiyan.

Jade flashed him an even-toothed smile, shrugged her shoulders, and disappeared.

Kame, she's fast, alright. But not fast enough! Trunks raised his own power level and blasted off after the dimming signature as fast as he could.

Far ahead, Jade streaked through the sky above an ocean, moving so fast that the backdraft from her movement parted the deep water to its sandy floor. The wind whipped some of her hair loose from the braid and it stung her face as she flew. Well, I've certainly given him a shock. She bared her teeth a bit in a smirk of triumph, and then almost fell from the sky as she sensed a now-familiar ki at her feet. Jade rolled over and looked in honest surprise into Trunks' grinning face.

"Surprised?" he asked her, despite the fact her surprise was screamingly obvious.

"You haven't seen the half of it, little Prince!" she called back, then true to her word, blasted far ahead of him.

Trunks was almost at his threshold speed, annoyed that a girl he didn't know could possibly surpass him. He only had one option left, unless he admitted defeat. Not likely. Without a second thought, he burst into Super Saiyan form and took off after Jade in the world's most unlikely game of Chasings.

Far in the distance, Jade felt Trunks closing in on her again. She knew she was capable of much more, but didn't really want to embarrass the poor fellow. She nearly went head-over-tail when Trunks pulled in front of her, forcing her to stop.

"You're a Super Saiyan? I thought as much. You hide much from your father." A look of pure rascality crossed her delicate face. "Last resort, little Prince?"

Trunks "harrumph-ed" a bit and dropped back to his normal form. He looked into her mischievous features and felt his cheeks redden. Glad of his long hair, he ran a hand through it and let some fall over his face to hide the effect she'd had on him.

I may hate to babysit, but at least she's pretty. No, she's more than that, she's beautiful. And fast, he added with a grimace. Whoa, let's get off this train of thought, Trunks, he thought to himself.

"You don't seem surprised. Have you seen a Super Saiyan before?"

Amusement filled her face, and she looked prettier.

"Seen one? I am one, little Prince." To prove her point, she powered up and faced him with golden hair streaming and eyes a different type of green.

She began to look more pleased with herself than ever as she saw Trunks' stunned expression.

What am I doing? This isn't like me.

Embarrassed by her own actions, Jade flashed back into her normal mode, and to keep her own reddened cheeks from Trunks kept her face down.

Pallor under control, she met his gaze again, and got the impression he'd been staring.

"I've had enough of a warm-up. I think I'll take a rest on that island down there. Join me if you want."

Without waiting for his response, she floated down and took a seat under a tree. Trunks landed a few metres away moments later. They smiled ruefully at each other. He knew she was faster than he was, and she knew he was a more powerful Super Saiyan than she was.

Where is this going? They thought in stereo.

Breaking the stalemate, Jade reached into the pouch on her belt and pulled out a glittering ruby. She blew on it, then quickly placed it on the ground as it exploded in a puff of red dust and left a spread of food unfamiliar to Trunks on the ground.

"Hungry?" she asked politely. Trunks wasn't sure. He'd never seen stuff like that before.

"What is that stuff?" he queried

"Try it and find out. If it doesn't kill me, it won't kill you." He eyed the food warily and turned back to her. "Don't worry, your blue blood will protect you, little Prince."

Well, now it was a matter of preserving his dignity and Trunks wasn't about to be frightened off by a strange girl he hardly knew. Picking up an unusual piece of fruit vaguely resembling a mango, he took a tentative bite. Whatever it was, it was sweet, and tasted like honey.

"Not bad. What is it?"

Jade put down the gourd-like thing she'd been drinking from.

"Never mind."

Stretched out on the grass after their impromptu picnic, Jade and Trunks talked freely about their strange lives.

"You're braver than I thought you were, little Prince. I sensed from the moment I laid eyes on you that you were old beyond your years," Jade mused as she watched patterns form in the clouds above, sending an occasional blast into them to make them form what she wanted to see.

Raising himself up on one elbow, Trunks' brow furrowed and he looked as well as he could into her face.

"Why do you call me that? I'm no Prince."

Without taking her eyes off the drifting puffs of white, Jade replied simply:

"Yes you are. Your father is a Prince, and that makes you one."

Newly aware of this simple truth, Trunks raised his eyebrows, then let his pale hair fall over his face.

"Maybe so, but there's more to it than bloodlines. I wouldn't know the first thing about it. There's…something…about my father that makes him noble and regal and a prince. I don't have that something, whatever it is."

In an unexpected gesture, Jade sat up, brushed the hair away from his face to push it behind his shoulders, and stooped her head to look into the sad blue eyes.

"Yes you do."

"I don't!" he was frustrated, and started to snap. She snapped back at him the same way.

"You do. Listen to yourself. You thought you couldn't speak Saiyan, but you've been speaking it since we landed."

Trunks' eyes widened in shock. He really had been speaking the foreign language without realising it. Making a conscious effort to maintain the alien tongue, he deftly changed the subject with a quick "let's go back."

Flying side by side back to Capsule Corp, Trunks and Jade took a roundabout route at his behest. After cruising along in silence, Trunks remembered a little detail his companion had failed to expand on.

"Hey, didn't you say you were a wizard or something?"

"Mage," she corrected. "Yes, I'm half Mage just as you are half human."

"Could…could you show me…I dunno, a trick or something?" he finished sheepishly, knowing how childish he must have sounded to her. With anyone else he wouldn't have cared as much, but spending time with this strange, lovely girl had awakened a long-neglected sense of vanity in him, and he didn't want to look dumb.

Expecting her to snap at him as his father so often did, Trunks was quite surprised when she simply shrugged and slowed to a halt.

"If that's what you want. Here's an idea. How would you like having your tail back?" she asked him quite seriously.

"Tail? You can do that?" disbelief clouded his features.

"I already have."

Trunks looked around in shock, and sure enough, he had a tail again! Long and dark and furry, it curled around his waist at the mere flicker of his thoughts. Although he couldn't remember having one, it felt familiar in a way.

"Th—thankyou. I think," he stammered and looked back at her. Jade flicked her own tail experimentally to see what he'd do, and almost laughed out loud when she saw him struggling not to imitate her.

"Let's get back. Your mother will be worried."

"In some ways, I really, seriously doubt that. But you're right, we should get back. Maybe we can get in some practice before nightfall, if you like." For all his casualness, Trunks wanted badly to test himself against this unknown quantity standing in front of him. And besides, this could be interesting.