Marron's eyes widened in dismay as she saw the Kienzan come slicing through the air straight for her head. There was no time to wonder why Kuririn thought she was Juuhachi-gou, or why that would be a bad thing, it was just move it or lose it. And she had no intentions of losing it. She wasn't too worried yet; her mother had thrown these at her plenty of times, but never one this strong. This Kienzan was intended to neatly separate her head from her shoulders.

She waited until the first tingling of energy approached her senses; ignoring Trunks' panicked shouts, and used her one advantage of speed. She dropped under the Kienzan and brought the heel of her hand up sharply onto the flat portion of the energy disk, deflecting it harmlessly away into the air, just like her mother taught her. She was back on her feet in an instant, hands fisted and raised in a ready posture.

"Kuririn! Stop! This is Marron! She's not a Jinzouningen!" Trunks yelled at the smaller man, putting himself between them and blocking the path of attack, his arms held out to the sides. Kuririn looked unconvinced, but didn't attack again, just glared balefully over Trunks' shoulder at Marron. Marron felt like someone had kicked her in the chest to see her father -or at least this time's version of her father- looking at her with such malice.

"Niichan! She's the other one from the spaceship," Goten told his big brother with another tug to the pant leg.

"Not a Jinzouningen? But she looks just like that Jinzouningen Juuhachi-gou," Gohan questioned, eyeing Marron warily, but he at least powered down. "How come?"

Trunks lowered his arms hesitating a moment. Marron sidled up behind him until she was nearly against him.

"You can tell them about me…but be careful of what you say about yourself until we can talk privately, my love," Marron murmured quietly. Trunks turned his head to the side with a frown and saw her nod slightly. Marron stepped out from behind him and stood at his side, her eyes never leaving Kuririn's. Trunks sighed quietly.

"Because she's Juuhachi-gou's daughter," he said bluntly. There was no real delicate way to ease into it, the fact was standing right next to him…no sense sugar-coating it.

"WHAT?" Gohan and Kuririn chorused loudly. Little Goten grinned at her from behind Gohan's leg, and Marron smiled back at him. Trunks forged on ahead.

"-And Kuririn's. From an alternate world." Kuririn gaped at her, mouth open in shock.

"No way! Alternate world? She's not from the future, like you?" Gohan asked scratching the back of his head.

"Eh…no. She's from the future, but not this future – and not the future I came from," Trunks said sweat dropping a little at the lost expression on Gohan's face.

"Lies!… It can't be," Kuririn said as he approached Marron cautiously. "First of all, that thing is Jinzouningen! An Android! How can an Android have kids? And second, there's just no way! Me and, and…her…IT! After what she's done?" Kuririn's hands were fisted as he shook his head and glared at Marron again. "It has to be a trick!"

Without saying a word, Marron reached in the pocket of her blue CC jacket and pulled out the capsule containing her prized possessions from the lab. She thumbed the trigger and tossed it on the ground in front of her, allowing it to explode into a large chest like container. She rummaged in it a moment and pulled out a picture frame, then held it out to Kuririn. Trunks recognized it as the photo she'd had on her desk in the lab.

"Go on…look at it," she said quietly. Kuririn took the picture and studied it carefully, Gohan hanging over his shoulder to see. Trunks didn't need to look; he knew which picture it was. Kuririn holding an adorable three-year-old Marron on his shoulders, with a smiling Juuhachi-gou standing behind them holding Marron's hands in the air.

"Is that really you? You didn't have a nose! Look Kuririn! You have hair!" Gohan laughed. Kuririn silently handed the picture back to Marron. She put it back in her container and re-encapsulated it, returning it to her pocket. Kuririn shifted uneasily, one hand behind his head. Marron's face softened imperceptibly, now he was looking more like her Otousan.

"Heh heh, I guess you must be who you claim to be…sorry about the whole…trying to kill you thing," Kuririn said nervously. "It's just you look just like…and she's well…" he stammered. Marron folded her arms and looked away.

"Don't worry about it," she said stiffly. Trunks jumped in to cover the awkward moment, asking about the other Z-Warriors. Kuririn shook his head when he told them they were nearly wiped out.

"Why? How? What happened differently?" Trunks questioned, more to himself than the others.

"Different than what?" Kuririn asked. Trunks glanced at Marron before addressing the other two warriors.

"I'll be happy to tell you what I know, but perhaps we should get everyone together at once, ne?" Trunks said. Kuririn nodded wisely.

"Good idea, do you want to come with us to get them?" Kuririn asked. Trunks shook his head, suggesting they meet up later.

"Meet us at the Tenka then. And watch out for the Jinzouningen, they're killers," Kuririn said unthinkingly. Gohan picked his little brother up and lifted into the air. Trunks smirked.

"I can handle a couple of Androids," he said confidently, missing Marron's wince. Gohan paused, hovering over them.

"It's not a 'couple'…there's five of them."

Marron was silent as she flew westward beside Trunks toward Karin's tower and the Tenka. She hadn't said a word in the last thirty minutes since they had parted ways from Kuririn, Gohan and Goten. Trunks glanced over at her, her face was expressionless, but her eyes were overly bright. He flew closer to her and bumped her lightly with his shoulder, but she didn't even look over. With a sigh, he took her hand and pulled her after him as he landed atop a mesa. Her face was closed and she wouldn't look at him as he took her in his arms, she just stood there stiffly.

"Are you all right?" he murmured into her hair, as he stroked her back. She gave a harsh bark of laughter.

"I'm terrific, Trunks…so far today I nearly got into a fist-fight with my ex-boyfriend over you, dragged to this garden spot in time thanks to a couple of hormonally deranged demi-Saiyajin, my father just tried to kill me, and it appears my mother and uncle are trying to destroy the human race…AGAIN. Did I leave anything out?" she asked bitterly.

"I asked you to marry me…" he offered quietly, holding her tighter. She tucked her head under his chin and at last put her arms around him too, pressing her face against his shirt.

"Is that what that was? I wasn't sure," she mumbled. He tipped her face up to his with a finger under her chin, inclining his face to hers for a soft kiss.

"I love you Marron, I want to marry you," he told her. Marron gave him a weak smile and laid her hand on his cheek.

"I love you too, Trunks," she said softly and lowered her eyes. Trunks frowned, waiting for her to continue, but she said nothing, just leaned against him quietly.

"But?" he prompted. She raised her face to his again. Her eyes twin pools of confusion and misery.

"But what?" she asked in confusion, and then noticed his scowl. "You want an answer…now?" her tone was incredulous. "I can't even think about that right now, Trunks."

She stepped away from him and fisted her hands in her hair. "Don't you see? My world is coming apart! In my time my parents are gone, and here from the sound of it, my Kaasan and Ojisan are as bad as they ever were in your world. But they're still my FAMILY. Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou are the only family I have left! When I hear you talk about them like cold calculating killing machines… You of all people should understand how I feel, your father's no saint," she nearly spat. Trunks put his hands in his pockets and studied the ground a moment.

"No, he isn't…but Marron it's not the same as…" he started. Marron's eyes narrowed.

"Don't even start on semantics with me. I know the Jinzouningen have done horrible, awful things in your time, and in this one too it would seem. But she's still my mother, Trunks."

"And she'll still have to be stopped, if she and her twin are rampaging the planet in this time they'll have to be destroyed. There's no other way," Trunks told her uncompromisingly. Marron whirled on him, teeth bared and tears on her cheeks.

"I get it! How can you think I don't understand this? It's making me sick inside to even think about it!" she snapped and dashed the tears off her cheeks. "So you'll forgive me if I just can't give you an answer about getting married right this mi-mi-minute!" Marron hitched out before dissolving into tears, covering her face with her hands. Trunks took her back into his arms and let her cry on his shirt, he had been a little insensitive with regards to her feelings about the Jinzouningen, but she was going to have to face up to the hard reality sooner or later. All he could hope for was that if he had to be the one to destroy them again, Marron wouldn't be there.

"It's okay. I'm sorry Marron. I can't imagine how hard this must be for you," he murmured, as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head when her tears had trailed off to sniffles. "But Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou aren't the only family you have left, you have me. I won't let anything bad happen to you, Marron, I promised I'd take care of you," Trunks said. Marron looked up at him, eyes red.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," she said flatly. Trunks held the back of her head in his hand and kissed her fiercely, as if he could drive away the doubt in her eyes with his own conviction.

"I love you, Marron…don't let this drive a wedge between us. I'll make this right somehow," he said urgently. Marron slid her eyes away unconvinced, but she wasn't going to argue further. So long as his prime objective was the unwavering belief that the total destruction of the Jinzouningen was the only course of action, the wedge was already there.

"Mmmm," she murmured vaguely, "perhaps it won't come to that. Besides, you have other problems to worry about," she said deftly changing the subject. "I came to find you so quickly because of something I saw in the Capsule Dome ruins, something that may affect your actions in this world."

Marron took a deep breath and reached into the pocket of her jacket to pull out the two photographs she'd found, sitting in their broken frames and forgotten. For the second time that day photographs were the proof of what someone didn't want to believe. Trunks looked at the pictures and then at her.

"Bulma-kaasan…and…" he stammered. Marron nodded.

"From the looks of these pictures, Bulma married Yamucha…not Vegeta. Which may mean the Chibi Trunks of this time isn't part Saiyajin at all."