This chapter is dedicated to "The Mystic Cetra" because she is taking the time to review EVERY single chapter of this fic.

Chapter 28

The Long Path Towards Hope

Tuesday June 17, around 6 P.M.

After a good deal of discussion, Teddy and his father had agreed that Slip should hold a press conference and tell a tale along the lines of what Roshi had suggested. Roshi had to admit he felt sorry for Slip. Since she had been the one to order the evacuation of the moon, she was the only one who went out and talked to the media. Boxers, Tee and himself had just watched the whole thing from her lab.

The good thing was that most of the reporters bought the story hook line and sinker. Ima Gossip being one of the few who did not. 'She is going to make trouble for us in the future.' Roshi thought to himself as he flew back home.

Roshi was worried. He could still sense Ichigo, but she had never left Pan's old house the entire day. Despite Slip's warning about giving the girl her space, Roshi was worried that something had to be wrong for her to not even leave the house all day.

He landed near the front door of the house and opened the door. He was immediately hit by the sent of lemon pepper chicken being cooked. 'That smells really good. I would have never imagined she could cook' He thought as he slowly walked to the kitchen.

Peering through the open archway between the kitchen and the dinning room, Roshi watched as Ichigo deftly cubed several chicken breasts before throwing the cubes into a large wok that was simmering on the stove. She then stirred some rice and grabbed more chicken to cube all while humming something to herself.

While that was impressive enough, Roshi couldn't take his eyes off of her hair. She had let her hair out and it made her look at least a foot taller as it stood up before gracefully falling down her back down to the middle of her thighs. It had natural looking curly wave to it from being normally put into a braid. 'I have never seen anyone with that much hair. It looks really nice this way. Wait! I did not just think what I think I just thought. If anyone is NOT the right person to think those kinds of thoughts about it is THIS girl. I think I would rather have a bear maul me then... Stop! No more thoughts along these lines' Roshi thought to himself shaking himself out of his thoughts to watch her for a while longer. 'Hmmm, I wonder what Mariah would look like with longer hair.' Roshi stopped and blinked a few times. 'Did I just start compairing Mariah to Ichigo? I'm loosing my mind. I need to go no further then the fact that Ichigo is a liar and a spoiled brat, and would probably be happy to see me dead. There is nothing to compare.' He mentally scolded himself.

Still, watching Ichigo hum, and cook and move around the kitchen with a graceful spring to her step, he couldn't help but have trouble accepting what he was seeing. 'This cannot possibly be the same person I fought with for the past two nights' he thought as he watched her flip the chicken like a French chef "Wow." Roshi said. He was going to say more, but didn't get the chance.

"AHHH!!" Thwack!! Twaaannnngggggg! The knife Ichigo had been using to cube the chicken imbedded itself into the far wall of the dining room.

'Note to self, titanium carbide knives when thrown at several times the speed of sound can and will hurt you' Roshi thought as he barely dodged the incoming knife.

"You! You scared me!" Ichigo gasped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you, but I would have never imagined you would know how to cook. It doesn't seem to be something that they would normally have a Princess do." Roshi said as he cautiously walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, he knows that too." Ichigo said quietly to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, it's not important" Ichigo said, pride preventing her from asking what she really wanted to ask. "Well, I do." She replied, "it is not like they could keep me out of the kitchens." She said as she stirred the chicken before adding more lemon pepper and a bit more olive oil. "This oil has a unique flavor to it. There is nothing quite like it on Saiya."

Roshi tried to reconcile the two images he had of Ichigo in his mind. He just couldn't accept what he was seeing. He was at a loss for words.

Ichigo went back to her cooking and added some herbs and touch of chicken bouillon to the rice. "A few years ago, I went trough my Trial of Passage." She said as if that explained everything.

"Your what?"

Ichigo turned and looked at him. "Trial of Passage, you don't know... never mind, obviously you don't." She paused for a few moments to think. "I had to live in the wilds of Saiya for about 8 of your months living off of whatever I could find."

Roshi looked at her incredulously. "You had to do what? Isn't that a bit dangerous?" 'More like almost barbaric.'

Ichigo glared at him. He could tell that even though she was acting differently, she didn't like being interrupted or questioned any more now then she had before. "Everyone who wants to be a warrior does. It is a right of passage, a coming of age. When we are no longer children, and are ready to start our real training. As the Princess it was a requirement, not a privilege."

'Risking your life is a privilege? I know what risking my life feels like, and I would never call it a privilege.' Roshi thought as Ichigo continued, "when I got back home, my father took me to the Sartan preserve and had me pick a choice animal."

She held a spatula up at Roshi to stop his comment. "Before you ask, a Sartan is a very big very rare animal. They have exquisite, unique meat and are therefore incredibly valuable. They are protected, and to kill on without my father's permission is death. Anyway, we took it back and butchered it ourselves and then my father helped me cook it. It is one of my fondest memories." She said with a smile. "Ever since, I have found that when I am stressed or worried, finding something to cook and then eating it helps me to calm my nerves."

Roshi smiled her easy going attitude had put him at ease. Probably too much so. "So that is how you are coping. It makes perfect sense I guess. When Slip gets upset she builds things. Boxers beats stuff up with his sword. Hmm, I don't think I have ever really seen Tee get down about anything. But cooking really makes sense. What better way to calm down then to eat a bunch?"

Ichigo looked at him with a look of offense first and then puzzlement. "Coping with what?" She asked as she drained the oil away from the chicken.

"Well with everything that happened last..." Roshi started to say before he realized what he was saying. 'Was Slip right? Is she pretending nothing happened last night? Will talking about it offend her? Crap, she is acting really weird, but she is at least conversational tonight. I don't want to piss her off again and have a repeat of last night.' Roshi thought frantically. "Well, you know..." He finally said.

Ichigo just looked him in the eye for several seconds. Then, she grimaced, and turned away to pull the rice from the steamer and combine it with the chicken and sauce. Grabbing the very large bowl she had put everything into, she turned and walked into the little breakfast nook that was off to the side of the kitchen. "No, I don't know." She finally said with a sigh.

Setting everything down and grabbing a set of chopsticks, she turned to Roshi. "Look, I don't really like admitting this, but I can't seem to remember anything that happened to me last night. All I can remember is this really terrible dream." She said while clenching her fists.

"Now, I did not plan on cooking for two, but there is plenty of food here. I would greatly appreciate it if you sat down and explained exactly what you meant by my coping since I haven't the slightest idea what you are referring to." She said as she set another plate down across the table from her own.

Roshi panicked, he just looked at the table and the food like it was some sort of deadly trap. 'Oh my god! Kami what do I do? I can't tell her anything! If she really cannot remember anything telling her is going to cause her to flip! If she thinks it was all a dream... well I bet that will make her flip as well. If I tell her no and don't eat with her she is going to be offended and will definitely flip! What do I do? What do I do? Common Dende, What do I do?'

--

Looking down at the world from his lookout, Dende sighed. 'Sorry, Roshi, but you are going to have to figure this one out yourself.' Even after being Kami for so many years, Dende still didn't understand the basic male-female relationship. He hated to admit it, but he was even more clueless as to what either men or women wanted then either sex was. 'Just don't make her flip, that would probably mess up Pan's house.' Dende laughed apprehensively, "And that would make your life just about as interesting as things were in the old days with Goku."

--

Ichigo noticed Roshi sweat drop and cringe. "What, is there something wrong?" She demanded.

"Ah... no... It is just that, well, nothing," Roshi said meekly as he sat down across from her.

The two of them ate in silence for several minutes. 'I hate admitting any weakness, but I need to know what happened last night. Something obviously happened.' A chilling thought hit her, 'maybe my dream wasn't totally a dream. I have to know.'

Ichigo finally decided to just ask Roshi a few questions, after arguing with herself for a while. "Roshi, I need to know what happened last night."

Roshi gagged on his chicken. "Ack, er, um, well, what do you want to know?"

Ichigo glowered at him. She was about to knock the table over on him when she paused and realized that rash actions like that wouldn't help the situation.

'Ok, I need him to tell me what happened, therefore, I need to figure out what I know and what I can ask him.'

'Ok, start with what I know. I know that I woke up in a cold sweat. I know I had dried blood on myself. I know that I smelled like someone had spilled Tee's repulsive cologne on me. I know that I obviously fought someone last night.' Looking at Roshi she realized something important. "Wait, your hair!"

"What about it?" Roshi asked defensively.

"It's..." Ichigo started before stopping to ponder for a few moments. 'I remember Him without hair. But how? He had hair in my dream. Or did he?' Ichigo sucked on her lip for a bit while she tried desperately to fathom through her memories.

Ichigo was starting to feel very cold. She looked up at Roshi and looked into his eyes in an attempt to figure out if she could really trust him or not. 'He had hair when he claimed he was rightfully King. Why do I remember him bald? He was bald when he was... when he... He was bald when he was sitting on my father's throne mocking me, but THAT had to be a dream. I'm so confused.'

Ichigo sat and glared at Roshi for several minutes while she ate in silence and thought.

Roshi had looked away and acted like he was paying particularly close attention to his food.

Ichigo kept right on watching him. 'He avoids eye contact, he glances up and then looks away quickly. He knows what I need to know, but rather then lord over me like he did in the dream he... he looks away in guilt, and... and... compassion?'

Compassion was a foreign concept to Ichigo. She knew what it was of course, but the entire concept that someone could feel sorry for her was hard to accept.

'He didn't seem to be sorry about nearly killing me in our fight two days ago, what would cause him to look like he is feeling guilty now?'

--

Roshi didn't like the way Ichigo was looking at him. It was like she was trying to read his soul or something.

'I can't understand her. She is so... I don't know, but looking at her now it is almost like she looks fragile. I honestly think I like seeing her bitchy and proud then fragile. People like her are not supposed to look fragile.'

Roshi made a furtive glance at her, and found that she was still staring right at him. He looked away quickly. 'Now she's glaring at me which is what I would expect with her personality, but she still seems to be... so very vulnerable. Last night changed her. I don't know what to do. If she thinks that last night was a dream, then what would happen if I told her the truth?'

"You said you were a descendant of Vegeta right?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

"Um, yes, I am"

"Are you his heir? I mean to say, are you his direct heir?"

Roshi blinked a few times. 'Oh shitty shitty shitty... Please don't react like last night.'

"Yes, I am the oldest child of the oldest child all the way back to both Vegeta and Goku."

Ichigo put her fork down and dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin before crumpling it into a ball and lowering her fist to the table. This being the first time Roshi had seen her eat at a table, he found that she had far better table manners then he would have expected.

Roshi picked at his food with his fork. He didn't want to look at her at the moment. That and he was used to eating at home with chopsticks, so playing with the fork gave him something other then her to focus on.

"You claimed to be king last night." Ichigo finally said stiffly.

Roshi looked up at her and slowly nodded his head.

"That wasn't a question." She said quickly.

"Oh."

--

Ichigo felt her resolve starting to slip away. She hugged her arms to her chest and tried to calm her nerves. 'It wasn't all a dream. I... I... don't remember what happened. I remember fighting, but... but... I was fighting Banana and I was at home in front of the Palace... I've had that dream or at least dreams like it many times before, but there was a Moon this time and there isn't a moon at home. And then both Banana and Roshi claimed to be King and I fought them both and they were mocking me and... and Banana went Ouzaru, but I couldn't so I blew up the moon...' A cold dread grabbed a hold of Ichigo's heart. 'I blew up the moon, but there were people on it and...'

"We fought someone last night didn't we. I almost died again. Who did we fight?" Ichigo asked surprised at how frightened her own voice sounded. 'Please don't say that we fought Banana.' Ichigo thought as several images of what she had once been sure was only a dream flashed before her eyes. Ichigo pulled her knees up and hugged them to herself.

--

'I'm dead. I am so very dead. She really can't remember, or at least that is the impression I am getting. What do I say? What do I dare to say?... well the truth is always best, but how much of the truth?'

"Well, ah, some Saiyans lead by a man named Banana showed up and tried to kill you. They ended up turning Ouzaru and destroying a village and killing a bunch of people before we were able to stop them." Roshi replied.

Roshi saw Ichigo shudder a little bit before she started talking again. "I take it we both ended up on the receiving end of a few nasty attacks." She said with question in her eyes.

'You wouldn't believe it now even if I did tell you.' "Ah, what makes you say that?"

"Well, I don't feel like I have been in a fight for my life, but you look like you have. What actually happened to your hair?" she said with a slight smirk.

Roshi felt himself slouch and sink in the chair. "Why does everyone think my hair is so funny?" He said rolling his eyes.

"Well it just makes you look funny." Ichigo said quietly.

"Yeah, well, just be glad you didn't end up getting all your hair burned off. You have a lot more of it to burn." Roshi said back trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Ichigo glared at him and reached up to pull at some of her longer bangs, which were neatly framing her face since they were not being pulled into a braid.

"Why don't you get your hair cut? It has to be awfully heavy and just about everyone you fight with grabs it and uses it against you." Roshi said casually.

Ichigo stopped playing with her hair. She glared at Roshi. "My hair is my business! Leave me alone, I will cut it when I darn well feel like it!" She said getting up to shout at Roshi.

Roshi almost fell back in his chair. 'Shit! Hit a nerve with that comment. This is bad.' "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, it is just that..." Roshi stopped dead as she started to glower again.

"Anyway, why do you think you took any big attacks?" Roshi asked trying to get her onto a different line of conversation.

"Are you insinuating that I avoided combat?" She asked turning red.

"No, no, you fought very bravely last night, it is just that you had said that you thought you had taken a big attack and I wanted to know why you thought that." Roshi said defensively.

Ichigo ate in silence for a few minutes. It looked to Roshi like she was trying to calm down and was thinking very carefully about what she was going to say.

"Well, I guess, I don't really know. I am having trouble remembering things." 'Or at least figuring out whether what I remember actually happened or not.' She thought to herself before continuing. "I... I can't even remember truthfully fighting last night. I mean, I have no bruises, or cuts, and I am not stiff or anything, which I would be under normal situations if any of what I think I remember actually happened. But everything that has happened these past few weeks has been right out of some nightmare and with those beans of yours I don't even have any real proof that you almost killed me and I... I... almost think I'm loosing my mind or something."

Ichigo looked up at him pleadingly for a moment before continueing. "I don't have a foundation to base things on anymore. All my life things were the way they were and that was the absolute and they just WERE! But here, things are not, or at least things that should be are not. My entire life, my father was the strongest Saiyan and that was just the way things are. And now... Now I think, no, I know that I am much stronger then he is. I just... I don't know what to believe anymore and that worries me."

Roshi didn't know what to say. 'She's finally opening up and letting me help her. But how do I help her? I can't even imagine what she must be going through right now. What do I say?'

Roshi was glad that she was starting to open up and trust him, but at the same time he felt very guilty because of what had happened to her to force such a change in her personality.

"I'm sorry."

Ichigo looked up at him. "What are you sorry for?"

Roshi sighed and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you over the past few days. You have been through a lot, and I have to admit that I probably put you through a good portion of it by not doing the right thing because of misconceptions or just bad luck."

Ichigo grimaced. "There is no such thing as luck. Luck is a poor name for fate. We can't make our own luck, we can change our fate. Don't call anything that happened luck. It is a crude slight to someone."

Roshi shook his head at her sudden change of subject. "Is that overall Saiyan belief or is that just your personal belief?"

She glared at him for a moment. "It is something my father says to me whenever I am feeling sorry for myself. I grew up knowing I was destined to certain things. At times it was overwhelming, and I would start focusing on the bad things about being who and what I am. My father would remind me that my destiny was caused by the fates that he and my mother caused for me. But just because I was expected to do something did not mean that I always had to do it the way people wanted me to. My life is mine and I had to make the hard choices."

Ichigo looked up and smiled at Roshi, "It kept me from loosing myself in my problems. Which is exactly what I have allowed myself to do now. Thank you for helping me see that."

Roshi held his hands up. "I didn't do anything. I think you just needed a wall that talked back occasionally."

Ichigo laughed freely and smiled at Roshi. "You have a most unique perspective on life."

Roshi decided he like the sound of her laughter. In fact, he liked everything about her current personality. 'If this is how she normally is when she isn't acting all tough and powerful, she may not be that bad. Then again, this could all just be a stress induced alternate personality. I have heard of people having completely differing personalities almost overnight after having been through or seen too much to cope with. Oh, please let this be her normal personality.'

"I just have one more question for you." Ichigo said with a smile. When I woke up, I was wearing a... what is the word? Oh, a gi that looked like the one Slip had me make yesterday, but it wasn't. It bothered me so I looked at it some more today. Where did that gi come from, and why did I smell terribly of that horrid cologne that Tee seems to bathe in?" She was cut off by Roshi's outburst of laughter.

"Oh, Kami, Tee thinks that stuff smells good, I'll have to tell him you said that." He managed through his laughing.

Ichigo also laughed and genuinely smiled. "Yes, well the only thing that I can figure, is that my gi got damaged and I somehow ended up getting another, but that doesn't explain why I smelled like his nasty cologne."

Roshi stopped laughing. "Ah, well, you can say that." He said a bit to quickly.

Ichigo looked concerned. "Why are you looking at me like that? What happened? I deserve to know."

Roshi reached across the table to lay his right hand on her left. "Ichigo..." He began. He didn't get any further. The moment he touched her, she shuddered and the look in her eyes went from puzzlement to fright. She whipped her hand back and hugged herself.

"I... I... want you to leave... Now." She said quietly.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry I don't..." Roshi started to apologize.

"Get away from me!" Ichigo screamed at him while backing away.

Roshi didn't need to be told again. He quickly backed his way out of the kitchen and then out of the house. As he closed the door, he could see Ichigo sitting on her heels hugging her knees to her chest rocking herself back and forth. 'All I did was touch her... She was acting so nice and... and well just nice before. This is soooo not good. If she reacts this way every time someone touches her, it is going to be darn hard to train with her.' He thought as he slowly walked back to his house. 'I need to call Slip. She might know what to do.'

--

"Why are you looking at me like that? What happened? I deserve to know." Ichigo said. She had to admit she didn't like the way Roshi was acting. 'He's hiding something from me.' She thought as she watched him sigh and reach across the table to lay his hand on hers.

Very suddenly, she felt very vulnerable. An icy hand seemed to grab her heart and squeeze as bile filled her mouth and a stabbing chill flowed from her lower back up through her stomach and lungs. Images flashed before her eyes. She couldn't really make them out but they left her with the feeling of helplessness. Being helpless with fear was one of several feelings that flashed through her mind. None of these emotions was she even the slightest bit prepared for.

She felt herself shudder and she jerked her hand back in reflex. "I... I... want you to leave... Now." She said quietly.

Roshi was saying something. It didn't matter, all that mattered was he was coming closer and she didn't want that.

"Get away from me!" She screamed as she hugged herself in fear.

It took her several minutes to control her breathing and to start thinking clearly again. 'I'm hyperventilating. I've never reacted like that to anything. All he did was touch me. Why did I react like that? What happened to me?' She wondered.

The food on the table forgotten, she slowly climbed up the stairs and tried to meditate to clear her mind. It didn't work. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. She couldn't stop thinking about how humiliating that had been. She had been raised in a society that did not allow for such loss of control. 'Why is this happening to me?'

Walking into the master bedroom, she looked at the stack of journals and diaries that she had read through. 'Maybe reading more of these will get my mind off of my problems.'

Walking over to the large bookcase that held Gohan's journals, she pulled out a random journal and opened it more or less to a random page.

May 8, 774

I don't know where to begin. So very much happened yesterday. I guess I will start with what I am thinking of right now. Courage. What does it mean to have Courage? I do not think of myself as a very courageous person. I look back to my younger days and see how much others needed to protect and support me. When I was four my father died the first time protecting me from my uncle Raditz. When I was 6, Piccolo died protecting me from Nappa. By the time I was 7 I had beaten back Garlic Jr., but I cowered in fear when Frieza showed up. When I was 9 my father and everyone put their trust in me to beat Cell. I finally did, but in doing so I had gotten cocky. My arrogance cost my father his life. He died a second time protecting me and everyone else on the Earth and really the Universe from Cell. Because he couldn't be wished back a second time, I blamed myself. Oh, how I blamed myself.

My father was the most courageous man I have ever met. I do not think he was ever afraid of anything. I myself am petrified right now. Videl saw me go Super Saiyan yesterday. She guessed that one of us beat Cell. So she knows that her father did not. But she is coming here today. I am going to have to tell her the truth. And not just about me beating Cell, but about me being a Saiyan. I knew this day would come eventually. But I really wanted it to come later rather then sooner. After pretending to be what I am not for so long, I don't know if I have the courage to face her.

My father and Vegeta are sparing. I can hear them. It feels so good to have my father back. The Rou Kaioshin restored him to life yesterday to fight Buu. He had to sacrifice his life so that my father could fight and try to save the universe. I died yesterday too, but I don't think I could ever do what my father, or the Rou Kaioshin, or even Vegeta did when they knowingly sacrificed their lives for other people. Vegeta blew himself up trying to destroy Buu. Even in such dire circumstance I don't know if I could do the same.

Videl is here. I can hear her laughing with my mother. When I think of Videl, I guess anything is possible. Maybe I have more courage then I thought. It takes courage to admit you are wrong. It took Vegeta eleven years to admit my father was a better warrior then he was. He let his pride blind him, but in the end that had to be one of the most courageous things he has ever done. Maybe if I can just admit my feelings for Videl, I may be able to admit my weaknesses a lot sooner. Yes, I think I will have to. Cause sometimes courage isn't standing up so something like Buu or Cell. Courage is facing the next day. Courage is knowing that no matter how badly you have messed up, there is still something worth living for. Courage is being able to say I love you. Courage is being able to see that if there is anything worth living for, then I guess it is also worth dieing for. Videl is coming up the stairs, I have to go.

Son Gohan

Ichigo was weeping. 'Courage is facing the next day' She thought as she reread the entry. 'I cannot face the next day if I don't know what happened yesterday. This Gohan was right; pride does blind people. I hate to admit I ever need help, but I need to know what happened and why I reacted the way that I did.' Ichigo decided.

Ichigo got up and started to go look for Roshi. She decided the first place to look would be his house, if he was not there; she would go to Capsule Corp.

--

Roshi was confused to say the least. 'She goes through mood swings like a clock pendulum. Slip isn't the most stable person either, but this is ridiculous. I just hope Slip has an idea.' He thought as he absent-mindedly turned his stereo on and put in a mix of classical music. 'The past few days have been a nightmare.' Roshi sighed. 'I'm supposed to be relaxing so that I can recuperate, but this isn't helping me prepare at all. If we don't pull a miracle out of some hat it isn't going to matter if Ichigo is certifiably insane.' Roshi sighed, 'Damn it, don't think like that!' He chided himself as he sat down at his computer.

'Shoot, Kit called like four times today. I totally forgot to call Mariah. She's probably thinking I hate her or something.'

Roshi thought about viewing the messages from Kit, or just calling Mariah, but he realized that he would have to explain things to them if he talked to them. Since friends didn't lie to each other, he didn't really want to talk to either of them because he knew neither of them would handle the truth overly well.

That decided, he dialed in Slip's private number on the vidphone on his computer.

"Hello? What do you want?" Slip said sounding exhausted. Roshi had to admit; she had probably had a long day.

"Slip, I need your help." Roshi said. "I think Ichigo has some sort of trauma induced amnesia. From what I can get out of her, she can't really remember what happened to her last night. I think she thinks it was a dream or something.

Slip looked at him for a little while. "And why do you think I can help?"

Roshi paused and took a deep breath. "Well... I thought maybe you would some what know why she might have the amnesia or at least why she is confusing it with a dream. Oh, and what to do about it." 'That and I need help understanding the female psyche anyway, so... yeah'

Slip looked like she would rather eat rotten sardines then talk about Ichigo, but she finally opened up. "Ok, so what do you mean she is confusing things with a dream? What does she think happened?"

Roshi stammered for a few seconds. "I don't really know. She really never said what she thought happened. Just that she couldn't really remember what happened."

"Ok, then what does she remember?"

"As far as I can tell, she can't remember but little snippets of anything past when we were in the Gravity Room. I mean, she remembers little things, but not the full picture."

Slip looked thoughtful. "Ok, I take it you talked to her for a while, how was she acting? Normal? Bitchy? Depressed? Did she seem like she was repressing her emotions? Was she withdrawn?"

"Ah, actually, she was cooking and acting well actually nice. She offered me food, and then well more or less had idle chat for a while. She talked about this survival test thing that she went through while she was younger. I actually got more information out of her just by letting her talk then I have by asking questions previously." Roshi said.

"Wait! She cooked, AND offered you some food? That seems to go against everything she has done previously. Hm, she could be having a split personality thing." Slip typed some stuff into her computer. "Ok, I am running a medical search. One thing I can tell you is that we have absolutely no previous history of a Saiyan ever having any mental problems. Well, with the exception of Goku hitting his head and forgetting his mission to destroy Earth."

"Do you think this might be the same type of thing? Like short-term memory loss do to a concussion? She was thrown around like a rag doll last night."

"Well, It could be. But if it was just short term memory loss, it shouldn't really change her behavior." Slip answered.

"Yeah, well, she was all nice and stuff until I asked about her hair, and then she got all defensive and that seemed like her normal personality. Then she totally freaked out after I simply touched her hand."

"She freaked out when you touched her? Roshi, why didn't you say that first? That may help more then anything else to figure out what is wrong with her."

"Well, I was getting to that, yeah, she reacted like she was terrified of me."

"She probably was."

Roshi sensed Ichigo coming up the stairs. "Hey hold on Slip, she is coming up the stairs now, maybe something is up."

"Right, superbitch is probably just coming to make our lives even more difficult" Slip replied snidely.

Ichigo threw open the door moments later. "I am not a bitch!" She yelled into the room before realizing that Slip wasn't actually in the room. "Oh, it's just you." She said after taking a deep breath.

Roshi quick muted the vidphone so Slip couldn't make Ichigo any madder. "Ah, yeah, thank you for knocking by the way." He said looking at Ichigo to see how she would react.

"Look, I don't have time for this. I need to know what happened last night. No cover-ups, no lies, no leaving out of details. I don't know why I reacted the way I did back when we were eating and I don't like that. So tell me, what happened last night, and why can't I remember it. Once I know what really happened I should be able to figure out what is a dream and what really happened. Plus if I really can't remember parts knowing what actually happened cannot hurt." Ichigo said sternly as she sat down on one of Roshi's chairs.

Roshi glanced at the vidphone. Slip who could hear everything that was being said was emphatically shaking her head no. "Ah, are you sure that that is wise? I mean, there is obviously a reason why you can't remember. You have been through quite a shock." Roshi said calmly.

Ichigo looked at him. She appeared to be thinking. "I don't want to be coddled like a child. I don't care what kind of shock you claim I have gone through, I need to know why I had such a knee jerk reaction to you touching me. If you can't tell me, then I might as well just go back home, because there is nothing that I can gain by staying here like a coward."

Roshi glanced at the vidphone again. Slip had taken to sending text messages over the computer link. "Not my problem if you put her in a catatonic trance by making her remember what her mind is protecting itself from. Amnesia protective mechanism of the brain. Dreams can the brain's way of understanding things it cannot grasp."

'Great, story of my life, damned if I do, damned if I don't.' Roshi thought.

Ichigo wasn't an idiot, she noticed Roshi glancing at his computer. Getting up she walked over in time to read "Yeah, send her home, we don't need the bitch anyway."

Ichigo glared at Roshi. Then she turned to the computer. She was about to try to break the thing, when Roshi quickly shut it off. "Ah, ignore Slip, she still hasn't forgiven you for blowing up her lab."

Roshi realized that that was not the right thing to say as Ichigo immediately grimaced and reached around her back to rub the spot were her tail had been.

"I will never forgive her for what she did to my tail." She said glaring at the blank monitor.

'Kami, thank you for not letting her mention the fact that I was the one who um, removed her tail and gave it to Slip.' Roshi thought, not exactly feeling the best about the situation.

Neither one of them said anything for a while. "What is this music?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

Roshi was taken by surprise by her question and it took him several seconds to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, ah this is Beethoven, um the song is Ode to Joy. Ah... why do you ask?"

"Because I like it. It is powerful, yet soothing." She glared at him threateningly, "why, you have a problem with it?"

"Ah, no, it is just that well it just kind of came out of the blue."

Ichigo seemed to be relaxing as she listened to the music. "Look, this is difficult for me. I don't like admitting I need help, or that I have any weaknesses. So either tell me what happened, or I'm leaving."

"You can't go." Roshi said getting out of his chair.

Ichigo spun around and faced him. "Oh, why not? If you can't help me, there is no reason for me to stick around."

"Because there is a Changeling coming to Earth. If you leave, it will surely catch you before you made it back home."

Ichigo looked out the large bay window and stared off into space for a few moments before turning to look back at Roshi. "So, what's the difference? I cheated death once already by running away from the Changelings."

This made Roshi mad. "What happened to the famous determination that all Saiyans are supposed to have? What, you just giving up? Since when was virtual suicide an option? You going to just go off and die? He demanded.

"No!" Ichigo yelled back. "How dare you question me like that!! I would never just lay down and die, but there is no way we can beat the Changelings. My father sent me to find the Super Saiyans. They don't exist anymore. Enough people have died because of my actions. Maybe if I left the Changeling wouldn't come here. I've been reading the Journals that are over in that house. I have to agree with them. If there is anything worth living for, then it is worth dieing for as well." She said as she turned away from Roshi so he wouldn't see the tears welling in her eyes.

Roshi almost reached out to give her shoulder a reaffirming squeeze, but then remembering what happened just a little while earlier, he stopped. "Ichigo, I didn't mean it that way. You aren't responsible for the people on the moon. You didn't know they were there. And I doubt leaving is going to keep the Changelings from terrorizing any planet they come to. I don't know how we will be able to beat them, but I'll be damned if I let them harm anyone on this planet." Roshi said trying to sound convincing and reassuring.

Ichigo turned and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What people on the moon? I... I..." Ichigo closed her eyes and tried to remember what he was talking about.

"The..." 'Oh crap! I didn't mean to say that. Crap crap crap crap!' "Ah, never mind, it's not important."

"Roshi! What people on the moon?"

"You had better sit down for this." 'I guess, I might as well tell her. If she flips out it won't really make much difference in the long run.'

"I guess I will start at the beginning." Roshi then proceeded to tell her everything that happened the night before. Starting with him listening in on her conversation with Banana and his men, and ending with him knocking her out with another Sleeping Beauty so he could carry her home. Ichigo only interrupted a few times to ask some simple questions. When he finished, it was a long time before Ichigo spoke. The music played through Bach's "Ava Maria" and "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" and Mozart's entire "Jupiter symphony." After it got done playing Beethoven's 3rd symphony, Roshi was starting to get worried.

"Ichigo, are you okay?"

"No, but I am reasonably certain that it is a good thing." She said looking up at him with a rather blank look on her face. "You were able to beat three separate guardsmen who had gone Ouzaru." She said quietly.

"Yes, but it wasn't enough. If you had not blown up the moon, we all could very well be dead now." He said back to her.

Ichigo got a far away look in her eyes. "Maybe, just maybe, if this Dende you mentioned can actually train us to do that Kaioken. Then maybe I will be able to save my people." A slight smile and a glimmer of hope formed in her eyes as the music once again started playing Beethoven's 9th "Ode to Joy."

--

Author's Note. Some of you may think that I have Gohan's age wrong. I don't Funmation did. In the Manga's and originally in the Anime, Gohan was 9 when he beat Cell. Making him 16 when he started HS at Orange Star High.. Not 18.

Sorry this took so long. I had surgery on my hand last week and then this week has been horrid.

Thank you for reading.

Please Review.