A/N: Hi guys! I finally cured my writer's block after countless amounts of fics were torn from my notebooks and deleted from my hard drive. But I got this idea, and thank God it turned into an actual. Maybe I won't delete this one too…

When The Stars Come Out- Chapter One: Hands Down

By Starr

A half moon floated over the starry night sky, giving off the perfect amount of light as Trunks Briefs and Marron Chestnut walked up the beach to her home at Kame House. The two were holding hands and walking quietly, knowing if they woke up Marron's mother, they'd be in huge trouble. Not that they were still little kids, but 18 didn't exactly love her daughter's choice for a boyfriend.

They approached the front stoop and Marron let her hand slip out of Trunks'. "I had a great time, Trunks. My mother's probably awake waiting for me, though. I'd better go. Call me tomorrow?" she prompted as she fumbled through her purse for her keys.

Trunks smiled. "Yeah. Hey, I was wondering, Goten and I were going to go catch a pizza or something for lunch tomorrow. Want to come?" he asked, watching as she dug through the small black bag.

"Sure, I'd love to. Well, here's my keys." She help up the key ring triumphantly. "Okay, so I'll talk to you tomorrow." She raised her head to look into his eyes. If he kisses me, I'll die.

And he did. He leaned in slowly and pressed his lips firmly against hers. Damn, 18's most likely watching me from a window. I'm dead, Trunks thought, but made no attempt to move.

There was a crash from inside the house, and Marron pulled away quickly. "Shit. She's pissed off now. Call me tomorrow about the pizza." She turned around and started unlocking the door. "Bye," she called over her shoulder.

Trunks could just stand there and stare as she sauntered off into the darkness of the house, closing the door behind her. "Bye," he whispered.

~

Marron quietly locked the door and started up the stairs, only to find an angry looking 18 standing at the top in a robe. Her hair was smoothly tucked behind her ears, and if it weren't for the robe and slippers, you would have thought she had just spent the last hour looking perfect.

"Marron, do you have any idea what time it is?" she yelled.

"Um, hi Mom. I know I'm late, but there was a lot of people at the movies, and the restaurant was packed. It'll never happen again, I promise," Marron smiled nervously. "Now I'm really tired. I think I'm going to bed. Night Mom." She tried to push herself down the hall to her bedroom, but was stopped by a half-sleeping Krillin.

Krillin rubbed his eyes as he stumbled into the hallway, clad in only a pair of boxer shorts. "What's going on?" he asked. "What's with all the yelling? Just go to bed, you two. Whatever the problem is, I'm sure we can talk about it in the morning."

Marron nodded thankfully and slipped into her bedroom, closing the door quickly. She was starting to wish she'd went off to college when she had the opportunity. Ever since she had started dating Trunks last week, her mother had been on her case about how she shouldn't date Vegeta's son. She went on and on and on about why he was going to grow up to be just like his father, and so on.

But Trunks was nothing like his father. He was the complete opposite, really. Or, at least he was around Marron. And Marron really wanted her mother to stay out of her love life. Finally, with a heavy sigh, she flopped onto the bed and fell asleep.

~

18 sat at the Briefs' kitchen table the next afternoon with Bulma, drinking coffee and helping her decide on curtains for the living room.

Vegeta burst through the room and scowled. "Where's my boy? He isn't with your daughter, is he?"

"Yes, he is. They went out for pizza with Goten," 18 scowled back. "Not that it was my idea. I'd rather Marron be home than with your asinine son."

"Asinine! My son! Ha! Your daughter is the asinine one. Why my brat would ever date someone as stupid as her is beyond me!" Vegeta yelled.

Bulma stood up. "Okay, both of you, just stop it! God, you two act like children! You can't forbid Trunks and Marron to see each other, and unless they somehow start hating each other, there's nothing you can do!"

An idea popped into both Vegeta and 18's head, and they exchanged a smirk between the two of them. It was too perfect.

~

"Got it?" 18 asked Vegeta as he landed on the top of the cliff she was standing on, six yellow spheres at her feet.

Vegeta nodded and placed the seventh sphere next to the other six. "Yeah. Let's do this and get it over with," he mumbled.

The sky went dark, and the eternal dragon appeared in front of the two smirking warriors.

"We wish for Trunks Briefs and Marron Chestnut to hate each other," 18 said clearly.

~

By the time Trunks dropped her off at home, Marron was oddly irritated with him. The beginning of lunch was fine, but toward the end, everything Trunks said was annoying and arrogant and just plain stupid. She couldn't be more thrilled when the flight home ended. Now I just have to make it inside the house without letting that jerk kiss me.

"Thanks for lunch, Trunks. My mother wants to go shopping, and I should really get going. Call me tomorrow?" She shifted her weight to her other side. Great, now I'm a liar. Oh well, anything to get this creep away from me.

Trunks nodded distantly. "Yeah, whatever. I have to go, too. My dad, uh--- wants me to train with him this afternoon," he said quickly.

Marron forced a smile. "Okay, I'll talk to you then." She picked up pace and walked to the house. Without looking back, she fumbled with the keys and shut the door behind her.

What was with her? Last night when Trunks brought her home, she was all dreamy and floaty, and it seemed like everything was perfect. But now, the only thing she could think of was getting away from him. Something was wrong. But she just shrugged it off, thinking maybe it was PMS or something.

~

Trunks sat down at his desk in his room and sighed. Something was wrong. For some strange, unknown reason, everything Marron did and said was like a set of nails on a chalkboard; digging their way into his skin. But since when? Usually, like last night, Trunks couldn't get enough of Marron's voice, light and angelic. Something was very, very wrong. And Trunks intended to find out what that something was.

~

When 18 got home late that afternoon, Marron and Krillin were sitting on the couch watching TV. "Hi Mar, how was lunch?" she asked with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"It was fine," Marron replied tonelessly, not bothering to look away from the show she was pretending to be wrapped up in.

Krillin shrugged. "I don't know what happened," he mouthed to his smirking wife. He glanced over at Marron, who looked about as empty as a kitchen after a Sayain lunch. She had come home from her lunch date with Trunks like this, empty and confused. But what confused Krillin the most was how 18 couldn't stop smirking as she walked to the kitchen.

~

Bulma, too, also noticed something odd about her husband after he had waltzed through the door. Usually, he hated spending time with 18, calling her all sorts of names like 'tin can' and 'toaster', but after their 'training session', as he had called it, he was smirking like crazy. And when Trunks came home from his date with Marron, Vegeta smirked even harder. But Bulma was worried.

Trunks had came home, mumbled a hello, and kind of confusedly walked up to his room, mumbling things to himself. For the past week, Marron had been the topic of conversation at the Briefs'. Trunks blabbed on and on about her, and even Bra had become sick of hearing about her former idol. Trunks had gotten home two and a half hours ago, and no one had heard one word about the new girlfriend.

It was all strange to Bulma. Oddly, terribly strange.