Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon. Dragonball Z and all of its characters belong to Akira Toriyama. Sailor Moon and all of its characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.

Author's Notes: *looks at the fans and reviewers that are screaming for her blood* I updated! See! I haven't given up on this fic yet and don't intend to. It's just hard to get a chance to sit down and write when the urge strikes me too. Unfortunately for us decides to strike at school while I'm busy taking notes or a test.

Remember to review!

Altered Destinies

Kynthia

Part 11

Rei buried her face in Seventeen's shoulder as she did her best not to look at the ground that was whizzing by below them. As she did so she felt his arm around her waist tighten in response. What was going on? If he was planning on killing her, why hadn't he done it yet? Was this all just some kind of sick game he was playing? The questions chased themselves around in circles inside of Rei's mind. The questions made her dizzier than the heights did.

She kept her eyes closed and her arms around Seventeen's neck. She was damned if she was going to trust her safety to him. She tried not to think about how her safety really depended on whatever mood he was in at the moment.

As they flew her hair whipped around her body and the cool air brought up goose bumps on her arms. She was thankful for the small miracle that her pajama bottoms went down to her ankles. To bad she wasn't wearing socks. If she survived this she was going to invest in flannel pajamas with a long sleeved shirt. Damn sleeveless.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked. Her voice was muffled by the shirt her face was pressed against.

"You'll find out," he said cryptically. She decided to hell with safety and that she would kick him the minute she touched ground for that statement.

*~*~*

Hotaru padded down the stairs to the kitchen. She had been having trouble sleeping and thought she would get a glass of water. First she had to make sure she didn't trip on her way down the stairs. She could barely make out the line of some of the steps and prayed she wouldn't fall. She did not want to end up back in the medical ward.

When she reached the first floor she breathed a sigh of relief and began walking to the kitchen. She stopped when she saw the soft glow of light coming through a door crack. Curious, she peeped in and saw Bulma and Minako sitting on the couch watching TV with a big bowl of popcorn sitting between them. This surprised Hotaru since there no longer were any television stations that could broadcast. Pushing open the door she walked in quietly.

Bulma saw her anyway and motioned for her to join them. She sat down on the space closest to her and that happened to be the seat next to Bulma on the couch.

"What are you watching?" she asked as she reached for a handful of popcorn.

"Bulma has some great movies on tape and she's letting me watch one," Minako said after swallowing her own handful of popcorn. Hotaru was a little surprised that Usagi wasn't here already with the smell of food in the air.

"She really should be in bed but I've been looking for a reason to watch some of these again," Bulma said without taking her eyes from the screen.

Hotaru watched the movie with them for a few minutes while she tried to figure out what was going on. After a while it became evident that it was a romance and there were a few scenes that made her blush slightly. The three women were pretty quiet through the movie except the occasional giggle from Minako. When a noise came from the doorway all three jumped at least an inch off their seats.

"What are you guys doing up?" Trunks asked. He was only wearing a white tank top and a pair of sweat pants. Hotaru had to hide a blush when she began to calm down from the initial fright.

"Trunks you scared me nearly to death," Bulma reprimanded.

"Sorry."

"We're watching a movie," Minako was smiling a little to brightly for Hotaru's comfort. "Do you want to join us?" Suddenly Hotaru knew she didn't need Rei's gift of insight to know something was going on.

"Yeah, sit down," Bulma was suddenly up and smiling herself. She motioned to the seat she had just been occupying.

Trunks began to look very nervous. As his mother continued to smile and motion to the seat he started forward slowly and made his way over. He kept a wary eye on her as though he were worried he was about to be attacked. When he finally did sit down Bulma turned to Minako.

"Come to think of it, Minako should really be in bed with her condition," Bulma said. She grinned down at her. Minako grinned back.

"Yeah, my condition," she threw in a very fake cough, "I really should be going to bed. Would you help me up the stairs?"

"Of course dear," Bulma said as she and Minako walked out and closed the door behind them.

Hotaru's eyes were wide in shock as she tried to comprehend what to do. She was so wound up that she nearly screamed when Trunks was suddenly only an inch away from her face.

"You know, both of them are still out there and their listening at the door," Trunks whispered into her ear. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek and forced herself to fight another blush down. He must have realized just how close he was to her because he suddenly straightened and moved down the couch a little more. When she looked up into his face she saw that he was blushing. She noted to herself just how cute he was when he did that.

Wait a minute. She turned to glare at the door. They were still out there. That was just like Minako. She let out a resigned sigh and got up and opened the door. When she did both of them fell into the room. They must have been leaning against before. As the heap of arms and legs sorted itself out she thought she heard Trunks laugh behind her. She had to snicker at the scene.

"All right. All right. We're going," Bulma said as she pulled herself up to leave. As she was leaving Minako leaned in next to Hotaru's ear. "I want details in the morning." This time she didn't blush but she did glare at her as she left.

"Good night," she said to their retreating backs. She closed the door after them and turned around to go back to the couch. When her eyes fell on Trunks she remembered why she felt so nervous. Taking a deep breath she sat down next to him and locked her eyes onto the screen in front of her.

"They're impossible aren't they," it was more of a statement than a question.

Hotaru answered him anyway, "Yeah. Minako was always like this when she's healthy. Especially when she's in matchmaker mode." An uneasy silence followed.

"Mom's been trying to convince me to get out and find a girlfriend for a while," Trunks said quietly.

"I wonder why she thinks you would like me," Hotaru muttered.

"Uh, yeah," Trunks muttered nervously. "So, what sets Minako off into 'matchmaker mode' as you put it?"

"Um," Hotaru stared very hard at the screen in front of her and bit her lip before speaking; "She doesn't get this bad until she's almost positive that one of us likes someone."

"Oh," Trunks said. He paused, "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That you…um," she turned to look at him and saw him blushing. It wasn't hard to figure out what he was talking about now and she blushed in response.

"Um yeah," she muttered for a moment. She took a deep breath and steadying her response, "Yes, I like you."

"I like you too."

Hotaru nearly fell off the couch. If he weren't so cute she would have slapped him for getting her to confess first. Lucky for him he was just that cute.

"So," Hotaru had never been in this situation in her life, "What do we do now?"

When she glanced up at Trunks he began to lean in. She could feel his breath on her face. Her eyes slipped closed as she leaned in. When they were only an inch a part, a sudden crash caused them both to leap backwards.

Turning angrily she glared at the mess of blonde hair and limbs on the ground. How often did this happen? They must have been leaning against the door again. It was Usagi and Minako this time. When they had sorted themselves out Minako stood up and shouted, "Are ya going to kiss her or not?!"

Trunks looked like he was in shock. Poor guy. Hotaru's first kiss was certainly about to be memorable. She quickly leaned in and kissed him. She heard victory shouts coming from the two girls at the door.

*~*~*

When they finally landed, it took Rei a few minutes of hanging onto Seventeen to realize that they were indeed on the ground. When she finally did, she removed her arms from his neck and looked around their new surroundings while she waited on him to remove the arm that was still around her waist. He seemed to hesitate at first but when he did remove his arm she stepped away from where she was pressed against him. She almost regretted it when she felt the cool air wrap itself around her. If she had been cold before, she was freezing now.

As she took in her surroundings she realized for the first time that they must have been someplace in the mountains. Nearby she could see into a doorway that led into a side in the mountain. Inside she could see rubble and debris. There were scorch marks around the opening.

Rei turned to Seventeen, "You're handy work?"

He smirked, "My first."

As she thought of the repercussions of that statement her thoughts must have been readable on her face. Seventeen motioned with his head, "You're looking at the birthplace of the androids." He turned his head to regard the remnants of the lab, "Gero never saw it coming." He sounded utterly pleased with himself.

"You're a monster," Rei whispered. She hadn't been planning to say it aloud but it was to late now. Seventeen gave her an annoyed look. There was something about that condescending arrogance of his that just pissed her off and she had had enough of it. "You kill innocent people because it amuses you! How can you do that and live with yourself?!"

"They're human."

"I'm human!" To this Seventeen had nothing to say. He obviously didn't give a damn about anyone but himself and wasn't going to change anytime soon.

'Why am I here anyway?' She had managed to avoid thinking about her kidnapping to give into a few moments of anger but now that the adrenaline had faded and Seventeen was being quiet again she was left nothing to do but to think. She still couldn't imagine why he brought her here. She had been telling herself that it had something to do with some sick game he was planning but something about that just wasn't ringing true in her head. Turning she glared back at the pale blue eyes that had just been tracking her movements. There was only one way to find out.

She marched over to stand directly in front of the android. "Why am I here?"

He just looked at her before wrapping his arm around her waist. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. 'Oh,' she thought vaguely. The kiss was very distracting. For one thing it was taking longer than the first two and for another, to Rei's embarrassment and horror, she was responding. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck and let her eyes slip shut.

If Rei had been in full command of her senses at the time she might have thought to herself, 'This can't be good.' She wasn't, so she didn't.

*~*~*

After they had broken apart Rei had looked up and noticed the sky lightening to purple. It hadn't taken her too long to convince Seventeen to hurry up and get her home. He had dropped her off back into her room and been gone before any of the others had noticed anything was wrong.

When she was alone again she plopped down onto her bed with a tired noise and tried to think through the questions she had been shoving to the back of her mind since the last kiss. 'Does he love me?' It was a ridiculous question since she didn't even think androids could feel emotions. 'Am I falling in love with him?' She felt an odd fluttering in her chest when she thought it and it was immediately followed by a sick feeling in her stomach. This was not good. This was very bad and she had no idea what the hell she was supposed to do.

She rolled over and muffled an irritated scream into her pillow.