Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters. They belong to Akira Toriyama. I am making no money from this piece of fan fiction.

Author's Notes: More 17/Rei action for those that have requested it. I don't have much else to say except thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Please remember to review and let me know what you think about this chapter!

Altered Destinies

By: Kynthia

Part 9

She was lying down. That much was obvious. Her head was still horribly clouded and she didn't expend the effort it would take to open her eyes. She let her fingertips roam the surface underneath her. It was soft and warm. That was unexpected. It felt like she was in a bed but how had she gotten there? She hadn't slept in a real bed in ages.

"Wh…where?" she heard her own voice say weakly.

"I think she's waking up!" called a familiar voice. 'Ami?'

"Let me get a look," said another voice. This one she didn't recognize.

Someone pulled back one of her eyelids and suddenly there was a bright light shining directly in her eye. Both eyes went wide for a second in shock before she tried to squeeze them shut.

"Hey! A little warning would be nice!" her voice was a lot stronger now.

"Yeah I think she's doing better now," said that same stranger voice from earlier. She opened her eyes again and eyed the blue haired woman in front of her warily. She had been the one to assault her eyes with that little flashlight after all.

"Minako? How do you feel?" said a very worried Ami.

"I feel like I've got little purple aliens in my head and they are doing the tango," she answered. "Is there anything to eat around here? I'm starved. Where is here anyway?"

*~*~*

Rei paced her room. 'Damn it! What am I supposed to do?' This is the way things had been since that night when she had woke up to a very frightening revelation. An android had kissed her. She stopped her pacing long enough to shutter in revulsion.

When she had woke up and screamed Trunks and the rest of the girls had come running to find out what had happened. She had still been too stunned to really react to anything going on around her but she remembered muttering some excuse about a nightmare. She couldn't bring herself to voice the truth aloud yet. It was far to frightening to know that one of the reasons her world was half destroyed had been standing directly in front of her and she hadn't even known. 'I should have known!' she berated herself.

'Wait a minute why hadn't my sixth sense let me know something.' This stopped her in her tracks. Why hadn't it? Granted it wasn't always reliable but when something that major was happening it should have given her some kind of warning. The android should have been a big enough threat to set it off.

She decided not to even think of why he had kissed her in the first place. With what she knew of the androids and their motivations she would end up with enough material to give her nightmares for weeks.

Excited shouts in the hallway would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't of been for the blond spore that had suddenly attached itself to her.

"Get off!" Rei pulled futilely at Usagi's shoulders in the hopes of removing her.

"Rei! She's awake!" It took Rei a full five minutes to realize what must have happened. She quickly shoved the clinging girl to the ground with renewed strength and raced out the door.

When she made it down stairs she ran into the living room where she saw something that made her nearly cry with joy. Minako was on the couch propped up against a pile of pillows talking with Ami and Makoto. Rei couldn't resist the urge to envelope her friend in a hug when she saw her. The evening was spent with friends, all of her friends.

*~*~*

A week after Minako had woke up an argument had ensued over a trip that was going to be run to take care of a few errands. Bulma and Ami were in firm agreement that Minako was not recovered enough to go. Minako didn't see it that way.

Three hours, a broken glass, and several headaches later Bulma had finally argued the blonde into submission. Since Trunks was quite avid about not letting the group go out on their own all alone again he would be leaving with them and, unsurprisingly, Hotaru was going this time too. That left an opening for someone to stay and keep Minako company. The girl was in worse shape then she would ever admit to. She had spent most of the last two days sleeping and whenever she was awake you could see the signs of exhaustion drawn onto her face. Rei quickly volunteered to be the one to stay at Capsule Corp. Her last two trips out were still etched into her memory and she had no desire for another coincidental run in with a certain someone.

*~*~*

Seventeen was thinking. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He still wasn't totally sure of his reasoning behind kissing that girl. That human girl. It just didn't make any sense. He shouldn't have even had the desire to talk to her in the first place so why had he let her live twice and kissed her once. It was all to confusing. The only explanation he had been able to come up with so far that seemed even slightly plausible were the weird dreams he had been having. He couldn't explain those either.

To make matters worse his dear sister had figured out that something was up with him and had been watching him like a hawk since the day before. She probably thought he was acting weird because he was planning a prank on her or something. He wished that was the reason behind his change in behavior.

For some damn reason he couldn't get the girl out of his head either. He was more then just a little tempted to see if he could find her. It wasn't like it would be that hard. She had been with a group of women with a capsule car. There weren't to many of those around anymore. Hell, the only place that would probably have one would be Capsule Corp. They had never really bothered with blasting that place to hell yet. He would just have to find a way to catch her while she was alone. As much fun as pounding Trunks was the guy had a habit of popping up at the worst possible moments.

He cut his thoughts off with a violent shake of his head when it hit him he was actually sitting here trying to come up with a plan to see some human girl again. A human girl whose name he didn't even know. Suddenly he smirked. He would just have to find out what her name was now wouldn't he and the best way to find out was to ask her.

*~*~*

Rei yawned as she walked into the kitchen. Minako was asleep again and that left her to start her late lunch. She had put it off to fix something for Minako earlier and was simply ravenous now.

Reaching into a cabinet she found a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread. She wanted to fix something fast and easy. As she was spreading the peanut butter over a slice of bread with a butter knife she looked up suddenly. For some reason she had the oddest feeling of being watched. She grasped the dull knife in her hand tightly, not that it would do any good if someone was in the house anyway. It made her feel better to be holding something for some reason.

Nothing in the kitchen had moved or changed since she had come in. Something in the hallway across from her had though. The lights in the hallway were off, of course, so all you could see in the darkness were darker shadows stretching out across the floor. One of them hadn't been there when she had come into the kitchen. She was sure of it.

Her eyes widened and she took a step back. She knew all the blood had just drained from her face without needing a mirror. Fear made her breathing fast and harsh in her throat. She backed up again and felt her lower back impact with the counter behind her. 'It can't be! It can't be! Why would he come here!' she screamed frantically in her mind. She glanced down at her right hand almost numbly. She was gripping the knife so tightly her nails had just broken the fleshy skin on her palm. A few drops of blood had dripped down her fingers and she hadn't even noticed. She didn't even feel the pain yet. She knew she would later. If there was a later.

When she looked up again he was suddenly there. Right there. He was perched on the counter only a foot in front of her. Her natural response to his sudden movement was to try and lean back a little further away from him. That movement gave her maybe an inch at most. His posture appeared relaxed but she couldn't tell anything from his expression. Whatever he was thinking he was hiding it well. His eyes were kept trained on her face without saying a single word. This made her very uncomfortable.

"What do you want?" she asked quietly, wanting to break the silence. She was relieved to hear her voice come out steady and with no trace of the fear she knew was written all over her face.

He didn't answer. His eyes drifted down to the knife still in a death lock in her hand. Finally Android Seventeen spoke, "What are you going to do butter me to death?" His voice was practically dripping with mocking sarcasm.

Rei's eyes narrowed. Her temper flared at the comment irrationally. Rationally she would be more concerned with escape but she suddenly wanted to put this jerk in his place. He was in her home without an invitation and insulting her. She knew if she said this aloud the words would sound foolish to her own ears but she didn't really care.

"You haven't answered my question," she ground out. His face was no longer indifferent. He appeared amused at her show of temper if the smirk playing on his lips was any indication. He reached out and deftly freed the knife from her nerveless fingers. When she felt his fingers brush hers she shrank back from his touch. Fear was creeping back at the edges of her anger. His expression was blank again as he calmly set the knife on the counter next to him.

"Obviously you know I'm one of the androids so I'm not going to bother introducing myself as Seventeen," he said without any tone or inflection. "What's your name girl?"

Rei snorted. She said bitterly, "Like you care."

He just sat and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. He obviously would not be moving and neither would she until he had some sort of an answer. Finally she rolled her eyes in defeat and answered simply, "Rei."

Before anything else could be said Rei found herself pressed against his body by one of his arms while the other hand was clamped firmly over her mouth. She hadn't even seen him move. In fact he hadn't. He was still sitting on the counter top but now he had her held in front of him. Looking fearfully out of the corner of her eye she saw him looking behind them with his eyes narrowed in suspicion and his head cocked slightly as if he was listening to something. 'Oh no. Please don't let it be Minako.'

After a few moments that took five years off of Rei's life he dropped the hand that was held over her mouth. The arm wrapped around her waist was still present though. It was incredibly annoying and frustrating knowing he only needed one arm to render her completely immobile.

"How can one person make that much noise just to turn on a fan?" he asked obviously not expecting an answer. It had to have been Minako. Her thoughts must have shown on her face. "Don't worry I have no immediate plans to kill your friends."

"And why exactly should I believe you?" she asked testily.

"I haven't done anything to you since I've been here now have I?" he said smoothly. He was smirking at her again. She was growing to really hate that smirk.

She glared at the cabinets across from her, not wanting to look at him. "Are you going to let me go or not?" she asked angrily refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was right.

In answer he dropped his head to prop his chin on her shoulder. She turned back to look at him in surprise. Seventeen raised his eyebrows in a bemused expression practically daring her to say anything. Words had abandoned Rei so she made how she felt about that action very clear in the glare she directed at him. He just grinned.

"Jerk," she muttered. She saw his grin widen.

She saw him lean towards her and she closed her eyes automatically. When she felt his lips on hers she started a little in surprise. It was a short kiss much like the last one. Also like the last one when she opened her eyes again he was already gone and she had no idea where he had went. She looked around the kitchen that was now empty except for herself and was shocked to realize she was mad at him for just suddenly leaving.

Looking at the unfinished sandwich on the counter she decided she had lost her appetite and went to the gym she had found when exploring the building earlier. She hadn't used it yet but now she was so aggravated she needed some way to work off her excess energy. She spent the rest of the night hitting a punching bag.

*~*~*

Someone stood on a rooftop away from the Capsule Corp building but within viewing distance. She saw the boy with shoulder length raven black hair as he had entered and left the building. She saw as the dark haired girl had walked by a window to another place in the building that she couldn't see into. When she had seen enough she turned to leave and swiped blonde strands of hair out of her face as she did.

*~*~*

As Rei let the last of her anger and frustration leak into her punches and kicks she heard someone calling her name to try and get her attention. Turning she saw Usagi standing in the gym's doorway. The group must have gotten back already. With a start of panic she realized she had almost totally forgotten about Minako. 'I hope she didn't try to call for me.'

"What?" she asked the blonde.

"I found this in the kitchen. I figured you had dropped it," Usagi said holding something up that dangled from a golden chain.

Rei felt the world around her sway as she stared open mouthed at the familiar pendant that she had given up hope of finding. She closed her mouth and tried to look a bit more like herself when she noticed Usagi staring at her. She walked up to accept her pendant from her.

"Um, thanks. Where was it?" she asked as she rolled it around in her hand.

"It was lying in the floor next to the counter," Usagi explained. "Were you making a sandwich because there was one sitting out?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I decided I wasn't really hungry anymore. You can have it."

"Thanks," Usagi replied a little to cheerfully.

"You've already eaten it haven't you," Rei accused after giving her a measuring look. Usagi laughed nervously before running out the door shouting back some excuse about helping Ami on her way out.

When she was gone Rei put the necklace back on and fingered the pendant deep in thought. The only way it could have gotten here was if Seventeen had had it. Why had he had it?

Rei quietly made her way back up to her room in the dim hope of escaping into a dreamless sleep.